5 January 1726, London, Palace of Westminster.

"Lord Walpole, the Spaniards have declared war on us." Viscount Charles Townsend, Northern Minister for Foreign Policy, knocked on the door, entered the office of Count Robert Walpole, First Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. Prime Minister), and placed a declaration of war in front of him on several tables.

"After so long, the Spaniards finally declared war on us." Walpole picked up the declaration of war and read it carefully, and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "This is definitely the worst news for our Kingdom of England." ”

"Yes, we have not completely turned the tide at sea, and now we have added a new enemy." "The Spaniards insisted that we withdraw unconditionally from Gibraltar and Menorca, and at the same time made us promise that English merchants would not be allowed to trade in the Spanish American Territories without permission," Townsend said. If we accede to these two conditions, we will lose not only the Spanish American market, but also Gibraltar, the most important maritime stronghold. Without this sea stronghold, we would not be able to block the straits and prevent the Qi people from sending supplies to their expeditionary fleet through the Mediterranean. It is reported that the Qi people have hoarded a lot of war materials in Egypt. ”

"During the war with the Qi people, we must ensure control of the Strait of Gibraltar so that the Qi people do not receive a steady stream of supplies." Walpole took the kettle and made a cup of tea for Townsend, then refilled his teacup with some water, nodded and said: "The Spaniards, obviously suspicious of our promise to return Gibraltar and Menorca, want to force us by force while we are in a difficult situation. ”

"We need to send more troops to Gibraltar immediately, and we also need to send a large amount of war supplies and supplies to prevent the Spaniards from mobilizing a large army to attack again." "After months of fighting and garrisoning, more than 800 of the original 3,500 soldiers have been reduced. If the Spaniards organize another massive attack, I am worried that they will be able to hold this little force. ”

"It is indeed very necessary to increase the number of troops." "I will submit a bill to Parliament to send 1,200 troops from Scotland to support Gibraltar," Walpole said. ”

"Twelve hundred? …… Is there a little less reinforcements? ”

"This is already the strength that the cabinet has done its best to raise." Walpole sighed, "Special War bond sales aren't ideal. The first installment, £2 million, took more than five months to sell. The second tranche of £3 million bonds that followed has so far sold less than £1.3 million. In the market, investors don't seem to be very optimistic about our current war prospects. Even the greedy Dutch clenched their purses and barely subscribed to a penny. ”

"......" Tang Sende was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then smiled bitterly.

In the past, when England was at war with European countries, the government could easily raise enough war funds by issuing national bonds, which effectively supported the continuation of England's foreign wars and finally defeated one enemy after another.

Through these wars, England often forced the other side to cede some of its market and commercial interests, grabbing a large amount of trade benefits for its domestic industrial and commercial capital, while also taking the opportunity to seize countless commercial markets. The Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, as well as Spanish America and Portuguese Brazil, were full of English industrial products and merchants.

The treasury bonds accumulated during the war can eventually be digested and absorbed by the capital market through commercial channels, and then further promote the development of the domestic financial industry.

Of course, the prerequisite for achieving the above goal is that the Kingdom of England can win the ongoing war and gain great benefits. Even if the enemy cannot be defeated in the end, it is necessary to ensure the safety of England's domestic and overseas interests, so that the domestic financial markets are not affected by the war.

But the course of the war in recent months seems to have become more and more unfavorable for the situation in the Kingdom of England.

The anticipated decisive battle at Gibraltar with the Qi Expeditionary Fleet was "politely refused" by the other side, and instead their warships were scattered on England's overseas trade routes, frequently intercepting and attacking English merchant ships. In just over five months, nearly fifty merchant ships lost contact, and even though some of them may have been shipwrecked, most of them must have been captured by Qi warships or sunk.

The Royal Navy fought several naval battles of varying scales with the Qi Expeditionary Fleet in the Gulf of Algeciras, Cape Verde, the North Sea, and the Faroe Islands, but not only failed to achieve the expected objectives before the war, inflicting heavy losses on the Qi Navy, but on the contrary, it lost more than 30 warships, damaged more than 20 warships, killed more than 3,600 officers and men, and wounded more than 4,000.

Especially in the Battle of the Faroe Islands a month ago, a number of first- and second-class capital battleships were destroyed by the Qi Navy, which made the Royal Navy sad.

In late August and early September, the Kingdom of Spain launched three successive large-scale attacks on the fortress of Gibraltar, and although they were repelled by the British Army stationed there, with their strong fortified fortifications, the situation remained very serious.

The English government, through the Republic of Genoa, conveyed its will for peace to the Spanish government, saying that it would jointly negotiate the ownership of Gibraltar after the war with the Qi country, and the two sides would eventually return the land to Spain through friendly negotiations.

But the Spaniards rejected the advice of the English government and insisted that England immediately and unconditionally return Gibraltar and Menorca to Spain. They also accused the English government of conniving at the smuggling of overseas traders in the Spanish American territories, which seriously eroded and damaged the interests of the Kingdom of Spain. The English government also had an unshirkable responsibility to the pirate ships (privateers) that ravaged the Caribbean, and it must be restrained and prohibited.

It is clear that the Kingdom of Spain had a great distrust of the English government, and was bent on taking advantage of the outbreak of the Anglo-Qinian War to recover Gibraltar and Menorca, which were under the control of England, while at the same time maintaining a rare strong attitude in the trade disputes of Spanish America.

In response, some radical admirals believed that it was necessary to launch a large-scale attack on Spain, blockade the Spanish mainland, cut off their transportation with Spanish America, and coerce them to make significant concessions to England by force.

However, this proposal was rejected by Walpole and many other parliamentarians, not to mention whether the Royal Navy had enough forces to attack Spain mainland and block its sea transportation routes, or whether it had the spare strength to wage war, but also to take into account the overall situation in Europe, and especially the attitude of Spain's neighbor, France. Although the relationship between the two Bourbon relatives was not very harmonious, and they even attacked and calculated each other, if Spain was beaten by England, it was not certain that France would come to its aid.

I had planned to try my best to avoid a big fight between the two sides, drag the Gibraltar issue like this, and then free up energy to clean up Spain after the victory over Qi State. Unexpectedly, when the other party saw that the English government refused to return the occupied territories immediately, he was annoyed and directly declared war on England. This move means that the Royal Navy has one more powerful maritime enemy when it has not completely defeated the Qi Navy, which is nothing less than a worse situation for the entire Kingdom of England.

If the two enemies of Qi and Spain were nothing more than scabies in England, then the intensifying armed insurrection in Ireland was a major concern for the English government.

Since the beginning of September, when the Irish launched an armed riot from the seaside town of Sligo, it has quickly swept through the county. After gaining a foothold a little, they began to attack in three directions, east, south and north, launching a large-scale attack on the area controlled by the English, trying to control the entire island of Ireland in one fell swoop.

The Irish armed insurgents, instead of the old pattern of guerrilla warfare, took the initiative to launch a resolute and forceful attack on the towns controlled by the English. They were well organized, fought well, attacked aggressively, and had a lot of artillery, which led to the fall of English-controlled towns and the slaughter of countless English and Scottish immigrants.

Although in early November last year, more than 5,000 troops urgently mobilized defeated the main force of the Irish resistance in the small town of Mullinga, 50 miles northwest of Dublin, killing and wounding more than 1,300 resistance troops, and won a decisive victory.

However, in the ensuing series of pursuit battles, the Irish Resistance began to break into pieces, and implemented a certain degree of fortified clearing in the area where the British army was marching, and then took advantage of the favorable terrain they were familiar with, and continued to launch surprise attacks on the British army, so that the British army's conquest operation gradually fell into difficulties, and casualties began to rise. In particular, when attacking the towns and strongholds defended by the resistance, they were extremely stubbornly resisted by the other side, causing the British to lose a lot of troops.

In order to resolutely fight the Irish resistance, the commander-in-chief of the British army, General Leslie, in addition to asking for more reinforcements, also asked the cabinet and parliament for more authorization to carry out the most "severe measures" against the Irish local and resistance organizations.

Cabinet ministers and gentlemen in Parliament naturally knew what General Leslie's "harsh measures" meant, when Cromwell, the "regrecher", invaded Ireland with his troops and carried out a brutal mass murder of the Irish who had violently resisted there. In just a few years, the situation in Ireland has been completely "calmed down", and only 1 million of the more than 1.5 million Irish people remain. From that time on, the whole of Ireland became the slave of the English, three-quarters of the land and five-sixths of the houses in Ireland were English, and the Irish lived a life inferior to pigs and dogs, living in mud huts without stairs and windows, and going down to the fields every day in rags to farm for the English.

Now, this group of "untouchables", with the instigation and support of the Qi people, has launched an armed rebellion against the English, and if it is not suppressed by thunderous means, it is bound to make more Irish people respond, and eventually they will be driven out of Ireland.

Although the English did not know that there was a strategy in the geopolitics of the East called long-distance and close attack, for Ireland, which was close at hand, the English dared to kill Ireland because they had positioned Ireland as a potential enemy of the Kingdom of England three hundred years ago, and it was the most dangerous kind on the side of the couch.

The Irish are the most diehard of the Celts, in the eyes of the English, they are more hated than the Welsh and Scots, they have believed in Catholicism since the 5th century, refused to join Protestantism, and clinged to their own culture, they are the most difficult to assimilate in the surrounding alien race, England after several failed attempts to melt Ireland, they only intended to put Ireland to death, kill all the unconvinced, and all the others were serfs of the English, and they were extremely oppressed.

In the past, the English had guns and cannons in their hands, and the Irish had little chance to resist, at most they were squeezed hard, and sporadically killed the English to vent their anger.

Now it's a good thing, the hateful Qi people have come, not only invading England proper, but also attacking Ireland. The guns in the hands of the Irish Resistance are most likely provided by the Qi people, and even their troops have Qi officers to give professional military guidance and battlefield planning.

During the Battle of Mulinga, British soldiers found several corpses of Eastern faces while cleaning the battlefield. Even a fool can see that apart from the Qi people, what other Eastern country would come to Ireland to carry forward this great spirit of internationalism?

The root of all the suffering of the Irish comes from the cruel exploitation and oppression of them by the English, and the Irish are determined to repay them for such a deep hatred.

You must know that England's basic plan is that it is an island country with a small population and few resources, isolated outside the Eurasian continent, and the manpower and material resources available at hand are quite limited. Therefore, England's subconscious strategy was to colonize and trade overseas by minimizing losses while ensuring that the main island was not threatened or damaged, so as to maximize the benefits of overseas commerce at the lowest cost and balance the European continent.

Ireland's proximity to England proper, and its stubborn refusal to assimilate into England, made it a potential and dangerous enemy that had to be weakened indefinitely in order to ensure the security of England proper.

Thus, the Cabinet and Parliament of England agreed to General Leslie's proposal for "harsh disposition" in Ireland with less than five seconds of hesitation.

The revolt of the "slaves" can only be deterred by bloody and horrific killings.

In addition to the headache of the Irish issue in the English government, James III, who was known as the "old tyrant king", was also ready to make a move and began to make frequent troubles in Scotland. From September to November last year, Jacobians secretly landed in Dundee, Fraserburg, and Infinis in Scotland, and united local Catholics and Jacobite supporters to launch armed riots.

Although these riots were eventually extinguished by the arriving British troops, they also aroused the alarm of the English government, which had to keep some of the troops that had been committed to Ireland in Scotland in response to the Jacobite riots.

In order to facilitate civil defence, the English government combined its mobilized and conscripted regular army with informal and even amateur armed forces to establish a joint self-defence system in the Scottish coastal areas. Many of the country's hereditary aristocrats were promised small government grants in return for their conscription of troops and armed volunteers in their spheres of influence. And, as in the case of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, the propertied were called upon to unite under their sheriff to recruit and arm all volunteers who were willing to swear allegiance to the government.

The enthusiasm of the localities was mobilized to make up for the organizational deficiencies of the Royal Government and at the same time to play a role in propaganda and mobilization. The symbolism and brilliant achievements of these armed coalitions of loyal people were meant to show that the Hanoverian dynasty and the royal government had the active support of their subjects behind them.

However, men from all walks of life and professions, who were active in the self-defense coalition, did not necessarily want to defend all of Great Britain or England. These warriors expected London to provide them with weapons and money, and at the same time, like their forefathers in the civil war more than seventy years ago, they had their own priorities: "They all said that they were always ready to defend their country, but they were referring to their county or hometown." ”

One thing is certain, however, that those who tend to support the Jacoitens, predominantly Catholics, Irish, or unemployed workers and apprentices, are rarely those who are firmly established in the industry or have stable occupations. Those who have their own shops or properties, or invest heavily in other people's properties, may be more tired of the military adventures of the Jacolites.

But with the Kingdom of England threatened by the sea and the Irish armed revolt in the near future, the whole situation is becoming more and more difficult, and the riots initiated by these nasty Jacobians have undoubtedly made the English government more difficult.

It is reported that James III, the "old tyrant king", is likely to have received a large amount of financial support from France and the Qi State, otherwise, he would not have suddenly made such a noise after a few years of dormancy, and sent several mercenaries to smuggle into Scotland and launch an armed riot.

It can be said that the present situation of the Kingdom of England is almost as dangerous as it was during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, and the slightest carelessness will lead to the humiliation of defeat and the loss of the status of a great power that has been so hard to obtain.

"Lord Townside, do you think we should have a tentative contact with the Qi people at this time to discuss how to end this war?" After a long silence, Walpole whispered.

"If we take the initiative, we will definitely be recognized by the people of Qi as a soft admittance." Townsend said faintly: "Then, they will definitely offer us a series of unacceptable conditions. ”

"But we have to admit that eight months into the outbreak of this war, we have suffered a serious blow. Even if we were to defeat the Qi people, who at best temporarily withdrew their forces from Europe and ceded the benefits of trade to the Dutch and French, it would have little to lose of itself. On the contrary, not only will we lose the lucrative trade of the East, but the navy on which we rely will be seriously weakened. Moreover, I have a hunch that through the piecemeal attacks on our Royal Navy in the past few months, the Qi people may have a preliminary understanding of our true strength, and are brewing a decisive battle at sea that is enough to lay the foundation for the direction of the war. ”

(End of chapter)