I - Chapter 1067

  Chapter 1067 1063【Final Chapter 2】

  The decline of the Netherlands began with being driven out of Southeast Asia by China, but the fatal blow came from Britain and France.

  Britain wants to gain maritime interests, and France wants to invade the Netherlands.

  Under the financial difficulties of the United Kingdom, Louis XIV offered money, and Charles II immediately agreed to join the French resistance.

  The financial support obtained out of thin air, of course, comes with additional conditions. Britain and France sign the Treaty of Dover. The treaty stipulates that France provides financial support to Britain, and Britain must gradually restore Catholicism and must fight against the Netherlands with France. If there is a riot in Britain due to the restoration of Catholicism, France must borrow troops to help Britain counter the rebellion.

  After the signing of the secret treaty, France suddenly declared war on the Netherlands, and Britain immediately withdrew from the Triple Alliance formed with the Netherlands and Sweden.

   Immediately afterwards, Britain declared war on the Netherlands and attacked a merchant fleet in the Netherlands. The third Anglo-Dutch war broke out.

  The strongest fortress in the Netherlands, facing the French military strategist Vauban, collapsed like paper. Of the seven provinces of the Netherlands, five provinces were directly occupied.

  The Dutch Parliament urgently invited William III to be in power, and formed an alliance with Spain, Austria, Prussia, the Duchy of Lorraine, and the Duchy of the Palatine. The countries obviously wanted to jointly curb the rise of France. Facing a complete siege, France had to fight everywhere. After the troops were dispersed, William III regained the lost territory of the Netherlands.

  Louis XIV waved the banknotes again, pulling the Dutch ally, Sweden, into his camp.

  Sweden immediately attacked the German region, Brandenburg and Austria, and had to order the frontline troops to return to defense. In this way, France relieved the plight of being attacked from the front and rear, and began to attack the combined forces of the Netherlands and Spain.

  The Swedish army was defeated by Brandenburg. Denmark immediately fell into trouble, formed an alliance with the Netherlands, and declared war on Sweden.

   Seeing that France was about to be completely surrounded again, Louis XIV started a tariff war, and Dutch merchants suffered heavy losses. Immediately, the navies of Britain and France jointly attacked the Dutch navy, and then went to fight with the Spanish navy to seize command of the sea in the Mediterranean.

  Because Spain lost its command of the sea and surrendered to the Italian state of Spain, it took the opportunity to set off a national independence uprising.

  The French army defeated the German state again and occupied the Lorraine area. Then he returned to fight Spain and occupied Franche-Comté and Flanders in Spain.

   Britain, which has been helping France in the war, did not want to see France win a big victory, and chose to jump again, suddenly announcing the marriage of Britain and the Netherlands.

   Being backstabbed by his allies, Louis XIV was furious, but he had to admit it with his nose pinched. He took out a large number of gold coins and presented them to Charles II and the British nobles in exchange for Britain’s slowing down of sending troops. Then, the French attacked frantically, forcing the Allies to beg for negotiations.

  During the negotiations, Louis XIV bribed Dutch businessmen and promised to reduce tariffs. The Dutch businessmen have neglected their righteousness when they saw profit, and even disregarded the interests of the country, and collectively emptied the Netherlands from ruling William III.

   In this regard, France dominates the European continent.

  But the war and diplomatic expenses were too high, the people in France were in dire straits, and even peasant uprisings appeared.

  Britain first turned its back on the alliance and fell to France, and then turned to the Netherlands midway. It also received financial support from France twice. It can be said that it made a lot of money, and it also grabbed maritime privileges from the Netherlands.

  However, in order to fulfill the Anglo-French secret treaty, Charles II was publicly baptized and declared to be a Catholic. He encountered fierce opposition from the Parliament and the Anglican Church. He had to order the dissolution of the Parliament, which kicked off the religious struggle in Britain. It is tantamount to planting a landmine for one’s own son. In the end, the eldest son died, and the second son lost his centralization.

  After repeated wars in the Netherlands, the economic situation was in a mess. China took the opportunity to seize Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and the Netherlands was completely driven out of Asia.

  The current situation is that China colonizes the east coast of India and Ceylon, and Portugal colonizes the west coast of India. Countless Chinese goods have been continuously shipped to India, and then transshipped by Portugal to Europe.

  Portugal married the princess to China, and also used Chittagong as a dowry. At this time, they got rich rewards, so don’t be too comfortable as a second-hand dealer.

   However, the political situation in Portugal is chaotic.

   King Afonso VI, who was paralyzed and mentally ill since childhood, was cuckolded by his wife and younger brother. Even the queen publicly declared that she had never consummated the marriage with the king, requested that the marriage be declared invalid, and then directly remarried to the king’s younger brother.

   This is not over. After a couple of dogs and men got married, they jointly put the king under house arrest in the Azores.

   Just five years ago, the king died of illness, and the dogs and men successfully became the king and queen.

  Three years ago, Princess Caterina of Portugal, who married Zhao Han, received detailed news from Portugal, believing that her younger brother was murdered, and asked Emperor Zhao to send troops to preside over the overall situation.

  Zhao Han immediately ordered the navy to dispatch, and without running too far, the Datong Navy stationed on the east coast of India went to blockade the Portuguese colony on the west coast of India. In addition, it was ordered to increase tariffs on trade with Portugal, and all merchant ships heading to the west coast of India must be inspected along the way and additional taxes will be levied.

  Portuguese nobles and businessmen were shocked when they heard the news. They all depend on China to make money, and they don’t want to turn against China.

  Two years ago, Zhao Han and Caterina’s son, Zhao Kuangquan, who was only 25 years old, led eight warships, ten armed merchant ships, and 2,000 farmers and soldiers who voluntarily signed up to rush to Portugal to seize the throne.

   Just arrived in Lisbon at this time, Zhao Kuangquan hung up the flag of the Portuguese royal family, and the Portuguese navy turned against them on the spot!

   Of course the royal flag is not that effective. The real reason is that the military expenditure of the Portuguese navy and the interests of a large number of nobles must rely on China and Chinese products. The navy did not dare to start a war with Zhao Kuangquan. Once a war started, they would tear themselves apart with China, and they would not even be able to get their wages in the future.

  The army landed smoothly, and King Pedro II urgently mobilized the army to defend.

A Honglu Temple diplomat came to the city and shouted: “The Chinese imperial concubine, the daughter of Joao IV, and the Portuguese princess Caterina Enriqueta, has the right to inherit the Portuguese throne. King Afonso VI of Portugal, Murdered to death, the false king Pedro is the biggest suspect. Now, Alfonso Zhao Kuangquan Enriqueta, the prince of China, the grandson of King Joao IV, and the son of the Portuguese princess, has returned with his loyal army .All nobles, soldiers and commoners of Portugal, lay down your arms immediately and meet your new king!”

  The guarding nobles and soldiers looked at each other after hearing the shout.

  King Pedro II roared: “Shoot and kill him!”

  The soldiers raised their weapons, but instead of firing immediately, they turned to look at the officer. The officer looked at the noble generals again. These generals were hesitant. They did not dare to tear themselves apart with China, otherwise Portugal’s Indian colony would be gone.

   At this time, the world’s largest gold mine has not been discovered in Brazil, and Portugal’s finances have to rely on China’s trade to continue its life.

Pedro II roared again: “You launched a coup with me and drove away Count Castelumellor. Could it be that you can continue to live a carefree noble life under the new king? Shoot him!”

  When the nobles heard this, some of the guys involved in the coup d’etat finally decided to go all out, even if they collapsed with China, they had to keep their power.

   “Bang bang bang!”

  More than a dozen bullets were fired. The Honglusi diplomat was shot in the leg and bruised on the cheek. He was so frightened that he limped back and fled.

   “Your Majesty, Lisbon is not easy to attack. You can go north and attack Porto first.”

   The speaker is the Portuguese governor of India.

  Although he was appointed by Pedro II, he resolutely chose to betray Pedro II. Otherwise, not only will the position of the Governor of India be gone, but he will also be attacked by the Chinese fleet, and he may be killed directly in India.

   This guy took the entire Indian colony, declared his allegiance to Zhao Kuangquan, and also brought the Portuguese Indian fleet (too weak, all armed merchant ships).

   Zhao Kuangquan was influenced by his mother since he was a child, and studied the detailed intelligence of Portugal.

  He knows that Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, the center of Portugal’s handicraft industry, and the core port of Portugal leading to Western Europe.

   “All return to the ship and march to Porto!” Zhao Kuangquan followed suit.

During the voyage, the Governor of India suggested: “Your Majesty, you can send an envoy to contact Count Castelumellor. He was originally the most powerful nobleman in Portugal other than the king, but because of Pedro II A coup d’état and he was forced to resign as the Minister of Regent. In the whole of Portugal, the person who hates Pedro the most is him.”

   Zhao Kuangquan left the port of Lisbon and took the Portuguese fleet with him by the way.

   Arrived in Porto in a blink of an eye, the nobles who defended the city fled without a fight, because there were less than 500 soldiers here.

  Zhao Kuangquan immediately summoned representatives of businessmen and scholars from all over the city, announcing that he would reduce business taxes and implement a policy of academic freedom in the future. The businessmen and scholars were overjoyed and pledged their allegiance to the new king on the spot. They paid their own money to form a militia and continued to fight with the king.

  It is so easy, but it also has the halo of the Chinese prince. Businessmen rely on Chinese products to make profits, and scholars are infinitely yearning to worship Chinese culture.

  Many of the militia recruited by these guys were vagrants and low-level civilians. They burned, killed and looted all the way, but Zhao Kuangquan severely stopped them, and even executed more than a dozen people on the spot. After strict military discipline, civilians praised Zhao Kuangquan enthusiastically wherever he went, and gave Zhao Kuangquan the nickname “The Merciful Man”.

   Zhao Kuangquan’s army marched all the way to the south, and many nobles volunteered to vote.

  Especially the addition of the Earl of Castelo Mellor has a very strong appeal, which is equal to the recognition of the Portuguese nobles for foreign princes.

   Constantly losing cities and territories, Pedro II couldn’t sit still, and summoned the noble army to go north for a decisive battle.

  The two sides met on the outskirts of Coimbra. The fully armed 2,000 Chinese peasants and soldiers have been named the King’s Guard by Zhao Kuangquan. They were farmers and soldiers in China, but they were top elites in Portugal. They defeated Pedro II’s army head-on, and Count Castelumellor took the opportunity to chase after him with his cavalry.

  One month later, Zhao Kuangquan proclaimed himself king in Lisbon. He was called “Joao V” in Europe and “King Chen” in China.

  The Pope was furious and announced the excommunication of Portugal.

  The Portuguese have long been used to this, and Zhao Kuangquan is already the fourth Portuguese king who cannot be crowned by the Pope.

  Britain first recognized Zhao Kuangquan’s throne, and then Louis XIV also expressed support. Both countries did not take the Pope seriously.

  Spain, which had just been beaten up by France, felt like an enemy at this time. It was afraid that Zhao Kuangquan would lead troops to stab the chrysanthemum, and publicly recognized Zhao Kuangquan’s throne in exchange for the signing of the non-aggression treaty between Portugal and Spain.

  (end of this chapter)