I

The Second Anglo-Dutch War was not limited to Europe. There were also battlefields in America and Africa.

A British naval expedition...well, actually a group of pirates, they have long been entrenched in the Caribbean Islands. Upon receiving orders from Charles II, the pirates immediately attacked New Amsterdam. After occupying it, it was renamed New York!

At the same time, the British Royal African Company began to attack the West African colonies in an attempt to seize the ivory, slaves and gold trade from the Dutch.

On the main battlefield in Europe, Britain dispatched more than 100 warships, 4,200 large and small artillery pieces, and 22,000 troops.

This was obtained by Charles II selling iron and steel, and at the same time, it also had the wealth saved by Cromwell, and of course the enthusiastic investment of Dutch businessmen was indispensable.

The Port of Amsterdam was blockaded by the British navy for half a month. The Dutch industry and commerce were already in decline, and the port was blocked. Prices in the capital soared to the point of starvation.

Then, the British withdrew their troops...

All decent British ships were converted into warships to fight the war. As a result, there were not enough grain transport ships. The navy ran out of grain and had to return home for supplies.

The Netherlands took the opportunity to recover, and the big businessmen held urgent discussions and decided to grit their teeth and raise military expenditures. First, the Dutch Navy's pay problem was solved, and then the fleet was assembled to start a counterattack. In the end, a battle broke out between the two sides in the waters of Lowestoft.

In the history of human naval warfare, battle line tactics were used in actual combat for the first time.

This thing has been proposed before, but the British Navy was the first to adopt it, but the first performance was not perfect.

The British navy had the upper hand and formed a battle line. The Dutch navy responded hastily and its formation was in a mess. The two sides passed each other side by side. Because the British were not familiar with tactics, they forgot about the battle lines while fighting.

It eventually turned into a big fight, with each other's warships entangled with each other, but the Dutch were more chaotic than the British.

In the afternoon, the Dutch flagship exploded, and the British army won a complete victory.

The Netherlands lost 18 warships and more than 5,000 sailors and soldiers, but the main force still managed to escape from the battlefield.

Two months later, fighting broke out again.

This time the Netherlands issued a wartime mobilization order and summoned a large number of armed merchant ships to participate in the war. The British lost several warships, but the main force retreated safely, and on their way back home, they captured more than a dozen Dutch merchant ships that had taken shelter from the waves.

Two months later, the third battle began.

Historically, the British navy has always had the upper hand. As a result, the Black Death broke out in the country, and more than 100,000 people died in London alone. From then on the situation reversed, and Britain eventually lost the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

The war is now two years ahead of schedule, the Black Death has not broken out in London, and the British navy has been suppressing the Netherlands.

The Netherlands launched an urgent diplomatic operation and formed an anti-British alliance with Denmark.

Since France was married to Britain, it was inconvenient for Louis XIV to intervene forcefully. However, the Sun King was a bad guy and secretly sent supplies to the Netherlands, instigating the Netherlands to fight the British to the end.

Britain went to Portugal for help, but the young king of Portugal was a paralytic and mentally ill. The king could not make the decision, and a group of nobles argued endlessly. Finally, they agreed to form an alliance with Britain, but they were only willing to cheer for Britain from the side.

More and more Dutch merchants woke up and took the initiative to join the battle with armed merchant ships. The British and the Dutch began a four-year tug of war.

Both sides have run out of food and are frantically purchasing food from other countries. Merchants took the opportunity to drive up prices, causing food prices to rise sharply in Europe and making people in various countries miserable.

French and Spanish grain merchants took the opportunity to make a fortune selling grain.

Finally, it was still delayed until the Black Death broke out in London, and Britain's fragile finances completely collapsed.

The Netherlands was not much better. There were many hungry people in the country, overseas trade was severely damaged, and the Dutch East India Company was heavily in debt.

But Charles II was tough, or in other words, the monarchy was more suitable for war. Despite the pressure of the Black Death in London, he continued to send troops to blockade Dutch ports, patrolled key sea areas, and robbed Dutch merchant ships when they saw them.

If it drags on, Britain will definitely not be able to hold on, but the weakness of businessmen affects the war.

The Dutch businessmen did not want to fight anymore. If they continued to fight, the Netherlands might win, but many of them would go bankrupt!

At this time, France and Spain were at war, and the battlefield was in the Spanish Netherlands, which frightened the British and the Dutch to immediately negotiate a truce.

Charles II opened his mouth and the Dutch bargained.

The general content of the armistice treaty is as follows: New York in North America and Suriname in South America, the two Dutch colonies, were all ceded to Britain. At the same time, Britain promised to amend the Navigation Regulations and no longer cause trouble to the Netherlands.

Then, a dramatic scene came.

Britain and the Netherlands were fighting to the death and suddenly declared an alliance. Moreover, Sweden was also involved, and the three countries formed an anti-French alliance, demanding that France return Spanish territory.

However, King Philip IV of Spain died of illness, and Louis XIV claimed that his wife's dowry was not enough. Now that the King of Spain is dead, his wife is a Spanish princess and has the right to inherit the Spanish throne. The wife is willing to give up the throne, along with the insufficient dowry, and Spain will just compensate her with a piece of territory.

That territory was the Spanish Netherlands, roughly equivalent to what would later become Belgium and Luxembourg.

France quickly sent troops and took advantage of the new Spanish king's unsteady footing to easily swallow up the Spanish Netherlands.

Before Spain could react, Britain and the Netherlands exploded.

France annexed that territory, and the Netherlands was like a dumpling, and could be annexed by France at any time. Even if France doesn't take action, the Netherlands will live in trepidation.

Britain was unhappy with France's support of the Dutch war, and was afraid that France would continue to grow.

Sweden was so baffled that it actually got involved and formed a three-nation anti-French alliance with Britain and the Netherlands.

Louis XIV ignored it and continued to attack Spain, occupying Conté and other areas, and fought until Spain and Portugal negotiated peace.

What does this have to do with Portugal?

Louis XIV married his cousin to the fool king of Portugal and gave him a large dowry, instigating Portugal to attack Spain. This queen, who was married from France, had an affair with the brother of the idiot king, joined forces to control the power of Portugal, and actually wanted to go to war with Spain.

Spain saw something was wrong and not only chose to negotiate peace, but also formally recognized Portugal's independence.

Due to the establishment of the anti-French alliance, France also launched peace talks with Spain, giving up the occupied Spanish mainland, but retaining control of some cities in the Spanish Netherlands.

France thus stabilized its northern border, but the conflict with the Netherlands completely intensified.

As for Britain, although it was allied with the Netherlands against France, it was secretly preparing for the third Anglo-Dutch War. At that time, Britain will pull France to fight the Netherlands. Charles II and Louis XIV are so bad.

In any case, this series of wars severely damaged Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

In India, the Dutch had no temper when facing China, and even looked down upon the King of Jin.

They were afraid that if they were not careful, China would suddenly start a war and occupy the Dutch colony in Ceylon. China learned of the situation in Europe and took the opportunity to demand commercial interests and obtained the same commercial privileges as the Netherlands in India and Ceylon.

In the Americas, Spanish royal rule was completely out of control, Chinese trade fleets sailed past with great swagger, and smuggling was completely open. And the fake show came true. The Luzon Navy went to Cebu Island for a tour and fired a few cannons as a meeting gift.

Governor Palefo, who was far away in Mexico, was so frightened that he reduced the commission on Chinese merchant ships. Li Quan's Sihai Trading Company's profits soared by 5%.

Spain and the Netherlands were in complete decline, Britain was licking its wounds, and France became the dominant power in Europe. China can make a little extra money without doing anything, and I can't wait for European countries to compete more.

As for India, the two brothers, the Mughal Emperor and the Bengal Emperor, went on a militaristic and crazy expansion, which eventually led to bad results for both of them.

There were frequent uprisings in their country, and they had nothing to do all year round and were busy leading their troops to quell the chaos.

Especially in Afghanistan, the chiefs of various tribes fought guerrillas with the Mughals in the mountains, forcing the Mughals to give up their rule over Afghanistan.

Then, a civil war broke out in Afghanistan, and those chiefs wanted to be kings themselves.

After losing the territory of Afghanistan, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb became more and more angry, so he attacked the Golconda country in the south with all his strength.

The two sides fought back and forth, and the rebel forces on both sides also fought back and forth with the government troops.

In order to obtain war funds and intensify the exploitation of Hindus, the Golconda Kingdom successively acquired three territories, and the princes of the Hindu princes declared independence. One of the territories, close to the Jin Kingdom, actually chose to be loyal to the Jin king to resist the counterattack of the Golconda Sultan.

The country of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula started a rapid expansion mode. From the Gulf of Aden to Kenya, everything became the territory of Oman. The Portuguese were beaten and fled.

The wise emperor of Persia died, and his son succeeded to the throne. He became an alcoholic and stayed in the palace drinking all day long. The power of the Persian Empire fell into the hands of eunuchs. The Persian border was constantly invaded by Central Asian tribes, and the land was lost bit by bit.

The Ottoman Empire ended its queen era, and the 80-year-old veteran took charge of the overall situation, restored central power and military combat effectiveness, and once again expanded crazily towards surrounding areas. In particular, Venice's overseas territories were occupied one by one by the Ottomans, who were planning to attack Austria.

Russia and the Ottomans fought so hard that they were unable to expand into Siberia.

Nanjing, Forbidden City.

Zhao Han said to Bayikov, who was on his second mission to China: "Go back and tell Emperor Rakshasa to give up the Yenisei Military District as soon as possible, otherwise there will be endless war waiting for him. I will fight until Volga!"

Baykov prostrated on the ground: "Your Majesty, the Great Emperor, if China claims the Lake Baikal area, I will return to Moscow to convey the message to His Majesty the Tsar, and mediate to promote armistice negotiations. But it is impossible for Russia to give up the Yenisei River Basin. If possible, the Russians will definitely fight to the bitter end!”

"Lake Baikal?" Zhao Han sneered. "That's already China's North Sea. There's Osinsk not far to the west. Only by occupying there can China completely control the North Sea. Counting the time, the Beihai Protectorate should have already sent troops. Well, maybe when you go back, Osinsk has already changed its Chinese name. Take Osinsk, then Verkhnylusk, and Ust-Kut. These names are too difficult to pronounce. It is best to change them to Chinese names in the future. "

Baykov lay on the ground, his face almost desperate.

The damn Ottomans are expanding like mad dogs, dragging all the Russian troops on the border. It is impossible to mobilize them to fight in the Yenisey region.

Ottoman is a mad dog, China is also a mad dog, and Russia has to face two mad dogs at the same time.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "I have sent an envoy to visit the Ottomans. I heard that the Ottoman prime minister is an almost 90-year-old veteran. I really admire him for his efforts to turn the tide and eradicate the bad government. With such a wise veteran, I am willing Ally with the Ottomans.”

Baykov was stunned when he heard this. With Ottoman and China in alliance, would Russia still have a way to survive?