Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1053 Poland’s Dilemma

Zheng Hongkui's words made Wang Fuzhi burst out laughing. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that what he said made sense, and he was just being too picky.

Regardless of what the Kingdom of Poland was like, and whether the power of the parliament was superior to the royal power, Władysław IV was a real king. Moreover, after being in Europe for so long, Wang Fuzhi also personally experienced the great difference between the political system of Europe and the Ming Dynasty. Compared with the East, the European countries did not have the highly centralized power of China. These countries were basically influenced by religion, and the power of the church in each country was extremely strong. In addition, the aristocratic system was deeply rooted, so the power of the king was far less powerful than imagined, and there was no such thing as the divine right of the king in China.

In Europe, the king's power comes from divine right and the support of the aristocracy, and he governs the country together with the church and the aristocracy. The king is usually just a representative and is subject to many restrictions. This situation is more similar to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the pre-Qin period, but it is different in terms of religion.

Just like the King of Poland, the national power is basically controlled by the parliament, and the other is the influence of the church. Although the king is a symbol of the country as a mascot, he does not have much real power. But no matter what, the king is still the king after all. Once the king makes a diplomatic promise, it also represents the attitude of the country. As for how much he can finally fulfill, although it depends on the attitude of the subsequent parliament, for the sake of the country, I think Władysław IV will do his best to promote it. This difficult problem should not be considered by Wang Fuzhi, but by the other party.

Furthermore, the Ming Dynasty was too far away from Europe, and the influence it could exert on Europe was limited. Their purpose in going to Europe was not to find a country in Europe that could contain Tsarist Russia and launch a military attack against it, and to bring back the craftsmen, scholars and information about the entire Western world that the Ming Dynasty needed.

From this point of view, no matter what the Kingdom of Poland can achieve, as long as part of it is met, it is an achievement. Besides, Wang Fuzhi also learned a lot about Poland along the way, and was aware of the many contradictions between the Kingdom of Poland and Tsarist Russia. The two countries were geographically adjacent, and because of the expansion of the Kingdom of Poland to the east and the intention of Tsarist Russia to march west, the contradictions between the two sides were irreconcilable. More than a decade ago, due to the change of the Polish throne, the two countries also broke out in a three-year war. In this Smolensk War, the Kingdom of Poland finally won, and the main force of Tsarist Russia surrendered and signed the Treaty of Poljanovka. In the treaty, Tsarist Russia reluctantly recognized the sovereignty of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth over Smolensk.

The commander of the Polish side in this war was none other than His Majesty King Władysław IV. At that time, Władysław IV had just ascended the throne of Poland. Tsarist Russia at that time felt that the Polish throne was changing, and the new king had not yet firmly sat on the throne. Moreover, Poland's political system was a parliamentary system, so the country would definitely be in chaos. Taking this opportunity, they would raise a large army to launch a war to the west and seize the sovereignty of Smolensk from Poland. The probability of success was extremely high.

In fact, Tsarist Russia did the same thing. After the outbreak of the war, the Kingdom of Poland was caught off guard and the main force of Tsarist Russia directly broke through the border defense line and entered Lithuania in one breath. Moreover, under the powerful offensive of Tsarist Russia, the Polish army on the border had no power to fight back, retreated step by step, and lost a large area of ​​territory.

Seeing that the war was going well, the Russians were full of momentum and were no longer satisfied with the idea of ​​only getting involved in the sovereignty of Smolensk before the war. They further expanded the war and intended to annex the entire Lithuania. At this time, the members of the Polish Parliament were all panicked. They did not expect the war to break out suddenly, let alone that it would be so serious in such a short time. Once Poland lost Lithuania, the nominal federation would no longer exist, and the members of parliament would lose their power and status.

Under such circumstances, it was Władysław IV, who had just ascended the throne, who showed a resolute attitude of resistance and stood up to persuade the parliament to gather the army in the name of the king to fight again. In the subsequent wars, Władysław IV personally went to the front line, commanded the various troops to resist tenaciously, and led the newly formed reinforcements to reinforce.

When forming reinforcements, Władysław IV reorganized the army according to the most advanced military model in Europe at that time, and assembled an army of 21500 people, with Poles, Cossacks, Germans, and Lithuanians as the core.

This army was organized by Władysław IV into 24 flags of winged cavalry, 27 flags of light cavalry, 10 squadrons of German-style pistol cavalry, 7 Lithuanian cavalry regiments, 7 large dragoon regiments, and 20 infantry regiments, plus 10000 infantry managed according to advanced Western management methods. This kind of army structure had never existed in the federal army at that time. It was precisely because of Władysław IV's courage and excellent command ability that the situation of the war was finally turned around.

Finally, Władysław IV led his army to defeat the powerful enemy, forced the opponent to sign a treaty, and won the Smolensk War. At that time, the king's prestige in Poland reached its peak, and he was called a "hero" and loved by all Poles.

But just when the war was about to end, the previously anxious parliamentarians jumped out one by one. They were afraid that Władysław IV would threaten the parliament's rule over the country because of his military exploits, and they were even more worried that the royal power would override the parliament. In this situation, the parliamentarians began to drag the front line and privately expressed their attitude of peace talks with Tsarist Russia. This made Władysław IV, who was originally able to fight back against Tsarist Russia, unable to continue to carry out subsequent military operations because of the parliament. In order to avoid turning from victory to defeat and losing the initiative on the battlefield again, Władysław IV could only retreat and accept the surrender of Tsarist Russia. From the perspective of the war situation, the Kingdom of Poland won the battle, but from the actual situation, it was Tsarist Russia that lost the war but achieved success in diplomacy.

Because of Władysław IV's high prestige, the parliament was too wary of the king and further restricted the king's royal power. Later, Tsarist Russia instigated the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Poland in the south to start a border war, further weakening the military strength of the Kingdom of Poland. After that, although Poland had won the war, it did not gain more benefits from the war, nor was it able to completely suppress Tsarist Russia. Moreover, because of the parliament's manipulation, the new army formed by Władysław IV was suppressed and even dismantled after the war, which made Władysław IV very desperate.

Because of this, Władysław IV privately lamented that although the war was won, Poland actually lost, and the real war was not over, but just the beginning. In the future, Tsarist Russia would definitely continue to fight with Poland again. By then, would Poland still have the good luck it had before? Would it be able to win the war again? The king expressed deep concern about this.

Apart from this, there was another point that made Władysław IV most powerless, that is, the members of the Tsarist Russia and the Polish Parliament colluded with each other and forced him to voluntarily give up his right to inherit the Russian throne.

You should know that although Władysław IV was the King of Poland, his real titles were: King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia, hereditary king of the Swedes, Goths and Vandals, and the elected Grand Duke of Moscow.

The succession to the throne in European countries is very complicated. In terms of bloodline continuation and succession to the throne, many high-ranking nobles often have the right to inherit one or even several kingdoms. For example, Władysław IV, in addition to being the King of Poland, also holds the titles of Grand Duke of other territories, as well as the hereditary king titles of Sweden, Goths and Vandals.

In addition, the most important one is the title of the elected Grand Duke of Moscow. This title means that Władysław IV still has the legal right to inherit the throne of Tsarist Russia. As long as he has this title, Władysław IV can even ascend the throne of Russia and become the new Tsar at the appropriate time. This is a great threat to the current Tsar.

Through the Polish Parliament and other channels, Władysław IV was forced to voluntarily give up his right to inherit the Russian throne, which was equivalent to cutting off the possibility of the Polish Kingdom interfering with Tsarist Russia in the future. Władysław IV himself certainly did not want to give up so easily, but the problem was that the pressure from the domestic parliament was too great, and as the King of Poland, he had to consider the interests of Poland first. After weighing the pros and cons, Władysław IV had no choice but to agree to this condition, thus losing the possibility of inheriting the Russian throne.

After announcing his renunciation of the Russian throne, Władysław IV was disheartened and deeply disappointed with the Polish parliamentary system. It was also for this reason that Władysław IV, as the King of Poland, moved to Sweden in his later years. He became a complete mascot, and the power of the country fell into the hands of the parliament. The members of the parliament kept fighting for their own selfish interests, making the whole country a mess.

This time, he returned to Warsaw and received the delegation from the Ming Dynasty with great enthusiasm. The real purpose of Władysław IV was to once again enhance his reputation in Poland through an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, so as to find a way to seize the power he deserved from the parliament.

Of course, it is very difficult to achieve this step, even if he is the king. The Polish Parliament is composed of nobles and merchants. They have controlled the country for many years and have deep-rooted power in Poland. Władysław IV failed during the war, let alone now? But no matter what, Władysław IV had to try. He had had enough of these parliamentarians and would never give up if he had the chance.

After careful consideration, Wang Fuzhi finally understood Władysław IV's idea. After figuring out the other party's plan, he was relieved. Since the two sides have a basis for cooperation and the possibility of mutual benefit, why not give it a try? Besides, what will happen to Poland in the end, whether the east wind will prevail over the west wind or the west wind will prevail over the east wind, this will not have much impact on the Ming Dynasty. As long as Wang Fuzhi can maneuver and achieve the Ming Dynasty's goal with ease, it will be fine whether he cooperates with Władysław IV or the Polish Parliament.

(End of this chapter)