The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 291 Spain and Portugal

With his personal prestige and the "legal" procedures granted by the parliament, Napoleon took control of most of France's armed forces.

As a dictator who directly controls military force, he does not care much about differences in ideology and policies and can be relatively tolerant.

After Napoleon stabilized the high-level situation in France, he personally led his troops back to the Spanish battlefield and continued his attack on the Aragon region.

The two sides were originally holding peace talks. When the Spaniards discovered that France had attacked again, they became extremely panicked and asked the French representatives what they were going to do.

Napoleon then made a series of new demands directly to Spain.

First, Spain itself had to withdraw from the anti-French alliance and cede the Louisiana region, which once belonged to France, to France.

Then, Spain would form an alliance with France and cooperate with the French army to attack Portugal, forcing Portugal to withdraw from the anti-French alliance.

Finally, the Spanish Navy cooperated with the French Navy to defeat the British Navy and attack the British mainland.

Napoleon didn't know that Spain had signed a contract to transfer Louisiana to the Ming Dynasty.

The conditions proposed by Napoleon were basically the content of the cooperation between Napoleon and Spain in history.

The original historical Spain accepted it, and under the leadership of Godoy, Spain turned to France.

France gained ownership of Louisiana, but France and Britain controlled the Atlantic Ocean, making it difficult for France to communicate with its overseas colonies.

The vast inland plains and uninhabited areas of the Louisiana region have no significance to mainland France.

So Napoleon soon sold Louisiana to the Americans again.

Today's Spain does not dare to accept Napoleon's conditions because it has the Ming Dynasty as its big brother watching from behind.

The Ming Dynasty has already stated that it supports the anti-French alliance. If Spain switches sides to France, it may have to fight with the Ming Dynasty in the future.

The Spaniards had seen the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty’s army. If the Spanish army’s combat effectiveness was 2 and the French army’s was 3, then the Ming Dynasty’s was at least 4, or possibly even 5.

The Spaniards told the French that they had already handed over Louisiana to the Ming Dynasty and continued to negotiate with France to delay time.

At the same time, he immediately sent people to Tunisia to find officials of the Ming Dynasty, asking the Ming Dynasty to assist Spain in resisting the French attack in accordance with the friendly alliance treaty with Spain.

Otherwise, Spain might have to sue for peace with France and then have to side with France.

When Zheng Ruian, the deputy governor of the Right Military Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty, the admiral of the Mediterranean Navy of the Ming Dynasty, and the commander-in-chief of the war in the Mediterranean region, took office, he received instructions from Zhu Jianxuan:

Without the emperor's direct order, do not intervene directly in the war on the European continent. At most, let the navy rescue some fleeing European nobles.

So Zheng Ruian deliberately responded very rigidly to the Spanish envoy's request for help:
“The war between Spain and France was initiated by Spain, not by France itself.

“It does not meet the conditions for joining the war stipulated in the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance.

"So the Ming Dynasty will not join the war because of this. The Ming Dynasty does not mind Spain seeking peace with France."

The Spanish envoy went back to report to the king, queen and prime minister.

The King of Spain was panicked and angry after hearing this:
"How could the Ming Dynasty do this? Didn't they want to support the anti-French alliance? Why did they just watch us being attacked?"

The Queen of Spain also said:
"On the other side, even if we initiated the war and did not meet the conditions of the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, they still claimed to be on the side of the Anti-French Alliance!"

Godoy said in a particularly tangled and nervous tone:

"Ming's support for the anti-French alliance does not include direct participation in the war, unless the anti-French alliance has achieved a major victory over France.

“Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty would probably only give verbal support.

"Under the current circumstances, we can only accept France's demands. Anyway, the officers of the Ming Dynasty have also said that they don't mind us side with France."

The King of Spain immediately asked:

"What if Ming Dynasty joins the war in the future? If Ming Dynasty officially joins the anti-French alliance, won't we have to fight against Ming Dynasty?"

Godoy was a little undecided in his heart, but on the surface he said very firmly:

"France now had Napoleon, and the French army was at its peak, with a huge advantage over all other European countries.

"The Habsburgs have already withdrawn, the Italian peninsula has been occupied, and the Rhine River basin has been occupied by France. It is only a matter of time before Prussia withdraws.

“At this point we joined the French side, and our only real enemies were Portugal and Britain.

"Spain and France can at least defeat Portugal and England, right?

"The anti-French alliance cannot win, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely not join the war. It may even support France.

"If Ming joins the war and the anti-French alliance defeats France, we can break with France and join the anti-French alliance again.

"In order to gain more power to defeat France, the anti-French coalition countries will not refuse us."

The King and Queen of Spain thought Godoy had a point.

After struggling for a long time, he finally decided to accept Godoy's advice and continue peace talks with France.

As for Napoleon, after being informed by France that Louisiana had already belonged to the Ming Dynasty, he had to adjust his goals.

Demanded from Spain the three Central American islands of Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.

Cuba is the center of Spain in the Caribbean, with a population of over 600,000, roughly half white and half black.

After much tug-of-war and compromise, Spain retained the most important Cuba and handed over the two islands of Jamaica and Puerto Rico to France.

At the same time as the two sides signed the peace treaty, Spain formally allied with France and formally declared war on Portugal and Britain.

Spain was worried that the French army would penetrate too deep into the Spanish interior and control the inland areas and then be unwilling to leave, so it took the initiative to unilaterally attack Portugal.

At the same time, the French and Spanish navies were invited to cooperate in attacking British-controlled Gibraltar.

Spain once again attempted to retake Gibraltar.

A new round of war began, and the relevant news was immediately transmitted back to the Ming Dynasty.
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The scientific research work that Zhu Jianxuan arranged during his third year at Tiangong began to produce results four years after he entered Tiangong.

The first important achievement turned out to be a flying machine.

Because the structure of early aircraft was simple enough, and Zhu Jianxuan could not only point out the right direction, but could even directly give most of the design details.

Two pairs of wings, an engine, a propeller, two control surfaces, and three driven wheels are all that is needed.

The propeller is directly connected to the engine and does not require a special acceleration and deceleration structure.

The craftsmen in charge of the principle experiment quickly made a usable verification aircraft and designed an unmanned taxiing takeoff experiment.

Start the engine, use a specially made mechanical timing structure to pull the throttle, and the flying machine glides forward under the traction of the engine and takes off successfully.

The mechanical timing structure automatically releases the throttle when the preset time is reached, and the flying machine, which has lost power, naturally glides and lands.

After the takeoff experiment was successful, the project team began to prepare for a complete manned flight experiment.

On the third day of February in the fourth year of Tiangong, the craftsmen completed the manned takeoff, landing, and hovering experiments.

The gravity is greater than that of air, and the machine can continue to fly under its own power. This new concept of flying machine has been officially invented.

The whole process went unusually smoothly, but Zhu Jianxuan's disciples and craftsmen were used to it.

His Majesty the Emperor's ideas have always been very perfect and reasonable, just like mature designs that have been tested and will come to fruition as long as they are followed.

The craftsmen continued to conduct experiments step by step, obtained more actual usage data, and continued to improve the design details.

At the same time, he began to design practical flying machines.

Using existing engines and fuselage materials, we can create a flying machine that can fly as far as possible, at the fastest speed possible, and can be mass-produced.

And in accordance with Zhu Jianxuan's requirements, operational weapons were added, including machine guns and mounted bombs.

The next thing to be completed was the wheeled armored vehicle, which was completed by installing steel plate armor around the motor vehicle, installing a 12mm heavy machine gun, and deploying a usable ammunition supply system.

Then there are the armored vehicles equipped with 40mm guns. The tracked heavy armored vehicles are more difficult to deal with.

Before Zhu Jianxuan made special arrangements, some craftsmen had already been researching vehicle-mounted weapons. Zhu Jianxuan's order officially launched their research as a project.

By the autumn of the fourth year of Tiangong, the wheeled machine gun armored vehicle, which had undergone many tests, was temporarily finalized and put into the factory for mass production.

The design of the first practical aircraft has finally been completed and is about to enter the factory mass production stage.

Zhu Jianxuan is well aware of the importance of aircraft. He always pays close attention to the entire development process of the flying machine and continues to give a lot of suggestions and requirements.

The "Type 1 aircraft" completed at this time had a very mature overall design and did not look like an aircraft that had just been invented less than a year ago.

First of all, it skipped the era of multi-layer wings and designed a very typical lower single-wing layout.

Because the wing configuration is reasonable, the lift provided by the wing itself is relatively high.

It is also because the era of wood was skipped and aluminum alloy frames and skins were used directly, so the wings are strong enough to be made wider and longer without breaking.

Such a large wing can provide enough lift.

There are also fused fuel tanks inside the wings, built-in onboard machine guns in the wings, and mounting structures under the belly.

It uses a seven-cylinder radial engine with a maximum power of 160 horsepower, a maximum flight speed of 200 kilometers per hour, and a maximum range of approximately 400 kilometers.

It can carry 100 kilograms of bombs or cargo, but the flight speed and range will be greatly reduced when loaded.

If this thing was put on the battlefield where Zhu Jianxuan fought in his previous life, it would have been considered a late-stage equipment. Zhu Jianxuan was very satisfied after seeing it, and directly ordered it to be put into mass production as soon as possible, and at the same time began to design a derivative model suitable for use at sea.

And continue to work hard to improve the power and efficiency of the engine.

After the aircraft design was completed, the overall design of the warship used to carry the aircraft, that is, the early aircraft carrier, was also completed.

After reading it, Zhu Jianxuan directly ordered the construction of two ships for future aircraft carrier experiments.

Most of the work on the design of the new artillery battleship has been completed, but the only problem is the design of the multiple-gun turret.

After Zhu Jianxuan understood the situation, he ordered that construction could begin once the ship's design was completed, leaving space for the installation of the turret.

The construction period of large warships is very long, usually taking two to three years, and the installation of turrets is a very late-stage task.

Therefore, after the construction of the battleship hull begins, it will take one to two years to complete the design and debugging of the artillery.

However, before starting work, at least the approximate size, weight and number of the turrets must be determined.

Zhu Jianxuan went to the Academy of Engineering specifically and convened a meeting of the craftsmen who were designing the battleship to determine the specifications of the target turret.

Zhu Jianxuan had experience from his previous life, but he did not say it directly. He listened to the craftsmen's opinions first.

The original turret was a twin-mounted one with a relatively simple, reliable and mature structure. It had been designed and put into practical use long ago, but its firepower density was too low.

On the front and rear sides of the bridge, two turrets are arranged in a back-to-back layout, which is the simplest, most compact, space-saving and weight-saving design.

At this time, the gun barrels are facing the front and rear sides of the hull, and the main armor belt only needs to protect the location of the turret.

For the area where the extended gun barrel is located, just use secondary armor.

If you want to install more artillery and the number of turrets exceeds four, you will need to extend the length of the hull and extend the length of the core area and main armor belt.

The extension does not only include the length of the turret's rotating structure, but at least includes part of the extended gun barrel length.

This obviously wastes the length of the hull and the length of the main armor.

Based on this typical logic, the number of turrets on an artillery battleship should not exceed four.

However, there were only eight guns in the four twin turrets, which was too few in number.

The quadruple-mounted turret has the highest firepower density, and deploying four turrets can install sixteen guns.

However, the quadruple turret is too wide and will take up the lateral space of the ship.

The side of a battleship is not a simple steel shell, but a complex spatial structure with multiple layers of defense against shells and torpedoes.

To absorb the impact of future explosions, these structures must be deep enough.

If the turret is too wide, while maintaining the depth of the defensive structure, the hull itself will become wider.

This will affect the overall lines of the ship, which in turn will affect the maximum cruising speed and fuel consumption.

Compromising between the two extremes, most craftsmen believed that four triple-mounted turrets were the most suitable option.

In this way, the turret will not be too wide, the hull and core area do not need to be too long, it is also most convenient for the hull structure design, and the firepower density is acceptable.

Zhu Jianxuan found that the craftsmen had generally discussed the correct ideas, so he directly decided on this research and development direction.

Let them temporarily put aside the design of the quadruple turret and concentrate their efforts on completing the research and development of the triple turret, and strive to complete the testing and acceptance within two years.

The hull size of the new artillery battleship was adjusted according to the indicators of four triple-mounted 160mm turrets.

Zhu Jianxuan's orders were distributed and the craftsmen immediately took action.

Based on the original artillery battleship design, the design drawings of the target battleship were completed and officially delivered to the shipyard for construction at the end of the fourth year of Tiangong.

In March of the fifth year of Tiangong, the trial production of trinitrotoluene was successful, and Zhu Jianxuan directly ordered the construction of a factory for mass production.

In the future, the existing picric acid will be gradually replaced by safer trinitrotoluene.

Picric acid reacts easily with metals to produce highly sensitive compounds, which can easily explode if they fall or are hit.

Trinitrotoluene does not have this problem. It is also more impact-resistant and will not explode even when shot, so this type of explosive is more "safe".

In June, experiments on air conditioners and refrigerators based on the same principles were completed, and construction of a specialized factory began in preparation for mass production.

In October, the principle experiment of diesel engine-lead-acid battery submarine was completed, and the construction of formal experimental diesel-electric submarine began.

In April of the sixth year of Tiangong, the Baoding Aircraft Manufacturing Plant officially went into production and began mass production of one type of aircraft.

However, it is not the original design model, but an improved model.

After more than two years of research and development, the craftsmen increased the engine power to 200 horsepower, and the performance of the aircraft naturally improved accordingly.

In August, the first purpose-built aircraft carrier, the Dengzhou, was launched and began sea trials.

In September, the Jizhou Armored Vehicle Manufacturing Plant officially went into production and began producing wheeled machine gun armored vehicles and wheeled 40mm self-propelled artillery.

During this period, Zhu Jianxuan received news that Napoleon had come to power through a coup, but he did not take it too seriously.

Napoleon was a natural born hero. As long as there was an opportunity to "progress", he would never let it go. Once his prestige was high enough, he would definitely want to go further.

November 1799, the sixth year of Tiangong, December 12, 22 in the Western calendar, was the winter solstice.

An urgent telegram from the Western Factory was sent from Tunisia to Oman by wired telegram, then forwarded to Myanmar by wireless telegram, and then changed to wired telegram to Shuntian Prefecture.

After being translated by the Ministry of Public Administration, it was handed to Zhu Jianxuan.

"Without the direct support of the Ming Dynasty, Spain really couldn't hold on and had to defect..."

After reading it, Zhu Jianxuan sighed, then picked up the phone and called several university scholars and privy envoys over, asking them to draft administrative and military orders on the spot:
"Announced joining Spain in the war against Portugal, and ordered the African Expeditionary Army to seize Portugal's strongholds on the east and west coasts of Africa."

“Appoint Nelson as the admiral of the South Atlantic Fleet and Zhou Dahu as the governor of the South African and South American Army.

“We will mobilize troops from South Africa and North America, and with the cooperation of the navy, we will seize the coastal strongholds of Brazil.

“Let Zheng Ruian cooperate with the army around the Mediterranean to prepare to cross the sea to attack the Portuguese mainland and seize the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

“Remind Britain that Ming is only joining Spain’s war against Portugal, not joining the alliance with France, and will not fight Britain because of this.

"Warn Britain not to act rashly and not to get involved in the war between Ming and Portugal, otherwise the American militia will go north to seize Canada."

None of the university scholars present at the scene had expected that Zhu Jianxuan would declare war on Portugal at this time.

It was unexpected by everyone.

But after a little consideration, I found that this is also reasonable.

Spain was in decline at this time, and Portugal, which began its overseas colonization at the same time as Spain, was also in decline.

But at this time, Portugal still occupied a long coastline on the east and west sides of southern Africa, as well as the Brazilian region in central South America.

Although the early colonists built strongholds on the coast and had no direct control over most of the wasteland in the interior, they claimed that the land around the strongholds and inland belonged to them.

Zhu Jianxuan had already arranged for the Ming Dynasty's vassal states to explore Africa.

The feudal lords adjacent to the Portuguese colonies were specifically required to take the initiative to occupy and develop the wastelands around the Portuguese colonial outposts.

At that time, Zhu Jianxuan had arranged that if Portugal confronted the Ming immigrants head-on, he would directly send troops to seize Portugal's colonial outposts and declare war on Portugal directly.

If Portugal cannot bear it, it can just start cultivating the land normally and wait for the emperor's subsequent orders.

The Portuguese also knew that they were no longer strong enough, and facing the constant squeeze from the Ming Dynasty's vassal immigrants, they actually forced themselves to suppress the idea of ​​resistance.

They only controlled their own colonial outposts to do business and did not compete with the Ming Dynasty for the ownership of the inland wasteland.

Zhu Jianxuan has also already regarded South America as his own.

The Ming Dynasty's expansion in both directions would bring direct conflicts with Portugal, and it would have to fight a battle with Portugal sooner or later.

But how to fight and for what reason is a question that is neither big nor small.

Now a suitable opportunity has presented itself.

The Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Ming Dynasty and Spain stipulated that if one side was attacked by a third party, the other side must participate in a defensive war.

If one party takes the initiative to attack a third party, the other party can choose whether to join the war.

Now that Spain has declared war on Portugal, Ming can take this opportunity to join the war and seize Portugal's overseas colonies.

Based on historical experience, Zhu Jianxuan speculated that the direct purpose of Napoleon and Spain's attack on Portugal this time was just to make Portugal withdraw from the anti-French alliance.

During the Napoleonic era, Portugal was no longer considered a powerful country and was already sitting at the same table as the Netherlands.

Faced with the Spanish army supported by France, Portugal would most likely compromise quickly. After all, it would just be withdrawing from the anti-French alliance and there would be no actual losses.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty must act quickly and send out a declaration of war before Portugal surrenders.

In this way, when Portugal wants to withdraw from the war, it will not only have to sign a treaty with Spain and France, but also negotiate and sign a contract with the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty would not negotiate with Portugal before seizing its colonies in Africa and America.

(End of this chapter)