The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 780 What? Napoleon wants to be my son-in-law?

At the mouth of the Nile, in Aboukir Bay, the conservative and rigid-minded French naval commander François Paul Brouill is leading the French navy into an abyss.

In fact, when the fleet had just decided to anchor at Abu Kil Bay outside the Nile estuary, the fleet's second commander, Rear Admiral Armand Blancott, captain of the third-class battleship Franklin, strongly opposed anchoring there.

He believed that the navy should be on the move, bravely fighting the enemy on the open ocean, rather than hiding in the bay and relying on the coastal defense guns on land to fight the British.

Because that would completely relinquish the warship's maneuverability, handing over all options to the opponent, and morale would plummet to its lowest point due to such a premature surrender.

What's even more terrifying is that if you're defeated, you'll be anchored in the port and unable to move. A defeat basically means total annihilation.

However, not only did no one support his viewpoint, but what was even more outrageous was that the fleet commander François Paul Brouill made a huge mistake in his arrangements.

First, the fleet left a large open area of ​​water between the anchorage and the coastal defense guns, which gave the English fleet ample space to infiltrate and encircle the French fleet.

Secondly, the thirteen battleships of the French Navy were too far apart from each other, especially the distance between the foremost, stern, and the middle flagship, the first-class battleship Orient, which was even more exaggerated, making them easy to be cut apart in the event of a battle.

Finally, and most fatally, because this expedition to Egypt required avoiding the English fleet as much as possible, not many transport ships were used to deliver supplies.

Upon arriving in Egypt, Napoleon, in order to strengthen the army's logistical capabilities and seize Cairo and Alexandria as quickly as possible, took away most of the food and fresh water.

This resulted in a severe shortage of food and water for the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, forcing fleet commander François Paul Brouill to order each warship to send personnel to various locations on shore to collect food and water.

During this journey, they were attacked by remnants of the Mamluks and some Bedouin light cavalry, making it extremely difficult to collect food and water. As a result, the French army had to send additional personnel to ensure a stable supply.

This has resulted in French warships being understaffed for a long time, almost always lacking one-third or more of their soldiers and sailors.

Given the numerous unfavorable factors, even if you gave Horatio Nelson to the French, they would still have a very difficult time winning this naval battle, let alone with Horatio Nelson on the other side.

Thus, when the English fleet found the French fleet, Nelson instantly discovered the first and second fatal weaknesses of the French fleet, and he immediately ordered the English fleet to cut off and divide the French fleet.

Flames shot into the sky, and the explosions could be faintly heard even in the distant port of Alexandria. The English fleet quickly completed its mission of splitting up the fleet and then concentrated its forces to attack the French fleet from both sides.

The French fleet made fatal mistakes in its deployment. Once the battle began, it essentially lost command and could only fight independently. Moreover, it was short about a third of its key sailors and gunners, and the situation quickly deteriorated.

The battle began at 2 p.m. and lasted until 9 p.m. The flagship of the French fleet, the first-class battleship Orient with 118 guns, suffered a catastrophic explosion and fire, and sank shortly afterward. The commander of the French fleet, François Paul Brouill, also perished in the flames.

By the early hours of the second day, the fleet commander, Villeneuve, whom Mok Kung Ze had described as mediocre, finally took advantage of the darkness and fog to lead four warships to break through the blockade of the English fleet and escape.

The battle ended in a crushing defeat for the French navy.

In this battle, known as the Battle of the Nile Estuary, the English Navy deployed a total of fifteen warships. None of them were sunk, and only a little over two hundred soldiers and sailors were killed, while four or five hundred were wounded.

Of the thirteen French battleships and four cruisers, a total of seventeen warships, two battleships were destroyed, nine battleships were captured, and two cruisers were destroyed. Only two battleships and two cruisers managed to break through the encirclement.

Among the two battleships destroyed was the Orient, a first-class battleship.

This is a first-class battleship, with 118 cannons and more than 1,000 officers and soldiers. It is full of generals and field officers, each of whom has been trained for more than ten years. Even with the wealth of the Great Yu, if one of them were to sink, Mo Zibu would be heartbroken for months.

In total, the French Navy suffered at least 3,000 casualties in this war, and more than 3,500 were captured, including more than 20 generals.

This dealt a fatal blow to the French Navy, which had fewer than 40,000 personnel. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it completely depleted the French Navy's talent pool.

When Napoleon Bonaparte received this news, he had just left Cairo and was marching towards the Sinai Peninsula.

The French camp was bustling with activity in the early morning, as soldiers sang songs while enjoying their breakfast.

In contrast to the navy's disastrous defeat, the army made great progress. They easily defeated the Mamluk warlords Murad al-Bai and Ibrahim al-Bai, the rulers of Egypt, seized the rich Nile Delta, and began their march into Greater Syria, which includes Jerusalem.

If all goes well, they will accomplish what the Crusades failed to achieve: establishing a state on the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, encompassing Egypt and Syria, and subordinate to France.

In his command tent, eating traditional Egyptian flatbread dipped in holmes sauce and accompanied by roasted meat, Napoleon looked at his close officers, including Louis Davout, Auguste Marmont, Joachim Murat, and Louis Lassalle, and said with satisfaction:

"India, this rich land, is something that every European country desperately needs. I can say that whoever controls India will be invincible in Europe."

"Gentlemen, do not be fooled by the great power and thriving industry and commerce of the Kingdom of England. If they lost India, they could not possibly maintain their current size with only the small island of Britain. I am specifically referring to the size of their navy."

Napoleon's words made all the officers nod in agreement. India, which was like a latrine at the doorstep to China, was indeed a supreme treasure in the eyes of European countries.

A vast territory, a wide consumer market, a large and well-trained populace, and Indian princes and nobles who have accumulated wealth over thousands of years.

Each of these items is extremely valuable to European countries with small land areas and small populations. Only a country of the size of Dayu, and so close in distance, would worry about Indians coming to their country and thus be disgusted by them.

Joachim Murat wiped his hands after finishing his burrito and agreed, saying, "The English navy, in terms of both size and the quality of its officers and men, is not something we can defeat."

Therefore, what the French Navy should do now is to avoid a major battle, preserve the main force of the fleet, do everything possible to maintain its advantage in the Mediterranean, and wait for our expeditionary victory to seize England's Indian colonies. Then the English will be finished.

Because they lost India, they could not maintain their current fleet size, and within five years at most, the Kingdom of England would have weakened to the state of the Kingdom of Spain.

As Ashchan Murat said, this is the strategy that is currently agreed upon by the French army's high command, led by Napoleon.

That is, the navy maintained its presence in the Mediterranean while the army took over British India. On the one hand, France's finances soared and its navy began to expand rapidly, while on the other hand, the Kingdom of England's finances dried up and it could no longer maintain its current naval size, falling to the level of Spain.

By then, the Kingdom of England will be finished.

As for Napoleon's subsequent attempts to launch expeditions across the sea to the British Isles, these were merely desperate choices made after this strategic failure.

"Commander, taking over British India is not difficult. The English do not have a particularly strong army in India. However, we must obtain the support of Emperor Seres, otherwise we will not be able to establish a wealthy French India."

The speaker was Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Napoleon's most trusted chief of staff and the founder of the modern staff system.

His mother was a lady-in-waiting in the Bourbon dynasty and also took care of the young Duke of Anjou, who was Louis XVI's brother and the future Louis XVIII.

Louis-Alexandre Berthier's expertise in staff work, coupled with his family's close ties to royalty, gave him a broader perspective and a better understanding of issues than Napoleon's mid-level generals, and even surpassed Napoleon himself.

"The army of the Seres Empire was modeled after ours, and the Wealthy King also rose to power by relying on our French soldiers."

Therefore, we know that the Seris army, apart from its large numbers, is not as capable in combat as ours.

"If we can defeat them a few times, Emperor Seris will take the initiative to negotiate with us. Then, if we offer him some benefits, he will acquiesce to this arrangement."

Louis Davout appeared very confident, which inevitably brings to mind the stereotypes Europeans held about the Chinese Empire at that time.

Because Mozibu's rise to power was steeped in European influence, his nickname "The Rich and Powerful Emperor" became widely known throughout Europe during this period.

At that time, everyone in Europe knew that there was an Eastern emperor who would give generous treatment and even titles to truly capable soldiers. Going to the East would make one both rich and noble, thus attracting a large number of European military talents to go to the East to serve.

To say that Europeans, especially the French, helped Mozibu establish his army and navy would certainly be an exaggeration, but they certainly played a significant role.

For example, Vice Admiral Fragosai and Admiral Sufran served as de facto Minister of the Navy for more than 20 years and can be considered two of the founders of the Da Yu Navy.

In addition, the Chief of the General Staff, Baron Moritz Kluge, and Reinstein, who came from Austria, were also extremely important.

The stereotype that the Seres army was trained in Europe, coupled with the fact that the Anxi campaign of the Great Yu lasted for more than ten or twenty years, made European soldiers feel that the Seres army was not very strong.

Because in the eyes of Napoleon and others, it would not take that long to quell a peasant rebellion and defeat and control a country with a population of several million that was still in the Middle Ages.

A battle can be resolved in two or three years with only 20,000 or 30,000 people; why would hundreds of thousands of people fight for twenty years?

Those whose eyes were clouded by the distance and fog of the East would never have imagined that the Anxi Expedition of the Great Yu was not a war of conquest, but a war of racial transformation that uprooted both religion and race.

Of course, there is also the narrative from the Tsarist Rus' Empire, which claims that they used only a small number of guards to hold off at least 150,000 Seresian troops and recapture the Semipalatinsk fortress (Golden Fortress).

Based on this deep-seated stereotype that the Da Yu army and navy were of average combat strength, and that the army's combat strength was perhaps only slightly stronger than that of the Ottoman Turks, European armies, especially the French army, were quite confident when facing the Da Yu.

“I think we still can’t place the Seres Army on a level that is only slightly higher than the Ottoman Empire’s new army. At least the Belgian Army’s performance in the Battle of Ireland, which we just learned about, far exceeded our expectations.” Louis-Alexander Berthier still insisted on his point of view. Due to family connections, he had been recruited by Princess Charlotte, the daughter of Louis XVI, and therefore knew some of the current situation of the Great Yu Army.

“The Directory sent too weak an army to Ireland, and the number of soldiers was too small. They weren’t even qualified to join our expeditionary force. Failure was inevitable.” Louis Davout remained unconvinced.

Others chimed in, for people are always vain, and seeing the Seres army as a disciple of the French army certainly satisfied their fantasies of being superior.

Napoleon, however, interrupted the officers' self-satisfied commotion after a moment's thought.

"Without having experienced combat, we cannot rashly determine the strength of an army, especially the army of a great empire."

The Ottoman Empire had been decaying for decades, while the Seres Empire had just regained its independence and was growing stronger. I think it would be incorrect to compare the Seres army to the Ottoman army.

Although Napoleon had minor weaknesses in diplomacy and strategy, and was somewhat blindly arrogant, these flaws diminished considerably when he entered the military arena.

He rejected Louis Davout's blind optimism and instead asked Louis-Alexandre Berthier:

“Louis, among us, you know Seris the best. Tell me, what can we do to gain the support of the Seris Empire, or at least to ensure that the wealthy and powerful Emperor Seris will not interfere with our operations in India?”

The central idea behind Napoleon's suggestion to launch the invasion of Egypt was to establish a puppet regime subordinate to France in the richest lands along the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to Syria.

Based on this, a number of vassal states that obeyed the orders of France were then established in the Mesopotamian region, including Najd, Gautama, and Iraq. If possible, a federal state would also be established on the Persian Plateau.

In this way, France could control this vast land and achieve its goal of connecting with India without relying too much on the navy, thus turning England's India into France's India.

Moreover, this is not a fantasy, because although the Ottoman Empire ruled this land for hundreds of years, they shared the same faith, and the Ottoman Sultan was the Caliph of the Islamic world.

In reality, the Pan-Arabs, Iranians, and others had been resisting Ottoman Turkish rule, and their relationship was almost exactly the same as that between the Han Chinese and the Manchus under the Qing Dynasty.

These were all barbaric ethnic groups from Northeast China who entered the Central Plains, ruled over large core areas, and discriminated against and oppressed local ethnic groups in politics, religion, and economy.

Therefore, after arriving in Egypt, Napoleon and the French army actually regarded themselves as liberators.

They even helped the Egyptians build a more Egyptian-style temple, helped Egypt develop its economy, and abolished the Ottoman Turkish taxes in order to win people's hearts.

Although the Egyptians remained somewhat ungrateful and did not religiously regard Christians as liberators, Napoleon's thinking remained unchanged.

Upon hearing Napoleon's question, Louis-Alexandre Berthier looked around, appearing hesitant to speak.

Napoleon immediately understood and dismissed the junior officers, Egyptian cooks, and servants who were serving them breakfast in the barracks.

“I know a princess named Seris who is both beautiful and intelligent, and who has recently become a widow.”

She and her mother were greatly favored by Emperor Seris. Her mother was the most powerful concubine, and the princess was one of his most beloved daughters. Whoever married her would surely gain Emperor Seris's trust.

The princess mentioned by Louis-Alexandre Berthier was Princess Yongping, Mo Weijing, the fourth daughter of Consort Ye Xiaomei and Mo Zibu.

She married the grandson of Liang Guozhi, the first prime minister of Mo Zibu, a native of Shaoxing. This was a political marriage that Mo Zibu used to win over the gentry and wealthy merchants of Jiangnan.

Unfortunately, only three years after marrying into the family, Liang Guozhi's grandson died of illness. Mo Weijing was deeply affected and did not remarry. She continued to engage in medical research and taught at the Hongwu Imperial Medical Academy.

Two years ago, under the guidance of Mo Zibu, Mo Weijing discovered bacteria and germs. Combining this with traditional Chinese medicine's explanations of the six external pathogenic factors (wind, cold, heat, dampness, and dryness), as well as wind evil, epidemic qi, and external evil, he formally proposed the theory of bacteria and the theory of bacterial pathogenesis, which made him famous in the medical community and also well-known in Europe.

Moreover, the method proposed by Louis-Alexandre Berthier is not impossible. At least in terms of age, Napoleon was born in 1769 and is 29 years old this year, while Princess Yongping was born in 1775 and is 24 years old this year. The age difference between them is not significant.

"Ah!" Napoleon's confidants in the room were all stunned, including Napoleon himself, because it was all too obvious who Louis-Alexander Berthier was referring to as the man who was marrying the Emperor's daughter.

"Why, Louis? Why would you think that? I'm already married," Napoleon asked, puzzled, not understanding the crucial point.

"Commander, the rules of Seris, or rather the rules of the nobility, are somewhat different from ours, but given your background, you should be able to understand them."

The reason the Seres Empire allowed the English to possess India was because the English could manage India well and were very trustworthy to the Seres emperor; they could provide many benefits to Seres.

In other words, Emperor Seres the Great actually treated the English as Seres's chief stewards in India.

Since he's a butler, a butler who serves Seris to some extent, why can't he be someone closer to him?

Well, at this time, Europeans, including France itself, did not think that he could unify Europe. They were only fighting for hegemony, not for the unification of the world like the Qin Dynasty.

Therefore, more than 99.9% of people did not think that Da Yu's support for England was to prevent France from unifying Europe; at most, they thought that Da Yu was trying to maintain a balance of power in Europe.

Napoleon lowered his head, feeling the flames of ambition burning fiercely, making his whole body hot and his forehead sweating.

It can be said that the emperor's personality was that of an ambitious man who desperately wanted to climb the social ladder. Although he was married, his relationship with Josephine de Beauharnais was purely one of mutual exploitation, a case of each getting what they needed.

Don't be misled by the later propaganda about the love between Napoleon and Josephine. Napoleon was attracted to Josephine because he discovered that she was the mistress of Paul Barras, the most powerful Director in the Directory at the time, and had a huge influence over him.

Josephine was attracted to Napoleon because she wanted to cash in on her political resources and benefits that she couldn't openly realize before she grew old and faded.

She used her status as France's top socialite and most beautiful woman to help Napoleon rise to power, and Napoleon, after enjoying these benefits, used marriage to secure Josephine's future.

Therefore, Napoleon may have been somewhat infatuated with Josephine's beauty and prowess in bed, but shortly after marrying Napoleon, Josephine had a new lover, Hippolyte Charles.

Such a marriage could be dissolved very quickly, as long as Napoleon's status rose and he no longer needed Josephine's political resources.

But now, after much deliberation, Napoleon quickly shook his head. "No, I cannot end my marriage with Josephine yet. We still need to return to Paris. We cannot stay in the Middle East forever, and besides..."

A very obvious expression of inferiority appeared on Napoleon's face.

He came from a minor noble family and had no academic achievements. He was only able to enter the French Academy of Sciences because the Directory needed his military talent.

"That's Princess Seris, a scientist princess. The line of men who want to marry her could stretch from the capital of Seris all the way to Paris."

Napoleon shook his head, clearly not feeling he was worthy of marrying a princess of Seres, and he still needed Josephine to speak well of him within the Directory, especially to Paul Barras.

At this time, Napoleon's ambitions were not yet so great as to become Emperor of France and then unify Europe.

His greatest desire was to join the ranks of the five highest-ranking directors of the Directory, replacing Paul Barras—that was the limit of what he could dream of.

"Commander, I can only remind you that implementing the India strategy is the only feasible way, especially with the support of India and Seris."

Louis-Alexandre Berthier couldn't continue at this point. He had a strong aristocratic complex and hoped that another king would appear so that he could become a true nobleman, rather than just a general.

However, under the current rule of the French Directory, this kind of thinking is typical royalist ideology and is to be suppressed and purged, so Berthier could not continue speaking at this point.

Because the time was not yet ripe, Napoleon was only the commander of the expeditionary force, not even one of the five governors, and he had not even entered the Senate. Even though he was not married, it seemed that he was indeed not qualified to marry the princess of Seres, and a widow was not qualified either.

However, without the support of Emperor Seres the Great, it was impossible to replace England as the master of half of India; this was an unsolvable problem.

The others in the room also thought of this problem, and for a moment the atmosphere became very silent.

However, they soon broke their silence when Jean Kleber, the deputy commander of the army and the garrison commander of Cairo, delivered news that utterly disheartened Napoleon: the disastrous defeat of the French fleet at the Nile Delta.

"My God! My God!" Napoleon staggered upon receiving the letter.

"That damned Bluey, that Bluey who deserves to go to hell, what did he do? My entire fleet is gone!"

This is truly a curse upon France, or perhaps France is simply not destined to be a world superpower.

If François Paul Brouillé hadn't suffered such a crushing defeat, and if he had been able to maintain his core players, the Kingdom of England would have been truly in danger once Napoleon used his anti-Ottoman anger to subdue the Middle East.

Now, things are much better. Instead of worrying about how to marry Princess Seres, Napoleon and his confidants should be concerned with how to ensure the survival of their expeditionary force, whose retreat has been cut off.

(End of this chapter)