The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 812 Giving You a Little Bit of Chinese Shock
Early June, 1799.

The news that Mo Gongze was leaving Antwerp was like a bombshell dropped on the port city.

Large numbers of Belgians, along with their families, blocked the entrance to the city hall, weeping loudly and obstructing Moggonze's guards from driving the carriage.

They are really scared!

The French Revolution was progressive, but equally brutal.

Especially the Belgian artillerymen who had raised the white flag on the gun emplacement a couple of days ago were terrified.

With Prince Ferdinand gone, the French will surely send them all to the guillotine when they return!

"The people's hearts are at stake! The people's hearts are at stake!" On the upper floor of the city hall, Mo Gongze's younger brother, Mo Gongbo, looked at everything before him and said with some excitement.

Mo Gongze glanced at his younger brother, who was said to be their father's illegitimate son but whose identity was very special, and understood why he was so agitated.

When Mo Gongbo returned to his homeland with him last time, he was conferred the title of Dongping Earl, a meritorious official of the Seris Empire, by his uncle, the Great Emperor.

Dongping was a county under the jurisdiction of Qufu, the former capital of the State of Lu. The fact that Mo Gongbo was able to obtain this title shows that he was capable.

At the same time, he was also an alarm system placed by the Fifth Uncle, the Great Emperor.

The reason why Mo Gongbo was the only one among Mo Gongze's seven illegitimate brothers who could return to the motherland with him was because Mo Gongbo's background was actually not bad.

Mogongbo's mother was Princess Maria Theresa of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Duchy of Savoy, also known as the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Princess Maria Theresa is also the fifth-generation granddaughter of the beheaded King Charles I, and her family is the legitimate heir to the English throne recognized by the James Party.

The only problem is that Princess Maria Theresa is a married woman.

Her husband was Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, brother of King Louis XVI of France, and Charles X, who became king after the Bourbon Restoration.

The reason why Mo Zirong had to flee back to Austria was because his affair with Princess Maria Theresa, the mother of Mo Gongbo, was discovered, which led to the misunderstanding that he was having an affair with Queen Antoinette.

In other words, the person who actually had an affair with Mo Zirong was not Louis XVI's wife, but Louis XVI's sister-in-law.

So although Mogongbo was an illegitimate child, his mother's status was too high. After all, his maternal grandfather was King Vittorio Amedeo III of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and his status was not low.

Even more critically, the Kingdom of Sardinia has already lost the Duchy of Savoy, Genoa, and Nice in northwestern Italy to the French Directory, leaving only Sardinia as the remaining part of the kingdom.

In order to reclaim the territory, Mogongbo's uncle, the current King of Sardinia, Carlo Emmanuel IV, came to him.

He promised that if he could recover the territory with the help of the Lu Fan army or even the power of the Seris Empire, he would be willing to grant Niss to Mogongbo in the Kingdom of Savoy, making him the Duke of Niss.

That's right, it was Nice, which later became part of France. At that time, it belonged to the Kingdom of Savoy. It wasn't until 1860 that Cavour, the prime minister of Sardinia, ceded Nice to France in order to gain Napoleon III's support for the unification of Italy.

Therefore, if among Mo Gongze's brothers, there is anyone who desires to overthrow the French revolutionary government more than him, it must be Mo Gongbo.

Sure enough, after his initial sigh, Mo Gongbo began to sabotage the French. He said to Mo Gongze, "Brother, the French invasion wasn't entirely a bad thing. At least they made the Belgian people more loyal to us."

At the same time, they executed all the corrupt nobles and high-ranking clergy whom we had failed to punish severely during our rule over Belgium.

Belgium today is a blank slate; as long as we practice benevolent governance, we will surely be able to firmly grasp this kingdom.

With the support of these three million Belgian people, no matter how powerful the French are, they cannot take this region away.

That's true. The French invasion of Belgium was actually a good thing for the Mohists. Without the French's actions, the Belgians would never have supported them as much as they do now.

"So, in your opinion, should we take advantage of the present moment to occupy Belgium, exploit the people's hatred of the French, and fight against France?" Mo Gongze asked.

Mo Gongbo quickly shook his head in denial, "Now is not the time. I was just suggesting that my brother take those soldiers away to prevent the French from retaliating against them, and also to cultivate them into the base for our rule over Belgium."

In addition, the French have been plundering food from Belgium in recent years, leading to widespread famine.

These are all our people. Brother, take this opportunity to use the military provisions transported by the fleet to provide relief to the disaster victims, showing kindness to the people and making them even more supportive of us!

"Great idea!" Mo Gongze laughed. It wasn't that the idea was particularly good, but rather that his younger brother, Mo Gongbo, hadn't been blinded by the title of Duke of Nice and hadn't considered confronting France in Belgium right now.

"Actually, I think the Belgian Princely Kingdom is full of swamps, which is good for hiding troops. Moreover, the people's hearts are also at our disposal. Why not distribute some guns along with the food, and let them cause trouble for the French in the countryside? When we reclaim this place in the future, we can rally a large following." Han Wang Mo Zhouzhe stroked his chin and gave his suggestion.

"Excellent, excellent!" This was something Mo Gongze hadn't expected. "We brothers are truly united, and our strength can break gold. Let's do it this way, and I refuse to believe the French won't be defeated!"

They got right to work, and soon the sacks outside Antwerp City Hall were piled up like a small mountain, filled with wheat, oats, and small amounts of salt, sugar, and tea.

Mo Gongze, holding the hands of Mo Zhouzhe and Mo Gongbo, stood at the highest point of the sack. Mo Gongze shouted to the Belgian people who were beginning to gather around:
“My people, our Kingdom of Belgium is not yet strong enough to fight the French, so I must leave.”

If I don't leave, I will be captured by those evil Frenchmen and sent to the guillotine like King Louis XVI.

For more than four years since I lost Belgium, I have missed this place every moment. This trip is also to see this land and my loyal people.

As Mo Gongze watched the crowd of at least three or four thousand Antwerp citizens gather, tears welled up in his eyes.

"But I never expected the French to be so cruel, to treat you so cruelly!"
They stole your food, beat and even killed your relatives; they took everything the Belgians owned and moved it to France, and that wasn't enough for them—they also wanted to treat you like slaves!

As he spoke, Mo Gongze clenched both hands tightly at the same time!
"oops!"

"Oh!"

Mo Zhouzhe and Mo Gongbo felt as if their five fingers had been run over by a wheel. The intense pain made them scream involuntarily, and Mo Gongbo even had tears in his eyes from being squeezed so hard.

The Belgians below, already grieving for the past few years, were now heartbroken to see the two princes cry out in anguish. They burst into tears, and many roared, vowing to fight the French to the bitter end.

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Mo Gongze released the two men's hands and gave his younger brother, Mo Gongbo, whose face was turning blue from the pain, a meaningful look.

“You have suffered too much and endured too much hardship. I have nothing to give you, but here are six hundred tons of grain and a small amount of salt, sugar and tea, forty catties each. Consider it my gift to you.”

Each person weighs forty jin (approximately 20 kg), one ton can feed fifty people, and six hundred tons would be thirty thousand people, which is roughly the same as the current total population of Antwerp city.

After distributing this batch, Mo Gongze planned to distribute another 600 tons of grain, because once the news spread, people from other places would definitely come.

Those who can arrive in a short time must be well-informed and quick-witted from various places. Once they spread the word, Mo Gongze's goal will be achieved.

The poor Belgians had never seen such a benevolent monarch. European nobles were lucky if they didn't exploit the people, let alone provide them with food.

This is a long-standing European tradition; they don't have the Chinese tradition of providing disaster relief and bestowing favors upon the world.

The fragmented state of numerous kingdoms allowed nobles to effectively suppress the common people without needing to win their hearts and minds. The idea that "whoever wins the hearts of the people wins the world" was a misconception in old Europe. Even in the 21st century, European countries continued to perform terribly in disaster relief and rescue efforts.

"Praise be to Your Highness, and may God bless you!"

"Prince Ferdinand, we will always support you!"

"Drive out the evil French! Long live the Kingdom of Belgium!"

The Belgians below were moved to tears, kneeling on the muddy ground and kowtowing repeatedly in gratitude.

11 month 14 day.

Mo Gongze personally distributed 1,200 tons of relief grain and defeated a French army that came from the direction of Brussels.

Mo Zhouzhe allocated three thousand rifled muskets from the Zhenwu fleet to the Lu army, and then Mo Gongze distributed four thousand smoothbore muskets that the Lu army had replaced.

That's a really ruthless move!

Even at this time, incidents of resistance against French rule, shooting at French people who came to teach French, and even French soldiers, continued to occur frequently throughout Belgium.

The Boysen Rebellion, which broke out last year in 1798 and spread throughout Belgium, involving at least 150,000 farmers, has not yet been completely suppressed.

It should be noted that the total population of Belgium at that time was only about 3.2 million, and the impact on 150,000 people meant that roughly one in eight men took up arms to resist.

If they had these four thousand guns, the cost of French rule would probably increase many times over.

These increased costs cannot be borne by the French government and will certainly continue to be passed on to the Belgians.

Therefore, compared to the food relief provided by Mo Gongze and the cruel exploitation by the French, even more intense resistance is likely to continue.

On November 16, the fleet set sail. Mogongze selected three thousand men from the Antwerp population to take with him, including a large number of soldiers recruited and trained by the French in Antwerp. All the artillerymen on the forts went with Mogongze.

On November 19, the fleet arrived in Amsterdam and began bombarding the city. Vice Admiral Ralph Abercrombie of the English Navy, who had been waiting for Moggenberg's arrival with a small fleet, also rushed over to join them.

At that time, Lake Iy, the largest lake in the Netherlands, located east of Amsterdam, had not yet been fully reclaimed from the sea and transformed into a freshwater lake; it was still a bay known as the Zuiderzee.

Therefore, warships could rush in from here and bombard Amsterdam from all directions.

In Amsterdam, Augustin Gerhard Bessier, one of the three leaders of the National Executive Council of the Republic of Batavia, frantically sent a letter to Brune, the French general who was still besieging the Duke of York, pleading for help.

In his letter, he described Amsterdam as hell, as if Mogongze's fleet was about to destroy Amsterdam, and even the Republic of Batavia.

Well, at this moment, Mo Gongze did indeed have that ability.

Because he had twenty-one warships, six thousand Lu troops, five thousand five hundred marines from the Zhenwu Fleet, and more than two thousand English marines who could also go ashore.

The Batavia Republic's fleet had already been destroyed by the English navy at the very beginning of the Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands.

At the same time, this 11,500-strong Chinese army was composed entirely of elite troops, including more than 3,000 members of the Great Yu Imperial Guard.

On the 20th, French commander Brune still did not return, and this war, which was originally intended to be a siege of Wei to relieve Zhao, turned into a real offensive war.

In just half a day, the Da Yu army entered Amsterdam. They purged the French in the city and arrested key members of the Batavian Republic in Amsterdam.

On the 21st, Mo Gongze resorted to his old tricks, opening granaries in Amsterdam to distribute grain and win over the hearts of the people, while also restraining the army from looting civilians and small and medium-sized merchants.

Mo Gongze and Mo Zhouzhe discussed that if Bruna did not return, they would divide their forces, with Mo Zhouzhe leading 5,000 men and 1,000 British troops to attack The Hague, the capital of the Republic of Batavia.

Mo Zhouzhe then led the rest of the fleet and sailors ashore to attack Bruna, who was still besieging the Duke of York.

But Mognon estimated that Bruna would absolutely not dare to bear the consequences of the fall of The Hague and the deaths of a large number of pro-French Dutch people from the Batavia Republic.

Sure enough, Bruna panicked completely when he received the warning from Mo Gongze that he was going to attack The Hague.

He hurriedly led 6,000 elite troops to Amsterdam while simultaneously sending envoys to express his willingness to negotiate with Mo Gongze.

11 month 26 day.

During negotiations outside Amsterdam, both sides reached a consensus that the French army would not interfere as long as Mogongze took away the besieged Anglo-Russian allied forces.

They could even take with them the treasure worth four or five hundred thousand silver dollars that Mo Gongze and Mo Zhouzhe's troops had looted in Amsterdam.

Bruner was torn between fearing the fall of The Hague and receiving news of Napoleon's successful coup, preparing to go to Paris to meet the 'new king' and reap the benefits.

On November 28, after being trapped for nearly a month and nearly starving to death, more than 11 British and Russian troops successfully boarded warships and left the Netherlands.

In this battle, the Anglo-Russian allied forces ultimately lost about 12,000 men, of which England lost 4,000 men and a large amount of weaponry, and morale plummeted.

However, compared to history, although they suffered more than ten days of hunger and lost a lot, the situation was much better.

Historically, after the defeat at the Battle of Castrickram, the Anglo-Russian allied forces also managed to leave by negotiating with French General Brune. However, their departure was based on the complete disarmament of the French forces, and before reaching an agreement, the Anglo-Russian allied forces suffered several collapses and heavy losses.

Of the 23,000 Russian soldiers, only 11,000 managed to escape, including their commander, Lieutenant General Herman, who was captured.

Of the 20,000 British troops, about 13,000 eventually returned to England, with more than 7,000 casualties. Several of England's main guard regiments were almost decimated, and their weapons, artillery, and mules were completely lost.

Throughout the war, of the 41,000 British and Russian allied troops, nearly 20,000 died in battle, went missing, succumbed to their wounds, or were unable to continue serving after recovering from their injuries.

This battle instilled fear in the English army, and it wasn't until the reign of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, that the French regained the courage to engage in large-scale, head-on battles with the French.

"It seems that from now on, His Majesty the King of England will have to rely on you, Fourth Brother," Mo Zhouzhe said with a grin.

Although the English army was rescued, its morale was almost completely shattered. In the short term, it would be difficult for them to even defend their homeland, let alone fight.

The vast Kingdom of England now has only the army it can rely on, which consists of more than 10,000 Lu troops still stationed in England under the command of Mo Gongze.

Mo Gongze was also very excited because he discovered that he had inadvertently become the most important pillar of the Kingdom of England.

"That's right. Although England doesn't need to send its army to the mainland to fight France, it's not that they don't need to send any troops at all."

Now, all the great nobles and wealthy merchants in England will have to fawn over me; these people are incredibly rich!

(End of this chapter)