The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 903 Strong walls and clear fields
The ticking of the clock echoed in this secret room located in Hampton Court Palace.

Yu Hengrun, the ambassador of the Seres Empire to the Kingdom of England, sat calmly in the main seat, wearing a blue tailcoat and sporting short hair.

Opposite him, a young European man, also dressed in a tuxedo, seemed to be pondering something, looking hesitant.

A short while later, a military officer dressed in a silver-white flying fish robe and wearing a black gauze hat entered through the door. This was the military officer of the Great Yu stationed in the Kingdom of England.

In the diplomatic missions of Dayu, there are usually two military officers.

A colonel or lieutenant colonel who is addressed as "commander of a thousand households" is a real soldier, used for military communication, liaison, and coordination.

The one dressed in a silver-white flying fish robe, without a military rank, and usually referred to internally as "a certain centurion," was transferred from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and was a true centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He was in charge of all overt intelligence gathering, and occasionally attended certain occasions as a royal envoy, as well as issuing awards or punishments to Chinese people in Europe.

"Ambassador, news has come from Westminster Palace that the English House of Lords has unanimously voted to abolish the peace treaty with France and immediately restart the war on the Korean Peninsula."

The officer in charge of the Imperial Guards spoke loudly, and even spoke in English, so the young European man opposite Ambassador Yu Hengrun in England heard him immediately.

"Your Excellency, the English have already taken action. I think you should also make a decision. The fate of the Kingdom of Sweden rests on your decision."

Yu Hengrun smiled and gently smoothed the wrinkles on his tuxedo. His voice floated as if it weren't coming from his mouth, and combined with his somewhat high-pitched voice, it gave people a strange sense of oppression.

It turned out that the young European who shared a room with Yu Hengrun, the Da Yu ambassador to England, was Karl Otto Morne, a member of the Swedish Parliament and the King's adjutant.

The question of the Swedish crown prince is now extremely urgent, as King Carl XIII is seriously ill and could pass away at any time.

Crown Prince Frederick Christian, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Senneburg-Augustenberg, suffered from epilepsy and hemiplegia, and was likely to die before King Charles XIII.

More importantly, there is strong resistance within Sweden towards the Norwegian and Danish royal families, and there is little desire to make Duke Frederick Christian the king, not to mention that he suffers from epilepsy and hemiplegia.

Historically, when faced with this problem, Karl Otto Morneau chose to bring Bernardo Silva to Sweden, and subsequently, with the support of Napoleon and the French Empire, Bernardo Silva became the crown prince.

However, at this time, a powerful competitor emerged: Mo Guang'an, the grandson of the Seres Emperor and grandson of Louis XVI, the headless king of France, proposed by the Kingdom of England and supported by the Seres Empire.

Historically, the Kingdom of Sweden desperately needed a strong crown prince, primarily because it faced a dual threat from the Rus' Empire and the French Empire.

In particular, after Sweden's disastrous defeat in the battles against the Rus' Empire between 1808 and 1810, losing a third of its territory including Finland, the Swedish nobles, terrified, had an even more urgent need for security.

That's why Bernardo Silva became the Crown Prince of Sweden in such an exaggerated way in history, because his rise to power was in the interests of both Sweden and France.

Of course, Napoleon was later assassinated. After Bernadotte came to power, he immediately made peace with the Rus' Empire, purged the pro-French faction in Sweden, and before the Battle of Leipzig, he delivered a few hard blows to Napoleon's heart.

But at this point, Bernardo Silva was practically out of the running.

The biggest reason is that the French Empire needs the Rus' Empire as an ally to fight against the Seres Empire on the battlefield, so it is unwilling to offend the Rus' Empire for the sake of Bernadotte.

Without the support of the French Empire and Napoleon, and not being of noble birth, Bernardo da Vinci naturally found it difficult to gain the approval of the Swedish people.

However, Shen Guogong Mo Guangbi's path to becoming the Crown Prince of Sweden was not smooth, with two major difficulties:
Firstly, if Mo Guang'an becomes the Crown Prince of Sweden, it would inevitably mean that Sweden automatically becomes an ally, or even a vassal state, of the Seres Empire.

In this situation, the French Empire and the Rus' Empire might turn around and deal with the Kingdom of Sweden first.

Secondly, and most difficultly, if someone like Bernardo Silva were to become the Crown Prince of Sweden, he would only need to become the adopted son of the current King Carl XIII of Sweden.

However, it was impossible for Shen Guogong Mo Guangbi to become Charles XIII's adopted son, because Charles XIII was not worthy.

Mo Zibu's original idea was to make Charles XIII Mo Guangtiao's godfather, so that Mo Guangtiao would nominally convert to Catholicism.

Anyway, under the influence of his mother, Princess Charlotte, this kid is very familiar with Catholicism, after all, he's half French.

However, the exiled French, led by Louis XVIII, objected and pleaded with Maurice Lacquer to abandon the idea.

These guys believed that as one of only two male grandchildren, Duke Shen could not recognize Charles XIII as his godfather.

Because of them, mainly because Louis XVIII wanted one of the two sons of Princess Charlotte, Prince Mo Guangzhi of Zhongshan and Duke Mo Guangyi of Shen, to return to Europe and become Louis XVIII's crown prince.

Admittedly, according to the tradition of the French Sacré-Cœur Code, and with Louis XVIII and his brothers and nephews still alive, it would not have been the turn of Mo Guangzhi and Mo Guangbi.

However, the prevailing view in Europe now is that it will not be easy for the French Empire to control the whole of Europe, but Napoleon's imperial position is relatively secure.

This has led to serious consequences, especially in the last decade or so, with the French Bourbon government-in-exile becoming increasingly unpopular.

Ten years ago, when Louis XVIII was in exile in England, he was a guest of honor among the English nobility, but now he rarely appears in London.

In this situation, it is meaningless to stubbornly adhere to the Sakli Code and the order of succession. The greatest desire of these exiles is to cling to the Seris Empire and restore their country.

Even if the restoration of the kingdom cannot be achieved, when all else fails, one can still go to the local government or the new France (Zhongshan Kingdom-Mexico) under Mo Guangzhi and live a life of luxury as a noble farm owner.

Karl Otto Mornet knew he had reached the most important turning point in his life. Originally, he only wanted to speculate, to go to France and become a famous general to become king, so as to become a meritorious official who helped him rise to power.

At the same time, the Kingdom of Sweden was similar to Spain, with local powers being almost autonomous, and the king only able to govern the area around the capital.

Sweden is even more fragmented than Spain because the Swedish parliament has considerable power.

Or to put it bluntly, the Swedish parliament was not the democratic parliament that later generations thought it was, nor was it the Zhou-Zhao republic of China, but rather the Eight Princes' Council of the Qing Dynasty.

The Swedish Parliament is an arena for power struggles between local forces and the king, and it acts as the representative of local forces at the central level.

Karl Otto Mornet was a member of the local power faction, whose class hoped to bring in a king without any real power base to maintain the current political model in which local power factions effectively held power.

"Your Excellency Ambassador, the issue of the Crown Prince is not something I can decide alone; it requires parliamentary approval."

Morneau still didn't budge. Although he was a little scared now, he was even more afraid of the future.

What if Emperor Seres takes this opportunity to seize control of the Kingdom of Sweden?
It's important to understand that the Kingdom of Sweden had only about 2.8 million people. For the Seres Empire, with the king as the intermediary, controlling such a small country was not too difficult.

"I think your country's parliament will not have any objections, unless they are still unaware of the outcome of the Battle of Kirova and the situation of the Black Sea naval battle."

Your Excellency, the only way for the Kingdom of Sweden to avoid its fate of destruction is to choose His Highness Prince Shen as its new king.

Yu Hengrun maintained that calm, almost frighteningly so, demeanor, as if he had Mornet completely under his thumb.

"Your Excellency Ambassador, please forgive my bluntness, but if we make a decision soon, the Kingdom of Sweden will face misfortune, as it will be attacked from both sides by the Rus' Empire and the French Empire." Seeing that he had to express his opinion, Morneau no longer concealed his intentions.

Yu Hengrun gave a helpless smile, like a teacher seeing a student who works very hard but whose grades still don't improve.

"I understand your country's concerns, but if I may be frank, there are only three options currently facing your country."

First, choose Bernadotte, which is supported by France. This might prevent the Rus' Empire from continuing its attack on Sweden, but you will have to join the continental system.

However, this would certainly mean the loss of coastal cities such as Stockholm, Helsingør, and Kalmar.

With the power of the Liang King Cannon, the sturdy walls that previously saved Stockholm from falling will no longer be able to protect you.

I've even heard that if the Kingdom of Sweden were to join the continental system, the Seres Empire and the Kingdom of England would form a joint fleet and burn Stockholm to the ground.

Second, maintain the status quo and continue to find someone from the Kalmar Union (referring to the Swedish-Norwegian-Danish Union) to inherit the throne, but this still faces a difficult choice - whether to join the continental system.

Join us, and the combined fleet of the Seres Empire and the Kingdom of England will destroy you with their new cannons. Don't join us, and the French Empire and the Rus' Empire will destroy you by land.

Before Ambassador Yu Hengrun could finish out the three options, Morneau was already sweating profusely.

After England broke its treaty with France and restarted the war, the countries of continental Europe once again faced the dilemma of choosing between life and death, especially Sweden, for which any choice would be problematic.

"Moreover, if you choose the first or second option, you will face a serious problem in the future."

After we completely defeated the Rus' Empire, their route to the east was blocked, and a southward march to Constantinople became impossible. Where do you think the Rus' Empire would ultimately choose to expand its territory?

This is a blatant threat from Yu Hengrun!
Morne instantly understood that if they did not agree to make the grandson of the Seres the Crown Prince of Sweden, then even if the Rus Empire did not want to attack the Kingdom of Sweden in the future, it would be forced by the Seres to attack Sweden.

"The system of the Kingdom of Sweden has been passed down for hundreds of years, and we hope that future kings will abide by it." This was Morneau's and the nobles behind him's bottom line.

Yu Hengrun snorted coldly; of course he knew what the so-called Swedish Kingdom's system was all about.

That is, Parliament controlled all aspects of domestic and foreign affairs, leaving only some military and other insignificant powers to the King.

If the king disagreed with this distribution of power and wanted to cause trouble, they would simply remove him from office, in any sense of the word.

For example, the previous king, Gustav IV, was the nephew of the current king, Charles XIII, and was overthrown in a coup.

The previous king, Charles XII, who was also the brother of Charles XIII and the father of Gustav IV, was shot to death in the theater.

This is somewhat similar to something, somewhat similar to the Wo Luen Shing triad in Triad II.

The leader was chosen by the uncles, and the real power was distributed among them. The leader was merely the gang's number one double-red-flower stick and number one thug.

If you're useful, we'll call you a leader; if you're useless, who told you to go fishing without a helmet?

“The descendants of the First Emperor will not be used as mascots!” Yu Hengrun immediately refused. The Duke of Shen would not become a puppet, the Crown Prince Da Laosen would not agree, and His Majesty the Emperor would not agree either.

“However, we can bring you something else,” Yu Hengrun instructed the commander of the Imperial Guards.

Then, Qin Sanqin Dingyang, the commander of the Dayu Volunteer Expeditionary Force, deputy general of Shangchuan Province, and major general of the army, appeared in the room.

The deputy general of Da Yu at this time was not the deputy to the general during the Ming and Qing dynasties, but the deputy to the highest-ranking military commander of a province, the Admiral, whose position was above that of the general.

Therefore, after Qin Dingyang came in, Ambassador Yu Hengrun also took the initiative to stand up and introduce him, saying, "I think Mr. Morneau is no stranger to General Qin."

In the future, General Qin and his 5,000-strong army will become a strong pillar of the Kingdom of Sweden. He will be responsible for reclaiming Finland for Sweden in future wars, and even for taking Norway from Denmark.

When Morne looked at Qin Dingyang, his expression immediately softened. He understood that the Seres Empire had chosen to use the method of increasing territory to exchange for the concessions of these nobles, so that the Swedish king could truly become king.

"I will return to Stockholm immediately, and news will arrive within fifteen days."

Yu Hengrun immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Having accomplished this task, he had achieved great success.

After His Highness the Crown Prince ascends the throne, based on this merit, he will surely have a promising future as a minister.

"What about the rest? The Duke of Shen can't possibly become the adopted son of the old King of Sweden, and the exiled King Louis wouldn't agree to be his godfather either." The commander of the Imperial Guards stroked his chin with some difficulty.

"His Majesty has already issued the decree." Yu Hengrun clasped his hands in a fist salute and shook them twice.

"His Majesty said that the Duke of Shen could marry Sofia Wilhelmina, the eldest daughter of Gustav IV who was overthrown in a coup, and then become the Crown Prince as the grand-nephew of Karl XIII."

Gustav, the former king of Sweden who was even more brain-dead than Emperor Franz I of Austria, is currently living a meager life in a small hotel in St. Gallen, Switzerland, under the name of Count Gotop, after being overthrown.

"King Gustav IV has agreed to the terms. His Highness the Crown Prince has promised to provide him with a castle in Budapest and an annuity in accordance with the treatment of a Count of Dayu after the matter is settled."

As he spoke, Yu Hengrun looked at Qin Dingyang, "The Duke of Shen is fifteen years old this year, and he will be able to go to Europe next year."

Therefore, after General Qin finishes his campaign in the Iberian Peninsula this year, he will prepare to escort Duke Shen to Stockholm next year.

“There is a large pro-French faction in Sweden. General Qin must eliminate them in advance to ensure the absolute safety of the Duke of Shen in Sweden.”

. . . .

Just as the Kingdom of England decided to restart the Peninsular War, Ambassador Yu Hengrun secured the Swedish throne for Shen Guogong Mo Guangbi.

Crown Prince Da Laosen, who was in Xihai City (Astrahan), also agreed to Li Xingtai's request to transfer 10,000 elite soldiers from the Western Route Army to Hungary.

However, the French army moved too quickly. Li Xingtai had just set off from Rostov when Deva, the gateway to Transylvania and an important town, had already fallen.

Deva is located 120 kilometers west of Sibiu, the capital of Transylvania, at the confluence of the Timiš and Mureš rivers, tributaries of the Danube. It has been a vital transportation route since ancient times and was once a garrison town during the Roman era.

At this time, the city of Deva was surrounded by a fortress.

However, these fortresses are too old, dating from the 12th to the 18th centuries, and have now become a weakness.

Because the French army did not need to conquer the entire area, they only needed to remove the oldest ones and then set up cannons to bombard the Xia army.

Meanwhile, the French Imperial Guard under Napoleon's command once again displayed remarkable prowess.

Marshal Udino personally led 3,000 elite troops, traversing a treacherous mountain range over 1,000 meters high from the side, and outmaneuvered the Deva fortress complex from behind.

This led many Hungarian soldiers to believe that the main fortress of Dva had already fallen, and they retreated on their own. Wang Wuchu, who was defending Dva, had no choice but to break out before the French army could close in.

The Battle of Deva lasted only eleven days. The French army captured this key town at the cost of more than four hundred casualties. Wang Wuchu's 17,000 defenders suffered more than five thousand casualties and missing persons.

However, the vast majority of them were Hungarians, and Wang Wuchu's 1,500 Han soldiers only lost more than 100 men during the breakout.

But this was undoubtedly a crushing defeat, severely damaging the fighting spirit of the Hungarians, who were already pessimistic about abandoning Budapest, and now they were even more desperate.

More importantly, with the loss of Deva, the capital Sibiu was left wide open, and the French army of 170,000, plus auxiliary troops and laborers, totaling 330,000, would soon be able to besiege the city.

At the critical moment, Mo Gongze demonstrated the ability of a qualified monarch.

He announced the withdrawal from Sibiu and the move to the fortress of Termachu in the southern Carpathian Mountains.

This is the key point where the Transylvanian Plateau enters the lower Danube plain (Romania).

The only pity is that this pass is too small, with only two thousand soldiers stationed there, and it will be impossible to hold it sooner or later.

"If we can't hold it, then we won't. I'll just wait for Napoleon in Wallachia. I think the French have extended their supply lines to a thousand kilometers. How are they going to feed and water these 300,000 people?"

Mo Gongze made up his mind: "Tell everyone that the previously announced scorched-earth policy will be implemented immediately and unconditionally."

All the grain that could not be taken from Sibiu to Termachu, the crops in the fields, and livestock such as chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs were to be destroyed on the spot. Everyone, regardless of age or gender, had to retreat with the army.

All the bridges over the Argesh River were blown up, and all the merchant ships were loaded with stones and sunk in the middle of the river.

After issuing the order, Mo Gongze hurriedly went to the square outside the city hall to announce an important decision: the emancipation order for serfs.

It's impossible for Mogonze to evacuate all the Hungarians from Transylvania. So, in order to ensure that they are not won over by the French and can still deal with them after he leaves, he must use this trump card first.

(End of this chapter)