Chapter 8: Clash of Empires Below

  Please recommend, click and collect, and welcome to spit slot...... I said, how can I be so unscrupulous again... ╮(╯▽╰)╭, the moral integrity has been negative since the beginning of this book.

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  "The French thought they had obtained sufficient advantages over the Habsburgs and therefore would no longer accommodate us on tariffs. Colbert, having received his king's orders, joyfully fulfilled his long-held desire. Erik."

  The cheap old man called out the name of the Imperial Finance Minister.

  "Stabilizing grain prices, this is not the first time, everyone knows what to do, I don't want to see Romans starving on their own land! Your proposal is very good, it gave me a lot of inspiration... Hmm, let's adopt the point that the French must purchase goods worth the value of the currency they hold after selling grain at the port. Leak the news about France raising tariffs to Austria's Habsburgs. I think they will be delighted to hear this news. Eriks, you and your people conduct a survey on various trade goods in the German region and submit it to me. Later, I will have the Foreign Minister discuss the German regional tariff agreement with the Austrians. As for retaliating against France..."

  I saw the supposedly noble people at the table suddenly come to life, with a burst of flying eyebrows and dancing colors, making me almost think that I was not sitting in the center of imperial power, but standing on the street corner, encountering a group of thugs who heard the big boss's call, wanting to stir up trouble in the next block...

  Is this the prelude to the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France vying for dominance in Western Europe, and Alexander and I happened to quietly witness Caesar blowing the war horn on that day?

  "I have something to think about carefully, you remember, after the recess today, immediately come up with a bill to reduce the financial budget of various departments of the empire! Half a month later, present it!"

  Is that it?

  That's it, if an empire wants to launch a campaign, many details must be carefully studied! Because, at that time, it will no longer be just a military campaign, but a comprehensive and overwhelming attack. Military invasion is only the most direct and simplest way, but apart from this, there are also diplomacy and economy!

  After talking about France, it's the turn of the Muslim issue in the East. The Muslims in the South have made some small moves on the Syrian side again.

  When it comes to Muslims, these guys used to have an impression on me that they can marry four wives, don't eat pork and Bin Laden uncle, and often find the world police US to compare with each other. The most sensational success is to hijack a plane and blacken the Empire State Building of the US empire.

  However, in this world, Muslims were implicated because my predecessor withstood two Western expeditions. They can be considered as the difficult brothers of our Roman Empire. But after all, they also pushed back the Persian Empire and made many Byzantine emperors worry, and they are not the strong men who were defeated by the Crusaders.

  They surrendered, sending over large sums of money and beautiful women. These soft blades greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Mongols on the Eastern Front. No wonder they say that beauties and gold are both national strategic reserves! Arabia has beauties, our thousand-year empire is not inferior. There's a saying, "Scholars drag their feet, old soldiers stand guard, generals rebel to the death, educated youth recite poetry in flower houses, emperors worry outside the city, princes worry, Lolita, famous ladies, and housewives marry barbarian chieftains...

  Anyway, basically, both sides had been waging a gentle campaign of beautiful women against each other's tribes and leaders along their respective borders. Until one day in the last century, the Muslims on the southern side welcomed a savior who exuded an aura of sacred mission from head to toe, and then the Muslims rebelled. We also intervened, messed around, and completely drove out the Mongols' power from the Arabian Peninsula. During that time, the Muslims were very glorious, defeating the Roman Empire twice, with countless small victories, even the old guy's teeth were knocked out by that guy. However, the goods that exuded a sacred mission aura all over his body were short-lived, and he died at just over 40 years old. His dozens of wives' sons, who knew whether they were biological or not, fought each other for the division of property.

  Our empire's people aren't anything good, taking advantage of someone else's misfortune after the old man died to bully a group of bear children is naturally something they can do. Like my great-grandfather, he beheaded three sons of that legendary Muslim savior who was said to have impregnated 100,000 cows and 10,000 horses before birth, laid countless eggs for hens, and produced 10,000 kilograms per mu. My grandfather destroyed two Sultanates, captured one of his grandsons and over a hundred great-granddaughters-in-law as well as their great-great-grandchildren. When it came to my cheap old man, he was relatively inferior, so after conquering Damascus, he happily ran back to Constantinople to be crowned Caesar.

  It's been over a decade since the cheap father Caesar was awarded, and southern Muslims either have an itchy skin or want to take advantage of our strategic shift to unify several fragmented Islamic states in half of the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.

  I'm not entirely clear on why the cheap old man let those Muslim countries off, perhaps he also realized that while Muslims are easy to bully, it's a bit unrealistic to expect the entire empire to benefit from it. So today's bill targeting Muslims is also just a token gesture, only handed over to the ministers of the military and foreign affairs departments for handling, and not as grandiose as the one against France.

  "Long live Rome!!"

  Cheap old man turned his back on the imperial map, suddenly a high-handed hand, in the hall, all the high officials, including me, had to immediately raise their right hands in response.

  "For the Empire!!!"

  Cheap dad kept us all after the meeting and announced a message to us. He is going to modify the military school's payment terms, so we don't have to go back to the military school anymore. In the future, we will do some things. After finishing this message, he wanted to be alone to think, so we bid farewell and left the conference hall.

  Leaving the Augustus Square, it was already after noon. Alexander gazed out of the window at the people coming and going for a while, lost in thought. He sighed and said, "I wonder what the future will be like?"

  What will happen in the future?

  All these actions of France today are influenced by a war in Northern Europe not long ago, called the War of the Polish Succession, which lasted for five years.

  As for the cause, originally, as long as Russia didn't stir up trouble, the Polish succession war couldn't have started. But in the end, it was still because Poland had become weak.

  Poland, people who love this country generally affectionately call it the Republic of Poland. Once briefly revitalized by merging with Lithuania, a winged hussar cavalry regiment was established, and glory was achieved in pushing Russia back from Moscow. However, these cannot change the fact that Poland has been partitioned three times after being re-established three times.

  In this world, Poland is even more miserable than in the original one. Thanks to the Mongols, Russia became Sparta, and as a result, just when the Teutonic Knights were about to advance to the point of self-destruction, they were dragged to the streets and beaten by the rising Sweden.

  It was just the beginning of a tragic scene for Poland. As mentioned earlier, Poland was a receiver and would have an inexplicable sense of pleasure when being attacked. Just as Poland had been slightly stimulated by Sweden, Russia pulled down Sweden from behind and brutally inserted its influence into Poland without any mercy, despite Poland's severe pain. The Polish king, who had been appointed by the Swedish king, was immediately replaced by a Russian-backed candidate. Since then, Poland has been suffering and taking pleasure in this situation for over a decade until 1714, when the Russian-backed Polish king died.

  Elizabeth Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great who had seized power in a coup, ignored the persuasions of the Polish nobility and parliament and unilaterally appointed one of her lovers as King of Poland after the death of the previous king.

  The Poles softened for several decades and finally hardened here! Even with the threat of the Russian queen, they still elected their own king. The Russian army soon killed into Poland, and the Russian queen's lover became king with the support of a minority party. Some Polish nobles gained the support of the Swedish kingdom and established their own king to declare war on the Russian kingdom, while others called themselves parliamentarians and declared war on both sides. But no one took them seriously.

  A woman's boredom led to the War of the Polish Succession, which brought together the main characters. At this time, various countries also began to take action. However, who would have thought that just as Austria and Prussia were expressing support for Russia, Denmark and Saxony were expressing support for Sweden, the French suddenly descended from the sky, bringing with them fluttering flower petals and melodious music? France declared war on Austria and its allies under the pretext of helping the king's father-in-law recover his territory.

  After five years of fighting, the Treaty of Warsaw was born through negotiations. The claimants to the throne supported by France and Sweden renounced their claims to the Polish throne. The warring countries, the Russian Empire, the Swedish Empire, Austria-Habsburg, Prussia, and Saxony each took a part of the Kingdom of Poland. Austria-Habsburg ceded a series of territories near the French border to France as compensation. On the basis of the Treaty of Warsaw, the Russian Empire and Austria-Habsburg signed the Austro-Russian Alliance Treaty, forming an alliance. The Duchy of Prussia was elevated to a kingdom and signed an alliance agreement with Austria. As a result, Poland was dismembered, leaving only less than one-eighth of its original area. The mistress of the Russian queen became the King of Poland, known as Niatovski I.

  That war is hard to say who the real winner is, but there's no doubt that Austria's Habsburg can't withstand France's offensive in Western Europe! And anyone who tries to dominate the European continent will be an enemy of Rome!

  But this enemy fills me with a strange, inexplicable dread! Yes, France, our enemy, whose king is Louis XIV, the Sun King! A Frenchman who claims to be God on earth!

  Facing such an enemy, I have mixed feelings!