As for the envoys going to France, the meaning is self-evident. Suleiman must be prepared for the worst. If he really cannot persuade either the Ming Dynasty or Spain to give up this alliance, Suleiman will have to Be prepared for the worst, at least he must find an ally for his Ottoman Empire.
And the best ally is France. Geographically, the Ottomans and France are far apart, but the two countries have a common enemy, and that is the Spanish Empire, or Carlos.
The purpose of going to the Kalmar Alliance and going to France is also the same, to find more allies for the Ottomans.
The Kalmar Union was established under the efforts of Margaret I, an alliance that united Norway, Denmark and Sweden. This period was their period of strength. It can be said that almost everything in Northern Europe is under the control of this alliance. , although their population is not large, their army is extremely powerful.
And more importantly, the relationship between the Kalmar Union and Germany during this period was very bad, because both countries were fighting for the right to trade in Northern Europe. Carlos is the current king of Germany, so the relationship between the Kalmar Alliance and Carlos is not very good.
As the saying goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend, so Suleiman¡¯s idea is still correct.
It is a pity that Suleiman's envoys did not succeed in the Kalma Alliance, because it was obvious that these northern European countries did not want to involve themselves in the war between the southern countries. Similarly, although the Kalma Alliance was strong during this period, it It is also on the verge of collapse.
Unprecedented war is breaking out among the three alliance countries. According to historical development trends, this year will be the time when the Kalmar Alliance will be completely disbanded. I think Zhu Houzhao's butterfly has not affected the relatively isolated Northern Europe.
Suleiman was disappointed when he failed to achieve what he wanted at the Kalmar Alliance, but fortunately in France, he got the reply he wanted.
Francois is obviously very interested in forming an alliance to fight Carlos. Especially now that he is almost helpless after being beaten by Carlos. If he can win over Suleiman, he might be able to turn defeat into victory and capture the entire Spanish Italy.
However, Suleiman still did not make any progress in the Ming Dynasty and Spain. Zhu Houzhao is now determined to completely solve the big trouble of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, although he met with Suleiman's envoys, he never talked about the relationship between the two countries. However, since he still didn't know how Wang Hong's fall to the ground in the west was progressing, he did not directly declare war on the Ottomans.
Suleiman had some success with Carlos at first. At least after some persuasion by Suleiman's envoy, Carlos began to treat the Ming Dynasty with caution. However, King Fran?ois of France immediately came from the west. News of an alliance with the Ottoman Empire.
Got the news. Carlos was completely furious. You want to form an alliance with us and you are flirting with our enemies like this. What do you mean? It was obvious that Carlos was extremely disappointed and completely distrustful of Suleiman. The last chance for reconciliation between the two countries was lost.
Now that the situation is irreversible, Suleiman is not a person who feels sorry for himself. He knows that his Ottoman Empire is at a disadvantage in this contest, so in order to defeat the strong with the weak, he and Francois chose to take the initiative. Attack.
He took advantage of the long distance from Spain to the Ming Dynasty, and on the one hand, he courted the Ming Dynasty in the East. In order to confuse the Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, he sent 200,000 troops and French King Francois to launch an attack on Carlos's territory.
Suleiman's idea was simple, that is, to completely solve the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire before Ming Dynasty understood the actual situation. Then he could sit on most of the European territories and Central Asian territories with France and start a lasting war with Ming Dynasty. resistance.
This is at least in terms of overall strength. The two of them can reach the same level as Ming Dynasty.
But Carlos was not a fool. Of course, he could not watch the worst situation unfold. In order to let Ming Dynasty know the news that the two countries had formed an alliance as soon as possible, he began to deliver news to Ming Dynasty through waterways and land.
It is definitely not possible to take the water route along the route Wang Hong and the others came from. There was no time at all, so he and Wang Hong sent out a fleet of mainly small boats to force a breakthrough from the Mediterranean, but it was a pity. Suleiman had ordered the complete blockade of the passage from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea long before he sent troops, so the fleets of the two countries could only return without success.
But on land, it was impossible for Suleiman to block the communication between Carlos and Ming Dynasty.
This time Carlos went into danger and made a move??He sent one of his envoys and the cronies sent by Wang Hong to detour from Austria to Poland, and then passed directly through the territory of the Principality of Muscovy in disguise.
In Siberia, the Ming Dynasty¡¯s sphere of influence had already crossed the Ural Mountains. On the outskirts of Kazan, they encountered the Ming Dynasty¡¯s cavalry.
At this point, Carlos spread the news that he and Wang Hong had formed an alliance and the current situation in the West to the capital.
Zhu Houzhao was shocked when he heard the news. Judging from the time, it was obvious that Carlos was being attacked from both sides.
If Carlos is eliminated, it will be very difficult for the Ming Dynasty to defeat the Ottoman and French coalition forces.
Making a decisive decision, Zhu Houzhao declared war on the Ottomans. Although it was a bit hasty, the Ming army, which had been training in Central Asia and Siberia for more than ten years, also attacked quickly.
Two armies of the Ming Dynasty, one of which was stationed in the territory of the Far Safavid dynasty, an army of 200,000, directly attacked the Ottoman Empire from the Persian plateau, while the other, an army of nearly 100,000, crossed Kazakhstan from Astrakhan to the Ottoman Empire. launched an attack.
And this was only the first wave of offensive. After launching the attack on the Ottoman Empire, Zhu Houzhao was not idle at home. This time he mobilized large-scale troops from across the country. In view of the current situation in the south and east of the entire Ming Dynasty, There are no forces in the north that can pose any threat to the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Houzhao can confidently and boldly mobilize the vast majority of the country's troops to the front line.
For this war, Zhu Houzhao had already begun to prepare. From the capital to Kazakhstan and from the capital to the Persian Plateau, Zhu Houzhao had already stocked up a large amount of supplies along the way.
At the same time, in order to facilitate contact with Carlos in the west, Zhu Houzhao also formed an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and jointly sent troops to the Principality of Moscow.
Since the Ottoman Empire completely controlled Suez. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao could only communicate with Carlos through land, and on land, the shortest way to bypass the Ottoman Empire was through the Principality of Moscow.
There is no need to reject the Ming Dynasty¡¯s alliance with the Principality of Lithuania. It was the Principality of Moscow that once pulled Lithuania from the throne of the hegemon. For Lithuania, which once lost a large area of ??its territory to the Principality of Muscovite, this is an excellent opportunity for revenge. And they have another ally, Poland.
Over the years, the Ming Dynasty has stationed no less than 80,000 troops on the front line in Kazan, just for the arrival of this day.
When the attack began, Muscovite was completely unable to resist. To their east was the Ming Dynasty, to the north was Lithuania, to the west was Poland, and to the south was the Astrakhan Khanate. Except for the Ming Dynasty, these four countries were all sworn enemies of the Muscovy Principality.
Facing enemies from four directions, the Principality of Muscovy was simply unable to resist. Vasily, the Grand Duke of Moscow, mistakenly provoked the Ming Dynasty, so that the entire Principality of Muscovy was under the shadow of the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years. The continuous confrontation with the Ming Dynasty, Lithuania and other countries over the past ten years has long exhausted the strength of the entire Muscovy Principality.
Their army has gone from its peak of nearly 200,000 to now less than 100,000 troops. Their army has not been paid any military pay for more than a year, and their weapons have not been replaced for more than five years. Cannons can no longer be built at all.
Such a country was completely unable to resist the attack of nearly 200,000 troops from four directions. In early June of the 18th year of Zhengde, Vasily defended the capital, but the Ming Dynasty used artillery to destroy the city wall. At this point, the entire Muscovite army was wiped out, and Vasily committed suicide.
Occupied the Principality of Muscovy and relied on the Lithuanian-Polish Alliance. Daming finally established a smooth channel to communicate with Carlos on land.
This is crucial because it is directly related to whether all intelligence transmission tasks between the East and the West can be successfully completed.
And through this channel, Zhu Houzhao finally learned about the current situation of the entire Spanish Empire.
???????? Barely insisting. Even though Carlos has a vast territory and occupies most of the European continent, under the full attack of the two eastern and western countries, he can only barely maintain himself from being defeated.
On land, Carlos was unable to make any progress at all. The only place he could make a difference was the navy. After the Portuguese navy's strength was greatly damaged, the Spanish navy has become the largest navy in Europe. And now it has the support of the Ming Dynasty fleet still in Europe.
The navy that Carlos can mobilize is fully capable of sweeping the entire Atlantic Ocean.
When Francois led his army to capture the city of Rome in Spanish Italy,?When the French and Ottoman coalition forces surrounded Vienna, and when Carlos was almost losing the entire territory of the Holy Roman Empire, his navy had quietly evaded the detection of the Ottoman Empire and appeared near Suez.
And just above the Red Sea, the Ming fleet has been swaying there for two days.
The naval battle was about to break out. The Ottoman navy did not expect that Carlos would risk losing the entire Holy Roman Empire and attack Suez, and they also did not expect that the Ming Dynasty would dare to take risks and attack Suez.
The fleets of the Ming Dynasty and Spain are the most advanced and powerful navies in the world. Perhaps they alone may not be able to defeat the Ottoman navy that occupies the advantage of the terrain, but when the two join forces, the outcome is beyond everyone's expectations.
The Ottoman navy that dominated the Mediterranean and the Red Sea simply fled in panic under the attacks of the Ming Dynasty and Spain. Although they had the advantage of the mainland and although they had more fleets, they did not have super long-range naval guns like the Ming Dynasty and Spain. .
The Ottoman navy, which was tired of dealing with enemies attacking from both sides, had no idea that the Ming Dynasty's army had already quietly detoured through Egypt and reached the west of the Suez Canal.
Under the indiscriminate bombardment of a large number of artillery, the Ottoman army guarding the Suez Canal completely collapsed. The Suez Canal first appeared more than a thousand years ago, but the Suez Canal was narrow at that time, and it had already been defeated after several wars.
However, although the current Suez Canal is completely incomparable with the Grand Canal of later generations, due to Ottoman construction over the years, some smaller ships can sail freely.
At this point, the sea lanes between Ming Dynasty and Spain are also completely connected. Although the Ottoman navy dominated the Mediterranean, they could not cut off Spanish navigation in the Mediterranean. And with no retreat, the Ottoman navy in the Red Sea was completely wiped out by the Ming fleet.
When he learned that Suez had been captured, Suleiman, who was besieging Vienna, was shocked. He quickly issued orders on the front line to mobilize Egyptian and Arab armies from north to south to attack the Ming army in Suez.
But it is a pity that the Ottomans have completely lost control of the Red Sea. With the help of the Ming Navy, the Ming army that captured Suez has been able to obtain a steady stream of supplies.
Knowing that the situation was critical, Suleiman stepped up his attack on Vienna, and finally stood in the palace of Vienna with French King Francois half a month later. The northern passage between Ming Dynasty and Spain was cut off.
So far, except for Germany, which is out of control, all Carlos' territories in the Holy Roman Empire have been captured. But Suleiman was not happy for long. He had just captured Vienna when he learned that the Ming Dynasty troops had landed in Egypt on a large scale. Not only were the Egyptian and Arab armies attacking Suez defeated, but the entire Egypt was almost out of control.
So far in this war, both sides have their own victories and defeats. The Ottoman Empire and France have captured the entire Holy Roman Empire except Germany. This is their victory.
But the Ottomans were also besieged on three sides by the Ming Dynasty. Not only did their naval strength suffer a great loss, but they also lost the entire Egyptian province. Moreover, the French cities in the coastal areas were almost burned down by the Spanish navy's attack.
Both sides desperately need a decisive victory. But at this time, Suleiman and Francois had an analysis. Suleiman asked the coalition forces of the two countries to go south to snipe the Ming Dynasty. However, Francois did not want to bother the transnational European and Ottoman expeditions to fight the Ming Dynasty. He preferred that the West Enter the Spanish mainland.
This is a completely irreconcilable contradiction. Suleiman's suggestion is more beneficial to the overall situation, but for France, attacking Spain is obviously the best choice.
There was no other way, Suleiman had no choice but to make an agreement with Francois. The French attacked Spain, while Suleiman himself returned to the Ottoman army to resist the Ming attack. However, after France won the Spanish War, it had to move eastward to aid the Ottoman Empire.
That¡¯s it. The countries of the two alliances began to divide their forces.
Although Suleiman's return of defense suddenly strengthened Ottoman's strength, this was only temporary, because Ming's reinforcements were continuously advancing westward, whether on land or on the sea.
Even this time, Zhu Houzhao personally led 300,000 imperial troops to the Persian Plateau.
In order to capture Egypt and the vast areas of Arabia, Zhu Houzhao deployed more than 200,000 troops there, which made it impossible for the Ottoman army, which was short of major generals, to resist. In August of the 18th year of Zhengde, the Ming army swept across the country at the cost of more than 30,000 casualties. All of Egypt and Arabia.
? ?Therefore, in addition to controlling its own homeland and later Iraq and Syria, the rest of the territory of the Asian Ottoman Empire was all controlled by the Ming Dynasty.
After capturing the Red Sea area, the Red Sea has completely become the temporary inland sea of ??the Ming Dynasty. In addition to leaving a large number of ships responsible for transportation, the rest of the warships began to move south along Africa.
They have a difficult task, which is to bypass Africa and join the Spanish Navy in Europe.
The French king who attacked the Spanish mainland did not achieve the victory he thought. At this time, under the attack of the Spanish infantry phalanx, Francois's proud cavalry was unable to fight back. Even Zhu Houzhao, who learned the news, had to lament that during this period, only the Spanish infantry phalanx could compete with the Ming Dynasty's army.
After annihilating the French cavalry, Carlos finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had suffered so many defeats some time ago, but it made him depressed a lot.
Francois was almost captured and fled in a hurry, but Carlos led an army behind him and followed Francois directly to the French mainland.
At the same time, Carlos used the navy to force a landing in Marseille, and the two armies and Francois's reassembled army met in the Bordeaux area.
Although Francois is also a wise master, he is completely unable to compete with Spain at its peak militarily. Carlos only relies on two things, one is more advanced firearms, and the other is the most iron-blooded Spanish infantry phalanx. . The Spanish infantry of this period, like the German infantry of later generations, were completely war machines.
Although Francois knew all of Carlos¡¯ trump cards, he could not find a way to crack it.
The two sides launched a female showdown in Bordeaux.
At this time, in Tabriz, Zhu Houzhao also personally led an army of 500,000 people and Suleiman personally led an army of more than 300,000 people in a confrontation. (To be continued.)