Chapter 274 Treaty of Hue
Friedrich didn't want to waste time with these people, so the translator in the Skitarii immediately shouted a few times outside the palace gate. Soon after, an old eunuch came out and spoke in very awkward French.
"My Majesty, the Emperor of the Southern Empire, invites you."
Friedrich sat on a sedan he had just captured and fired a shot at the old eunuch's feet, scaring the old eunuch so much that he wet his pants.
"Don't speak French to me. I failed in French. Let the people inside come out to talk immediately, otherwise I will burn this place down and find someone willing to talk."
After a while, Emperor Shao Zhi of Vietnam, accompanied by a group of concubines, came to the square in front of the palace tremblingly.
Friedrich looked at the shivering man hiding among the women in front of him, and immediately lost interest in playing around. He took out the translated version of the treaty text that he had prepared and handed it to him.
1. Cede the Jiulongjiang Plain to the Austrian Empire, plus an indemnity of 3 million taels of silver.
2. Return the remains of all Western missionaries over the years and make a public apology in writing.
3. A pension of 300,000 taels of silver must be paid to relatives or the church. "
The above terms were within Emperor Shao Zhi's expectations. Although the land cessation and compensation made him feel pain, the Ruan Dynasty was like a live fish waiting to be slaughtered on the cutting board, and had no qualifications to bargain.
As a feudal emperor, Nguyen Phuc Kyung did not have the so-called feelings of family and country. As a believer in "existential philosophy", his principle in life is "everything is for existence, and existence is everything."
All other people with land and money are just passing smoke and are not as important as living. Therefore, all behaviors that humiliate the country by losing power are just a waste of money to eliminate disasters in the eyes of Emperor Shaozhi.
However, there were two clauses in the treaty at this time that he found difficult to accept, which were to "prohibit the slave trade and free all slaves." Since the Tang Dynasty, Vietnam had been Asia's largest slave trader and had been profiting from it.
For example, the famous Kunlun Nu (Uncle Black) comes from Saigon Market. The legendary Bodhisattva is most likely alluding to Vietnamese girls and Persian fairies, and these two types of people are also believed to be from the Saigon market.
However, with the maritime ban of the Ming Dynasty, the seclusion of the country by the Qing Dynasty, and the subsequent gunboat diplomacy of Westerners, Saigon is no longer an important node in East-West trade. Only natives from Indochina were left in the slave market in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese have always relied on capturing Laos and Chenla people to expand their slave army. In addition, some people who cannot repay their debts and criminals are treated as slaves, so once the slave trade is banned, it will undoubtedly touch the cake of many people.
At the same time, if all the slaves were released, it would be an astronomical figure, which would definitely arouse dissatisfaction across Vietnam.
"Why are you still hesitating? If you don't sign, I will burn down your wooden house!" Friedrich saw the other party's hesitation in his eyes, so he began to launch an intimidation offensive. After all, according to what Franz said, some people just won't cry until they see the coffin.
Ruan Phuc Cui really wanted to know about this matter as soon as possible. But as a monarch, he is not the only ruler of this country.
If the jade seal is really hastily stamped like this, not only will the dignitaries and landowners in Vietnam be offended by him, but the reputation of this defeat will be ruined, and the Nguyen dynasty will end in a humiliating way.
"If you sign, you will be dead, but if you don't sign, there will be a glimmer of hope." Thinking of this, Ruan Phuc immediately stood up, straightened his clothes, and stepped forward with the support of his favorite concubine. said.
"Our country, the Yaxing of Dayue, has existed since ancient times. The laws of our ancestors cannot be changed. As an orthodox member of the Ruan family, I cannot kill or behead you for such a treasonous thing. Please do as you please!"
Friedrich really wanted to shoot the trembling old bastard in front of him, but his reason stopped him. Because once this nominal legal ruler is lost, this place will turn into a quagmire that swallows everything.
He recalled a conversation he had with Franz not long ago about trying to avoid security wars; the benefits of a colony depended on its output and maintenance costs.
If the cost is too high, it will be a burden for the country, and excessive costs will lead to intensification of domestic politics.
At the same time, if too much power is invested in a colony, it is very likely to fall into an anxious situation where the colony cannot be lost, and it is easy to be instigated and bewitched by foreign forces to form a trend of separation from the mother country.
To be honest, no matter how big or small a country is, strong or weak, colonization is never a simple process.
Different from simply plundering or plundering, if you want to maintain blood transfusion from the colonies to your country for a long time, you must first carry out long-term investment and development.
In other words, the necessary prerequisite for obtaining high returns is stable and uninterrupted investment of money, materials and manpower, and this means that you also need to take huge risks.
Natural disasters, wars, and even simple poor management may lead to losses. After all, today's colonies not only cannot bring economic benefits to the mother country, but also need to draw blood from the mother country.
If you are not careful, it may become a catalyst that intensifies conflicts among political groups.
Franz didn't want all the Austrian expeditionary forces to suffer from PTSD, the kind that would scare them to the point of peeing when they heard "Foryunate Son".
(Foryunate Son, the famous Vietnam War song, often appears in various film and television works about the Vietnam War. It first appeared in "Forrest Gump".)
When writing to his uncle, a naval genius, he suggested that the Vietnamese hand over 20,000 slaves. The number of 20,000 was quite shocking to European countries, but for Vietnam, a country with millions of slaves, But it's a drop in the bucket.
Therefore, Emperor Shao Zhi finally won his bet. The Austrian general in a gorgeous navy blue dress put down his gun and took out a revised and more relaxed treaty from his arms.
And the Vietnamese monarch may not have been driven by the desire to kill people with a borrowed knife. After all, 20,000 slaves are not as simple as being insignificant to some families that may endanger his rule.
After completing the relevant procedures, Friedrich led the Austrian army to leave Hue because he was not sure whether the other party would return to support here.
If the Vietnamese army of 100,000 soldiers really desperately wanted to keep him, this star of the Imperial Navy would probably perish here.
In fact, Friedrich was overly worried.
At this time, on the other side of the Jiulong River plain, the Vietnamese army had an unfavorable start. They were attacked by the Chenla people who had been prepared for half-crossing and lost thousands of troops, forcing the coach Li Shan to choose to confront each other across the river.
However, on the other side of the river, Ambrosius, the coach of the Chenla Army, was not happy at all. The main equipment of the Chenla army in his hand is still antiques such as broadswords, spears, bows and arrows that should be displayed in museums.
The aim of the artillerymen and gunners under his command completely depends on faith and luck. Twenty cannons and five thousand guns, if they were replaced by the troops of Austria and other European powers, they would probably have defeated the opponent.
Who would have thought that the advantageous attack only caused thousands of casualties to the opponent, and a considerable number of them were drowned by the water when crossing the river.
Fortunately, however, the Vietnamese monarch's edict demanding surrender was soon passed to the hands of the frontline general Li Shan. Unable to save himself, he gave up the idea of fighting to the death and led his men to surrender. At this point, the First Austria-Vietnam War ended, and the Vietnamese ceded the Jiulong River Plain to Austria, plus an indemnity of 3 million taels of silver.
Another strategic value of this war is to obtain the future mining rights of a large amount of excellent quality anthracite coal owned by Vietnam. This is an extremely scarce strategic resource, and it is also the only occupyable anthracite producer in the entire coastal region of Asia and Africa.
In the age of steam, coal was the blood of battleships. High-quality anthracite can not only provide it with stable and powerful power, but also facilitate hiding targets at sea.
In order to win a naval battle, the Japanese Combined Fleet even spent a lot of money to purchase anthracite coal from the United Kingdom. The inferior coal even indirectly led to the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet.
Although the Austrian Empire has a lot of coal reserves, they are mainly bituminous coal and lignite, and artificial anthracite coal seems to be not worth the gain in this era.
At the same time, anthracite is also an important chemical raw material, and its main use is in the fertilizer industry (nitrogen fertilizer, synthetic ammonia).
In addition, anthracite also plays an important role in industries such as ceramics and forging, and it is the best choice for blast furnace injection.