In August, the northern ocean surface was relatively calm. The East Coast fleet stationed in multiple ports in United Province increased the frequency of departures, intercepting and searching for suspicious ships on the sea. In fact, they no longer need to do so. In the past period of time, the Republican government has slowly stabilized the domestic situation, cleaned up a considerable number of officials with suspicious positions, and at the suggestion of the East Coast adviser, it has continuously strengthened control and rectification of the land and navy, and everything is developing in a positive direction.

However, at the request of The Hague, they still did not evacuate and return home because the anti-French war is in full swing, and there are still a considerable number of people in the Netherlands who are interested in the Orange family. Even within the republican government, many people are worried about whether they can successfully resist the attacks from France. The disastrous defeat of the French-Dutch war more than ten years ago directly led to the collapse of the republican government. The people are not very confident about whether this government, which is a good economy, can make achievements in national defense. It is precisely for this reason that after friendly consultation between the two sides, the East Coast Task Force decided to continue to stay in the Netherlands for a period of time to help them stabilize the situation and resist possible threats from the outside world.

However, they also made it clear that their main task was to monitor the British side and prevent Prince Orange from suddenly leading his troops back to the United Provinces to seize power. As for other aspects, such as going to sea to fight the French, I'm sorry, the Dutch's current price was not enough to consume precious warships and lives. Moreover, the East Coast people did not have enough reason to start a war with the French, and lost the French market and killed the naval officers and soldiers who were trained at a high price. What did you pay for?

Of course, the Dutch did not force the East Coast Navy to help them fight. In fact, they were still very confident. The glorious record of maritime wars over the years gave them enough psychological advantages. Even though France has been working hard to govern and vigorously develop the navy in recent years, it was still not seen by the Dutch. The only opponent they recognized was probably the Kingdom of England, which was also very profound in the ocean tradition, which was the object they needed to be vigilant, rather than the fleet of Louis XIV, which had always been poorly recorded.

The war caused by the three-way invasion of France has been deeply involved. Needless to say, the countries that bear the brunt of Austria, Spain, and Savoy have almost used various means to confront the French, not only military, diplomatic, and economic means. Anyway, they are doing everything to weaken the strength of the French and compete for their own chances of victory.

Instead of the country that was so brunt of the brunt, it was more or less involved in this war due to fear and concern. The most active ones were undoubtedly England and United Provinces. The former was afraid that former King James II was sent back to restore the reign of the French, so the fate of some members of the parliament would not be too wonderful. The experience of the Round Skull Party was not far away. No one of the men in the parliament wanted to go to the guillotine, and William III and his wife did not want to be driven off the throne of the king, so England joined the alliance against France.

The reason for the United Provinces to join the war was to feel the threat of the survival of the country. Annexation of the seventeen lowland provinces was the goal that Louis XIV has been unswervingly advancing for many years. After the ten southern Netherlands provinces were finished, it was their turn to alliance with the seven provinces, which was something that even a fool could see. Therefore, every time France attacked the South Netherlands, the United Provinces would take the initiative to jump out and form an anti-French alliance without any mobilization, and would spend a lot of money to hire people, buy supplies, and resolutely argue with the French.

This time was no exception. As soon as Louis XIV's army entered the South Netherlands and exchanged fire with the local Spanish defenders, the United Province took action. They generously reissue the three-month pay owed by local Spanish soldiers, and then transported a large amount of food and gunpowder to come, encouraging them not to give up and insist on fighting. Madrid will definitely send reinforcements.

In addition, facing the French army that threatened their flanks (the army that invaded Germany from the Southern Netherlands), the Dutch themselves deployed heavy troops to defend themselves and fought with them several times, restraining some of the French forces, making them unable to fight with the Austrians calmly.

In short, there are too many reasons for United Provinces and England to participate in the war against the French, and they did. In history, William III was the leader of the anti-French war. In this time and space of the East Coast people, he only had the halo of the king of England, and did not have the title of United Provinces to rule. Therefore, the position of the leader of the anti-French alliance was held by Leopold of Austria, but this did not prevent William III from sending the English Navy to join this war.

Van Boyningen, the Speaker of the Third-level Parliament of the United Provinces, also sent a statement Dutch fleet to join the English to deal with the rising French Navy. Their purpose was obvious, to kill the French Navy, which was not strong enough in their eyes, and then blocked its coastline and weakened its national strength to achieve the goal of curbing the French offensive.

After going to sea, the Dutch Navy still stayed in Amsterdam, Flissinn, Horen, and Enkehey, dozens of East Coast naval warships in many Dutch ports, naturally had to take on the local defense of the United Provinces accordingly. After all, if the enemy warships attacked from the sea, would the East Coast Navy anchored in the port sit aside and watch the port of their quasi-ally destroyed indifferently? It is impossible to think about it! So, the Dutch are actually quite a thief. They spend money to pay the East Coast task force, but not just to prevent William III from leading the fleet back to seize power!

As the commander of the task force, Colonel Molieyn was very sensible about the Dutch's tricks. However, he was not very repulsive. He had communicated with the new plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, and he understood that there should be no accidents in the United Provinces, otherwise the funding sources of the anti-French alliance might be exhausted. After all, the North German vassal states (headed by Prussia) that came from afar to war with the French, the Swedish army and some Swiss mercenaries were borne by the Dutch. They even provided a considerable sponsorship to the Spanish Navy, allowing them to quickly renovate their ships, pay owed wages, purchase ammunition, and prepare for a decisive battle with the French Eastern Fleet.

Therefore, there must be no accidents in the Netherlands! If necessary, the eastern coast navy can retreat to Amsterdam and other places, and the army can also withdraw from the Maastricht area to ensure the safety of the Netherlands and Zelan provinces. As for the other five provinces, if they really can't stand it, they will give up temporarily, and there is no big problem.

Of course, generally speaking, the situation would not be so bad. Although the French transferred the prestigious Duke of Luxembourg to the South Netherlands to take over as the commander-in-chief of the French army, Prince Valdek from Austria seemed to be a little unbearable, but tens of thousands of reinforcements from the United Province could be taken over at any time, and the situation would not be too dangerous. The Dutch still had considerable confidence to defend the enemy outside the country.

"The French navy has grown rapidly over the years. I don't know if there is any chance to see it." Colonel Molie's Edge, who stood on the top deck of the "Executive Committee" battleship in the port of Enkecherzon, sighed: "Sometimes I think France is also quite cute. Because without them, I don't think the Dutch can be so easy to talk to. The English and Italians are also very respectful to us. It doesn't exist. This country firmly attracts everyone's hatred, allowing us to attack and gain benefits. I really have to thank them."

"Commander, but we cannot allow the French to annex and expand without restrictions, and we still have to check and balance it." A staff officer said with a smile: "I heard that the French are planning to send James II back to Britain. I think this is a very dangerous move. Once James II successfully restores his entrepreneurship and the alliance between Britain and France will have an extremely negative impact on our interests in the continent, so we must stop this possibility."

"This is something the English Navy needs to worry about, and we don't need to worry about them. There are few people in England who sympathize with their former king with Catholic faith. James II has to die and he has some influence in Ireland. Scotland doesn't have to think about it. There are no less forces opposed to him than England. Although it is the place where their Stuart family started, there is basically no chance. So, if Louis XIV wants to send James back to cause trouble, then the most suitable landing place is and only Ireland, but this is actually a death place." Mo Lie Eel said:

"First of all, England has been oppressing and enslaving the Irish people in history, and they have committed many evil deeds, especially the governors sent by the king. None of them are good birds. The Irish hates them to the core, and the king's reputation there is not good. Secondly, Ireland has too few populations, too poor economic strength, and no decent army. Their comprehensive strength is not worth mentioning than England. When James II went to Ireland, the outcome would not be great, and it would probably end soon in failure, unless Louis XIV sold his money to support his restoration at all costs, but how likely is this?"

Mo Liewin's words are actually very real. Louis XIV can play only a few cards now, especially for England. The most effective card is to send James II back to cause trouble, which can greatly restrain England's energy and make them unable to cause trouble for the French.

Louis XIV also knew that with William III in England, England would never be able to form an alliance with France, nor could it withdraw from the war, so we could only settle for the second best, support James II to restore the country, and cause trouble within the UK, so that the English could not go to the continent to make things difficult for him. But all of the above actually had a prerequisite, that is, defeat the English navy, and then send James II and his followers to the ashore. Of course, considering James' early dilemma, a certain number of French soldiers were also necessary, which involved a huge landing act. It was necessary to defeat the British navy, and it was difficult to succeed by smuggling.

Mo Liei once asked whether to interfere with this matter. Cai Zhenguo, who had worked in the UK for many years, rejected it after thinking, because even if the East Coast people took huge risks and costs, they would not appreciate it whether they support France or England. On the contrary, they might have many doubts and vigilance. What's more, the East Coast Navy now needs to guard against the United Provinces, and at the same time, it will also draw some fleets to the Western Mediterranean to help the Italians to help them, so they can only give up this proposal.

Cai Zhenguo believes that in this huge anti-French alliance war, it is best for East Coast people to serve as spectators. Of course, compared to more than ten years ago, the "spectators" can do a lot. For example, Cai Zhenguo is now busy rebuilding commercial networks across the continent. Almost every week, he sends several envoys to various places, find agents to talk to the rulers from all over the country, and sign a series of cooperation agreements. These efforts are undoubtedly helping the booming industry and commerce of the East Coast Republic of China.

We will strive to find more and more stable markets for East Coast goods and lay a solid foundation for the advancement of industrial technology and labor productivity. To put it bluntly, these measures to consolidate the foundation will be reflected in the strength of the East Coast in the future, and at the same time, it will once again widen the technological gap with the Europeans. The Europeans' steam engine technology is becoming more and more widely used, and the level is getting higher and higher. They may have thought that they were closer to the gap with the East Coast, but after fighting this war, the situation may be very different, and their understanding will be more unforgettable.

Cai Zhenguo's ideas were partially recognized by Mo Liehen, so he slightly suppressed his belligerent mind and instead served his intentions. He used European market profits to maintain R&D funds on the East Coast, used European market feedback to improve the current production technology, and used a larger production scale (this requires a larger market) to improve management level. The country's progress still depends on the advancement of industrial technology level, and the others are all false.

Even if Mo Lieyan is a soldier, he deeply understands this point and practices it all the time. In his words, it is: "The rough men in the army do not understand the mystery of business and technology at all. They are full of muscles in their minds and are already behind this era. Our navy must shoulder this important task."

"Tomorrow you go and find Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen, and then set out with him to the Port of Riga in the Baltic Sea. The secretary of Envoy Tsai is also the secretary of Envoy Tsai. He is going to visit Sweden, Kurland, Poland and other countries to discuss trade agreements with the heads of these countries. As for you, go to Port Wendao and inspect the shipbuilding industry and the current situation of the Navy in the Principal of Kurland. After you come back, you will make a report. The superiors should use it as a reference when formulating policies. Do you understand? We have been missing this rich sea for a long time, and the situation will definitely be different in the future." Mo Liei turned to the staff officer and ordered.

"Yes, I understand!" The staff officer stood attentively and replied.
Chapter completed!