Both armies were heavily influenced by the Tang Dynasty and were fully gunned, using smoothbore guns as their main weapons and line tactics as their main tactics. They fought large-scale battles around the Verdun area.
Both sides knew that this was a strategic decisive battle that could determine the outcome of the Western Front, so neither side gave in.
The troops advance in front of the guns and artillery. When one division is exhausted, a new division is called in. When the battle is at its fiercest, often within a day of reinforcements, more than half of a division will be killed or wounded and forced to withdraw and reorganize.
In this kind of battle, neither side has a decisive advantage, so it is often a war of attrition, and it depends on who can last longer.
What are they competing for?
People and money!
People are naturally soldiers. Under the influence of the Tang Dynasty, the entire European region has now fully entered the era of line warfare. Even those European lords know that to fight a war, you do not have to have a group of knights, but you can casually
If you capture a peasant and train him for a few months, you can bring him to the battlefield to fight. This will increase the size of the army and increase the casualties, but it is actually easier to replenish the army.
Against this background, the main body of the European troops has actually evolved from a military composed of medieval knights and other professional soldiers to a military based on ordinary people such as farmers.
Hundreds of thousands of troops.
Besides people, the only thing left is money.
This money represents weapons and ammunition, military pay, and food. Especially now that European countries, including the Tatar Kingdom, are importing large quantities of weapons and ammunition from the Tang Dynasty, it is absolutely impossible to fight a war without money.
One month after the Battle of Verdun broke out, the financial system of the Kingdom of France had completely collapsed. Every day, I went to the delegation of the Tang Dynasty to try to borrow money, but the Tang Dynasty said that you had borrowed more than 20 million Tang Yuan.
, if I keep borrowing it, I won’t be able to pay it back even if I sell all of France, so I keep putting it off.
The finances of the Kingdom of France have collapsed. Apart from them, who is most anxious?
United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal!
No matter what grudges they had before, the Tatars are now gathering more than half a million troops to march westward. Once France is finished, Spain will be no better.
Therefore, even if it is to protect itself, the Kingdom of Spain will not just watch the Kingdom of France be destroyed!
how to say.
On the current European Western Front, although many countries have sent troops to participate in the war, such as the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal, the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Scotland, and the Kingdom of Sweden.
But the main body of the war has always been the Kingdom of France.
The Kingdom of France has the largest military strength. Basically, more than half of the troops on the Western Front belong to the Kingdom of France (including the royal family and the armies of subordinate lords).
However, the Kingdom of France itself cannot actually support such a large army, and often requires financial assistance from Spain.
To put it bluntly, Spain provided the money and France provided the men to fight the war.
France can keep its country, and Spain can avoid its own land becoming a frontline, so it can develop safely from behind.
Now that France can no longer bear it, it asks the Tang Dynasty to borrow money, but the Tang Dynasty won't lend it to them. What should we do?
The Kingdom of France simply went to the Spanish and asked them to provide support.
The Spaniards also have a headache about this.
It’s not that I don’t want to support, it’s just that I really don’t have the money to support!
Philip II himself had empty pockets and relied on borrowings all year round to survive. Now that the war on the Western Front broke out, the funds were even tighter.
What to do if you have no money?
Ask Dad Tang to borrow it!
If the Kingdom of France borrows money from the Tang Dynasty and refuses to give it, if the Kingdom of Spain borrows money from the father of the Tang Dynasty, it will be different.
But borrowing money this time is not going too smoothly. People from the Tang Dynasty said that the money can be borrowed, but you have to use the American colonies as collateral!
This is not a problem. The problem is that the interest rates charged by the Tang Dynasty people are too high. If this loan is completed, the annual income of the American colonies will not even be enough to repay the annual interest on this loan...
And the Spaniards also know that their financial problems are very big and serious.
The various debts they owed were very terrifying, with the total amount exceeding 50 million Tang Yuan, and this was only the money owed to domestic bankers or foreign bankers. For this reason, Philip II had declared bankruptcy many times.
These debts are restructured into defaults.
But these debts can be defaulted, but the money owed to Datang cannot be defaulted.
Over the past many years, Spain has accumulated debts of more than 26 million yuan in debt to Royal Bank, Imperial Bank and other Datang banks.
And just for these debts, it is very difficult for the Spaniards to pay back the interest every year. This is under the premise that the Tang Dynasty took over some special taxes such as customs duties and salt taxes. If not, they would not be able to pay back the interest every year.
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And now the tax revenue that can be mortgaged has basically been mortgaged. If you borrow this time, not to mention the principal, but if you repay the interest, it is estimated that you can only rely on colonial income.
But the problem is that the current colonial income is not as high as the interest rate...
It’s not like there aren’t smart people in Spain, they know the seriousness of not being able to repay the interest.
It is certain that the American colonies will be lost by then, and it will probably anger the Tang Dynasty.
Money from the Tang Dynasty is not so easy to owe.
The interest rate on borrowing money was too high, so Philip II set his sights on directly selling the American colonies.
The Kingdom of Spain never said that the American colonies could not be sold.
They had long been negotiating with Datang on the purchase of the American colonies, and the current disagreement between the two parties was mainly about the price.
The Tang Empire is now only willing to spend 12 million Tang Yuan to purchase all the American colonies of the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal, including some of their colonies in the Atlantic, islands, etc.
But the Spanish side initially asked for 50 million, and later negotiated a price reduction, but still insisted on asking for 40 million.
Forty million Tang Yuan, the Tang Dynasty would definitely be unwilling.
Why not?
The Navy prepared a military operations budget for the cabinet. If force is used to occupy American territories, military expenditures are expected to be around 50 million Tang Yuan.
After all, many of the wars in the colonies were centered on the coastal areas, especially once several important ports were captured, it would basically be announced that the colony had changed hands.
The money spent to buy it is almost the same as the money spent to seize weapons. Datang will definitely not do it!
What Datang wants is to spend less and do more!
Besides, if the Tang Dynasty went to war, even if tens of millions of dollars were spent on military expenses, the money would eventually flow back into the empire's industrial and commercial economy, and the actual cost would not be so much.
But it's different when it's lent. Although the empire can still rely on military procurement to recoup some of the money it borrows, a considerable part of it will inevitably not be recouped.
Therefore, it is impossible for Datang to agree to such a high price!
Due to differences in price, the two parties have been negotiating over the years, but have never been able to reach an agreement.
Now, some officials in Datang who are responsible for this matter feel that this may be an opportunity!
You can ask for money, but you have to use the American colonies as collateral and pay high interest rates.
When Spain can't even pay back the interest, the collateral will naturally become Datang's.
But the Spaniards were not stupid. When they thought about it, they might as well just sell the American colonies at a lower price.
Anyway, the income of the American colonies is gradually decreasing every year, and the Spaniards also know that with the Tang Dynasty here, the income will not be higher in the future, because the Tang Dynasty will not allow it.
Moreover, now that the Tatars are coming fiercely, it looks like they are going to kill France and then continue their march south into Spain. The Kingdom of Spain has no choice but to hold them back.
Soon, Spain took the initiative and said, let's not talk about loans for now, let's talk about the sale of American colonies.
When Datang's negotiators heard this, they said, "That's fine. Our goal is the American colonies anyway. You can just sell it without mortgage."