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Although Anna of Austria had a special status and was middle-aged but still had charm, in terms of beauty, there were many French noble ladies and aristocratic ladies on the ship who were more attractive than her. Moreover, Zhang Haoran was the ambassador of the visiting European delegation, not an ordinary soldier. When he came to talk to him, he naturally would not pull her into bed to talk.
However, as a captive, Anna could not help but think of the worst. Even an ordinary Qin soldier could drag her to the bed and ravage her at will, let alone the ambassador of the Qin delegation himself.
The conversation with her went fairly well.
After Zhang Haoran proposed the condition of ceding Le Havre, the French regent queen initially agreed, but soon changed her mind;
Although she had no political talent, Le Havre controlled the estuary of the Seine River and was known as the outer port of Paris. Controlling Le Havre was actually equivalent to controlling the throat of Paris leading to the outside world, and it could threaten the safety of Paris at any time.
Considering that ceding Le Havre would inevitably lead to national condemnation, the Queen Regent immediately changed her mind and proposed to cede the port of Marseille as a condition.
If you look at the map of France, you will know that Marseille is located in the Provence region in southern France, facing the Mediterranean Sea. Now the Strait of Gibraltar, the throat of the Mediterranean Sea, is controlled by Spain. Even if Daqin gets the port of Marseille, it will be difficult to operate it.
Therefore, Zhang Haoran rejected this condition.
If Zhang Haoran knew that the Great Qin Emperor Qin Dada intended to seize all the areas of the future Suez Canal from the Ottoman Empire and dig a canal to open up the waterway between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, he would certainly gladly accept the conditions of the French Queen Mother Anna to cede the port of Marseilles.
However, the Qin Emperor’s idea of digging the Suez Canal was still in his mind, and now even Egypt was still ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
Therefore, Zhang Haoran felt that Marseille, located in the Mediterranean, was like a piece of chicken ribs to Daqin. It was tasteless when put into the bowl, but it would be a pity to throw it away.
As soon as Zhang Haoran's tone became tough, the French Queen Mother Anna softened immediately. Thinking of her pitiful situation of being just a lamb in someone else's hands, she immediately increased the stakes and agreed to cede the Provence Blue Coast area where the Port of Marseille is located to Daqin.
The Blue Coast is a large coastal area connecting Toulon in the Var and Menton in the Alps, which borders Italy. Geographically, the area is surrounded by the Alps in the north and faces the sea in the south.
This area has beautiful lavenders of various colors and picturesque scenery. It is the most desirable place for countless petty bourgeoisie in later generations. But now, except for Marseille Port, most of the Blue Coast area is sparsely populated mountains.
This would not have aroused Zhang Haoran's interest, but considering that Le Havre's strategic location as it controls the outlet to the sea of Paris is too special, even if France is forced to cede it now, once France has recovered in the future, it will take it back at all costs. Even if Daqin spends countless efforts, it may not be able to really keep Le Havre.
At the same time, considering that the Mediterranean is the cradle of European civilization, the countries surrounding the Mediterranean were once the mainstream of East-West trade, and even now, they still account for a very heavy share of trade;
Daqin already has a trading port facing the Atlantic Ocean in Portugal. If it can get another piece of territory in the Mediterranean, which can be used as a distribution center for Daqin's trade with the countries along the Mediterranean coast, that would be a good thing.
As for the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by Spain, as long as peace is reached with Spain, or even an agreement to jointly attack the Ottoman Empire is reached, it will no longer be a problem for Daqin's merchant ships to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar.
After Zhang Haoran returned to the flagship command ship and discussed with Zheng Jie and others, they decided to agree to the conditions of the French Queen Mother Anna. France ceded the port of Marseille and the surrounding Blue Coast area of 500 miles. In addition, France paid 3 million taels of silver as compensation to Daqin, allowed Daqin's goods to enter the French market freely, and implemented a zero tariff policy for all Daqin's goods.
The Qin Dynasty agreed to release Anna, Mazarin and some French nobles. As for Louis XIV, he had to stay on the Qin warship to "recuperate" until the Qin Dynasty completed its takeover of Marseille and its surrounding areas, and then Louis XIV could return to France.
This was undoubtedly a humiliating treaty for France, but otherwise, the fate of the captive Queen Mother Anna and others would have been very miserable.
So she agreed. Besides this, did she have any other choice? Although she was not smart, she could also think that in order to ensure the benefits at hand, the Qin army would definitely support her to regain control of France; if the Fronde controlled the French government, they would most likely not recognize this humiliating treaty.
Zhang Haoran's quick decision to cut the Gordian knot was beyond many people's expectations, at least General Lan Bai, who had excitedly led his army to France, had not expected that he had originally intended to lead his army to invade France in the name of supporting the Qin envoys.
He had even formulated a battle plan, which was to take Paris directly. After taking Paris, Cromwell would send another army across the English Channel, land at Dunkirk, and capture the rich plains in northern France.
But now, before Zhang Haoran arrived with his warships, he reached an agreement with France and released Queen Mother Anne, Prime Minister Mazarin, and some French nobles who supported the two.
In addition to Vanrit, Willick, Viscount Turenne, Barak, and Froud, who controlled the French navy and army, were originally Mazarin's confidants. In order to protect their own interests, these people quickly united around Queen Mother Anne and Mazarin and carried out their orders.
Even the wavering Van Ritter obeyed orders on the surface and began to use his cavalry to quell the Fronde rebellion around the Seine.
The French navy led by Barak used Le Havre as its base to prevent foreign invasion.
Under such circumstances, even Zhang Haoran directly opposed Britain's interference in French affairs. Lanbai could not find an excuse to invade for a while. At the same time, the French navy and army had unified command, and Lanbai was not sure that he could get a good result from Barak.
The Portuguese fleet that arrived shortly afterwards was also secretly disappointed.
A day later, news came that Willick and Froude had joined forces to recapture Paris, and Queen Mother Anne, Mazarin and others were able to return to the Louvre. Although the Louvre was empty after being moved by the Qin army and looted by the Fronde, its magnificent palace was still there, and it still had extraordinary symbolic significance.
Queen Mother Anne and Mazarin had controlled France for nearly ten years. Most of the officials and generals in various places were their confidants. In addition, Mazarin himself was quite talented. After returning to the Louvre, they quickly regained control of most parts of France.
On the contrary, Louis de Bourbon had just been released and had been in power for too short a time. In order to create chaos this time, almost all the forces of the Fronde were mobilized. The rebellion in Paris and the towns around the Seine River was severely damaged by the fierce counterattack of the army led by Willick, Froud and Van Ritter. The power of the Fronde was much weaker than before.
Zhang Haoran and his companions were greatly relieved to hear the news. They did not want to detain the Queen Mother of France and Mazarin for too long because they were worried that officials from all over France would be in chaos due to lack of leadership, which would benefit the surrounding countries and the Fronde. Now it seems that the situation is not too bad because the Queen Mother of France and Mazarin have not been away from the core of power for a long time.
General Lanbergh of England was unhappy because his efforts were in vain. At this time, Charles II of England entered France. Since Charles I was sent to the guillotine by Cromwell, he had been in exile in various European countries under the protection of some royalists, seeking help.
When Lanbery heard the news, he suddenly had an idea and immediately launched an attack on France, using the excuse that France had taken in Charles II.
Now it was Zhang Haoran's turn to be unhappy. Although Mazarin had barely controlled the situation after returning, the Fronde rebellion had not been quelled at home and Philip IV of Spain was personally leading an expedition to France. If Britain stabbed him in the back again, Mazarin might not be able to hold on, and the treaty he had just signed with the current French regime would likely come to nothing.
Zhang Haoran then asked Zheng Jie to go to the Grape battleship to command and communicate, while he personally boarded Lan Bai's flagship, ready to stop his actions. However, could he stop him
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.(To be continued..)
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