Chapter 609 Auction (Part 1)

Tranquebar, meaning "where the waves sing", was a colony acquired by a captain of the Danish East India Company in 1620 after conquering the local state.

Historically, this small colony brought huge profits to the Kingdom of Denmark. In fact, Denmark once had greater ideals.

However, with the disastrous defeat of Christian IV by Wallenstein, Denmark's imperial dream was shattered.

Before participating in the Thirty Years' War, Denmark united Norway, had extremely developed industry and commerce, and was known as the "Nordic Netherlands". It abolished the privileges of the Hanseatic League, formed a powerful naval fleet, and established Nordic hegemony after defeating Sweden. It went on an expedition to India to establish a colony.

However, just when Denmark's power reached its peak, Britain, France, and the Netherlands began to lobby Christian IV to participate in the Thirty Years' War and compete for hegemony on the European continent.

This unsophisticated king was convinced of the weakness of the Holy Roman Empire, and he did not want to be the overlord of Northern Europe only, but also the overlord of Northern Germany.

After obtaining the materials promised by Britain, France, and the Netherlands, he led his army into the German region, which was stuck like a quagmire.

The result was naturally a serious consumption of national strength, and what was even more terrifying was the brutality and bloodiness of the Thirty Years' War, which almost wiped out a generation of Danes.

The Austrian army led by Wallenstein repeatedly ravaged the Danish territory, and the powerful fleet on which it depended for survival was also burned.

Almost all of the former German vassal states were liberated, turning the capital into a border battlefield. From then on, the heart of Denmark was always exposed to the sharp knife of Germany.

The loss of the Sound made Denmark lose the foundation for dominating Northern Europe. Denmark's national strength declined rapidly, and coupled with the backstab of its allies, it had to withdraw from the war and focus on dealing with the challenge of Sweden.

As a result, Sweden dropped a tough guy, Gustav II, who turned out to be a strong man and directly defeated the last military spirit of Denmark.

In fact, Denmark, which was at its peak and could dominate Northern Europe at that time, was not without talents, but it happened to meet the two most capable fighters in the entire Thirty Years' War.

This is equivalent to Shi Wengong meeting Lu Junyi and Wu Song with full buffs. Is Shi Wengong powerful? Definitely powerful? But the latter two are monsters.

Denmark was defeated by Wallenstein and Gustav II, two geniuses who were worthy of being written into the world military history. Since then, Denmark has never recovered and even lost its ancestral property.

Although Tranquebar was a Danish colony, it was surrounded by British colonies and it was only a matter of time before it was lost.

However, the British offer was a bit outrageous. They planned to pay for the purchase by exempting part of the interest.

In fact, the value of this part of the interest was about 80,000 to 100,000 Danish kroner, and the exchange rate between Danish kroner and British pound was 19:1.

After the transaction was successful, the Danish castles, churches, docks, farmlands, and slaves on the land of Tranquebar all belonged to Britain.

The value of the above things was far more than the amount paid by the British. This was simply a half-sale and half-giveaway.

But at that time, Denmark could not find other buyers, and even the French did not dare to take this plate. After all, in terms of strength in Asia, even if the powers were combined, they were not enough to fight Britain.

However, due to historical changes, Austria, the Netherlands, and France all showed interest in the Danish colonies at this time.

Austria needed a transit station in India. Although Franz was thriving in the British Indian colonies by means of bribery, buying off, and fostering agents, no one could guarantee that this situation would continue. After all, whether it was a lion or an elephant, there would always be a day when they would wake up.

And it was time to fight back after being disgusted by the British for so long. India, as the forbidden fruit of the British Empire, was also its most painful point.

In fact, the Sikh War at this time was not a long-planned war as they thought, but a war promoted by Franz.

The purpose of doing this was not only to weaken Britain, but also to make it too busy to take care of other things. After all, Franz didn't want to do such a thing as pulling teeth out of a tiger's mouth, unless the tiger was stunned and couldn't think of fighting back.

In addition to Caroline's assists, the Netherlands' national strength was greatly enhanced after annexing the Flemish region and joining the German Customs Union.

At least the king's power and influence reached an unprecedented height, and the alliance with Austria greatly strengthened the Netherlands' connection with Southeast Asia.

Under these stimuli, the "Merchant King" was eager to take back the power of the Dutch East India Company so as to restore the former glory of the Sea Coachman.

In addition to wanting to expand their territory in Southeast Asia, the French were also fed up with the exploitation and extortion of the British.

Of course, the most important point besides this was that Louis Philippe wanted to join in the fun. That's right, compared to expanding his territory in Southeast Asia and getting rid of the British, he wanted to know what Austria wanted to do and get a piece of the pie.

In fact, in order to prevent the French from making a comeback, Britain restricted the former very strictly in Southeast Asia. Of course, the same is true for other countries including Austria.

After all, no hegemon is willing to give up the interests in his hands. Britain essentially hopes to dominate the Far East and the Indian subcontinent.

And it was indeed difficult for Western powers to reach these places during this period in history, but there were new changes at this time.

First, Austria conquered Zhenla with a few hundred people, and then the Netherlands and Spain strengthened their homeland and then strengthened their colonization of Southeast Asia.

Then Louis Philippe's ambitions expanded and France's power in Southeast Asia was strengthened.

On the other hand, Britain suffered frequent setbacks in international affairs, and its invincible pressure was greatly reduced.

Although Europe was still divided in diplomacy, many relatively stable small groups were formed, which further reduced Britain's influence.

Military losses were equally fatal. Whether it was the sinking of the fleet in the Near East Crisis, the tragedy of being wiped out by "pirates" on the island of Kalimantan, or the war of attrition in southern Brazil at this time, the British army's spirit was greatly damaged.

(The above are all the war plots mentioned in the previous article, and I won't go into details here.)

As one side grew and the other side fell, the thoughts of the lower powers became active, especially with the Austrian Empire taking the lead, the Netherlands and France were naturally willing to follow behind to share a piece of the pie.

However, this situation angered British Prime Minister Robert Peel, who did not expect the Austrians' revenge to come so quickly.

Of course, it was not difficult to scare off the latter, as long as the troops on the Indian subcontinent were moved to the vicinity of the Danish colonies.

But if this were to happen, the 45,000 troops that had just assembled would be dispersed again, and the 60,000 Sikh troops were already ready.

Would retreating at this time lead to the enemy's pursuit like a hungry wolf? In that case, Britain would face the danger of being attacked from both sides on the Indian subcontinent.

Robert Peel did not want to take this risk, because Britain's hegemony was already riddled with holes, so he decided to solve the problem with money.