I Am Louis XIV

When Mr. Lome received the king's reply, Louis had already left Paris. Compared with his first royal expedition, only a few people saw him off this time. This does not mean that the king's prestige is declining, on the contrary. The victory of Flanders has already made the king no longer need those exaggerated and vain superfluous behaviors. The royal family members and available ministers and judges saw him off. The dignitary is contemptuous, only because he has no surname and no family, and as a mere businessman with a car, he has won the trust of the king, so he can climb to such a high position and win the title of princess for his three daughters.

But it is precisely for this reason that the king is willing to let him assist the queen mother and queen, and supervise Paris and the whole of France for him. No one can understand better than Colbert that without Louis, he is nothing—he is not even a priest.

This expedition is smoother and more leisurely than the first expedition. First, because the king has established his authority; Warehouses, these are like connected blood vessels, constantly replenishing abundant supplies to this behemoth—just like last time, the king not only took away nearly 30,000 new troops from Paris and Versailles, but also nursed People, workers, and soldiers continued to join in along the way. These princes and officials are a bit too realistic.

When the king went to Flanders, they just performed their duties as "knights" according to the tradition. Now, they can be said to be a group of shrewd businessmen. Immediately increased investment, some people said that it may have ruined their fortunes, but there is no doubt that the return is extremely rich. Unlike the furry Flanders, the Netherlands is a city of gold, and the East and West India Company Bringing tens of millions of huge profits to their investors-not to mention the Dutch businessmen who control these two companies.

Of course, a piece of fat meat will always attract countless greedy eyes, especially since 1658, the Dutch have almost monopolized the sale and purchase of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, silver from Japan, spices from Indonesia, gold and copper, Chinese tea and porcelain, as well as silk, and Indian cotton...these all belong to the Dutch...The West India Company was established later than the East India Company, but its expansion momentum is not inferior to any old one Colonial countries, because their main goods are slaves—they once competed with the Portuguese for Brazil, the British for Manhattan, the Spaniards for the islands in the Caribbean, and the French for St. Maarten. In one place, we plundered the natives there and sold them to the slave owners of the sugar cane plantations. The slave owners would naturally extract white gold from these dark-skinned savages—that is, another valuable and A commodity in great demand—sugar.

If the king can conquer Holland, then these are all theirs!

In the carriage, Louis repeatedly read the letter from Charles II. In the letter, Charles II carefully considered his tone, ensuring that he was neither overly flattering nor overly arrogant. He also understood that his own The request is a bit excessive, but it is not without reason. Louis can understand that Britain and France have been enemies for hundreds of years after all. Although they are allies and relatives-in-law now, maybe it was during the time when he and Charles II , A new war will break out between Britain and France. At that time, William III's territory will indeed become a good buffer zone, but Charles II may have thought of it. At that time, if William III is willing to lean towards Britain, then France will fall behind here.

"What do you think?" Louis handed the letter to Philip who was sitting with him.

After reading the letter, Philip glanced at the map of the lowlands in his mind, "It's simply fantastic." He said: "I doubt what role the British can play in this war. Three years ago, the Dutch ships Straight into the Thames, guns into London, and it is said that no Englishman could stop Michel Adrianson de Ruyter."

"Then how do you think Charles II dared to raise such a condition?"

"It's still the same, brother," said Philip, "you said you would always be on God's side." At the beginning, Louis was the first to notice that there was Charles I, and of course there could be Carlos II, Leopold I, or Louis XIV—so Louis would never support any rebel, The problem is, while supporting Charles II, he must also contain the development of Britain, lest it become a difficult enemy, or he will become an unprecedented joke.

"Actually," Louis said as he lifted the curtain of the car and glanced out, "Philip, I originally wanted you to be the governor of the Netherlands."

"Huh?" Philip pouted dissatisfiedly, although he was twenty-eight years old, not only had a daughter, but was also the father of an unborn child, but he was still somewhat cute: "I don't even want to stay in Orleans. He said sincerely: "Don't try to send me away. No matter where you go, I always want to stay in the same room. It's best not to be too far away from you."

"That's the one closest to me," Louis said jokingly. "I'll order Teresa to give up her room."

"I would like to, but my mother will certainly slap me," said Philip. "And she wants you and the queen to have more children. All I need is to be ahead of your ministers or priests."

"I swear I will," Louis said, and the two brothers smiled at each other, and the conversation seemed to be joking, but there was something real about it—Philip was always the one closest to Louis—"So you think, I let How about Viscount Turenne as Governor of the Netherlands?"

Philip blinked, and after a few seconds, he showed a bright smile: "Good choice, brother, there is nothing better than this!"

The Viscount Turenne, who was still busy cleaning up and pacifying the Flanders region, didn't know that the next twenty years had been arranged by the unscrupulous king and his brother, the Duke of Orleans.

Viscount Turenne is of course not called Turenne, his name is Henri de la Tour Auvergne, he is a child of the Auvergne family, the second son of the Duke of Sedan, and later because the Duke of Sedan participated in the Due to the rebellion against Cardinal Richelieu, the Duchy of Sedan was taken back, and his identity became a bit embarrassing—but he did have excellent military talents. At the age of twelve, he was sent to the His uncle, Prince Maurice of Nassau, studied and joined the army. He once returned to China at the age of nineteen, but then continued to serve his uncle for five years, and he really returned to France in 35 years.

This is the reason why Louis made Viscount Turenne the governor of the Netherlands. The mother of Viscount Turenne was William I, the daughter of William Orange. In the Netherlands, Prince Maurice was the second son of William I and the younger brother of William II. He not only became the ruler of the Netherlands, formed the Dutch standing army, but also defeated the Spaniards more than once. For the Dutch, Prince Maurice's The reputation is even better than that of William II. What's more, because Prince Morris is not married and has no children in the orthodox sense, most of his political legacy has been inherited by William II.

And the existence of Viscount Turenne has become very subtle. He has been with Prince Maurice for more than ten years from the age of twelve to twenty-four. He is Maurice's best student and dearest Prince Maurice's nephew, many people around Prince Maurice have seen and remembered this young officer. Although he is French, the other half of his blood belongs to the Orange family. William III, who only showed his talent a few years ago, which side will the Dutch lean towards? Not to mention Louis, even Philip couldn't help being curious about this result.

William III can only be said to be ruined by his credulity and recklessness. Of course, you can also say that he has no choice. When he conquered the Flanders region and pointed his sword directly at the Netherlands, the descendant of Orange, who had always regarded the Netherlands as the crown in his hands, urgently needed a sum of money to recruit soldiers and raise armaments to fight against Louis XIV. The 100,000-strong army confronted. Stuart owed nearly three million Dutch guilders to the Orange family. Even if he paid only one-tenth of the debt, it would be enough for William III to make money from it...

And Charles II succeeded in taking advantage of this weakness by tricking him into Whitehall Palace in London, where he was locked up.

When the Netherlands was finally divided between Britain and France, even if William III returned to the Netherlands and owned Utrecht, his image in the hearts of the Dutch people would have collapsed irretrievably. After all, at their most painful time, the Austrian Lang Zhi's heir did not appear in time to turn the tide.

Then, as long as the Viscount Turenne can fully implement the king's order, control half of the Netherlands, and even continue to eat away, it may not be difficult... After all, Louis and his ministers, their purpose is not to completely destroy the Netherlands. HOLLAND - They want the golden egg, and they want the chicken that lays the golden egg.

———————

If the Netherlands is a chicken that can lay golden eggs, then the biggest golden egg must be Amsterdam.

Amsterdam was originally just a small fishing village. Like many port cities that developed from fishing villages, it benefited from the rapid development of the Age of Discovery, and its name, like Dunkirk, comes from its location, Ams Te comes from the Amstel River, at the mouth of which the village is located, and Dan, which means dam in Lowland, because it sits on a dam.

It was once unknown, but now it is the largest city and capital of the Netherlands.

The City Hall is located in the center of Amsterdam, on the west side of Dam Square. Its foundation is made of stones, but these stones are supported by more than 10,000 wooden piles. These wooden piles are about 30 feet deep underground. Those who built it couldn't help but be dumbfounded - the exterior of this huge building is neat and square, and the color is single and calm, which is in line with the Dutch imagination of political buildings, but the interior is extremely gorgeous and elegant, with crimson brocade everywhere Together with the walnut wall panels, gilded lamps and exquisite oil paintings, all the officials walking here have an arrogant and reserved look, just like fat geese.

Completely different from the expressions of these officials is their Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Netherlands, or the uncrowned king of the Netherlands, Johan de Witt.

He was born in 23 years. At the age of 30, he became the Great Speaker during the first non-government period. As a leader, he ended the first Anglo-Dutch war, admitted defeat, and accepted the Lord Protector of the United Kingdom, Oliver Cromway. The navigation law proposed by Carle, and secretly promised the so-called "exclusion clause", that is, a guarantee that Orange III would never be elected as the ruling and supreme commander. In other words, just like the friendship between Louis XIV and Charles II, these two can also be said to have cherished each other for a long time in curbing the royal power.

But this does not mean that he will kill William III and William Orange's descendants. In other words, even if he wanted to do this, he would not use such a despicable and stupid method.

The problem is that not many people believe that William III's disappearance has nothing to do with the prime minister, and even his younger brother is skeptical.

If it's just civilians, or even members of parliament, well, even if you take a step back, those supporters of Orange, that is, the Dutch Royalists, who are called the Orange Belt Party, think that he is the one who imprisoned them. Even killing William III is not without arguments or excuses, but he is about to meet the most difficult person to deal with, and that person is the "terrorist" who makes the British tremble, the supreme commander of the Dutch navy , Michel Adrianson de Ruyter.

This general was born in 2007 and is an old man in his sixties, but when he walked briskly in the corridor, he was still like a multi-masted ship with an iron ram. Saluting or nodding, this old man who has been at sea for more than 40 years, from a merchant captain to an admiral, is undoubtedly more respectable than the prime minister who started out playing politics.

And this general is probably the last person Mr. Prime Minister wants to see now.

"Where is William III?" These were the first words General Luyter said when he entered the prime minister's office.

The Prime Minister sighed and covered his face with his hands.