I Am Louis XIV

"Wait!" Seeing those people rushing towards the heavily armed soldiers, even Vauban, who had gone through no less than ten battles, couldn't help shouting, "What are they doing?"

The French soldiers also felt confused for a while, because those people didn't even have any threatening instruments in their hands, no muskets, no swords, not even a cross (it is true that some bishops used heavy crosses as their own weapons on the battlefield ), they just ran towards them with their bare hands, determined and chaotic.

But the wizards around Vauban are no strangers to it—whether it is the Roman Church or the Protestant Church, they have dealt with a lot, and he has seen many such people. Ry pulled down a powder pot and threw it forward (although his arm strength allowed him to throw it less than thirty feet), but the brimstone poured out was enough for him to cast spells and deceive people—a flourishing flame suddenly burst into flames. With a bang, he jumped into the air from the ground, forming a scorching high wall in the air, and Vauban and his soldiers retreated subconsciously instinctively.

But those believers didn't seem to have seen this terrible scene. No, it should be said that they became more fanatical. They screamed "the devil" or "God!" Throwing into the flames, but these flames are not simply from human creations, but more from magic, so their bodies burned immediately, even so, those upright, walking torches still staggered towards them Come on.

Captain Vauban finally regained his sanity and understood the situation at this time, or, even if he didn't understand, he knew what to do. He shouted loudly: "Fire!"

First, the soldiers closest to him, and then the officers and non-commissioned officers who heard the order. What was built together with Upper and Lower Arnhem was never wide enough to be used as a battlefield-at most it can only be called a slaughterhouse.

Facing the hail of bullets, these believers not only showed no fear at all, but became more mad and manic. Because of Vauban's previous mistakes, one or two soldiers were deterred by their manic posture and stopped shooting. Those people He immediately ran out of this gap, and then tore the two poor people apart with his teeth and nails.

But just like the occasional turbid current collided with a solid dam, the calm and rational people immediately ended the farce. Although there was the Edict of Nantes, it is naturally impossible to have Huguenots in the king's army Christians, and Catholics realized that what they met were Protestants, their hearts suddenly became cold, no matter how those Christians danced, made harsh noises, and even stepped on the same kind of blood dripping or charred The body moved forward, and they didn't hesitate any more.

Especially after Vauban ordered the soldiers to pull the carriages to form a temporary fortification.

After the last Protestant fell, there was a mess on the temporary fortifications and bridges, as if a giant had collected the corpses and wounded from the entire battlefield and dumped them on the narrow ground. , when Vauban's boots walked inside, the touch under his feet was not hard or soft, but indescribably sticky and slippery. He was not without confusion——what are these people doing? There is no such thing as human rights in this era, not to mention the time of war, even at the king's wedding, there is not the same massacre of St. Bartholomew from the Duke, the Marshal, down to the civilians. Pregnant women and babies were not spared, and the death toll was calculated in tens of thousands.

"If you are confused," said the wizard next to Vauban, "you can ask him directly."

It turned out that Vauban had unknowingly uttered his doubts. The wizard mentioned a person in front of Vauban. That person was the priest who was at the front of the line. God knows how he avoided the manic crowd. And the bullet—although he was also injured, but he was indeed still alive.

The hasty and brief interrogation was, to be precise, a simple question and answer, for the priest seemed to have no trace, I mean, of the courage and daring of those he bewitched, and Vauban answered whatever he asked. , detailed, and the answer was as absurd as the wizard expected. It turned out that when the French army was pressing on Arnhem, although the Orange Ribbons in Arnhem made a gesture of insisting on sticking to the end, they also knew very well that they could only delay for a while at most. After the army entered the city, another part of the Orange Party members even proposed that they should temporarily submit to the French king. Although it was humiliating, it could at least guarantee the safety of the citizens, but another part believed that the French king was a Catholic and a tyrant. Will not allow Protestants to remain safe in his city, to be hanged, drowned, or otherwise tortured, or stripped and exiled--the two sides quarrel, but the French army will not leave them Weighing the time for consideration, seeing that the city of Arnhem has fallen into the hands of the French, and their only troops are only enough to hold on to a town hall, a priest, and maybe they want to become the second Savonarola (a The priest who once gained secular power in Florence by opposing the Pope) stood up and said that he would lead the pious believers to block the way of these demons.

The Orange Ribbons didn't believe him at first, and they didn't want to make themselves such a joke, but this priest has already incited hundreds of people. These hundreds of people are indeed a threat to the Orange Ribbons. He didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, so he followed suit and agreed to the matter, and the result was just as Vauban saw.

Flesh and blood, even wizards, can't stand against bullets and swords, let alone a group of mortals. Vauban couldn't help showing some pity for those who were fooled and deceived. He took a few steps, but Hearing a scream, he ran over quickly, only to see a French soldier pressing his hand, and blood was dripping from his palm.

"What happened?" asked Vauban.

The soldier was in so much pain that he couldn't speak, and the soldier next to him hurriedly replied that when the soldier was collecting the corpses on the bridge, he saw a dying girl and gave her a sip of light wine out of sympathy. ——It was the soldier's own ration. It was said to be light wine, but in fact it was grape juice with honey and salt. Who knew that the girl immediately bit the soldier after she woke up. The wizard went over to look at the soldier, and turned Turning to Vauban and shaking his head: "He's got to go," he said: "He's had his right thumb bit off." You can't do anything without your thumb, whether you're holding a gun or a sword. , even when he returned to Versailles, he could not become a craftsman or a farmer...

Hearing this, the soldier burst into tears. What hurt him more than his disability was that he had to return to France with the train without a sound, and he could not share even a shred of glory in seeing the glorious victory in front of him.

"You were wounded while fighting the enemy," Vauban said, "I will write this on your record." This way, the soldier can be promoted at least one rank after the battle, and the soldier, at least it seems It felt better, but he looked at the girl with more remorse and hatred - Vauban thought for a while, and walked up to the girl, "How could you believe that kind of nonsense?"

"This is God's will! Let us fight against the devil!" The girl said weakly but firmly.

Vauban pointed to the blood on her body wordlessly, she was shot, on the shoulder: "Use flesh and blood to fight the bullet?"

"God bless us!"

"Obviously he didn't," said Vauban. "Because of your behavior, I can only think that...you are all our enemies, and we have only one way of dealing with them." He paused slightly: "You, And there is only one person who survived here to die."

The girl was visibly shaken, but she immediately regained her original tenacity: "Death is also a gift from God, and we are happy to accept this result."

"Oh, that would be great." Vauban turned back, "throw them all in the river."

The French soldiers, who seemed to have been waiting for this order, immediately mentioned the fortifications and the black-clothed believers on the bridge, whether they were dead or alive, they were all thrown into the Ussel River.

The river was churning and swallowed up these pious believers at once. Vauban seemed to hear screams, like that girl, or someone else's—or pleading? Not for her, but for her brother, or her mother? Vauban doesn't care anymore, nothing can test faith more than death - as the king said, some seemingly fanatical and fearless believers, or people who believe in the ideas and morals he thought were actually just They are good at deceiving themselves and others. They naively think that as long as they shout louder, incite more people, have more momentum, and tougher posture, their enemies will be weaker and more fearful. They are the chosen ones. To win the final victory, but they don't know that there are always some enemies that they can never resist.

Others couldn't understand their actions, but they didn't know that they would be so stupid that they would be afraid and shrink back when death really came to them, but by then it was too late.

After the last begging sound of "I want to convert" disappeared in the waves, the wizard glanced at the soldier with the broken finger, and seeing a relieved smile finally appeared on his face, he laughed and said this , when Vauban gave the order, when the soldiers threw hundreds of people into the Ussel River one after another, all the buildings on the bank of the river had their doors and windows closed, and the streets and alleys were empty. All the troops are in the upper city, they really want to think that this is just an empty city.

But just a few minutes later, as if to break the wizard's conjecture, a group of people came out from the alley on the other side of the bridge, and the leader was holding a piece of snow-white satin.

—————

"It's a bird of a feather," said Louie.

He is a... unbeliever who would shock many people if he said it, so he treats Catholics and Protestants equally in his heart, but French Protestants, that is, Huguenots, have a deep hatred for the Bourbon royal family , if it weren't for the economic shock caused by the expulsion of the Huguenots, there would probably be no Huguenots in France now-Louis didn't even bother to play something like "one-third reform" Letter, one third exiled, one third drowned" trick, he didn't like any hidden dangers in his rule.

And the Protestants in the city of Arnhem undoubtedly reminded the king of a lot of unpleasant things, but it was as if he couldn't clear the Huguenots out, and he couldn't, for the time being, he couldn't treat the Huguenots and the Dutch. What do Protestants do—after all, Protestants are the main force of faith here, so he can't even establish the household registration system while confirming the beliefs of each family, lest these fools think that he is going to launch another campaign against Protestants Great cleaning.

"Tell me something pleasant." He put his palms into a tower shape and begged the Duke of Orleans who was sitting on one side.

———————

"The army of the Grand Condé has taken Gorinchem, the royal army of the Viscount Turenne has captured Nijmegen and Arnhem, and the Duke of Luxembourg has taken Naarden." General Luiter, Chief of the British Navy Nightmare, reads the Dutchman's hero impassively.

Gorinchem is an important stronghold in the province of South Holland, Amsterdam is just to the north of it, Arnhem is the hub of the province of Gelderland, and to the west is Utrecht, the heart of the Netherlands, Utrecht... further west Ten leagues is Amsterdam, Naarden—an ancient and powerful autonomous city, belonging to the same province of North Holland as Amsterdam... It has thick walls and a wide moat, and General Luyter thought it could still hold on. Dozens of days—no, it should be said, he thought that every city he read should be able to last longer.

Now every letter of the letter was branded on the general's heart like a branding iron.

He remembered the big quarrel he had with Prime Minister Johan de Witter when he left Amsterdam. Yes, the Prime Minister even said that he was the benefactor of Leuter in the end, and he promoted Leuter again. , and Luyter’s response was to break the scepter in front of the Prime Minister—his loyal person is not the Prime Minister, nor William III, he is loyal only to the Netherlands. He came up and sent a restored scepter - Luyter couldn't help feeling guilty about this, he was still thinking... When he returns to the Netherlands next time, he will apologize to Mr. Prime Minister.

He has no chance.

Luyter could hardly suppress the remorse in his heart. He shouldn't, even if William III's disappearance is inseparable from the prime minister, he shouldn't have such a public quarrel with the prime minister. He should realize his weight, as an important person People, his confrontation with the prime minister undoubtedly gave those villains a signal, a signal that the prime minister cannot get his support, so they dare to act so boldly, and the prime minister may have his own selfish intentions, but the enemy is now, the Netherlands needs a voice To guide them, instead of fighting each other and fighting each other as they are now, even in spite of the tightening noose...