I Am Louis XIV

The death of General Luyter was even more tragic than the fate of Prime Minister Johann De Witt's brother, and William III, the descendant of Orange, who is still alive and dead, is even more inconceivable to the Dutch. They can't even believe it. Rumors spread with the British that it was only a short time later that the ships of the Allied Sea Forces towed back the "Seven Provinces" with its mast broken and its sails burned, which was the flagship of General Reuter, and this ship accompanied Reuter For more than ten years, the general has witnessed the countless victories he brought to the Netherlands, but after this naval battle that determined the fate of the Netherlands, it took on the task of transporting the body of its owner back to the Netherlands.

The general died after being hit by shells in the cabin, and the fragments of the splashed wall panels hit his vitals. His death came very quickly, and he was only allowed to leave a few words of last words, "Holland! Holland! "He yelled two sentences and completely lost his breath-his death was like a strong wind, dispelling the courage of every Dutchman. The death of Luyter was not only a battle between the Dutch fleet and the coalition fleet. and the end of the war between France and Holland.

The dead Luyter probably did not expect that his death was still betrayed by the merchants in Amsterdam. No, this was not their original intention. It was just that when they met the French king, it was clear that the situation in the Netherlands was already corrupt. The businessmen are still complacent and are not worried about the loss of their assets in Amsterdam. If it is an ordinary person, maybe they let it go lightly. After all, in this era, the status of businessmen is low, but Louis XIV has always been thoughtful. My own spies went to investigate the actions of the Amsterdam parliamentarians, and found that they were transferring government assets to their ships without anyone knowing, or, not only government assets, but also those that would take hundreds of years or more to transfer The accumulated reputation is exchanged for real money.

It is not surprising that the parliamentarians made such a decision. For them, once Amsterdam is invaded by the French, or becomes a vassal of the sea, these precious metals remain in Amsterdam. Over time, they may become enemies. The spoils of war, it is better for them to take them all away now, so that the new Dutch government can still gain the recognition and support of other countries on another continent, after all, they hold a large amount of bonds and capital.

Of course, Louis would not allow this to fall short, and he immediately thought that even if Luyter was an outstanding general who could see through this trap, he still had to step in unless he was willing to see the Netherlands fall from his hands. He couldn't be so ruthless. At the last moment of his death, he was still worried about his country-it is also possible that these two cries were his last condolences for the Netherlands, because he knew very well that his death would cause the fleet to The destruction of the fleet, and the destruction of the fleet will inevitably kill the last hope of the "Sea Coachman", and the Netherlands will never come back.

And Louis XIV finally won a big victory over the Netherlands.

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Such a victory also made France's enemies panic and anger at the same time, especially Leopold I. He made a mistake because of his youth and recklessness. In order to make up for this mistake, he had to remain silent, but this It was his second mistake. After Louis XIV captured Flanders, he did not stop. His sword pointed to the Netherlands without hesitation. Only then did Leopold I realize that he had actually It would be so stupid that he would not care about the secret covenant left in the hands of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and united countries and duchies that were either as dead as Denmark, or as staked as Brandenburg, intending to threaten Louis XIV. At the same time, envoys were constantly sent to lobby important figures in the French court and court, trying to get them to persuade Louis XIV to give up his ambitions for the Netherlands, at least not so urgently—this kind of voice was not uncommon in Louis' ears, the Queen Mother, The Duchess of Montpensier once wrote a letter full of anxiety, asking about the situation of the war, and in the streets and alleys of Paris, and at the salon banquet, there were often voices opposing the war. Spain, other princes of the Holy Roman Empire except the Archbishop of Cologne, as well as Denmark, Switzerland, etc., have all sent troops to the border, making a gesture of war at any time-there are sporadic but continuous riots in the Flanders region, and the occupied The undercurrents in the famous Dutch cities are not lacking in the handwriting of the young emperor.

It can be said that in this battle, as long as Louis hesitates a little, he will lose. Once he fails, his fate may not be better than that of William III. The reputation of the king and the country will fall into dust. He will immediately turn his face and be ruthless, and other countries will inevitably take advantage of the fire to loot. The previous victory is just a wedding dress for others, and the heavy debt will destroy all French people. A king who has lost his authority is not qualified to continue to dictate government affairs. Yes, and the French nobles and officials will definitely re-enable the "tax system" in order to repay their debts, and the tax system is one of the evil policies that triggered the French Revolution a hundred years later.

To put it simply, the original intention of the tax package system is that the king entrusts the right to collect taxes to people he trusts, and these people will send generous taxes to the treasury according to the agreement. Seeing this, people may say, so this What is the advantage of being an official? The advantage is that they can adjust the level of taxes "as appropriate". It is conceivable that the civilians who need to pay taxes in the end have to pay double or triple the taxes to satisfy the appetite of those officials. ——And the reason why those merchants borrow large sums of money from the king or the duke so happily is precisely because of this point. Once the king and the duke are unable to repay the debt, they can justifiably ask them to use the tax package official position to offset.

Of course, these tax-paying officials who were born as merchants, in order to seek profits, needless to say how they can exploit the commoners, and the commoners only know that they are officials of the king, even if some people know the inside story, but to the merchants Isn't it the king who borrowed money? What will be the debts of kings for wars and pleasures?

Under this kind of thinking, anger and resentment can easily accumulate, and once the overflow point is reached, the raging fire they ignite can easily burn an entire country.

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Of course, the current King of France no longer has such worries.

In the civic hall of the Amsterdam City Hall, tables and chairs have been removed, and hundreds of oak boxes have been piled up inside. Gold and silver, some are coins, some are blocks or bars, the sun shines into the room through the glass windows, illuminating them, the unique texture and luster of gold and silver made Mrs. La Vallière hold her breath, this kind of It felt like a second time on her, the first time was when she was taken into the Louvre.

"Yeah," Louis said, "that's not all, but I've always wondered what it's like to take a walk among the riches of fifteen thousand merchant ships."

"What do you think?" Madam La Vallière couldn't help but turned around and asked, her cheeks were bright red, her eyes were bright, she had never shown such a smile and attitude before, although she never complained, but people saw it I know that she is not happy, but today, the gloom and more disturbing things have left her, and even the face that is not charming enough shows the brilliance that a woman immersed in love should have.

"Excellent, my lady." Louis said. In the previous decades, the Dutch almost regarded the sea as their own pasture, and their merchants were the best shepherds. They draw blood from the flock and feed themselves back, making this small country gradually become the giant it is now—wood from Norway, fish from Denmark, wheat from Poland, fur from Russia, wine from Italy, pottery and lace from France, Arabian and Spices from South Asia, cotton cloth from India, woolen cloth from Flanders, and silk from Theris...all became weights and even weapons in the hands of Dutch merchants. They opened the Bank of Amsterdam with their accumulated wealth and reputation. The price of goods needs to be set here, the securities of trading companies need to be quoted here, and even the loans of kings and emperors are determined to the last figure here.

Now it belongs to Louis, to the King of France—although the Duke of York thinks he should be entitled to a part of it, but Louis' emissary only said a word, and he decided not to waste time and tongue in vain here, and hurried back to London I went—I hope that when he goes back, he can just catch up with the queen's delivery, so that he can witness the birth of his nephew at the first time, Louis thought wickedly—the box he opened now is enough to pay for his arrogance. Flanders paid all the expenses for the two wars against Holland. As he promised, all the soldiers who participated in the battle against Amsterdam would return triumphantly with their purses filled with gold and silver coins.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Colbert and his subordinates are rushing here. Louis thought in his heart that this de facto chancellor of the exchequer would be ecstatic—the fact that the king mortgaged Fontainebleau was also a secret to him. One of the witnesses, he looked like he was going to faint at any time during the whole process... And since that day, the last few hairs of our venerable Mr. Colbert have also fallen out. Fortunately, Paris has already begun Advocating wearing a wig, he was able to maintain dignity in front of courtiers.

Although war can easily ruin a king's fortune, the benefits are undoubtedly quite considerable. The problem is... Although the Marquis of Loise knew that he should not disturb the king at this time, he still had to ask the king how he wanted to deal with those who might be better than Col. The merchants and bankers who came sooner than Bell - a large part of their assets have been invested in the Amsterdam Bank and the Stock Exchange, and now they are all owned by the King of France, they must be distraught.

Louis can deny that thousands of merchants and bankers will be completely destroyed, and more people will suffer heavy losses-after all, the total trade volume of the Dutch East India Company accounted for half of the world's trade volume before, but Louis will do this ? No, he won't go fishing, if it's just for the territory, the Netherlands is not worth his gamble, but the problem is, he can't just open the door of the vault and let people exchange money as they like-the Netherlands has lost all Credibility, the Bank of Amsterdam is an empty shell, if he backs down, there will be a terrible run, I am afraid that the precious metals here are not enough for exchange - after all, there are still money in circulation outside, he can't even open the stock exchange, once opened , the value of most securities would fall like a tidal wave from a dike.

"Let them go to Paris," Louis bent down, grabbed a handful of golden florins from the box, and then opened his hands, letting them fall from between his fingers. For a while, the clear and moving voice was endless: "Go to France." Royal Bank redeems their bonds."

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The Royal Bank of France is a behemoth standing on the bones of the Bank of Amsterdam. In 1672, the French king conquered the Netherlands, and the Netherlands became a member of the French provinces. Before the collapse of the Netherlands, Dutch parliamentarians and officials planned to carry government assets. They escaped and established a government-in-exile in the colonies. Unexpectedly, they not only failed to escape, but also let the last hope of the Netherlands, General Reuter, die in the battle to aid them-thus, all the wealth of Amsterdam was given to the French King Louis X. Four all, at that time, countless people were tossing and turning, they didn't know whether the money they had deposited in the bank of Amsterdam could be cashed out. You must know that the kings of the past, let alone such spoils, even if they gave the money to the merchants Once the loan cannot be repaid, there will also be delays and denials. There are not a few banks that have closed down because of this in history.

King Louis XIV of France has always been known for his kindness and generosity among his people, but he was not like this for his enemies or the people of other countries. He once said an impressive sentence: "A man who cannot let A king who is hated by the people of other countries will not be a good king." And his actions later seemed to confirm this sentence, so those people at that time believed in despair that their money would never be honored.

What surprised people was that the king not only captured the Netherlands, but also took on the problems left by the Netherlands. On the fourteenth or fifteen days after he captured Amsterdam, the Royal Bank of France was established in Paris. All those who once held the bonds and notes of the Bank of Amsterdam can exchange their arrears at their discretion, and this "discretion" is quite subtle, and it directly involves the previous relationship between France and other countries-countries that are friendly or even allies with France, For example, the United Kingdom and Sweden can cash it at will, and other countries, which are in a neutral position in this war, such as Portugal and Russia, can exchange part of it, and the time is uncertain. As for the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, Denmark, Switzerland, etc. Wait...their bonds and notes are probably...the so-called Schrödinger bonds and notes...

The king's whimsy didn't stop there. The stocks issued by the Amsterdam Stock Exchange belonged to the Dutch East India Company and the West India Company. The newly established Paris Stock Exchange was also willing to take over, but the price was regrettable. Then, there is another way, which is to exchange them into French royal industries in proportion, such as glass, ceramics, dyes, and so on.

The result was a happy one. Those anxious stockholders were relieved of their day and night, and the king of France owned the Dutch East India Company and West India Company, two fat chickens that laid golden eggs.

The Dutch, to be more precise, the Dutch provinces of France, once said with great exasperation that the Netherlands had been plundered twice by Louis XIV—and there was nothing wrong with that.