I Am Louis XIV

"Please allow me to introduce you, Mr. Barr," the Duke of Vendôme said with a smile: "This is Mr. William Penn. You may have heard of his name in school. After all, his father, old William Penn, Now he is the admiral of Charles II, or the commander of the fleet."

Barr couldn't help but show a look of surprise. The intelligence collected by the king's spies would also be sorted out and distributed to the military academy. Some of their teachers and classmates even got along with, worked with, or were hostile to them. Old William Pei En was quite talented, and he was also a royalist. The problem was that the only time he independently commanded the fleet, he failed because of internal strife with the army commander, and was humiliated, so his reputation was not known.

But his name is also familiar to the students and teachers of the French Royal Military Academy, because after the Duke of York was imprisoned in the Tower of London, his party members were affected and suspected, which made old William stand out. He was originally a Yorkist. The captain of the Duke's fleet also participated in the previous war against the Netherlands. It is entirely possible for him to take over the authority of the Duke of York.

But this little Mr. William...

"But they all said he had been living here for over ten years," Barr said.

"Well, I think he went to the Lord Protector Cromwell's army to become a soldier incognito." Duke Vendôme said, in this era when military merit can also make people famous and rise, nobles There are also children in the family who refuse their parents' arrangements and go to the army to become ordinary soldiers, and at this time, they can become a soldier as long as they are fourteen years old. According to this calculation, this young Mr. William may have been a soldier at the age of sixteen. He came to Dunkirk at that time, but he probably didn't expect that things would turn out that way in the end - Lord Protector Cromwell died first, and then Charles II restored him, and then Charles II brought Dunkirk to Dunkirk. Erke was sold to King Louis XIV of France.

"I heard that a British person came to see him." Barr analyzed: "You should have been able to return to London with your family." Old William should not be unable to pay the ransom: "But you refused - just for Today, sir, you are a spy." This crime is far better than that of thugs or enemies, whether British or French. When they catch spies, they hang them on trees to dry.

Jack, no, it should be said that Mr. William could not help but change his expression slightly, but soon he straightened his back and showed a fearless expression: "I am an Englishman," he said, "and I companions - if we had not been weaklings, your king would have killed us, or exiled us, instead of leaving us at Dunkirk."

"I am not surprised that some ungrateful people always fail to appreciate what kind of tolerance they have received," said the Duke of Vendôme. As a person who once opposed Louis XIII and Bishop Richelieu, he expressed his gratitude to the king. This kind of creature knows it all too well. If you ask him to say, Louis XIV may not be a good person, but he is really a good king. As long as you are willing to be loyal to him, you don’t even need to be loyal, as long as you are willing to abide by his laws and rules, you can To live a peaceful life under the glory of the Sun King - those British people who were unwilling to participate in the riots also had this idea. What they had received from the Lord Protector, the Sun King could also give them, "It's like... If you sprinkle holy water on an angel, he will smile, but if you sprinkle holy water on a devil, he will jump in pain."

"It's better not to talk about the devil," William Penn Jr. said sarcastically: "Don't you know that your king is called the second Solomon?"

"We regard this as an honor," said Duke Vendôme, "but the name of the Sun King will eventually shine in the history books like that great king."

"It's a pity that your king doesn't seem to be as wise as King Solomon," little William showed a hint of joy: "We destroyed Dunkirk's warehouses, docks, docks and roads, and you are now an isolated city. ”

Duke Vendôme smiled, "Okay." He said to Barr: "I know you have doubts about many of my actions, young man, I am very happy that you can maintain your loyalty to the king and the vigilance a soldier should have. , you have also shown your talents. In addition, the time has come, at least it is almost there. Now," he patted the armrest of the chair and stood up slowly, "let us go to the tower."

The Duke of Vendôme was talking about the second huge building built by the King in Dunkirk after the Great Dockyard. The Gray Tower of Dunkirk was used as a lighthouse, a fortress and a lookout. Originally, people intended to use the name King It was named after the King's Tower, or it was called King's Tower, but Louis XIV said that there are already many weird ones such as "King's Bread", "King's Avenue", "King's Hairstyle", "King's Underwear"... The name of this tower is honestly named after the location, so it is called the Dunkirk Tower. Because the main structure is made of cement bricks, people also call it the Gray Tower.

It is three hundred feet high. This height is almost equivalent to the current thirty-story building. It is almost impossible for a person as old as the Duke of Vendôme to climb up with his legs. Little Mr. William is full of suspicion. Their There was no way to get close to the lighthouse, and it was the first time he saw the inside of this magnificent building - the bottom floor of the lighthouse looked like a medieval fortress, with almost nothing else except the conventional spiral escalator... …Wait, he was brought to the door of a small room, which he had thought was reserved for the tower keepers, but the Duke of Vendome went in first, followed by young William and the two officers who were watching him, Finally there is Baal.

At this time, it was almost impossible to turn around freely in the small room. Barr stretched out his hand, grabbed the knocker of the small door, pulled the door closed, and bolted it tightly.

The Duke of Vendôme sat on the only chair in the room, grabbed the rope hanging from the corner, and pulled it. A ringing sound came from outside. Then, something happened that shocked Mr. William. The small room started to shake. Then, although he didn't know what was going on, he could still feel it...

"Is it rising!?" he shouted.

"Quite perceptive," Duke Vendôme paused his cane, "It's just a small instrument, don't pay too much attention to it." It was completely impossible to tell that his back was so tight that he almost sprained it when he rode it for the first time.

This simplest elevator, like many of the equipment in the Nantes shipyard, is driven by steam. The steam room is on the side of the lighthouse, but few people pay attention to it. After all, there is usually such a storage room next to the lighthouse. It allows people to quickly get up and down the lighthouse, as well as providing services to elderly people such as the Duke of Vendôme, or to frail scholars.

Little Mr. William pressed his body tightly against the wall like many people who ride the elevator for the first time. He was like an animal in a cage, his hair was shaggy, his face was gray, and his previous calmness was gone. Fortunately, the elevator was not very slow. After a few minutes, with a terrible shaking, it stopped, and Barr opened the door.

Before they stepped into the elevator, they were in a sealed space, with only the upper windows casting light. But here, as soon as Barr opened the door, the bright light stung Mr. William's defenseless eyes, and his tears flowed uncontrollably. He raised his hands to cover his face and felt a strong wind rushing towards him like an invisible bull, almost pushing him back to the hut.

An arm caught him just in time, and he said thank you and lowered his arm.

He saw a light blue, and below it was a rich indigo. This was the English Channel, which the French called the Strait of La Manche.

From here to the British mainland, it is about forty nautical miles. Looking from here, you can see a snow-white coastline, because from Dover to Plymouth, the coast is covered with chalk stones, which means that Mr. William and other British people The dreamy white coast.

Seeing this scene - for the past ten years or so, little William Penn, who had deliberately not reminded himself of his relatives and friends in his homeland, couldn't help but take two steps forward.

Barr also walked to the wall. The sea breeze was fierce, but it brought cool and fresh air. He couldn't help but take a deep breath. This young man was also shaken by the scenery in front of him, but his focus was comparable to that of Mr. William. It was different - he instinctively looked at the port on the other side - of course it was not clear with human eyes, but his expression suddenly changed: "What is that?!" he shouted.

As a descendant of pirates, Barr is very familiar with ships. Whether they are big or small, passing by or still in his sight, he can see them at a glance - the Duke of Vendôme is anxiously waiting for him. When he looked over, he took out the telescope beside him and handed it to him. He immediately put the telescope on his face, while Mr. William standing beside him smiled with relief and expectation.

"Do you want to take a look too? Mr. William?" To his surprise, the Duke of Vendôme said, so the officer beside him took out a telescope and handed it to Little William.

As soon as Little William got it, he knew that this kind of telescope was not the kind that could be circulated among the people. It was about one and a half to two feet long, and the diameter of the lens was about two inches. The barrel should be made of silver-plated brass and protected by velvet. When he took it in his hand to adjust it, he estimated that there were at least five lenses embedded in it. When he pointed it at his eyes, he felt uncomfortable for a moment because it brought the scene directly to his eyes in an instant, and he squinted his eyes. Adjust carefully.

From the telescopes of William and Barr, we could see the fleet passing through the English Channel. Barr quickly counted them. Regardless of their tonnage, their number exceeded the fingers of both hands, although they were all hung on the masts. The tricolor flag - orange, white and blue, is also known as the Prince of Orange's flag. But Barr immediately sighed in his heart. Everyone knew that the Dutch fleet fell into pieces after losing their last commander. They were either seized by merchants or turned into privateers. Or they may have been seized by the Dutch government-in-exile, but the latter may only have four or five ships. After all, there are not many stupid people.

There are a total of twelve ships. It is impossible for the Dutch or the Orange family to get them anyway. It can only be said that, just as Louis XIV expected, their old enemies, temporary allies, those damned The British finally took off their mask and went to war with France again!

Little William did not hide his proud smile at all. He refused to leave Dunkirk in the first place just to be able to see this day. Although he did not expect that this moment would come so late, he looked at the beautiful ships for a while. After entering the three-deck battleship, he began to move the telescope. Duke Vendôme's attitude made him uneasy. He wanted to see - would things change in any unexpected way?

He saw a little brown dot on the right hand side. Oh, he saw it. That direction might be Calais. It seemed that the French were not so stupid that they didn't have any vigilance. They said they were sailing the ship towards Calais, but in fact But he used a little trick - when the wizards' ravens were about to become popular in the army, Mr. William didn't wonder how they knew it, but if he asked him to say, no, it's over, their naval commander The officers did not understand how to fight at sea at all. The current wind direction was in favor of the British Navy, not the French Navy. They had no way to seize the T-top position. Their failure was already showing signs.

Barr also realized that if he were to take command, in order to escape from the current unfavorable situation, he might order the fleet to go around and see if he could go behind and kick the British in the butt, but this would expose Dunkirk. Under the enemy's artillery fire, the British can send another fleet to attack the previous fleet. Another problem is that among the ships coming from the direction of Calais, there are actually bloated Calais ships. Come ship.

This made him suddenly frown. He remembered...these Calais ships should also come from England. Because the shameless Charles II could not afford the dowry of Princess Henrietta (Duchess of Orleans), he shamelessly took away the almost eliminated three The ten Calais ships were sent to France as most of the dowry. After that, these thirty huge ships were like stones falling into the sea, completely silent. He also heard his uncles laugh at the young king - - Of course, they do not deny that he is still a good king, but he knows too little about the sea and ships, or has a wrong understanding. Anyway, these ships can almost be regarded as obsolete ships, unless the king They were sent to the colonies to be used as merchant ships.

At that time, Barr also suspected that Louis XIV had done this, but now, he saw at least five Calais ships in the French fleet-their physical characteristics were too obvious! While he was frustrated, he kept looking back, hoping to see some miracles.

But Barr soon discovered that something was wrong, because those Calais ships were actually passing those battleships that should far exceed them in speed!

He suppressed an excited cry in his throat, pressed the telescope against his eye sockets desperately, and did not let go until his browbones and cheekbones ached. Even when the Duke of Vendôme came to him, he held the telescope together. I don’t know even if I look through a telescope.

Getting closer! Getting closer! They are all galloping with all their strength, competing for the most important position!

It may be difficult for ordinary people to understand what the T-shaped position is. As the name suggests, if you draw the two sides in a naval battle on a plane, you will see a pattern similar to a big T, because at that time and even long after, the muzzles of the ships were The horizontal arrangement or the direct horizontal arrangement of the enemy is conducive to stable launch, so it can block the fleet in front of the enemy before the enemy. The fleet arranged horizontally in a row can win the biggest chance of winning, while the other party that fails to win this position can win. , because they can only line up in a straight line, only the leading ship can fire cannonballs, and the following ships need time to slowly give way to each other before joining the battle - in fierce naval battles, this period of time is often quite fatal.

This is why the huge Calais ship was gradually phased out, it was too slow.

But the Calais ship they saw now seemed to have been loaded with wings by Mercury (the ancient Roman god of transportation and commerce). It ran very fast, as if it was flying on the sea. They reminded Barr of Although the body is huge, the speed is astonishing. When he thinks of such a huge ship racing on the waves at a speed of at least 6 knots, Barr's hair stands on end - the thousand-ton Calais ship, that is It crushes a rocky mountain towards people. It doesn't even need weapons. It can pose a fatal threat to the enemy simply by relying on the gravity brought by its speed!

But what he could discover, the British could also discover. Perhaps as the Duke of Vendôme expected, it was the old William Penn who commanded the fleet. He was a calm and experienced naval admiral, but he was always frustrated by fate. Trick - When he estimated that their fleet might not be able to overtake the French fleet, William Sr. made a bold decision.

Judging from the map, this British fleet most likely set off from the port of Dover, while Calais was below Dunkirk. The two fleets formed an acute angle in the narrow English Channel. Before discovering the other's fleet, it was possible When the last ship arrived first, the route of the leading ship of the British fleet began to turn northwest, and the ships behind it lined up all the way in the counterclockwise direction. In other words, even if the French fleet inserted their original route of advance, parallel to the Calais-Dunkirk line, the British fleet also maintained a horizontal position with its back against the coast of England. Although they had no advantage, they definitely had no advantage. Disadvantages.

Barr didn't know who was commanding the French fleet now, but he saw that in the narrowest section of the sea, the two fleets were almost exactly aligned horizontally. As for who fired first, there was no need to ask. Everyone knows that there must be such a war - the hatred and ambition of the British and French are like two lions trapped in a small cage, and they will never give up until a winner is determined.

Update completed.