I Am Louis XIV

"You may not want the throne of England." The Duke of York said, and then he opened his hands like a rogue: "If that's the case, I'd better stay in the Bastille."

Here I want to first briefly talk about the entanglement between Britain and France that has existed for thousands of years.

In the middle of the eleventh century, after receiving the support of the Pope, the Duke of Normandy launched an attack on Harold, the then King of England, and won. After winning, he undoubtedly became the new king of this continent, but At the same time, he did not give up his territory in France, so at that time, the incredible conclusion existed that the British king was a prince of France.

The throne passed down from the Duke of Normandy passed to the Earl of Anjou, the grandson of the last English king, after three generations of extinction, that is, the romantic King Henry II who liked to put plantagenets on the brim of his hat. Plantagenet This began the Flower Dynasty - Henry II ruled the French Counties of Anjou, the Principality of Normandy, the Principality of Aquitaine, England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

In 1328, King Charles IV of France died. He had no direct heir. Just like Spain now, as Charles IV's sister, Queen Isabella of England hoped to make her son Edward III the heir of Charles IV. . But although Charles IV had no son, he had a nephew, Philip VI. Just as Louis XIV said, for the kings, verbal disputes are meaningless, and only the one who can decide who owns the throne is war.

This is the famous "Hundred Years' War".

We won’t go into details about the iterations during this period. The only thing that can be determined is that during the reign of Louis XIII and Charles I, they would still insist on claiming that they were the kings of England and France at the same time...

Isn’t it the British throne that the Duke of York pursues? If he ended up making a wedding dress for someone else, he might as well retire in the Bastille.

Louis shook his head. He had no such extravagant hopes. Although the Hundred Years War had passed not long ago, in the end, both the British and French kings knew very well that these were the only results they could achieve with war - Britain and France France has achieved an absolute advantage, but they are like two equally strong beasts. Even if they are dripping with blood and their flesh is rolled, they cannot swallow each other up.

For Louis XIV, being able to recapture Dunkirk was already his limit - Britain is not Flanders or the Netherlands. It has been a country for a long time, has a solid foundation, and its people have independent traditions, customs and Language also has its own culture and ideas. Especially after Henry VIII reformed the church, British faith has completely split from the Catholic Church.

Unless Louis XIV suddenly went crazy, he would not attempt to get his hands on such a difficult prey.

"I don't want England, Scotland or Ireland," said Louis.

The Duke of York blinked.

"I make you king, and in return I want that part of the English colony in America," said Louis.

"Alas!" said the Duke of York at once: "That is impossible."

"Really?" Louis' eyes widened curiously. His question made the Duke of York suddenly paused. "Do you know how to negotiate? Your Majesty," he complained: "You have to give me a chance to show your courage." opportunity." At this point, he simply showed his true colors as a politician: "I don't want people to see my story in books in the future and think that I kissed your shoes and agreed - to Give me some time, dear brother, let me think about it in pain, confusion, sleepless nights, tossing and turning, and then reluctantly agree for the sake of England and my suffering people."

"If you really want to do this." Louis stood up: "Okay, feel free, anyway, I have been in Paris recently."

"Eh? Aren't you ready to return to the battlefield?" The Duke of York bowed his body diligently like a servant, opened the door for Louis, and held the lamp for him first, "As far as I know, Lee Opold I has been looking forward to an upright battle with you."

"That may be because your news is a little behind," said Louis. "Just a week ago, his messenger not only conveyed to me his condolences for his aunt (Anne of Austria), but also proposed to me that in order to save her soul, He ascends to heaven smoothly, and he and I should remain at peace until Easter comes."

The Duke of York's surprise was no longer fake. "You mean," he took a breath, "does he plan to negotiate with you?"

"Probably, not only him, I think Charles II also has this wish." Louis said kindly: "So you see, if I can't get a suitable answer from you, I can also follow Henry VI's example. As, let’s see how much your real brother is willing to pay for you.”

The Duke of York suddenly shuddered. After Richard the Lionheart returned from the Holy Land without success, he was unfortunately betrayed to the then Henry VI. He was a rare commodity for the emperor, and there were many people who wanted to buy him - - King Philip II of France, Archduke Leopold of Austria (yes, Leopold too), even Henry VI did not have any good impressions of this king, and others already claimed to be the king of England The landless king John, although this king's younger brother is incompetent, cowardly and despicable, he is very good at plotting and using tricks.

If the Lion-Hearted King had not had many loyal ministers and raised enough ransom to buy the Lion-Hearted King Richard, Richard would have died not at the hands of the pagans but at the hands of fellow Catholics or brothers. The king is in hand.

What Louis meant by this was that if the Duke of York was unwilling to give up his colony in America, he would make a deal with Charles II - of course, if the Duke of York unfortunately died in the Bastille, Charles II would not only remove a If you have a serious problem, you don't have to be questioned by parliamentarians and ministers, which saves you a lot of troubles.

"But then..."

"Are you saying that I will be hated by the British?" Louis interrupted the Duke of York a little rudely: "But my good sir, am I very popular with the British now?"

This is of course impossible.

The Duke of York was immediately speechless.

Louis XIV was not just threatening. Not long after he returned to the Louvre, he had a secret conversation with the envoy from London and proposed almost the same conditions.

"I don't think Charles II will agree easily." Bontang said.

"Probably." Louis said. With the return of Dunkirk, the British king no longer has many good cards to play in Europe. If the Duke of York's sneak attack in the North Sea can succeed, then the three provinces of South Holland and the power of the sea echo each other, and they may still be able to win Lowland area, but since he failed and lost the last few ships, Charles II's prestige may have dropped to the lowest.

If he was giving up the colonies established by the British in America in 1606... this matter might be more serious than Dunkirk - in fact, it was very serious. How the British cursed this incident hundreds of years later Let’s not mention the brother kings of the Stuart dynasty for the time being, but at that time the kings’ attention was still on Europe, and the British may have been more motivated by a dispute of temper or some unspeakable worries.

With this gift, the French could connect their original New France colony with it, and because the original Spain had become the property of the Bourbon family, the Netherlands and other countries were not worth mentioning - the entire New World was They all belong to Louis XIV.

When you think that Louis XIV even made his youngest son, although an illegitimate son, the Duke of Montreal, you know that the Sun King's ambition for this land may exceed that of every previous monarch. How can the British be willing to look at their biggest enemy? As you wish? Even if it is not for their own benefit, they still want to ruin Louis XIV's good deeds.

Therefore, Charles II really had to think carefully and stayed up all night, which was completely opposite to his brother in Bastille.

"So what answer do you want?"

"In my own position," said Louis, "I would certainly prefer the Duke of York."

"The Duke of York is probably more radical than Charles II." said the Duke of Orleans: "He is the British Lord of the Admiralty and the Admiral of the Navy. He served in the Spanish army when he was very young - that At that time, Charles II was just the Duke of Cornwall and was passionate about chasing women and gambling."

"But if Charles II still sits on the throne, he must be my enemy." Louis said: "Although this is the obligation of every English king, Charles II overdrafted his ministers and people too much. He was able to drag this heavy debt to this day because they had to face a common enemy."

"But he will never be able to defeat you." The Duke of Orleans said softly: "That's why he insists on asking for the Duke of York." He tapped his fingers on the table, "But he really doesn't dare to agree to your conditions."

Bangtang suddenly showed a strange expression, "Excuse me, Your Majesty."

"Go ahead," said Louis.

"If you sign a secret contract with them, how can you guarantee that they will be willing to fulfill their promise?"

There are quite a few secret contracts that are unknown to the public and disappeared without even a chance to be dusted, perhaps because of regret, perhaps for other reasons, or because the party signing the contract suddenly lost its original equal status, and the contract was The possibility of elimination and destruction is quite high. Even if Charles II or the Duke of York who returned to London refused to recognize the contract, Louis XIV would have done nothing.

"If it's Charles II, then I have the Duke of York. If it's the Duke of York, then... I think he should be temporarily unable to take care of America, which is thousands of miles away. Of course, I prefer the Duke of York," he told Orleans The Duke blinked: "I know you don't like him, but compared to Charles II, if he becomes the Lord of London, he will definitely face more and more important problems than just a few colonies."

The Duke of Orleans pouted, he understood Louis XIV's intention - if Charles II negotiated a contract with them, then Louis XIV would definitely have to wait until their army in the New World replaced the British army before agreeing to execute the Duke of York. But if this is the case, without the constraints on the issue of inheritance, Charles II's power can be stabilized again, or even surpassed, which will be quite detrimental to the future.

But if he returns to London and the Duke of York takes over Hampton Court Palace, then he will have to do what Charles II did, first identify and clean up those former opponents, reward those who follow him, and balance the court and the court. , appease the people, and build an army of his own - these were not done well in ten years. In these ten years, Louis XIV not only escaped from the Spanish Succession War, but also completely conquered the New World.

"But, brother," said the Duke of Orleans suddenly, in a casual tone which would have driven the Duke of York to madness with jealousy, "how come I never heard that Leopold I and Charles II intended to make a truce?" In Louis X. After the four had hesitantly and coldly rejected their request to carve up Italy, a king and an emperor had completely regarded Louis XIV and France as unrelenting enemies, and they were now riding a tiger, unable to move from Italy or France. If it is Spain or France that bites off a piece of plump fresh meat, they can only use themselves to fill the insatiable stomach of their allies.

"Ah," Louis XIV nodded as if he suddenly understood: "That's what you said," he said solemnly: "Brother, that's what I said to deceive the Duke of York..."

…

There was silence in the room at first, and then the Duke of Orleans' loud laughter filled the whole room. Bontang also laughed and turned his head.

The Duke of York would never have thought that Louis XIV, the Sun King, the unparalleled king in the world, would deceive him with such a lie that could be easily exposed, but no one can deny that this lie brought excellent results. , thinking that once the war ceased, he would be bought back to London by Charles II, and then be executed in public like their father, in order to quell the anger of the people and make his brother's throne more stable, the Duke of York was unwilling to do so.

He agreed to form an alliance with Louis XIV. As for how to give up England's colonies in the New World, Louis XIV had already considered it carefully for him. It must be said that Charles II's actions were almost driving this poor man crazy. Without hesitation, he wrote several letters to the colonial governors in Bastille, asking for their support in seizing the throne. Of course, they included generous promises.

The colonies in the New World can indeed bring wealth to the nobles, but the people who will be sent there are like the French who are far away from Versailles. What others see as power and status, they always think that they are being exiled - all Sixty-seven out of ten people invited by the Duke of York agreed to bring their own troops and ships to defy Hampton Court Palace.

Let Charles II worry about the next thing. The British just left. The French army, almost half of which were French immigrants and baptized Indians, quickly and quietly moved with weapons, horses and tents. occupied their settlements and villages.