My British Empire

The Duke of Guise ran forward with the remnant of the army, and came to Elbeuf, a small town tens of kilometers away from Rouen.

"Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooows out out of nostrils.

"咚咚咚——" His Excellency the Duke stopped, and finally many cavalry who followed him breathed a sigh of relief and stopped to rest for a while.

"Have the English come after them?" The Duke of Guise rubbed his waist, gasping for breath, and asked the cavalry commander around him.

"No, the English are not chasing them any more!" The cavalry commander glanced at the surrounding cavalry and replied after receiving a positive answer.

"That's good, Erdorf is ahead. Let everyone enter and take a rest!"

Glancing at the small town ahead, the Duke of Guise breathed a sigh of relief and ordered.

Afterwards, the cavalry followed the Duke of Guise and entered Eldorf, rested for a long time, and then continued to Paris until Vernon, which was close to the Ile-de-France region, was relieved. Already more than two hundred miles.

In the end, the Duke of Guise counted, and the cavalry who ran out with him were only more than one thousand and one hundred, and the infantry had just reached one thousand.

In other words, out of the more than 10,000 people he brought over, there are only 2,000 people left, which is a heavy loss!

What made the Duke even more distressing was that more than half of the thousands of elite veterans he had brought with him had already been lost. The price was too cruel!

"Damn Rouen, damn English!" the Duke of Guise could not stop cursing in his heart.

This is the biggest loss he has suffered since he led the battle. Even in the face of the Spaniards, he has never suffered such a serious injury. This is a huge blow to his prestige.

At the same time, the news that England captured Normandy and Brittany at the same time began to prevail throughout France, and the entire French nobles, priests, and royal family panicked.

The nobles are unwilling to have a strong monarch to control France again, and it is the same barbaric Englishman who once slaughtered them.

The priests, whether they were Catholics or Huguenots, they all knew what England did, and even more so Henry VIII's approach. Even in terms of protecting their faith and property, they were unwilling to be crowned by the English crowned by the French crown.

Of course, what is most frightening is the French royal family in a small country town at this time.

Although Charles IX, King of France, was still young, he was not very clear about the meaning behind the failure of the Duke of Guise and the loss of Brittany, but he understood that the crown on his head was in danger at this time.

As the regent, Queen Catherine naturally understood what this meant with her political sense.

Therefore, at this moment, she understands that the civil war can no longer continue. At this time, France is facing the same situation as the Hundred Years War.

Therefore, she couldn't wait to send an invitation to the Catholic League and the Huguenots for peace talks, asking the two factions to put the interests of France first and jointly drive the English out of France.

Orleans City.

As the stronghold of the Huguenots, since the Duke of Guise left with part of the army, Prince Condé and General Coligny who besieged Paris immediately withdrew their troops and resolved the siege of Orleans.

Before that, they were extremely happy when they learned that the Englishman and the Duke of Guise had started to hurt each other.

In the eyes of the Huguenots, the English who belong to the Protestant Church are obviously much more lovely than the Catholics.

They don't mind losing the Normandy region, provided, of course, they gain power in France.

And after gaining power, driving away the English is nothing more than an easy task!

Yes, it is indeed easy.

Even if Edward doesn't admit it in his heart, he has to say that the French have forgotten the royal family that owns the crown but lives in England.

More importantly, the failure of England and France in the Hundred Years' War not only caused England to lose its most important name, but also created antagonism.

In other words, war is really the best national catalyst. The Hundred Years' War reunified the French Valois dynasty and gave birth to the so-called French nation.

Afterwards, the concept of the English and the French as two nationalities became deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and before Prussia unified Germany, the two were feuds.

The Huguenots didn't care about the loss of Brittany. It was just a remote area that had not been incorporated into France for a long time. More importantly, it was the territory of the Catholic League.

But the Normandy area is different. It is close to Flanders, and the economy is developing well. More importantly, it is the basic base of the Huguenots and cannot be lost.

"Everyone, the English have occupied all of Normandy except Rouen. The Duke of Guise has returned in a big defeat. The queen regent invited us to negotiate peace with the Catholic League. What do you think?"

As the leader of the Huguenots and the commander-in-chief of the army, Prince Condé looked at the high-ranking Huguenots and asked the first question.

"I think we can temporarily abandon Normandy and take advantage of the Duke of Guise's heavy loss to defeat the Catholic League in one fell swoop, so that we can concentrate our efforts and drive away the English!"

As soon as the voice fell, one person stood up and spoke, bluntly intending to kill everything, advocating first the inside and then the outside.

"No, the British occupy Brittany and Normandy, so the Spaniards will definitely not sit idly by. France will be treated as a piece of fat, and our Italian region and southwest will be in danger!"

"The current strategy is to get rid of the English!"

This proposition puts the outside first before the inside, focusing on national interests.

Then, other people continued to refute and discuss these two viewpoints and guidelines, and there were endless debates.

In the city of Vernon, Charles de Guise, Archbishop of Reims, hurried back to see his brother.

"My dear brother, why are you here?" Duke Guise was puzzled by his brother's arrival.

Could it be that he came here to comfort himself when he saw that he had lost the battle? But this is not in line with his character!

"Francois, the news of your failure has now spread throughout France!"

Archbishop Charlie glanced at his brother, then said softly.

Seeing a tinge of anger rising from the Duke of Guise's face, he said again:

"Queen Catherine asked us to make peace with the Huguenots and drive out the English together!"

"This time, I came here to ask for your opinion!"

"You agreed? Charlie!" Duke Guise asked with a straight face.

"I agree, France does not need Englishmen, although its king married our niece!"

Queen Mary is their sister, and Edward married their niece Queen Mary, so in theory, Edward still has the right to inherit the Duke of Guise.