Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2027 Persuasion

The special envoy finally arrived in Paris on August 1688, 8, and handed over the confidential documents to Lin Dingzhi, the ambassador to France on the East Coast.

After Lin Dingzhi got the letter, he didn't dare to be negligent, and immediately ordered the secretary to find the code book, and then translated some by himself without borrowing the hands of others.Unsurprisingly, the content of the diplomatic documents made Lin Dingzhi frown a little, because he was really not sure how to persuade the French to cancel or delay their military operations into the lowlands and the Rhine River Basin.

Is it possible to let the dog get rid of the habit of eating poop?

However, complaints belong to complaints, and what should be done is still to be done.As a professional diplomat, Lin Dingzhi understands how important it is to persuade the French to suspend their war of aggression on the strategy of the people on the east coast.Therefore, he decided to request an audience with King Louis XIV in the past few days and make a difficult attempt.

But before the audience, naturally still need to do some preparatory work.Lin Dingzhi opened the door of the office and asked the secretary to send some dossiers and documents to his room. By the way, he also found a few embassy officials in charge of intelligence, military, and commercial fields, and everyone held a meeting to study specific action steps.

"France's financial situation has been deteriorating in recent years. Although government revenue has been rising steadily and has now exceeded 1.5 million livres, it is because the Abbey of Tours minted a large amount of inferior currency and issued it to the market. Levre In other words, the franc has actually depreciated a lot, and the cost of living of the French people has risen greatly, but the tax payment has never decreased, and even increased, so there is great dissatisfaction within the country." At the meeting, An embassy official in charge of business and finance talked eloquently, only to hear him continue: "The main reasons for France's financial failure are two. One is that their aggressive and belligerent attitude has deteriorated the surrounding business environment. countries are unwilling to do business with them. Or even if they do business, the trade volume has been greatly affected, which has led to the deterioration of the French industrial and commercial environment and the reduction of government revenue. Another point is also very important, that is, the successive years of The war caused a large number of people in the French farmland and workshops to be transferred to the front line, whether it was engaged in combat or logistics, these tied up a large amount of labor, making them unable to create wealth, but blindly consuming wealth."

What the official said is actually the key points that everyone knows.Because of Louis XIV's strong desire to conquer, the markets of many countries were closed to France, and the export of French goods was hindered.In addition, a shortage of domestically produced labor forces hastened this economic downturn.Not to mention the persecution of Huguenots in France, which caused a large number of these social elites to flee. These are constantly weakening the foundation of the French economy and deteriorating French finances.

"Now the French ministers are not very capable. After Colbert's death, the incompetent people are slowly destroying the foundation laid by the three generations of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert. Now it is Cole who controls the Ministry of Commerce and Navigation. Bell's son Baptiste, compared with his father, he is an ordinary person, can only handle some ordinary official duties, but nothing else. Claude Le Piet is the Minister of Finance, Lu Va is still the Minister of War... Among these minister candidates, only Lowa can be regarded as competent, and the others are not good. Moreover, all the ministers are afraid of the glory and power of Louis XIV, and they dare not make decisions on many things. Ask Louis XIV for everything, which obviously affects state affairs." Another embassy official in charge of researching French internal affairs said: "France's current main focus is still not on economic construction, and Louis XIV is too belligerent. War Although Minister Loire is relatively capable, he is only responsible for the internal affairs of the war and cleaning up the Protestants. In short, France is not a normal country now, they are completely a war machine."

The French Army is currently convinced that it has reached more than 20, and this is a standing army, not a temporary recruited peasant soldier.Loire has put too much effort into it, the best equipment, the best treatment (of course, relative) and the highest social status, so this army is skilled and morale is high, and at the same time, it is the same as the people on the East Coast. He attaches great importance to spear stabbing, and his combat effectiveness must not be underestimated.

In contrast, the French navy is not as elite as the army.A large number of their warships are usually sealed up, and many sailors are also working in foreign countries (mainly the Netherlands). This state of lack of training usually affects the level of performance in wartime.But there is no way, the navy is a gold-eating behemoth. If you don't plan carefully, you may have many financial problems. Therefore, like England and the Netherlands, you can only seal up a considerable part of the warships in peacetime and unseal them in wartime.

"The current diplomatic environment in France is also very poor. Because of the Palatine incident, the German princes are now very vigilant against Louis XIV, and they have secretly united to prevent France's next aggression. Due to repeated wars in the Ottoman Empire The reason for the victory is that the Austrians now have the confidence to transfer part of Cointreau to the west and put them on the front line of the confrontation with France. Ah, yes, the anti-French alliance established by the German princes is currently dominated by Austria and Bavaria. Brandon The Elector of Fort also tends to them, but it is believed that they have not signed a formal alliance treaty with them.” The official in charge of foreign affairs also spoke at this time: “Austria, Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Sweden are the main players in this alliance. The members are relatively strong in general, and with the help of some other German princes, they should still be a bit of a deterrent to the French."

The so-called Paladin incident refers to a political crisis that broke out last year due to territorial ownership.Because the lord of the Palatine died last year, King Louis XIV of France claimed part of his territory to be inherited by his sister, Charlotte Elizabeth, Duchess of Orleans and Princess of the Palatine.These have undoubtedly greatly exacerbated the tension between the Kingdom of France and the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, because everyone is very worried that their territory will be taken away and annexed by the French at any time. Figure out how to deal with the French.

Basically, it can be said that Louis XIV's current strategy is already obvious, that is to focus on the German region, temporarily let go of the rich lowlands and northern Italy, and first push the national border to the Rhine River.To be honest, this is a little bit of good news for the Dutch and the people on the east coast, especially the United Provinces. They can finally get out of the cloud of war temporarily.

Of course, not everyone is so "heartless". In fact, in the eyes of mature and stable politicians, Louis XIV's attack on the Rhine River Basin is quite cold for other French neighbors who have not been involved in the war. mean.You can attack the Rhine today, the lowlands tomorrow, and Italy the day after tomorrow, and no one is a fool to know what to do when a war breaks out.

Next, two embassy officials stood up to speak, and their topics mostly focused on France's fairly good internal infrastructure and poor medical and educational conditions. Lin Dingzhi nodded while listening, but he was still recalling the past in his mind. The content of several speeches.The Kingdom of France probably really needs to go out and expand now, otherwise its economy may fall into a state of collapse.The invincible army with more than 20 soldiers really needs to sharpen themselves through continuous victories, otherwise what is the cost of raising so many troops?Does it look good?

Thinking about it this way, Lin Dingzhi felt very helpless immediately, because it meant that the possibility of him successfully persuading Louis XIV was even lower.And once the persuasion of the French fails and they brazenly send troops to occupy the German region this year or next year, then Austria, Bavaria, Prussia, and Sweden, the four countries that have secretly allied themselves, naturally have no choice but to go to war with the French.What about England and the Netherlands?I am afraid that they will not stand idly by, especially the Netherlands. Of course, during the Franco-Dutch war, the Austrians sent troops to rescue out of fear. Once the French attack Germany this time, the Netherlands may also resist France for the same reason.

As for the resistance to the French, the most famous and "professional" in the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands was William III of the Orange family.The man whose family had been enemies of the French for generations, and often won, had amassed a great deal of popularity in the United Provinces.In the future, if the United Provinces need to go to war against the French, then William III will instantly gain the support of the majority of the people, regain the upper hand in many local governments that have been seized by the republicans in the past-this is undoubtedly the people of the East Coast It's hard to accept!

"This is a daunting task." Lin Dingzhi lit a cigarette and said to himself with a wry smile: "The chips we can use to make deals with the French are too few, and the trade embargo should be the best It’s a trick, but most people don’t care much about it. Well, no matter how difficult it is, I have to run this trick, although the superiors didn’t give any hard and fast rules, but I still have to work hard.”

On August 1688, 8, King Louis XIV of France returned to the Palace of Versailles from Strasbourg and ordered to receive Lin Dingzhi, the ambassador of the East Coast.In this luxurious palace, Lin Dingzhi talked with Louis XIV for more than an hour, and the final result was not optimistic, because Louis XIV completely avoided answers to such questions, but talked about other aspects Things made Lin Dingzhi very helpless.However, this attitude of Louis also clearly shows that he does have a plan to attack the lowlands or the Rhine, but he does not know which step has been implemented and when it will be officially implemented.He vaguely heard that the mission of the Ottoman Empire is still living in Paris, constantly urging the French to launch a war, decompressing them, and curbing the arrogance of the Austrians.

Louis XIV was obviously not a soft-hearted king. He was very assertive. The hoarse pleas of the Ottomans did not affect his decision too much. Ambassador Lin Dingzhi's persuasion also did not have much effect. He followed his own heart.Now Lin only expects that the French can postpone the time of launching the war for a year or so, which is quite good, and I really dare not think about other things.

"This Kingdom of France is really militant, and it can't stop at all. It's really chilling." Lin Dingzhi, who left the Palace of Versailles after the failure of the persuasion mission, thought so: "Some things, words will not produce anything. To be effective, there must be something that can actually threaten them. The next step is to see how Special Envoy Gao and the mainland respond."

Busy with work during the day, taking care of the family at night, watching the World Cup twice, and typing at the end, I was too sleepy.The length is relatively short, everyone will just go with it, thank you for your support.

(End of this chapter)