Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2037 Beihai ([-])

Let us turn our attention again to the United Provinces.

On the night of December 1688, 12, when William III arrived in London to meet and talk with his father-in-law, James II.In The Hague, the political center of the United Provinces, the voting results of the three-level parliament have come out. Representatives from the seven provinces of the Netherlands, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen agreed that William III, Prince of Orange, left The United Provinces went to London, whereupon they were dismissed from office, and all powers in the country were transferred to the three-level parliament, with the speaker Konrad van Beuningen as the head of state.

After the results of the vote came out, in order to avoid long nights and dreams, the three-level council immediately entrusted a number of printing factories to print a joint statement of the three-level council to announce this important resolution to the entire Seven Provinces Alliance.The statement first briefly reviewed the true meaning of the League of Provinces that resisted the Spanish rule, and once again emphasized the spirit of the republic, pointing out that the United Provinces are the United Provinces of all the people of the seven provinces, not a country with one family name. Then set up a position that can be called a king, so as to prevent careerists from controlling the state affairs for a long time and destroying the true meaning of freedom and republic.

The statement also emphasized that they are fed up with endless concessions to the UK, fed up with the high tariffs of France, and enough of the Orange family's damage to the reputation of the Netherlands. From now on, everything will be based on the interests of the United Provinces, Ned The Republic of the United Provinces of Lanzhou is the priority, let the United Provinces be glorious and great again!

There is no doubt that such a statement will cause great repercussions within the League of Seven Provinces.Especially in the three provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Upper Ijssel, where the nobility and traditional priests are very influential, the people will definitely be in an uproar and strongly question whether this statement by the three-level parliament is shaking the political tradition of the United Provinces , triggering a looming civil war crisis?

There are many scholars, aristocrats or businessmen with keen insight in this country. They now support Prince of Orange, but it does not mean how much they agree with his policies, let alone how strong William III's personality is.In the final analysis, it still stems from their fear of Catholic France, that is, they are worried that Louis XIV will annex the entire lowland area, levy heavy taxes on the United Provinces, and then enforce Catholicism-this is not unfounded, in fact, as early as the last French-Dutch war Well, King Louis XIV of France has already done this in the occupied areas such as Utrecht and Gelderland in the south, and it is normal for people to worry.

Many people believe that the Orange family, as a military aristocrat who started against Spanish rule, should be the number one figure in the fight against the threat of French invasion. Use the connections of various intricate aristocratic circles to integrate external forces against France.Therefore, they are basically artificial. Once the United Provinces do not have the Prince of Orange, they are afraid that they will be weak in the face of French invasion.

Of course, some people also talked about the two Anglo-Dutch wars during the period when the republicans were in power, pointing out that the republican government led by DeWitt successfully completed the task of confronting the British challenger, defeated the British navy, and preserved the maritime hegemony of the United Provinces.At the same time, they also actively contacted external forces and united many allies. In particular, they persuaded France to stop taking advantage of the fire and finally isolated Britain diplomatically. It can be seen that the Republican government is also very powerful in resisting foreign aggression.

However, opponents also believe that this can only prove that the republican government has a way of fighting for supremacy at sea, but it is helpless in the face of land invasion, as evidenced by the humiliating defeat in the early stage of the last Franco-Dutch war.Land warfare still depends on the traditional nobles headed by the Orange family. They are more professional and reliable in this regard.

This kind of concept in the Netherlands can be said to run through from beginning to end, and no one can convince anyone.Everyone quarreled and quarreled, but in the end it was just a quarrel, causing the entire country to be divided politically, and ultimately harming the national interest.

But no matter what, now with the help of the people on the east coast, the reluctantly rising republicans no longer intend to succumb to the boots of William III.They held a ground-breaking vote in Parliament, and then issued a joint statement, announcing the political change to the entire League of Seven Provinces.And here we have to mention an episode. On the day of the vote, Van Beuningen was a little anxious due to insufficient numbers.Later, they found out that there were dozens of provincial representatives who had not gone to the parliament in the two large hotels in The Hague, so the soldiers on the east bank dispatched urgently to "capture" these people in the hotel and sent them to the parliament in a carriage. .These MPs protested for a while, but the Cossacks who came to arrest them could not understand Dutch and French, and refused to accommodate them at all, and directly pushed them into the carriage, which was also interesting.

Well, let's go back to the previous topic.After the joint statement of the three-level parliament was issued, it took only ten days for the republicans to post it on the notice boards of all towns and cities of a small size throughout the United Provinces.In addition, they also advertised through newspapers and pamphlets to let all citizens of the United Province know what happened in the past few days.

There is no doubt that the above-mentioned measures are also a kind of public opinion warfare and psychological warfare, and they were completed under the guidance of several consultants from the East Coast National Intelligence Agency.Don't underestimate this kind of psychological warfare. In fact, in today's chaotic situation, it can play a considerable role, making more people psychologically accept that William III has "abandoned" the United Provinces. The fact that he patted his ass to become king in London, the negative impact on William III's prestige cannot be underestimated.

In fact, after the joint statement was issued and widely disseminated, the province of the Netherlands finally took the lead in expressing its support for the resolution of the three-level parliament after experiencing some swings.Especially in the Amsterdam City Council, except for the Jewish bankers who are good at speculating in the stock market—these people are also important supporters of William III’s trip to England—more than [-]% of the other large wholesalers agreed This decision of the three levels of parliament.Of course, there is credit for the lobbying work done by the republicans, and there is also credit for the people on the east coast.But don't forget, they still have a large-scale army in the open sea!Not to mention, there have been unconfirmed rumors circulating in Amsterdam recently, and the soldiers in the city are also very dissatisfied with the reduction of the subsidy and military pay (which was put into the navy by William III to win the hearts of the soldiers and support him to land in England). "And asked the rich to pay, which directly shattered the last line of psychological defense of the big merchants in Amsterdam, prompting them to directly compromise with The Hague, and handed over the most important city of the United Provinces and the financial center of Central and Western Europe to the Republic. Pie hands.

And if Amsterdam and even the entire Dutch province are settled, then the situation in the United Provinces can be said to have been settled by more than half.After all, the province of the Netherlands bears two-thirds of all government and military expenditures, and its status is extremely important.Without the province of Holland, William III's wallet was more than half emptied.Even if he is now the king of England, there is still a parliament that is holding him back. It is impossible to generously donate money for the unbeatable situation in the Netherlands, and let him take England's people's fat and people's anointing to the Netherlands to make a comeback.

Therefore, after learning that the province of the Netherlands had abandoned William III and formally surrendered to the parliament, Van Beuningen in The Hague directly opened a bottle of red wine in front of the East Coast liaison officials to celebrate.In fact, before the launch, he didn't expect things to go so smoothly. Many of his previous worries disappeared under the turbulence of the general situation. This not only proved the correctness of the people on the east coast, but also strengthened his determination to continue to use strong methods to calm the situation. determination.

Before doing some things, I thought it was extremely difficult, but when I got to that point, I didn't think it was that scary!

Now that the province of the Netherlands has fallen, there is no reason for other provinces to insist! On December 12, the main towns in Zeeland Province successively announced their acceptance of the leadership of the three-level parliament; on December 22, the entire province of Utrecht announced the acceptance of the joint statement of the three-level parliament, together with Limburg, which was under its control. —The Brabant region also accepted it; on December 12, Christmas Day, the provinces of Gelderland and Oberijssel announced the recognition of the facts, and the speaker of the three-level parliament, Van Boyningen, was the supreme head of the Seven Provinces Alliance.

As a result, among the seven provinces, only Friesland and Groningen are still hesitating.The provincial councils of these two provinces are still arguing behind closed doors, but some town councils have taken the lead in changing their positions and ordered their members to make noise in the provincial councils, demanding to accept the leadership of the three-tier councils.Especially in some towns near the sea, they yelled at William III for misappropriating their funds for building dams and sea gates (which were also jointly borne by the provinces of the Netherlands and Zeeland) to attract German poor and poor ghosts as cannon fodder, which damaged the entire country. The interests of the people require the Provincial Council to make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise the funds to maintain the operation of the government may not be available.

Of course, the republicans will not let go of such an opportunity.They sent elite envoys to travel between the main towns of the two provinces, and at the same time, they talked with the officers of the local garrison, understood them with reason, moved them emotionally, and persuaded them to give up resistance and accept the leadership of the three-level council.The envoys even directly promised that the three levels of councils would pay out all the allowances and bonuses deducted by William III.And not only that, once they "show considerable sincerity", they will also get a richer bonus, which directly prompted the defection of many armies and reduced the risk of military operations, which has an extremely huge effect.

On December 12, the three-level parliament issued an ultimatum to the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, requiring them to make a decision within three days.At the same time, the more than 27 Dutch Army, which had been initially reorganized, also began to set off from the surrounding areas of Amsterdam to the two provinces, making a gesture of military coercion.In addition, in Breda in the south, a large number of mercenaries from Switzerland and other places also arrived one after another. Together with the people from the east coast, they accepted the command of the Dutch veteran Victor Van Marberg and marched northward in a mighty way. Directly at Nijmegen's 1 German mercenaries.

(End of this chapter)