Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2257 The Gap Between Wars

On October 1694, 10, in London, Zheng Dexiang had just sent away the envoy of Xu Zhilong, the ambassador to France on the East Coast.The envoy arrived from Le Havre on a returning British merchant ship, and his task was to report to Zheng Dexiang the recent wind direction in upper France and the local economic situation.

The reason for this is because Zheng Dexiang was promoted!He has been appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the deputy envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe. He is a hot figure in the entire diplomatic system, and he is also the second in command in Europe after Cai Zhenguo, in charge of the diplomatic affairs of the entire North Atlantic.

In fact, such a good thing was not his turn.According to the original plan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will set up a deputy envoy in the Mediterranean area to be fully responsible for the diplomatic affairs in the Mediterranean region, while Cai Zhenguo himself in Amsterdam will take charge of the North Atlantic area.However, because the Mediterranean area is becoming more and more important to the east coast, the Executive Committee finally decided to make minor adjustments after discussions in various public meetings. Mediterranean affairs, while serving as ambassador to Spain.

In this way, Zheng Dexiang is a pie from the sky, and he is in charge of one side alone.Originally, he and Cai Zhenguo were only separated by a strait, and Cai was the former ambassador to England, so he really had to report everything, and he was extremely aggrieved.Now that Mr. Cai went to the Mediterranean Sea, not only did he lose the magic spell on his head, but he was also promoted to a level out of thin air. I don't know how happy he is.

Of course, what makes him most happy is that the French ambassador Xu Zhilong, who was originally a faint competitor, has now become his responsible subordinate.Over the years, the two of them have fought openly and secretly for countless times. Now that the winner is decided, this feeling is naturally unusual.

Xu Zhilong's envoy arrived three days ago.He carried several encrypted diplomatic documents, and briefly introduced the current situation in France to Zheng Dexiang.The first thing the messenger introduced was the physical condition of Louis XIV.The monarch had just recovered from a serious illness, and he was not in a good mood, but he didn't seem to have any sequelae. He only needed to rest for a while to recover, which made many people's plots aborted.

In fact, the conspiracy of these people went bankrupt a few years ago.At that time, Louis XIV had rectal fistula, and European doctors knew little about this disease. Cardinal Richelieu, who had ruled France for many years, died of this disease, which made people panic for a while.It is said that when the king's illness spread, the whole of France was in turmoil. Some people went to church to pray.

Louis XIV's personal physician, Felix, collected many treatments for the king to choose from.It includes a lot of "earth remedies", such as taking medicine for vomiting, applying medicine, bloodletting, enema, etc., which makes people feel frightened and puzzled.However, Louis XIV really accepted these so-called conservative treatments, probably because he was afraid of the unpredictable risks brought about by surgery.It's just a pity that these conservative treatments did not have any effect in the end. Louis XIV had no choice but to accept the surgical treatment plan proposed by Felix.

Before the surgical treatment, Felix selected several citizens who also suffered from the disease in Paris, and performed operations on them, fully accumulating experience, and finally performed the operation on Louis XIV when he was certain .The result of the operation was relatively successful. The doctor cleaned the wound and applied ointment for the king. It is said that Louis XIV did not groan at all during the whole process, and arranged work for the ministers at the bedside that night.

The next day, he received ambassadors from various countries, including Xu Zhilong, the ambassador from the East Coast.At this time, Louis XIV fully demonstrated his tenacity by supporting his sick body. This seemed to be a silent warning to those who connected in private before his operation.At the same time, he also used such a method to announce to the nobles and generals who came from all over the night that he was fine, and let them return to their respective positions and continue to work hard for the kingdom.

Xu Zhilong admired Louis XIV's series of responses very much, and believed that he had completely stabilized the originally turbulent situation, and he did not use any drastic means, with a feeling that he lifted the weight as lightly as possible.Perhaps after being a king for decades, this has almost become his instinct.

Louis XIV had a secret talk with Xu Zhilong that day.The content is nothing new, it just encourages people from the east bank to join them, and generously promises that once the government of Spain, a lot of land in the southern New World can be donated to the east bank.It should be said that Louis XIV was very aware of the goals of the people on the east coast and offered a realistic price.It's a pity that the people on the east coast are too ambitious. They not only covet the Spanish colonies in the New World, but also spare no effort to curb the possibility of power in Europe. As the saying goes, I want both goals, so what should you do?The secret talks naturally ended up with no results.

Here's another little episode.When Louis XIV recovered, he held a grand banquet in Paris, inviting nobles and foreign envoys to attend.At this banquet, some good people flattered and presented a song "God Save My King" and sang it. An Englishman who attended the meeting thought it was very nice, so he copied the song and brought it back to England.

Historically, this song was very popular in the UK, and the melody of the national anthem of the Kingdom of England originated from it.Of course, Britain did not have a national anthem at this time, and this song was only popular among some nobles, but in any case, Britain should thank France, because their national anthem came from Louis XIV's anal fistula.

Zheng Dexiang was also very concerned about the French economic situation reported by Xu Zhilong.After years of wars and unexpected natural disasters, France's economy is now very difficult, and famine has broken out in many places.In addition, the country's foreign trade also suffered heavy losses under the continuous harassment of the British and Dutch privateer fleets, and the country was in short supply of various materials. If there were not some neutral country businessmen who came to trade - it would have to be a more face-saving neutral country Merchants, like East Coast or Italian merchants - the country's economy may have collapsed.

Xu Zhilong boldly asserted that even if the French made a major breakthrough on the next battlefield, they might not be able to continue to expand their victories.Severe material shortages and financial difficulties have restricted the French army's next move. What they need to do most now is to start armistice negotiations with the enemy, and let them recuperate first.

Of course, the enemies of France also have this demand.The Austrians are facing the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, especially the newly-in-power Grand Priest Fezullah Effendi of the Turks is planning a "jihad". The horse was transferred to the Eastern Front, just in case.

The Dutch are not faring much better.The heavy war expenditure has left the government with a debt of more than 3 million guilders, and they are worrying about how to repay the interest on these debts.If the war continued, they would run out of money in a matter of months and would have to keep issuing new bonds.At that point, the large wholesalers in Amsterdam may still subscribe to public bonds, but this is obviously not a good thing for the United Provincial Government, and the debts must always be repaid!

Therefore, both sides now have the urge to cease the war. Even though the battlefield is still fighting due to inertia, the high-level leaders of both sides are already aware of the comprehensive peace talks-the war has reached a stalemate, and no one can completely defeat the other, so continue What's the point of spending it?

The only ones who want to fight are probably Prussia, England and other countries.The former hopes to get a large amount of employment fees paid by the Dutch, and the latter hopes that more funds and talents from the European continent will flow into London, a safe haven, although their navy also suffered a lot of losses and a lot of expenses in the fight with the French. , but it all seems to be worth it.

"It's really impossible to fight anymore! Everyone is exhausted and out of breath, and a truce is inevitable." Sitting at his desk, Zheng Dexiang flipped through the documents and sighed: "But this is just a truce, not a complete truce. Even if the peace treaty is temporarily signed, it will be interrupted by changes in Madrid at any time, and at that time, the European continent will be full of wars again, which is a fate that no one can escape."

The accident that Zheng Dexiang mentioned refers to the body of King Carlos II of Spain.The monarch, who was in poor health when he was born in the womb, has really attracted the attention of too many people, so that the war is not over yet. His relatives—Louis XIV and Habs of Vienna The Bao family—has already started to work around, preparing to quickly carve up this huge country when he kicks his legs and dies, and take the benefits into his own hands.

Judging from the current situation, most countries in continental Europe still prefer to hand over Spain to the Habsburg family, but the French will definitely not agree, and a fierce battle will be inevitable at that time.So, you can now understand what the aforementioned truce means.As long as both sides are unwilling to give in, then war is inevitable, and both sides will definitely fight to the death for the ownership of Spain.

People on the east coast are also very concerned about this.Their original plan was to maintain a weakened Spain so that they could cannibalize its colonies in the New World.However, Carlos II's health was good and bad, and news of critical illness came out at every turn, which was very difficult.Undoubtedly, the East Bank also had to step in and join the battle after his death.Of course, there are also skills in this. When to join, in what way to join, and how to choose allies, there is actually a lot to be done. Everything depends on the development and changes of the situation at that time.

In short, this world is not peaceful, war is the eternal subject, and peace is just a gap between wars.

(End of this chapter)