Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 713 The Troubled Situation in Europe ([-])

September 1648, 9, Bordeaux.

Sitting in his dark secret office, Kang Ding (former secretary of Xu Xin, Constantine) who has taken over as the head of the commercial station and intelligence station, put a stack of letter papers in his hand close to the candle and looked at it.Some of these letters were written by Julian of the Pasquale family, and some were written by Frank, the son of the Baron of Toulouse. Of course, most of them were staff members arranged by people from the East Coast in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier and Marseilles (commercial staff as a cover) and friendly business associates.

There is nothing illegal in the content, and it is mostly social customs, market information, anecdotes and political news among nobles.People like Julian and Frank are old friends of the East Coast people. After more than ten years of business cooperation, the interests of the two parties have long been inseparable. Therefore, they usually collect and sort out useful information circulated in their circles. To the people on the east coast - of course they only provide some information that is publicly available but requires the people on the east coast to spend a lot of time and money to collect.

"...the peasants hated Bishop Mazarin for his heavy taxes to keep the war going, the merchants hated him for the tariff system, the nobles hated him for continuing to insist on Richelieu's system of sweeping down the feudal princes, in short No one likes him, except the Queen Mother Anne - she forbids anyone to criticize Mazarin's governance in public." This is a letter from an agent in Marseilles, the content is very general, very general, and useful Not much information.

"...Tallon, a member of the Paris Assembly, publicly stated: 'France has been ruined for the past ten years, the peasants are sleeping on grass, their property has been sold to pay taxes...they have nothing but their souls , and that's just because no one has yet figured out a way to sell their souls as well." It was a letter from the north, and the date should have been several months ago, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It does not prevent Contin from understanding the sharply antagonistic relationship between the French court and parliament today.

Today, to be honest, the councils represented by the nobility (the twelve local councils, including the Paris council, whose members are all nobles and whose positions are hereditary) demand the restoration of the former privilege that any law or taxation decree issued by the king must With the consent of a representative body such as Parliament.But this kind of parliament also has a limitation, that is, only the king has the power to order it. Unfortunately, since 1614, no such meeting has been held by the king, and there has been no such meeting in history until 1789. Pass.

The nobles resented the centralization policy resolutely implemented by the two prime ministers (Richelieu and Mazarin), and were also dissatisfied with various business and tax policies. They often joined together to put pressure on the young king to demand He restored the previous feudal system, and of course, more importantly, restored the various privileges of the nobles.This unreasonable request was naturally rejected by the king (actually Queen Mother Anne and Prime Minister Mazaran), so the current conflict between the two parties is irreconcilable.

"... On July 7, the members of the Paris Parliament gathered in the court and proposed several reform proposals to the king, but they were rejected. Queen Mother Anne believes that these reforms will greatly weaken the power of the royal family, and the royal family is likely to lose power because of this in the future. Annihilated in the chaos of the masses. She thought it would be a shame if the former king handed over the power to her, and she could not pass it on to her descendants. On August 12, the news of the great victory in Lans It was reported that Prime Minister Mazaran, who felt that the situation was very good, ordered the arrest of the leader of the parliament, Brossel, and others, which led to a large number of citizens rallying in front of the palace to demand the release of Brossel. Many of them carried catapults. It is said that the incoming Archbishop of Paris Gondy played a big part in that."

This letter comes from Frank, the son of the Baron of Toulouse. His family has relatives in Paris, so they can often get the political news circulating on the streets of Paris for the first time (almost all the citizens of Paris are "politicians" who talk about it).Judging from the content of this letter, Paris should have been in chaos since August 8, and an armed confrontation may have broken out. At this time, the news should have spread to the south of France on a large scale.

As for Gondi, Kang Ding has also heard about it.He is narrow-minded, and he competed with Mazaran for the cardinal and failed.Seeing that Mazaran is so powerful now, and still has an affair with the queen mother, it almost makes him feel jealous and want to go crazy.If you don't try your best to oppose him at this time, it will not be his style!

"... On August 8, a large number of barricades were built on the streets of Paris. More than 27 members of parliament marched towards the palace with soldiers supporting them, demanding that Mazarin be executed. The panicked Queen Mother agreed to Mazarin's order in desperation. However, the Queen Mother felt that Paris was full of enemies, and the nobles looked at the young king with malicious eyes, and the ladies of the nobles—the Duchess of Bouillon, Madame Langeville, etc. ——Looked at Queen Mother Anne with jealous and mocking eyes, so she quickly fled to Rueil with the king, taking shelter in an army loyal to the king, while Prime Minister Mazarin stayed in Paris to deal with the nobles. "Well, well, this is an "artistically processed" letter, also from Frank, a libertine, who vividly describes the current chaotic situation in Paris and the positions of all parties.

An armed rebellion has broken out!When Kang Ding saw this, his spirits were lifted. He didn't think that the soldiers who followed the noble councilors to the palace to "petition" all went with a peaceful purpose, otherwise they would not have carried a large number of weapons and catapults. This is forcing the palace!It is no wonder that Queen Mother Anne took the young king and fled Paris, which is now surrounded by nobles and citizens who were instigated by them.Brossel, Talon, Prince Conte, Prince Gaston, etc., are not good people. What they care about is weakening the power of the king, reforming the centralized system, and restoring their privileges as feudal nobles.As for accusing Mazaran of corruption and extravagance, that's just a incidental purpose. Who told him to be an Italian with a weak foundation!

After Kang Ding carefully read each letter, he began to organize and transcribe the information in it, and then wrote it into an encrypted code letter and sent it to Mo San, who was in Spain at this time.Mo San is the highest official in charge of all the foreign affairs of the East Coast Republic of China in Europe, and is Kang Ding's immediate boss. Such important information must be handed over to Mo San immediately.

The letter was delivered to Mo San, who was living in Valladolid, in late September.After translating it and reading it carefully, Mo San suddenly felt mixed feelings.The good news is that a civil strife broke out in the Kingdom of France that may destroy its great cause of dominance. No, it may not only be a civil strife now, but it may soon evolve into a civil war. It should be a great boon. After all, they don't want France to overwhelm other countries in Europe and dominate one family. This is a very unfavorable thing for the East Bank, both politically and commercially.

While rejoicing at the outbreak of the crisis in France, Mo San also felt a little worry, that is, whether the Kingdom of Spain will misjudge the situation!That is, they believe that France is currently on the verge of civil war, so it is very likely that they will no longer have time to take into account the attack on the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, and even the Spaniards may go one step further, with those French who have been collude with them before The aristocrats banded together and marched their armies into French territory, which in turn weakened France so that it would no longer be able to invade other countries.Compared with this kind of thing, the major European powers such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Austria will be happy to see it succeed.

However, after careful consideration, especially after Alessandro of the Doria family also gave his own opinion, Mo San tends to think that the Spaniards are currently sincerely wanting to end the relationship with the people on the east coast. war.The reason is very simple. Those rebellious French nobles did not contact the Spaniards today. In fact, some of them should have colluded with the Spaniards after the situation in France became tense a year or two ago.But at that time, the Spaniards still insisted on ending the war with the east coast, and their attitude could even be said to be a little eager and impatient, which can explain the problem very well!

"After weighing the pros and cons, the Spaniards believe that ending the war with the east coast and then quickly marching into France is more in their country's interest." Mo San made his own judgment at this moment.

After all, many of the nobles who colluded with them are generals with military power, and even many armies are their private soldiers. If they are willing to cease fire on the front line with the Spaniards and then march into Paris together, then theoretically the Spaniards The chances of winning are not small.Especially today when they are increasingly troubled at home and abroad, they have no other way to go, and they will never refuse this opportunity to make a comeback!

Thinking of this, Mo San finally let go of his mind a little.Since the situation has not changed significantly, then just sit quietly and watch the show.Immediately the Spaniards and the French are about to use their brains, and it is not guaranteed that the people on the east coast will have greater opportunities to profit from the middle.But before that, it is really necessary to walk around more with the Spanish negotiators. Recently, the diplomatic pressure exerted by the Netherlands and England on the East Coast Republic has been increasing. Like all kinds of force, it's really a headache.

(End of this chapter)