I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 220 John de Witte of the Netherlands

When Mr. Lom received the king's reply, Louis had left Paris. Compared with his first expedition, only a few people saw him off. This does not mean that the prestige of the king is decreasing, on the contrary, The victory of Flanders has already made the king no longer need those exaggerated and vain extravagant behaviors. The royal family and the available ministers and judges saw him off, headed by Colbert, who was once acclaimed by countless dignitaries. The dignitaries are contemptuous, only because he has no surname and no family, as a mere businessman, he has won the trust of the king, so he was able to climb to such a high position and won the title of lady-in-law for his three daughters.

But it is precisely for this reason that the King is willing to let him assist the Queen Mother and the Queen, and supervise Paris and France for him. No one knows better than Colbert that without Louis, he is nothing—he is not even one priest.

This expedition is smoother and more leisurely than the first expedition. First, because the king has established his authority; second, with the help of his father and father-in-law, the Marquis of Lois has established logistical transportation channels and military facilities. Warehouses, these are like connected blood vessels, constantly replenishing rich supplies to this behemoth - just like the last time, the king not only took nearly 30,000 new troops from Paris and Versailles, nursing staff With workers and soldiers along the way constantly joining in, these princes and officials are a bit too realistic.

When the king went to Flanders, they just followed the tradition and performed their duties as "knights", but now, they can be said to be a group of shrewd businessmen. When they found out that the king's stock was about to soar, Immediately increased investment, some people said that it was bankrupt, but the rewards were undoubtedly very rich. Unlike Flanders, the Netherlands is a city of gold. Bringing tens of millions of lucrative profits to their investors - not to mention the Dutch businessmen who control the two companies.

Of course, a piece of fat meat will always attract countless greedy eyes, especially since the Dutch have monopolized almost all the trading of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon since 1658, silver in Japan, spices in Indonesia, gold and copper, Tea and porcelain in China, silk, and cotton in India... all of them belonged to the Dutch... The West India Company was founded later than the East India Company, but its expansion was no less than that of any established colonial power , because its main goods were slaves—they fought with the Portuguese for Brazil, the British for Manhattan, the Spanish for the islands of the Caribbean, and the French for Sint Maarten, and wherever they went, Just looted the natives there and sold them to the slave owners of the sugar cane plantations, and the slave owners would naturally squeeze the white gold from these dark-skinned savages—another kind of valuable and in great demand. Goods - sugar.

  If the king can conquer Holland, then these are all theirs!

In the carriage, Louis repeatedly read the letter from Charles II to him. In the letter, Charles II carefully considered his tone and ensured that he was neither too flattering nor too arrogant. He also understood that his own The request is a bit excessive, but it is not without reason. Louis can understand that Britain and France have been enemies for hundreds of years. Although they are allies and in-laws now, maybe they were in his and Charles II's time. , a new war will break out between Britain and France. At that time, the territory of William III will indeed become a good buffer zone. However, Charles II may have also thought of it. At that time, if William III is willing to tend to England, then France will lose out here.

   "What do you think?" Louis handed the letter to Philip, who was sitting with him.

Philip read the letter, and then passed the map of the lowlands in his mind. "It's just whimsical." He said: "I doubt the role of the British in this war. Three years ago, the Dutch ships Straight into the Thames, artillery into London, and people say no Englishman can stop Michel Adrianson de Reuit."

   "Then how do you think Charles II dared to make such a condition?"

"It's the same, brother," said Philip, "you said that you will always be on the side of God." The divine right of the king, the public beheading of Charles I, was a vicious and comical act for all the kings of Europa. At the beginning, Louis was the first to notice, there was Charles I, of course there could be Carlos II, Leopold I, or Louis XIV - so Louis would never support any traitor, question Yes, while supporting Charles II, he must also contain the development of England, lest it become a formidable enemy, or he will become an unprecedented joke.

   "Actually," Louis said as he lifted the curtain and glanced out, "Philip, I originally wanted you to be the Governor of the Netherlands."

"Huh?" Philip pouted in dissatisfaction, although he was twenty-eight years old, he not only had a daughter, but also the father of an unborn child, but he was still a little cute: "I don't even want to stay in Orleans. "He said sincerely: "Don't try to send me away, no matter where you go, I always want a room, and it's better not to be too far away from you."

   "Then closest to me," Louis said jokingly, "I'll order Teresa to let her room out."

   "I would, but my mother will slap me," said Philip. "She also wishes you and the queen to have more children. I only need to be in front of your ministers or priests."

"I swear I will," said Louis, and the two brothers laughed at each other, a conversation that seemed joking, but there was something real about it—Philip was always the one closest to Louis—"Then you think I let Thierry How about the Viscount Nadine as governor of the Netherlands?"

  Philip blinked, and after a few seconds, he showed a bright smile: "Good choice, brother, there is nothing better than this!"

  Viscount Turenne, who was still busy cleaning up and pacifying the Flanders region, did not know that for the next 20 years, he had been arranged by the unscrupulous king and his younger brother, the Duke of Orleans.

Of course, the Viscount Turenne is not called Turenne. His name is Henri de Latour Auvergne. He is a child of the Auvergne family and the second son of the Duke of Sedan. Later, because the Duke of Sedan participated After the rebellion against Cardinal Richelieu, the Duchy of Sedan was withdrawn, and his identity became a little embarrassing - but he did have extremely good military talents, and was sent to him at the age of twelve His uncle, Prince Maurice of Nassau, studied and joined the army. He returned to the country at the age of nineteen, but then continued to serve his uncle for five years before returning to France at 35.

  The reason why Louis made Viscount Turenne the governor of the Netherlands is also here. The mother of Viscount Turenne was William I, the daughter of William Orange. In the Netherlands, Prince Maurice was the second son of William I and the younger brother of William II. He not only became the ruler of the Netherlands, established the Dutch standing army, but also defeated the Spaniards more than once. For the Dutch, Prince Maurice's The reputation is even better than that of William II, and even more, because Prince Maurice was not married and had no children in the orthodox sense, most of his political legacy was inherited by William II.

And the existence of Viscount Turenne has become very subtle. From the age of twelve to twenty-four, he has followed Prince Maurice closely for more than ten years. He is Maurice's best student and dearest His nephew, many people around Prince Maurice, have seen and remembered this young officer. Although he is French, the other half of his blood belongs to the Orange family. Compared to being on guard by the Dutch parliament, William III, who only showed his talent a few years ago, which side would the Dutch prefer? Not to mention Louis, even Philip couldn't help but become curious.

William III can only be said to have been ruined by his own gullibility and recklessness. Of course, you can also say that he was forced to. After all, the Prime Minister and the Parliament are very wary of him, and he can not get much support from the Netherlands. When he conquered the Flanders region and pointed his sword directly at Holland, the descendant of Orange, who always regarded Holland as the crown in his palm, desperately needed a sum of money to recruit soldiers, prepare armaments, and come to meet Louis XIV. 100,000 troops confronted. Stuart owed nearly three million guilders to the Orange family. Even if it was only a tenth of it, it was enough for William III to make a profit from it...

   And Charles II successfully exploited this weakness by tricking him into Whitehall Palace in London, where he was locked up.

When the Netherlands was finally divided between Britain and France, even if William III returned to the Netherlands and owned Utrecht, his image in the hearts of the Dutch people had collapsed irreparably. After all, when they were the most painful, this Austrian Lanzhi's heir did not appear in time to turn the tide.

Then, as long as Viscount Turenne can completely implement the king's order, control half of the Netherlands, and even continue to devour and devour, it may not be difficult... After all, Louis and his ministers, their purpose is not to completely destroy the Netherlands —They want the golden egg, and they want the chicken that lays the golden egg.

  ————

  If the Netherlands is a chicken that can lay golden eggs, then the biggest golden egg must be Amsterdam.

Amsterdam was originally just a small fishing village. Like many port cities that developed from fishing villages, it benefited from the rapid development of the age of navigation, and its name, like Dunkirk, comes from the location where it is located, Ames. Te comes from the Amstel River, where the village is at its mouth, and Dan, which means dam in the Lowland language, because it sits on a dam.

  It used to be unknown, but now it is the largest city and capital of the Netherlands.

The City Hall is located in the center of Amsterdam, on the west side of Dam Square. Its foundation is made of stones, but under these stones are supported by more than 10,000 wooden piles, which are about 30 feet deep into the ground. The people who built it couldn't help but stunned - this huge building is neat and square on the outside, and the color is single and calm, which is in line with the Dutch imagination of political architecture, but the interior is extremely gorgeous and elegant, with crimson brocade and brocade everywhere. The walnut wall panels, gilt lamps and exquisite oil paintings complement each other. The officials walking here all have an arrogant and reserved look, just like big fat geese.

  Completely different from the looks of these officials is their Prime Minister, the Great Speaker of the Netherlands, or, so to speak, the uncrowned king of the Netherlands, John de Witte.

He was a 23-year-old and became the Grand Speaker at the age of 30 in the first period of no power. As a leader, he ended the first Anglo-Dutch War, admitted defeat, and accepted the British Protector Oliver Cromway. The law of navigation proposed by Ernest, and secretly promised the so-called "de-listing clause", that is, a guarantee that Orange III would never be elected as the ruling and supreme commander. In other words, just like the friendship between Louis XIV and Charles II, the two can also be said to have cherished each other for a long time in containing the kingship.

   But this does not mean that he will kill William III, the descendants of William Orange. In other words, even if he wanted to do this, he would not use such despicable and stupid means.

   The problem is that there are not many people who believe that the disappearance of William III has nothing to do with the Prime Minister, even his younger brother.

If it's just civilians, or even members of parliament, well, if you take a 10,000 step back, those supporters of Orange, the Dutch royalists, known as the Orange Belt, think he's imprisoning Even killing William III is not without argument or evasion, but he will usher in the most difficult person to deal with, and that person is the "terrorist" who made the British shiver, the supreme commander of the Dutch Navy. , Michel Adrianson de Reut.

The general was born in 2007 and is an old man in his 60s, but when he walked quickly in the corridor, he was still like a multi-masted ship with iron rams. People avoided him and turned to him. Salute or nod, compared to the prime minister who started playing politics, this old man who has been at sea for more than 40 years, from a merchant ship captain to an admiral, is undoubtedly more worthy of respect.

   And this general may be the last person Mr. Prime Minister wants to see now.

   "Where is William III?" These were the first words that General Reuter said when he entered the Prime Minister's Office.

   The Prime Minister sighed and raised his hand to cover his face.

   (end of this chapter)