I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 221 The Terror King of Holland

The Netherlands, and even the whole of the Lowlands, are saying that it was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. John de Witte, who ordered his party to murder William III and bury his body in an unknown place to hide his eyes and ears, There is still quite a market for such ridiculous and absurd rumors. From humble taverns to lavish salons, from illiterate chores to honorable priests, from men's lips to women's tiny ears, everyone In saying that, this is a shameless conspiracy, a terrible method against the descendants of William Orange.

To say that Mr. Prime Minister has a good opinion of William III is pure nonsense. As the most severe republican, Mr. Prime Minister and the merchant class he represents are the most feared and the most disgusting of the monarchy, because the monarchy It means dictatorship and dictatorship, and dictatorship and dictatorship also means that it will greatly shrink the profits of merchants - to give the simplest example, after the French have captured Brussels, William III is eager to take out the assets of the Orange family. (That is, the arrears of the Stuart dynasty) When it is necessary to form a land army that, if not powerful, at least can curb French ambitions, why should Mr. Prime Minister hinder more and be reluctant? On the one hand, it is because they do not want the Dutch to recall the glory of the Orange family again (from the silent William to Prince Maurice), on the other hand, the Dutch businessmen pay more attention to the military power at sea, after all, their money. The roads are almost always by sea rather than by land.

We might call it short-sighted, but that's what businessmen are, they don't have a nation, they don't have a country in their hearts, and they can bow down to anyone, and it's okay to sell their souls to the devil—though it's a bit of a stretch to say so Harsh, but think about William Orange. William I was once a trusted servant of the Holy Roman Emperor, and it was because of the advice and support of Charles V (the then Holy Roman Emperor) that he was able to communicate with him. The daughter of the Earl of Burren, the great aristocrat of the Netherlands, signed a marriage contract. It is no exaggeration to say that without Charles V, William Orange would not have a foothold in the Netherlands at all.

But even such a benefactor, for the sake of the people of the Netherlands, William Orange still betrayed his benefactor. The reason why he is called "Silent William" is because of all the rebels against the Netherlands. In his actions and declarations, he never said a word, for which he was angrily declared a traitor by the Habsburgs, and it could be said that he lost all honor and territory for the sake of the Netherlands, even if In this way, William Orange still insisted on his philosophy. Even if he was exiled to a place outside the Netherlands, he still did not give up the idea of ​​making the Netherlands independent. He sold all the assets he could sell, and his own The brothers raised the flag of rebellion together.

In nearly two decades, in the repeated wars of independence, William Orange can be said to have sacrificed everything for the independence of the Netherlands, his property, his reputation, his brother's life, he can It is said to be the founder of the Dutch Republic, and the members of the Dutch parliament expressed their willingness to support William I to become the king of the Netherlands, while secretly conspiring with the Spaniards - the result is that William I was one step away from the throne. down.

Even Orange's supporters must admit that William Orange did have some ambitions when he was about to win. When Europa was still shrouded in the glory of the sovereign power, who wouldn't want to be a master? What about the king of the scepter, and it is not that there has not been a prince who became a king before - but no one can say that William I did not have such qualifications. At that time, except for those unwilling members of the parliament, most of the people in the Netherlands were still willing to The Orange family took the throne—perhaps for this reason, not only did William Orange die, but his descendants were not in peace.

William I's brothers all perished on the battlefield, including Viscount Turenne's uncle, Prince Maurice, and his descendant, William II, also died of an inexplicable smallpox. He was only twenty-four years old when he died. On the eighth day, William III was born. Under the supervision of the Prime Minister and the Parliament, he had been under surveillance and guarded for 20 years. Even if he wanted to prepare military expenses for the re-establishment of the army in the Netherlands, he had to try his best to hide from the public.

Mr. Prime Minister would never have imagined that it was precisely because of his harshness and vigilance that he had fallen into this painful and embarrassing situation - William III had been secretly imprisoned in London by Charles II, and all those who knew the secret had People are either imprisoned together, or they have their own plans, or they can't be sure - is William III in London or Amsterdam?

   It's just that no matter what Mr. Prime Minister does with the gossip on the streets, General Reut, who is standing in front of him now, will not be an easy guy to deal with.

Michel Adrianson de Reut, a rare nationalist, did not care whether William III would become king, but would not allow Parliament and the Prime Minister to harm the descendants of William Orange, no , he is not a royalist, not a member of the orange belt, he is the same as many Dutch people, as a descendant of William. Orange, William III will be the last trump card of the Netherlands, in case in the war , the General Assembly and the Provincial Assembly of the Netherlands have failed and are no longer trusted by the Dutch, so the only one who can unite them again is William III. William III can be treated coldly and rejected, but it must not be completely Loss of control over the Netherlands.

But it is too difficult to maintain this fragile balance, especially Leuth, who is hailed by the Dutch people as the **** of the sea and scolded by the British as the king of terror, but his political ability is completely incomparable with his sea-going power. Comparable in ability, although he is inclined towards William III, he also has great respect for the Prime Minister who re-promoted him, but this respect also began to falter after the disappearance of William III.

   "Would you believe me if I said I really didn't know where William III went?"

In the face of Mr. Prime Minister's... blunt words, General Reut frowned, he was older than John de Witte, but unfortunately, the virtual age cannot be converted into experience on the political battlefield: "Then your brother , or your supporters?"

General Reuter is talking about Mr. Witte Jr., the younger brother and right-hand man of Mr. Prime Minister, but much more radical than Mr. Prime Minister, and those Republican MPs who never hesitate to use any means, William III was still in his youth. Caution, but after he declared himself an adult, he became aggressive - even though the council was on guard against him, he became Zeeland's ruling and pointed to the position of supreme commander.

His sharp-edgedness certainly caused a lot of unease, including Mr. Prime Minister: "I wouldn't be so stupid, Michel," he called General Reuter's name in frustration, hoping that Impressed the general's iron heart: "I promised you that no matter how far William has achieved, there will be no death penalty, no exile, and I will not treat the descendants of William Orange like this."

"Precisely because he is the descendant of William Orange," said General Reuter in a deep voice, "but I am still willing to believe you, not because you swore an oath, but because we can all see that our true enemy is The door of war has been knocked on—you are a wise and perceptive man, and you don’t get caught up with those dull fools—now, tell me, Mr Prime Minister, where are the preparations for the Army?”

   Mr. Prime Minister was silent again, he was about to inherit the name of William I and become the silent John.

   "...My God," General Reuter said with difficulty after a while, "can't they see the fire that's already burning the hat?"

"Perhaps they still feel warm," said the Prime Minister bitterly. William III could use the Orange family's fortune to hire and form a land army, but he couldn't, even if he was willing to give up the Wetter family's fortune - he His family will not allow it, and there will be people who will take the opportunity to attack him, portraying him as another conspirator, a dictator - the only thing he can do is to do everything in his power to get the parliament to pass a resolution to increase the army on land.

   But why are the people of the Netherlands more willing to support the Orange family, even if they know that from now on, there will be a king to rule them?

   It's not because the operating system of the parliament is too bizarre!

The Netherlands at this time has a unique political operating system that may be praised and missed by some people in later generations - to put it simply, if they want to pass a resolution, then the decision of Mr. Witte, the Prime Minister and Speaker of the House, does not count. Yes, this treaty has to be taken to the parliament for discussion, but the problem is that the Dutch Republic is made up of seven autonomous provinces, so this resolution needs to be taken to the parliaments of the provinces for discussion. There are many autonomous provinces in these autonomous provinces. Autonomous city, therefore, this decision has to go down and fall into the hands of the council of the autonomous city. After they pass it or not, the decision will be returned to the provincial council, and the provincial council will pass it back to the general council...

This approach seems to have taken into account the vast majority of people who have a voice, but it is precisely because of this that no matter what kind of resolution, it will be delayed for a long time. Don't forget, no matter the city or the autonomous province , their members are all businessmen, and businessmen are only concerned with interests, and every decision, no matter how small, must be reconsidered, whether it will affect their income, or whether they can get some benefits from it. ? Just for this, they can drag a decision on for months or even years, or just because they don't like someone, or they suspect it's against them, and it's intentionally made to benefit the country rather than the individual. resolutions became a dead letter.

  The most disciplined, cohesive, and modern Dutch Army, once under the command of Prince Maurice, slowly became a pile of loose sand under such a system.

William III once wanted to re-gather this pile of scattered sand, but now he has disappeared. Mr. Prime Minister had to take up this important task reluctantly. The problem is that this resolution not only touched the sensitive nerves of MPs, but also Touching their wallets, who will come out with the money? How much power does the payer have over the army? After the war, will the payers be able to make up for their losses from the parliamentary appropriation?

   It is conceivable that if this resolution can be passed, it may be in the distant future - and at that time, whether the Dutch Republic will exist, it is still unknown?

General   Reuter saw the answer from the face of Mr. Prime Minister, he clenched his fists, "No way? Is it?"

   "I hate to say that...but yes, Reuter, you are our only hope."

"My army is at sea," said General Reuter. "The army of the French is on land—you know, the King of France now has an army of 120,000 men on display on the border between Flanders and Holland, It is said that he has a reserve force of 30,000 to 50,000, or even 70,000, and we only have a land army of 20,000. He will plough our seven provinces like a heavy plow pulled by eight oxen. "

Mr. Prime Minister closed his eyes: "It's not that there is no chance." He said firmly, or forced himself to say firmly: "The Habsburgs will not watch France continue to get Holland after getting Flanders, The messenger of Leopold I is in the civic hall, general, we may win another battle."

"How did I not know that the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had suddenly become a saint?" said General Reuter sarcastically, "I really don't know how to tell my crew that our parliament would rather spend money on our enemies. , nor spend it on our troops - I'm not a wise man, Mr Prime Minister, but I know that sheep are eaten at all times, either by this wolf or that wolf, unless it grows sharp corners."

   "Fortunately we still have you," said Mr. Prime Minister.

   "Only me," said Reuter wearily. "I'm just a man."

  ——

Seeing Leyter resign and the door closed in front of him, John de Witte's vision became complicated, "Yes," he murmured, "You are only one person, but we are not just 'people' here. "

He stood up from behind the desk, but instead of going to the Civic Hall to meet the messenger of Leopold I, as Reut had thought, he went into the small parlour on the side, where the A huge oil painting, anyone who sees it, will think it is a copy, that is, a caricature created by Bruegel, the painter of the Bosch school in 1568 - the irony mentioned above, the Netherlands The lengthy and wonderful operating system of the parliament, in this picture, there are seven blind men walking forward with their shoulders on their shoulders, the first blind man has fallen into the cave, and the second blind man has lost his balance. The fate of the five people is also obvious.

  The reason why people only regard it as a replica is because the eyes of these blind people are not as out of focus as the original, on the contrary, they are like looking at the person in front of the picture, which is chilling.

Mr. Prime Minister stood in front of the painting, and everyone in the painting looked as big as him. He raised his hand, his fingers were shaking, but after a moment, he made a decision and gently touched the painting. knocked seven times.

  Almost at the same time, the last blind man on the screen blinked suddenly, and as Mr. Prime Minister cowered back, trying to control himself not to yell, it walked off the painting.

   (end of this chapter)