I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 224 The Netherlands

Since Louis can almost be said to be the owner of half of the island of Gayola, he will not foolishly ignore the power of the world, whether it is the hatred and fear of the dark wizards, or the conspiracy and assassination of the enemy, he imposes on others. Of course, the enemy will also inflict on him in turn. There is a saying in the ancient and far east that do not do to others what you would not want to do to others, and he seems to be a counter-evidence to this sentence.

He specially left it to Prince Amon of Zmich tonight. Although Prince Vanderbilt Theodoric seems to be more trustworthy, he also has the prince's "cat boy" by his side, but the prince has kept too much. Human nature, this characteristic is Louis's help, and it will also be a shackle. At least, if he asks Prince Theodoric to do this, Fan Zhuo's parents will not agree so easily, but they never hide their yuwang. Amon, although he has always regretted not being able to get the king, when Louis proposed that he could try to recover the original territory for the Zmish family, the expression on Amon's face was definitely a surprise.

Here we will mention the clans of the various families of the vampires, some of them almost never leave their own territory - those castles that people say are especially eerie and terrifying, generally speaking, a certain lord or After the lord is converted into a bloodline descendant, the remaining emotions in his body will keep him in the original residence for a long time, until he is found, reported, or for other reasons to leave on his own. What's more, under a tacit understanding of the world inside and outside, this person is considered "dead", his castle will be abandoned, no one will visit him anymore, he will fade in everyone's memory, and when he knows His people were all under six feet, and he naturally became a horror story that a mother told her children in the dark.

However, when most vampires choose their descendants, they still consciously avoid the great nobles, especially those of the royal family. This is also a rule that has never been written on the slate, so many vampires are the second sons of a family. , the youngest son, and the priest... Yes, even the priest-Louis did not know until after interacting with the two princes that the vampires did, as people say, have extremely harsh requirements for their descendants, those serfs, servants or Craftsmen's children are never out of their sight, not because of human class concepts, but because the blood race, like all parents, longs for a beautiful, cute and intelligent child.

Humans can't choose their own children, and queens will also give birth to disabled and weak children, but the blood clan can choose, but if you come from a humble background, and want to have fair skin, a long body, and straight fingers, it is not easy. Everyone knows that the more In poor families, the children start work earlier, and because of lack of nutrition, almost all of them are short in stature and have hunched backs. In this era when the lower class has potatoes, they can eat three meals a day and sleep full. Only nobles and The merchant's children can have a clean and healthy appearance, even if they are not so beautiful. In addition, the vampires would choose priests as their heirs, which surprised and amused Louis, but this kind of thing still has no scruples. The Demon Party does more—because of the inheritance law, the priests are basically the youngest sons of various families, and only some children selected by the priest because of their exceptional intelligence and luck, but no matter what kind, they must be Those who are smart and beautiful, and those who are not very able to appeal to the bright side, are probably all the narrow-mindedness of the members of these two blood clans.

Therefore, after receiving the guidance of "father", many young blood clans can control their instincts and display their innate abilities, they will wander outside for a long time, not only to avoid being left behind The people in the place noticed the difference, and it was also for the love of the new and the old, but after a period of time, or because of the prince's call, they would return to the "clan land", that is, the territory of each prince, as if allegiance Like the princes of the king, offer up the wealth that he has amassed.

   This wealth not only refers to gold and precious stones, but also scrolls, books, magic tools and so on that have been lost in the long history. These are all kept in the prince's territory. Of course, the territory of the blood race is like the inner world, and cannot be seen by outsiders, but the problem is - just like Theodoric is Prince Vanderbilt, and his territory is in Paris, so naturally In fact, all the Vatican members regard France as the jurisdiction of the clan, that is to say, if the blood of the Simmer family in England is going to pass through the French territory, even if they have not been close to Paris, they must visit the Vatican members in the passing area. , otherwise Fan Zhuo's blood clan would have the right to execute that arrogant fellow.

And although the Zmich family has an indisputably important position and great power among the thirteen clans and the Demon Party, it is embarrassing that the Polish King John II Kazimierz is really an incompetent fool. Not only was he forced to recognize the independence of Ukraine, but Livonia was also taken away by Sweden - this is embarrassing, because Ukraine now belongs to Russia, and the Russian clan is Gangero, while Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have The three kingdoms are one, so they belong to the Bruch clan - unfortunately the Zmich family's domain is between Ukraine and Livonia... So with the Swedes and the Russians the blood and Zmich moved to the new territory The members of the family had to face an extremely bizarre situation - the Zmish family was still formidable, but their lands...except for the prince's fortress, they all belonged to another country.

In fact, the situation of the Zmich family is similar to that of the dark wizards in Flanders, but the power of the dark wizards in Flanders is not enough to make Louis give in, even if it is only a small step, but Zmich can make Louis took care of them.

  ———

"Livonia?" On the Queen's Island separated by a North Sea, King Carl XI of Sweden asked in surprise, "Of course." How could he not know Livonia, the Livonia region is Karl X The biggest trophy in 55 years, because of Livonia, Sweden can get a complete Baltic Sea, Sweden's current country looks like a pair of trousers with different lengths of trousers, Karl XI also considered it, etc. After he married Princess Elizabeth, he relied on the strength of France to make these "trousers" look a little better - he means, the same length.

""You know, as agreed in the previous covenant, our princess will marry into Sweden with a piece of Flemish territory," D'Artagnan remembered the king's abrupt order, although he did not understand Louis' intention, But out of loyalty and trust in the king, he continued: "Your Majesty hopes that you will be able to bestow a territory in Livonia to the Abbot of St. Martin of Neville. "

"Who is that?"

   "The former King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania." Count D'Artagnan said: "In exchange, the King will continue to support you."

Karl XI frowned at first, he had not received much education from his mother and ministers, and he could not discern the meaning of this request - "I don't quite understand... what you mean," Karl XI said: "Livor Nia is important to Sweden."

   "No more important than Norway or Denmark," said D'Artagnan. "As far as I know, your mother and minister are planning to go to war with Denmark when France is at war with Holland."

   "I have heard a little about this," said Charles XI.

   "As an ally, the king is willing to go north after conquering Holland to help you get Denmark."

  Karl XI looked at Count D'Artagnan suspiciously for a long time: "I'm not sure, this is not a trivial matter that can be easily decided."

   "There is no doubt," said the Count of D'Artagnan, smiling, as if he did not care whether this could be achieved or not: "But I think you will make the right choice."

   "Then you shouldn't be here," said Karl XI suddenly, "you should go and talk to my mother."

"Our king came of age at the age of fourteen, and in that year he fought for the first time in a real war and won, and I think you should be able to do it, too, Your Majesty." d'Artagnan The count said pointedly.

   "I love my mother very much," said Karl XI, but he didn't notice that he stammered less in French.

"Does this have anything to do with whether you respect and love your mother?" D'Artagnan's smile gradually became deeper. If the Duchess of Montpensier was present, this smile would definitely be very familiar, because Dada had been there back then. With such a smile, Count Niang destroyed her last hope for her father: "Doesn't our king love his mother?"

  Karl XI did not continue to speak, and time did not allow them to continue. Those followers who were left by the king and envoys have already come over.

  ———

   "Will they be willing?" asked the younger brother Philip, holding a candle for the king and illuminating the map hanging on the wall.

"Yes," Louis said. "Even if Karl XI or his mother wanted to stay put, Christian V wouldn't be willing to give up this good opportunity." He pointed to his brother: "This is St. The four southern provinces of the Kanya Peninsula were ceded to Sweden by the Treaty of Roskilde in 1956. Since then, they have lost their last foothold on the peninsula. Without this foothold, they have almost nothing to do with the Baltic Sea. Control - although they also choke Sweden to the North Sea, it is also agreed in the Treaty of Roskilde that they cannot allow Sweden's enemies to enter the Baltic Sea."

"In that treaty," continued Louis, "Denmark must also dissolve all hostile alliances with Sweden, pay Sweden's military expenses, and deliver a certain number of soldiers and ship."

Philip looked at the location of Denmark, and its territory, and the four southern provinces: "It does not seem surprising now that the king of Denmark would make a decision to ally with Leopold I." He moved the candle to Another location illuminates Brandenburg's territory: "The Hohenzollern family has always been Habsburg's courtiers and servants. If an attack is launched from Brandenburg's position, it can indeed directly threaten Sweden."

"Denmark-Norway and Sweden are two wolves vying to devour each other, and even without our alliance with the Holy Roman Empire, they would have had a life-and-death war." But if Sweden declared war on Denmark, or On the contrary, then it means that the line of defense imagined by Leopold I has been broken - Louis's army of 120,000 people was not prepared for a small Holland from the beginning, and the Dutch fleet at sea may be able to Riding across the board, there is no way to land on land. If William III is still in the Netherlands, the war may be more difficult, but William III has been left by Charles II in the Tower of London, which was once used as a fortress. The armory and prison buildings have received many distinguished guests, and even several British monarchs have had the honor to be its guests, and William III was imprisoned there, but he was more at ease than where he was placed. .

Without William III, there are only the Prime Minister and the Great Speaker. Mr. Witte cannot be said to be a mediocre or stupid person. Although the defense against William III has led to the fact that the Netherlands now has only 20,000 troops, from a diplomatic perspective, he can Immediately decided, at any cost, to persuade even Sweden to come together against France, instead of putting all expectations on the Habsburgs, you can see that he is still a bit decisive, oh yes, There are also those dark wizards in Flanders... It has to be said that it is a solution.

  Unfortunately, no matter how good he is, he is only Louis' enemy.

   "How is the situation at the Duke of La Rochefoucault?" Louis asked.

"It's like a duck in water," said Philip. It's interesting that William III and Mr. Prime Minister have almost reached the point of desperation. The Dutch businessmen are still doing business with the French at ease. Yes, war It's war, business is business, and the biggest business between them is the ships ordered by the king of France, yes, they build ships for their enemies, because of the huge sums involved, and the generosity of the Duke of La Rochefoucault - double A deposit of more than thirty percent, and a profit of more than thirty percent, made these merchants happily accept a Frenchman - in banquets and salons, La Rochefoucauld was a **** in his true character, Politics, war, in short, anything unpleasant, was almost never in his words, as the king ordered.

   "What do you want him to do?" Philip continued.

"Go and tell him," said Louis. "Let the Dutch know that their Prime Minister not only killed their last hope, William III of Orange, but also sold Holland to Brandenburg, and that he corrupted And squandered all the money in the treasury - and was getting ready to flee."

   (end of this chapter)