I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 231 War on Sea and Land (3)

When the king met the mayor of Nijmegen, it was the earliest time of the day, that is, at dawn, and the room still needed to be lit with candles to keep it bright, because the king had to check the paperwork and read secret letters from time to time, and wait for them to solve the problem of Nijmegen. The mayor of Mayhen, having had a hearty breakfast again, left the city at about ten o'clock, which was a pleasant time of day, the sun was shining and not dazzling, and the fresh green of summer remained to this day, in the golden light. Under the light, it has a yellow opal-like color, some leaves have turned orange-red or orange, some have become darker, like black, and others are light in color, as if they have been coated with a thin layer of frost. , the riverside water plants are lush, the reeds rose out of gray-white tassels, but unfortunately it is not spring and summer, and the daffodils and falcons are past their blooming seasons, and only some inconspicuous piles of scattered flowers can be seen, and no one knows their names. or habit.

In contrast, autumn is when the fruits show themselves, raspberries, thornberries, lingonberries, gooseberries, mulberries... They range from translucent cyan, to blue, blue-violet, purple, dark black, and also bright red and Milky white, appearing in clusters, they are so plump and juicy that even with the constant passing of humans, some dexterous birds and chipmunks will daringly climb on the branches, doing their best. Possibly stuffed his stomach and cheeks all over the place.

  The more daring ones are wild goats, rabbits, deer, who, in addition to berries, come to the river to drink.

Because the king did not come to hunt today, even though the ministers and entourage accompanying him carried weapons, a few young people were eager to try and suppressed their desire to hunt. They felt very sorry in their hearts. The battle is about to begin, and the cannons and muskets and the cries of the people will drive away all the beasts here, even snakes and rats. When they moved on, these people also saw that the king came to inspect the position today. The king's horse stopped on a raised hill. Only the king's brother Philip and Viscount Turenne were allowed to follow. The horses stood on the left and right sides of the king and took a slight step back.

Looking down from this hill about twenty feet above the ground, you can see the position facing Arnhem. Arnhem is a new city built in 1233. It is precisely because it is a new city that its On the contrary, the city walls and fortifications are more advanced and stable than Nijmegen, but neither the soldiers walking in the trenches nor the generals watching on the hills show any embarrassment, just like a man riding a horse on the road. When getting on the Mercedes-Benz, he will not think that he has encountered an impenetrable high wall, as he occasionally encounters a small raised rock.

When a man ran towards the king and others, the king's musketeers were on alert. They were surrounded by the hills, like hounds at the foot of the throne. , they immediately arched their backs and bared their fangs - but before the man could announce his name, Louis raised his hand and asked the musketeers to allow him to pass. It was Sebastian Vauban, who He is still a captain, but everyone knows that he has made outstanding achievements in the battle of Flanders and the Netherlands, and is an extreme royalist, so the king trusts him very much. Although he has not been promoted immediately, when the war is over, they will When he gets back to Paris, the kid is bound to rise to prominence.

Of course, Captain Vauban would not ignore this detail that made him very favored. He began to salute impatiently when he was still ten paces away from the king. A person like Water Conservancy Construction should be quite old-fashioned and introverted, but this is not the case. Sometimes he is so exaggerated that even Louis can't stand it - like now, even the most playful and romantic person in Paris will not be like him, dozens of feet. He flew his hat all the way, bowed in various ways, pressed his shoulders, touched his chest, almost rubbed his knees, tapped his feet... When he came over, Philip giggled, and the king glared at him.

   "It is a great honour!" cried Vauban: "My Majesty, it is a great honour! Are you here to see your soldiers?"

"I just want to come and relax," Louie said. "But if it doesn't get in the way, I'd love to meet my soldiers." He said this because few generals or officers on the battlefield would welcome a fellow soldier Irrelevant people dangled around them, especially Louis, as His Majesty the King, with a noble and special status, his presence may make people feel that they are needlessly restrained, but who is Vauban? When he was still under the command of the Prince of Condé, he did not hesitate to stand on the side of the king, and the Viscount Turenne taught him a lesson in how to treat the king. It must be said that the blue is better than the blue, Vauban The captain's battlefield show has almost become a routine show.

It can be said that he regards the battlefield as a grand and real drama, and the king and the ministers of his entourage are his audience. He is the screenwriter and conductor. Although he sometimes needs to cooperate with others, he will definitely do his best. , let the king enjoy the most splendid and magnificent show - he seized the reins of the king's horse, and acted as guide, and led the king's horse down the hill, the Viscount Turenne and the Duke of Orleans followed, and the others - when It depends on how correct their perception of themselves is. The ministers and entourage hesitated, and in the end only a few bravely followed.

The biggest feature of the Dutch terrain is that it is flat. Most of its territory is three feet below sea level. There is only one mountain range in the whole country, that is, the Valsburg Mountain, which is less than 900 feet high, and this mountain range is in Arnhem. In the north, between Arnhem and Nijmegen, there is still a plain, with only a few rolling hills, so Vauban's position has almost no cover or shelter, except for the new low walls and fortresses of Vauban, where he leads the king's horse. Going to the level between the trenches, since there is no battle yet, there are wooden boards at intervals above the trenches for people carrying ammunition, food and other supplies to walk.

"Salute to the king!" cried Vauban, who temporarily took Bontang's place , shaking their hats and shouting "Long live", they were more lively than some ordinary provincial officials when facing the king - because most of the soldiers here are the new army, that is, the king's Versailles army, they can say They grew up under the kindness and grace of the king, and they sacrificed their lives and honor for the king.

Louis treated them very gently, too, and if the mayor of Nijmegen had been on the sidelines, he might have thought that the king was quite the same as the tyrant he had seen in the morning - when he saw a soldier who had apparently come to deliver food, the king came down. After getting on the horse, he walked over to two huge wooden barrels to watch, and Captain Vauban immediately opened the lids, one was the still warm cream soup, the other was a light wine, "What else?" Louis asked.

   "And bread and jerky, and two apples for each soldier," said Captain Vauban.

"Add another pork stew tonight." Amid the little cheers of the soldiers, Louis gave them one last look—this is war, so the people standing here, don't count the potatoes hurriedly distributed tomorrow morning, tonight's one. The meal is likely to be their last meal.

   Then the king looked at artillery, ammunition reserves and horses.

There is no doubt that all preparations are sufficient and proper. The Marquis of Lois not only collected considerable woolen cloth as taxes from the Flanders area, but also let the Flanders complete the roads and designated warehouses in the mode of labor. The restoration work of the monarchy also expropriated almost all the horses, and one-third of the ox, mules and donkeys, not only to give the Flemish people some peace, but also to meet the needs of the king's army for supplies. A wizard said to Louis that through the eyes of the raven, these cattle and horses and the goods they carried were as amazing as a black river.

  These loads reassured the king's soldiers and worried the king's enemies.

  ———

Arnhem, like Arnhem, has its own small government. Before the accident, this government was controlled by the gonhe party. Now the orange belt party occupies the main voice. The people of the Netherlands are tired of the rhetoric and perfunctory negligence of the parliamentarians. , the radicalism of the Orange Belters, and the nostalgia for William III—yes, for many, the dead were the most perfect saints, sending the populace of Arnhem into a bizarre frenzy, in the When the French army entered Nijmegen, they imprisoned all the members of the town hall, the Orange Belt became their leader, and in an atmosphere of unspeakable eccentricity, the property of the councilors, and the voluntary contributions of the citizens. Property was used to hire soldiers and build an army.

   Some people may ask, at this time, in this place, how did Arnhem hire soldiers? In fact, it is possible, those artisans, small businessmen and students, they either come for "justice", or for their own homes, or they are afraid of being ruled by a dictator, or more, by one day The price of ten guilders is tempting, and if they can keep the French out, they can even get more rewards.

The city thus established an army of a thousand men. Fortunately, because Arnhem is a new city, not only are the walls high, the fortresses are numerous, and the families of the councillors have not yet established unshakable authority here. Their hidden firearms, artillery and gunpowder were removed and transported to the city walls.

The battle, as always, began in the morning, and it was only the artillery that played the movement, the deafening sound of the cannon, the smoke, mixed with the real morning mist that Captain Vauban had grown accustomed to and fell in love with. The mixed smell, human blood and shenyin have not yet arrived, because the initial purpose of all siege battles is to destroy the enemy's fortresses and city walls. There is, but nothing compares to the French artillery.

Captain Vauban roughly estimated the stock of ammunition, raised his binoculars to check the results of the artillery bombardment, and ordered the artillery to move forward, the masonry under the artillery support was taken out, the soil was dug up, and the wheels were reassembled— Originally it would have been a very tough thing to do, but since the king's maesters invented a portable lifting gear, the soldiers moved much faster, the artillery was covered in hard cowhide and pushed by the soldiers And pulling forward in the trenches - as described earlier, Captain Vauban's three trenches are all connected together, the narrowest being able to accommodate a twenty-four pound gun to move inside, and the soldiers will After the gun had moved forward a ditch, it was set up again, and the sight and direction were readjusted.

And Captain Vauban's sappers have also advanced the new trench to a place only a few hundred feet away from the city wall. Here, the artillery on the city wall has been able to threaten the sappers. They are made of wood and covered with iron under the cover of the car. While digging and praying, some unfortunate people were knocked down, and the soldiers carried them out. Some people saw that they had no life, so they arranged them neatly in the rear positions. Others were just wounded. There were medical staff in white aprons and white headscarves to take over.

From here, Captain Vauban could hear the whirring, the sound of the cannons being fired, and the king had repeatedly warned him not to be so reckless, but for any general, the only way to win - when people after the war, in the On the map, when the battle is replayed on the sand table, they can of course be condescending, analyze and consider calmly, but the real battlefield, even if it is the battlefield of Vauban, Viscount Turenne or Prince Condé. There was chaos, especially when the artillery had played its role, and when it was the turn of the muskets - the sound of the muskets became dense and loud in the continuous sound of the guns, and the soldiers of Arnhem and the soldiers of the king were not clearly distinguished. The two rivers, after the face-to-face battle began, they were all mixed together. Although the king's new army had received training and knew how to maintain the advantage of a small force as much as possible, the situation on the battlefield was always changing. No one can guarantee that he will remain calm in the midst of pain and death.

If you are not in it, all the orders issued by a general or officer can be said to be useless, because during the time when the herald ran to you and then ran back, the situation may have changed several times. Next time - the best way is to let them lead the way, the soldiers will follow them closely, and they will penetrate the enemy's defense like a sword, both physically and mentally - Captain Vauban from He jumped out from behind the broken low wall, shouting "Long live France!" while throwing a small crock full of gunpowder. The body of Mu's soldier, and Vauban's face, also let the king's soldiers see him, and they rushed over immediately and followed him all the way to the rudimentary block fortification.

After the fortification, the enemy either died or fled, and some were howling in blood. Vauban first crossed the piled boxes. He was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of a bright fire in the corner of his eye. Due to instinct and experience, he suddenly fell to the ground, something exploded beside him, the scorching air wave pushed all the boxes behind him away, the air suddenly became thin, Vauban couldn't hear anything, and his eyes were red with blood. .

   After a few minutes, he was pulled up and given a bitter potion, and his vision suddenly brightened.

   "What's the matter?" he asked.

   A soldier, to be precise, the wizard whom the king had arranged for Captain Vauban to put away the medicine bottle: "They set the ammunition box on fire."

   "They still have their people here," said Captain Vauban, but he said at once: "Obviously they don't care."

   "I don't care," the wizard said. "Be careful, there seem to be some fanatical 'Enlighteners' here."

   "What is that?" said Vauban. "Forget it, what's the situation now?"

   "Go and see for yourself," said the wizard: "Your soldiers are very brave."

"The king's soldiers." Vauban said, and then he immediately plunged into another battle. The wizard was right. Even if Vauban fell, the king's soldiers could still determine who they should be commanded by their rank. The smallest non-commissioned officer can command ten soldiers. If you encounter other teams, you only need to look at the rank to determine who should have the command. Even if Vauban is temporarily absent, the soldiers will still continue to be brave under the command of another second lieutenant. Come forward.

Captain Vauban led his soldiers to the Ussel River. The Ussel River is the lower tributary of the Rhine, which just divides Arnhem into two. They are facing this God-given moat, and On the moat, there used to be a wide white stone bridge, but now... even if Captain Vauban saw what kind of fortifications, even the fort wouldn't be surprised, but guess what he saw?

   saw a Protestant priest, behind him was a group of believers dressed in black.

   I'm a little late, I added 700 words.

   (end of this chapter)