I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 476 The Battle of Double Bay

   It was only when Louis XIV received a letter from the Duke of Orleans at Versailles that he really understood the cause and effect of the incident in detail.

Although he joked with his brother not to underestimate idiots, the things that idiots can do can sometimes stun a crowd of smart people, but Gemma - this is the first time he has seen this name in a letter, and the duke is very concerned about this Although the unfortunate girl is full of sympathy, she has not yet reached the level of mentioning this person in her letter to His Majesty the King - who knows that such a despised, despised, and uncaring existence made such a... shocking world thing.

When Gemma was stabbing the priest, perhaps because she was hesitant, or because the priest was more vigilant than Senator Tamarit, the priest let out a loud cry after being stabbed, and it was morning again. , The attendants rushed in at once, but the priest had already been stabbed several times by Gemma at this time, and the two knives stabbed from the middle of the ribs cut the heart, so the priest only lived a few more minutes.

She was immediately caught by the angry attendants, and then the duke and his French attendants were placed under house arrest - the duke was stunned when he learned of this, his joke with Theoderic had come true - Catalonia It is a good thing that people are now leaderless, but it is also a bad thing that people rightly suspect that the French have a hand in it. Although Gemma was Father Clarice's maid, she had already been requested by the Duke before.

  The Duke of Orleans showed quite calmness, and he agreed to stay in the room temporarily, together with his servants and entourage, until the trial of the murderer was over.

Although Gemma can't speak, she can write, but the answer she gave made some people can't believe it - obviously, in order to compete for the dominion of Catalonia, the French bought such a humble servant to assassinate. The leader of the people is the correct answer in their imagination; the other part, they dare not express their belief - either they are in the same league with the Tamarit, or like the priest, they feel that for a dead man and a depraved woman Embarrassing his colleagues is really unreasonable... But at this time, the Catalan entourage of the duke came out.

This young fellow is about the same as the young Catalans who revere and love the Duke of Orleans, or, like most young men who have not suffered, have a fire in their breasts, and nothing to hide in their eyes. In the dark, when he heard that Senator Tamarit turned out to be such a person, he did not hesitate to catch up and execute the murderer - even if he was the personal accomplice of Senator Tamarit. If Gemma hadn't made a move, he might have impulsively questioned the congressman and the priest in person. Now these two, one culprit, one who sheltered criminals, are dead, and people are going to judge whoever killed them, and he's going to come out and speak.

   Originally, such a young man could not turn the situation around. After all, he served by the Duke's side, and he may have been deceived or bribed by the French.

   But someone else came out.

These people may, for a variety of reasons—for the sake of surviving conscience and morality, guilt toward the deceased, or ill-conceived—to erase the halo of the names of Tamalet and Clarice (one of their ancestors was The speaker of the Catalan Hundred People's Council, one of whom was the leader of the Catalan uprising thirty years ago), the power they left behind can naturally be divided up by them.

Senator Tamarit's jealous behavior is only concealed from the people at the lower level, to those who are on his level, those Senators, priests or generals... Even if the people around Tamarit are tight-lipped, how can they be the same? Unknowingly, they sometimes play tricks similar to tamales. Of course, they played better, things like Gemma, they either took good care of the descendants of the deceased, or they simply reunited their family.

  Tamalet is unquestionably an idiot. But with the testimony of these people, Gemma's guilt can not be forgiven, at least it can be alleviated - in any case, Catalans, like Sicilian people, have a tradition of avenging blood relatives - so this girl although You can't escape death, but you can die happily.

As soon as Gemma was executed, this matter seemed to have come to an end. The duke's house arrest ended earlier than this. When the girl's body was still hanging on the gallows, the nobles of Catalonia had already Can't wait to visit this noble person in an endless stream. As the Duke of Orleans said, Senator Tamarit and Father Clarice are like two burdensome heads sticking out of a mess. Although they are ineffective and useless, they are also some kind of indispensable symbols and goals. Now these people are scrambling to flatter him, hoping that the dukes of France will support them to become the next Tamalet and Clarice.

Of course, the Duke of Orleans would not want to see the next Tamarit and Clarice, and he could unabashedly say that Catalonia was recaptured from the Spaniards under his support and guidance. He has the support of Lupo again. Although Lupo's soldiers in the Catalan army do not have a numerical advantage, in terms of combat experience and ruthless heart, those rough-handed fishermen, peasants and How can craftsmen compare with professional soldiers?

By the time the Duke of Orléans wrote this letter, he had called a council—the first of the Catalan province of France, and as agent of the kings of France and Spain, he accepted the Catalan Allegiance, it is not that there are no voices against it, but these voices have been buried six feet deep with Gemma, the duke said, and all he saw was the drooping head.

Next, he was about to take Barcelona in the next few days. The death of Senator Tamarit and Father Clarice delayed a little, but it was of no use to the Spaniards in Barcelona. The Duke of Orleans sent messengers to them, in a gentle tone. Said that if they were willing to surrender, he could treat them leniently and treat them like a guest, and if they wanted to leave, after paying the ransom - he added that he hoped to take Barcelona sooner because he It is said that Charles II of England, in the name of his nephew William III of Orange, has been making waves on the dividing line between North Holland and South Holland, as well as roaming the Dover Channel and the English Channel. British privateers and pirates also began to persistently attack ships in France, North Holland, and Sweden.

  Once Barcelona fell, the two fleets sent by Louis XIV for the king's younger brother might be able to turn to the Atlantic Ocean to relieve the pressure on the French Atlantic fleet.

"Although I also have concerns for the Catalans..." Louis said politely to the Duke of Vendome after reading the letter: "I don't have any hope for the military talents of the Catalans." Given their opposition to the Spanish government, The quest for independence has been going on for hundreds of years, but it has never yielded any significant results - "but these people are more stupid than I imagined." He really has to thank Catalonia's Tama Congressman Little made that excessive request to him, otherwise, his original plan might really have to be revised - the time of the war would be delayed by at least a year, or even two years - without the Duke of Orleans to turn the tide, this riot In Roussillon it was about to be stillborn.

"Just because..." The Duke of Vendôme thought about it and said, "It's because their demands are wrong, Your Majesty." This is also because he has been living in Versailles recently, and because, as a Bourbon, he is very close to the king. , After getting to know the Sun King, you will find that he is a generous and tolerant person who is almost a little rough in private aspects. If it were Louis XIII, he would never dare to talk to him like this: "Your Majesty," he touched Touching his chin: "These Catalans have been away from the court for so long, so long that their vision has narrowed to only one city, one village, or even one person - themselves, and a farmer, a steward , an official, a noble, a prince, a king, your majesty, when they raise their arms, will their demands be the same?"

"Of course not," he answered himself, "you are a king, with a mighty country, and Philip, though your brother, thank you for your generosity and kindness, he is educated on the same level as you, so Even if he went to Roussillon alone, what he saw was the whole of Catalonia and even Spain, but what about the Catalans, the future they saw was very simple - like a sharp-eyed If you are a man, he must walk with big steps and fast speed, while a man who can only see a few inches in front of his eyes and does not know the future, he must be timid and hesitant when he walks. At this time, the latter kind of person will Divided into two types, one is morally noble, with boundless enthusiasm surging in their hearts, but the result of blindly moving forward is either falling into a trap or being led to a wrong destination; and the other, because the road ahead is uncertain, their hearts They can't help but feel withdrawn and cowardly, so they are easy to compromise, and they will be easily bought and threatened by the enemy."

After speaking, he looked at the king with a slight smile: "That's why, some wise Catalans think that they will need a king, if Catalonia has a king like Alexander the Great, or King Arthur , or kings like you, they will not only be able to become independent, but perhaps, conversely, may restore the glory of the Aragonese era."

Louis glanced at him and smiled slightly: "I took this sweet bribe," he said: "You are reminding me about the Duke of Orleans, don't worry, he will not accept Catalan Became Count of Barcelona at the request of the Nians."

   "That is a very large territory," said the Duke of Vendôme, "and now is a good time."

   "Then let's make a bet," said Louis. "I bet he'll be back at Versailles before the Assumption."

The Duke of Vendôme bowed his head and figured it out, the time was about the same, and he just came to remind the king, not to argue with him, so he agreed with kindness, but in his heart, he also hoped that the Duke of Orleans could be as the king expected, Refuse the temptation and return to his brother's side as scheduled.

   "By the way, Philip also mentioned that there is something about the fleet..." Louis said: "He already knows that the British are harassing us and the merchant ships of our allies."

"These abominable robbers!" said the Duke of Vendôme indignantly, "not only did they not consider it a disgraceful act, but they were so proud of it that they trumpeted it in newspapers and books, and even auctioned it publicly. The loot they looted!"

"It's not booty for them," said Louis. "It's booty. Monsieur, Jean Bart proposed a very interesting idea to me." I think this young man might surprise us."

  ————

It is not without reason why the Netherlands was able to achieve such brilliant achievements as a small country, and even threatened Britain and France for a time. The great advantage of the estuary of the Rhine River and the Rhine River, the crazy development of sea power, the construction of thousands of merchant ships and warships, the countless Oriental spices, silk, the gold and silver of the New World, ivory, tobacco, and weapons of Europa. , wool and handmade products are all circulating in this commercial and trade center that seems to link the whole world - their merchants have taken advantage of this advantage to successfully go a step further and turn the Netherlands into a huge financial city.

Now, although it has been divided up by various countries, and Louis XIV has drawn the financial advantages of the Netherlands to Paris by means of the bottom line, but since it is still here, the geographical advantage cannot be changed, although it was cut by the United Kingdom and went to The Hague Rotterdam and Rotterdam are two important ports, but North Holland, owned by France, still owns Amsterdam, the largest port city. The wharf here is still busy, even busier than before - this is the king's domain, and the officials in charge of it are also the king's officials. Their governor was also the Viscount Turenne, loyal to Louis XIV, and a member of the House of Orange. After the initial turmoil passed, even the most stubborn Dutch had to admit that compared to the original They were exploited by the Dutch Great Council and Guilds (of course, they didn't think it was an exploit at that time), and they are now much better off - the wealth accumulated in the upper layers has finally begun to decline. flow.

The shipyard was busy all day long, and the uneven fleets that had been taken away by the parliament and businessmen were able to leave the port neatly, and the original route became dense again, but within a few days, new problems appeared again. Now - for some reason, there are more and more pirates, not only more, but they seem to be more familiar with the route and schedule than the caravan, and they can successfully intercept their prey every time.

   The people on the merchant ship who escaped could not help but muttered in secret, who can master these critical and confidential issues...not the Dutch who escaped the Netherlands? This saddens and upsets the victims, who have suffered for believing in those people, and now suffer great losses because of them.

They begged their present king, Louis XIV of France, to send a navy to keep the route safe, but they couldn't be sure that the Sun King was not the king of Holland after all, and now the war is coming, the French fleet, this A sharp sword should undoubtedly pierce the enemy's vitals, not **** a group of businessmen.

   (end of this chapter)