I Am Louis XIV

It is said in Holland, and indeed throughout the Low Countries, that it was the Prime Minister of Holland, Mr. Johann de Witt, who ordered his followers to murder William III, and to bury his body in an unknown place as a cover, Such ridiculous and absurd rumors are still quite popular, from humble taverns to luxurious salons, from illiterate servants to noble priests, from the lips of men to the small ears of women. In other words, this is a shameless conspiracy, a base and terrible method against the descendants of William Orange.

It is pure nonsense to say that Mr. Prime Minister has any affection for William III. As the most severe republican, Mr. Prime Minister and the business class he represents fear and hate the monarchy the most, because the monarchy It means dictatorship and autocracy, and dictatorship and autocracy mean that the profits of businessmen will be greatly reduced-to give the simplest example, after the French have captured Brussels, William III is so eager to take out the Orange family When the assets (that is, the arrears of the Stuart dynasty) want to form a land army that can at least contain France's ambitions, even if it is not powerful, why should Mr. Prime Minister obstruct 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 (from the silent William to Prince Maurice). On the other hand, the Dutch merchants value military power at sea more. The roads are almost always by sea rather than by land.

We may call it short-sighted, but businessmen are like this, they have no nation, no country in their hearts, they can kneel to anyone, bow down, and it is okay to sell their souls to the devil-although It's a bit harsh, but think about William Orange. William I was once a courtier deeply trusted by the Holy Roman Emperor, and it was because of the advice and support of Charles V (the Holy Roman Emperor at the time) that he was able to Entered into a marriage contract with the daughter of the Earl of Buren, a nobleman of the Netherlands. It is no exaggeration to say that without Charles V, it would be impossible for William Orange to gain a foothold in the Netherlands.

But it was such a benefactor. For the people of the Netherlands, William Orange still betrayed his benefactor. The reason why he was called Silent William was because all the rebels against the Netherlands Because of the fact that he never said a word in his actions and declarations, he was angrily declared a traitor by the Habsburg family. It can be said that he lost all honor and territory for the Netherlands, even though In this way, William Orange still insisted on his own philosophy. Even though he was exiled to a place other than 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 Brothers raised the banner of rebellion together.

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

Even supporters of Orange must admit that when William Orange was about to win, he did breed some ambitions. When Europa was still shrouded in the glory of the divine right of kings, who wouldn't want to be a leader? What about the king of the scepter, and it is not that there has been a prince who became king before-but no one can say that William I did not have such qualifications. At that time, except for those members of the parliament who were unwilling The one who put the Orange family on the throne—maybe it was for this reason that not only did William Orange die, but his descendants also had no peace.

All of William I's brothers died on the battlefield, including Prince Maurice, the uncle of the Viscount Turenne. 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 spent 20 years under surveillance and defense. Even if he wanted to prepare military expenses for the reorganization of the Dutch army, he had to try his best to deceive the public.

The Prime Minister would never have imagined that it was because of his harshness and vigilance that he fell into this painful and embarrassing situation-William III had been secretly imprisoned in London by Charles II, and everyone who knew the secret Either they were also imprisoned together, or they also had their own plans, or they couldn't be sure—is William III in London or Amsterdam?

It's just that no matter how Mr. Prime Minister handles the gossip in the streets and alleys, the general Luyter standing in front of him now will not be an easy guy to deal with.

Michel Adrianson de Ruyter is a rare nationalist. He doesn't care whether William III will become king, but he will not allow the parliament and Mr. Prime Minister to harm William Orange's descendants, no , he is not a royalist, not an Orange Belt party member. He has the same idea as many Dutch people. As a descendant of William Orange, William III will be the last trump card of the Netherlands. In case of war , the General Assembly and the Provincial Assembly of the Netherlands have failed, and they 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 Luyter, who is hailed as the god of the sea by the Dutch people and scolded by the British as the king of terror, but his political ability is completely incomparable with his ability at sea. Although he is inclined to William III, he also respects the Prime Minister who re-promoted him, but this respect has also begun to falter after William III disappeared.

Would you believe me if I said that I really don't know where William III has gone?

Facing Mr. Prime Minister's... bluntly speaking, General Luiter frowned. He is older than John De Witt. Unfortunately, his unreal age cannot be converted into experience on the political battlefield: Then your Brother, or your supporters?

General Luiter is talking about Mr. Witte Jr., who is the younger brother and right-hand man of the Prime Minister, but he is much more radical than the Prime Minister. There are also those Republican congressmen who are never stingy in using any means. Cautious, but after he declared himself an adult, he became aggressive - even though the parliament was on his guard, he became Zeeland's ruler and pointed his sword at the position of supreme commander.

His sharpness has indeed aroused the uneasiness of many people, including Mr. Prime Minister: I will not be so stupid, Michelle, he called General Luyter's name dejectedly, hoping that this would be helpful. To impress the general's hard-hearted 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 William Orange's descendants like this.

Because he is a descendant of William Orange. General Luyter said 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 real enemy Having knocked on the door of war—you are too wise and perceptive to take chances with dull fools—now, tell me, Mr Prime Minister, where are the Army preparations going?

The Prime Minister was silent again, and he was almost going to inherit the title of William I, becoming Silent John.

...God, General Luyter said with difficulty after a while, Can't they see the fire that has already burned the hat?

Maybe they still feel very warm. Mr. Prime Minister said bitterly, William III can use the property of the Orange family to hire and form a land army, but he can't, even if he is willing to use the property of the Witte family—— His family would not allow it, and someone would take the opportunity to attack him, portraying him as just another conspirator, a dictator—the only thing he could do was to do his best 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 weird!

At this time, the Netherlands has a unique political operating system, but it may be highly 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. To be sure, this treaty will be discussed in the parliament, but the problem is that the Dutch Republic is composed of seven autonomous provinces, so this resolution must be discussed in the parliaments of each province. There are fewer autonomous cities, so this resolution will go down and fall into the hands of the autonomous city council. After they pass or fail, 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 take into account the vast majority of people who have the right to speak, 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 that no matter the city or the autonomous province , Their MPs are all businessmen, and businessmen only care about their interests. They have to think twice about every resolution, no matter how small, whether it will affect their income, or whether they can get some benefits from it. ? For this reason, they can delay a resolution for months or even years, or just because they dislike a certain person, or suspect that this is an act against themselves, and deliberately make a decision that is clearly beneficial to the country rather than individuals. The resolution has become a dead letter.

Under Prince Maurice, the most disciplined, cohesive, and modern Dutch Army has slowly become a pile of loose sand under such a system.

William III once wanted to gather this pile of loose sand back together, but now he is nowhere to be found. The Prime Minister had to reluctantly take over this important task. The problem is that this resolution not only touched the sensitive nerves of the MPs, but also If their pockets are touched, who will pay for the money? How much power does the person who pays have over this army? After the war is over, can the people who pay the money make up for their losses from the appropriations of Parliament?

It is conceivable that if this resolution can be passed, it will probably be in the distant future. At that time, it is still unknown whether the Dutch Republic will exist or not?

General Luyter saw the answer from Mr. Prime Minister's face, he clenched his fist, No way? Is it?

I hate to say it...but, yes, Luyter, you are our only hope.

My army is at sea, said General Luyter. The French army is on land—you know, the king of France now has an army of 120,000 men, which is displayed on the frontier of Flanders and Holland. , it is said that he still has a reserve force of 30,000 to 50,000, or even 70,000, while we have only 20,000 land troops, he will plow our seven provinces like a heavy plow pulled by eight oxen .”

Mr. Prime Minister closed his eyes: It's not impossible. He said firmly, or forced himself to say firmly: The Habsburg family will not watch France continue to get Holland after getting Flanders, Leopold I's emissary is in the town hall, general, we may win another battle.

How did I not know that the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire suddenly became a saint? General Luyter said sarcastically, I don't know how to tell my crew that our council would rather spend money on our enemies , and don't want to spend it on our army - I'm not a smart man, Mr Prime Minister, but I know that sheep are eaten at all times, either by this wolf or that wolf, unless it Grow sharp horns.

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

It's just me, said Luit wearily. I'm just one person.

————

Seeing Luyter leave and the door closing in front of his eyes, John De Witt's vision became complicated, Yes, he murmured, You are just one person, but there are not only 'people' here.

He stood up from behind the desk, but instead of going to the Civic Hall to meet the envoy of Leopold I, as Luiter thought, he walked into the small drawing room on one side, where the A huge oil painting, anyone who looks at it will think it is a copy, that is, a caricature created by the painter Bruegel of the Bosch school in 1568-it is the caricature mentioned above, The lengthy and wonderful operating system of the Dutch parliament. In this picture, there are seven blind men walking forward with their shoulders on each other. The first blind man has fallen into a 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 copy is because the eyes of these blind people are not as out of focus as the original pair, on the contrary, they seem to be staring at the person in front of the picture, which is chilling.

Standing in front of the painting, Mr. Prime Minister, everyone in the painting seemed to be the same size as him. He raised his hand, his fingers trembling, but after a while, he still made up his mind and lightly touched the painting. knocked seven times.

Almost at the same time, the last blind man on the screen blinked suddenly, and while the Prime Minister flinched back while trying to control himself not to cry out, it walked off the painting.