New Shun 1730

Half a month later.

In the manor of Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland, the blood of the Orange nobles, who would be called William IV if they succeeded in taking the throne, were reading with great interest the newly issued newspaper full of sensory stimulation and sharp satire.

There were some new and exciting postures on it, some bloody and violent stories that happened in the Netherlands at night, and some Dutch jokes that would make even the Dutch laugh after reading them.

Of course, there were also some exotic styles and oriental elegance, and at the end there would be a more formal political or historical article with a very novel perspective. And some introductions to the Dashun regime that Voltaire called an expert, of course, the writer himself did not believe it.

It was sold very cheaply. But it was not cheap enough to roll cigarettes, burn fires, or wipe buttocks.

The Netherlands is not big. Friesland is a province, but in Dashun, it is just a smaller county.

The capital city of Leeuwarden is only a day's ride from Amsterdam.

This interesting tabloid quickly spread throughout the Netherlands and attracted the interest of many people.

In addition to the lower class, the upper class of the Netherlands would also buy and read it. In terms of the upper class, William IV had basically reached the top.

Even though the business atmosphere in the Netherlands is strong, in terms of money, William IV can be regarded as the richest man in the Netherlands.

He has family inheritance and some stocks of the East India Company.

In addition, their family also has some principalities in the Holy Roman Empire. These relatives have almost died in recent years. According to the order of succession, William IV also got the inheritance of Dillenburg in Hesse and Siegen in the Rhineland.

Or manors, gold and silver, land, or hereditary territories. In addition to some marquisates as nobles in the Netherlands, all added up, William IV is enough to be called a wealthy man just from the real estate income.

Perhaps this is some of the differences between the East and the West. If he were in Dashun, he would be rich enough to rival a country, have the blood of the Yanhan people, and the rulers would be unjust. With such good conditions, he would definitely pay for his own team and ascend the throne.

Even though the situation in the Netherlands is special, it is enough to show that William IV, who has not made any big moves so far, is a coward.

This is not about being willing but not being able to do it, but being able but not willing, at least he will not take the initiative to fight for it.

The servants have long been accustomed to William IV, who has pigeon chest and spinal deformity, but William IV knows very well that he is afraid that he will not be a triumphant hero with his virtue.

Even his wife once said in order to express her firm determination to marry him that even if he looks like a monkey, she will not marry him.

It sounds very heartwarming, but the story behind it is that Princess Anne must convert to Catholicism if she wants to be the Queen of France. There is only one suitable candidate in a Protestant country. She can't be unmarried, like Hua Zheng in the story, and be the eldest princess in her brother's palace for the rest of her life.

In order to allow her child to inherit the British throne, Princess Anne pretended to be pregnant and ran back to England, causing many conflicts between her father and her husband - the father always hoped that his son and grandson would inherit, not his grandson in the future.

The messy intrigues of the nobles, the complicated internal situation in the Netherlands, and William's own ugly appearance and weak body made him have little political ambition.

If there is a chance, go.

No chance... forget it.

If I were Caesar or Octavian, handsome and good at fighting, maybe I could give it a try. Reality... is too cruel.

However, as the bloodline leader of the faction, he didn't want to go, but those subordinates who were eager for the merit of following the dragon and persuading the emperor to ascend the throne could not be as quiet.

In Europe, where kings and generals are indeed kind, William's blood is a natural symbol of leadership.

Of course, in addition to those Orange factions who are eager for the merit of following the dragon and persuading the emperor to ascend the throne, there are also some people who sincerely hope that the Netherlands will regain hegemony and return to the top.

For example, the court servant informed the Earl of Bentinck that he wanted to see. He was a die-hard Orange Party member. The Bentinck family first followed William II to prosper. When William II was still a small lord in Delft, he was considered the "childhood friend", "little surname" or "companion" of the Orange family.

Part of the family followed William III to England and became the lineage of the Duke of Portland in England. The other part stayed in the Netherlands.

Upon hearing that the Earl of Bentinck wanted to see him, William IV immediately closed the booklet that was not presentable.

Before they met, he had already guessed what the Earl of Bentinck was going to say.

So after the meeting, without waiting for the Earl of Bentinck to speak, William IV took the initiative to speak.

"Yes, yes, Count. The war has started, and this is an opportunity. However, the situation in the Netherlands is too complicated, and I don't think I can handle it."

"You should remember that William III was loved by the people. When the people of Gelderland wanted to grant him sovereignty and upgrade him from the ruler to the hereditary Duke of Gelderland, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange immediately experienced a stock market crash."

"Merchants are afraid of hereditary monarchs. Of course, they are also afraid of centralization. The province of Holland accounts for more than 50% of the tax revenue, and they will not support me."

"Even if I become the ruler, what can I do? Increase taxes? The merchants will oppose me; without increasing taxes, without field armies and warships, how can we win the war?"

Count Bentinck has heard too many cliché dialogues.

He is not so much an Orangeman as a totalitarian.

Historically, after William IV was brought to power by the small bourgeoisie who tried to restore the guild system and suppress the development of industrial and commercial capitalism, Earl Bentinck, as the chief adviser, referred to the British and the Chinese system imagined by Voltaire. system, trying to allow the Netherlands to complete centralization.

This includes establishing six ministers, establishing a cabinet centered on William IV, replacing regent merchants in various cities and provinces, and making the cabinet meeting before the king the real center of administrative power in the Netherlands.

It's not even so much British as it is Ming-style.

Because the Netherlands is not a big country, the hereditary power can be shouldered by the "emperor and prime minister".

Historically, Count Bentinck's suggestion was to establish a cabinet so that the cabinet members would serve not as ministers, but as secretaries to William IV.

The cabinet ministers, that is, the palace secretaries, will handle some detailed and procedural matters, and William IV will stamp them and execute them.

William IV, on the other hand, should take on important government affairs, such as military and financial matters, and rely on powerful means and the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty, which was the pinnacle of the feudal monarchy, to complete the true centralization of power in the Netherlands with thunderous momentum.

However, historically, Count Bentinck failed because William IV did not have the ability and could not do it at all.

When William IV died and his wife Princess Anne became regent, Earl Bentinck made his last attempt and wrote a long report.

But the result was... Earl Bentinck was disheartened, left a message that the Netherlands wanted to finish, and lived in seclusion ever since.

Now Count Bentinck is still full of hope, believing that the Netherlands still has a last chance to seize the tail of the era and return to the golden age. As long as it can achieve centralization, it still has the potential to continue to become a powerful country.

Although William IV's words are indeed very reasonable: the province of Gelderland wanted to grant sovereignty to William III and make William III a hereditary duke instead of a consul, which led to a stock market crash in Amsterdam. The attitude of the businessmen could not be clearer.

Anyone who wanted to centralize power in the Netherlands had to make an enemy of the merchants. And business is the foundation of the Netherlands - it's like being an emperor in the Celestial Dynasty, but having to be an enemy of the landlord class. What will happen, Li Zicheng, who died in Jiugong Mountain, is a perfect interpretation.

But even though he knew that there were many obstacles, Earl Bentinck, who was fashionable and young, and was discouraged before he could accomplish anything, still earnestly persuaded William IV.

His eyes glanced at the pamphlet that William IV had closed. The last few pages of the vulgar pamphlet introduced the political system of Dashun in the way that Voltaire boasted. The person who wrote these words himself Don't believe it.

"Your Highness, you can't just read the front of the tabloid in front of you without reading the back, right? The front is vulgar and depraved, with the stench of a stock market. But the back is this A true gem of a tabloid, written by the Privy Councilor of the Eastern Empire, where we can see how that distant and vast empire worked."

"The Netherlands is very small. The empire in the East was dozens or hundreds of Hollands in size, but it could still centralize power. Why can't the Netherlands?"

William IV's face was slightly red. He really just read the previous content, and the latter content was a bit boring.

It is said that people on the street rushed to circulate the previous contents.

The boring political commentaries and political system introductions that follow are generally used to roll cigarettes. Only a small number of people above the second level will read the boring content at the end.

Earl Bentinck didn’t know whether William IV had read it, but what he said had no logic in itself.

Birds have two legs and can fly. People also have two legs, so they can fly?

He himself knew that logic was not very convincing, so he explained: "This war about the succession of the Austrian throne is an excellent opportunity for His Highness."

"Now the regents and parliamentarians want to sit on the fence, hoping for British mediation, and they also hope to tell the French that supporting Austria is helpless. This is an excellent opportunity for us."

"People in the northern provinces don't have to worry about the French. But people in the southern provinces are afraid that if the federal provincial assembly does nothing, the French will rush to the city."

"For the sake of the Netherlands, you should cheer up and wait for opportunities at any time. Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared. Even if you do not take the initiative to seek the position of consul, you must be prepared: once the responsibility of consul falls on your shoulders "You must be able to take on this responsibility."

Although William IV was physically disabled and cowardly, he was not indifferent to good or bad.

Everything Earl Bentinck said was reasonable, and he could only nod his head in agreement. However, what he was thinking in his heart was that maybe this matter wouldn't be that easy, right?

However, Count Bentinck believed that the opportunity was right in front of him.

"Your Highness, you may not know that the first stop of the Marquis of the Chinese Empire when he visited Europe was Amsterdam. Why did he do it?"

"In fact, he wanted equal diplomatic and tariff agreements. If this could not be achieved, he asked the Netherlands to treat the Chinese Empire as a tributary state and accept trade from the emperor of the Chinese Empire. They called it tribute. Or, Kanhe Trading.”

"In any case, it is impossible to accept equal diplomatic and tariff agreements. And the Chinese Marquis was aggressive at the negotiating table and demanded an answer from the Federal Provincial Congress as soon as possible."

"If...if the Federation Council agrees to the tribute trade, this will be a great opportunity."

"Your Highness, are you ready?"