Xinshun 1730

Chapter 609 The Last Attempt to Centralize Power
half a month later.

In the manor of Levaden, the capital of Friesland, the Orange aristocracy who would be known as William IV if he succeeds in ascending the throne, is watching with relish the newly released book full of stimulating senses and biting irony. press.

There are some refurbished poses on it, which are very addictive; there are also some bloody stories of bloody violence that happened in the Netherlands at night; and some Dutch jokes that even the Dutch themselves would laugh after reading.

Of course, there are also some exotic and oriental elegance in it, and at the end there will be a more formal political or historical commentary with a very novel perspective.And some introductions of the Dashun regime that Voltaire directly called experts. Of course, the people who wrote it didn't believe it.

They are sold very cheaply.But it's not cheap enough to roll cigarettes, light a fire, or rub your buttocks.

The Netherlands is not big in the first place, Friesland is said to be a province, if it is in Dashun, it would be a smaller county.

Levaton, the capital, is only a day's ride away from Amsterdam.

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

In addition to looking at the lower level, the upper class figures in the Netherlands will also buy it to take a look. In terms of the upper class, William IV has basically reached the top.

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

He had a family estate, some shares in the East India Company.

In addition, their family still has some vassal states in Shinra, and these relatives have almost died in recent years. According to the order of succession, William IV also got Dillenburg in Hesse, Siegen in Rhineland, etc. land heritage.

Or manor, or gold and silver, or land, or hereditary territory.With the addition of some noble marquises in the Netherlands, William IV is enough to be called a rich man because of the real estate income alone.

Perhaps this is some of the differences between the East and the West. If you are in Dashun, you can be rich like an enemy, have the only bloodline of Yan Han, and the politicians do a lot of unrighteousness. The throne is gone.

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

This is not intentional weakness, but powerlessness, at least not to take the initiative to fight for it.

The servants had long been accustomed to William IV with chicken breasts and deformed spine, but William IV knew very well that with his own virtues, he might not be able to become a triumphant hero.

Even his wife, in order to express her firm determination to marry him, once said that even if he looked like a monkey, she would 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.I can't fail to get married, just like Hua Zheng in the story, she will be the eldest princess in her brother's court for the rest of her life in the future.

In order to let her child have the right to inherit the British throne, Princess Anne pretended to be pregnant and ran back to England, which caused many conflicts between her father and her husband-the father wanted his son and grandson to inherit, but It is not for grandchildren to inherit in the future.

The messy intrigue of nobles, the chaotic and complicated internal situation in the Netherlands, and William's own ugly appearance and frail body all made him not have much political ambition.

If you get the chance, go for it.

No chance...then forget it.

If I am Caesar, Octavian, handsome and able to fight, maybe I can try it.The reality...is too cruel.

However, as the bloodline leader of the faction, he didn't want to go, and those subordinates who yearned for the power of the dragon and the power of persuasion couldn't be as peaceful.

In Europe, a place where princes and generals do have species, William's blood is a natural sign of leadership.

Of course, apart from those Orange factions who yearn for the power of the dragon and the power of persuasion, there are also some people who sincerely hope that the Netherlands will regain its hegemony and return to the top.

For example, the court servant notified the "Earl Bentinck" at this time to see the Earl Bentinck. This is a hardcore Orangeman. The Bentinck family first followed William II. When he was a little lord, he was regarded as the "children", "small surnames" or "companions" of the Orange family.

Part of the family went to England with William III and became the line of the Duke of Portland in England.The other part stayed in the Netherlands.

Hearing Earl Bentinck's request to see him, William IV immediately closed the booklet that was not on the table.

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

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

"Yes, yes, Monsieur Count. The war is on, and this is an opportunity. But the situation in Holland is too complicated, and I don't think I can handle it."

"You should remember that William III was loved by the people back then. When the people of Gelderland Province were about to grant him sovereignty and upgrade him from ruling to hereditary Duke of Gelderland, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange immediately crashed."

"Businessmen are afraid of hereditary monarchs. Of course they are also afraid of centralization. The province of the Netherlands accounts for more than 50% of the tax rate. They will not support me."

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

Earl Bentinck has heard too many clichéd dialogues.

He is not so much an Orangeman as a Centralist.

Historically, after William IV was pushed to the ruling position by the bourgeois who tried to restore the guild system and suppress the development of industrial and commercial capitalism, Earl Bentinck, as the chief adviser, referred to Britain and China's conceived by Voltaire. system, trying to complete the centralization of the Netherlands.

Including the establishment of six ministers, the establishment of a cabinet centered on William IV, replacing the 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 is even more Ming-style than British-style.

Because the Netherlands is not big, hereditary governance can be carried on the shoulders of the "emperor and prime minister".

Earl Bentinck's suggestion in history was to set up a cabinet and let the cabinet members not be the six ministers, but the secretary of William IV.

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

William IV, on the other hand, should take on important government affairs, such as military affairs and finance, relying on powerful means and relying on the cabinet system at the pinnacle of the feudal monarchy of Ming Dynasty to complete the real centralization of power in the Netherlands with a thunderbolt.

However, in history, Earl Bentinck failed, because William IV did not have this ability and could not do it at all.

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

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

The current Earl of Bentinck is still full of hope, thinking that the Netherlands still has one last chance to seize the tail of the era and return to the golden age.As long as the centralization of power can be completed, there is still the potential to continue to become a powerful country.

Although William IV's words are indeed very reasonable: it was because Gelderland Province wanted to grant sovereignty to William III, making 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 more clear.

Anyone who wants to centralize power in the Netherlands must make the enemy of the merchants.And commerce 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. Li Zicheng, who died in Jiugong Mountain, can be regarded as a perfect interpretation of what happened.

But even though he knew that there would be difficulties, Earl Bentinck, who was still young at the time and was discouraged before he could not accomplish anything, still earnestly persuaded William IV.

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

"Your Highness, you can't just look at the front of the tabloid in front of you, can you not read the back? The things in the front are vulgar and depraved, with the smell of a stock market. And the things in the back are the The real essence of a tabloid written by the Privy Councilor of the Eastern Empire, we can see how that distant and huge empire works."

"The Netherlands is very small. And the eastern empire is dozens or hundreds of the Netherlands, but it can still centralize power. Why can't the Netherlands?"

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

It is said that people on the street are scrambling to circulate the previous content.

And those boring political theories and political system introductions that follow are generally used to roll cigarettes.Only a small number of people above the second level will look at the boring content behind.

Earl Bentinck didn't know whether William IV had read it, but the words he said were illogical in themselves.

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

He himself knew that logic was not very convincing, and explained: "This time, the war on the succession of the Austrian throne is an excellent opportunity for Your Highness."

"Now the regents and parliamentarians hope to sit on the wall, pin their hopes on British mediation, and also hope to tell the French that it is helpless to support Austria. 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 parliament 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 seat of consul, you must be prepared: once the heavy responsibility of consul falls on your shoulders Above all, you must be able to take on this responsibility."

Although William IV had some physical disabilities, although he was cowardly, he did not distinguish between good and bad.

Everything that Earl Bentinck said made sense, so he could only nod in agreement, but what he was thinking in his heart was that it might not be so easy, right?

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

"Your Highness, you may not know that when the Marquis of the Chinese Empire visits Europe, the first stop is Amsterdam. What is his reason for?"

"In fact, he wanted equal diplomatic, customs agreements. If this could not be achieved, he demanded that the Netherlands treat the Chinese Empire as a tributary state, accepting the trade favored by the emperor of the Chinese Empire, they called it-tributary. Or, prospecting trade."

"In any case, an equal diplomatic and tariff agreement is impossible to accept. And the Chinese Marquis is aggressive at the negotiating table, demanding an answer from the Inter-Provincial Assembly as soon as possible."

"If... if the inter-provincial assembly agrees to the tribute trade, this is an excellent opportunity."

"Your Highness, are you ready?"

(End of this chapter)