Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1503 Exploration and Development

The person recommended by Colbert was the Marquis of Montespan, who was eloquent, sharp-minded, knew some diplomatic tricks, and was someone trusted by Louis. The four institutes approved and arrived in The Hague, the capital of the United Provinces, on December 12th.

For the Marquis of Montespan, Li Qing, the East Coast Plenipotentiary Envoy to Europe, has also heard about it, not because Li Qing has so many eyes and ears, but because this person is so famous——because of his shamelessness.

The Marquis of Montespan married in 1663. His wife's name was Francesus. She was very beautiful-it was said to be one of the three most beautiful women in France at that time, and the other two were her sisters-so that it was named by the famous painter Henry Gascar painted it on a famous portrait for collection.But this woman is very ambitious and wants to come to Paris to attract King Louis XIV, and she has obtained her wonderful husband's consent.

However, when she really managed to attract Louis' attention, she asked her husband to take her back to her hometown of Poitou, but her husband refused because he wanted to get a official position.So, when Louis really slept with his wife one night, he immediately changed into a widower's attire while guarding outside, then decorated the carriage with black borders, and put horns on the four corners of the carriage.

Later, Louis XIV personally signed the divorce certificate to him, and gave him a sum of money, asking him to leave Paris, which stunned the poor man, so that it became a court joke for a while.But after all, he was thick-skinned, and after working hard for a while, and he had indeed good talent, he was finally appreciated by Louis and worked under Colbert.This time, he wanted to send someone to The Hague to check the direction of the wind. Colbert felt that he was more suitable, and Louis agreed to this point, so the trip was made.

Before Marquis Montespan met Li Qing, he had already had a meeting with Speaker De Witt.Li Qing had no way of knowing the content of the talks, but he thought with his toes and knew that there would be no substantive content, because France could not agree to the request made by the United Provinces, and it was DeWitt Speaker who allowed France to occupy the Southern Netherlands. What cannot be tolerated—on this point, the Orange faction, who has always regarded France as a confidant, did not make trouble in the parliament. The Marquis of Montespan's mission to The Hague was really just a test, and the two sides had to go back and forth several times before they really entered into substantive negotiations.

"It took only four days for His Majesty the great King Louis XIV to lead his army to capture the strong fortress of Dole. The whole territory of Franche-Comté has been recovered. His Majesty is about to return to Paris with his troops. No one can stop the invincible French army. Li Qing was speechless after hearing the straight-forward words of the Marquis of Montespan. Is this Frenchman out of his mind? His coast has been beaten up by the East Coast Fleet, and normal commercial activities have been seriously affected. Now, if you still say this kind of wording in the meeting, don't all the current temptations start in this way?

"England and the United Provinces are about to reach a peace agreement. Neither Dewitt Speaker of the Hague three-level parliament nor Charles II of London will allow France to annex the land illegally occupied in this war of aggression." Since the other side is so You're welcome, Li Qing doesn't need to show any good looks, just listen to him continue: "I am the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast Republic of China, and hereby solemnly declare that the land that France illegally stole from our ally, the Kingdom of Spain, must be returned unconditionally And compensate for the loss, otherwise we reserve the right to take further actions.”

It seems that the above-mentioned gunpowder-flavored conversation did not last long. The two people who expressed their attitudes quickly explored some issues. For example, the Marquis of Montespan was most concerned about when the East Coast Navy would withdraw.The mixed formation led by Major Jiang Yaohui is currently based in the port of Dover in the United Kingdom-although the United Provinces have stated that their port can be used on the east coast, Major Jiang Yaohui has no plans to move, which can be regarded as a kind of attitude towards the Dutch before Protest silently—still harassing the Atlantic coast of France.

However, after sending some ships to the port of Valencia in Spain and assisting its Mediterranean fleet in dealing with the French Eastern Fleet and blocking the ports of Montpellier, Marseille, Toulon, etc. The blockade was weakened, and some bold French captains dared to go to sea to trade.But on the whole, the pagan fleet on the east coast is still a thorn in the eyes of the French. The French western fleet dormant in the Dunkirk fortress still has no courage to come out for a decisive battle. They huddle in the fortress cannon like a bitch Under the protection of the Lord, they watched in horror as the heretics of the East Coast struck their trade lines and devastated their homeland.

Therefore, after experiencing such bad days for more than half a year, the French finally tentatively proposed to the people on the east coast whether the fleet can be withdrawn, and implied that there is no grievance between the East and France, and there is no need to kill them .Although the people on the east coast were bound by treaties with Spain and had to declare war on France, a de facto armistice could be reached between France and the republics on the east coast, and then wait for the final war to end.For this, the Kingdom of France paid a suitable fee to compensate the East Coasters for withdrawing from the war.

However, Mr. Li Qing, the special envoy of the East Bank, behaved more morally than the Marquis of Montespan imagined. He flatly rejected the proposal that the French thought was very tempting, saying that the East Coast Republic of China would strictly fulfill its treaty obligations. Stand with the Kingdom of Spain.If the Kingdom of France does not end the state of war with the Kingdom of Spain, the East Coast Republic will not be able to make peace with the Kingdom of France.

Of course, after saying this, Special Envoy Li Qing also implicitly stated that if the Kingdom of France can return the occupied Franche-Comté, Lorraine, Luxembourg and other places to the Kingdom of Spain, and recognize If many of the Caribbean islands in the country are sacred and legal territories under the rule of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty, the people on the east coast would not mind reaching a tacit agreement with the French to end the war in fact (rather than in law).

Of course the French could not agree to this, at least the Marquis of Montespan had no right to agree, so he could only leave The Hague in despair, and then returned to the Southern Netherlands under the escort of the guards.Of course, everyone knows that this is only the first round of testing. Everyone has not made up their minds yet. They are all waiting and watching. The French are like this, but the Dutch are just like this. This is from the question after the meeting with Chairman De Witt You can hear it in the words.

Speaker de Witt's prestige was greatly enhanced because of his firm main battle in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, which provided a good foundation for him to promote the current strategy against France.At least, there are fewer people in the three-level parliament who are not open-eyed to jump out and sing the opposite. Of course, this may also have something to do with the seriousness of the matter-the French army, which is known for its reputation for fighting, is approaching the border. At this time, it is heartless to oppose And if you object, it's really too shameful.

During the conversation, Speaker DeWitt expressed his anxiety, because he heard that King Carlos of the Spanish Habsburg Dynasty was seriously ill and was bedridden, and he could not see anyone or find out any news.Now almost all state affairs are handled by the Queen Mother and King Philip's illegitimate son, Don Juan. Special envoys from London, The Hague, Paris, WYN and other places are closely monitoring the health of King Carlos and trying their best to send the latest news back home. ——Everyone knows that the life and death of this child who is born with a disability is of great importance. If he dies, there may be hundreds of thousands or even millions of people who will be buried with him, so his health is the most important thing in Europe and even the New World at this time. political, economic and military news!

Li Qing expressed understanding for Speaker DeWitt's concerns, but he was unable to provide more information, because he could not know whether King Carlos' condition had improved, and even the proposal to send a doctor to help was rejected by Spain. People declined.The great nobles of Spain chose hundreds of loyal, brave and reliable soldiers to guard outside the residence of King Carlos day and night, because they were worried that someone would harm the king, and they trusted no one now.

However, Li Qing himself was not too worried, because as far as he knew about the history of later generations, the Spanish succession war that swept across Europe broke out because of the death of King Carlos (the Spanish Habsburg dynasty was extinct at the time) , but it was only available in the 18th century. This proves that King Carlos was quite hard-working, and he lived at least 30 years longer under the circumstances that everyone was not optimistic about.

Although history has changed and many things cannot be done correctly, Li Qing does not believe that King Carlos has such a short life, so he will not be able to get over this hurdle!Therefore, he is actually relatively relaxed now, and he is far less worried about the health of King Carlos than envoys from other countries.But he couldn't tell Chairman DeWitt and others about this kind of thing, so he could only comfort him with a few words and let it go. The facts later will prove everything!

At this time, Li Qing thought of King Louis XIV of France with some amusement.Undoubtedly, the young king must have also heard about his brother-in-law. This may mean that he is waiting for his brother-in-law to die from a serious illness, and then he can easily become the king under the cheers of some pro-French nobles in Spain. Madrid's dream - of course, even if you can't take over Madrid for a while, but if you take a step back and get the Southern Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and other places, there should be no resistance would be too big.

It has to be said that this kind of guessing may really be the true idea of ​​​​Louis XIV.Under the current circumstances, it is not impossible to forcibly take down the Southern Netherlands and other places through war, but it will face the hostility of a bunch of countries headed by the United Provinces, and the future may not be easy.That being the case, it is better to take a step back for the time being, to ease relations with many countries headed by the United Provinces, to retreat some of the occupied land, and then divide and win over these countries so that they cannot form a joint force.In addition, the most important thing is that when the negotiations are in progress, maybe my brother-in-law Carlos is already dead, so with the support of some Spanish nobles, I will definitely get more benefits!As for the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, which was also very concerned about Carlos' condition and eyeing Spain, they were not taken seriously by Louis at all, because the disorganized Germany could not be called a threat at all, and the invincible French army would teach them how to behave.

After chatting with the worried Speaker DeWitt about the political situation, they discussed some business cooperation, namely, the export of 100 flintlock rifles from the east coast, [-] various types of army artillery and supporting ammunition, and some other For the matter of military funds, the total contract amount exceeded [-] million dong.As for what military resources need to be imported in the future, the two sides can discuss it later. After all, the Dutch are not sure how it will develop in the future, so they can only wait and see.

Finally, Speaker de Witt asked whether the fleet of the East Coasters would fight in Europe for a long time and assist the Spanish defense until the end of the war.In this regard, Special Envoy Li Qing did not give a positive response, but he said that people on the east coast are obliged to help the Kingdom of Spain in fighting, and at the same time advocate the maintenance of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Spain. The Caribbean islands illegally occupied by France should be obtained through negotiation and consultation. Recognized by the Kingdom of Spain, otherwise it is illegal.Before receiving further orders, the Spanish provisional task force commanded by Major Jiang Yaohui will still use the Port of Dover as its main base of activity and the Port of Valencia as its secondary base of operations to carry out attacks on the Kingdom of France until the end of the war. Finish.

Li Qing's words almost swept the Dutch into it, because they also illegally occupied a lot of land in the Caribbean Sea.But fortunately, everyone is a thick-skinned politician, so I didn't hear this.However, the people on the east coast defend Spain in every possible way, probably not only because the people from the peninsula are better at wooing them, right?The deeper reason should be that the people on the east coast took a fancy to this weak Spanish pig and regarded it as their own exclusive food. Protecting the interests of Spain was tantamount to safeguarding the interests of the east coast in the future.Regarding this point, people like Speaker DeWitt will not be incomprehensible. Leaders of other countries should also be able to understand, and they will definitely not agree with the people on the east coast. What happens in the future depends on everyone Strength comparison and how to play the game.

Li Qing, who finished her trip in The Hague, returned to Amsterdam without any delay. Next, he plans to take a boat to the Ottoman Empire, because he recently heard that the Southern Russia area is very noisy, and he wants to see if it has any impact on the strategy on the east coast. , By the way, go to the Ottoman Empire to walk around.

(End of this chapter)