Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1655 Struggle and Preparation ([-])

Li Qing's gray hair appeared almost overnight.

Although he is not too young, but before that, his work was quite smooth. Although he suffered from the French and the British several times, it was very common. He was mentally prepared in advance and did not let him In addition, his daily life maintenance is not bad, he goes to bed and wakes up on time, does not overwork his body, and has good living habits, so although he has passed the year of destiny, he has never had gray hair.

But now, after learning about the "feat" made by the No. [-] Mixed Battalion in front of the Gwangenboud Prison in The Hague, he was born almost overnight. The gang of princelings and second-generation ancestors from the capital in a mixed camp caused a lot of trouble for themselves and the country.And I always regretted it in my heart. I knew that the first mixed battalion was sent to the front line of Brabant in the Netherlands to fight, and Yang Liang's third mixed battalion was transferred back to The Hague to change defense. Cause so many things.

It's a pity that there is no medicine for regret in this world. Now that something like this has happened, you can't escape it, but face it positively.Therefore, while William III, the commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United Provinces and the ruler of the seven provinces, Prince William III of Orange hadn't spoken yet, Li Qing, the special envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, hurriedly ended the meeting with Frey from the Duchy of Courland. Prince Derek's talks, and then departed overnight for The Hague, where he arrived early the next morning.

"You guys have done a great job this time!" As soon as they met, Li Qing called in the company-level and above officials of the No. What happened to killing and injuring so many residents of The Hague? I heard that the most dead were the militiamen. You must know that these people are all above the middle class in The Hague, including court employees, government employees, businessmen, nobles, and Retired soldiers, the combined energy is not small, not to mention that they have a general backer, that is, the man from the Orange family! As a result, you are doing well, you messed up and killed indiscriminately, and now I am afraid that it is the people of the whole city Are they all hating you?"

Li Qing's words made everyone fall into silence.Yes, although the incident happened only yesterday afternoon, the news has spread quickly to various places, and it has produced some chain reactions: just this morning, the merchant who was supposed to send some supplies such as livestock and live poultry missed the deadline Yes, without any prior greeting.The logistics staff immediately sent someone to check what was going on, but the livestock was brought back, but the people below also pointed out that they had snatched it back, because the rancher directly broke the contract, saying that he did not want to cooperate with the people on the east coast

In addition, I heard that the left-behind personnel who were stationed in the original barracks were also harassed by some people in The Hague who were dominated by anger. However, it may be that the cruel scene at the gate of Gwangenboud Prison shocked many people, and they only dared to stay away. Yuan peeped and scolded, but didn't dare to make any real moves.

However, Lan Fei has ordered the artillery company, supply company, engineering platoon, half of the cavalry company and battalion staff staying in the barracks to pack up their things today, withdraw to the outside of the city to join the main force, and then make further calculations.He did this obviously because he was afraid that the Dutch would jump over the wall in a hurry and dispatch the regular army (an infantry regiment, about 1200 people) and militia in the city of The Hague to attack the people on the east coast.Although it is not very likely that the Dutch would do this, Lan Fei did not want to take risks, so he ordered the entire battalion to shrink to the outskirts of the city. Killed by the Prince of Orange.

And when it comes to these backbone members of the republican faction, I have to mention the situation of the three-level parliament today: that is, it has basically been controlled by the Orange faction, and more than [-]% of the congressmen are now their members. There are original Orange faction members, but more are newly elected and former Republican members who temporarily defected to the past.And it was precisely because of the advantages gained in the three-level parliament, the provincial council, and even the city councils that the Prince of Orange was able to be added step by step from the household nobles without any position to the ruling of the Dutch province, the ruling of the Friesland province, and the ruling of the Groningen province. The province is in power, the Zeeland province is in power, and the United Province is in power. At the same time, he has become the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the country, commanding tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Now they still insist on fighting against the Orange Party in the three-level parliament, that is all "true love", just like the Republicans control the government - the symbolic event is the abolition of the position of power - fighting with them in those years Like the endless Orange faction MPs, everyone has ideals, principles, and interests, and they will not turn back easily like grass on the wall.

It is precisely because of this that these talents are more worthy of great efforts to protect, because now William III is obviously taking advantage of the golden opportunity of his prestige to start doing things that break through the lower limit, such as physically eliminating political opponents including the DeWitt brothers , which is a bit excessive.We must know that in the era when the Orange faction lost power, DeWitt did not engage in the "game" of physical elimination, which broke the rules, but gained an advantage through ingenious parliamentary struggles and full economic revitalization.

Another reason that is not clearly stated is that republican MPs are generally very rich, many of them are descendants of big merchant families, and there are even some businessmen who personally act as MPs to "play tickets", such as the [-] grain wholesalers in Amsterdam One of them, Mr. Bersson, has served as a member of the three-level parliament for seven years.Obviously, it is also beneficial to the industrial and commercial development of the East China Republic to give these people a helping hand at a critical moment and maintain a relatively good relationship.

To sum up, the east coast people have a good reason to protect the republican MPs, because it is not in the national interest of the east coast to allow the three-level parliament to become a paradise for the Orange faction and make the United Provinces a hall of fame for William III. .Speaker DeWitt is just a symbol. Behind him, there are nearly a hundred republican members who are struggling in the three-level parliament. As long as they are there, even if William III assumes the power of the United Provinces, there will still be obstacles, still Not being able to do whatever you want, this is the situation that people on the east coast most want to see.

Therefore, after reprimanding the officers of the No. [-] Mixed Battalion who caused the catastrophe in a relatively harsh tone, Li Qing sighed helplessly and said with a warmer tone: "I have already talked to Chairman DeWitt, I chatted with his brother Cornelis by the hospital bed, I'm afraid you won't be able to stay in the Netherlands any longer after this matter, but you can't let go of the job of protecting republican MPs. How about it, three The high-level parliament is not a workshop that has to work every day. They also hold regular meetings and close meetings regularly. Members living in other places and provinces are local figures, and it is not easy for ordinary people to deal with them openly; while living in the Netherlands Provincial councilors are going to be in a bit of trouble. Now the residents of this province are full of hostility, and a little incitement can cause a lot of troubles, just like what happened outside the Gwanganport Prison this time, so your main point is to protect them……"

"Special Envoy Li, please wait a moment." Just as Li Qing said this, Lan Fei interrupted him impolitely, and only heard him continue: "Our No. [-] Mixed Battalion is a state-managed field force. Cannons, cavalry, workers, and equipment are complete, with rich combat experience and high morale. If I understand correctly, you just wanted us to be broken up into pieces and scattered to Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Leiden, etc. Watchdog? With all due respect, this cannot be done, and it is not suitable to do so! To put it bluntly, if you let our No. [-] Mixed Battalion help Speaker DeWitt in a coup, I will seriously consider it, but It’s really impossible to break it into parts and act as a security guard.”

"What nonsense are you talking about, and a coup d'état, how is this possible! Now that the Prince of Orange is so powerful and has such a reputation, whoever makes a coup d'état is against the entire Dutch, and it cannot be successful." Li Qing was very angry when she heard this. And he said with a smile: "But what you just mentioned is also reasonable. It is really inappropriate for you to be guards. You have a big temper, and you can't do such a job well. It is true that I didn't think carefully before. I'm afraid this matter still has to They figured it out on their own, but it's a security issue..."

"Special Envoy Li, the security issue is actually not that scary. In my opinion, the Prince of Orange is not mad enough to murder all the republican congressmen. The identity of the commander cannot be controlled. Therefore, his target should only be a few key elements like Speaker DeWitt. As long as we protect these people, there will be no problem, and now they have basically settled down in The Hague. Under our protection, even if the Dutch send out that infantry regiment, they will be fine, because we are destined to beat these Dutchmen to pieces." Lan Fei said in a slightly proud tone.

"You still want to cause trouble?" Li Qing glared at Lan Fei, and then said: "The Dutch infantry regiment maintains the law and order of the city of The Hague, so it won't come to attack you. You add the first mixed battalion, security The Nationalist Army, the Nationalist Army, the Nationalist Army, there are three or four thousand people in total, and their combat effectiveness has also been tested in actual combat. He, the Dutch, is full and has to mobilize [-] to [-] soldiers to deal with you? Then simply surrender to the French! However, this time the incident is so big, they always have to find their way back, otherwise there will be no prestige in the future. I estimate that the series of business contracts signed with us under the presidency of Van Boiningen before the outbreak of the war, probably It is a pity that we cannot continue to implement it as we wish, and the impact on the economy is not small."

Hearing what Li Qing said, the officers of the No. [-] Mixed Battalion who didn't care about it at first stopped talking, because their actions yesterday caused the loss of national interests, which made them, the self-proclaimed patriotic soldiers, somewhat helpless. Accept, the mood is not very high for a while.

Li Qing glanced at them, she was quite satisfied in her heart, she could be regarded as shocking the gang of Qiuba.Of course, he wouldn't be so stupid as to tell these soldiers from the capital that even if they didn't cause the so-called "tragedy" at the gate of Gwankenport Prison, the United Provincial Government under the control of the Prince of Orange would probably slowly tear up the relationship with them. The East Coast people signed these commercial contracts ranging in length from five to ten years, because they needed to use these chips to win over the English.Therefore, even if there was no conflict between the people on the east coast and the people in The Hague yesterday, these contracts are destined not to be fulfilled smoothly to the end. They just artificially accelerated the process.

"Forget it, I'll talk about these things later." Perhaps because she was a little irritable, Li Qing lit a pipe for herself, and then said: "Your first mixed battalion, you must be prepared to evacuate, um, just The Southern Netherland, it’s very close. The Privy Council of the Kingdom of Spain had an agreement with us before, so don’t worry about not accepting us. Cornelis De Witt has also agreed to take his family to Antwerp for a temporary residence. It's safe, it's good for recuperation, and it's easy to take care of you when you pass by. Remember, the DeWitt brothers are iconic figures, and their personalities are also very close. There are a large number of Republican MPs around them. Otherwise, why do you think the Prince of Orange insists on Is it impossible to kill them? Is it just because of family hatred? Therefore, as long as the two brothers are still alive and well, the Republican faction will still have cohesion, and if there are more key elements to assist them, then the Republican faction will not be able to fall. There are still fights in the third-level council, and the Orange family can't cover the sky with one hand."

"Understood, we will know what to do." Lan Fei also sighed and replied silently.Speaking of what happened yesterday, it was indeed a big loss. Not only did nine officers and soldiers be killed or injured, but they also made themselves ashamed and wanted to seek refuge in the Southern Netherlands.On the other hand, Yang Liang was doing well in the Duchy of Brabant in the Netherlands, but he didn't know if he and his subordinates would be implicated this time, so that the mission ended early.

After staying in the new barracks of the No. 8 Mixed Battalion for a few hours, Li Qing finally left here surrounded by her entourage, and returned to the manor of the Dewitt brothers to discuss countermeasures with them.Two days later, on August 26, the government led by the Prince of Orange finally responded to the "Hague Massacre": they formally wrote to Li Qing, demanding that he immediately hand over the murderers involved in the incident, and at the same time Make huge indemnities, otherwise the United Provinces will stop performing some commercial contracts indefinitely (they dare not stop all of them, because they are still in the midst of the war, and they continue to produce a large amount of military assets and equipment on the east coast).

To be fair, the Dutchman's request is not too much, and it can be seen that a certain degree of concession has been made, but Li Qing still completely refused - of course he could not agree, if he handed over the murderer, then the whole battalion Even the officers can't escape. These people have parents and friends, and they have great energy. Although he is a veteran of time travel, why bother to offend these people for the Dutch?

After receiving Li Qing's reply, the Dutch fell silent for a while, not knowing what they were thinking about, or what preparations they were making.However, Li Qing was also so happy. After instructing everyone in the No. [-] Mixed Battalion to be vigilant, he quietly returned to Amsterdam and started his business in a grand manner, as if nothing had happened.

(End of this chapter)