I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 172 Flanders Raiders

What Louis had to discuss with these noble officials was the most important part of the battle of Flanders. After nearly ten years of polishing his own sword, Louis never felt that Flanders was a shattering military force. Power will be its own obstacle, mainly how to treat Flanders after France retakes the Flanders area, so as to ensure that Flanders can continue to be the mules and horses of the French treasury, not a crazy hyena.

   First of all, the French appeal to Flanders is legitimate, both legally and theologically. The history of the Flanders area is also quite ancient. The Colt tribes first lived here. The horseshoes of the Romans stepped into it in the first century BC. In the next two hundred years, the Fries and the Franks gradually Immigrated here, and Frank is the predecessor of France. In the fifth century, this place began to be called Flanders (that is, the plain), and in the ninth century, Flanders officially became the vassal and subject of the French king. , belonging to one of the six nobles in France, the other five being Normandy, Champagne, Toulouse, Burgundy and Aquitaine.

When the earl of Flanders ruled Flanders, the earl and his descendants did not care much for the people in the territory, and were even very cruel, and the riots in Flanders also continued one after another, and it seemed that there was no time to subside. , but as the person to whom the Earl of Flanders is loyal, the king of France will not tend to those civilians. Every time Flanders asks for help, he can always bring the French army. Ironically, it was originally only a The resistance to the lord turned out to be the reason for the Flemish hatred of France in the end - in the fourteenth century, the marriage of the Duke of Burgundy to the daughter of the earl of Flanders brought Flanders into the The Duchy of Burgundy can also be said to be the French royal family, because the Duke of Burgundy at that time was the fourth son of the King of France.

After being merged into Burgundy, the Flanders did not receive much relief. On the contrary, three consecutive Burgundian monarchs, either because they wanted to separate the Duchy of Burgundy from France, or because of the Crusaders. Holy war, and the war against the Holy Roman Empire, etc., were violent against Flanders. For the Flemish people, they could not clearly distinguish the Duke of Burgundy from the French royal family, so they just And nailed the king of France and the Duke of Burgundy to the cross of hatred.

In contrast, the relationship between the Flemish people and the United Kingdom and the Holy Roman Empire was quite harmonious, because the Flanders had to import wool from the United Kingdom in order to continue their own textile production, and the merchants of the Holy Roman Empire had to import wool from the United Kingdom. Because Flanders imported wool and sold it all over Europa, the Flanders were either inclined to England or the Holy Roman Empire, which was quite a headache. It can even be said that Flanders' resistance Emotions may be more ferocious than Lorraine or Alsace.

Louis could instruct the Duke of Orleans to ruthlessly drive out the docile people in Lorraine and Alsace, because there was not much technical content in the previous animal husbandry, logging and mining, even if it was a novice who knew nothing about it. , as long as you know a little bit about what you can do, as for the new industries behind, glass, coal, etc., the workers from Orleans and Paris are hired at the beginning. After the Lorraines leave, the king can fill it with domestic people. This blank, but for Flanders, this method will not work, other than that, those skilled workers cannot be filled by ordinary people. If possible, the king would prefer to appease Flanders in a gentle way. people.

The best way is to reduce or exempt taxes, but in this way, the military expenses for launching the Battle of Flanders will become a big financial deficit. The king shook his head. Because of the presence of Colbert, he still has some understanding of the current businessmen. People in later generations denounced capitalism as being born into this world, and every pore on the body is overflowing with the stench of sin. This sentence The words are right, especially now, businessmen are more unscrupulous than their counterparts in a few hundred years, perhaps because they have also seen the fate of those real businessmen, that is, those pagans, so they are extra sensitive to politics, as long as Give them a chance, and they will do whatever it takes to come to power in person or by proxy. Like the British Parliament, and now in France, a group of people around Colbert and the academicians. The war in Flanders was driven not only by the king's ambition, but also by merchants, who had long coveted Flanders' woolen and North Sea-Baltic trade.

And with the lessons of Lorraine and Alsace in the past, the king did not want to make Flanders more prosperous so quickly - from the bottom of his heart, Louis had always been brooding about Lorraine's rebellion, in order to avoid Lorraine's rebellion. The people were overwhelmed by the heavy taxes demanded by the Duke of Lorraine. He successively brought out four precious new industries, glass, china, dyes, and coal. Such industries, even if only one, were placed in other regions. The people there are grateful, but to the ever-suspecting people of Lorraine, these only represent the greed and cruelty of the king, who are constantly cursing, because of the accident in the mine, the accident in the burning of the cellar and the dye industry belt Incoming river pollution, etc.—and, at the secret instigation of the Church, blamed the origin of the plague on the desecration of the Holy See by the King of France.

So Louis decided early on that he wouldn't be too kind to Flanders, but he wouldn't allow them to escape at will - only an empty shell was left for the king, so almost all the generals were concentrated in this room, The king looked at them one by one. General Schumberg had been appointed by him as the governor of Lorraine to control both Lorraine and Alsace. Vauban was a person who was better at defending than attacking. The king's pre-planned, multi-faceted and quick attack would require at least three armies, the Prince of Condé, the Viscount Turenne, and the Duke of Orleans. They would be the king's three-headed hounds, attacking Flanders in three directions from left to right. Er, and although he said that he was on a personal expedition, Louis was not naive enough to think that he was as omnipotent as people boasted. Louis was a little self-aware of his military talent, so: "I will follow the Chinese army first." Louis said: "That is the Viscount Turenne."

He also has his own considerations in doing so. The Duke of Orleans, as the younger brother, has enough identity and qualifications to deter the Flanders. Prince Condé needless to say, among the three, it is Viscount Turenne. His origin is a little embarrassing. First of all, he is the second son, and his elder brother, the Duke of Sedang, has been deprived of his territory. Although he was canonized as the Grand Marshal of France in the first year of the king's personal rule, Louis formed it at the very beginning. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Navy, the Minister of the Navy is Colbert, and the Minister of War is the Marquis of Lufuis. These two, one is a businessman, and the other is known for his calm and conservative. Obviously, the king is not It needs two people who can speak with him, and both positions can be said to belong to the king. In the army, the prestige of Prince Condé is unshakable, or in other words, as long as he is there, the brilliance of Viscount Turenne becomes much dimmed, so the king's presence in Turenne can be said to add brilliance to him. , also adding weight, Viscount Turenne knew this, so when he heard the king say this, he immediately stood up and bowed slightly to the king to express his honor.

Prince Condé frowned slightly, although he still had some doubts about the division of the army, but because the king had already stated the reason for doing so in advance-they wanted to tightly bind the Flanders territory together with the people like a snare. Bo wraps it up and does not allow any fish to slip through the net. However, he prefers to let the king stay in Paris. There are not a few kings who die on the battlefield, and no one can expect what kind of accident will happen, just like the previous ones. In Dunkirk, the war has ended and the city has been controlled. Even so, the king was seriously injured almost irreparably, and in this battle, the king also made the Duke of Orleans one of the main generals.

This consideration made Prince Kongdai turn back after the meeting and asked to talk to the king alone for a while. The king was not so surprised by his arrival, mainly because he guessed the intention of Prince Kongdai, or in other words, a part of it. Intention.

Regarding Prince Condé's concerns, the king just smiled and said that his eldest son, Little Louis, was six years old, the same age as when he ascended the throne, and he has a mother and a grandmother, and he and the queen's second child is also pregnant , and he also promised that he would never approach the front lines easily - he knew very well that he was just a mascot, and that with monks and wizards, he would let them go first, clean up the whole city, and ensure that The Kirk thing doesn't happen anymore.

But the king must be in Flanders. People at this time are very strange. On the one hand, they hate the king, and on the other hand, they can't help but mythology. They have a natural reverence for the king, as the bishop said at the coronation ceremony. In that way, at the moment of becoming king, a mortal man is reborn as another divine being, who rules the country like the Holy Spirit and rules the peoples, so that neither Condé nor Turenne nor Orleans can replace Louis. , only when the king has taken the keys of the city and his feet on the flag of the enemy can prove that this land has completely belonged to France.

   "And the Duke of Orleans," Prince Condé asked softly after pondering for a long time, "Have you considered it?"

   "He's also working hard with the Duchess of Orleans." The king made a less funny joke, and Condé glared at him.

  Louis immediately put away his smile, "Mr. Prince," he said softly, "I know what you are worrying about."

"I have betrayed you once," said Prince Condé bluntly. "I know what it feels like, Your Majesty," he glanced at the king's chair, although it was not a throne: "When he is so close to that position, As soon as you lift your hand, you can touch…”

   "He could even sit directly on it, when in Dunkirk," said the king without question: "I trust him."

   "People change."

   "Then wait until he changes."

"Perhaps by then it will be too late," said Prince Condé. "I am not asking you to put him to death or imprison him, I only say that you should not have given him so much authority, so many troops, An honor that cannot be added. When he has reached the peak, Your Majesty, what else can you give him?"

   "Trust," said Louis. "Trust forever."

   (end of this chapter)