I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 233 War on Sea and Land (5)

In addition, there were letters from several reliable people to Reuter, who opened the brass mailbox, knocked on the table, poured out the letter, and said, "I hope there are not too many So much bad news."

He opened the tightly rolled letter, there was not much on the letter - from a Dutch businessman in Rochester, England, he was still in London, but the center of his letter said with lingering fear that he was almost involved in a riot. Lost his life, and now he left his colleagues and friends behind and went to Rochester alone... He asked Lewitt how things were going in Holland now, and if possible, he wanted to return to Holland from Dover, and seeing this, Lewitt was bitter He sighed, he had a good relationship with the businessman friend, but when he sat down and wanted to reply to a text message to the businessman to tell him not to return to the Netherlands recently, he suddenly thought of something: "Who is it? Who brought this letter?" He shouted, "Let him come to me at once!"

   The messenger was immediately brought to Leuth: "Are you from Rochester?" Leuth asked.

   "Yes." The man replied nervously.

"Are you an Englishman?" asked Leuth, which made the man startled. Of course he knew that England and Holland were now enemies: "God witness," he cried, "I'm just a poor creature, a servant. , not a soldier, nor an official, I have no interest in the relationship between the state and the state, I am just a servant who is very loyal to the master, sir, my master asked me to deliver the letter, saying that you will never hurt me!"

   "I won't," said Lewitt. "But you're going to tell me what kind of riot your master was involved in in London that he had to flee to Rochester?"

"I don't know too well," the servant said tremblingly, "you know, there are always some people who are noisy, noisy, and restless. The councilors always don't deal with the nobles and gentlemen, saying that our king is a Idiot, traitor, there's always a parade in the streets, I've been there twice, but I thought it was a Saint's Day parade..." He said long-windedly, and Reuter's first mate was getting impatient, but Reuter just kept silent and listened patiently, and he could only hold back. Finally, he came to what Reiter was interested in: "That night, sir, my master and I were sleeping when I suddenly heard There's a commotion outside, people are shooting, and people are firing, loud noises, and people are shouting, and that's all, of course, sir, I don't think what they say is true, they're killing the king Said it then, and now... Anyway, my master immediately ordered me to close the doors, close the windows, and of course, I closed them all, I just, I mean, we re-strengthened them and dragged in the furniture to block them. At the door, but useless…”

He swallowed and said, "It's useless, sir, before dawn, someone knocked on the door, very loudly, and my master said, except for a businessman and a stupid servant here. , there's nothing that would harm people, but they don't believe it, they say if we don't open the door, they're going to throw torches in." His eyes rolled up, as if it was still that terrible night, "They were almost so Did, sir, I was terrified, but we opened the door anyway, and as soon as it was open, they rushed in, searched, stabbed with swords, stabbed with torches—I had two beautiful clothes, and they were all burnt out , there are several small black holes." He swallowed, "They also took the owner's money and jewelry, and even so, they didn't think it was enough, they almost killed my master... I, fortunately, my master immediately Said, he could give them more money... I mean, bills and securities or something, they took it and left anyway, God forbid, that's a bunch of robbers."

   "Did you see their faces? Did you see what they were wearing?" Leyter demanded.

   "So what if you see it?" said the servant, "I don't know a single one of them, sir, and as for what they were wearing, I think they were well-dressed, white trousers, and blue or black coats."

   "Blue or black?" the first officer couldn't help asking.

"You know, it was night, and at most we only had one candle, and all I can say is it was a very dark color, and I say blue because when one of them was near my master, his The front placket is illuminated."

   "Then think about it," said Reuter: "Is there anything else that impresses you?"

The    servant was silent for a while: "I'm not sure, sir, I'm not sure."

   "It's all right," said Lewitt, "I just want to know all things, even the smallest and most indeterminate." He held out a shiny gold guilder. "An answer, a gold coin."

The servant gasped eagerly, his eyes were almost glued to the gold coin and he couldn't take it off. The gold coin can really make a good doctor. He immediately remembered a lot of things, like the awl fixed on the musket of the soldier who broke into the room. The daggers, and the buttons of the soldiers' coats were all silver, in the shape of flower petals stretched out, the officers who took bribes had beautiful metal tassels on their shoulders, etc. At the end, he paused and said: "And , sir, I seem to hear them speaking French."

   "French?"

"Yes, sir, I don't speak French, and I didn't go to school, but I work in a pub and they say..." He went on to say something odd, not French, not English, more like something In a local dialect, "a French sailor said that, and another sailor got into a fight with him, and I later heard that it was a very profane and obscene remark."

   "I see," said Reiter. "Well, that's an answer." He put a gold coin in the servant's hand. "Anything else?"

   "I can't think of any more," said the servant regretfully. "I was terrified that night."

   "Think again," said Reiter. "Don't forget, one answer, one gold coin."

   The servant swallowed and was led down. Leight looked at the first officer, his eyes glowing: "Do you understand?"

   Chief Mate: "What, sir?"

"This servant is the real letter," said Leyte. "My good mate, my friend only said these few words in the letter to prevent him from being intercepted by the English or the French. In other words, this man's tongue is the real secret letter, and he told me everything my friends wanted to tell me."

   "I'm still a little unclear, sir."

For the first time in a year, Leyter laughed heartily: "The French are in London and they're involved," he glanced at the stationery: "The riot, but I think it's very There could be a restoration, I mean, the restoration of the rights that the king had, and Charles II was forced to reconcile with his subjects, but he never gave up his quest for kingship and his quest for the 'rebels'. Hatred, of course, is true of all kings, but of course his subjects are very clear about this, so his ministers and councillors not only did not allow him to have a standing army, but also did not allow him to have his own territory and money, The expenses of the royal family, not only cannot be drawn from the treasury, but can even be allocated after the confirmation of Congress. This is a shame for Charles II, but now," he took a deep breath: "I am afraid of London now. The world has changed."

   "You mean the French sent troops to help Charles II?"

"Yes," said Leuth, "these are French, and their coats are the royal blue of Louis XIV, so they are black in the dark and blue in the light, and their buttons are not flowers , it's the sun, the metal tassels are the tassels hanging down from the epaulettes..." The mate listened carefully, thinking constantly, "So what do you mean... God, do you mean the fleet?"

"France and Britain are separated by the sea, Louis XIV only has to use ships to send troops, and they..." Leiter looked at the first mate: "If they want to contain or even destroy us, they will inevitably form a combined fleet, but only in Before the official war against us, this fleet went up the Thames and all the way to London to assist Charles II in gaining real power, so that they would not have to worry about the British Parliament making peace with Holland while they fought—" he revealed With a sarcastic look: "After all, the British fleet can't even beat a merchant fleet. I think those MPs must have begun to hesitate long ago."

"Then!?" the first mate exclaimed, the British Parliament was safe because Charles II did not have an army of his own, but if Louis XIV was willing to take action, then Charles II should have obtained the rights that any king should have. It can almost be said to be bad news for the Netherlands, because Charles II can't negotiate with the Netherlands for any reason - the Netherlands can only give up its own colonies, shipping routes, etc., but if the alliance between the United Kingdom and France can achieve the desired goal , they can also carve up the Netherlands.

"No, we still have a chance!" Leiter jumped up from his chair. "Don't you think? The riot happened three days ago, and we haven't seen the shadow of the Combined Fleet on the sea, and from the French Calais or Dunkirk to London, and they have been stationed for these days, those fleets must be guaranteed sufficient supplies before they start, and they may still be in England, in a certain port, or in the bay!" He was in the small He waved his fist in his cabin: "Let me show them a little color, and let Charles II know that his ministers are not without reason to fear me!"

  ———

Charles II slept his best sleep since January 30, 1949, after his father was beheaded. When he woke up, he felt only refreshed and relieved. He stood up and with the help of his servants Putting on a silk dressing gown, he yawned at the window. Before breakfast, he took a shower in the small living room that was newly opened as a bathroom. This is also a fashion passed down from Paris, only today Before, the frequency of his bathing was not high, because bathing was an extremely expensive thing - but, haha, now he is the UK, and the UK is him, and he no longer needs to count the gold coins in his hand to live.

Charles II was soaked in the fragrant bath water and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. To this day, he still feels a little trance like in a dream, those things that are like heavy boulders on his body and heart. How could he be moved out so easily? Just for one night, he was a real king? A king who can issue decrees and build armies as he pleases without looking at anyone's face? A dictator who controls the fate of the entire country and its people? Thinking of this, he couldn't help but laugh.

His smile remained on his face until dinner, when he suddenly had an idea, "I want to go back to Whitehall Palace." He said: "Move the meal together, I want to watch the square to eat ."

The request was immediately complied with, but the Queen of Charles II didn't quite understand it: "Your Majesty," she asked gently, "isn't this room bad? We can change rooms, I'm afraid Whitehall Palace won't be able to sort them out. A suitable room."

"It's all right, it's just one morning," said Charles II gently, reaching out to stroke her bulging belly. "When I get back, my dear queen, wait for me with my son, but don't delay the meal. ."

The Queen    had to obey, and another reason was that she also guessed the intention of Charles II.

Whitehall Palace was partially destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1998, and there has been no money to repair it. They could have moved to Hampton Court Palace long ago, but Charles II did not agree for some reason, and then in The riot a few days ago, no, in the king's trial for the traitor, the Whitehall Palace was set on fire and completely destroyed, they moved to Hampton Court Palace, as for why Charles II dined in the ruins …

After the hustle and bustle of the servants, Charles II was finally able to take his seat in a small room facing the square at Whitehall Palace, his table filled with sumptuous food and looking out of the slanted window frame hidden by the drapery , you can see a huge torture platform, and this torture platform... It was exactly what Charles II planned in his mind as early as ten years ago.

When Charles I was executed, Charles II was still in Holland and he didn't witness the horrific scene with his own eyes, but now he can almost imagine it because the view from the square has overlapped with that of 48 years and the people gathered in the square , beaming with joy, perhaps, for them, it makes no difference whether to execute a king, a protector of the country, or a minister, a general, a thief, or a woman, as long as they are drenched in blood Just a corpse.

When Charles II came here, he was still so eager and looking forward to it, but he really saw the fanatical people, and the ministers who were once invincible in front of him, but are now in a state of embarrassment... He felt a little interested again. Stupid, but this lack of interest will not affect his appetite and the beginning of the plan.

   He started to eat, and the heads that were once incomparably noble were rolling off the torture platform one by one...

   (end of this chapter)