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  Chapter 942 938【Change in England and France】

  Historically, the title of the Royal Navy was bestowed by Charles II.

   Then why no Royal Army?

  Because Charles II compromised with the parliament, except for the King's Guard, the royal family gave up the military power of the rest of the army.

  In this time and space, Britain has the Royal Army!

  After a little rectification of financial problems, Charles II began to reorganize the army.

  The army was renamed the Royal Army and organized into the Arakan Legion, the English Legion, the Scottish Legion and the Irish Legion. Most of the New Model Army formed by Cromwell was disbanded, except for the Coldstream Guards to defend London. The size of the army is 25,000 people.

  The navy was renamed the Royal Navy, and the generals of the fleet returned home one after another, kneeling before the king and swearing allegiance. The king's younger brother, James, was recalled to England, made a duke, and served as the supreme commander of the Royal Navy.

   In this regard, Charles II took control of the army.

   Legislative power still belongs to Parliament, but in the hands of the House of Lords, and the House of Lords are all traditional nobles. The squires and the bourgeoisie in the House of Commons can only discuss the amendment of local regulations. Their greatest power is to control the tax system (except customs duties).

  Charles II seems to have centralized power, but he has not completely centralized power. Taxation has always been stuck by the House of Commons.

  Before, Duke James had been serving as a soldier in France. He is now returning to the United Kingdom as the commander-in-chief of the navy, and immediately began to investigate naval problems.

  James discovered that out of the 900,000-pound naval budget last year, 300,000 pounds were missing, and no one knew where it was spent. Corruption in the navy is serious, ships are dilapidated and in disrepair, soldiers are owed half a year in pay, and morale is extremely low.

How to do?

   Find a Dutch businessman to issue bonds and loans again!

  The Dutch stock market crashed a few years ago. Although it has barely recovered, investors have long lost confidence in the stock market. Due to the impact of China, the Dutch East India Company can only barely keep its capital (the dividends of the major shareholders are still being paid). The Dutch West India Company has been losing money for more than 20 years.

  Dutch businessmen have no good investment goals. Charles II is now issuing bonds and loans. This is a high-quality customer!

  Charles II sent people to the Netherlands to issue bonds. In just two months, Dutch merchants subscribed for 500,000 pounds. Then, several major royal shipyards in the UK were operating at full capacity, some were used to repair old warships, and some were used to build new warships.

  The navy is rectifying, and the royal school has not yet opened, but Charles II can't wait.

  Although the king regained the right to tax duties, the tax officials are all members of the House of Commons, and corruption is extremely serious. He immediately issued an order to let the charity secondary schools across the country, each school send one of its best graduates to London.

  Universities in Britain at this time are all church schools.

  The rest are charity schools. Charity primary schools do not teach Latin, and they work for school managers after graduation. The Charity Middle School has to teach Latin, and the nobles are cultivating ruling power for themselves, and the school directors are mainly traditional nobles, which have nothing to do with the emerging classes in the House of Commons.

  Two months later, more than 20 graduates of Charity Middle School gathered at Hampton Court Palace by the River Thames.

  These graduates are very excited. They are all the children of the common people, and the best come from the poor nobles. Now that he is personally summoned by the king, he must have a bright future in the future.

  Charles II and the middle school graduates sat around a long table.

   Dishes are constantly being served, they have never seen them before, and the tableware includes spoons, knives and forks, and unknown small wooden sticks.

I saw Charles II picking up chopsticks and saying to the graduates: "The tableware in Britain is too simple. France uses knives and forks, but England only has spoons. I went to far away China, and the Chinese emperor ate with chopsticks and spoons. Now, I will teach you dining etiquette. Use a spoon to drink soup, use a fork if you can use a fork for small pieces of food. If you can’t use a fork, you can use chopsticks to hold it. For large pieces of meat, use a fork to hold down, and then use a knife to cut open."

  These graduates studied very seriously, and they learned knives and forks very quickly, but chopsticks were a little troublesome.

   In addition, there are only three prongs at this time.

  After learning table manners, Charles II said: "Let's introduce ourselves and get to know each other, starting from my left hand."

  A teenager stood up: "My name is John Joseph, from Meadows Middle School, nice to meet you all."

   "Very good," Charles II took the lead in applauding, "Welcome, John!"

  Hearing everyone's applause, the young man was very excited. He had never received such a courtesy. He thought that Charles II was the wisest king.

   Graduates reported their names one after another, and finally one stood up and said, "My name is Isaac Newton, from Grantham Secondary School."

  The aristocrats run charitable schools and like to use the royal family’s signboard. The full name of the school Newton attended is “Grantham King’s School”, which is often translated as “Jinges Royal High School”. In fact, it has nothing to do with the king and the royal family.

  Newton lost his father when he was young, and his mother remarried to a country pastor. He lived with his grandmother when he was young, and threatened to burn his mother and stepfather together with the house.

   Before graduating from middle school, his mother was widowed again, so she called him back to farm.

  The headmaster liked Newton, and personally persuaded Newton to complete his studies, and gave Newton's mother some financial assistance. When Newton was studying, he stayed at the pharmacist's house and fell in love with the pharmacist's daughter.

  After graduating from middle school, he planned to study at Cambridge University, and the principal even gave him a letter of introduction. Unexpectedly, the king made an order, and the headmaster felt that he had a bright future, so he sent Newton to London instead of going to the poor Cambridge University.

Charles II said to the teenagers: "You are all the best graduates from middle schools in various places. I hope that you will be loyal to the royal family and make contributions to the country. Of course, I will also reuse you and canonize you as nobles in the future. Are you willing to pledge allegiance to me?"

   Including Newton, the teenagers left the table one after another, kneeling in front of Charles II to swear allegiance.

"Very good," Charles II was very satisfied with this, and said immediately, "In order to avoid the dissatisfaction of the House of Commons, I cannot directly give you high-level official positions, nor can I make you all official. Half of you will go to the major ports, As an ordinary tax collector, you can be promoted in two or three years at most. The remaining half will be my court servants, and I will appoint different official positions as appropriate in the future according to your performance."

   "Swear allegiance to His Majesty to the death!" The teenagers shouted.

  When Charles II was in China, he repeatedly studied the original "Datong Collection", and was also proficient in "historical masterpieces" such as "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin".

  At this time, it is equivalent to Zhu Houzhao accepting the "adopted son", or the emperor personally presided over the palace examination, bypassing the old and new nobles, and cultivating his core strength.

  Newton was assigned to a port as a tax officer, and he was an errand runner at the bottom. As for whether to continue to do research in the future, it depends on him, this is not a nerd.

  Historically, he was transferred to the Royal Mint, not only taking over a mess, but also a thankless job. In the end, he was just like Sherlock Holmes, destroying the largest counterfeit money gang in Britain, and was promoted to the director of the Royal Mint for his meritorious service.

   After lunch and taking a break, Charles II smiled and said, "Come on, I'll teach you how to ride a horse."

  The happy king is the happy king after all, and when it's time to have fun, we still have to have fun. By the way, get closer to the personal relationship with these teenagers.

  It was the first time for Newton to ride a horse. Under the guidance of the royal guards, he could trot in half an hour. He pulled the reins and galloped freely, looked at Charles II in front of him, and secretly vowed to share his majesty's worries.

   Far away in Paris, Prime Minister Mazarin was seriously ill, and Minister of Finance Nicolas Fouquet came to power.

  Louis XIV, who seemed inconsequential, quietly recruited the court guards when Mazarin was seriously ill, and let his consultant Colbert secretly investigate Fouquet.

  Mazarin felt a little bad, he was afraid of being liquidated after his death. During a meeting, Mazarin took Louis XIV's hand and acted like a loyal minister: "Your Majesty, after I die, you must be in charge, don't appoint a prime minister, and firmly hold power in your hands. "

  Louis XIV said: "I will appoint a prime minister, please recommend a candidate."

  Mazarin shook his head: "There is no candidate, and the power of France will be concentrated in Your Majesty."

   In March, Mazarin died of illness.

  Louis XIV immediately reorganized the Musketeers and took control of other palace guards. After a court meeting, Fouquet, the powerful chancellor of the exchequer, was caught by musketeers and imprisoned on charges of embezzling huge sums of public funds.

  Colbert, who led the team to China, served as the new chancellor of the exchequer.

   Then, Louis XIV left the Minister of War in the palace for a night of secret talks, and completely controlled the national army.

   A few days later, Louis XIV found Queen Mother Anne: "Mother, you are a devout believer, please go to the monastery to serve God."

   Queen Mother Anne was shocked: "What did you say?"

  Louis XIV repeats again: "Go mother and serve God."

   "You did this to me!" Queen Mother Anne was furious.

  Louis XIV said: "Those ministers you appointed, the musketeers are arresting, I think someone must go to prison."

   This is the removal of Queen Mother Anne's confidants.

  Queen Anne still refused to go to the monastery. Louis XIV was a little impatient, and called the court guards and said: "My mother is very pious, and she swears to serve God for the rest of her life. You **** her to the monastery."

   "Queen Mother, please." The guards surrounded her.

  The Queen Mother Anne was almost dragged away, accompanied by only two maids who were responsible for taking care of her future daily life.

  The position of prime minister in France is gone, and no longer will appoint a prime minister in the future. The king directly issues orders to the ministers. France has entered the peak moment of monarchy centralization.

  At the same time, King Charles II of England also began a semi-centralized rule, and his efforts were also aimed at the centralization of the monarchy.

  Britain and France, the political situation changed suddenly, and they announced their marriage.

   Except for the joy of the Portuguese, the surrounding countries are all facing enemies. The King of Spain even mobilized a large number of troops on the border, and at the same time let the fleet cruise around the clock, for fear that Britain and France would suddenly attack together.

  (end of this chapter)