New Shun 1730

The coup that Liu Yu instigated in Amsterdam was essentially the dissatisfaction of all classes in the Netherlands with the oligarchs.

Because of their dissatisfaction with the oligarchs, all kinds of classes that usually had nothing in common cooperated with the coup and pushed William IV of the Orange family to power.

Letting B come to power because of dissatisfaction with A.

And letting B come to power because B promised reform.

These are completely different concepts.

Although the results may seem to be the same, B came to power.

But the difference inside is huge.

When Liu Yu was making trouble in Amsterdam, he talked about this issue with his people.

Given the current situation in the Netherlands, the sky is angry and the people are dissatisfied. The Orange family has accumulated prestige for two hundred years. As long as they raise their arms and put forward clear slogans and programs similar to the "equal distribution of land and exemption of grain" of the Dashun, how could there be a vacancy of forty years?

At that time, Count Bentinck and William IV also discussed this matter and came to the conclusion that the people should take the initiative to push them up, not take the initiative, not refuse, but also not make any promises.

Because once he makes a promise that satisfies the Dutch people, his position as the consul will be unstable.

In the coup a few years ago, as the biggest "beneficiary", William IV passively accepted it throughout the whole process, without taking the initiative to do anything or make any promises.

The propaganda was done by Liu Yu; the incitement was done by Liu Yu. William IV squatted in his manor in the northern province throughout the whole process, without a single promise to the Dutch people, and even did not take the initiative to do any conspiracy.

This kind of coup because of "dissatisfaction with A, and let B come to power" actually did not solve any contradictions, and it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.

France's victory over the Anglo-Dutch coalition and Dashun's march to Southeast Asia led to chaos in the Dutch financial market, which was at best a fuse.

The interior of the Netherlands is already a huge powder keg.

Taking Liu Yu as the demarcation point, we can compare whether the people's demands were met before and after William IV of Orange came to power.

From the perspective of the general demands of the Dutch people in the concept of community, what they expect is for the Netherlands to regain the glory of a superpower.

The regents cannot protect the security of the Netherlands, nor can they defend the honor of the Netherlands, let alone the spirit of fighting the British and French coalition forces.

The Orange family became famous for its military, and it also gained unlimited prestige in the Netherlands through its military.

So, now it seems that this demand has been achieved?

Not only was it not achieved, but the French invaded the Austrian Netherlands, leaving the southern gate of the Netherlands completely open. It was only a matter of time for France to invade the Netherlands.

Dismantling this community of the Dutch nation, and then looking at the actual use of the demands of different classes, what has William IV achieved in the past few years since he came to power?

Guild organizations hope to get rid of the oppression of regent oligarchs and financial capital, and hope that the Netherlands will fully return to the late Middle Ages. Because commercial freedom and guild organizations are incompatible. There are no guilds in free commerce; conversely, there is no commercial freedom in guilds that are closed to the outside world.

The Dutch guild organization has its own armed forces. When necessary, it can pull out a citizen army.

However, after William IV came to power, he did not vigorously support the guilds, nor did he suppress capital and return to the late Middle Ages.

William IV did not meet the demands of the guild organization. Because he decisively compromised with capital.

The farmers in Frisia hoped that after Orange came to power, he could integrate the centralization of the seven-province republic and change the tax system and tax rates.

Change the tax payment ratio set by each province fifty years ago, increase the inheritance tax and asset tax of oligarchs, financial capitalists, and bankers, and reduce the taxation of free farmers.

However, after William IV came to power, let alone whether he wanted to do it, even if he wanted to do it, he was powerless.

The Dutch province provided 57% of the government's fiscal revenue. How could the Dutch province change the tax rate and taxation rules without the nod?

If the change was forced, there would be no need for the Dashun to go to Southeast Asia to impact the Dutch economy.

When William III was elected as the lifelong ruling duke of his home province, a stock market crash broke out overnight. If William IV changed the tax, the collapse would be similar to the impact of the Dashun going to Southeast Asia.

William IV did not meet the demands of the free farmers of Frisia.

There is no doubt that the Netherlands is a country with a much higher urbanization rate than the Dashun.

Although the urbanization growth rate in the Netherlands has slowed down since the end of the Golden Age.

However, a low growth rate is not the same as a decline in urbanization.

The high level of urbanization makes the demand for food in urban citizens extremely urgent.

The fluctuation of food prices directly affects the lives of a large number of citizens in the Netherlands.

Dutch capitalists manipulate food prices. With the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession, Dutch merchants hoarded goods and sold them to the warring parties.

Whenever there is a war, food prices will definitely rise. This is inevitable and understandable.

However, it is beyond comprehension that big merchants hoarded goods, causing food prices to soar.

At the same time, the soaring food prices caused by the war rapidly widened the already large gap between the rich and the poor in the Netherlands.

On the one hand, the Netherlands has the largest citizen class in Europe, and the level of urbanization is indeed high.

On the other hand, the Netherlands still has a lot of nobles and manor owners left over from the Burgundian era. For example, William IV was almost the richest man in the Netherlands before he became the consul, because his family had a lot of manors and a large number of relatives died out, so he inherited a lot of manors.

These manors have made a lot of money in recent years.

How can they not make money when the prices of grain and meat rise?

So much so that some nobles in the Netherlands, under such circumstances, did not restrain themselves, seriously irritating the nerves of the middle and lower classes.

For example, the heirs of the Leni family, which existed in the Burgundian era, still wandered around after the outbreak of the war. When countries go to war, nobles from various countries are still relatives.

During the war, the heirs of the Leni family publicly stated, "I have six or seven motherlands. The Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Austria, Poland, Russia, and Hungary, which is close to my motherland. I am a citizen of the world."

His daily activities are to travel, play, play cards, conquer women, play ball, and write books in various European countries.

Relying on the family estate and the increase in food prices caused by the war, not only did they have a lot of fun, but they also wrote books to introduce their affluent life as "world citizens".

If you want to talk about this, it's actually normal. If you have money, what do you do if you don't spend it?

But, spend it if you want to spend it, enjoy it if you want to enjoy it, don't write a book to show off.

The people in the Netherlands here have begun to learn from Robin Hood, robbing houses and doing banditry. A large number of people have begun to eat potatoes every day, and they can't even eat bread.

After that, this group of estate owners told the Dutch people who were "bleeding for their motherland" that Austria, France, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire are all my motherlands, and it doesn't matter where I am. I play cards with the Duke of France today and date an Austrian lady tomorrow. Even if you fight your brains out, it doesn't prevent me from being a world citizen.

This is a bit of a death wish.

In peacetime, it's actually okay.

Now it's like this, groups of people are dragged to the battlefield and lined up to be shot. Broken by lead bullets, smashed by shells, stabbed each other with bayonets.

Shouting to fight for the motherland.

Then these nobles still strolled back and forth between the warring countries, and the upper class was still a scene of singing and dancing, and relatives visiting each other.

In fact, the common people were not so angry. Under normal circumstances, when they could still have enough food, they would only complain a few words at most.

Some people even stood up and said, when their ancestors bled for Burgundy, what were your ancestors doing? What are you jealous of now?

But the price of grain in the Netherlands has risen three times a day.

The urbanization rate in the Netherlands is high, and various factories have closed down in recent years. The wars have made the Dutch merchant shipping industry difficult to do. Wars have to recruit soldiers and pay taxes. In this case, the price of grain has risen, and the people's resentment is like the price of tulips in Amsterdam in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, rising steadily.

The Dutch citizen class hopes to lower grain prices and control speculators.

Has William IV done it in the past few years since he came to power?

To be honest, the rise in grain prices is indeed related to the outbreak of war. If the war had not broken out, it would not have risen to this extent.

But who made William IV think that the opportunity was great, Liu Yu dug a pit, and he jumped into it happily and excitedly?

The full-scale war and the involvement of the Netherlands were things that happened after William IV came to power.

William IV still did not do this. And it was after he came to power that grain prices began to rise.

In addition, there is the tax farming system in the Netherlands.

There is no need to say more about this.

Except for the tax farmers, no one is not opposed to the tax farming system.

When the French Revolution was going on, the tax farmers were really hated. It is okay to say that the people are mobs, because Lavoisier was executed. But why do the people hate the tax farmers so much?

Is there corruption in the tax farming system?

There is no corruption in the tax farming system, which is very clear.

In Dashun, for example, the court stipulated how much silver to collect per mu of land, and if more was collected, it was called apportionment, corruption, and embezzlement.

But in the Netherlands, as long as you paid the money and paid the tax, you could collect as much as you wanted, so there was no need for corruption and embezzlement.

It was legal and reasonable.

If you have the ability, you can also pay the tax. If you don't have the ability, what are you jealous of?

In addition to tax farming, there was a small group of people, the influencers of the Enlightenment.

Their dissatisfaction and demands, let alone their disrespect for William IV and their consortium oligarchs.

However, this small group of people was not yet a force to be reckoned with at this time, so they could be ignored for the time being.

However, although they were not the main force of fighting, riots, and rebellions, they were naturally in line with the instigators on the Dashun side.

The demands of the Enlightenment were even more outrageous.

Free trade, abolishing the monopoly of the East and West India Company, abolishing the consul system, creating new laws, nationalizing the land of the East and West India Company, increasing inheritance tax, increasing asset tax... all of these, any one of them would be fatal.

So, after William IV came to power, none of the people's dissatisfaction and demands were resolved or achieved.

The Dutch people did not cooperate with Dashun and France on their own initiative.

Rather, Liu Yu calculated the mentality of the Dutch people and regarded the Orange family as hope.

He did not consider whether the Orange family could really solve these problems after coming to power? He also did not consider which class of interests the Orange family represented.

Without considering anything, they just thought that the regent oligarchs were rotten to the core, so they all looked forward to a savior.

But now, the actions of the "savior" have finally made the people lose their last bit of hope under the stimulation of the Battle of Fontenoy and Dashun's expedition to Southeast Asia.

When there is no hope anymore, riots and rebellions are inevitable.