Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1558 Broken Hearted Negotiation ([-])

"The Kingdom of Spain doesn't have much choice." Van Boyningen's words were a little tough, which surprised Mo San slightly, and he continued: "They haven't ended the war with the Portuguese yet, this is really a delay, maybe They also imagined that they could make the last effort to conquer Portugal. I heard that you sold a lot of weapons and equipment to the Castilian Legion? But unfortunately, our people have seen the training of those soldiers. Professionalism, morale is even lower, because the arrears of military salaries generally exceed ten months. It is unrealistic to expect such an army to win the battle, unless the Spaniards disband the useless Castilian Legion, and then use If the saved military expenditure is transferred to hire your country’s army, then there may still be a slight chance of victory. It’s too difficult to mess around like this now, and instead put yourself in a passive situation..."

What Van Boyningen said made Mo San slightly lost in thought.Indeed, the Spanish army is so bad!After the collapse of the most elite Flemish Army, the Spanish Army has not slowed down. Except for the old king's illegitimate son Don Juan, who once led the Western and Austrian Allied Forces to a small victory over the French, the rest were all Fierce defeat and fiasco, so that in the end they lost the courage to fight in the field - this time Louis XIV led the army to attack the Southern Netherland, the Spanish army basically retreated and defended the city, and did not dare to go out of the city to fight in the field, although This seems to have nothing to do with their military strength being at a disadvantage.

This world has always been realistic, the Spaniards are so weak (the Castilians who have always been pampered are responsible for this), and the finances are particularly difficult, so you can’t blame others for telling you what to do and not giving you a chance to choose.Isn't the reason why the Dutch can ask you the Spaniards to "cooperate" with the negotiation process because they have your pocketbook?It can be said that in terms of influence on the Spanish court, the United Provinces may be higher than the East Bank, because they are close and powerful, and they are also Spain's largest creditors, compared to the East Bank, which has always given Spain an outrageous and warlike impression. Much stronger.

Mo San felt that the possibility of the Dutch urging Spain to agree to their plan was not small, and the key to the current problem was whether the French and the people on the east coast would agree.Among them, the French have been negotiating with the Netherlands for a long time before, and the communication between the two parties must be very frequent. The Dutch should be quite sure to persuade Louis XIV. The main problem now is that the people on the east coast have not signed the peace treaty. If the time is prolonged like that, how do you know if the minds of the French will change?These are hard things to say.

"Let's put it this way, Conrad." Mo San thought for a while, and then said carefully: "Our country has joined this war for a long time, and now it has spent more than 200 million yuan in war expenses. It is a heavy burden for the French Navy, and we certainly want to get rid of it. And I do not deny that our country's trade lines are now more and more exposed to the threat of the French Navy, which is lost every year. There should be a lot of trade profits. But we will never make peace with the French without principle because of the above-mentioned reasons. I will definitely not agree to this, and the highest authority in our country will definitely not approve it. Is it plausible to force the French to open up the commodity market? Can Louis XIV agree? Before that, he imposed high tariffs on goods from our country."

"If your country returns Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, and Martinique roughly and completely, I think the French will give you a relatively fair tariff rate. After all, many of the goods you export to France are French. What is needed, it makes everything a lot easier.” This time Van Boyningen did not speak, and Marco Tripp, who was sitting on the side, took over the conversation, only to hear him say again: “This is also true for the French. Favorable, because they don't really need overseas colonies. In fact, the trade volume between Martinique, Guadeloupe and ports such as Bordeaux, Brest, and La Rochelle is quite large every year, which is worth Louis XIV's expense The price redeems it."

In fact, Marco Tripp didn’t say anything, but you can understand it after thinking about it a little bit. That is the five-year construction plan of 1664 heavy warships for the Navy, which was established by the French in 1665 and started in 65. More than half of the meeting has been completed-this was still affected by the war, which caused the price of imported timber to rise sharply, otherwise the construction plan would have been completed-they invested huge sums of money in building the navy, naturally not for fun, but for real to serve the interests of France.And besides defeating the navies of hostile countries, the biggest task of this kind of interest is probably to maintain France's overseas expansion, right?Therefore, the two islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, which together have more than 500 French white colonists, are really inseparable from the French (while the relatively small population of St. Lucia and French St. Domingo is not necessarily the case), so there is what Little Tripp said just now-the French really value it there, although they will not agree to the [-] Wanliver came to redeem it, but it is very possible to open up the market for some commodities and let the people on the east coast earn some money, and this may be better for the people on the east coast than taking money directly, provided that The French did not change their minds behind.

"If France keeps its promise, we are of course willing to hand over some islands to it and sign the peace agreement. Of course, this needs to be approved by our government first." After thinking for a while, Mo San gave an ambiguous answer. It is true that the higher-ups need to negotiate carefully. There is nothing wrong with this.

……

And while the Dutch and the people on the east coast were unifying their opinions in the Oriental Port, in Paris, France, in the Old Continent, King Louis XIV of France was also discussing the next move with his close ministers.

"Your Majesty, financial preparations are not difficult. At present, our treasury is functioning well and has not yet experienced a deficit. But I have to remind you that if you still plan to maintain a large-scale navy and army, then we may need to modify the Tax rate, that is, to restore the tax rate in 1660 and before, otherwise our finances will not be able to run healthily for a long time. You know, because of the huge military expenditure, we have been running a fiscal deficit for several years. It’s not bankrupt, it’s just because the national treasury had a huge surplus.” Colbert was really the best steward of Louis XIV, he was clear about these matters, and he really gave Louis XIV great financial support. big help.It is no wonder that the former Prime Minister Mazaran told Louis that he owed Louis a lot before his death, but the recommendation and promotion of Colbert was enough to make up for everything. This is indeed a very capable person.

"The national treasury must be rectified, and some movable and immovable properties that are not easy to sell must be disposed of as soon as possible, especially those confiscated castles and manors. It doesn't matter if the auction price is lower, the important thing is to realize it as soon as possible. We need money very much. It’s very unfriendly, I need to conquer this country, but it needs a lot of money.” Louis XIV, who was in his youth, was very ambitious at the moment, although he failed to annex the entire Southern Netherlands and France because of the Dutch’s obstruction. Conte, but it doesn't matter, there are still opportunities.

The only mistake he made during this period was probably that he should not listen to the "persuasion" of Vienna, wait for the death of King Carlos of Spain who was seriously ill and bedridden, and then successfully take over the above two regions-maybe he can also sweep Luxembourg, Trasbourg etc.But it turns out that it’s not good to be cheap. The young King Carlos has definitely recovered, which disappointed Louis XIV. However, he made the decision to cease fire at the beginning, and no one can blame others. This is a bitter fruit. I can only swallow it by myself.Who made it so frightening that the war expenditure was like running water at that time?Both himself and Colbert felt that it would be more cost-effective to wait for Carlos' death before dividing up Spain's inheritance with Leopold I.

It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world.If I had known that things would develop like this, I would have continued to maintain a large-scale army stationed in Franche-Comté and the Southern Netherlands even if I was trying to collect taxes in the country.Unlike now, the Dutch have helped the Bishop of Münster re-arm the 5000 army, and the 2 people from Brandenburg-Prussia can board the ship at any time. Sweden should also be able to send more than [-] people. Including the troops from Switzerland, Luxembourg, Lorraine, England and other places, the total number is estimated to be close to [-].

Although the combat effectiveness of these armies is very underestimated by Louis XIV, once the war is protracted, how much will the Kingdom of France cost?I'm afraid it will be a staggering number!Therefore, Louis XIV has indeed lost his best chance, that is, when the French army marched forward a year ago, they took all of the Southern Netherlands and Franche-Comté with almost no strong resistance.At that time, everyone was caught off guard. If Louis had been determined not to back down, then even if the Dutch gathered a group of people to declare war, the French could still hide comfortably in Mons, Brussels, Ostend, etc. built by the Spaniards. In the strong fortress, wait for the coalition forces to come and nibble one by one. If this lasts for a long time, maybe they can launch a defensive counterattack and defeat the coalition forces.It's a pity that this opportunity was easily let go by Louis XIV. Now if we want to regain the above-mentioned areas, the difficulty will increase a lot, and the cost will also increase a lot, which is not worth it.

"Unqualified officials in the Ministry of Finance should be replaced without hesitation. All vacant offices in the palace should also be abolished as much as possible, including my secretary of state. I remember that I have more than 20 such secretaries. In fact, there are too many , Just keep the most capable three or four people for me, and all the others will be dismissed. The servants and bodyguards will also be handled in the same way. The accounts of the court and government procurement expenses must be clear and checked at any time. These can effectively reduce expenditures. " Of course, Louis XIV understood how huge his court expenditure is now, so he tried hard to cut some of it, but it was obviously not enough, so he said: "Increase tariffs on goods imported from the Netherlands, and some domestic subsidies Also properly suspended (before Louis reduced the tax burden on early marriages and rewarded families with 10+ children 1000 livres, families with 20+ children 2000 livres, etc.), tax arrears between 1647-1658 , There will be no exemptions for qualified areas, but exemptions for areas that are really difficult. Is there anything else that needs to be added, my Minister of Finance?"

"Your Majesty, you are really a benevolent monarch." Colbert said half-heartedly and half nonsense: "You have pointed out many ways to reduce government expenditures, but I have to point out that the above-mentioned actions may only make our finances The system is barely maintained, but if the war is rekindled or a larger-scale war is launched, these are far from enough. We must raise the tax rate again, especially the tax rate of the two main taxes, the Ding tax and the salt tax ( Nobles and priests are exempt from taxation), otherwise we will encounter a great crisis. Of course, the nationwide tax inspection must also be carried out, and the rewards and personal safety guarantees for whistleblowers must be strengthened, so that we can collect more A lot of money."

"That's right, let's do that. For now, let's maintain the previous tax rate for the time being. If there is a major change in the situation, we will adjust the tax rate back to the level of 1660." Louis XIV finally made a decision, and then he asked again : "How does the pagan country in the New World respond? What do you think of the Dutch proposal to open the commodity market to them?"

"Your Majesty, in fact, this is not a bad deal. It is better than sending a large number of navy and army to venture deep into the Caribbean Sea to fight a battle with an unknown future, right? Besides, we have nothing to do with this country. Enmity, although they have attacked our coast, it is nothing. As long as Your Majesty's main target is still the lowland provinces, the peace with the Spaniards and the east coast should be completed as soon as possible. We need to reduce the enemy at this stage, you I understand, my wise and wise king.” Colbert, as Louis XIV’s confidant, of course knew where his lord’s primary target of conquest was, not Germany, but the Netherlands, so he quickly gave the above suggestion , Persuading Louis XIV to adjust foreign policy as soon as possible and deal with any emergencies.

"Your suggestion is correct, and I will seriously consider it." Louis XIV frowned, and then said solemnly: "Although the pagan country in the New World gave me a bad impression, our current primary goal is The United Provinces, let them go this time, and we will settle the accounts together later. For now, our top priority is still to continue to implement the conquest plan for the United Provinces, which is the top priority."

(End of this chapter)