Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1559 Broken Hearted Negotiation ([-])

After finishing the fairly smooth talks with the people on the east coast, Van Boyningen and Tripp Jr. returned to the United Provinces embassy.

"Those people in the southern Netherlands would rather be ruled by the distant and declining Spaniards than the Protestants in the north, which caused a series of troubles." Returning to the luxuriously decorated living room, Conra De van Beuningen sat down in a chair and said this inexplicable remark.

Of course, although these words are a bit out of the blue, to be honest, they have always been in the hearts of many people in the United Province.The lowlanders (Catholics in the majority) living in the Southern Netherlands have always been opposed to the Protestant-dominated United Provinces in the north (Protestants account for about 55%, but they control most of the political, economic, and military power). Why did you catch a cold? Maybe you can find the reason from history: In the early years, the Southern Netherland was undoubtedly the economic center and financial center of Europe. Antwerp was the largest trading port in Europe. The daily torrent of funds was simply terrifying. , Let Amsterdam envy and hate at that time.

It's just that the poor rule of the Spaniards, the cruel squeeze, and the outbreak of financial crises have caused economic centers such as Antwerp and Genoa to lose their vitality and defeat, and finally let Amsterdam obtain the status of the European economic center , it has been nearly a hundred years.What's more, in the "Treaty of Westphalia" signed with Spain in 1648, the Dutch also explicitly demanded the cession of many lands including Flanders, Limburg, and Brabant (which were then Dutch occupation) and the closure of the Scheldt to foreign trade dealt a severe blow to the economy of the Southern Netherlands, wiping out the United Provinces' commercial rivals.

Since the Dutch did what the local residents of the Southern Netherlands call a "suffocating insult" and "paralyzed our business", how can they expect the local merchants, nobles, and citizens to return to their hearts? ?Therefore, they would rather still let the descendants of Charles V who was born in the city of Langent in the South Netherlands rule than let the United Provinces in the north rule, although their 17 lowland provinces were originally one.

Therefore, what Van Boyningen said was very unreasonable. He was speaking completely from the standpoint of the Dutch, without empathy.In fact, if he had been to the museum in the city of Louvain in the South Netherlands, he would have found an oil painting in the curator's private collection, which was Brussels on the afternoon of October 1555, 10, representing the 25 provinces of the Netherlands. He was called into the palace, and all the knights who had won the Order of the Golden Fleece, the three members of the Communist Party of the Netherlands, and all the senior nobles of the 17 provinces were present.The aging Charles V staggered into the hall with the support of the young Prince William of Orange, surrounded by his son Philip II, Charles' sister, Mary of the Netherlands Regent of Hungary.

At that time, Charles V was dying of illness and decided to pass on the throne to his son. With the support of the Prince of Orange, he gave a public speech in the hall. He talked about his love for the motherland and his 40 years in power. Finally, he begged everyone to forgive some of his actions, and begged everyone to be as loyal to Philip as they were to him-according to eyewitnesses, there was not a pair of dry eyes in the hall at that time.

Such a grand passing ceremony was held in Brussels, which itself shows the status and importance of the Southern Netherlands. Compared with cities like Antwerp and Bruges, Amsterdam is really far behind!The result now?The ten provinces of the Southern Netherlands have already lagged behind the Alliance of Seven Provinces in the north. Especially after the Scheldt River trade was closed, many merchants from the Southern Netherlands began to emigrate to the United Provinces due to the plummet of the local economy, which further exacerbated the The difference in wealth between the two sides made the people of the Southern Netherlands feel worse about the north.

Under such circumstances, if there are still Dutch people who want to unify the ten provinces of the Southern Netherlands and achieve the achievements of the 17 provinces of the lowlands, then they must be disregarding the reality. The Spanish ruled with disdain, but if the United Provinces were really allowed to rule the Southern Netherlands, there would also be severe indigestion.For this point, even Van Boyningen understands, so he is just talking about it at the moment.

However, the 10 provinces of the Southern Netherlands—of course, after part of the land was cut off by the Dutch in the "Treaty of Westphalia" and part of the land was cut off by the French in the "Treaty of Pyrenees", now Land in the 10 provinces of the Southern Netherlands has shrunk considerably - still a valuable asset.As early as the 12th century, Flanders and Brabant were important commercial centers in Northwestern Europe. Although they have declined, their foundations are still not to be underestimated: in Antwerp, Italian merchants who wholesale silk and other textiles can be seen everywhere; In Ghent and Bruges, there are still a large number of textile workshops importing semi-finished woolens from England for further processing and export, and the scale is still very large.

These cities, though in long, slow decline, still provide the Spanish government with a lucrative tax revenue stream, especially now that they have mortgaged some of these revenues in exchange for loans, which makes the Dutch very interested in the Southern Netherlands. The economic situation is better understood, so this makes many Dutch old-school figures who miss the 16 provinces of the lowlands in the early 17th century more and more want to annex the Southern Netherlands, but this is so difficult.

Now the people of the League of Seven Provinces can also see clearly that with France as a powerful enemy, it is better to keep everything as it is.That is to say, it would be ideal to let the remaining part of the Southern Netherlands (currently occupied by the French army with seven cities and many villages and towns) become a buffer zone between the United Provinces and France. People don't catch a cold, but they are more afraid of French rule. After all, once Louis XIV occupies this place, it is impossible for the Southern Netherland to maintain the independence and freedom as the reason, and taxation will be higher than usual. It is much higher, which is unacceptable to them - after the signing of the "Pyrenees Peace Treaty" in 1659, many people in the southern Netherlands can see the fate of local residents, so they firmly support the rule of King Carlos of Spain and oppose The occupation of the highly centralized French Kingdom, but Spain was too disappointing and suffered a crushing defeat, so it could only do nothing.

"Conrad, but the situation has changed now. If we annexed the Southern Netherlands, it would be a disaster. The timing is completely wrong. It will only make them rise up against us."Marco Tripp On the opposite side of Gen, he said solemnly: "The key to the problem now is that the French cannot get the important towns in the southern Netherlands such as Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and Mons, so that they can drive straight into our country. For this reason, even if you pay some price in other aspects, this is the plan formulated by Hague."

The meaning of Marco Tripp has been made very clear. The French cannot continue to expand in the wealthy Southern Netherlands. This not only involves business and money issues (once Louis formally annexes the Southern Netherlands, it may re-opening of trade on the Scheldt, which would compete fiercely with the Dutch economy), and also the question of whether French land directly borders the United Provinces.To put it more bluntly, as long as there is Spain between the two countries, unless the French declare war on Spain together, they will not be able to enter the territory of the Alliance of Seven Northern Provinces through the more convenient 10 provinces of the Southern Netherlands. Being able to send troops from other places in the northeast, detour around the moral will area, and attack the United Provinces in a detour will undoubtedly buy enough time for the defense of the United Provinces. .

Therefore, the southern Netherlands is the core interest for the Dutch. If the French army hadn't performed too well in the war this time (there were few enemies), the Dutch would not recognize France with their noses. The occupation of Lille, Charleroi, Tournai, Armentières and other southern Dutch cities.

Van Beuningen also agrees with Tripp Jr.'s words.However, there is a saying on the east coast that "you need to be strong to strike iron." If the United Province wants to protect itself from the threat of the French, it must not ignore the construction of its own defense facilities and army.In fact, the Dutch have always neglected this aspect, that is, they have not invested much money in the construction of the army for decades, and even the sea fleet, if it is not stimulated by the failure of the Anglo-Dutch war with the British If this is the case, it will not directly spend 1200 million dong for reconstruction like this time.

Although the Dutch have gradually increased their investment in the army since 1667, and recently placed a large order of military funds to the east bank to arm the militia, but due to the short period of time, everything has not produced positive results. .Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to resist the [-] troops sent by the Archbishop of Münster who prefers fighting to prayer, so that the French, who were still allies, urgently dispatched [-] soldiers. The German mercenaries were defeated, which shows the rotten strength of the Dutch army.

At present, the biggest reliance of the Dutch is probably the three provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland, and Zeeland built in the south, as well as the "commons"-actually the ninth provincial administrative region of the United Province, which includes the "West" The southern Netherland towns ceded by Spain in the Trafalian Peace Treaty and the land acquired by the Dutch in the German region for a century, the population is also quite large, and the eighth provincial administrative region of the United Province is the northern part of Germany. The Lent area, which is also a long and slow erosion of land from Germany - has a large number of forts and fortresses.

These fortresses were built by the Dutch and also by the local Spaniards. The earliest can be traced back to the end of the 16th century, and it has been nearly 100 years since then.These forts built with large stones and bricks cost a lot of money, and they are naturally extremely strong, and the three-level council in The Hague allocates huge sums of money every year to maintain and repair them (the Dutch province will bear about one-third of these costs. [-]) is the main line of defense of the United Provinces against the invasion of southern enemies.

In the past two years, as Louis XIV led the army to attack the Southern Netherland, the Dutch, who felt a little bit sad about the death of a rabbit, once again allocated funds to repair and strengthen these fortresses, which can be described as impenetrable.The only worry now is that the soldiers stationed in these fortresses are too scumbag-the third-level council in The Hague has asked the southern cities and towns to send militiamen to guard them, just in case, because once these fortresses are lost, the Dutch will They can only retreat to the defense line of the Ijssel River behind, which also means that the situation has reached a very dangerous moment.

"It's probably not too much of a problem for Spain to sell some of the interests of Franche-Comté and other places to France to temporarily satisfy their appetite. Now it depends on how the people on the east coast cooperate. If they are willing to show us goodwill, then This matter can be settled, although the possibility of a new war breaking out in a few years may not be completely ruled out." Van Boyningen sighed and said: "The French are always worry-free. , Their king's ambition is too great, this has threatened the freedom of the United Provinces, it cannot be tolerated!"

"The people on the east bank should cooperate with our mediation actions." Marco Tripp said this with confidence, without any doubts.This may be because after coming to the east bank, he threw a big bait to the people on the east bank-once the people on the east bank agree to reach a peace agreement with France in Aachen according to the wishes of the Dutch, then the Netherlands, France All the weapons and equipment needed for the militia refitting in the four provinces of Risland, Groningen, Drenthe, and Oberijssel will be imported from the east coast. The Dayuhe Armory and the Northern Arsenal are jealous; of course, if the people on the east coast do not agree to negotiate a peace with the French, then this business will naturally fail, and the Dutch will turn to the English for help in production, which is almost certain things.

And once the representatives of the three parties signed the peace treaty in Aachen, the Dutch would let go of one of their concerns, and Louis XIV would not be able to rise up suddenly.However, the Dutch now vaguely understand that Louis XIV's real expansion target is still the lowlands, which can be seen from their insistence on claiming the interests of the Southern Netherlands and abandoning Franche-Comté.Then, the United Provinces must be prepared. In addition to spending money to call on friends, it is also necessary to arm their own troops (in history, when the Prince of Orange came to power to resist France, the United Provinces spent a lot of money on the war against France. The expenditure has exceeded 1 million dong, which is about more than 3300 million silver dollars on the east coast, which is very amazing). After all, outsiders are unreliable, and it is better for the army to be directly in hand-well, in order to deal with the French, the army is not doing anything. If it is too small, at least 3 people must be mobilized in the first phase. Only in this way can we maintain a little confidence in the face of the threat of the French.

(End of this chapter)