Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1610 France's Response

Louis XIV is 33 years old this year and is a famous monarch of a great country in Europe, but he still likes to dance at the ballet like a chasing boy.Even his invincible armies continued to honor it in the field, without interrupting his constant passion for entertainment and the pursuit of refinement and beautification of Paris.But today, after a dance and a play, he changed his habits and decided he would never dance in public again.

What prompted his decision was a tragedy called "Brittanicus," in which a verse goes: "He was good at galloping down the racetrack, winning prizes in disgraceful contests, Let the people of Rome watch the commentary. This is his peculiar virtue, and his whole ambition." Louis XIV was so shocked by these verses that he decided not to make such public appearances in the future.

"Your Majesty, you don't need to be so upset. As the monarch of a country with glorious traditions, what is more worthy of boast than to let the old dilapidated port be surrounded by beautiful buildings? Look at Dunkirk, it used to be so The smell is not smelly, but now the environment is beautiful and the defense is very strong. The port is even more prosperous, with ships all over and sailors gathering, and can accommodate more than 60 giant ships at the same time. The immigrants have received your Majesty's funding and blessings. These ports set sail for the Americas, the East Indies, and the coast of Africa to expand territories, develop trade, and bring great wealth to the country. All this was achieved in France, under your majesty's protection, otherwise it would be impossible to talk about. "A favorite minister saw that Louis XIV was in a bad mood, so he immediately stepped forward to flatter him.

"Your Majesty, your noble reputation is circulated in the European courts, and your majesty is feared. Many countries have learned of your desire for the Lowlands, but they have all taken a silent attitude. The German Emperor is busy dealing with it. The Hungarian rebellion within the empire turned to you, Sweden was shocked by the wealth and strength of France, the weak Spain was always hesitant to choose whether to be an enemy of you, and England was played and applauded by the wise you Among them. Such a feat, such a great achievement, is the most outstanding quality of a monarch, so you don't have to be discouraged." Another favorite minister stood up, talking while watching the first one rush out to speak The sycophant, secretly envious and jealous.

"Ahem, Your Majesty, let's talk about the army's military expenditure." After getting into a luxuriously decorated, spacious and comfortable large carriage, the Minister of War, Deloit, saw that the flatterers who were good at flattery were getting less and less satisfied. Like the words, he couldn't help but change the subject aloud: "The navy has received a huge investment of more than 5000 million livres over the years, and its strength is already extraordinary. Moreover, once they start a war with the United Provinces in the future, they will also be able to dispatch at least 30 ships carrying more than 50 heavy-duty ships. Large ships with naval guns, and small and medium-sized ships numbering more than 100. This sounds good, but if you consider the strong sea power of the Dutch, and the likes of Michel De Ruyter, Cornelis De Witt ( With experienced admirals like the younger brother of John DeWitt, speaker of the third-level parliament, our navy does not have much chance of winning. Even if the Eastern Fleet and the Western Fleet are combined, the result will not change much. So , the key to victory is still in the Army, but it requires adequate funding.”

To be honest, the French have spent a lot of money these years.Louis XIV spent a huge amount of money on expanding the Palace of Versailles and repairing the Louvre, no less than 4000 million livres (historically, after the completion of the Palace of Versailles in 1690, Louis XIV spent a lot of money on buildings, furniture, decorations, gardens, etc. over 5000 million livres); the continuous rebuilding of the navy over the years cost [-] million livres, more than three times what the Dutch spent on rearranging their fleet during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, but considering the large Waste, corruption, and losses due to design and construction problems, it is questionable how much this money will actually be used for.

Then there is the huge cost of war!As we all know, the annual fiscal revenue of the French Kingdom of 1.2 million livres is not enough to support a large-scale army for a long-term campaign. After all, it is impossible to use all the money to support the army. The French family has a big business, and other expenses are also quite large— ——For example, in 1664, Colbert counted 45780 judges and treasurers in the country, who needed to spend 844 million livres a year in salaries, but he believed that most of them were redundant—there was a lot of money that could be used to support the army of.It may be sustainable in normal times, but once a large-scale war breaks out, the financial aspect will immediately be unable to make ends meet. The reason why it is still able to support it is mainly because Colbert has collected a lot of money since he came to power. It's nothing more than a businessman's property, but it's just sitting on the mountain, and using a little less.

Now, while Louis XIV continued to build large-scale construction projects, he still insisted on using troops in the lowland areas, which naturally cost a lot of money.After much deliberation, the only way for the French other than to continue to search is to sell their officials.Let’s take the above-mentioned as many as 1.87 judges and financial officers as an example. Colbert sold most of the positions here, and brought Louis XIV a huge amount of [-] million livres, which has strongly supported the government for many years. A strong image of France's conquests.What’s more, Colbert even found a professional to analyze and calculate that the official positions and titles available for sale in France—including government, royal family and military officials—are worth nearly [-] million livres, which is amazing and enough to Long time to back the French splurge, if they've decided to sell it all.

Of course, as the finance director of the Kingdom of France and the chief steward of Louis XIV, although Colbert brought a large sum of money to his king, he has always strongly opposed France's involvement in more wars of.Moreover, he insisted that the direction of the expansion of the Kingdom of France should not be in the lowlands, but in Franche-Comté, Lorraine, and the Italian peninsula in the southeast.And for many years, he has been criticizing French King Louis XIV for launching wars just because he longed for praise and honor. He privately believes that this is a sick mentality, especially when he searched and suppressed merchants and nobles in the country in order to start a war. , the wealth of the church so much so that it aroused a huge wave of opposition.And France's enemies also saw its weakness from this, so they became stronger and stronger, unwilling to bow down to France easily, resulting in great losses for both sides in the end.

But Colbert's words obviously did not make Louis change course. In fact, Louis XIV no longer particularly trusted him, which can be seen from the fact that he promoted some upstarts in many departments to balance Colbert's influence. This king is very good at how to govern, and he is extremely thirsty for honor. Therefore, it is difficult to avoid the war against the Netherlands this time. I believe that European monarchs are not stupid, and they can feel some atmosphere more or less.

"The military expenditure of the army is supplied by the national treasury. If it is insufficient—I mean if—then some special taxes will be temporarily levied in the country to maintain it." After thinking for a while, Louis XIV said: "In short, the supplies and military pay will definitely be paid. It is very sufficient, which requires our troops to maintain considerable military discipline after departure, not to rob at random, let alone kill casually, so as not to arouse greater resistance from the lowlanders."

After hearing the words, Luwa settled down in his heart, and it would be easy to deal with what Louis said.With the national strength of France, as long as the tax is raised a little—no, in fact, it is not an increase in the tax rate, but a return to the tax level of Mazaran’s time in power—it is not a pressure to raise an army of 10 to 20 people.And with so many troops, no matter what, they could destroy the vulnerable United Provinces and completely merge them into the territory of the Kingdom of France.

"The army of the United Provinces is terrible. They have no other means, they can win England, Sweden, Spain, Prussia, Münster, Switzerland and other countries to drive them. Now England has secretly formed an alliance with us, and Sweden has also been Successfully provoked hatred against the Dutch, and Spain would never dare to be an enemy of us, so only Prussia, Münster, and Sweden dare to support the Netherlands." Louis XIV said: "Maybe there are still There are people from the east coast, and they have always been the traditional allies of the Dutch. However, the number and combat effectiveness of their army are just legends, and it does not make people feel much worried. However, their naval fleet is quite effective..."

Speaking of this, Louis XIV's face became a little gloomy again.He still remembers that when a large number of warships from the east coast gathered in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the unformed French navy was forced to hide in Dunkirk and Toulon, not daring to fight, and let the warships of the east coast navy wantonly rob many cities along the French North Sea coast. It's also very embarrassing.But this time, the French felt that if they encountered the main force of the East Coast Navy again, they would not be as embarrassed as they were last time. The two large fleets that spent huge sums of money to build and possess many heavy warships were no longer able to face the people on the East Coast. There is no longer any power to fight back.

"Your Majesty, the navy that has spent a lot of money has already grown up. Although not all warships can go to war at present, there is still no problem with self-protection. If the fleet of the people from the east coast continues to come to participate in the war, then it is time for the navy to The brothers have come out to make meritorious service." Luwa said.

What a joke, 5000 million livres is not a small amount of money, and it is possible to build a very powerful fleet from beginning to end.Even after the battleship is built, even if it stays in the port all the time, it will cost a lot for a long time.Loire vaguely heard that Colbert had just sold some state officials in exchange for part of the funds to maintain the navy's personnel recruitment, training, and daily maintenance.For example, the position of a hat-wearing judge of the Paris High Court was sold for 35 livres, a senior prosecutor for 25 livres, a presiding judge for 10 livres, and a prosecutor for 9 livres.In addition, the position of the first chairman of the Economic and Political Yuan was sold for 40 livres, the chairman was sold for 20 livres, and even the cashier was sold for 12 livres. The sum of the two items is close to 100 million livres, which is enough The Navy has been "splurging" for a long time.

"The fleet of the people on the east coast is indeed nothing to fear, but I heard that the Dutch have been trying their best to persuade the army of this new continent country to accept their employment. Victor, you are the head of the intelligence department. Is this true?" King Louis XIV of France suddenly asked. It was obvious that he was a little bored by the name of the East Coast, but he was unwilling to give up every detail.

"Your Majesty, the Dutch did propose to hire about 1 soldiers from the east bank (not to mention how the [-] people were transported and what to eat on the way) to go to the fortresses guarding the border around Utrecht, but the east bank There still seems to be no sign of people agreeing. Maybe something happened to their homeland, maybe they were afraid of becoming an enemy of France, maybe the price was not agreed, in short, the people on the east coast did not want to be an enemy of the glorious Kingdom of France Meaning, this is a good sign." Luwa explained: "But Your Majesty, I really suggest that you meet the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast people. This guy and his predecessors have been trying to communicate with us for so many years , but they were all ignored. However, I really feel that I should see them, and they are now eligible. What's more, if it is really possible to pry the East Coast people from the United Provinces, it will really Nothing could be better, and perhaps it will do a great deal to demoralize the Dutch, and make them less able to resist your majesty's invincible army."

"Have you met the envoys of the people from the east coast?" Louis XIV pondered for a while when he heard the words, only to hear him continue: "Montespan told me that the envoys of the people from the east coast are arrogant and rude, and don't understand a A gentleman knows how to behave in the world, and always threatens with war all day long. I had no interest in interviewing such a person. But as you said, it’s good to meet him, anyway, he won’t lose anything. The Christians are not high on our list of enemies. And it would be a great help if this heathen country can be taken away from the Dutch. At least, this country now firmly controls South Africa and its Offshore, once he is on our side, the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company are likely to be in big trouble, which will undoubtedly be a fatal blow to the economy of the United Provinces. Therefore, for the benefit of the Kingdom of France, I decided to give these East India Company Here is a chance for the heretics to meet their plenipotentiary envoy. Delois, I will leave this matter to you. Don’t let me down. Once something happens, report to me alone. I don’t like to go too far. delay."

(End of this chapter)