Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1631 The ultimate move

June 1673, 6, The Hague, sunny.

It is rare for Speaker DeWitt to have time to drink tea and chat with people today, and the people he invited to drink tea and chat are none other than his brother Cornelis, and the other is Li Qing, special envoy of the East Coast to Europe. up.Considering the ever-changing situation in Western Europe today, even in the rare leisure time, the topics of everyone are inseparable from military and politics.

"Two days before you were assassinated, I also encountered an attack." John DeWitt pressed his abdomen lightly with his hands, and said with lingering fear: "There are three people in total on my way to the parliament. Luckier than you Fortunately, they didn't use guns, only bayonets; but more unfortunately than you, one of my guards died in battle, and I myself suffered some minor injuries. Fortunately, the wound was not serious, and only a little bleeding Blood."

"That William must have done it." Cornelis DeWitt shook his head and said in a slightly mocking tone: "It's really a dirty trick. His father was caught by everyone because of a dirty conspiracy. Abandoned, so that he later attempted to launch a military coup. In my opinion, this Frederick is not even as good as his father. If the conspiracy can succeed for a while, can it succeed for a lifetime? God will punish this kind of human!"

"There is no evidence pointing to the Prince of Orange, not even his henchmen, and it looks like some outraged, patriotic young man wants to kill sinners like us who betray the interests of the country, and then take legal action against him. Take tough measures and win in the end." Speaker DeWitt laughed, and then fell silent again.

The reason for his silence is somewhat understandable to Li Qing present here: as the de facto supreme leader of the United Provinces, how can the whereabouts of such an important task as Speaker DeWitt be grasped by ordinary people?Moreover, the swordsmanship of those assassins is really too strong. Although Chairman DeWitt usually only likes to bring three or two followers, but being able to serve as the chairman's guard, this level is naturally not ordinary. If someone kills one, this fully demonstrates the strength of the assassin.

To be able to train or hire such assassins, and to have a grudge against Chairman DeWitt, probably only the Orange family.Back then, DeWitt insisted that members of the Orange family should not be appointed to govern the provinces or even the United Provinces, but he severely offended this ancient military aristocratic family, saying that it was okay to hate him, because this It's really a groundbreaking move.

In the past, Speaker DeWitt held power, managed the Dutch economy in an orderly manner, and flourished day by day. He also took advantage of the Second Anglo-Dutch War to consolidate his power. The existence of oblivion.But who knows that the situation will change suddenly, the French King Louis XIV brazenly invaded the United Provinces, and the [-] to [-] Dutch Army (including mercenaries) suffered a crushing defeat and lost their troops. Members of Congress have criticized Speaker DeWitt for not paying attention to army building (this also means suppressing traditional military aristocracy, because the army is their base camp), and the shortfall cannot be made up by only a few regiments of foreign mercenaries hired for a long time , Speaker DeWitt must resign for this.

In all fairness, Speaker DeWitt does have a great responsibility in this matter.Although this man has a relatively good ability in governing the country, the business of the Netherlands has not been affected after the two Anglo-Dutch wars—at least on the surface—and has grown to a certain extent. People who are not used to him think that this is just inertial growth.

However, Speaker DeWitt's "partisan opinion" is indeed too serious, that is, he is very vigilant against the Orange faction, and does everything possible to suppress the rise of this faction.For this reason, he decisively invested a large amount of military expenditure in the navy—the reasons are ready-made, because the Netherlands is a "sea coachman", and naturally needs a strong navy to protect its own commercial interests—and the military expenditure of the navy has increased substantially. , in the case of a limited increase in the total amount, the army's expenditure can only be reduced infinitely. Therefore, all cities in the United Provinces can only maintain a small-scale army with extremely suspicious combat effectiveness. If something happens, they can only stare blankly.

Critics even angrily pointed out that the invasion of the Bishop of Munster during the Second Anglo-Dutch War was already a serious warning, and Speaker de Witt should have made adjustments as soon as possible to restore the strength of the Dutch Army.As a result, in the two years of 1671 and 1672 when time was the most precious, the government led by Speaker DeWitt allocated only a small part of the funds to purchase equipment and equipment for the army, and nothing else, which made people very speechless.

As a result, many people now believe that Speaker DeWitt is undoubtedly responsible for this matter.Considering that the country is now in a critical moment, the best way to be responsible is to resign from the parliament and let Prince Orange take office - this young man who was only in his twenties has been successfully appointed as the head of the United Provinces Army and Navy. Commander, I heard that Friesland, Groningen and other provinces have planned to appoint him as the governor of their own provinces, and the resurgence of the Orange family is inevitable!

"Cornelis, you did a good job at sea. The British and the French were all beaten up by you. This greatly relieved the pressure on Amsterdam and The Hague, and of course it also relieved my pressure." John DeWitt watched Seeing that the atmosphere was a little dull, he immediately changed the topic to the naval battle, only to hear him continue: "You have dealt a heavy blow to the enemy at Sol Bay along the coast of Norfolk. This victory has spread throughout the entire Netherlands, and everyone has praised you , because before that, many people were already planning a city defense battle, and it was your heroic fighting that lifted the threat of the enemy landing from the sea."

"The military expenditure of the British Navy does not seem to be very sufficient, and the number of ships summoned is not enough, while the French Navy is still a little immature, and it is easy to collapse when a war starts. Therefore, the threat from the sea is not big for the time being, and we can still control it. The situation." Cornelis DeWitt said confidently, "But the main problem now is the situation on land. I heard that the defense line of the IJssel River has been abandoned?"

"It was abandoned." John Devitt nodded and confirmed: "We deployed 9200 infantry and 4800 cavalry there before, all from Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe ( It is basically the basic board of the Orange family), and there are more than 1000 German mercenaries, commanded by the former army commander-in-chief Paulus Wertz. They played well at the beginning, blocking the Duke of Luxembourg Butteville For a long time, its progress was far inferior to the other two routes. However, as part of the elite troops under Turenne and Condé were transferred to that side, the situation is now very dangerous, and many fortresses are surrounded by the French army. And occupied, the Ijssel River defense line was forced to abandon, and now there is no natural danger that can stop the French..."

Chairman John DeWitt's words were a bit depressing, but they were also true.Although the Prince of Orange has led the re-conscripted army of more than 1 troops to the front to fight the Duke of Buterville, Viscount Turenne, and Prince Condé, his efforts are not for repelling the enemy, but for Covering a large number of defeated Dutch troops can safely retreat behind the flood defense line - the flood defense line (WaterLine), which is a temporary line of defense along the border between Utrecht and the Netherlands, is already the last guarantee of the Netherlands .

Moreover, during this retreat, there was a huge gap between the residents of Utrecht and other southern provinces and the soldiers in the Netherlands, Zeeland, and Friesland.These guys with dubious positions even refused to open the city gate at first, and let the soldiers of their own country go in to get a respite, and let them be surrounded, cut, and killed by French cavalry in the wild.But when the main force of the French army came up a few days later, this fortified city surrendered without the French wasting much ammunition, which was quite speechless.

This delicate relationship between the southerners and the northerners is not big, but it is not small, because it represents the different attitudes between them towards the French invaders, that is, whether to submit and cooperate or to resist in the end.It was obvious that the residents of Utrecht, Gelderland, Limburg-Brabant, etc. were at least unwilling to fight to the death with Louis' army. There were many towns that agreed to surrender, which worried Speaker De Witt very much.

"There is really nothing to do on land, 13 French troops..." Cornelis DeWitt sighed heavily when he heard the words, and said in a somewhat disappointed tone: "When I was in Amsterdam, I attended a joint sea-land meeting. The people from the Dutch provincial council proposed a plan to open the seawall and flood the floodplain to prevent the French from advancing. What do the three-level councils think about this? I don’t believe they didn’t report this plan.”

"No, they have already reported it. In fact, that guy William III proposed it himself. He pointed out that the flood defense line is a large area that can be flooded by opening dikes and sluices at will. Therefore, we should open the sluices and release water. Derecht, Oberijssel, Gelderland, Limburg-Brabant, etc. formed a large floodplain, blocking the pace of the French. The three-level parliament has basically agreed to this motion, because there is no reason to oppose it ” explained Speaker DeWitt.

In fact, there is no suspense in the passage of this plan.Because by controlling the switch of specific dams and sluices, the floodplain area can be stabilized around the flood defense line, which is not a great threat to the Netherlands, Zeeland, Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and other provinces in the rear, but to Utre The area occupied by the French army such as Zhizhi was a disaster.As the saying goes, a dead fellow does not die a poor one. Naturally, the northern provinces, which have the largest number of members of the three-level parliament, will not be unable to do so. What's more, they have long been angered by the betrayal of the southern provinces. Just "little punishment" at that time!

Therefore, the plan has basically been finalized. Now that the Dutch army along the flood defense line has retreated, the sluice gates that have been stationed for a long time will be opened one by one to release the water. In the central part of the province, a large floodplain is formed.Considering that it is summer at this time, the soil will become extremely soft and muddy after being filled with water, which seriously hinders the walking of people and animals.The Dutch believe that in such a large area of ​​yellow mud soup, more than [-] French troops will surely fall into chaos (disrupted by the sea water), let alone attack, it is very good to be able to protect themselves, so this ultimate move The crisis facing the Dutch can be resolved immediately and buy them at least half a year.

"If the gate is opened to release the water, it is indeed a good way to buy precious time, but it will suffer for the people in Utrecht and other places." Li Qing also interjected at this time, and then he remembered that he is still in Bergenop Yang Liang, who was struggling in Zum City, wondered in his heart whether the opening of the floodgates would affect them.Thinking about it, I think it should not be so, because the land there is close to the sea, the drainage is relatively smooth, and it is not so easy to be flooded.

"Ah, by the way, Your Excellency, Speaker, I forgot to tell you one thing." Li Qing seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and then carefully reported to DeWitt about the emergency reinforcements from the First Mixed Battalion The Speaker made a report.At the end, he tentatively asked if he could leave this well-equipped battalion in The Hague or Amsterdam, so as to protect the safety of the speaker nearby, so that the "insidious villain" would not be murdered.

When DeWitt first heard about it, he laughed, and subconsciously wanted to refuse. Unexpectedly, the aching wound on his body quickly reminded him that what Li Qing said was not an exaggeration, because Speaker DeWitt was indeed facing Threat to life—the two brothers encountered assassins one after another within two days. It’s a joke with their own lives if they don’t have a snack—so after a few minutes of contemplation, Chairman DeWitt looked at Li Qing sincerely and said: "Thank you for your reminder, Mr. Special Envoy. I am honored that your country's No. [-] Mixed Battalion is stationed in The Hague to protect the safety of this city. As for the cost, please don't worry, we will give you a reasonable quotation."

"That's good, that's good!" Li Qing's old face turned into a flower when she heard this.To be honest, he came to The Hague this time neither to discuss business nor to build relationships. He was really worried that Speaker DeWitt, an old friend of the people on the east coast, would be killed suddenly after gradually losing power. Therefore, the life safety of the core republicans headed by Speaker DeWitt must be preserved, and it happens that the first mixed battalion will arrive in the United Provinces, so it is best for them to protect them.After all, the Prince of Orange has already taken office as the commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United Provinces, and all the troops of the Netherlands are no longer so reliable to the Speaker. A mixed battalion stationed in The Hague is the best solution.

(End of this chapter)