Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1632

Jacob Vandergrave sat calmly in a windowless room, listening to the bustling cars and horses outside, while quietly recalling the feat he made a few days ago.

It was a gloomy morning. Van der Grave, the son of the president of the Dutch court, carried a sharp knife in his arms, and together with several companions, assassinated John De Witt, who was the chairman of the third-level parliament.The result of the assassination is a bit regrettable. Their sudden attack only resulted in the death of one guard, and did not cause much damage to the speaker himself—the sharp knife in Vandergrave's hand only managed to pierce the skin of the speaker's abdomen. He failed to go any further—instead, one of his companions was stabbed in the chest by a guard during the assassination, and died of his breath. Greif is one of them.

In fact, in the assassination incident in history, Van der Grave and three accomplices attacked after Speaker De Witt left the office. At that time, the Speaker chose to walk home, but the four of them actually attacked in the street frantically. It was a coincidence that there was not a single soldier patrolling the city, and no militiamen in charge of public security stepped forward.

At that time, the speaker’s stomach was also scratched. Although it was not life-threatening, the infection of the wound made him lie on the hospital bed for several weeks. The three-level council was temporarily unmanned, and the arrogance of the Orange faction was so high that it could not be increased.Three of the four assassins escaped (then hid in the barracks of the Prince of Orange's army in The Hague to escape a widespread manhunt), and it was precisely their leader, Van der Grave, who was captured nine days later. Sent to the guillotine for public beheading, many Orangemen regarded him as a "martyr."

In this time and space, Van der Grave still participated in the assassination, but his accomplices became two people, and they were not the original two, but a Scotsman and a German. What grudge does DeWitt have.At this time, the three of them hid in a military camp in the city. The commander of the military camp was a die-hard member of the Orange family. The number of officers at the funeral far exceeded that of ordinary nobles—they felt more sympathy for the "just men" like Van der Grave, so they secretly sheltered them and waited for the limelight to pass before sending them to Amsterdam.

"Such a dark day is really tormenting. I can't wait to rush to Amsterdam tomorrow and send the DeWitt brothers to hell with my own hands. They are the worms of this country and have seriously hindered the development of the country. Now only the Prince of Orange can save them. The country is gone, so DeWitt must die! Must die!" Jacob van der Grave sat back in his chair and said bitterly into the darkness.

"Now is not the time, Jacob." A hoarse male voice sounded sinister in the darkness, only to hear him say again: "I will return to Amsterdam in two days and sue Cornelis in the Dutch Provincial Court DeWitt wanted to murder the Prince of Orange, and took the opportunity to send him to prison. Otherwise, you thought John DeWitt, who had already suffered an assassination, would give you another chance? Remember, Jacob, in You have no chance in The Hague, now we need to move to Amsterdam, there are too many mobs who are dissatisfied with the betrayal of the country by the deWitt brothers, as long as we arrange a little, we can kill these two without even assassination."

The man who spoke was William Titchler, a surgeon from Pier Hill, a loyal follower of the Orange family, but he did not show any obvious political inclinations to the outside world.He had been practicing medicine in Dordrecht and Amsterdam before, and he had quite a reputation, and he had contacts with many important people.This time, a person from the Falconer family approached Tichler in secret and asked him to find a way to falsely accuse Admiral Cornelis DeWitt, saying that he wanted to murder the commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, Prince of Orange, so that They were able to get rid of this thorn in the side - Cornelis DeWitt was both an admiral and a powerful political figure who had been at odds with the Orange faction for years.

William Tichler has seen several patients for Cornelis, and the relationship is maintained on the surface. He also borrowed a large amount of money from Cornelis when he came to Amsterdam to open a medical clinic, and he has not yet repaid it. clear.The intention of the Falconer family was to have William Titchler come forward with a false accusation, saying that Cornelis DeWitt wanted to forgive the debt as a condition to lure Titchler to murder the Prince of Orange by taking the opportunity of seeing a doctor.

To be honest, this so-called false accusation is simple and crude enough, with many loopholes, it simply cannot withstand too much scrutiny.But is the truth of the matter really that important?Although William Titchler didn't know the specific details of the matter, he was [-]% sure that the Prince of Orange's people were ready. As long as he made a false accusation, their people would definitely arrest Corney as soon as possible. The admiral Leith "invited" him into the courts to investigate, and there were many means available at that time.

Even if Cornelis DeWitt refused to admit that he had a problem no matter what, it didn't matter!The people of the Prince of Orange have quietly made public the traitorous idea of ​​the republican government bowing to the French and paying reparations to cede territory, and now more and more people are up to it, which makes many people who were originally neutral or leaning towards the republicans Swayed by anger, he turned to hate them.And once they knew where the DeWitt brothers were, it was enough for these two republican stalwarts to drink a pot without even having someone under the Prince of Orange show up.

William Tichler accepted this task, and he has no right to object, so he has secretly come to The Hague from Dordrecht, preparing to go to Amsterdam with Jacob van der Graef and others, and then They split up and acted in secret, laying a solid foundation for eradicating the middle figures of the republican faction and allowing Prince Orange to take power more smoothly.

In this way, Van der Grave, Tichler and others secretly returned to Amsterdam with a caravan on June 6, and then they split up and hid, waiting for instructions on the next move.At this time, William III, who had taken charge of the national military affairs of the United Provinces, had officially ordered to dig part of the seawall and open some gates as planned, forming a large area of ​​floodplains along the flood defense line.

The French army, which was dividing its forces to attack various places, was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses. Not to mention those who were swept away by the flood, including personnel, livestock, and war horses. In terms of combat materials alone, most of them were destroyed. Many of them were difficultly transported from the rear, and now they are basically soaked in yellow mud soup.

The loss of these key military resources basically means that the French Army has lost its ability to continue its offensive, because these materials can only raise a small part of the occupied area, which cannot meet the demand at all; and it is even more impossible to transfer from the rear, because Now the provinces of Utrecht, Limburg-Brabant, OberiJssel, Gelderland, Drenthe and other provinces are soaked in seawater in large areas, and the communication lines are completely paralyzed. Even communication was problematic, and the scattered French army was effectively divided—cut and surrounded by the flood, an enemy they could not defeat.

At this time, if the Dutch have a little military literacy, then they should dispatch an organized army from the provinces that have suffered less flood disasters such as the Netherlands, Zeeland, Friesland, and Groningen, wading to the chaos If they can achieve certain results and regain some lost ground—and in fact, the Dutch almost did the same. After all, the Orange family is a veteran military aristocrat. The battle-worthy team also selected some newly arrived Swiss, German, and Walloon mercenaries. They divided their troops into several groups and launched a swift offensive against the French army. In a short time, it even achieved considerable results and liberated some towns. .

At present, it is said that the French army has basically stopped its offensive, and everyone has turned to a defensive posture on the spot, and because of the enemy's offensive, they have to abandon some small towns and concentrate in larger cities, preparing for a long-term battle. Persevere, after all, Louis XIV told them that this is already French territory and cannot be given up.

The 2400st Mixed Battalion of the East Coast Army, which had recently arrived in Amsterdam, was almost sent to the front line to regain lost ground, but Speaker De Witt took a quick step and dispatched it to The Hague as a whole, without any thought of the Prince of Orange, the commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United Provinces. This also reflects from a certain aspect that the struggle between the two has become increasingly fierce.But judging from the current situation, the Prince of Orange has clearly gained the upper hand, because he successfully contained the offensive of the French. The way Speaker De Witt made the French retreat was to cede Maastricht. , compensation of [-] million guilders, etc., the performance of the two in the fight against the French invaders can be described as diametrically opposed, so now the Prince of Orange has gradually gained a huge reputation, and Speaker De Witt feels somewhat discredited.

On July 1673, 7, the three-level parliament formally abolished the "Permanent Decree" that prevented the Prince of Orange from assuming the ruling position, marking another major victory for the Orange faction against the republican faction.And on this day, the First Mixed Battalion of the East Coast Army, under the leadership of the battalion commander, Major Lan Fei, entered another barracks in The Hague in a low-key manner, facing an infantry regiment belonging to the Prince of Orange.

On the day the East Bank army entered the city, it was booed by the residents of The Hague, because many people believed that their army came to the city to act as an accomplice of Speaker De Witt, preventing the righteous citizens from overthrowing the corrupt and incompetent rule. It caused them to stare angrily.Lan Fei himself was a little puzzled by the attitude of the Dutch at first, and felt that he was here to help them. Why did he feel like a public enemy now?But after finding someone to understand the current public opinion and political situation in the Netherlands, he felt a little relieved.

Of course, this does not mean that he will give up his duties and compromise with the Dutch mob, that is absolutely impossible.After all, he was ordered to protect the safety of Speaker DeWitt and some important republican figures this time. If anyone wants to sabotage their mission, then he doesn't mind letting those people taste the bayonet, although it is likely to cause many problems. unnecessary trouble.

A week later, on July 7, the Prince of Orange was formally appointed as the ruler of the most crucial province of the Netherlands in the Dutch Provincial Assembly. In order to grab the class and seize power.Soon afterwards, this trend spread to The Hague. The Orange faction MPs were arrogant, while the Republican MPs felt a bit weak. For the Prince of Orange!Under the general trend, the nature of the United Province has indeed changed, and it can only be said that it cannot be saved by manpower.

The [-]st Mixed Battalion has an infantry platoon stationed inside and outside the residence of Speaker DeWitt in the city to protect him and his family, and there is also a heavily armed cavalry platoon when he travels (the cavalry company of the [-]st Mixed Battalion, the horses are in the joint Provincial repurchase configuration) guards in front of and behind the chairman's carriage to ensure that no assassin will have the opportunity to approach.

Their behavior naturally aroused the great anger of the residents of The Hague. For example, one day some drunken militiamen stopped the car of Speaker de Witt who was returning home from work, and asked him why he proposed such a humiliating peace to the French. Conditions, and want to do something.As a result, the cavalry of the First Mixed Battalion whipped their horses a few times, and their faces were covered with blood marks. At that time, the conflict was almost directly triggered. Later, the speaker himself came out to talk with the militiamen who were beaten for a long time, which calmed down the incident, but the East Bank However, the reputation of Dabing's arrogance and arrogance gradually spread under the spread of caring people.

On July 7th, when the Dutch army counterattacked across the board and the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, Prince of Orange, moved his headquarters from Amsterdam to Nivarbrugg between Gouda and Woerden, a long-planned The farce was also officially staged in Amsterdam: the famous doctor William Tichler sued Admiral Cornelis de Witt in the Dutch provincial court, saying that he intended to send himself to murder the Prince of Orange, which aroused extreme public opinion for a while. Big uproar.

The Dutch Provincial Court, which had long been controlled by the Orange faction, immediately sent people to The Hague, demanding that Cornelis de Witt, who was still stranded here, go to the Gevangenpoort prison (Gevangenpoort) opposite the Parliament House for investigation , things seem to have reached the point where swords are on the verge of breaking out and nothing is going to happen!

(End of this chapter)