"My Majesty, we France are about to rise! A military revolution initiated by wooden shells, sandbag bastions, parallel siege methods, flintlock muskets and sleeved bayonets will soon sweep across Europe. ! Whoever is the first to carry out thorough military reform and seize the opportunity of this military revolution will become the leading military power in Europe. And our Kingdom of France occupies an extremely favorable position in this military revolution.... ..because France has me!”
On the outskirts of Paris, in the Chateau Saint-Germain, the man who was happily promoting his military reform theory to Louis XIV, who had grown into a short and handsome young man, was Prince Condé, who had only returned to France half a month ago.
The sudden return of Prince Condé was completely beyond the expectations of Bishop Mazarin and Queen Mother Anne of France - because after Prince Condé left, many of his old friends and relatives still joined the Fronde, creating problems for Mazarin and Queen Mother Anne. caused a lot of trouble.
Even now, there are still many remnants of the Fronde huddled in Dunkirk Castle and fighting against France...
Therefore, Mazarin and Anne did not want Prince Condé to return to the country. If Prince Condé had to sneak back, he would not be allowed to see the young Louis XIV!
Of course, this was what Mazarin and Anne thought before the Prince of Condé arrived at Calais. But this idea was completely abandoned with the return of General Friedrich Bergshom, who went to the Port of Calais to welcome Prince Condé and the Chinese delegation.
Because General Bergsholm told the Cardinal and the Queen Mother that Prince Condé's skills had greatly improved after returning from China!
If the French Army is led by him, France will definitely dominate Europe!
If Prince Condé is allowed to go to Austria or Spain, France will be in big trouble.
In other words, either reuse Prince Kong Dai or kill Prince Kong Dai... Of course, overt killing is not possible, but assassination is still possible!
Anyway, we can't let him escape, otherwise there will be endless trouble!
So Prince Condé was now brought to the Castle of Saint-Germain. It was up to Louis XIV to decide whether to use him or to kill him.
Prince Condé did not feel any danger at all, because he knew that Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin both wanted to strengthen the royal power of France - this was the root cause of their conflict with the French nobles.
Prince Condé was the leader supported by the nobles before, but now...since France will soon punch Spain and kick Germany, the contradiction between the nobles and the king will no longer exist.
The nobles and the king were competing for existing interests. Because France did not gain much in the Thirty Years' War, it had no choice but to come back and take matters into its own hands.
And now, Prince Condé has the means to lead France to fight for European hegemony. Isn't the oil and water of one Europe enough?
"Your Highness," Louis XIV was a little overheated after being deceived by Prince Condé, "if I appoint you as Minister of War, how do you plan to implement military reforms?"
Prince Condé said: "First of all, I will capture the Dunkirk Castle for you and defeat the Spanish Netherlands Army again in order to end the long war."
"End the war?" Louis XIV was stunned, "I thought you were going to capture the entire Spanish Netherlands for me!"
"I will seize the Spanish Netherlands for His Majesty, but not now," said Prince Condé, "because it will take at least three years to complete a military transformation. In three years, there will be an army with more than one hundred thousand people, adopting The French army with brand new equipment and tactics fights for His Majesty, they will be invincible in Europe!
This army will be heavily equipped with flintlock muskets and bombardment cannons, which will give them powerful field capabilities. They will also master the skills of using sandbags to quickly build fortifications and using parallel trenches to siege castles... By then there will no longer be a bastion that can stop their advance.
Moreover, the officers of this army will receive one and a half years of training at the Castle of Saint-Germain and will be loyal to His Majesty!
Finally, I will also form a staff committee for Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty, like the Ming Emperor, can personally command the powerful French army to sweep across Europe! "
Louis XIV's eyes lit up, "Really? Can I really be like the Ming Emperor, commanding the army in war?"
Prince Kong Dai nodded repeatedly, "Of course, in fact, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty was not a tactician. The reason why he could command operations was because he was assisted by a group of professional staff officers."
The prince did not tell the truth. Zhu Cixiang was certainly a tactician, but he was a partial tactician. Neither the infantry nor the cavalry can be used well, but the engineers and artillery are top-notch. There isn't a castle in the world that he can't defeat. If there was one...then if someone else were to defeat it, he would still be badly beaten!
"But a military reform also costs a lot of money, right?" Louis XIV said. "France's financial situation is not good. I'm afraid it will be difficult to come up with enough funds to support the reform."
"Your Majesty, the Ming Emperor has issued a full irrevocable guarantee letter of 3 million taels," Prince Kongdai said, "to provide guarantee for France's loan to the Shenou United Bank!"
"300 taels? How much is that?" Louis XIV asked.
"About one million gold louis!" said the Prince of Condé, "or eighteen million livres."
"How much interest?" Louis XIV asked again, "Can we pay it back?"
Now Louis XIV still knows that borrowing money must be repaid...
"With the guarantee of the Ming Emperor, the interest rate must be the best, estimated to be around 8%." Prince Condai thought for a while and smiled, "As for repayment... As long as we have Antwerp and Brussels, 1 million The gold Louis shouldn’t be an astronomical figure, right? If not, there are Venice and Milan!”
At this time, Louis XIV was finally moved by the words of Prince Condé. He nodded heavily: "Well, I will discuss with the cardinal and give you an army first to attack Dunkirk. If you If you succeed, I will make you Minister of War and Chairman of the General Staff Committee."
...
While Louis XIV was talking to Prince Condé, Marvell, the British envoy who had returned from China, had already returned to London. His carriage was blocked by a group of petitioning citizens of the Republic of England at Hampton Court Palace on the Thames River.
"What's going on?" Marvell, who was in a hurry to go to Hampton Court Palace to see Cromwell, asked a Foreign Office official who went to the dock to greet him, "What are these people doing?"
"They are petitioning to His Highness the Protector of the Country," the official replied.
"Petition? Why?"
"In order to ask His Highness the Lord Protector to ascend the throne and be crowned as the King of England!" the official said, "How can we in England not have a king? This is not in line with England's national conditions and everyone is not used to it, so we all agreed that His Highness the Lord Protector His Majesty should be the king! Mr. Marvel, do you think His Majesty the Protector should be the king?"
"Yes!" Marvell nodded immediately. How could he dare to say no, "Of course His Highness should be the king! Not only should he be the king, but he must also be the king... Look, look, there are so many people from England. The citizens came to petition. I believe the parliament also unanimously supported his coronation as king, right?"
"Of course, all the members are looking forward to His Royal Highness the Lord Protector being crowned king!" The official said happily, "It seems that it won't be long before we can cheer long live the king!"
Marvel loudly said: "Yes, we are going to shout 'Long live His Majesty the King!'"
Cromwell has heard someone call him His Majesty the King more than once, but every time he will stop it immediately because he does not want to be the king... He once thought about it, but now he doesn't want to, because he has more ideas. Aim high and become someone who can truly bring Britain together.
Because the current United Kingdom is not a real whole, but a union composed of four parts: England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. With the growth of Cromwell's authority, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are completely unified. It doesn't look difficult. But Cromwell also faced a problem, which was the religious schism in England!
Mainly the split between Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Puritanism. This is the real problem in Britain!
