In December 1700 AD, just as the filial sons and grandsons of Emperor Chongzhen were returning to Yingtian Mansion to attend the great funeral of the century. On the European side, Carlos II, who was only 38 years old, had also reached the end of his life.
Unlike Chongzhen's death, his death was widely expected!
In European history, it is probably difficult to find a king who, like Carlos II, had countless people looking forward to his death from the day he was born...
Of course, people expected him to die not because of hatred, but because of their love for God and Spain...
"God's Favored Spain" has suffered enough from the monarch who lacks intelligence and is not mentally normal!
Compared with the previous "cursed" monarchs of the Habsburg family, Carlos II was even dumber and more abnormal, and his health had been poor since childhood. It was a miracle that he could grow up to be an adult.
Moreover, he did not have the ability to raise children like Emperor Chongzhen, and could not give birth to a bunch of highly capable sons. He lived for 38 years, but he didn't even leave a son and a half daughters.
Therefore, the several kingdoms and principalities he owned could only be passed on to his former enemy, the Roman Emperor Louis I.
However, this arrangement is a good result for the Spanish nobles who have had enough of the idiot king and the lunatic king.
So when he was seriously ill and bedridden, no one in Spain prayed for his health. Only people prayed for his soul to ascend to heaven.
If he had normal intelligence, he would be lamenting his tragic fate now.
Fortunately, he is just a poor person with insufficient intelligence, so he can die peacefully now.
When the death knells of all the churches in Madrid wailed together, all those who prayed for Carlos II (praying that his soul could ascend to heaven as soon as possible) could finally heave a sigh of relief.
The news of Carlos II's death seemed to have wings and flew to the Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of Paris where Louis the Great lived in the shortest possible time.
Emperor Louis the Great was in his office at this time, lowering his head and carefully reading a letter sent from Moscow.
The letter was written in French, and the person who wrote it was Tsar Peter I of the Rakshasa Kingdom.
In his letter, Peter assured Louis the Great that when Louis the Great sent troops to attack Hungary and the Czech Republic, he would send troops from Ukraine south to attack the Crimean Khanate... If things went well, Peter I hoped that the Rakshasa Army could keep moving south. Hit Constantinople!
O Constantinople!
Emperor Louis the Great put away the letter, exhaled, and thought: This young tsar of the Rakshasa Kingdom is really ambitious!
He is already thinking about regaining Constantinople. Does he want to turn the Rakshasa Kingdom into Eastern Rome?
At this moment, footsteps sounded quickly, and then someone was heard shouting outside the door: "Your Majesty the Emperor, urgent notice from Madrid!"
"Madrid... come in quickly!" Emperor Louis had already thought of something and quickly ordered his adjutant to come in.
"Your Majesty the Emperor!" Louis' adjutant came in and bowed, "Urgent message from Madrid, summoned by God, the King of Spain, the King of New Spain, the King of Naples, the Grand Duke of Milan, and the monarchs of some other territories, Habu Carlos II, the leader of the Castello family, has left his people and his country!"
"Carlos II...is dead? He, he is finally dead!" Emperor Louis the Great took a breath, "He is dead, and the war in Europe is about to begin, but who should I let command the powerful Roman legion to destroy it? What about the Ottoman Empire?”
Although Louis the Great now has the second strongest army in the world, the famous generals who fought for France on the European continent in the past, such as Prince Condé, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Marshal Durenne, are no longer alive. Only General Vauban, General Villars, and the Duke of Vendôme are left, minor characters and minor figures from those days.
Emperor Louis frowned a little when he thought that there were no generals available.
Without the Prince of Condé, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Marshal Dureny... who could command the many legions of the Roman Empire to fight to the death with the ferocious Ottomans?
"Your Majesty, maybe I can command a legion for you..."
The person who volunteered was the adjutant who informed Louis the Great about the death of Carlos II - this was a man who looked quite good at pleasing ladies. His name was John Churchill. He was an unlucky second-generation British royalist and a native of New England. The queen of the kingdom, Hortense Mancini, recommended her to the Roman court, and it was probably one of Hortense's faces...
Louis looked at that very handsome face and thought: If Philip (referring to Louis' brother Duke of Orleans) was the emperor, he might like you, a pretty boy. But I need a commander like Prince Condé, not a boyfriend!
"John," Louis smiled bitterly, "I can recommend you to go to Austria... Archduke Henry always complained that his army did not have good commanders. If the war breaks out, the Ottomans will definitely raid Austria as soon as possible. There is a chance that he will not be able to hold the Grand Duchy. If you can help Henry hold his country, then I will give you a Roman legion."
...
"Well, Eugen and John, you two are probably the last hope of the Austrian people... If Mehmet IV cannot guarantee Austria's neutrality, I hope you can lead the Austrian army to resist for at least a month."
The Archduke of Austria, Henri de Mancini, now had to go all out to prepare for the war... Although he asked his daughter to go to the funeral, he also roped in the Black Prince of the Indian Ocean and a Turkmen Khan. , showing the unity of the Zhuming Dynasty to Muhammad IV.
But the Ottoman Empire, which was forced into a corner, still has a high probability of forcing the Grand Duchy of Austria to disarm and provide huge military expenditures... After all, the Grand Duchy of Austria is still a vassal of the Ottomans in theory!
Therefore, Muhammad IV has the right to do this, and the Ming Emperor far away in the east will probably not interfere... As long as Muhammad IV does not depose Henry as the Grand Duke.
But Henry had to resist...because his people all hated the Ottoman Empire and their hearts went to Rome. If Henry showed too much weakness, he would be overthrown by the Austrians.
"Your Highness the Grand Duke, please rest assured that our Austrian army has been preparing for a decisive battle with the Ottomans for the past twenty years! We have stockpiled a large amount of arms, trained and equipped an elite army of 15,000 people, and also through popularization The method of education has established a conscription system...As long as you give an order, the army can be expanded to one hundred thousand at any time!"
The little Eugen Francois was quite confident... he patted his chest to assure his Grand Duke.
"Your Highness, the Ottoman Empire, not the Grand Duchy of Austria, is really facing destruction now! But your Grand Duke's throne comes from the Ottoman Empire... So at this critical juncture, you must show enough toughness! Absolutely not Bow to the Sultan and be prepared for a big war. I suggest you issue an order for general mobilization immediately. The sooner you mobilize, the sooner your army can become combat effective. And defeating the Ottoman Empire will win you the entire Austria. The support of the Grand Duchy!”
The person who said this was John Churchill, a young boy. He had served in Marshal Dullenni's army, and later fought against Indians in America. He had no other military experience.
Henry looked at the little dwarf and the pretty boy in front of him, not to mention how regretful he felt... If he had known better, he shouldn't have become the Archduke of Austria! How wonderful it would be to go to Henry Island in the South Pacific!
But there is no regret medicine in the world. Money can’t buy it. I’d have known it before!
Archduke Henry was also a man who dared to make big bets. He made up his mind immediately and said loudly: "Okay! Then let's mobilize... Either don't do it, or fight with the Sultan! You go and gather the army." , I want to go out in person to fight like King Leopold I!"
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