I Am Louis XIV

When the king received the mayor of Nijmegen, it was still the earliest time of the day, that is, at dawn, and candles were needed to keep the room bright, because the king had to check the documents and secret letters from time to time, and waited for them to solve the problem. The Mayor of Mayhen had a hearty breakfast. It was about ten o’clock when he left the city. It was a pleasant time of the day. The sun was bright and not dazzling, and the fresh green of summer remained until today, in the golden Under the light, it has a yellow opal-like color. Some leaves have turned orange-red or orange, and some are darker, like black, and others are lighter, as if they have been covered with a thin layer of frost. , the riverside is rich in water and grass, and the reeds have gray and white tassels. Unfortunately, it is not spring and summer. The trumpet narcissus and the eagletail flower have passed the flowering period, and only some unremarkable fragments of flowers can be seen. No one knows their names. Or habit.

In contrast, autumn is the time when the fruits show themselves, raspberry, cranberry, lingonberry, gooseberry, mulberry...they range from translucent cyan, to blue, blue-purple, purple, deep black, and bright red And milky white, clusters appear in people's field of vision, they are so plump and juicy, so that even if humans pass by constantly, some dexterous birds and chipmunks will boldly climb on the branches, Stuff your stomach and cheeks as full as possible.

Even more daring are wild goats, rabbits, and deer, who come to the river to drink besides the berries.

Because the king didn't come to hunt today, even though the accompanying ministers and entourages were all carrying weapons, the young people were eager to try and suppressed their desire to hunt. They felt very regretful. The battle is about to begin, and the guns and muskets and the shouts of the people will drive away all the beasts here, even the snakes and rats. When they moved on, these people also saw that the king came to inspect the position today. The king's horse stopped on a raised hill, and only his younger brother Philip and Viscount Turenne were allowed to follow. Their The horses stopped on the left and right sides of the king, and took a step back slightly.

Looking down from this hill about twenty feet above the ground, you can see the position facing Arnhem. Arnhem is a new city built in 1233. It is precisely because it is a new city that its On the contrary, the city walls and fortifications are more advanced and stable than Nijmegen, but neither the soldiers walking around in the trench nor the generals watching on the hills showed any signs of embarrassment, just like a man riding a horse on the avenue He will not think that he has encountered an insurmountable wall like a small raised stone occasionally when he gets on the Mercedes-Benz.

When a person ran towards the king and the others, the king's musketeers were all on guard. They surrounded the hills like hounds at the foot of the throne. , They immediately arched their backs and exposed their fangs—but before the person announced his name, Louis raised his hand to let the musketeers allow him to pass. The person who came was Sebastian Vauban, He is still a captain, but everyone knows that he has made great achievements in the battle between Flanders and the Netherlands, and he is an extreme royalist, so the king trusts him very much. Although he is not promoted immediately, he will wait until the end of the war. When they got back to Paris, the boy was bound to be very successful.

Of course, Captain Vauban would not ignore this detail that made him feel so honored. He couldn't wait to salute when he was about ten steps away from the king. A person like Water Conservancy Construction should be quite staid and introverted, but he is not. Sometimes he is so exaggerated that even Louis can't stand it-like now, even the most playful romantic person in Paris will not be like him. At a distance of only a foot, he flapped his hat all the way, bowed in various ways, touched his shoulders, touched his chest, just rubbed his knees, tapped his feet... Philip giggled, and the king gave him a glare.

"A great honour!" cried Vauban. "My lord, a great honour! Are you here to see your soldiers?"

"I just wanted to come to relax," Louis said, "but if it doesn't get in the way, I'd love to meet my soldiers." Unrelated people were hanging around them, especially Louis, as His Majesty the King, with a noble and special status. His presence might make people feel unnecessarily restrained, but who is Vauban? When he was still under the command of the Prince of Condé, he stood on the side of the king without hesitation, and the Viscount Turenne taught him a lesson in how to treat the king. It must be said that the blue is better than the blue, Vauban The captain's battlefield show has almost become a conventional program.

It can be said that he regards the battlefield as a grand and real play, and the king and his ministers are his audience. He is the scriptwriter and conductor. Although sometimes he needs to cooperate with others, he will definitely do his best , let the king enjoy the most magnificent performance-he took the reins of the king's horse, acted as a guide, and led the king's horse down the hills, followed by the Viscount Turenne and the Duke of Orleans, and the others- At this time, it depends on how correct their perception of themselves is. The ministers and followers hesitated, and only a few people followed up bravely in the end.

The biggest feature of the terrain in the Netherlands is its flatness. Most of its land is three feet below sea level. There is only one mountain in the whole country, the Wallburg Mountain, which is less than nine hundred feet high, and this mountain is in Arnhem. In the north, there is still a plain between Arnhem and Nijmegen, with only a few rolling hills, so Vauban's position has almost no shelter and shelter, except for Vauban's new low wall and fortress. Go to the flat ground between the trenches, because the battle has not yet started, so there are wooden boards at intervals above the trenches, so that people who carry ammunition, food and other supplies can walk.

"Hail to the King!" cried Vauban, who had taken Bontang's place for the time being, and some of the soldiers who were so absorbed in their work that they failed to notice them also looked up, and bowed joyfully when they saw the King. , shaking their hats and shouting "Long live", they are more lively than some ordinary provincial officials when facing the king-because most of the soldiers here are the new army, that is, the king's Versailles army, they can It is said that they grew up under the kindness and favor of the king, and they did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives and honor for the king.

Louis was also very gentle with them. If the mayor of Nijmegen was to watch, he might think that the king was completely different from the tyrant he saw this morning—when he saw a soldier who was obviously coming to deliver food, the king After getting off the horse, he walked to two huge wooden barrels to watch. Captain Vauban immediately opened the lids. One was still warm cream soup and the other was light wine. "Anything else?" Louis asked.

"There is also bread and jerky, and two apples for each soldier," said Captain Vauban.

"Add another dish of stewed pork tonight." Amidst the small cheers of the soldiers, Louis took a last look at them-this is war, so the people standing here, not counting the hastily distributed potatoes tomorrow morning, tonight's There is a good chance that one meal will be their last.

Then the King looked at the artillery, the stores of ammunition, and the horses.

Undoubtedly, all the preparations were sufficient and appropriate. The Marquis of Loise not only collected a considerable amount of wool from the Flanders region as a tax, but also let the Flanders complete the roads and designated warehouses in the form of labor. The repair work, and almost all the horses, and a third of the cattle, mules and donkeys were all confiscated, not only to make the Flanders settle down, but also to meet the needs of the king's army for supplies, A wizard told Louis that through the eyes of the ravens, these horses and oxen and their cargo were as amazing as a black river.

These quantities of luggage reassured the king's soldiers and worried the king's enemies.

—————

Arnhem also has its own small government. Before the accident happened, this government was controlled by the Gonhe Party. Now the Orange Ribbon Party has the main say. The people of the Netherlands are tired of the bombastic talk of the parliamentarians, and they are perfunctory and negligent. , the radicalism of the Orange Ribbon Party, and the nostalgia for William III—yes, for many people, the dead are the most perfect saints, and the people of Arnhem fell into a strange frenzy, When the French troops entered Nijmegen, they imprisoned all the members of the town hall, the Orange Ribbon became their leader, and in an atmosphere of unspeakable eccentricity, the property of the councilors, and the voluntary contributions of the citizens All the property was used to hire soldiers and build an army.

Some people may ask, at this time, how can Arnhem hire soldiers in this place? In fact, it is possible, those craftsmen, small businessmen and students, they come for "justice", or for their own homes, or fear of being ruled by a dictator, and more, they are being ruled by a day The price of ten Dutch guilders is tempting, and if they can keep the French out, they can even get more rewards.

The city thus built up an army of a thousand men, fortunately, because Arnhem was a new city, not only with tall walls and fortresses, but also the families of the councilors had not yet established an unshakable authority here, Their hidden guns, cannon, and powder were brought out and transported to the walls.

The battle started in the morning as usual, and the only thing that played this movement was the artillery, the deafening sound of the cannons, the smoke bursts, mixed with the real morning fog, and Captain Vauban was used to and fell in love with the sulfur and mud. The mixed smell, human blood and shenyin have not yet come, because the initial purpose of all siege warfare is to destroy the enemy's fortress and city wall. Such bombardment lasted rhythmically for an hour, and the counterattack of Arnhem There are, but they are nothing compared to the French artillery.

Captain Vauban roughly estimated the stock of ammunition, raised the binoculars to check the results of the artillery bombardment, and then ordered the artillery to move forward. The masonry under the artillery support was removed, the soil was dug up, and the wheels were reinstalled—— —Originally this would have been a very difficult task, but since the king's maesters invented a portable lifting device, the soldiers moved much faster, the artillery was covered with hard cowhide, and the soldiers pushed Pulling and pulling to move forward in the trench-as described before, the three trenches of Captain Vauban are connected together, and the narrowest can allow a 24-pound artillery to move in it. After we moved the artillery forward by a ditch, we set it up again, and readjusted the aim and direction.

And Captain Vauban's engineers have also advanced the new trench to only a few hundred feet away from the city wall. At this point, the artillery on the city wall can already threaten the engineers. They are made of wood and covered with iron. While digging and praying, some unfortunate people were knocked down, and the soldiers carried them out. Some people saw that they were dead, so they arranged them neatly in the rear position, while others were only injured. A medical staff in a white apron and a white headscarf took over.

From here, Captain Vauban could hear the whirring of the cannon and the sound of the cannon being fired. The king had repeatedly warned him not to be so reckless, but for any general, this is the only way to win—when people, after the battle, On the map, when replaying the battle on the sand table, they can of course be condescending, calmly analyze and consider, but the real battlefield, even if it is the battlefield of Vauban, Viscount Turenne or Prince Condé. It was chaos, especially when the artillery played its role, and when it was the turn of the muskets to come on the field-the sound of the muskets became dense and loud amidst the successive cannons, and the soldiers of Arnhem and the soldiers of the king were not the same. After the face-to-face battle started, the two rivers were clearly separated. Although the king's new army knew how to maintain the advantage of small forces as much as possible because of the training, the situation on the battlefield was always There are ever-changing things, and no one can guarantee that he will remain calm in the midst of pain and death.

If you are not in it, all the orders issued by a general or officer can be said to be useless, because the situation may have changed several times during the time when the herald ran to you and ran back. Again - the best way is to let them take the lead, and the soldiers will follow them closely, and they will directly penetrate the enemy's defense line like a sharp sword, whether it is physically or mentally - Vauban The captain jumped out from behind the broken low wall, shouting "Long live France!" and threw the small crock full of gunpowder. The crock exploded before it hit the ground, and the roaring fragments cut open The body of the Arnhem soldier, as well as the face of Vauban, also made him seen by the king's soldiers, and they rushed over immediately, following him all the way to the simple block fortification.

The enemies behind this fortification were either dead or fled, and some were wailing in blood. Vauban was the first to step over the piled-up boxes. He was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of a bright fire out of the corner of his eye. Based on instinct and experience, he suddenly fell to the ground, something exploded beside him, the scorching air wave pushed away all the boxes behind him, the air suddenly became thin, Vauban couldn't hear anything, his eyes were blood red .

A few minutes later, he was pulled up and given a sip of the bitter potion, his vision suddenly brightened.

"What's going on?" he asked.

A soldier, or rather, the wizard the king had arranged for Captain Vauban to put away the vial: "They set fire to the ammunition box."

"They're still here," said Captain Vauban, but he said at once: "They obviously don't care."

"I don't care," the wizard said, "Be careful, there seem to be some fanatical 'Enlightened Ones' here."

"What is that?" said Vauban. "Well, what is the situation now?"

"See for yourself," said the wizard. "Your soldiers are very brave."

"The king's soldiers." Vauban said, and then he immediately threw himself into another battle. The wizard was right. Even if Vauban fell, the king's soldiers could still determine who they should be commanded according to their rank. The smallest non-commissioned officer can command ten soldiers. If you encounter other teams, you only need to look at the rank to determine who should be in command. Even if Vauban is absent for a short time, the soldiers will continue to be brave under the command of another second lieutenant step forward.

Captain Vauban led his soldiers to fight all the way to the Ussel River, which is the lower tributary of the Rhine River, which happens to divide Arnhem into two. What they faced was this God-given moat, and Over the moat, there used to be a wide white stone bridge, but now... Captain Vauban would not be surprised if he saw what kind of fortification, even the fort, but guess what he saw?

I saw a Protestant priest, and behind him was a group of believers dressed in black.

A little late, add seven hundred words.