I Am Louis XIV

The ship doctor gave Earl Sandwich a bottle of anisette, saying it was anisette, but in fact you could treat it as a bottle of anesthetic potion, the ingredients in it included belladonna and opium, and Earl Sandwich felt a burst of pain. There was a sharp pain, but he was still sipping the anisette, now is not the time to put everything down and fall into a deep sleep - more and more wounded are sent to the ship's doctor, some need amputation, the ship's doctor's tools Probably straight out of the kitchen, saws, knives and axes, even the freshest blood here gives off a sickly filthy smell, like it's been in Dover for days in September Pork, the ship doctor was wearing a cowhide apron, and there were amputated hands or feet of the wounded, and some inexplicable things—maybe intestines, eyeballs and flesh, anyway, anything could come from these poor people. fall from the person.

The Earl of Sandwich grimly passed these screaming people, the hurried stretcher passed him like a school of fish, and he went first to the mid-after part of the upper deck, where there were fourteen eighteen-pound doors. The artillery was still roaring, and there was a smell like hell in the cabin - the smell of smoke + sweat + tears + sulfur. The problem is that the observers, gunners, and support staff have bloodshot eyes and hoarse voices. It is extremely labor-intensive to let these ferocious steel beasts roar. They even ignored the Earl of Sandwich. Seeing this, the Earl quickly Walk past them and come to the lower deck. There are fourteen 24-pound cannons on the lower deck, that is, heavy artillery, but now only twelve of them can make a sound, and the other two have already suffered irreparable damage.

But to say that it was the poop on the open deck that suffered the most trauma. The shells from the Dutch not only broke Mr. Earl’s collarbone and the mast, but also opened up half of the poop. All of them were light artillery, twelve in total. , They have probably all sunk to the bottom of the sea now-the huge wound is like a big mouth mocking the British, and this giant swallowed the lives of a dozen crew members, and most of the wounded at the ship doctor also came from here.

"Mr. Captain!" A crew member ran over suddenly, "What's the matter?" asked the Earl of Sandwich. The crew member showed a look of panic and confusion, "Mr. Captain," he said hesitantly, as if he didn't really believe it, "The Prince Royal is sinking! Sir! It's dying!"

The Earl of Sandwich paused: "Nonsense!"

"Really, sir," said the sailor sadly, "you see, it's sinking!"

The Earl of Sandwich turned around abruptly, raised his binoculars and looked towards the place pointed out by the crew. He saw the "Prince Royal", a three-decked battleship carrying hundreds of cannons and thousands of crew members. , is indeed sinking as the crew say - it has taken a more concentrated hit than the St. James, and unfortunately, one or more shells directly hit their magazine The explosion broke the huge monster in half, the flames were burning on the sea, the gray-white sails were slowly dipping into the glass-blue water, the brown hull pointed into the air, and the mast seemed to be dying. With outstretched arms, the British crew in crimson military uniforms jumped into the water in a hurry like penguins flocking on the ice that was about to melt. ?” he asked struggling.

Fortunately, there was a burst of cheers on the other side of the "St. James" at this time. The Earl of Sandwich heard someone shouting the name of the Duke of York. A boat with an entourage was rowing towards them. The Earl of Sandwich immediately ordered the crew to put down the boat to protect and greet them. After a while, the Duke of York climbed up with a ladder. Although his description was a bit embarrassing, but The spirit is still very uplifting. To be honest, the sinking of the "Prince Royal" should be blamed on fate rather than his commander. After all, in naval battles, it is not extremely common to be directly hit on the ammunition depot.

"I may have to take over the command of the St. James." This was the first sentence the Duke of York saw when he saw the Earl of Sandwich.

"It is an honor for me and the St. James." The Earl of Sandwich said immediately, and the Duke of York also noticed the white triangle scarf on his shoulder at this time, "You are a brave man, but since you have been injured, then I should have ordered you back to your cabin."

"Allow me to follow you," said the Earl of Sandwich. "As for my wound, I have only a broken bone, and I have a bottle of anisette."

"Very well," said the Duke of York, "as long as you think you can go on."

The Duke of York was an ambitious man, but he was also an outstanding military leader. After his flagship "Prince Royal" had to abandon ship due to an explosion in the ammunition depot, the "St James" was raised Although the British fleet suffered heavy losses from the Dutch attack, under the command of the Duke of York, they desperately braved the enemy's bombardment to attack the opponent's array line-if it was on land, This way of fighting is undoubtedly using the soldiers' bodies to suppress the enemy's offensive, and here, it is to use small warships, transport ships and logistics supply ships as the armor of the main ship. His approach made nearly a hundred ships The fleet of ships was suddenly reduced to less than half—even including the "St. James", and the Duke of York changed another flagship.

But these extremely heavy prices are definitely worth paying. If the Dutch fleet is here, General Luyter can completely suppress the British fleet in Sol Bay, but now only two-thirds of the fleet under his command obeys the command. And in this kind of sea battle where hundreds of ships participated in the battle, the gap left by the one-third of the fleet could not be filled even by Luyter. He commanded the fleet to turn around, intending to continue to intercept the British fleet in the North Sea. But at this time, from the southeast side of the Dutch fleet, there was a thunderous shelling sound.

Van Gent couldn't help but "bah", he couldn't believe that those two fleets would lose to the French who might not even learn how to swim.

He really misunderstood his colleagues.

————

Many years later, when people mentioned the naval battle of Sol Bay, they had to mention the whimsical General Estres. Indeed, on the sea, the French could not even compete with the British, or the Portuguese, or Compared with the Spaniards, but when this General Estres faced the menacing Dutch navy-he ordered the crew to dump a large amount of quicklime into the sea after the two sides started shelling each other, although he didn't know why How could there be so much quicklime on the French warships, but when these quicklime came into contact with the cold sea water, a chemical reaction immediately occurred, and the sea water boiled, emitting a large amount of water vapor, just like the previous battle between Luyter and the Duke of York. As in the battle, the warships of the French and the Dutch were already hazy due to the smoke brought by the shelling, and the production of water vapor made it worse, and it was difficult for the watchmen on the top of the mast to pass through the fog. When they got a glimpse of the situation below, the French left behind a small number of logistics ships and armed merchant ships to deal with the Dutch who were looking for them, while their main force circled from the Dunkirk waters to the North Sea and was fighting with the British. The fleet echoed each other from a distance, so that Deluitt had to abandon the original plan and retreat to the outer island chain of the Frisian region.

But this is only an explanation publicized before the eyes of the common people. In fact, it was the wizards on Gayola Island who stayed on the French ships in the end. One, the wizards hid it. For thousands of years, no mortal who has not been allowed to notice its existence. In this case, if you want to hide a fleet from people, the wizards can also do it. This is the reason why the French fleet was able to leave no traces in the eyes of the spies before arriving at the mouth of the Thames, but it was night at that time, and now it is day, so the wizards still borrowed the cover of gunpowder smoke and water vapor to achieve The result that General Estrese wanted to see.

Because General Luyter retreated quickly, although the other two Dutch fleets caught up after discovering that they had been deceived, they wisely chose to avoid the merger of the two fleets again.

What makes people even more surprised is that in this naval battle, although the British lost four warships (including two three-deck warships with a hundred guns), more than a dozen small warships and logistics ships, the Netherlands also lost Two warships and some armed merchant ships were lost, but the casualties of the crew were not very serious. The British lost more than a thousand people, and the Dutch only lost a few hundred.

And the appearance of the "Saint Golden Lily Flag" was in this naval battle-at the end of the battle, the sea was in a mess, forced to abandon the ship, and the crew who failed to climb into the boat desperately grabbed wooden boards, statues or When anything was floating, several French three-masted ships lowered their original flags, hoisted a flag embroidered with a golden lily, and sailed towards the desperate people, shouting loudly, demanding that all those who fell into the water be thrown away. The weapons they carry-from muskets to daggers, even an awl for picking teeth, and then let the boats down, let these people climb into the boats, and then they fixed the ropes that pulled the boats to the three-masted boats. Pulling back to Sol Bay, and then seeing whether they were rewarded or imprisoned and whipped, it was not something the French needed to worry about.

In this way, the "Golden Lily" flag has continued for hundreds of years, and spread from the battlefield to the people. Eventually, all rescue ships will raise the "Holy Golden Lily Flag", sometimes embedded in the sun pattern. Golden Lily, most of these ships come from France, or shipping companies controlled by the French.

However, such a follow-up is not known by the current Louis XIV. He is now in Naarden.

Naarden is already very close to Amsterdam, so close that it is only as long as a finger on the map, and it is indeed a free city with solid walls and many fortresses as Luiter said, but General Luiter I only saw the thick stone walls, but failed to see the fragile hearts. As a free city, the citizens here all have a sense of responsibility-I mean, the sense of responsibility for personal freedom and personal interests, they are in the French Bissem, which had been captured within a stone's throw, was still arguing, and when the French knocked at the door, the decision to surrender was quick.

It has to be said that if possible, Louis did not want to destroy this small city because of the war. No other way, it is so beautiful. Looking down from above, the city is like a blooming snapdragon flower, with a lip-shaped corolla and two splits on the top. There are three petals at the bottom - that is the fort protruding towards the middle and four sides, and outside the multi-angled fortress is a wide moat, how wide is it, the whole city is like a small island floating on the lake , and there are actually dyke bridges between the moats for horse-drawn carriages to walk on.

"This is such a beautiful place." Philip said, "I hope I can take my wife and daughter here to live here for a while, not thinking about anything, going hunting in the forest, and rowing on the lake."

What Philip said was the origin of Naarden's name. There is a Naarden forest here, facing a vast lake. The name of the lake is Ethel, and there are reeds all over the place. The cormorants are very clumsy and elegant and cruel. The swans are very common here, and when the afterglow at dusk is projected on the lake, IJsselmeer is like Amber Lake or Golden Lake.

Perhaps it is because this place is so beautiful that the citizens here are so weak, Louis thought in his heart, it seems that at any time, people with a strong heart can only be born in pain and poverty—no, maybe they still have ambitions, He looked at Philip and smiled: "Has King Leopold I finally started to act?"

"If we don't act," said Philip indifferently, "the Austrians will have to watch us swallow the whole of Holland."

But Louis' speed is too fast, his army is like a knife cutting through solidified fat, almost driving straight in without hindrance, whether it is the Viscount Turenne, the Duke of Luxembourg, or the Prince of Condé. None of the armies that went out were stagnant somewhere because of accidents, conspiracy, or the tenacious resistance of the Dutch, as their enemies expected. It took only three months from Louis XIV's declaration of war to the fall of Naarden. When the time comes, and whether Leopold I's allies have mustered enough troops remains to be seen - but they must act...Spain, Austria, Denmark-Norway, and Brandenburg , Switzerland... They must contain the expansion of France, like a hunter facing a lion that has tasted human flesh...

Lions who have tasted human flesh and blood will treat humans as prey, and the king of France, who has tasted the sweetness of victory in war, will not easily stop his conquest.