I Am Louis XIV

In order to briefly describe the marriage negotiations and transactions between Sweden and France, we often say that King Louis XIV of France and King Karl XI of Sweden exchanged each other's territories - Livonia and Groningen. In fact, they Only part of these two territories were exchanged. What Princess Elizabeth brought was a military port and a commercial port, and the territory between the two places. II) purchased in the name of Kalsava, a city under the Vizeme Heights in Livonia, which is the ancestral land of the Zmihi family.

However, this deal may only last until the end of the war of succession to the throne. Sweden finally annexed Norway and Denmark, France got Spain, and defeated the anti-French alliance of the Holy Roman Emperor and princes. This will be a very long time ——Whether Bourbon in France or Poland will be able to use this territory as a foothold to conquer the surrounding area like it devoured Lorraine or Brittany is another matter.

Ludwig I, King of Poland, when his dear friend and brother Louis XIV wrote to ask him to send an army to administer his new domain in the poor abbot's place, he obliged, but in At this time, he also had to monitor the great Polish aristocrats, lest they be deceived by Leopold I's rhetoric, so he asked his crown prince, Earl Henry, to go out on his behalf.

Louis XIV vaguely mentioned in his letter that this territory might be transferred to Poland after the Spanish succession war-first; this enclave is not of much use to France; second: nothing can It can consolidate the authority of the new king more than regaining the looted territory; third: wait until the war of succession to the throne is over, if Karl XI annexes Norway as he expected, Denmark, and the king after him, will inevitably He turned his attention to the territory of North Groning that he inherited from his mother. As I said before, Groningen in the Netherlands is the throat of Scandinavia, even if the new king of Sweden comes from Ms. Bourbon's belly However, it is ridiculous to rely on blood and relationship between countries.

Louis XIV didn't say it, but Ludwig I, that is, Condé the Great, could also understand that the former ceded the territory of Livonia to Poland, and hoped that in the future, neither Poland nor Sweden could get rid of each other. Restrictions, to put it bluntly, planted a hidden danger between them.

But Ludwig still wants to thank Louis XIV, just like Karl XI had to reach a deal with Louis XIV despite the opposition of the queen mother and ministers.

Dauphin Henry set out with his army, which included French musketeers, as well as Polish schlachta and hussars—the two are generally inseparable, because Poland still enforces the old serfdom. According to the system, the serfs supported Lord Shilachita and their masters, ministers and priests, and the Shilachitas used the materials provided by the serfs to feed expensive cavalry. Therefore, the hussars in the army did not belong to Henry, or even His father, King Ludwig I of Poland, belonged only to their masters—these masters just obeyed the king's call and came to serve the king.

There are also Tatars, and the most important one is Buhua. This Tatar with a Mongolian name has his son at the side of the French crown prince. For this friendship, Buhua also wants to get closer to Henry. Now the Tatars under Henry’s command are the general’s servants. Of course, fighting and strife will be inevitable during this period, but Buhua has the support of the French king. Both financial resources and armaments are higher than ordinary Tatars, and the objects of his competition in the army have always been those Shilachitas.

However, this cunning Tatar will also win some people, ranging from French musketeers to hussars. Whiskey from France is like a hot knife inserted into butter, which opened a smooth path for him.

As soon as he came to the square, someone came to talk to him. The person who came was the servant who was serving Prince Henry.

"But we are in Karsava." Buhua complained, half-truth and half-false, to accuse the enemy of being unawares and unprepared is purely dizzy. When the Russians wanted to seize the mouth of the Baltic Sea during the time of Ivan IV, they chose The first was Narva in the Estonian region. This time they chose Karsava, which is also in the border area, and it is understandable.

First of all, Narva is in the innermost part of the Gulf of Finland. That is to say, even if the Russians capture Narva, they are still surrounded by the Swedish army. They have to cross the entire Gulf of Finland to enter the Baltic Sea. Enemy, it is impossible to build a shipyard here or sail a ship—Karsava is located below Narva, not on the verge of the bay, but straight west from Karsava is Riga, the hub city of Livonia .

Between Kalsava and Riga is the Vidzeme Heights. It seems that the Russians are planning to occupy the highlands while planning to open the gate of Riga. A vast inland bay, ships in the Gulf of Riga can reach the Baltic Sea as long as they pass through the Irbe Strait.

The Russian tsar was clearly taking advantage of Kalsava's moment of emptiness - the Swedes had withdrawn, the Poles and French had arrived and were new to everything.

"In fact we did hear some rumors," said Dauphin Henry, "but they all pointed to Narva, and even Tartu, not Karzava."

"It seems that someone intends to confuse our sight." Without saying a word, he bowed to the crown prince. They had already arrived on the battlefield. The Russians obviously wanted to catch them by surprise, so it could not be said that the army was overwhelming. Prince Henry guessed that there might be only ten thousand or twenty thousand people, coming from the direction of the two cities of Ostrov and Occhipoka, which formed a triangle with Karzava.

These Russians went out of the city at dawn, arrived outside the city at dusk, and then settled down on the edge of a swamp. Obviously, they planned to launch a surprise attack when the next dawn came-Karsava was not an important city, its Although the wall was wide enough, it was not high enough. The city gate was in disrepair for a long time. There were no bastions that are very common today, and there were not enough armed forces in the city. The houses were low and the streets were narrow.

The army led by Prince Henry was no more than 5,000 people, and this number was three times the population of the city, so that he had to enter the city with only officers and attendants, and his soldiers lived scattered in the farms surrounding the city—— They were being summoned quickly, and fortunately Dauphin Henry had brought twenty small and medium artillery pieces, and his armaments had always been on par with Louis XIV's Guards.

They climbed all the way to the highest place in the city, that is, a clock tower on a hill. Next to the clock tower was a lonely chapel. They held up their binoculars and looked at the place where the Russians were said to be stationed, but they couldn't see anything. A Tatar next to Buhua couldn't help asking: "Are there really ten thousand people there, Your Highness, my eyes are like night owls, and I can even see mice in the fields, but I didn't find a trace. "

Prince Henry just nodded.

Looking at the calm and affirmative expression of this Highness, Buhua couldn't help but think of some things that An Wo had said to him - the devils, spirits and wizards that haunted the palace - there must be similar "things" around that Highness , "What the hell," he said in his stomach, "these things have never been seen before." In the past ten years, they have gone from occasional scaly claws to everywhere.

Prince Henry had no doubts that the person who brought him the message—and there was a reason—was none other than Zmich’s people.

The leader of Zmisch, Amon, will not serve any mortal casually, but the deal he reached with Louis XIV can also be extended to the Bourbon family, and since he has reached an agreement with Bourbon, he will No more favors would be cast on the Tsar—so he wouldn't have to watch Karsava change hands again.

There are not many people who have doubts like the Tatars, but in any case, they obeyed Henry's order, and the Tatars headed by Buhua were sent out to investigate, patrol, soldiers, and cities that were forcibly recruited Residents began to build fortifications, blocked the city gates and strengthened the city walls. For a moment, Carl Savary was full of crying and cursing—because Henry asked them to demolish the house to meet the demand for fortification materials, Henry didn't care about those eyes full of hatred—he was walking from the battlefield The general who came out had been with his father and Louis XIV for a long time, and he knew how to appease these people.

Sure enough, when they heard that their losses would be compensated, people became quiet, although some people still laughed at the Polish crown prince because he was scared out of his wits, "I saw the Russians coming in a nightmare!" I also don't believe that the Russians would choose this little-known town as the target of their attack.

Then, before the mist cleared from the swamps and rivers, the golden light flashing from the Tsar's double-headed eagle banner stung their eyes.

—————

"Really?" Alexei I said: "It seems..." We made a mistake, "We still have to face a real war."

After finishing speaking, he coughed lightly a few times. The start of Karsava's war was not smooth, which made everyone in the room look annoyed, from the tsar to the ministers. Alexei I's eyes fell on the double-headed eagle flag embroidered with gold thread after a while, as if he had fallen into deep thought, but his thoughts had nothing to do with the current battle. He remembered that the double-headed eagle was also used Logo of the Holy Roman Empire Leopold I.

If you want to go deeper, the Russian tsar (the word tsar comes from Caesar) cannot be recognized by the kings of Europa. After all, from the root, they are as embarrassing as the Prince of Transylvania in Hungary—— Russia was the Principality of Kiev at the earliest time. Later, the Mongols (Tatars) invaded Northeast Ross, and the Russian princes accepted the canonization of the Golden Horde of the Tatars. The Grand Duke of Moscow... and other principalities were all like this until Iran During the period of Fan III, it was able to get rid of the control of the Golden Horde and become an independent country.

This is also Ivan III, in order to wash away the shame of accepting pagan canonization and slavery, he married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, and claimed to have inherited the crown of Eastern Rome, that is to say, with the Holy Roman Empire. Just like taking over the mantle of the Western Roman Empire, Russia also considers itself the "eldest son" of Byzantium.

This statement is undoubtedly vain, and it is not recognized by others, but there is no doubt that from the Rurik dynasty to the Romanov dynasty, every tsar was committed to turning their falsehood into reality-when another When a double-headed eagle sent a secret letter, intending to reach a covenant with Alexei I, he was moved, even though Alexei I originally planned that there was no war.

He had been ill for a long time, and even with the reckless use of the medicines and cures of priests and wizards, he would not live long, and his two sons, the eldest and the second, although of noble blood, were like him, Frail and sickly, because they have been like this since childhood, it is difficult to persevere and concentrate in their studies. Alexei I can't criticize them, but he can't help but sigh occasionally.

In the future... what should we do? How would a weak emperor face enemies like tigers and wolves at home and abroad?

His eldest son, Ferdo, was already ten years old, barely able to sit still in his seat, and tried to look dignified, but it was obvious from a glance that he couldn't understand anything.

When his father's eyes fell on him, he looked as if he had been pricked with a long needle.

"But our number is several times that of them. Even if they are prepared, they will not be able to fight against an army of 30,000 people." A minister said in time, not only to answer the emperor's question, but also to relieve the emperor's eldest son. It was members of the empress's family Miloslavsky, and after the empress's death their political rival family Naryshkin found an opportunity to continually recommend young ladies of their family to the tsar - most likely one named Nata Leah's girl, she was young, healthy, and strong, and looked like a candidate who could give birth to a more perfect heir.

No one in the Moscow court knew what Alexei I was thinking. He cherished his children as much as King Louis XIV of France, but his eldest son was really... worrying compared to Louis XIV's heir.

"Yes, we have 30,000 people," another minister said with a sarcasm, "but they don't need to fight these 30,000 people for long, as long as they persist until the nearby reinforcements arrive at Karsava, they can intercept us in Weiwei." Beyond the Lykaya."

The former minister glared at the other party, and the person who refuted him was a member of the Naryshkin family.

The Tsar frowned in pain, his skull was pounding, and his scalp seemed to be torn apart. He really didn't have the energy to reconcile the conflicts between the two families. He had already decided to enter into a marriage contract again, Milo He was very aware of the petty thinking of the Slavsky family, but he didn't blame them for choosing such an incompetent wife and mother for him-it must be the fault of women for not giving birth to a healthy heir-it was tolerant enough, but he It is impossible to remain a widower.

"Sweden reinforcements?" he said. "Is Denmark already on the move?"

"You said Christian V," the minister of the Miloslavski family replied immediately: "His messenger said that there will be an army of 50,000 people ready to attack Sweden at any time."

"Twenty-five thousand people would be great." Alexei I said contemptuously.

"The Swedish garrison in Livonia was not many." Although the minister of Miloslawski was talking to the tsar, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at his eldest son, a sick and weak heir, It's not a good thing for the emperor, but for the minister... "We still have time, it's just a little regret at the beginning."

"I hope your general is as you say." Alexei I said, with a hint of sternness in embarrassment.

"He is a brave man, and he is willing to die for you."

"It doesn't matter if I'm a traitor, as long as I win..." Before Alexei I finished speaking, he heard a commotion outside the door.

Because this is the last battle of Louis XIV, and it is also a multinational battle, so it is difficult to grasp the rhythm during this period, and the update is relatively slow. Please forgive me, readers.