I Am Louis XIV - Chapter 535

  Chapter 535 Viscount Turenne’s Sea Gala (Part 1)

  Viscount Turenne’s birthday was in September, but at the end of October, he held a grand banquet and invited people from North Holland to attend, which really caused quite a stir.

In the Netherlands, Viscount Turenne was even more powerful than the last heir of the Orange family, William III, because the Dutch and other people felt that William III lacked the courage of a man and was completely in the hands of the British. A puppet, but to be fair, William III is not the kind of cowardly and timid person who is greedy for life, otherwise he would not have gone to London alone and asked for the money that Charles II owed to the Orange family.

  What must be said, William III just committed the common problem of young people, being reckless, reckless, and trusting others too much.

Later, he was placed under house arrest in the Tower of London for a long time, during which he was cut off from his supporters. Because of this, his supporters either disbanded or turned to support others. He became the Duke of Utrecht. Disgusted by many fiery men, who believed that William III colluded with Charles II to sell Holland to England and France.

   Even if he raised the flag of the Orange family this time, some people still think that he was serving as a **** for Charles II, rather than inheriting the legacy of his father and brother.

Thus, an odd claim arose that in the Netherlands, Viscount Turenne was more convincing than William III – a descendant of the House of Orange, but also a minister of French King Louis XIV, who was loyal to the king Geng Geng is also a rare virtue.

   But here we still have to say, don’t think that North Holland will be calm, in addition to the conspiracy of Charles II, it also involves the dissatisfaction of Dutch businessmen and parliamentarians with the French.

   As we all know, Louis XIV was very lenient to his people, and he would not raise taxes even in wars, and this favor even extended to his newly occupied territories. But only the policy on merchants can even be said to be extremely harsh. The merchants really love and fear the king. Of course, the various new products developed by Louis XIV’s craftsmen and scholars have made them rich. It has even become a brick and stone for them to knock on the doors of other palaces and nobles. However, when the Sun King formulated the laws for merchants, he was equally strict and delicate, leaving almost no gaps, and the sentencing was even more severe, often beheading or hanging.

   If these merchants could barely endure, then they felt unacceptable than the various privileges that Louis XIV took back. Unlike another continent, in Europa, because the king must borrow money from merchants (sometimes just to splurge) when he goes to war, and the nobles are more effective, so the merchants are in a humble position, but they often have various special powers – all of them. It was given to them by kings and lords to pay their debts.

   Remember the tax collector who has now disappeared in France? ,

   To give a simple example, the merchants bought the taxes of Orleans for thirty years from the king, but they were not collected by the king’s officials, but they sent or collected it themselves. When they signed the contract with the king, Orleans’ annual tax was only equivalent to 50,000 livres, and when they went to collect the tax, the tax would suddenly rise to 500,000 livres. And the price difference of 450,000 livres went directly into the pockets of the merchants, and the king had no way of saying it.

  It is ridiculous that when the people were unable to make a living because of heavy taxes and even started riots, the culprit they identified was still the king.

  Although it’s true…

The tax system in France was banned immediately after Louis came into power, and then there are many. As long as there are privileges related to people’s livelihood and state affairs, His Majesty will take it back no matter what, and he has also sacrificed a lot of personal interests for this – but He thought it was worth it.

   Therefore, when His Majesty the King begins to rule North Holland, his policies will inevitably make the Dutch merchants feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied.

   “The Netherlands is a country of merchants.”

It is impossible to verify where the phrase    came from, but no one would deny that this phrase is true. When the Netherlands was still ruled by Spain, whether Spain wanted to garrison troops, divide it into divisions, or set up a governor, the Dutch were obedient and had no objection at all. But when the Spaniards are about to charge what they consider “excessive” taxes, they kick you out, Spaniards.

   They founded the country in 1588, not because of any ambition, but because the merchants could continue their business in peace and stability. But we all know that no matter when and where, it is impossible for a group of mercenary businessmen to govern the country to make the country prosperous and stable. When they fought with the British, they did not stop doing business with the British. , During the war with the French, he did not stop doing business with the French. With such a government and officials, even if there are ten or a hundred Leuths, it will not help.

These people may think that under the rule of the French king, they can still amass wealth as much as they used to. After all, every king is like this, but Louis XIV was a majesty who knew businessmen very well. He knew very well. How unscrupulous such people can be – for businessmen, anything can be valued in money, love, family, honor, faith, dignity, and even life… They always pose as a confident knight, as if something They don’t care about it – it’s normal, how ordinary people view a chair, a cup, that’s how they view other people.

   For nearly a thousand years, the businessmen of Judah have been discriminated against and expelled, not without reason.

  With such a foreshadowing, the first gift that Louis XIV asked Viscount Turenne to bring to North Holland was a “French Commercial Law” that had been supplemented and refined several times.

   This business law is the yoke around the neck of the businessman.

Even thoughtless animals feel uncomfortable when they are shackled and want to break free, not to mention people. The people of North Holland have now slowly recovered from the pain of losing their country. After all, they founded their country. But for a hundred years, Louis XIV was not a cruel king.

It feels more and more unbearable for those who used to be “nobles”. Today’s Netherlands has no parliament, no chamber of commerce, and no guild. The power they once had is all in the hands of Viscount Turenne. The reduction of the capital is inevitable, and what is even more irritating is that these considerable flows have become the funds used by Viscount Turenne to strengthen the army and ships, although the merchants can sell the ropes to hang themselves when necessary. But isn’t that because they didn’t get the money?

When they received the invitation from Viscount Turenne, some scheming people did think of making excuses not to go to the banquet – something like that was done by Charles II, and they were really worried that Louis XIV would follow suit, but obviously , this is not something they can decide if they want or not.

  The only thing that reassured them was that many representatives of the poor people were invited to this gathering.

  In their mouths and perceptions, Louis XIV has always been a hypocrite. With these people around, the French probably…wouldn’t be so shameless…

  ——

   “Idealist.” Viscount Turenne commented, and when he failed to hear back, he remembered that Villar was already at sea.

Today, those people who are incompatible with those luxuriously dressed and jeweled guests, although they are also invited, they are completely opposite to the people around them. These radical-minded good people have already possessed the initial, crude national consciousness, just as once The generals of Reut, who had regarded Holland as a country, an ideal worth sacrificing, had been honoured to be, like those merchants, the little troubles of the Viscount Turenne.

  Despicable and noble are sometimes not a good way to identify friends and foes.

   At this time, De Boer, who is an “idealist” and a “nationalist”, and Schon, the merchant, were standing in the entrance hall, looking at the only decorations in the entrance hall with others.

   French commercial law protected by a glass case.

To say that this book of commercial law is beautifully framed, but it is not worth watching for so long, but when Viscount Turenne arrived in Amsterdam, it was very meaningful to enshrine this book in the hall where everyone can see it – except for the Dutch merchants. In addition to deterrence, it is also possible that this book has a gift and signature written by His Majesty the King himself, because Viscount Turenne did not want to live in the Dutch royal palace, and Louis XIV specifically asked him to do so. .

   The most important thing is that although this palace was regarded as a palace because Louis XIV stayed here, it was originally only the town hall and court of the Netherlands, and Viscount Turenne dared to accept the king’s kindness.

   “What do you think the Governor-General means to hold this banquet?” De Boer heard someone ask not far away.

   “If you just want money,” replied his friend. “Then it’s nothing.”

   “It depends on whether he seeks money for the king or for himself.”

   “Hopefully the latter.”

   “Hopefully the latter.”

   Hearing the people around him echoing this way, De Boer couldn’t help feeling disgusted, he went straight to another lonely corner, and he didn’t enter the hall until someone invited him.

The Dutch Royal Palace also has an alias called the Dam Palace. As the name suggests, it stands on a dam. It does not even have a foundation, or the kind of foundation that people usually think, but is supported by more than 13,000 wooden piles. . Such a building is a miracle, and the Dutch also regard it as a kind of pride, but they did not expect it to be completed within 50 years, and it has changed from a city hall to a palace.

De Boer’s surname means “peasant”, according to tradition, he should have been a farmer, but after the mainstay of the Dutch economy changed from agriculture to commerce, De Boer also became a sailor, and then came to Reuil General Te’s subordinate became a soldier. He did not know whether it was unfortunate or lucky, and he did not die in the sea during the last battle of General Reuter. Therefore, he believed that it was God who gave him a new mission.

   is to drive the French out of the Netherlands!

In the past few years, his career was relatively smooth. With hatred for the French and the king, many opponents joined his camp. In the villages, cities and ports, there were also many supporters. With the passage of time, the number of people in his team became less and less, except for the meticulous and frequent “combing” of Viscount Turenne like a grate, that is, the rule of the French is not as strict as the people imagined – the people, never It is the most docile, as long as you give him a way to survive, he will not easily give birth to the idea of ​​rebellion.

   When the number of people who voluntarily left exceeded the number who were arrested and executed, De Boer had to admit that he had failed.

But a failure did not make De Boer disheartened, and new funders appeared, but what they asked De Boer to do, in the face of De Boer’s tone and attitude, could not help but let De Boer Thinking of the people he met in the army and in the chamber of commerce—those people were worse than the French!

  The businessman Schoen noticed De Boer, and De Boer probably didn’t know that he also had a pound of silver belonging to Schoen in his activity funds. Schon, unlike De Boer, was a Jew—of course, he didn’t admit it in front of others, his father was a Protestant, his mother a Judah, and according to Judah law, he was supposed to be a Judah, but he was deeply Knowing that the Judahs did not have a good reputation in Europa, they always regarded themselves as Protestants.

   Anyway, if necessary, please change your letter.

  Schoen was a pure businessman and an elder of the shoe guild in Amsterdam. Although the shoe industry in Amsterdam is not the most developed, as long as it is a guild, it is destined to make a fortune. As an elder, he already owns three workshops, two storefronts, and a boat. Before the war began, he was expected to Becoming a guildmaster means that his family can go further.

   Of course, we all know what happened after that. Louis XIV has always hated guilds. In addition to the fact that the guilds were so greedy that they even interfered in the king’s industry, they also greatly affected the progress of industry and commerce – such as the shoe industry in Schön, which had no guilds. Yes, artisans are not allowed to modify materials, styles, dyes, etc., nor can they easily accept orders from elsewhere, or accept other suppliers, nor can they set their own prices and find buyers.

The guild may have guaranteed the safety and interests of the craftsmen in the beginning, but over the centuries, all kinds of stereotypes – almost all set for profit, have turned this huge system into a dead prison , Smart people, industrious people, or simple people not only can’t benefit from it, but will suffer and be punished, but those who know how to flatter, bribe and frame people have a shortcut to the sky.

   What’s more, these guilds have developed to this day, and they already have their own laws, their own troops and their own officials. In the two riots of the Frondists, the guild’s help and abuse contributed a lot, and Louis XIV never forgot it.

   There are no guilds in France, and certainly not in Holland.

   (end of this chapter)