I Am Louis XIV

It was nearly noon, and the king and the bishop simply ate some "king bread", that is, bread stuffed with cheese, ham and fresh vegetables, drank hot liqueur, and returned to the tower, and at this In less than an hour, the battle situation changed again.

Speaking of which, as long as people with military talents understand how important the terrain of the battlefield is to the overall battle situation, generally speaking, they will try their best to understand every hill, flat land, even rivers and lakes on the battlefield. And the Viscount Turenne has one more special ability than ordinary generals, that is, the understanding of the sea. Don't forget, after his elder brother inherited the Duke of Sedan, he is like the second son of every noble family. Son, he joined his uncle's army when he was fourteen or fifteen years old, and his uncle was Prince Maurice of the Netherlands, who would soon become half of the territory of the Netherlands Federation Facing the sea, the navy accounted for the vast majority of their army. To say that a Dutch officer knew nothing about the sea would be a big joke that could make people laugh from the Hundred Years' War to the Thirty Years' War. Needless to say, Viscount Turenne's uncle, Maurice, who is called a genius, can be said to have resurrected Europa's professional army—this is one of the reasons why Viscount Turenne sincerely surrendered to the king. In the king, he saw many excellences that belonged to Prince Maurice, especially the emphasis on the sense of responsibility and morality of soldiers.

Of course, this Prince Maurice would not hesitate to teach his nephew. By his side, the Viscount Turenne can be said to have laid the strongest foundation. Among them, what Prince Maurice often talked about with him was 1600, the year of the Netherlands. The Battle of Newport between the Commonwealth and Spain. In that battle, the Commonwealth of the Netherlands won a remarkable victory, but Prince Maurice still thinks there are many things to regret. One of them is that when they fought, the tide Rising so suddenly that both armies had to move, and if he had anticipated this in advance, he would have left more Spaniards behind than allowed the Spaniards to continue to harass the Dutch shipping lines military strength, so that this battle failed to achieve the results they expected.

So before the war, the Viscount Turenne mentioned it to the king-although the king was not going to interfere with any of the general's plans, it was precisely for this reason that the Viscount Turenne reciprocated and told the king his whole story. The plan of battle—he said he would force (if the Spaniards had not done so) the Spaniards to line up with them along the coast, and when the tide receded, and the battle began to heat up, the Spaniards would With his right flank exposed, he would mobilize reserves of cavalry to detour from here and hit the unsuspecting Spaniards directly.

And now, just as Viscount Turenne expected, the golden sea shining brightly in the sun is slowly receding into the sea unconsciously, the stranded fish are still struggling, and the French cavalry prepares to The team has already started to gallop, and the heavy and hard horseshoes stepped over the soft sand, leaving deep pits on it, rushing towards the unaware Spanish army in the splash of water-they are still immersed in the battle with In the battle of the main force of the French army, this can be said to be a sudden and one-sided massacre.

When there is no need to face the large-caliber muskets of the Spaniards, the lances of the order knights can still make countless enemies tremble with fear. When a guy in heavy armor from man to horse crashes into the formation , no different from a solid iron cannonball, leaving behind a bloody road, although some officers immediately shouted for the spearmen to turn, but it was too late, when the knights were ordered to draw their broadswords, and defeated When the Spaniards and the British cavalry colleagues attacked side by side, Prince Condé, who was in charge of the left flank of the Spanish army, realized that the situation was over. He began to call his soldiers and officers and lead them to the right flank of the French army. Kirk, as long as they come to the city of Dunkirk and enter the city, they can at least keep this part of their existing strength.

Prince Condé's idea was very correct. When the king saw the soldiers wearing light maroon shoulder straps running towards Dunkirk on the tower, he couldn't help shouting. Fortunately, the Viscount Turenne did not disappoint. The king's expectations, he ordered Sebastian Vauban (this is what the king learned later) to lead only 100 cavalry and 300 infantry to intercept - this is to be hostile to those who once worked closely After the war, the Viscount Turenne said that he had been paying attention to the Prince of Condé, knowing that he was good at fighting as well as at escaping...

Vauban has an excellent talent in field fortifications, like a kind of echo, he is also quite good at defense, he led the soldiers to occupy a long and wide sand dune first, and then cut off the carriage carrying the luggage The wheel frame, set up a temporary fortification, and ordered the musketeers to rely on it to shoot at the army of Prince Condé-Prince Condé is indeed a brave warrior, as every time before, he took the lead, but this time Goddess of Fortune did not Instead of standing beside him, he smiled at the Viscount Turenne—the horse that hit the Prince of Condé in the first wave was killed, he fell to the ground, and several trusted officers dragged him back. He is not the Prince of Condé, and he may have ended up with his horse long ago.

In other words, if Prince Condé can be given some time, he may also be able to play another ending, but there are not a few people who have the same idea as him, and suddenly find that they are surrounded by people—I mean, they are all French. When he was in the middle of the night, the Duke of York in England immediately turned pale, and had to give up the soldiers who were entangled by the New Model Army, and retreated resolutely. As soon as he left, the mercenaries of the Holy Roman Empire naturally followed suit. Their tradition—slipping away when the battle situation was unfavorable, leaving Spain’s Marshal Don Juan and his soldiers to persist—did not last long, at least Prince Condé had not been able to break through Vauban’s line of defense, and the French army approached them.

At that time, the king was not sure that Prince Condé was captured. When he heard the news, he couldn't help shouting, "Long live!" and waved his hat. A huge reserved smile.

The actions of the French army to hunt and annihilate the enemy continued until the moon rose, and it would take two days for the specific figures to be counted. The coalition forces of the French and the New Model Army killed about 400 people, most of them were He was killed in a frontal conflict with the Spanish phalanx at the beginning of the war, but in contrast, more than a thousand people were killed by the Spanish coalition forces, although most of them were British, and more than 5,000 people were captured, and most of these people Some are Spanish.

But to say that the biggest capture is Marshal Don Juan of Spain. He is the illegitimate son of King Philip IV of Spain and a dancing girl. He is highly valued by the king. The other is Prince Condé, a figure who makes people feel complicated.

The Marshal of the Spaniards, accompanied by the Viscount de Turenne, who was present to the King, was impeccable in his manners and his manners, and it was heard that he refused to surrender to the new model army of the English because they were subject to a tyrant, but Louis guessed This gentleman is more because he doesn't want to fall into the hands of the British, that is, Cromwell. After all, Cromwell is now fighting the Spaniards-he doesn't look panicked, and even expresses his willingness to see it with his own eyes. Prosperity in Paris, presumably he also knew that his father would soon try to redeem him.

He was indeed treated like a prince, and his residence, food, and supplies were second only to kings and bishops.

Compared with this Mr. Don Juan, the treatment of Prince Condé is much worse. After all, he is still a traitor. He is locked in a simple room, always sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bowed, looking Very frustrated.

"Did he mention seeing me?" Louie asked.

"Not yet," said the Viscount Turenne, and he immediately added: "I think soon, Your Majesty."

Seeing his nervousness, Louis couldn't help smiling, knowing that what the Viscount was worried about was that he was unwilling to forgive Prince Condé, but even if it wasn't because of the custom at this time and place, he would not execute Prince Condé, or even exile him, because In terms of military affairs, Prince Condé is indeed outstanding, as well as some of his friends and subordinates. There is still an undercurrent in France. The king now even wants to borrow the cat's hand, let alone Such a military figure.

"Don't worry." Louis said to Viscount Turenne: "You can persuade him slowly, we still have time—I mean, after the capture of Dunkirk."

"It won't take a week, Your Majesty, just watch." Viscount Turenne said proudly.

These words are not false. The defenders of Dunkirk saw that most of the reinforcements were wiped out, and they lost their previous courage and faith. It surrendered just a few days later.

When he heard the good news, the king was discussing with the bishop about the burial of the soldiers who died in battle. The king wanted to hold a high mass for them, but the bishop had to remind him that if he did so, the matter might be lost. It's going to become a routine. Practice is practice, and the King was so insistent on it that he couldn't understand that his mother, the Queen Mother, Anne, could hold God-knows-whose Mass after Mass (Louis can only remember a few saints now) at will. , Why did the bishop disapprove of the Mass to commemorate and comfort those soldiers who died for him and for France?

The appearance of an interrupter made the bishop breathe a sigh of relief, but the king grabbed Viscount Turenne at once. Of course, the viscount also agreed to hold a high mass for the soldiers, two to one, and the bishop retreated, but Afterwards, the good news made them celebrate with sweet wine together.

Viscount Turenne proposed that during the army's entry ceremony, the king should walk in the front in military uniform. The bishop agreed, and Louis did not refuse, because considering that Dunkirk would eventually be handed over to the British, General Monk of the New Model Army was afraid that he would get into trouble with Viscount Turenne over who advanced the city, but if it was the king, then even Cromwell would have nothing to say.

—————

Same night, Blois.

Painful and hasty gasps came from the heavy curtain. The servant of the Duke of Orleans got up from the cot, lit a candle, held the candlestick in one hand, lifted the bed curtain with the other, and moved the candlelight to When he touched the Duke's face, he cried out in horror!