Chapter 1024: France Is About to Rise! (Please Subscribe)

"My Your Majesty, our France is about to rise! A military revolution set off by wooden-fuze exploding shells, sandbag bastions, parallel siege methods, flintlock muskets, and socket bayonets is about to sweep across all of Europe! Whoever first carries out a thorough military reform and seizes the opportunity of this military revolution will become the military power that leads Europe. And our Kingdom of France occupies an extremely favorable position in this military revolution, because France has me!"

Outside Paris, in the Château de Saint-Germain, the one enthusiastically pitching his military reform theories to Louis XIV, who had grown into a not particularly handsome short young man, was the Prince de Condé, who had returned to France only half a month ago.

The sudden return of the Prince de Condé had completely caught Cardinal Mazarin and the Queen Mother Anne of France by surprise — because after the Prince de Condé had left, many of his old associates and relatives had still joined the Fronde, causing a great deal of trouble for Mazarin and Queen Mother Anne.

Even now, quite a few remnants of the Fronde were still holed up in the citadel of Dunkirk, opposing France.

So Mazarin and Anne did not want the Prince de Condé to return to the country, and if the Prince de Condé absolutely had to sneak back, then he must not be allowed to see the young Louis XIV!

Of course, that had been Mazarin's and Anne's thinking before the Prince de Condé reached the port of Calais. But that thinking was completely dispelled with the return of General Friedrich Beigelsom, who had gone to the port of Calais to receive the Prince de Condé and the Chinese mission.

Because General Beigelsom told the Cardinal and the Queen Mother that the Prince de Condé, returning from China, had grown enormously in ability!

If the French Army were led by him, France would certainly be able to dominate the European continent!

If the Prince de Condé were allowed to go to Austria or Spain, then France would be in serious trouble.

In other words, either make great use of the Prince de Condé, or kill the Prince de Condé. Open killing would of course not do, but assassination was still possible!

In any case, he must not be allowed to get away, or the consequences would be endless!

So the Prince de Condé had now been brought to the Château de Saint-Germain, and whether to use him or kill him was for Louis XIV to decide.

And the Prince de Condé felt no danger at all, because he knew that Queen Mother Anne and Cardinal Mazarin both wished to strengthen the royal power of France — that was the fundamental reason for their conflict with the French nobility.

The Prince de Condé had previously been the leader whom the nobles supported, but now — since France was soon going to punch Spain and kick the German states, that little conflict between the nobles and the king would no longer exist.

The nobles and the king had been fighting over existing interests, because France had gained little profit in the Thirty Years' War, so they could only come home and fight among themselves.

But now, the Prince de Condé had a way to lead France in contending for European hegemony — would the profits of a whole Europe not be enough to divide up?

"Your Highness," Louis XIV, having been worked on by the Prince de Condé, was also growing a little hot-headed, "if I appoint you Minister of War, how do you intend to carry out the military reform?"

The Prince de Condé said: "First, I will seize the citadel of Dunkirk for you, and once again deal a heavy blow to the Spanish Army of the Netherlands, in order to bring this long war to an end."

"End the war?" Louis XIV was taken aback. "I thought you were going to seize the whole of the Spanish Netherlands for me!"

"I will seize the Spanish Netherlands for Your Majesty, but not now," the Prince de Condé said, "because completing a military reform requires at least three years. In three years, there will be a French army of more than one hundred thousand men, equipped with entirely new weapons and tactics, fighting for Your Majesty, and they will be invincible in Europe!

This army will be equipped in large numbers with flintlock muskets and howitzers, which will give them powerful field combat capability. They will also master the skills of rapidly building fortifications with sandbags and besieging citadels with parallel trenches — by then, no bastion fort will be able to block their march.

Moreover, the officers of this army will receive a year and a half of training at the Château de Saint-Germain, and will swear loyalty to Your Majesty!

Finally, I will also form a general staff committee for Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty can, like the Great Ming Emperor, personally command the mighty French army and sweep across Europe!"

Louis XIV's eyes lit up. "Really? Can I really command armies in battle myself, like the Great Ming Emperor?"

The Prince de Condé nodded repeatedly. "Of course. In fact, the Great Ming Emperor is not a tactician either. The reason he can command operations is that he is assisted by a group of professional staff officers."

The Prince was not telling the truth. Zhu Cilang was of course a tactician, but he was a lopsided tactician. He could not use infantry or cavalry well, but his skill with engineers and artillery was first-rate. There was no citadel in this world that he could not take — and if there was one, then sending someone else to attack it would likewise end in a bloody failure!

"But a military reform will also cost a great deal of money, will it not?" Louis XIV said. "France's finances are in poor shape, and I fear it will be very difficult to produce sufficient funds to support the reform."

"Your Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor has already issued a full, irrevocable guarantee letter for three million taels," the Prince de Condé said, "to guarantee a loan to France from the Sino-European United Bank!"

"Three million taels? How much is that?" Louis XIV asked.

"Roughly equivalent to one million gold louis!" the Prince de Condé said. "Or eighteen million livres."

"What is the interest rate?" Louis XIV asked again. "Will we be able to repay it?"

The Louis XIV of this time still knew that borrowed money had to be repaid.

"With the Great Ming Emperor's guarantee, the interest rate will certainly be the most favorable, estimated at around eight percent." The Prince de Condé thought for a moment, then laughed. "As for repayment — once we have Antwerp and Brussels, one million gold louis should hardly be an astronomical figure, should it? And if worst comes to worst, there are still Venice and Milan!"

At this, Louis XIV was finally moved by the Prince de Condé's words. He nodded heavily: "Very well then. I will go and discuss it with the Cardinal, and first give you an army to attack Dunkirk. If you succeed, I will make you Minister of War and Chairman of the General Staff Committee."

While Louis XIV was speaking with the Prince de Condé, the English envoy Marvell, returned from China, had already arrived back in London. His carriage was blocked outside Hampton Court Palace by the River Thames by a crowd of petitioning citizens of the English Commonwealth.

"What is going on?" asked Marvell, who was in a hurry to get to Hampton Court Palace to see Cromwell, of a Foreign Office official who had come to the dock to meet him. "What are these people doing?"

"They are petitioning His Highness the Lord Protector," the official replied.

"Petitioning? For what?"

"To ask His Highness the Lord Protector to ascend the throne and be crowned King of England!" the official said. "How can England be without a king? It does not suit England's national conditions. Everyone is unaccustomed to it, and so all are agreed that His Highness the Lord Protector should become His Majesty the King! Mr. Marvell, do you think His Highness the Lord Protector should become king?"

"He should!" Marvell nodded at once. How would he dare say no? "His Highness should of course become king! Not only should he be king, he must be king — look, look, so many citizens of England have come to petition. I trust Parliament also unanimously supports his coronation as king?"

"Of course! All the members of Parliament look forward to His Highness the Lord Protector being crowned king!" the official said happily. "It seems it will not be long before we can shout 'Long live the King!'"

Marvell said loudly: "Indeed! We shall shout 'Long live His Majesty the King!'"

Cromwell had heard people address him as His Majesty the King more than once, but every time he had immediately stopped them, because he did not want to be king. He had once thought of it, but now he did not, because he had a higher goal — to become the man who could truly unite Britain into one whole.

Because the Britain of this time was not a true whole, but a union composed of four parts: England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. With the growth of Cromwell's authority, the complete unification of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales no longer looked difficult. But Cromwell still faced one difficult problem, namely the religious division of Britain!

It was chiefly the division among four parts — Catholicism, Anglican Protestantism, Presbyterian Protestantism, and Puritanism. That was the real problem of Britain!

(End of Chapter)