Chapter 1090: Too Dreadful to Imagine! (Seeking Subscriptions)

April 1659, London, Hampton Court Palace.

Company after company of New Model Army soldiers were patrolling and standing guard outside the center of English power, with not only infantry carrying the latest flintlock muskets deployed, but also cavalry in iron armor, and even cannon set up outside the gates of Hampton Court Palace.

What a picture of facing a formidable enemy!

Yet the streets outside Hampton Court Palace were still quite calm at this time; no one was panicking, and no crowds were gathering to oppose the current Lord Protector, Charles Cromwell. In fact, people had grown somewhat accustomed to this atmosphere of facing a formidable enemy.

Since September of last year, when the former Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell had fallen mortally ill, Hampton Court Palace had from time to time been surrounded and guarded by New Model Army soldiers, and the whole city of London would enter a curfew along with it — though of course, London had little nightlife to begin with. This was Puritan country; at night, apart from sleeping, praying, and making little Puritans, people also worked overtime.

And the current Lord Protector, Charles Cromwell, on this curfew night, was keeping watch beside the former Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, who had already entered his final hours, wearing a worried and gloomy expression — at a glance, a truly filial son!

Perhaps because he had retired early by more than a year, Oliver Cromwell's health was slightly better than in history, and he had survived several more months.

And these several months, plus the more than a year of taking over the Lord Protector's post ahead of time, were extremely important to Charles Cromwell.

Although he still had that indecisive character and was far inferior to his father in governing the country and employing men, this was England — Puritan England!

When the Puritan warriors who firmly believed in God followed their new Lord Protector to defeat the combined army of Spain, the English Royalists, and the French Frondeurs on the dunes outside Dunkirk, and then used parallel siege approaches and ricochet tactics to break the fortress of Dunkirk, the close bond between them and Charles Cromwell was established.

Because on the battlefield, the Puritan warriors charged shouting the slogan "Long live Charles Cromwell!" And after victory, they swore allegiance to Charles Cromwell and received their corresponding rewards.

Breaking an oath was not the way of those Puritan fanatics! Having sworn allegiance in God's name, how could one betray it afterward? That would mean going to hell.

So the twenty or thirty thousand New Model Army officers and men who had followed Charles Cromwell on the expedition to Dunkirk and returned in triumph had now all become Charles's firm supporters!

With their support, at least in London, no one could overthrow his rule any longer — whenever Oliver Cromwell fell critically ill, those New Model Army soldiers who supported Charles Cromwell would march fully armed onto the streets of London to display Charles Cromwell's strength.

But throughout England, and especially in Ireland, where Catholics made up the majority, the situation remained extremely unstable. Once news of Cromwell's death reached there, a Royalist rebellion would almost certainly break out!

If Charles Cromwell wanted to ensure victory in the decisive battle with the Royalists that was about to begin, then he had better sign a peace treaty with Spain, the Royalists' chief backer, before that — and this was also the unanimous demand of England's merchant shipowners.

The most dangerous enemy of England's merchant shipowners was not Spain, but the Dutch merchant shipowners!

Yet over the past few years, because of attacks by Spanish privateers, England's merchant shipowners had already lost nearly 2,000 merchant ships — in this era, a navy facing an enemy employing pirate tactics had a real headache! Do not think that because the Spanish navy could not beat the English navy in a sea battle, English merchant ships could sail the seas unhindered. The warships of the Barbary pirate states of North Africa were even weaker than the Spanish navy and could not possibly contend with the English navy, yet English merchant ships still had to pay them protection money.

So even the mighty English navy could not protect English merchant ships sailing the English Channel and the Atlantic. After losing as many as 2,000 merchant ships, England's capitalists had been badly weakened and could no longer compete with their Dutch counterparts, so they hoped to end the war with dignity.

In addition, worrying bad news had also come from France. Under the mediation of the Cardinal Minister Mazarin, the Spanish House of Habsburg and the French House of Bourbon were discussing a marriage alliance.

A marriage alliance was nothing special — in Europe, there were too many cases of two countries that had fought each other to the death for decades suddenly becoming in-laws overnight. But this marriage alliance between the royal houses of Spain and France had all of Western Europe on edge.

Because Maria Theresa, who was to marry Louis XIV, was the eldest surviving legitimate child of Philip IV!

And her two younger brothers, Philip Prosper and Ferdinand Thomas Charles, were both in terribly poor health — they were both products of close-kin marriages, and the blood ties were simply too close, so both suffered from fatal hereditary diseases.

Once these two children died young, Princess Maria Theresa would become Queen of Spain — this was truly absurd. The soldiers of Spain and France had fought on the battlefield for nearly twenty years, and then, before anyone knew it, their Queen and King were already sleeping in the same bed!

And the matter of the Queen of Spain and the King of France sharing a bed also meant that Spain and France had become a union of shared sovereigns, and might even go a step further and become a single country!

What a joke — if Spain and France merged into one, how were England, the Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottomans supposed to carry on?

So during this period, diplomats across the European continent were secretly coming and going, conducting all sorts of secret negotiations over the possible Franco-Spanish merger. All kinds of secret treaties were also beginning to be drafted.

At such a critical juncture of history, Oliver Cromwell, the founding father of the Commonwealth of England, had reached the final moments of his life.

Once England lost such a wise, sagacious, and stern leader, while at the same time facing a vast Franco-Spanish union of shared sovereigns — it was truly too dreadful to imagine!

Too dreadful to imagine — the First Filial Son of England was sighing in despair, when that Oliver Cromwell who simply would not die suddenly coughed and came to.

"Charles, is that you sighing? Have you run into something unpleasant again?"

Hearing his father speak, the filial Charles hurriedly looked over his old man, who had wasted away beyond recognition, his face as pale as a sheet of white paper — he had heard the doctors say that a dying patient sometimes suddenly improved a little before death. His father's current state, could it be—

"What is it? Out with it!" Oliver Cromwell urged.

"Father, France — the King of France may be about to marry the Spanish princess Maria Theresa."

"Oh," Oliver Cromwell responded, then fell silent again. After a while, he said, "You should bless this marriage — and there is no need to oppose a possible merger."

"Father—"

Oliver Cromwell said, "You should, through secret channels, clearly indicate to France that you agree with the Franco-Spanish merger. At the same time, discuss with the leaders of the Dutch parliament the possibility of forming an alliance when France and Spain share a sovereign.

Remember, do not — absolutely do not — get lightly drawn into conflicts on the Continent. Remember, until you have fully mastered England, you must maintain good relations with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. If war breaks out among them, England should remain as neutral as possible.

You need not worry about changes on the Continent, but you must promptly adjust relations with the Eastern Empire. If the Franco-Spanish shared sovereignty comes to pass, then we should replace France and become the Eastern Empire's most important ally in Europe."

In his final rally, Cromwell was delivering his last words to his son Charles, who appeared to have already secured control of London. As for the changes that might occur on the European continent, Cromwell was not worried, because he knew very well that the entanglements of interests on the European continent were intricate and complex, and that for countries of the caliber of France and Spain to truly achieve a merger would be extremely difficult.

And in that process, the European continent would certainly undergo violent upheaval. England, meanwhile, needed to stay out of it while replacing the Netherlands as the sea-coachman between the Eastern and Western worlds.

(End of Chapter)