"The French King Louis has left the South Netherlands and returned to Saint-Germain, which is said to be secretly planning with his close ministers how to better capture the entire Francheconte region." In the East Coast Store (also also the embassy) in Amsterdam, the plenipotentiary diplomatic envoy Li Qing was talking to Major Jiang Yaohui, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish temporary task force who arrived at night, saying the situation here: "Mons has surrendered and Brussels can't hold on for a few days, so Louis returned to Paris with confidence and began to turn his attention to the Francheconte region, which is very important to the Kingdom of France."

Speaking of this, perhaps because he was worried that Major Jiang Yaohui would not understand it, he talked about the current situation in these areas in detail. Of course, a lot of news was also conveyed through "sources" from the United Provinces.

Simply put, the military operation to attack Franche Conte - although not officially started yet, 20,000 French Army soldiers had gathered on the border - was planned by the famous Prince Conde. This nobleman, who was "forgivable" by King Louis of France and returned from Spain, seemed a little jealous of the credit for his old rival Marshal Tirena (Conde was defeated by him in the French War) to capture the South Netherlands, so he planned to spend less troops, less time and less money to occupy Franche Conte to restore his impression in Louis's heart.

Moreover, as a great nobleman who has been in the palace for many years, Prince Condé was very familiar with conspiracies. This time, it is said that he sent people to contact many senior military and political officials, including Marquis I'ena, the governor of Francheconte (although it was a news that the Dutch had made a fortune, but it was not without credibility), and promised to take them to France with a high official and generous salary.

Prince Conde was very confident and felt that such military and political means would easily occupy the Franche Conte region, and only a few troops needed to be used, which was much smaller than the large formation of the South Netherlands, and even smaller than the army (which also had tens of thousands) that attacked the junction of Western France in the south.

However, King Louis of France seemed not very satisfied with Prince Conde's plan. He planned to draw troops from the south and the South Netherlands, and then recruit some troops from the country, gather 200,000 people, and swept across the entire Francheconte, the Principality of Lorraine, Strasbourg, Luxembourg and other places with the momentum of Mount Tai, instead of the Francheconte in Prince Conde's original plan - what he wanted was a great advancement of the entire eastern border line, and for this reason he did not hesitate to use 200,000 troops.

After saying this, Li Qing took a few sips of tea, then sighed and said, "Now you know that the French are simply impossible to stop. They have paid so much and mobilized so many troops. If they are scared by your mere fleet, it will be the biggest joke in history. Louis's self-esteem does not allow him to do so. Moreover, the French do not accept any coercion. The words I handed over through my Dutch friends were mercilessly rejected. I heard that Louis even laughed at the "small country" of the new continent like our East Coast who dared to stop his hegemony and would definitely give him back in the future. Although these Dutch people hesitate and did not explain it very clearly, I can still guess the meaning. This time the troops were basically offended the Frenchman..."

In fact, to a certain extent, the East Coast people did play "a bit big", that is, the expected purpose of knocking out the French country with a cannon for commercial benefits seems to be impossible in the short term, because the French king is a man with too strong self-esteem. He was extremely ashamed of the East Coast's fleet of pagans ravaging his coastline, so he refused to make any peace with them, and was determined to expand the war to achieve his own goals, which made the East Coast people feel a little embarrassed, because everything they are now in seems to have become a behavior that harms others and is not good for themselves.

Even the Spaniards who begged them to send troops did not benefit much! Because they miscalculated the importance of overseas colonies to the Kingdom of France, also miscalculated Louis XIV's determination to obtain the above-mentioned areas, and even miscalculated their resistance. The war had only begun for a few months, and they lost some areas near the Southern Netherlands and the Pyrenees, and it seemed that Francheconte and other places would be out of protection, which put them in an extremely difficult situation.

What's even more terrifying is that the army of the Kingdom of Spain just lost to Portugal once, and more than 20,000 people were wiped out. Although Portugal had thousands of British Republican soldiers and hundreds of French Huguenot commanders, it was surprising that Spain's defeat was so miserable, because they had just reported the speed of advance to Madrid just before the defeat. Now it seems that the so-called speed of advance is basically just an old trick to lure the enemy into the deep and close the door and fight dogs, but the low-quality Castile Legion really can't do it, which is speechless.

"The Kingdom of Spain is so virtuous. Do you expect the French to stop?" Li Qing put down her teacup and frowned and said, "Now Leopold in Austria is ambiguous, Portugal's confidence is soaring, England and the United Provinces cannot get away, Sweden and France are separated by Germany, and almost no one can come out to stop France. Oh, by the way, those Italian states strongly oppose France annexing the above-mentioned areas, because many of them are lying on Spain's decayed bodies to suck blood. They don't want to see a vibrant and powerful France on their heads control them, so they all support Spain, but how many people listen to them? Even the Genoa-Asian Republic, which looks a little restored, cannot get into the eyes of Louis XIV."

"So how should we withdraw from this war? It has been proven to be a big mistake to get benefits from France before. So how should we end the war with the French decently, and then go home to put the benefits we deserve? You must know that even if the French coastline is destroyed, it will not be of any benefit to us. On the contrary, it will offend the French. Our future trade line with Europe will be worrying. You must know that after King Louis XIV of France has this unforgettable experience, how can he know whether he will increase his naval construction again?

What if we invest in order to seek revenge in the future and avenge our previous shame? I think with this person's personality, it is still a little possible. Therefore, how to withdraw now is the most important thing for us? We don't really need to think too much about the situation of the Spaniards..." Major Jiang Yaohui lit a cigarette for himself and said to Li Qing: "The fleet cannot stay around France for a long time. Our weak local area also needs the protection of the navy. The trade line is now even more dangerous. It is time to withdraw. Anyway, we cannot get more benefits."

Major Jiang Yaohui said bluntly that the previous plan to open the French market was "miscalculation", which made Li Qing a little embarrassed. However, as a diplomat, he was very thick-skinned. He then cleared his throat and said, "This matter depends on the Spanish side. As for the war to this stage, our country is actually not suitable to withdraw, because it will obviously damage our international reputation, so it is not advisable to make peace with France alone. However, it is also possible to reach some tacit understanding with the French and maintain a low-intensity state of war. However, I cannot guarantee that this matter can be done. France is much more difficult to predict than Britain and the Netherlands, because Louis XIV can decide on the matters of this country, unlike countries with a system like Britain and the Netherlands. "

"If we want to take us out smoothly, it seems that we still have to let countries like England, United Provinces, and Austria reach the forefront. At that time, we withdraw, which is actually harmless." Li Qing continued: "But the most important thing at the moment is to let Britain and the Netherlands cease to stand down. Anyway, they are a little bit unable to fight. Although the British guys don't talk about it, the huge amount of millions of pounds that Congress promised Charlie before the war began, resulting in the British navy having no money to go to sea. The disastrous defeat of the Thames and the London plague accelerated this process; United Provinces seem to be still

It's spiritual, but only I know the pain. Since the war started, hundreds of ships were captured by the British, burned and sunk hundreds of ships. The losses were gone, not to mention that the allocation of huge sums of money to support the navy for many years has caused the domestic business and people to be excited. They also urgently need to stabilize the domestic situation. Therefore, both sides actually have a need for a truce. It just so happens that France is a matter of fact. England and United Provinces should be extremely vigilant, so this war should not last long. King Charlie's summoner of the peace call should be received by Speaker Dewitt soon."

"Then please be careful about this matter. The British-Dutch negotiations may also contribute, which is beneficial to everyone. In addition, when our troops stopped at the port of Bilbao, an envoy of the Queen Mother of Spain came to ask if they could help them mediate the truce. It seems that the Spaniards were planning to accept the reality and assume the Kingdom of Portugal as an independent country." Speaking of this, Major Jiang Yaohui also laughed in a low voice and said, "This is also forced by the situation. Louis XIV's stick has caused many European situations."

"I can save this. I will set off for Madrid in a while. You can send a warship or two to escort me. Now it's not peaceful outside. A merchant ship has lost its time and has not arrived in Amsterdam. I guess they were fucked by them near the coast of France. Oh, it's really troublesome!" Li Qing waved her hand and said, "I will go to Madrid to mediate."

After receiving a letter from Li Qing that was not a letter, Major Jiang Yaohui returned to Dover Port by boat. At this time, the fleet commanded by Major Ston had just returned from the French coast. In addition to capturing seven or eight merchant ships and fishing boats of all sizes, he successfully went ashore and robbed a lot of property.

To put it in the past, Mr. Jiang was still very concerned about these things, but what he was thinking about now was how to quickly get the East Coast out of this war, so he was not very interested in bullying the Frenchman who was "not defenseless". Therefore, after spending several days to deal with the spoils, the East Coast people purchased a large number of supplies in the port of Dover, and then left the dock and drove towards the port of Bilbao in Spain.

On August 11, the entire fleet arrived at the Port of Bilbao successfully - and the Gironde estuary was bombarded in the middle of the journey to vent the anger of the disappearance of an East Coast merchant ship. After discussing, Jiang and Si decided to load the army troops (more than 500 people, led by Lieutenant Nanjilang) who had been waiting in Bilbao for a long time on board and send them to the French North American colony. After all, it was really unreasonable to come to Europe with the ship for so long, and it was really unreasonable to go back without a single shot. It would be better to send them to attack the French colony. Anyway, if they died, they were all from the army, and the navy would not shed a tear!

After the army left, Major Ston took away four warships and three auxiliary ships - Major Jiang Yaohui continued to sway near the French coast with his large fleet, as if he was extremely bored. At the same time, a series of diplomatic actions were also carried out with the active efforts of Special Envoy Li Qing. Merchants from Genoa, Tuscany, Milan, Parma, Luca and other places jointly formed a consortium. Under the recommendation of Special Envoy Li Qing, they met the Spaniards and said that they could consider going to the King of Spain.

The country gave up a sum of money to improve their poor financial situation. The premise was that the Kingdom of Spain had peace talks with Portugal as soon as possible, and at the same time promised not to ced its territory in Italy, that is, the vast territory including Milan, Naples and Sicily, so as not to legitimately extend its tentacles into the wealthy Italian region. These Italians were fed up with the suffering of the arrogant French people, and the incident of tens of thousands of French troops pouring into northern Italy was still fresh in their memory.

In addition, the results of the East Coast Ambassador to the Ottoman in Istanbul for a long time have also begun to show. The Ottoman Empire checked out many French shopping malls in Smyrna, Thessalonika, Athens and other places on the grounds that French troops helped the Venetians fight the Ottoman in Crete. Some French merchant ships loaded with Levantine cargo were also detained, and the French suffered extremely heavy losses for a while. Their representatives in the Ottomans moved around after learning the bad news, but the only thing they got was cold

Bingbing's refusal and mocking made Gao Wengang secretly amused: Just because of the king of France who likes to mess around for the sake of his reputation, it is impossible to get a chance in the Ottomans, not to mention that the goods from your shopping malls or ships that were searched have now been in the pockets of many big shots. Do you still expect them to spit out the fat meat they ate? Haha, don't be too naive, Frenchman, who made you make enemies everywhere? Now you have to take care of everything.
Chapter completed!