I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 232 War on Sea and Land (4)

   "Wait!" When he saw those people rushing towards the heavily armed soldiers, even Vauban, who had gone through no less than ten battles, couldn't help shouting, "What are they doing?"

The French soldiers were also puzzled, because they didn't even have any threatening instruments in their hands, no muskets, no swords, not even a cross (there were indeed bishops who used heavy crosses as their weapons on the battlefield. ), they just ran towards them with their bare hands, resolute and confused.

And the wizards around Vauban are not surprised—whether it is the Roman Church or the Protestant Church, they have had a lot of dealings, and I have seen many such people. He glanced left and right, and pulled from the waist of a grenadier. He dropped a powder jar and threw it forward (although his arm strength allowed him to throw less than thirty feet), but the brimstone poured out was enough for him to cast spells and deceive people—a flaming flame suddenly blew out. Leaping from the ground into the air, forming a scorching high wall in the air, Vauban and his soldiers instinctively retreated.

But those believers didn't seem to have seen this terrible scene. No, it should be said that they became more fanatical. They shouted "Devil" or "God!", without hesitation Throwing into the flames, but these flames are not purely from human creations, but more from magic, so their bodies immediately burned, even so, those upright, walking torches still staggered towards them pounce.

  Captain Vauban finally regained his sanity and understood the situation at this time.

First the soldiers closest to him, and then the officers and non-commissioned officers who heard the order, while they conveyed the order, they also raised their muskets. For a time, the sound of gunfire was as dense as a torrential rain, and this bridge, even if it was for the sake of Along with being built up and down Arnhem, it was never wide enough to be used as a battlefield—a slaughterhouse at best.

Facing the hail of bullets, these believers not only did not have the slightest fear, but instead became more mad and manic. One or two soldiers were deterred by their manic attitude because of the mistakes of Vauban before, and they stopped shooting. Those people He ran out of the gap immediately, and ripped the two poor people to shreds with his teeth and fingernails.

But it was like the turbid current that occasionally gushed out against a solid dyke, and calm and rational people immediately ended the farce. Although there was an edict of Nantes, naturally there could be no Huguenots in the king's army. Christians, and Catholics realized that they were all Protestants, and their hearts suddenly became cold, even if those believers danced, made harsh noises, and even stepped on the blood of the same kind or scorched black. The body moved forward, and they did not hesitate any more.

  Especially after Vauban ordered his soldiers to pull in carriages and form temporary fortifications.

After the last Protestant fell, the temporary fortifications and bridges were in a mess, as if a giant had collected the corpses and wounded of an entire battlefield and dumped them on this narrow ground. , When Vauban's boots were walking in it, the touch under his feet was not hard or soft, but indescribably sticky and slippery. He was not not confused - what are these people doing? There is no such thing as human rights in this era, let alone in times of war, even at the wedding of the king, there is not the same massacre of St. Bartholomew, from the duke, the marshal, to the civilians. Pregnant women and babies were spared, and the death toll was counted in the tens of thousands.

   "If you are confused," said the wizard beside Vauban, "you can ask him directly."

It turned out that Vauban had unknowingly expressed his doubts. The wizard brought a person to Vauban. That person was the priest who was at the front of the team. God knows how he avoided the manic crowd. And the bullet's—even though he was wounded, he's still alive.

A hasty and short interrogation, to be more precise, a simple question and answer, because the priest doesn't seem to have the slightest bit, I mean, with the courage and boldness of those who were bewitched by him, Vauban asked what he answered. , detailed, and the answer was as absurd as the wizard had expected. It turned out that when the French army pressed against Arnhem, although the Orange Belt members in Arnhem made a gesture that they must stick to the end, they also knew very well that they could only delay for a while at most. After the army entered the city, another part of the Orange Belt party even proposed that they should surrender to the French king temporarily. Although it was humiliating, it could at least ensure the safety of the citizens. However, another part believed that the French king was a Catholic and a tyrant. Protestants will not be allowed to remain in his city in peace, waiting for them either to be hanged, drowned or otherwise tortured, or stripped clean and exiled - the two sides are at odds, but the French army will not leave them to weigh Considering the time, it seems that the city of Arnhem has fallen into the bag of the French, and they only have enough troops to stick to a town hall, a priest, and maybe want to become the second Savonarola (a former Savonarola). A priest who gained secular power in Florence by opposing the Pope), he would lead his devout followers to stand in the way of these demons.

The Orange Belters didn't believe him at first, and didn't want to make themselves such a joke, but this priest has already instigated hundreds of people, and these hundreds of people are indeed a threat to those Orange Belters, they can He didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, so he went with the flow and agreed to this matter, and the result was as Vauban saw.

Flesh and blood, even wizards, can't compete with bullets and swords, let alone a group of mortals, Vauban couldn't help but feel a little pity for those who were fooled and deceived, he took a few steps, but Hearing a scream, he hurried over and saw a French soldier holding his hand, blood dripping from his palm.

   "What happened?" Vauban asked.

The soldier was speechless in pain, and the soldier next to him quickly answered for him that when the soldier was gathering the corpse on the bridge, he saw a dying girl and gave her a sip of wine out of sympathy. —It was the soldiers’ own rations. It was said to be light wine, but in fact it was grape juice with honey and salt added. Who knew that the girl would bite the soldier immediately after sobering up. The wizard went over to see the soldier and turned around. He came to Vauban and shook his head: "He has to leave," he said: "He was bitten off the thumb of his right hand." Whether holding a gun or a sword, you can't do anything without a thumb. Even when he returns to Versailles, he cannot become a craftsman or a farmer...

  The soldier immediately burst into tears. What hurt him more than his disability was that, seeing a glorious victory in front of him, he had to go back to France with the baggage train without a sound and without a trace of glory.

"You were wounded while fighting the enemy," Vauban said. "I will write this on your record." This way the soldier can be promoted at least one rank after the war, and that soldier, at least he looks It was a little better, but the look in his eyes towards the girl became more and more remorseful and hateful - Vauban thought for a while, then walked up to the girl, "How could you believe that kind of nonsense?"

   "This is God's will! Let us fight the devil!" said the girl weakly but firmly.

  Vauban silently pointed to the blood on her body, she was shot, in the shoulder: "Flesh against bullets?"

   "God bless us!"

"Obviously, he didn't," Vauban said. "Because of your actions, I can only think... you are all our enemies, and we have only one way to deal with them." He paused slightly: "You, still There is only one person who survives here by chance."

  The girl was obviously shaken, but she immediately regained her original tenacity: "Death is also a gift from God, and we are happy to accept this result."

   "Oh, that's great." Vauban turned around. "Throw them all into the river."

   As if the French soldiers who had been waiting for this order for a long time, immediately mentioned the fortifications and the black believers on the bridge, whether they were dead or alive, they were all thrown into the Ussel River.

  The river churned, engulfing these devout believers at once, Vauban seemed to hear screams, like the girl, or someone else's-or begging? Not for her, but for her brother, or for her mother? Vauban doesn't care anymore, nothing can test faith more than death - as the king said, some seemingly fanatical and fearless believers, or those who believe in the ideas and morals he thinks, are in fact only good at It’s just deceiving themselves. They naively think that as long as they shout louder, incite more people, their momentum is stronger, and their posture is tougher, the weaker and more fearful their enemies will be. The ultimate victory, but they don't know, there will always be some enemies that they will never be able to resist.

   Others can't understand their actions, they just don't know that they will be so stupid that when death really comes to them, they will be afraid and shrink back, but then it is too late.

After the last "I want to convert" pleading faded into the waves, the wizard glanced at the soldier with the broken finger and saw a relief smile finally on his face, he laughed and said this , when Vauban gave an order, when the soldiers threw hundreds of people into the Ussel River one after another, all the buildings on the bank of the river had their doors and windows closed, and the streets were empty. The army is in the upper city, they really want to think that this is just an empty city.

   But just a few minutes later, as if to break the wizard's guess, a group of people walked out from the alley beyond the bridge, and the leader was holding a piece of snow-white silk.

  ———

   "A raccoon on a hill," said Louis.

He is a... who would be shocked to say it... an unbeliever, so he treats Catholics and Protestants equally in his heart, but the French Protestants, that is, the Huguenots, have serious malice towards the Bourbon royal family, if Not because the expulsion of the Huguenots would cause an economic shock, there are probably no Huguenots in France now—Louis doesn't even bother to play with something like "one-third convert, three One part exile, one third drowning" trick, he doesn't like that there are any hidden dangers in his rule.

And the Protestants in Arnhem undoubtedly reminded the king of a lot of unpleasant past, but just like he couldn't get rid of the Huguenots, he couldn't, for the time being, he couldn't tell the Flanders and the Dutch. What do Protestants do - after all, here, Protestants are the main force of the faith, so he can't even establish the household registration system at the same time, to determine the faith of each family, lest these fools think he is going to launch another big campaign against Protestants. Cleaned up.

   "Tell me something pleasant." He put his palms in the shape of a tower and pleaded with the Duke of Orleans, who was sitting beside him.

  ————

"The army of the Grand Condé has taken Gorinchem, the royal army of the Viscount Turenne has taken Nijmegen and Arnhem, and the Duke of Luxembourg has taken Naarden." Nightmare, the Dutch hero read with a deadpan expression.

Gorinchem is an important stronghold in the province of South Holland, Amsterdam is in the north of it, Arnhem is the hub of Gelderland, and to the west is Utrecht, the heart of the Netherlands, Utrecht...and ten more to the west. Fari is Amsterdam, Naarden is an ancient and powerful autonomous city, which belongs to the same province of North Holland as Amsterdam... It has a thick wall and a wide moat, and General Reuter thought it would last for dozens of days. Yes - no, it should be said that he thought that every city he read should be able to last longer.

   Now every letter on the letter is like a branding iron on the general's heart.

He remembered a big quarrel with the Prime Minister, John de Witte, when he left Amsterdam, and yes, the Prime Minister finally even said that he was Leuite's benefactor, and he was the one who promoted Leuth again. , and Reuter's response was to break the scepter in front of the Prime Minister - his loyal person is not Mr. Prime Minister, nor William III, he is only loyal to the Netherlands, the night he returned to the port, Mr. Prime Minister's messenger chased after him. When he came up, he was given the restored scepter - Leuth couldn't help feeling guilty about it, he was still thinking... When he next returns to the Netherlands, he will apologize to Mr. Prime Minister.

   He has no chance.

Reiter could hardly contain the remorse in his heart, he should not, even if the disappearance of William III was inseparable from the Prime Minister, he should not be so openly noisy with the Prime Minister, he should be aware of his own weight, as a pivotal person. Man, his confrontation with the Prime Minister undoubtedly sent a signal to those villains, a signal that the Prime Minister could not get his support, they dared to act so boldly, and Mr. Prime Minister may have his own selfishness, but in front of the enemy, the Netherlands needs a voice to guide them, instead of squeezing each other, fighting each other, even ignoring the tightened noose...

   (end of this chapter)