I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 236 War on Land and Sea (8)

The ship doctor gave Earl Sandwich a bottle of anisette, saying it was anisette, but in fact you can think of it as a bottle of narcotic potion, which contains belladonna and crow pian, Earl Sandwich felt a burst of There was severe pain, but he was only sipping anisette, and now is not the time to put everything down and fall into a deep sleep - more and more wounded are being sent to the ship's doctor, some of whom need amputation, and the ship's doctor's tools are probably Straight out of the kitchen, saws, knives and axes, and even the freshest bloodstains get a sickening filth here, like pork that's been in Dover for days in September , the ship doctor was wearing a cowhide apron, with the amputated hands or feet of the wounded at his feet, and some inexplicable things - maybe intestines, eyes and flesh, anyway, everything may be from these poor people. fall off.

The Earl of Sandwich looked gloomily over the wailing people, and the hasty stretchers passed him like a school of fish. The artillery continued to roar, and the cabin smelled like hell—smoke+sweat+tears+sulfur. Not only did the smoke make people unable to open their eyes, even breathing became a problem. , the observers, gunners and auxiliary personnel had blood-red eyes and hoarse voices. It was extremely laborious to make these fierce steel beasts roar. They even ignored the Earl of Sandwich. Seeing this, the Earl quickly changed his mind from They walked over and came to the lower deck. There were fourteen 24-pound artillery guns on the lower deck, that is, heavy artillery, but now they only have twelve guns that can sound, and the other two have been irreparably damaged.

But it is the **** on the open deck that suffered the most damage. The Dutch artillery shells not only broke Mr. Earl's collarbone and mast, but also opened half of the poop. All light artillery is arranged here, with a total of twelve guns. , now they have probably sunk to the bottom of the sea - that huge wound is like a big mouth mocking the British, and this giant swallowed the lives of a dozen crew members, and most of the wounded in the ship doctor came from here come.

   "Mr. Captain!" A crew member suddenly ran over. "What's the matter?" asked the Earl of Sandwich. The crewman showed a look of panic and confusion. "Mr. Captain," he said hesitantly, as if he didn't quite believe it, "The Prince Royal is sinking! Sir! It's dying!"

   Earl Sandwich paused: "Nonsense!"

   "Really, sir," said the sailor sadly, "look, it's sinking!"

The Earl of Sandwich turned sharply, raised his binoculars and looked at the place pointed out by the crew. He saw the "Prince Royal", a three-deck warship carrying hundreds of guns and thousands of crew members. , was indeed sinking as the crew said - it was hit harder than the St James, and unfortunately one or many shells hit their magazines like a wreck The explosion broke the behemoth into two parts, the flames burned on the sea, the gray-white sails slowly dipped into the glassy blue water, the tan hull pointed into the air, and the masts looked like dying people. With outstretched arms, the British crew in crimson uniforms jumped into the water hurriedly like penguins gathered on the melting ice, and Earl Sandwich was dizzy: "Where's Your Highness? ' he asked struggling.

Fortunately, there was a burst of cheers on the other side of the "St. James". The Earl of Sandwich heard someone shouting the name of the Duke of York. He immediately ran over and looked around. It was the Duke of York and the two A small boat with an entourage was rowing towards them, and the Earl of Sandwich immediately ordered the crew to put down the boat to protect and greet them. Not long after, the Duke of York grabbed the ladder and climbed up. Although his description was a bit embarrassing, The spirit is still very high. Seriously, the sinking of the "Prince Royal" should be blamed on fate rather than his commander. After all, in naval battles, it is not very common to be directly hit in the ammunition depot.

   "I may have to take command of the St. James." This was the first sentence the Duke of York saw when he saw the Earl of Sandwich.

"It is my pleasure with the St. James," said the Earl of Sandwich at once, and the Duke of York also noticed the white triangular scarf on his shoulders at this time, "you are a brave man, but since you have been wounded, then I should have ordered you to go back to your cabin."

   "Allow me to follow you," said the Earl of Sandwich. "As for my injury, I just broke a bone, and I have a bottle of pastis."

   "All right," said the Duke of York, "as long as you think you can hold on."

The Duke of York was an ambitious man, but he also deserved to be an outstanding military leader. After his flagship "Prince Royal" had to be abandoned due to the explosion of the ammunition depot, the "St James" was raised and his flag, and the British fleet, though devastated by the Dutch blows, under the command of the Duke of York, recklessly rammed the enemy's line under the enemy's artillery bombardment—on land, this This way of fighting is undoubtedly the use of soldiers' bodies to suppress the enemy's offensive, and here, small warships, transport ships and logistics supply ships are used as the armor of the main ships. His approach has made nearly a hundred ships. The fleet was suddenly reduced to less than half - it even included the "St. James", and the Duke of York changed another flagship.

But these incomparably heavy prices are definitely worth paying. If the Dutch fleet is here, General Reuter can completely suppress the British fleet in Sol Bay, but now only two-thirds of the fleet under his command obeys the command, In this kind of sea battle with hundreds of ships participating in the war, the gap left by the one-third of the fleet, even Reuter could not make up for it. He directed the fleet to turn, intending to continue to intercept the British fleet in the North Sea. But at this time, from the southeast side of the Dutch fleet, there was a thunderous shelling sound.

   Van Gent couldn't help but take a sip. He couldn't believe that the two fleets would lose to the French who might not even be able to learn how to swim.

   He really was wrong about his colleagues.

  ——

Many years later, when people mentioned the naval battle of Sol Bay, they had to mention the whimsical General Estres. Indeed, at sea, the French could not even compete with the British, or the Portuguese, or Compared to the Spaniards, but the General Estres faced the aggressive Dutch navy - after the two sides began shelling each other, he ordered the crew to dump a large amount of quicklime into the sea, although it is not known why the French How can there be so much quicklime on human warships, but when these quicklimes come into contact with the icy seawater, a chemical reaction occurs immediately. In that way, the French and Dutch warships were already hazy due to the gunpowder smoke from the shelling, and the production of water vapor made it even worse, and it was difficult for the lookout on the top of the mast to see through the fog. In the following situation, the French left a small number of logistical ships and armed merchant ships, and dealt with the Dutch who were looking for them, while their main force circled from the Dunkirk Sea to the North Sea, and was fighting with the British. The fleet echoed each other, causing Dereuit to be attacked by the enemy, and had to abandon the original plan and retreat to the outer island chain in the Friesland region.

But this is only an explanation that is publicized before the eyes of the common people. In fact, in the end, it was the wizards who stayed on the French ship in Gayola, which was the "inner world" chosen by the Italian wizards. First, the wizards hid it. For thousands of years, no mortal who has not obtained permission has noticed its existence. In this case, if you want to hide a fleet of people from being noticed, wizards can also do it. This is the reason why the French fleet was able to leave no traces in the eyes of the spies before reaching the Thames Estuary, but it was night, now it is day, so the wizards still borrowed the cover of gunpowder and water vapor to achieve The result that General Estres wanted to see.

  Because General Reuter retreated quickly, although the other two Dutch fleets caught up after discovering they had been deceived, they wisely chose to avoid the re-merging of the two fleets.

What is even more surprising is that in this naval battle, although the British lost four warships (including two three-deck warships with 100 guns), a dozen small warships and logistics ships, the Dutch also lost some The loss of two warships and some armed merchant ships, but the casualties of the crew were not very serious, the British lost more than a thousand people, and the Dutch lost only a few hundred.

And the appearance of the "Flag of the Holy Golden Lily" was also in this naval battle - at the end of the battle, the sea was in a mess and forced to abandon the ship, and the crew members who failed to climb on the boat desperately grabbed wooden boards, statues or casual When something floated, several French barques lowered their original flags, raised a flag embroidered with a golden lily, and sailed to those desperate people, who shouted and asked all those who fell into the water to throw away their luggage. Weapons to carry - from muskets to daggers, even an awl to pick teeth, then put down the boat and let these guys climb onto the boat, and then they fasten the ropes that pull the boat to the barque and pull them all the way back It is not something the French need to worry about when they arrive at Sol Bay and see whether they will be rewarded or imprisoned and whipped.

The "Golden Lily" flag continued for hundreds of years, and then spread from the battlefield to the people. In the end, all rescue ships would raise the "Holy Golden Lily Flag", sometimes inlaid in the sun pattern. Golden Lily, such ships are mostly from France, or French-controlled shipping companies.

   However, such a follow-up is not something that the current Louis XIV can know, he is now in Narden.

Naarden is already very close to Amsterdam, so close that it is only as long as a finger on the map, and it is indeed as Reuter said, a free city with solid walls and many fortresses, but General Reuter I only saw the thick stone walls, but I failed to see the fragile hearts. As a free city, the citizens here have a sense of responsibility - I mean, the sense of responsibility for personal freedom and personal interests, they have in France. There was an argument over the capture of Bissem, just a short distance away, and when the French army knocked on the door, the decision to surrender was quick.

I have to say that, if possible, Louis didn’t want to destroy this small town because of the war. Without him, it is so beautiful. From above, the city is like a blooming snapdragon flower, with a lip-shaped corolla and two cracks above it. The petals, the three petals below—that is the fortress protruding toward the middle and the four sides, and beyond the polygonal fortress is a wide moat, how wide is it, the whole city is like an island floating on the lake, And there are dams and bridges between the moats for carriages to walk.

   "What a beautiful place this is." Philip said: "I hope that in the future I can bring my wife and daughter here to live here for a while, without thinking about anything, go hunting in the forest and go boating on the lake."

What Philip is talking about is the origin of the name of Narden. There is a forest of Narden, facing a vast lake. The name of the lake is Ethel. There are reeds everywhere. The swans are very common here. When the afterglow at dusk is reflected on the lake, the IJsselmeer is like the Amber Lake or the Golden Lake.

Maybe it's because this place is so beautiful that the citizens here are so weak, Louis thought to himself, it seems that at any time, people with tough hearts can only be born in pain and barren - no, maybe there is ambition, he Looking at Philip, he smiled: "Has Leopold I finally started to act?"

   "If we don't act," said Philip indifferently, "the Austrians will have to watch us swallow the whole of Holland."

But Louis' speed is too fast. His army is like a knife that cuts through solidified fat. It is almost unhindered. Whether it is the Viscount Turenne, the Duke of Luxembourg, or the Prince of Condé, the three-way None of the troops that went on the expedition had been stagnated somewhere by accident, intrigue, or the stubborn resistance of the Dutch, as their enemies had hoped, and it only took three months from Louis XIV's declaration of war to the fall of Narden. When the time comes, and Leopold I's allies, it is not known whether enough troops have been assembled - but they must act... Spain, Austria, Denmark-Norway, and Brandenburg, Switzerland ...they must curb the expansion of France, like a hunter facing a lion that has tasted human flesh...

  Lions who have tasted human flesh and blood will treat human beings as prey, and the French king who has tasted the sweet taste of victory in war will not easily stop the crusade.

   (end of this chapter)