The king was overthrown!

At the end of 1688, the news was spreading throughout Europe, just as Cromwell had cut off the king's head decades earlier, and the news of the overthrow of King James II of England shocked the whole of Europe, and although telegraph technology did not reach Europe, it still spread throughout Europe at the fastest speed.

When almost all the kings learned the news, they were shocked and, of course, felt a little trepidation. They even prayed for James II secretly, even though they had been mentally prepared for all this.

Compared with the prayers of the kings of Europe, in the small Celestial Empire outside London, when Wan Zhengyuan mentioned James II, he looked like he hated iron but not steel.

"It's simply a fool who gave up the four crowns for the sake of prayer."

The four crowns in Wan Zhengyuan's mouth refer to the crowns of England, Scotland, Ireland, and of course, France, because from the Hundred Years' War onwards, successive kings of England after Edward III called themselves kings of France.

"What an idiot indeed!"

Li Ke said with a helpless sigh.

From the day James II succeeded to the throne, all this was doomed, he ostensibly promoted freedom of religion, but in fact he wanted to restore the dominance of Catholicism in England and restore the monarchy's royal power under this banner, but he turned a blind eye to the opposition of the people, and went his own way and vigorously promoted Catholicism. Over the past two years, the whole of Britain has been torn apart by his decision, first in a handful of cities, but then all over the UK, even in the countryside, countless slogans, leaflets and propaganda materials have suddenly appeared everywhere they could stand out. And it was the Protestant priests who advocated the protection of Protestantism, and they could completely influence the will of the people of England......"

Even as an outsider, Rick has witnessed how James II has lost the hearts and minds of the people and his rule step by step over the past two years.

"The Archbishop of Canterbury and six bishops wrote to the King to revoke the order to issue the Second Declaration of Freedom of Religion, as Parliament had repeatedly insisted during the reign of Charles II that the King had no power to repeal the Penal Code. James, furious, took seven bishops for trial for their seditious slander. But the jury acquitted them, and the verdict was a testament to public opinion. ”

"He's a fool, how could those jurors convict the bishops? It's no wonder that such a wrist can keep the country......"

Wan Zhengyuan snorted coldly, once upon a time, he had a little hope for James, and now, in his opinion, this guy is simply stupid.

"Yes, as soon as they were sentenced, the Bishop of London and others made another decision to secretly invite William, Duke of Orange, Lordland, nephew and son-in-law of James, to England to defend liberty and property, and to preserve the succession of his wife, who fought against the Catholic King of France, Louis XIV, in the Netherlands, and was regarded by the English as a Protestant hopeful. And then, everything was doomed......"

In fact, a few months earlier, a group of Protestant aristocrats had asked William to lead an army into England, and after William's landing, all the Protestant officers had defected, including the head of the army who had assembled in Salisbury to defend against the Netherlands, and John Churchill, the brother of his mistress. Later, the entire navy also submitted to William. James's own daughter Anne also joined the invasion and took many royal supporters with him, and William simply took the crown without blood......"

Shaking his head and sighing at the magic of this "war", if it weren't for his personal experience, Wan Zhengyuan would have found it hard to believe that such a magical thing would happen in this world.

"It's really, really, really, to seize a country without wasting a single shot...... Fucking! ”

Looking at the envoy's appearance of hating iron but not steel, Li Ke said with a smile.

"It is inevitable, after all, the officers and soldiers in James II's army were almost all Protestants, and it was already obvious that William was going to attack England as early as September, but James II still rejected the suggestion of King Louis XIV of France to provide him with an army, because he was afraid that it would arouse more opposition from the British. He believed that his army would be strong enough to resist William. ”

"But he was wrong, the soldiers, the officers betrayed him, and even the promoted commanders betrayed him, and everyone betrayed his relatives!"

While shaking his head and sighing, Wan Zhengyuan pursed his lips, and then sighed.

"Now it seems that the initial judgment was wrong, and Louis XIV was willing to send troops in support of him, but James refused, and if we had supported him at that time, we would probably have been rejected......"

Thinking of the original plan, Wan Zhengyuan's brows locked slightly, and then he groaned.

"But it seems too late to say it all now. After all, he has been locked up. ”

"It's not too late!"

Staring at Wan Zhengyuan, Li Ke said.

Although James II was arrested by William, he was a big problem for William. Ethically speaking, James is William's uncle and his father-in-law, kill him, not to mention the ethical hurdle, and he will also become a Catholic martyr. But if you don't kill him, it's a trouble to stay in the country, raise him, maybe one day someone will make trouble under his banner, so I think that now William is locking James in a place near the sea, maybe it is a deliberate arrangement, he hopes that James escapes, if James finds a chance to escape, then these troubles will disappear, William may mean this. ”

Wan Zhengyuan didn't express any opinion on Li Keji's analysis, just frowned and pondered, and only after a while, he said.

"If that's the case, James will definitely make a comeback. King Louis of France would have supported him. ”

"Yes, I think not only the King of France, but also Spain and other countries will support him."

"It's not just them, there will be the Irish, the Irish are Catholics, they all have the same faith......"

Standing up, Wan Zhengyuan paced back and forth in the room, just a few months ago, he had tried to get a "rich" reward for supporting James, but unexpectedly, James failed so quickly that he had failed without even waiting for him to be ready, and was even arrested and imprisoned while on the run.

But now, James' possible escape has once again stirred up the idea in him.

"Previously, what was the biggest hole in our plan? The question is whether James will give us everything we need according to our wishes, at that time, he obviously would not have done that, but now ......"

Looking back at Li Keji, Wan Zhengyuan suddenly said with a smile.

"The current situation may be a good thing for us, after all, now that he has lost everything, maybe he is willing to give everything in order to regain the throne."

This is a common disease of people, only when they lose do they know how to cherish, for a king who has lost the throne, he will never let go of any life-saving straw.

"However, King Louis of France will also support him, and perhaps he will be more willing to trust Louis than we are, after all, in his eyes, we are a group of infidels."

The reality is so cruel, sometimes, even if the Celestial Empire offers help to some people, those people don't want to believe in the Celestial Empire. For the kings of Europe, they may envy the wealth of the Celestial Empire, but they are rarely willing to accept the help of the Celestial Empire. In their eyes, the Celestial Empire has always been a heretic, and a heretic who has an eye on the world.

At this point, they are right. But the Celestial Empire has always scoffed at their attitude of distinguishing between religions.

Listening to Li Ke's helpless sigh, Wan Zhengyuan sneered.

"Heretics? That is, these barbarians will care about these, for the Celestial Empire, we are broad-minded, and we never care about these, as long as they accept the indoctrination of the Celestial Empire, for those beliefs, when did the Celestial Empire interfere? But if James doesn't insist on freedom of religion, maybe he won't be overthrown, we can respect them, but ......"

Sneering, Wan Zhengyuan said in a rather playful tone.

"But don't forget that sentence, if you rush to the doctor, maybe Louis will support him, but I dare to guarantee that Louie's support must be limited, and in terms of financial resources, he cannot compare with us at all......"

Perhaps, this is Wan Zhengyuan's biggest conceit, and Li Ke shook his head after hearing him say this.

"Envoy, I don't think so, perhaps, it is possible to get a loan from the bank, but, after all, we do not have an army, and there is no army to give him direct support, which is exactly what Louis can give, if there is no army, I am afraid it will be difficult to defeat William with money alone."

Money may be important, but on the battlefield, the army is undoubtedly more important, and this is exactly what Wan Zhengyuan does not have.

"With money, there is naturally an army."

Chong Li Ke smiled, and Wan Zhengyuan smiled.

"Don't forget, there are a lot of mercenaries in Europe, such as Hessian mercenaries, Hesse-Kassel is a small German state, and there has always been a production of mercenaries of excellent quality, mercenaries and even their most important industry, if we get a loan of a few million taels, perhaps, we can hire an army to help James ......"

When mentioning mercenaries, Wan Zhengyuan's brows furrowed slightly.

"But now, he might be able to get a lot of support from Louie, but who knows? How many troops can Louis give him? Thousands? Or is it more? Obviously, it is impossible to give him more support, but we are different, we can give him more support than he can imagine at any time if he wants, and we can even help him hire a large army, an army that is completely loyal to him, or money......"

Looking at the extremely conceited envoy in front of him, Li Keji's brows became more and more wrinkled, in his opinion, this matter was far from being as simple as Wan Zhengyuan said.

"What do we get for what we give so much?"

Faced with Li Keji's question, Wan Zhengyuan laughed and said.

"What do you get? We can get a lot of things, for example, Your Majesty can get new land, maybe James will not cede any of Ireland, Scotland and England to us, but believe me, in order to restore the throne, they will be willing to cede the colonies of North America to us, and when the time comes, the only European power in North America is the French, maybe, we can negotiate or some other means to drive the French out of North America, then North America will become our territory, And that's what His Majesty the Emperor wants......"

Because of the relationship between the noble family, Wan Zhengyuan knows very well that in the eyes of His Majesty, North America has always occupied a very special position, and His Majesty hopes that the future North America will be the Ming Dynasty, not just a colony of the Ming Dynasty, but another Ming Dynasty.

"Perhaps, you don't know, the Southern Continent, that is, the New Xia, although His Majesty's prince is divided into the New Xia, but in fact, in His Majesty's heart, the real New Xia is North America, not the Southern Continent, the Southern Continent seems to be vast, but the hinterland is very arid, not suitable for reclamation at all, but the North American continent is completely different, there is vast and fertile land everywhere, if reclamation is carried out, it will be even richer than the interior in the future, you may not know, Your Majesty has mentioned to my father many times, The future of Zhuxia is in North America, as long as we master the North American continent, we will also master the future and the future of the world. ”

How important is North America?

For Wan Zhengyuan, he does not have an accurate answer in his heart, the reason why he attaches so much importance to North America. The most fundamental reason is because His Majesty attaches great importance to it.

Born in a noble family, he has always been obedient to His Majesty. Since His Majesty thinks that it is very important, then he will do everything possible to take that place for Daming.

Another reason, of course, is because he knows how much His Majesty values there. So he believes that if he can turn it into the land of the Ming Dynasty. It is equivalent to making a great contribution, even if it is a reward for meritorious deeds. At that time, it is very likely that he will become a new noble.

Everyone has their own ambitions, and for him, it is his ambition, unlike other people's wishful thinking, he believes that as long as it can be planned. This goal will be achieved.

Of course, more importantly, he never thought that this country would create such a God-given opportunity for him. It would be a sin not to seize this opportunity.

"You have to know that we are all expatriates. We are here not only in the eyes of the Celestial Empire, but also to seize those opportunities, some opportunities but if they are missed, they may never appear again, so at this time we have to make a decision, we have to make a decision, we have to make a decision, just like now...... If we miss this opportunity, we will miss a godsend. ”