Louis XIV's promise was tempting to tell the truth.

An alliance with a large land power with a population of more than 20 million people seems to have many benefits, starting with a predictable large consumer market, which is enough to feed many domestic enterprises and workshops on the East Coast, which is of great significance. In addition, there are diplomatic, military, and political conveniences that can be used to benefit the East Coasters a lot, because many things will always seem easier when there is a strong land power as an ally and that ally is willing to help you.

Of course, there are pros and cons to everything in the world, and after talking about the pros, we also have to face a lot of practical disadvantages. The first is also the loss of trade, that is, once the land power and the sea power are at odds, then the east coast of the alliance with the land power country will face the risk of losing a huge commercial market, you must know that the sea power countries such as the United Provinces often control a huge commercial distribution network, which is incomparable to France. If relations between the United Provinces and the East Coast are not good, the trade volume between the two sides will fall to the lowest point in many years, but once they sign a peace agreement with France, the foreign enemy will be gone, and the gradual resumption of commercial ties with the East Bank is also a high probability event. The market of France and the United Provinces is more important, Li Qing can still distinguish it!

The second factor that cannot be ignored is that once a land power country becomes strong, it will be a huge threat to all sea power countries, whether it is economic, political, or military, and its threat is very large. Perhaps, at this stage, the Kingdom of France, under the severe situation at home and abroad, will lower its position and talk about cooperation with the people on the east coast, but what if they win decisive victories on land one after another, conquering Italy, Spain, and even most of Germany? A fortified version of the Kingdom of France (or an empire?) with a population of nearly 60 million at that time, the Kingdom of France (or the Empire?) Will you still bird you East Coasters? Well, even if they are willing to continue to negotiate with your people on the east coast, the French Empire, whose "bargaining power" has been greatly strengthened, must have offered conditions that are so harsh that even the people on the east coast find it difficult to accept, right? Li Qing is a time-traveler, and he also knows a thing or two about the so-called "continental blockade" plan implemented by Napoleon against Britain in history, and he naturally cannot tolerate the rise of the Kingdom of France more than 100 years earlier, and even conquer the whole of Europe, which will be a huge trouble for the East Coast Republic of China.

So, taken together, it basically means that the East Coasters will not be able to form a political or military alliance with the French, at least not at this stage. On this issue, Li Qing, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, could even directly reject Louis XIV without reporting to the mainland, because this was obviously not in line with the consistent national policy of the East Coast.

Of course, Li Qing's refusal was said more tactfully, and his words were also very artistic, but with the IQ and experience of Louis XIV and Loitre, he should have understood it with certainty. Of course, they were a little disappointed by this, but they could see that it was not strong, as if they had expected it for a long time. The people on the east coast should understand that even if France signs a peace agreement with the United Provinces and Austria this time, then in fact, this will be temporary, and it is hoped that everyone will have a truce for a few years, and when their strength is restored, a new round of fighting and fighting will be set off. At this time, it would be unwise to rush into war, and it would be right to sit on the sidelines and wait for the best time to enter, just as the British have chosen today, right?

After both sides tacitly put an end to the topic on which no consensus could be reached, the conversation turned to their common enemy, the United Provinces—strictly speaking, the United Provinces had never declared war on the East Coast, not even the bullied East India Company—Louis's Minister of State, Lois, spoke of the now sensational Anglo-Dutch marriage, the consul of the United Provinces, the marriage of William III, Prince of Orange, to his cousin, Princess Mary, the second in line to the throne of Great Britain.

The sensation was probably due to the fact that the relationship between England and the United Provinces had taken a step forward. The alliance of the two maritime powers, even if only superficially, was enough to worry the land powers, including France, and may lead to greater problems in the future expansion of the French kingdom.

But this kind of thing is inevitable and unstoppable. William III was best suited to marry his cousin, and Protestants in England were concerned about the Catholic tendencies of Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, and welcomed the union of Princess Mary, the second in line to the throne, with William III.

In addition, many of the big Dutch merchants, artists, and social elites who immigrated to England during the previous Franco-Dutch War also welcomed William III to marry his cousin. It is not surprising, then, that the elites of both countries (the big businessmen, who emigrated to England but still had great influence in the United Provinces), were happy to see the political marriage come to fruition.

It is said that after Louis XIV heard that William III was married to Princess Mary, he privately told Loire and Colbert that he might have made a mistake, and that the sea coachman was one of the few countries in the world that could balance England's maritime power. Of course, this mistake was only a minor mistake in Louis's eyes, because the seizure of the Low Regions was an important national policy of France, and it was completely inevitable to tear the face with the Netherlands, and this would naturally lead to an alliance between Britain and the Netherlands, which was as it should be.

However, this mistake may have seemed to Louis XIV to be just a "small mistake that made him faintly uneasy", but in the eyes of those on the East Coast who could see through the fog of history, it was not a small mistake, but a major mistake related to the fortunes of the Kingdom of France for 300 years!

Historically, the Netherlands has been mired in continuous land wars since the 70s of the 17th century, and the continuous outflow of talents and capital to London has led to the gradual decline of all walks of life in which the United Province originally had great advantages and even monopolies, and the whole country has inevitably fallen into a long-term downward channel. Under such circumstances, the sea power of the United Provinces itself was gradually withering, but the sea power of the British, with whom he had fought three Anglo-Dutch wars, rose rapidly, and during the War of the Spanish Succession, England's national power had not yet been qualitatively improved, but it had caused great trouble to the French; At the time of the Seven Years' War, France would have been victorious without the British; The French would have been victorious in the Napoleonic Wars, if it had not been for the intervention of the English, who controlled the vast treasury of India; So much so that the rise of Prussia and Germany was entirely due to the British, which completely plunged the French into the abyss.

It can be said that it was Louis XIV's major mistakes in dealing with the Low Countries that led to the subsequent series of events. You must know that the British in later generations have always pursued a continental equilibrium policy, because he knew that his army was inferior to France and could not compete with them, so he simply acted as a-stirring stick, implemented the continental equilibrium policy, and used Germany and Tsarist Russia to check and balance France's land power. Therefore, Louis XIV of France, if he had the foresight at this time, should have known that the United Provinces must not be weakened too much, but should also carry out the policy of equilibrium of sea power, that is, to find some opponents with whom the English could compete for sea power.

There is no doubt that only the United Provinces are the most qualified and suitable opponent in Europe at this time. Think about it, in later generations, whenever the French wanted to exert their strength on land, the British, a sea power, would always jump out as soon as possible, and use the huge wealth from maritime trade and overseas colonies to make the French fail, but the poor French still had nothing to do with them, because the army could not swim. And at this time, what if there was a sea power country that could compete with the British at sea? Then don't the French have a chance!

Whether it is Louis XIV, Loire, Colbert, or the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Luxembourg (i.e., Bouteville), the Marshal of Vauban and the late Viscount of Tyrrenne, they all have historical limitations, and they are already outstanding people who can predict the direction of the next twenty or thirty years, and they cannot be expected to have the ability to predict two or three hundred years.

Of course, in this time and space, with a series of French military campaigns in the Low Countries, the national strength of the United Provinces has been greatly damaged, but this does not mean that the sea power of the English is no longer unchecked. Because in the Far South New World, the navy of the Republic of China on the east coast of China, which had defeated the Spanish and Portuguese navies and made the French main fleet shrink to Dunkirk and did not dare to leave the port, is also famous! In particular, they invest heavily every year to maintain a standing maritime army of considerable size, open a naval school to train professional officers, and constantly apply the latest military, mechanical and navigation technology to the fleet, so that the country's navy is extremely elite, although the scale may not be very large, but the strength is really not to be underestimated, and it can threaten the British people's dream of sea power at a critical moment.

Therefore, when the British use their maritime superiority to constantly strangle France's overseas interests, and then use Germany to threaten their homeland and use Tsarist Russia to balance Germany, the entry of the East Coast people can instantly make the British unable to play this game, because the East Coast people themselves are the biggest sea power, how can you British jump? Maybe at that time, the countries of the European continent will become the backing of the British and help Britain challenge the maritime supremacy on the east coast? This is all a possibility, and there is a good chance that it will come to fruition, provided that the East Coasters dominate the maritime interests of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Of course, these are still far away, and they are strategies for the next few decades or even a hundred years, and in the foreseeable future, the French may slowly feel the trouble of weakening the sea coachmen too much, and then they will come to the door and ask the east coast to help them fight against the British navy, whether it is the technical aspects of the ships or the direct invitation to the east coast to participate in the war, it is very likely that it will happen. And at that time, if you don't cut a few pounds of flesh from the French, you won't be from the East Coast! Moreover, the expressions on the faces of the British people must have been very exciting at that time, and I was quite looking forward to it.

Within a week after the banquet, Li Qing, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, and Lin Dingyi re-signed a series of economic and trade agreements with the French, which involved nearly 100 kinds of commodities, such as textiles, arms, chemical products, hardware products, medicines, and tropical commodities. As compensation, Huaiyuan Island, which is on the east coast, will provide all kinds of goods to French Saint-Christopher, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Saint Lucia at affordable prices; At the same time, the Caribbean shipping company of the East Coasters was obliged to send at least two ships a year full of all kinds of designated goods to the north to provide all kinds of supplies to the French colony of Acadia if the French needed it; Finally, if the French colonial forces on the Caribbean islands were defeated and had to retreat, the people on the east coast had to provide them with refuge.

These agreements are basically upgraded and strengthened versions of some of the agreements reached between the previous ambassador to Paris, Lin Dingzhi, and the French, which were suspended due to some factors, and this time they are simply resigned. And this interaction between the East Bank and the French, apparently, is also a kind of prelude to the strengthening of bilateral relations, and it is difficult to say to what extent it will develop in the future. It remains to be seen how the British, the Dutch, and even the Spanish will learn of these interactions between East and France in the near future, and whether they will see it as the beginning of a formal involvement in the European continent on the East coast.

But what is certain is that the people on the East Coast now have their own global interests to consider, where to implement which policies, which countries to get close to, and which countries to distance themselves from, and basically have a comprehensive consideration, which is where they are far stronger than the countries of the European continent. Those old aristocrats in Europe may have a clear idea of what to do with their own one-third of an acre of land, but once their vision expands to the world, they are not enough. It was the countries with a seafaring tradition that really had an international outlook—or more precisely, England and the United Provinces—and the people of the East Coast basically had a basic strategy for dealing with them, and this move to improve relations with the Kingdom of France was in fact an important part of the future strategy.

The British have mixed the countries of the European continent into their balanced national policy, but can the East Coast not mix the British and the European countries into a balanced national policy? In terms of-stirring skills, the East Coast people who have a golden finger to see through the fog of history are the only ones. And the power of this golden finger is far stronger than any black technology golden finger, and the impact is more far-reaching, which may doom hundreds of millions of people to the fate of the next 200 years.