The autumn breeze is cool, and the wheat is golden. In Antwerp, South Netherlands, in October, Gao Wengang, the new special envoy plenipotentiary of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, was talking with John DeWitt, who had just recovered from illness.

Perhaps it was the depression caused by the uprooting of his homeland, or perhaps the continuous fighting that affected the city, which had been idle for several years, and the former Speaker of the United Provinces DeWitt has not been in good health this year, especially after the unfortunate death of his brother and former Dutch Admiral Cornelius DeWitt (Cornelis, who was severely beaten in prison, has been in poor health for several years), John DeWitt has become very silent, and has not had many conversations with diplomats on the East Coast.

This time, however, DeWitt suddenly told the people on the East Coast that he wanted to return to the United Provinces, to The Hague, to lead the republican legislators, who were now in disarray, to continue the battle with the Prince of Orange.

"We can understand your urgency, but the problem is that William, Prince of Orange, is too popular to be shaken by anyone. If you go back like this, you are afraid that you will not get any good results, and you will even have to worry about your life. Gawain just sat opposite DeWitt, the golden sunlight shining on his body, very warm, but between the words there was a chill: "Although we can help put pressure on the Prince of Orange, it is difficult to say whether people will give face, Mr. DeWitt, please forgive me, with the current situation in the United Provinces, it is too dangerous for you to go back." ”

Actually, Gao Wengang was right. The Franco-Dutch War lasted for many years, and William, Prince of Orange, turned the tide and saved the United Province from the brink of extinction. Even if the tax has been raised year after year due to the war in recent years - the army expenditure alone has reached almost 150 million dong, not to mention the navy and the money to aid the allies, it can only be said that the Dutch real tyrant - has caused the domestic people to be very dissatisfied, and the navy has been defeated by the French twice in a row in Martinique and off the coast of Catalonia, but this has only made the halo of the Prince of Orange fade slightly, and it is far from reversing the situation.

Unbelief? So look at the Republican legislators who have been working against the Orange family in the first place, and what are they doing now? Yes, there are some people who are still disagreeing with William III in public or private, and making small moves, but under today's public opinion, they can't make much of a storm, at most, they just make a noise because some people are dissatisfied with the tax increase. Most of them, with the exception of them, are still the Prince of Orange, after all, the United Provinces have not yet completely emerged from the crisis, and the pressure of the French has always been overwhelming, so they can only endure it first—even the businessman-turned-republican parliamentarians, many of whom are now forced to surrender to the Prince of Orange, at least on the surface.

"William of the House of Orange has corrupted the political traditions of the United Provinces. Even before 1650, no one held as much power as he did. In recent years, he has tried many Republican legislators on all sorts of ridiculous grounds, and everyone has seen this kind of behavior, even if no one dares to challenge him now, I don't believe it will be in the future. So I have to go back, because if I don't go back, the republicans won't have a chance, which is not in line with my philosophy and not in the spirit of the Seven Provinces Alliance. John DeWitt said firmly: "William III must have someone to restrain him, otherwise the republicans may never have a chance to rise again, and the people of the Orange family did such a thing, and I remember the execution of Alden-Barnefeldt." ”

It is said that Alden Barnefeldt, a famous political figure in the history of the United Provinces, once served as the Speaker of the Estates-General, and Prince Morris of the Orange family controlled the Union of Seven Provinces at the same time, the difference is that he controls the government and parliament, and has a huge influence in the bourgeoisie, while Prince Morris controls the army and has a lot of influence among the traditional landed aristocracy.

In 1619, the Republicans in Parliament and the pro-Orange members of parliament were strained by many things, and gradually became inextricable, so that Alden Barnefeldt and Prince Maurice also came to the fore and began a head-on confrontation. However, Prince Morris, who held military power, was not a good man, he directly put pressure on the army, and authorized his cronies in the government to expose the speaker of the parliament, Alden Barnefeldt, and convicted him of the following crimes: 1. Disbanding the cavalry in Utrecht Province without authorization and causing chaos in the region; 2. Keep in touch with the enemy; 3. Covertly undermining religious and political orders.

Later, just like the absurd trial of the De Witt brothers at the Hague Court a few years earlier, Alden Barnefeldt was interrogated by a total of 24 judges, who lasted from February 3 to April 14, with hundreds of pages of records written on record, but never convicted because of lack of evidence.

Eventually, the impatient Prince Morris ordered the interrogation to stop, and directly asked the judges to sentence Alden Barnefeldt to death on May 9, and informed the parties of the outcome of the trial three days later. At the same time, Prince Maurice, the reinstate of the Republic, pretended to ask Aldenbarnefeldt if he wanted to ask for a pardon, but Aldenbarnefeldt refused.

On 13 May, the gray-haired speaker of the Estates-General, Alden Barnefeldt, walked to the guillotine in front of the parliament building on crutches, and was executed by an executioner who had arrived improvised from Utrecht. And before he died, Aldenbarnefelter said in a sarcastic tone that this was the good reward of the state's "40 years of loyal service."

From there, the Oranges were once again in power, until they lost power again many years later. On that occasion, the Orange family even made a desperate effort, Wilhelm II led his troops straight to Amsterdam, intending to mutiny, but the secret was leaked in advance, and he himself is said to have died of smallpox halfway (of course, there are doubts that a man in the prime of life could have died of illness so easily and coincidentally), and Speaker DeWitt had no political rival until the Franco-Dutch War more than twenty years later.

Thus, from any point of view, DeWitt had reason to fear that the Oranges would be ruthless against the Republican legislators who refused to obey him. As for the reason, it's easy to find, and even just need to find two scoundrels to frame them, get some specious charges and hold a trial, and then sentence them to death and confiscate their property, it's not a good thing! Even if the public opinion base in the United Provinces is still strong, the prestige of the Prince of Orange is too high to deal with a few unsuccessful republican legislators without losing much prestige. Therefore, John DeWitt wanted to return to the United Provinces, to Amsterdam, to The Hague, where he had a stage, even if he could no longer hold any position, but as a well-known republican, he still had the basic influence to cheer up the scattered republican parliamentarians and better organize them.

Moreover, on the other hand, a man like DeWitt, who had no shortage of food and clothing, lived a good life, and his family still ran a business in the United Provinces, so he was now pursuing politics. If he is not allowed to continue to engage in political activities, it may be more uncomfortable than killing him, in the past few years in the South Netherlands, he has long been a little impatient, although from time to time there are people in the United Province to contact him and discuss, but after all, remote control is a lot of inconvenience, how can you personally go into battle to be happy!

Now, the only problem is probably that he still has a wanted warrant issued to him by the Prince of Orange! If this wanted notice is not removed, De Witt will never be able to go back openly, and this obviously requires the people on the east coast to find a way to dredge up the relationship, Gao Wengang obviously knows this, although he is not sure of success.

"Where is the war going now? Is there any sign of the war ending anytime soon? After chatting about the return to the United Provinces, Gao Wengang asked about the Franco-Dutch war. This war has long been carried out not only in the affairs of France and the United Provinces, but also in many countries, including France, the United Departments, Spain, Switzerland (which was just moved into the war by the Dutch this year), Sweden, Denmark, Austria and a large number of German vassal states, and has become a super melee to contain the French from dominating the European continent.

The war has been going on for five or six years, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers from all sides of the warring parties have been fighting for a long time. Franche-Comté, Lorraine, Cologne, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and other places, which were the main war zones, were almost beaten into white ground, and a large number of people fled; South Netherlands, Italy and other places in the sub-war zone are also not having a good time, they have been severely devastated and their economies have regressed seriously, and it will take a lot of time to recover; The United Province, as the former main theater of operations, has not fully recovered, and in the foreseeable future, it will not recover, mainly because the Prince of Orange repeatedly flooded and forced the French army, and this seems to be the main reason why the people of the southern provinces of the United Province can not forgive the Prince of Orange.

Even France and Austria, which were not ravaged by war, have experienced frequent domestic turmoil due to the burden of years of war and the famine caused by the Xiaoice climate. All this made the monarchs of all sides of the war realize that it is time to stop this game, and now everyone should have a good talk, find a decent way to step down, and then rest and lick their wounds, and wait for the next all-out war to come.

Therefore, there is now a strong impulse to end the war in all countries, which is not subject to anyone's will, and even Louis XIV, the most centralized of powers, could not force his army to continue the war in spite of the fact that countless hungry people in his country were waiting to be fed, and he was not so stupid.

"The envoys have been in contact for a long time, and there have been at least two rounds of talks this year, in Hainaut, which is currently controlled by the French army, but is also very close to the other parties." John DeWitt said that although he is currently in a state of being wanted by the motherland, in terms of the degree of well-informed, he is no worse than Gawaingang, and he continued: "Now the three major countries of France, Austria, and the United Provinces cannot continue to fight, Spain is not capable of continuing to fight, England is still hesitant to enter the war or not, the members of the Parliament are also more distressed about cutting flesh and bleeding to enter the war, and the low-level officers and soldiers have just finished the war with the Dutch, and they have suffered heavy casualties, It is also a bit of a problem to form an alliance with them in a short period of time, so the war is almost over, and I expect that there will be results in the second half of next year, and it will not be delayed at first. The continent has been playing for too long, and it is indeed time to recuperate. ”

"So as soon as the war is over, your chance will come?" Gao Wengang then asked. He seemed to have some understanding of DeWitt's line of thinking, that is, the common people were always forgetful, and they needed saviors and depended on strongmen during war, so they obeyed the Prince of Orange in every way, including many merchants who had opposed him in the first place. But when, a few years after the end of the war, the country has been settled, and the people are gradually living a normal life, the previously suppressed dissatisfaction with the Prince of Orange will slowly erupt, and this is the opportunity for the republicans!

Speaker DeWitt is a veteran of the political circles of the United Province and is well versed in history, so he is naturally well versed in this kind of repetition of the past two or three years. He knew very well that no one could hold the power of the Seven Provinces in perpetuity, not the republican faction representing the bourgeois merchant group, nor the Orange family, which represented the interests of the traditional aristocracy, and that power would always alternate between them, unless the situation changed drastically! Therefore, he was now anxious to return to the United Province and organize the republican faction, which had been scattered, to continue the struggle against the Orange family and defend the interests of the republicans.

"Yes, that's right, I have to go back now." John DeWitt replied categorically: "There is no point in staying in Antwerp any longer." You see, the Spaniards had a lot of contact with us exiles at the beginning, and even gave us a lot of financial support, but now, you see how long it has been since they came. Yes, we people are losing their use unless we return to United. High envoy, you should understand that I can continue to live a peaceful life by staying here, but what is the point of that? Being alive is actually no different from being dead. I need your help now to help us get back to the United Provinces, and I believe that is in your interest as well. ”

"You've convinced me a bit, Mr. DeWitt, but all I can say is that I will try my best, and that there is no guarantee that things will work out, please understand." After a long time, Gawain just nodded and replied.