The envoy finally arrived in Paris on August 2, 1688, and handed over the confidential documents to the East Coast ambassador to France, Lin Dingzhi.

Lin Dingzhi didn't dare to slack off after receiving the letter, and immediately instructed the secretary to find a code book, and then translate it himself, without borrowing the hands of others. Not surprisingly, the contents of the diplomatic document made Lin Dingzhi frown, because he was really not sure that he could persuade the French to cancel or delay the military operation into the lowlands and the Rhine valley.

Is it possible to get a dog to get rid of the habit of eating?

However, complaining is complaining, and what needs to be done still has to be done. As a professional diplomat, Lin Dingzhi understood how important convincing the French to postpone the war of aggression had on the strategy of the East Coasters. Therefore, he decided to make a difficult attempt to ask for an audience with King Louis XIV of France in the next few days.

And before the audience, it is natural to have to do some preparations. Lin Dingzhi opened the door of the office, asked the secretary to send some files and documents to his room, and by the way, he found a few embassy officials who were specifically responsible for intelligence, military, and commerce, and everyone held a meeting to study the specific action steps.

"France's fiscal situation has deteriorated in recent years, and although government revenues have risen to more than 150 million livres, it is because the abbey of Tours has minted a large number of inferior coins and put them on the market. The Livre, or the franc, has in fact depreciated considerably, and the cost of living for the French people has risen considerably, but the amount of tax has never decreased, and has even increased, so that there is a great deal of discontent within the country. At the meeting, an embassy official in charge of commerce and finance talked eloquently, only to listen to him continue: "There are two main reasons for France's financial failure, one is that their aggressive and belligerent attitude has led to the deterioration of the surrounding business environment, and many countries that have been invaded are unwilling to do business with them. Or even if business is done, the volume of trade has been greatly affected, which has led to the deterioration of the industrial and commercial environment in France and the reduction of government revenues. It is also important to note that the years of war have resulted in a large number of people from the French fields and workshops being sent to the front, both for combat and logistics, which has constrained a large number of laborers, making it impossible for them to create wealth, but to consume it. ”

In fact, what this official said is a well-known point. Because of Louis XIV's strong desire for conquest, the markets of many countries were closed to France, and the export of French goods was blocked. In addition, the shortage of domestic productive labor has accelerated this economic decline. Not to mention the widespread persecution of the Huguenots in France, which led to the exodus of these social elites, which continued to weaken the foundations of the French economy and make the French finances worse.

"Now the French ministers are not very competent, and after Colbert's death, the incompetent people are slowly destroying the foundation laid by Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert. Now in charge of the Department of Commerce and Navigation is Colbert's son Baptiste, who is an ordinary man compared to his father, who can only handle some ordinary official duties, and nothing else. Claude Le Piette was Minister of Finance, and Loire remained Minister of War...... Of these ministers, only Loire is still a function, and no one else is so. Moreover, all the ministers were afraid of the glory and power of Louis XIV, and they did not dare to make decisions on many things, and consulted Louis XIV on everything, which obviously affected the affairs of the state. Another embassy official in charge of studying the interior of France said: "The main focus of France at the moment is still not on economic development, and Louis XIV is too belligerent." Although the Minister of War Loire was relatively capable, he was only responsible for the war and the internal affairs of the Protestants. In short, France is not a normal country now, they are a complete war machine. ”

The French Army is now convinced that it has reached more than 200,000 troops, and that this is a standing army, not a peasant soldier recruited on a temporary basis. Loire put too much effort into it, the best equipment, the best treatment (of course, relative) and the highest social status, so this army was highly skilled and morale-high, and at the same time, like the people of the East Coast, it attached great importance to spearmanship, and its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

In comparison, the French Navy is not as elite as the Army. A large number of their warships are mothballed in peacetime, and many sailors also work abroad (mainly in the Netherlands). But there is no way, the navy is a gold-swallowing monster, and if you don't make careful calculations, you are afraid that there will be many financial problems, so you can only be like England and the Netherlands, and a considerable part of the warships will be sealed in peacetime and unsealed in wartime.

"France's current diplomatic environment is also very poor. Because of the Palatine incident, the German princes were now very wary of Louis XIV and had secretly united to prevent the next step of French aggression. And because of the successive victories in the wars in the Ottoman Empire, the Austrians now had the confidence to transfer part of Cointreau west to the front line of the confrontation with France. Ah, by the way, the anti-French coalition established by the German princes was currently dominated by Austria and Bavaria, and the Elector of Brandenburg was inclined to them, but it is believed that no formal treaty of alliance had been signed with them. The official in charge of foreign affairs also spoke at this time: "Austria, Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Sweden are the main members of this alliance, and on the whole they are relatively powerful, and with the help of some other German princes, it should still be a bit of a deterrent to the French." ”

The so-called Palatine incident refers to a political crisis that erupted last year over the ownership of the territory. Because of the death of the lord of Palatine last year, King Louis XIV of France claimed that part of his domain would be inherited by his sister, Charlotte Elisabeth, Duchess of Orleans and Princess of Palatine. All this undoubtedly greatly increased the tension between the Kingdom of France and the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, because everyone was very worried that their territory would be taken and annexed by the French at any time, so the conspiracy between the open and the secret became more and more frequent, and everyone was trying to figure out how to deal with the French.

Basically, it can be said that Louis XIV's strategy is now obvious, that is, to focus on the German region, temporarily let go of the rich lowlands and northern Italy, and first push the national border completely to the Rhine. To be honest, this was a small piece of good news for the Dutch, for the people on the east coast, especially in the United Provinces, who were finally able to get out of the clouds of war for a while.

Of course, not everyone is so "heartless", in fact, in the eyes of mature and steady politicians, Louis XIV's attack on the Rhine Valley is quite a bit of a chill for the rest of France's neighbors who have not been caught in the war. You can attack the Rhine today, the lowlands tomorrow, Italy the day after tomorrow, and you are not fools who know what to do when the war is raging.

Next, two embassy officials stood up to speak, and their topics mostly focused on France's relatively good internal infrastructure and poor medical and educational conditions. The Kingdom of France probably really needs to go out and expand now, otherwise its economy is afraid of falling into a state of collapse. The invincible army of more than 200,000 really needs to sharpen itself through continuous victories, otherwise what would it do to raise so many troops at a great cost? Is it good-looking?

Thinking about it like this, Lin Dingzhi was suddenly very helpless, because it meant that the probability of him successfully persuading Louis XIV was even lower. And if the persuasion of the French fails, and they brazenly send troops to occupy the German region this year or next, then Austria, Bavaria, Prussia, and Sweden, the four countries that have been secretly allied, will naturally have no choice but to go to war with the French. And what about England and the Netherlands? Of course, during the Franco-Dutch War, the Austrians sent troops to the rescue out of the consideration of losing their lips and teeth, and once the French attacked Germany this time, the Netherlands was afraid that they would have to resist France for the same reason.

And against France, the most famous and "professional" in the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands is William III of the Orange family. The man's family had been enemies of the French for generations, and often won, amassing a great deal of popularity in the United Provinces. In the future, if the United Provinces needed to go to war against the French, William III would instantly gain the support of the majority of the people, regain many of the local governments that had been seized by the republicans, and regain the upper hand—something that was undoubtedly difficult for the people on the East Coast to accept!

"It's a tall order." Lin Dingzhi lit a cigarette and said to himself with a wry smile: "The chips we can use to trade with the French are too few, and the trade embargo should be the best move, but most people don't care very much." Yes, no matter how difficult it is, I have to run this set, although the superiors don't give any hard rules, but I still have to work hard. ”

On August 10, 1688, King Louis XIV of France returned to Versailles from Strasbourg and ordered a meeting with the East Coast Ambassador, Lin Dingzhi. In this luxurious palace, Lin Dingzhi talked with Louis XIV for more than an hour, and the final result was not optimistic, because Louis XIV completely avoided the answers to such questions, but pulled some other things, which made Lin Dingzhi very helpless. However, Louis's attitude also clearly shows that he does have a plan to attack the Lowlands or the Rhine, but he does not know where it has been implemented and when it will be officially implemented. He vaguely heard that the Ottoman mission was still living in Paris, urging the French to go to war, to relieve them of pressure and curb the arrogance of the Austrians.

Louis XIV was clearly not a soft-eared king, he was very assertive, the hoarse pleas of the Ottomans did not affect his decision too much, and the persuasion of the ambassador Lin Dingzhi was also ineffective, and he commanded to follow his heart. Now Lin is only looking forward to the fact that the French can postpone the start of the war for a year and a half, which is quite good, and the others really don't dare to think about it.

"This kingdom of France is really warlike, and it can't stop at all, it's really chilling." After the persuasion mission failed, Lin Dingzhi, who left the Palace of Versailles, thought: "There are some things that will not have any effect, and there must be something that can really threaten them." The next step is to see how the envoy and the local people respond. ”