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This was the last battle of France against the Netherlands, and it was also a battle of annihilation, the last chance for the Dutch and the last chance for the French.

From the very beginning, Viscount Tirrenne did not think that the war could end as easily as before, and he was ready, but when he actually encountered almost desperate resistance, he could not help but feel sad - Amsterdam is a city on the water, which everyone knows, from the sky, the city is like a half cobweb, the town hall, the main square, the stock exchange, Churches and prisons, like spiders entrenched in cobwebs, are surrounded by layers of artificial waterways, and the Amstel River is like a branch between the square and the interior of the Netherlands, connecting Amsterdam with the outside world, but this is not the only external passage in Amsterdam, above it is the Ai River, which leads to the North Sea to the west and Lake Marken to the east, and above Lake Markel is Lake IJssell, which can also be said to be the inland sea of the Netherlands - The Nasu Sea, as the Amsterdammers call it, is between the Ai River and the city.

After Viscount Tyrrenne had led his army to accept Moiden, he learned that there was a sluice gate connecting Lake Macen in Meydon, and that the people of the city had not yet had the courage to destroy their city along with the enemy, and that he had to thank God for the blessing of the king, perhaps the king, after all, how they had been given the cities of Moyden and Wisp was too bizarre. But now that the French had acquired the Moyden, another importance of the Moyden came to the fore, and now the only access to Amsterdam was the Ai River to the west, and if the British fleet could defeat the Dutch Leuyter as Louis had hoped, Amsterdam would be truly a caged bird.

Unfortunately, as far as General Estrés came back, the Maritime Coalition was now in a stalemate with Leut, and it was not the Coalition that had the upper hand, but the Leut had the upper hand - the British Navy had lost the courage to face the Dutchman, and the French, well, to be honest, were indeed "hillbillies who only swim in the bathtubs", as the Dutch said , and Leut was very cautious, always cruising in the near sea, the Dutch fleet only had a small number of large ships with three decks, and the average waterline was shallower than that of the coalition fleet, and no matter how the coalition forces lured, they would never enter the North Sea - the reason why Leut was afraid of them was because the number of ships of the coalition forces far exceeded that of the Dutch fleet, and the fleet was the last bargaining chip of the Dutch, and Leut could not believe that if they lost the fleet, the Netherlands would eventually become what it would become.

Viscount Tirrene shook his head, leaving this little regret behind, the roar of artillery has become more and more dense, because of the special geography of Amsterdam, so the French have to face a full five moats, most of the bridges have been demolished by the Amsterdammen, they use the buildings along the river as fortresses and fortifications, in order to confront the French, but their artillery is completely incomparable to the enemy's- Prime Minister Witt, when he was vigorously cutting the army's military spending, must not have imagined that his targeting of the Orange royal family would become the most fatal weakness of the Netherlands.

"Keep the rhythm!" shouted an officer, who was in charge of an artillery team, and if you listened carefully, the sound of the cannon was indeed rhythmic, and the rhythm was even quite wonderful, da-da-da, thump, click-clack, and every thud was accompanied by the cries of the soldiers, both to ensure the safety of themselves and their companions, and also to ensure the frequency required by the officers— The officer put a hand on his forehead and looked forward, observing the results of the bombardment, and suddenly, a dark figure occupied part of his field of vision, it was an enemy shell, the solid iron ball tumbled, jumping from the side of the fortress into the trench, two soldiers were knocked down by it, and they fell without a word, this impact changed the trajectory of the iron ball, the officer only felt that he was grabbed from the ground by an invisible giant, he flew into the air, and then fell, before falling to the ground, he lost consciousness.

When he got out of the darkness, the officer found himself shaking up and down, he opened his eyes and could only see a vague shadow, he was in pain all over, he couldn't move, a warm thing came to the side of his face, someone was talking to him, but the voice was also weak and frivolous, the officer shouted with all his might, "Let me take me!" he shouted, in fact his voice did not come out at all, the man still guessed from the way his lips moved.

"The general has already done that. ”

The man said.

Viscount Tyrrenne did send another man to replace him at the same time that he found the officer down, and the shelling continued, and more and more soldiers were being carried down on stretchers, some of them were as conscious and able to speak as the officers, and others, such as the two soldiers who had fallen silently, their chests were horribly sunken, and they knew at a glance that there was no way out, and after they had been removed from the trench, they were placed in a tent on one side, which was much more noisy than the silence of this tent— It belonged to the unfortunate but fortunate survivors, and many of the medical staff wearing masks, robes, or aprons, and turbans were wizards, and the potions they concocted were of great help to real doctors, after all, amputation at this time was no different from slaughtering animals, and the sorcerer's potions were impeccable in paralyzing, relieving pain, and stopping bleeding.

Captain Vauban hurried from the other wing of the battlefield, this time he didn't even build a high platform to invite the king to come and watch the battle, a trapped beast still fighting was the most terrible.

"How?" asked Viscount Tirenne.

"We're already on to the Horse Lane Square!" shouted Vauban "we're building a pontoon bridge!" Because the bridge that had been built over the river had been demolished, and he and his soldiers were rebuilding the bridge, the Dutch probably didn't expect that Captain Vauban was more skilled at engineering than fighting, and that the artificial waterway was far less wide than a real river, "We had to synchronize." Viscount Tyrrenne said that the current situation was that they could go all the way without any scruples, but then the losses of the soldiers would be greater, and the king had always cherished his soldiers - the geography of Amsterdam had hindered them, but it also helped them, for example, the soldiers had little chance of fighting each other, because the artificial river had cut the streets of Amsterdam into parts, and they had to gradually eat away and destroy everything with artillery instead of the soldiers.

Of course, this tactic was also discovered by the Dutch, and the brave men who were willing to stand up to protect the people could not help but feel a little frustrated, and the French shells seemed to be endless, and if the Dutch government had been willing to give a tenth of what they had invested in the navy to replenish the forces on the road, they would not have had to be so difficult - their guns and shells were still unloaded from the ships under repair, and it is conceivable that this amount could not be compared with the French arms reserves.

"How many shells do we have?" asked the captain.

"Eight. This answer made the captain grit his teeth, "We'll retreat after knocking them out." But before he could finish the conversation, a cannonball crossed their fortifications and fell between them, and the shell was not round, it was cylindrical, and there were several small holes in the case, and a young man cried out in surprise - almost subconsciously, he bent down and reached out to check, and before the captain could stop it, the cannonball exploded, and the countless projectiles hidden in it, under the impetus of gunpowder, turned the fortification into a hell on earth in an instant.

Viscount Tyrenne raised his binoculars and looked at it, and sighed, this kind of cannonball was also inspired by the king's reward, craftsmen and scholars researched, but after testing, Viscount Tyrenne and others were disappointed, because it was powerful (to soldiers), but it was difficult to control, it was possible not to explode, it exploded in advance or the power was too small, but the king still insisted that the craftsmen drive out a batch and let them take it to Amsterdam.

Monsieur Viscount was ready to use these expensive new toys to destroy the enemy's artillery positions, and although there were some failures, the sheer weight of the damage made Viscount Tyrrenne decide that he would continue to support the craftsmen and scholars in the development of this cannonball, called "pomegranate", after returning to Paris.

"Pomegranates" constantly created brilliant images in the Dutch fortifications and fortresses, and those sticky or hard things made the gray-white stone walls and floors colorful, and also made those who saw this scene involuntarily hold their throats so as not to vomit. However, as the soldiers followed, the twisted and mutilated remains quickly disappeared from their view—replaced by a crimson-tinged river.

They continued to re-strengthen the Dutch fortifications, erect the artillery, as the previous captain was deeply jealous of, and more shells were sent, and in the last battle, because of the king's orders, not to mention the consumable shells, even the artillery was blown up by too frequent fire, and the officers were not stingy, and as time went on, the roar of the Dutch positions became less and less, and finally almost equal to nothing, only the French artillery still roared, opening the way to victory for the soldiers.

What the French could not understand was that at this point there were still people hiding in their houses and resisting, and the answer came after they had captured two waterways, "Huguenots." Captain Vauban said, and the man spat at him in silence: "Hang him and throw him into the river." Vauban said that these Huguenots should have fled to the Netherlands during the Wars of Religion, as financiers, merchants and skilled workers, they were like fish in water in the Netherlands, and that the Netherlands could develop into the world's first financial and economic center was inseparable from them, but what they could get in the Netherlands would be deprived in France, they were more radical than the Huguenots in France, not to mention, the Flemish dark wizards did not have their hands and feet behind them, and these pagans were more afraid of a Catholic king than the real Dutch, especially a French king who would become their ruler again。

But their resistance ended up like a mantis arm as a car.

"Well," said one of the soldiers, as he entered a room, "why did they insist on it?" the mansion belonged to a wealthy merchant who was in the river, and his wife, who swallowed the gold in her stomach as soon as she heard the man speaking French, was still struggling in agony when they entered, and the soldiers had to give her a moment to put an end to her suffering.

Vauban stands in front of a painting in which the figure is undoubtedly the couple, the wife in the painting with a bulging belly, "Is there a child here?"

"No, sir. The soldier replied.

"That's good. Vauban said.

————

In the painting, the couple's child is being held by a woman, crowded in front of the bank of Amsterdam, her face is full of sadness, here you can already faintly hear the roar of artillery, her husband is about to go to the bank to redeem money, they are leaving Amsterdam, about a few minutes later, her husband returns, but his hands are empty, the woman is startled: "God," she cried out, "Is the bank out of money?"

"No," said her husband, though still frowning, but not as troubled as he had been when he left: "The bank was full of gold, yes, they opened the treasury, and we cashed it out, and I got it, but at the thought that we would have to stay out for so long, I put the money back in the bank, and the bill was easier to carry and safe, and no one could take it without my signature." ”

"But what if the French occupy this place?" said the woman, fearfully, her sister and brother-in-law who were determined not to leave their homes, and only let her take their children, and there were many like that, but there were also many who left—"they don't want to get Amsterdam," said the man, "Look at the men on the embankment, and the people at the sluices, the French may be able to go in here, but don't try to go out unless they can turn into fish," he licked his lips, "but we should go." ”

"Where are we going?"

"Now there are only boats to the Cape of Good Hope. The man said.

————

The Marquis de Lois shook his head, and though he did not think that the terms of the peace proposed by the Dutch parliamentarians could be of any use other than to make the king laugh, but as a courtier, he could not trespass at will, especially in such a momentous event, and he stood up and carried this document with him to the king.

When he returned about an hour later, the Dutch parliamentarians looked unsightly—for if the King of France intended to negotiate with them, there would not be only a little time, and the Marquis de Lois said only one sentence: "Your Majesty has asked me to speak to you," and he looked around: "My Viscount of Tyrrenne is in Amsterdam." ”

Some of the envoys were pale, and the Marquis de Lois ignored them, and he returned the paperwork to the Dutch envoy, nodded slightly, and left.

The leader of the envoys opened the document and read it again, at this moment, they also knew very well that there was not enough benefits, and the French king would never withdraw his troops, so in the terms, they not only promised to compensate France for 10 million blue shields for military expenses, but also willing to open all ports to French ships, and were willing to form an alliance with France to jointly fight against Britain and Spain, and they also discussed, if the French king was too greedy, where was their bottom line? In the end, they were to give up some of their colonies in the Americas, or share the Spice Islands, but now it seemed that they didn't know much about the king, and it was not greed, but cruelty and malice, and he didn't give them a chance, a little hope.

"In that case...... said the leader of the messengers gloomily, "just as we have agreed to do so." ”

————

The battle in Amsterdam had been fought from morning to dusk, partly because the Huguenots were indeed very tenacious, and secondly, because Viscount Tyrrenne valued his soldiers enough, and in fact, even without the king's orders, he would not use the casualties of his soldiers to highlight his merits, not that the general was merciful, but that it was a war against the Netherlands, but would the formed anti-French alliance let their previous preparations be wasted in vain because they had already captured Amsterdam? It is very likely that they will have to fight a few more vicious battles in the next few battles before they can leave the fruits of their victory intact.

"See," he said to Vaubon.

"See. Vaubant said that what they saw was a brightly lit town hall, and the soldiers saw it, and after the last gunshot had disappeared, and they did not know where to start, the French let out a loud cheer, then two, three, many more, and finally they came together, "Long live the king, long live France, long live Louis XIV!", and they rushed like a tidal wave towards the people in the heart of Amsterdam, as if to swallow them up with the darkness.

A member of the Werther family stood on the dock, his lips tightened, his eyebrows furrowed: "These Frenchmen ......"

"Let them be proud for a while, and the sea will punish them in our place. Another parliamentarian said he didn't seem to care, even though the fall of Amsterdam was a foregone conclusion: "How much more time do they need?"

Councillor Witt glanced at him, "Who told you to move all the gold, silver?"

"Or leave it to the French?" said the man.

"But we're going to New Amsterdam," said Councillor Witte, "and we're the only ones going to New Amsterdam, so how are those people going to redeem their tickets?"

The councillor seemed to be about to laugh, but fortunately they were all in the dark, "If they can come to Amsterdam, of course we will exchange all the money, but if not, we will be helpless - what do you mean by looking at me like this, sir, this is a joint decision of the General Council, did you not raise your hand in favour?" Councillor Witte was silent.

"There is no way to do this," continued the councillor, "and we need a great deal of money to set up a provisional government in New Amsterdam, and if they have taken away all the precious metals, how can we convince the merchants and the envoys? ”

"Insignificant?" said Councillor Witte, "that is their life savings, and perhaps they will starve to death at the Cape of Good Hope, or Batavia." ”

"That's not our fault either," the councillor spread his hands, "Look, we gave them a chance, but they didn't cherish it, they naively believed in us, and they should pay for their mistakes." ”

"That's because you gave them a beautiful promise. "Triple interest was promised, as well as a precious concession.

"That's because they're too greedy, sir, every Dutchman should know that a verbal agreement is just a piece of paper, and has no legal effect, and only the contract written in black and white is the most real," said the councillor, raising his eyebrows, "but in New Amsterdam, the contract is not the most powerful evidence, the most powerful are the muskets, artillery and ships,"

Councillor Witte did not speak again until he boarded the ship bound for New Amsterdam instead of the Cape of Good Hope or Batavia.

The three-decked ship had no ballast stones, its ballast stones were gold and silver, cold and longing, and the sea breeze swept across Councillor Werther's face, and a smile finally appeared on the face of John de Witt, who was five or six points similar to John de Witt, especially as he had seen the flames spreading from the town hall to the and sluices.

"Behold," said Councillor Werther, "this is what they have achieved by abandoning you, uncle. ”

——————

There was not a single dignitary on the and sluices who had ever been in and out of the town hall, there were only one or two merchants among them, the rest were craftsmen, sailors, and retired soldiers, who knew that it would be difficult for them to jump to death, and although small boats were prepared, as soon as the and sluices were opened, the raging waters would not be under the control of humans— No one knew how many people would survive, but they kept an eye on the town hall square, and the rue Vespa, the only way to the town hall from the outside world, and they had to wait and see the enemy step in before they could open the embankment, or the French might have to retreat to the heights and escape punishment.

Finally, in the darkness, a little fire appeared, and an officer appeared on the street of Vespa with his torch in his hand, and the soldiers behind him were holding muskets, puzzled and wary, and the people watching the street gently shook their lanterns and signaled, so that the Dutch, who had remained here, ready to deliver the final blow, waited with bated breath - more soldiers poured into the square and the streets, and there should be more elsewhere. Thinking that the distance was not enough for them to withdraw, the man sitting in the boat on the Ai River stood up and gave a decisive order.

Two-thirds of Amsterdam's territory is three to fifteen feet below sea level, and once the sea water pours in, these soldiers will inevitably die, not to mention that it is still night, and even Amsterdammers, who are good swimmers, do not know where they should go to be saved.

In charge of the levee was a crewman, a young and strong lad, who did not think that he would be unable to escape, and when he was on the ship, he used to play a game similar to gambling with his companions, in which one man threw silver coins into the water of the dock, and the other dived into the water to find a catch, and he always won— He lit the fuse and watched it hissing towards the powder keg, his heart beating so fast that when a hand was placed on his shoulder, he thought someone was worried that he would not be able to escape, so he had come to warn him.

He turned around and wanted to say thank you, but what he saw was a mouthful of white fangs.

The werewolf bit his throat in one bite.

——————

In later records, this is the most witnessed werewolf attack on humans since the Roman Church recognized the existence of werewolves in 1414, and no less than a hundred people saw werewolves chasing humans out of the shadows, and they threw them to the ground and tore them apart alive, including Dutch and French- Some say they saw three or four werewolves, others say they saw at least seven or eight werewolves, and some say they are like a pack of killer whales, and they even kill people for pleasure rather than for their satiety, because they are constantly attacking humans.

Later, some people secretly fabricated that these werewolves were all raised by King Louis XIV of France, because the dead were all Dutch, and those French soldiers, even if they were only an arm's length away from the werewolves, the werewolves did not attack him, about this, of course, the French absolutely did not admit it, they thought that this was one of the most absurd rumors in hundreds of years, and they would actually think that their glorious majesty would do such a thing? Ha, why not say that he also married a witch and made a deal with vampires?

However, some people did take the trouble to check the information about Madame Louise Lavalier, for they had heard that this lady had been scolded by another of the king's lovers, calling her a brute with a long tail, but they could not find any clues in her portrait - With features such as the same length of ring and middle fingers, she even bore an illegitimate child to the king, and the Duke's bloodline has been passed down to this day, and there is nothing to care about except for the beauty of the Sun King.

- None of this is known to Madame Louise Lavallière, who was bloody, scarred—blood from innocent humans, but scars from her desperate struggle with her father, Cleraland—in order to gain Louis XIV's acceptance, Clerand pretended to be dead, and let his daughter lead her people to submit to the feet of the King of France in her place— He did not understand his daughter's obstinacy, and according to him, the benevolent king had allowed their people to settle in the forest of Vincen, which Charles I had not given them, and Louise did not have to have a child in common with the king.

Louise's heroic face was not to the liking of the people at this time.

He persuaded Louise that when the time was right, she would step down from her position as royal lady and go to Vincennes to choose one of her people as her husband.

Louise had always spoken silent against her father, but this time, in front of her people, she could no longer hold back, "It's you who are really stupid!my father!" she cried out, "I admit that I had unrealistic expectations, but that was in the beginning, father! But after all this time, I've been by his side, can't I see what kind of person Louis is?! On the contrary, werewolves have nothing to cherish for a king - I think you know, think about how Charles I, and his son, treated us!"

"Louis XIV was different," argued Créland, "he was a benevolent man. ”

"Yes to his subjects," said Louise, "but not necessarily to us, even compared to the bohemian witches...... Yes, we may be able to stay in Vincen, but if it is only out of the mercy of the king—how fragile is this hypocritical illusion?"

"Louise!"

"He never touched me," said Louise, "no, I could see in his eyes that he had yuwang, but he managed to control himself, and didn't even need me to take my eyes out of his sight, and share a bed with him—how much weight do you think we can have on his scales when he thinks he has made a decision?"

"I can ......"

"This is the most fortunate thing, father," Louise interrupted her father calmly, "Louis is a king, but he is also a just ruler, and any reward he gives can be exchanged for merit, yes, if we obey the king's orders, it will be tantamount to exposing the inner world to the people of the outer world, and if we break the law, we will never return to the inner world, but do you think we should really go back?" You've been there, and you've been traded as goods by Serbian wizards to wizards on Gayola Island, and if it weren't for Louis, you'd have died—werewolves are tools in the eyes of kings, but animals and sacrifices in the eyes of the people of the inner world, or experimental materials, and I prefer the former. ”

"I know you have your supporters," Louise continued, "and I have my supporters, Father, and I don't want to see senseless self-consumption in the clan, so let's go according to tradition - I'm going to challenge you, Chief!"

"As you wish. Creland said.

——————

Louise closed her eyes, her battle with Creran ended sooner than she expected, the old and badly injured gray wolf was quickly suppressed by the strong and young silver wolf, Louise bit Crelan's throat, and then let go, "Let's go, father," Louise said, "I won't kill you." ”

Creland left without saying a word.

The obedience of the wolves to the new leader gave her a promise from the king that humans could not find hidden evils in the dark, but werewolves could with their eyes and noses.

The silver wolf raised its head and let out a long howl towards the full moon, and the wolves echoed, and with a longer and longer howl, the silver wolf jumped off the embankment and ran towards the king's palace.

————

Louis had already heard the howls of the wolves, and he stood up and opened the door to the terrace.

The moonlight shone on him, and he watched the giant wolf rush towards him like a wave of water, and leaped up the terrace of ten feet with a slight leap, Louise had grown bigger in the past few years than when they first met, and a single mouth seemed to swallow the king whole, and the abundant fur made her look like a snow hill, and she gasped softly, and a thick bloody breath came to her face: "You have won," she said, "Your flag has been hoisted in front of the Amsterdam City Hall." ”

"How wonderful," said Louis, "that you have brought me this good news." ”

"I'm here to ask you to keep your promises. Then Louise said, and then, as if the wolf had never appeared, was a young woman clad in moonlight before the king.

"Am I disgusting to you?" she asked boldly.

"No," said Louis, "it's not that I don't have no other choice. ”

Louise's eyes lit up, and she leapt forward slightly, knocking down the king.

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