In addition to this, there were letters from several reliable people to Leut, who, while opening the brass letterbox, knocked it on the table, and poured it out, said: "I hope there won't be too much bad news." ”

He opened the tightly rolled letter, and there was not much on it—a Dutch merchant from Rochester, England, who was still in London, but who had been in London, said in the center of his letter that he had almost been involved in a riot and lost his life, and that he had now left his colleagues and friends behind and had fled to Rochester alone...... He asked Leut how he was doing in the Netherlands now, if possible, he wanted to return to the Netherlands from Dover, seeing this, Leut sighed bitterly, he had a good relationship with this merchant friend, but just as he sat down and wanted to reply to a text message to the merchant asking him not to return to Holland recently, he suddenly thought of something: "Who sent this letter?" He shouted: "Let him come to me at once!"

The messenger was immediately brought to Reut, "You are from Rochester?" asked Reut.

"Yes." The man replied nervously.

"Are you English?" said Reut, which made the man frightened, for he knew that England and Holland were now enemies: "God testifies," he cried, "I am only a wretch, a servant, not a soldier, nor an official, I have no interest in the relations between nations, I am only a servant who is very loyal to my master, sir, my master has asked me to deliver a letter, saying that you will never hurt me!"

"I won't. "But tell me," said Reut, "what kind of riots did your master get involved in in London, that he had to flee to Rochester?"

"I don't know," said the servant, tremblingly, "you know, there are always people who are noisy, noisy, and unrestful, and the councillors are always at odds with the nobles, saying that our king is a fool, a traitor, that there are always people marching in the streets, and I have been to it twice, but I thought it was a parade on the Day of the Saints......" He said in a rambling manner, and the first mate of Reut was going to get impatient, but Reutte was only silent and listened patiently, and he could only press it down, and at last he said what interested Reuté: " That night, sir, my master and I were sleeping, when suddenly we heard a commotion outside, and there were people shooting, and some people were firing, and there were people shouting, and it was like that, of course, sir, I don't think what they said was true, they said so when they executed the king, and now they are ...... Anyway, my master immediately ordered me to close the door, close the windows, of course, I closed them all, I just, I mean, we re-reinforced them, and dragged furniture in the doorway, but it didn't work......"

He swallowed, "It's useless, sir, before dawn there was a knock at the door, very loud, and my master said that there was nothing dangerous here except a quiet merchant and a stupid servant, but they did not believe it, and they said that if we did not open the door, they would throw torches in." His eyes rolled upwards as if they were still on that terrible night, "and they almost did so, sir, and I was terrified, but we opened the door anyway, and as soon as it was opened, they rushed in, searched everywhere, poked with swords, stabbed with torches—I had two beautiful clothes, both burned out, and several little black holes. He swallowed, "They also took their master's money and jewelry, and even then, they didn't think it was enough, they almost killed my master...... I, fortunately, my master immediately said that he could give them more money...... I mean, bills and securities or something, anyway, they took it and left, God forbid, that's a bunch of robbers. ”

"Do you see their faces, do you see what they are wearing?" asked Reutt.

"What if you see clearly?" said the servant, "I don't know any of them, sir, and as to what they are wearing, I think they are very decent clothes, white trousers, blue or black coats. ”

"Blue or black?" asked the first mate.

"You know, it was night, and we lit a candle at most, and all I can say was a very dark color, and I say blue because when one of them approached my master, his placket was illuminated. ”

"Then think again," said Leut, "is there anything else that impresses you?"

The servant was silent for a moment: "I'm not sure, sir, I'm not sure. ”

"It doesn't matter," said Reut, "I just want to know everything, even the smallest and most uncertain." He pulled out a shiny golden guilder," one replied, a gold coin. ”

The servant gasped eagerly, his eyes could barely be taken off the gold coin, which could indeed make a good doctor, and he immediately remembered many things, such as the awl-like dagger fixed to the musket of the soldier who broke into the room, and the fact that the buttons of the soldiers' coats were silver, like the shape of an outstretched petal, and the beautiful metal tassels on the shoulders of the officer who took the bribe, and so on, and at last he paused and said, "And, sir, I seem to hear them speaking French." ”

"French?"

"Yes, sir, I don't know French, I haven't been able to go to school, but I work in a tavern, and they say......" He then said a strange remark, not French, nor English, but more like some local dialect, "and a French sailor said so, and as a result the other sailor got into a fight with him, which I later heard was a very profane and indecent remark. ”

"I see," said Reut, "well, that's an answer." He put a gold coin into the servant's hand, "Anything else?"

"I can't think of any more," said the servant, lamentingly, "and I was terrified that night. ”

"Think again," said Reut, "don't forget, an answer, a gold coin." ”

The servant swallowed and was taken down. Reut looked at the first mate, his eyes glowing, "Do you understand?"

First Mate: "What, sir?"

This servant is the true faith. "My good first mate," said Reut, "my friend, who had only said a few words in his letter in order to prevent him from being intercepted by the English or the French, was the real secret letter, and he told me everything my friend wanted to tell me." ”

"I'm still a little confused, sir. ”

For the first time, Leut laughed heartily, for the first time in the year: "The French are in London, they participate," he glanced at the letterhead: "riot, but I think it is very likely that it was a restoration, I mean, the restoration of the rights of the king, Charles II was forced to reconcile with his subjects, but he never gave up the pursuit of royal power and the pursuit of those who were opposed to the" The hatred of the rebels, of course, is true of all kings, but of course his subjects are well aware of this, so his ministers and parliamentarians not only do not allow him to have a standing army, but also do not allow him to have his own territory and money, and the use of the royal family, not only cannot be drawn from the treasury, but even needs to be confirmed by Parliament before it can be transferred, which is simply a shame for Charles II, but now," he took a deep breath, "I am afraid that the heavens and the earth have changed in London." ”

"Are you saying that the French sent troops to help Charles II?"

"Yes," said Leut, "those men are French, and their coats are the royal blue of Louis XIV, so they are black in the dark, and blue in the light, and their buttons are not flowers, but the sun, and the metal tassels are tassels hanging from the epaulettes......" The first mate listened attentively, pondering continuously, "and what do you mean...... God, do you mean, fleet?"

"France and England are separated by sea, and Louis XIV can only send troops by ships, and they ......" Leut looked at the first mate: "If they want to contain or even destroy us, they will inevitably form a combined fleet, but before the official war against us, this fleet will go up the Thames to London, and help Charles II to gain real rights, so that they will not have to worry that the British Parliament will make peace with the Netherlands in the event of war—" He showed a look of sarcasm: " After all, the British fleet could not even beat a merchant fleet, and I think the parliamentarians must have begun to hesitate a long time ago. ”

"So!?" exclaimed the first mate, the British Parliament had nothing to fear because Charles II did not have an army of his own, but if Louis XIV was willing to intervene, then Charles II should have obtained the rights that any king should have, which was almost bad news for the Netherlands, because Charles II could not negotiate peace with the Netherlands no matter what he was doing - the Netherlands could only give up their colonies, shipping routes, etc., at most, but if the alliance between England and France could achieve the desired goal, they could still divide the Netherlands proper.

"No, we still have a chance!" Leut jumped up from his chair, "didn't you think that the riot had taken place three days ago, and we had not yet seen the shadow of the Combined Fleet on the sea, and that the fleet had been stationed from Calais or Dunkirk in France to London for the rest of the day, and that fleet would have to be well supplied before it could be drawn, and they might still be in England, or in some port, or in the bay!" he shook his fist in the cramped cabin." Let me give them a little color, and let Charles II know that it is not for nothing that his ministers fear me!"

——————

Charles II slept in his best sleep since January 30, 49, when his father was beheaded, and when he woke up feeling refreshed and relaxed, he got up, changed into a silk dressing gown with the help of his servants, yawned against the window, and before breakfast he went to take a bath in the small parlor, which had been newly converted into a bathroom, which was also a fashion from Paris, but before today, he did not take baths very often, because bathing was an unusually expensive thing— But, haha, now he's England, Britain is him, and he doesn't have to count the gold coins in his hand anymore.

Charles II soaked in the smelly bath, looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, and to this day he was in a bit of a dream, and the things that weighed on him like heavy boulders had been moved away so easily? He was a real king in just one night? A king who could issue decrees and build up armies at will, without looking at anyone's face? A dictator who held the fate of the whole country and his people? He couldn't help laughing at the thought of this.

His smile remained on his face until it was time to eat, when he suddenly had an idea, "I'm going back to Whitehall Palace." He said, "Bring the food together, and I'm going to look at the square to eat." ”

This request was immediately complied with, but the Queen of Charles II did not quite understand: "Your Majesty," she asked gently, "is this room not good? We can change rooms, I am afraid that Whitehall Palace will not be able to put together a suitable room." ”

"It's okay, it's just a morning. Charles II said gently, reaching out to stroke her bulging belly, "Wait for me to return, dear queen, and wait for me with my son, but don't delay the meal." ”

The queen had no choice but to obey, and another reason was that she had also guessed Charles II's intentions.

Whitehall Palace was partially destroyed in the London Fire in 98 and there was no money to repair it, they could have moved to Hampton Court Palace a long time ago, but Charles II didn't agree for some reason, and then a few days ago riots, no, during the king's trial of the traitors, Whitehall Palace caught fire and was completely destroyed, so they moved to Hampton Court Palace, as for why Charles II dined in a ruin......

After the chaos of the servants, Charles II was finally able to take his seat in a small room facing the square at Whitehall Palace, his table was filled with sumptuous food, and through the crooked window frames hidden by the drapery, he could see a huge torture table, which was ...... It was Charles II who had planned it in mind ten years ago.

When Charles I was executed, Charles II was still in Holland, and he did not witness the terrible scene, but now he could almost imagine it, because the view on the square had overlapped with that of 48 years, and the people gathered in the square, their brows fluttering and elated, perhaps, for them, it made no difference whether to execute a king, or to execute a protector, or to execute a minister, a general, a thief, or a lady, just give them bloody corpses.

Charles II was still so eager and expectant when he came here, but he really saw the fanatical people, and saw the ministers who were once invincible in front of him, but now they were embarrassed and depressed...... He felt a little uninterested, but it didn't affect his appetite and his plans to start.

As he began to eat, the once-noble heads were rolling off the torture table one by one......