It was nearly noon, and the king and the bishop simply ate some "king's bread", which was bread with cheese, ham, and fresh vegetables, drank hot mulled wine, and returned to the tower, and in less than an hour the tide of battle changed.

Speaking of which, as long as they have military talents, they understand how important the topography of the battlefield is to the whole battle situation, and generally speaking, they will know as much as possible about every hill, flat land, and even rivers and lakes on the battlefield. And Viscount Tirene has a special skill more than the average general, that is, the knowledge of the sea, do not forget, after his brother inherited the title of Duke of Sedan, like the second son of every noble family, he entered his uncle's army at the age of fourteen or fifteen, and his uncle was none other than Prince Maurice of the Netherlands, who would soon become the Dutch Republic, half of the territory of the Netherlands faced the sea, and the navy accounted for the vast majority of their army, to say that a Dutch officer knew nothing about the sea, it was a big joke that could make people laugh from the Hundred Years' War to the Thirty Years' War, let alone say that, Viscount Tyrenne's uncle is known as the genius Maurice, it can be said that he single-handedly resurrected Europa's professional army - this is one of the reasons why Viscount Tyrrenne sincerely surrendered to the king, in whom he saw many excellent things that once belonged to Prince Maurice, especially the importance of a soldier's sense of responsibility and morality.

Of course, this Prince Maurice did not hesitate to teach his nephew, and by his side, the Viscount of Tyrrenne arguably laid the strongest foundation, of which Prince Maurice often talked to him about the battle of Newport between the Netherlands and Spain in 1600, in which the Dutch Federation won a remarkable victory, but Prince Maurice still felt that there were many things to regret, one of which was that while they were fighting, the tide suddenly rose so that both armies had to move, and if he had anticipated this in advance, he would have left more Spaniards, rather than allowing the Spaniards to continue to retain the forces that harassed the Dutch transport lines, so that the campaign ultimately failed to achieve the results they had hoped for.

So from before the start of the war, Viscount Tyrrenne mentioned to the king - although the king was not prepared to interfere with any of the general's plans, but it was precisely for this reason that Viscount Tyrrenne reciprocated with the king about his entire battle plan - He said that he would force (if the Spaniards did not do so) the Spaniards to line up with them along the coast, and that when the tide receded, when the battle began to heat up, the tide receded, and the Spaniards' army would be exposed on its right flank, and he would mobilize his cavalry reserves from here to strike directly at the unsuspecting Spaniards.

And now, as Viscount Tirene had expected, the waters glittering golden in the sun were slowly receding towards the sea unconsciously, the stranded fish were still struggling, the French cavalry reserves had begun to gallop, and the heavy and hard hooves of the horses had trodden over the soft sand, leaving deep pits in them, and rushing towards the unaware Spanish troops in the splash of water— They were also immersed in the battle with the main forces of the French army, which could be described as a sudden, one-sided massacre.

When a man in heavy armor, from man to horse, crashed into the formation, it was no different from a solid iron cannonball, leaving a bloody road, although some officers immediately shouted for the spearmen to turn, but it was too late, and when the knights drew their broadswords and attacked side by side with their comrades who had routed the Spanish and English cavalry, Prince Condé, who was in charge of the left flank of the Spanish army, realized that the tide had turned, and he began to call out to his soldiers and officers, leading them to break through to the right flank of the French army, because after them was Dunkirk, as long as they came to Dunkirk and entered the city, at least they could keep this part of the existing force.

Prince Condé was right, and when the king saw the soldiers in light chestnut shoulder straps running towards Dunkirk from the tower, he couldn't help but shout, but Viscount Tirrenne lived up to the king's expectations, and he ordered Sebastian Vauban (which the king only knew about later) to intercept him with only one hundred cavalry and three hundred infantry— This was the disadvantage of being hostile to those who had worked intimately, and after the war Viscount Tirene said that he had always kept an eye on the Prince of Condé, that is, he knew that he was both good at fighting and escaping......

Vauban had a great talent for field fortifications, as if echoing in some way, and he was also quite skilled in defense, and he led his soldiers to occupy a long and wide sand dune first, and then cut off the wheels of the wagons carrying the baggage, erected a temporary fortification, and ordered the musketeers to rely on it to shoot at the army of the Prince of Condé - the Prince of Condé was a brave warrior, as he had always done before, but this time Lady Luck did not stand by his side, but smiled at the Viscount of Tyrrenne— The first wave of the horse that hit the Prince of Condé was killed, he fell to the ground, and several close officers dragged him back, in fact if he had not been the Prince of Condé, he might have ended up with his beloved horse.

If the Prince of Condé had been given some time, he might have been able to play another outcome, but there were no longer a few people who thought the same way as him, and when he suddenly found that he was surrounded by people—I mean, all French, the Duke of York of England immediately turned pale, and had to abandon the soldiers who were entangled by the new model army, and resolutely retreated, and as soon as he left, the mercenaries of the Holy Roman Empire of course followed their traditions— They slipped away when the tide of battle was unfavorable, leaving the Spanish Marshal Don Juan and his soldiers to hold on - not for long, at least not before the Prince of Condé could break through Vauban's defenses before the French army approached them.

The king, who was not sure that Prince Condé had been captured, could not help but shout "Hurray!" when he heard the news, and waved his hat, and even the bishop could not help but smile a huge smile that was not reserved enough.

The French army hunted and annihilated the enemy until the moon rose, and the exact number was not counted until two days later, when the French and the New Model Army lost about 400 men, most of whom were killed in the head-on clash with the Spanish Grand Phalanx at the beginning of the war, but in contrast, the Spanish coalition army had more than 1,000 killed, although most of them were British, and more than 5,000 were captured, and most of these people were Spaniards.

But the biggest capture was none other than Marshal Don Juan of Spain, the illegitimate son of King Philip IV of Spain and a dancing girl, who was highly regarded by the king, and Prince Condé, a complex figure.

The Marshal of the Spaniards, accompanied by the Viscount of Tyrrene, met the king, and his manners were impeccable and personable, and it was heard that he refused to surrender to the new model army of the British, because they were subordinate to a tyrant, but Louis guessed that the gentleman was more out of the desire not to fall into the hands of the British, that is, Cromwell, who was now at war with the Spaniards—he did not seem to be alarmed, and even expressed his willingness to see the prosperity of Paris with his own eyes, presumably knowing that his father would soon try to redeem him.

Indeed, he was treated as a prince, and his dwellings, food, and supplies were second only to those of kings and bishops.

Compared to this Monsieur Don Juan, the Prince of Condé was treated much worse, after all, he was still a traitor, he was confined to a modest room, always sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bowed, looking very depressed.

"Did he mention to see me?" Louie asked.

"Not yet. Viscount Tirrene said, and then he immediately added: "I think it will be soon, Your Majesty." ”

Louis couldn't help but smile when he saw his nervous appearance, knowing that the viscount's concern was that he was unwilling to forgive Prince Condé, but even if it wasn't for the conventions of the here and now, he would not execute Prince Condé, or even exile him, because militarily, Prince Condé did have his outstanding points, as well as some of his friends and subordinates, and there were still undercurrents in France, and the king now even wanted to borrow a cat's hand to use it, let alone such a leading figure.

"Don't worry. Louis said to Viscount Tirrenne, "Persuade him slowly, we still have time—I mean, after the capture of Dunkirk." ”

"It won't take a week, Your Majesty, just watch. Viscount Tirrena said proudly.

This is not a lie, the defenders of Dunkirk saw that most of the reinforcements were wiped out, and they also lost their previous courage and faith, and the Viscount of Tirrenne did not even force the siege of the city, only let the artillery bombardment and heavy siege of the city, and Dunkirk surrendered a few days later.

When he heard the good news, the king was discussing with the bishop about the funeral of the fallen soldiers, and the king had the intention of holding a mass for them, but the bishop had to remind him that if he did, it would become a common practice. The king was so insistent on this, that he really did not understand how his mother, the Queen Mother Anne, could hold Masses of God knows who it was (Louis could only remember a few saints to this day) as she pleased, and how the Masses in honor and comfort of the soldiers who died for him and for France were disapproving of Mr. Bishop.

The presence of a distraction made Mr. Bishop breathe, but the king grabbed Viscount Tyrrenne, and of course, Mr. Viscount was in favor of a great mass for the soldiers, two against one, and Mr. Bishop was defeated, but the good news afterwards made them raise a sweet wine in celebration.

Viscount Tyrrenne proposed that the king should be dressed in military uniform and ride a horse at the front during the army's entry into the city, and Mr. Bishop agreed, and Louis did not refuse, because considering that Dunkirk would eventually be handed over to the British, General Munch of the new model army was only afraid of who would enter the city and entangle with Viscount Tyrenne, but if it was the king, then even Cromwell had nothing to say.

——————

Same night, Blois.

From the heavy curtain came a painful and rapid gasp, and the servant of the Duke of Orleans got up from his cot, lit the candle, held the candlestick in one hand, lifted the curtain with the other, and cried out in horror as the candlelight moved to the Duke's face!