On April 5, 1681, in Paris, both sides of the Ring Road were already crowded with people watching the lively old districts of Paris. This ring road was built on the site of the old city wall of Paris after it was bulldozed, although the name is the trail, but it includes the sidewalk and the horse track, and the sidewalk is also planted with many plane trees, dense branches and green trees.

After the construction of this ring road, Louis XIV, who was particularly fond of ostentatiousness, often held some military parades on this trail, so that the unruly people of the old Paris could see our French soldiers. But the people in the old area didn't care at all, everyone was still lively at the beginning, and then they saw more and that's it. So later, Louis XIV held a military parade in Paris, and the biggest headache was the cold field. You finally put together the elite soldiers, dressed up with bells and whistles, and wanted the people in the old area to know that they were powerful, but the people in the old area didn't look at them at all, how disappointing is this?

But today is an exception, early in the morning, many people in the old district ran to Paris under the plane trees on both sides of the city promenade to wait to see the excitement, but some of them don't seem to know what fun to see today, and ask the people around them!

"Stupid pig ('hello' in French), what's so nice about today's parade? Why are so many people coming? ”

"Oh, it's not our French army that is coming today, it's a foreign army, it seems to be the army of the Great Qing Kingdom in the East."

"What? How did the army of the Great Qing Kingdom of the East come to Paris? Aren't they friends of the Dutch, the English? We are friends with the progressive republics of France and the East! ”

"Who knows? Maybe the Sun King couldn't get used to the republic of the Ming Kingdom, so he chose to be friends with the Qing Dynasty, which is the country. ”

"Don't talk nonsense, the Sun King is not friends with the Great Qing Kingdom, and the Qing army visiting Paris today is not the royal army of the Great Qing Kingdom in the East, but the army composed of the supporters of Prince Foquansky, who opposed the Qing Emperor Kangxi, and they arrived at the port of Brest in Brittany on the merchant ships of the Great Ming Kingdom following the French naval fleet returning from the Great Ming Kingdom."

"I heard that those Ming merchant ships and our fleet brought back porcelain, silk, sugar, spices and tea worth hundreds of millions of livres from China!"

"That's too much, isn't it?"

"Tea? What is Tea? ”

"It's a magical leaf that only China has! It is said that by drying the leaves and soaking them in boiling water to soften them and eating them, it is effective in preventing scurvy! ”

"Prevention of scurvy. Is this true? ”

"Well, I don't know, but the sailors of Brest say so. It is said that the fleet returning from China sailed slowly in the equatorial windless zone for almost a month, so that the entire fleet did not make it possible to dock for nearly two months, but there was not a single case of scurvy! ”

"Is this true? It's amazing! ”

Just as the people on the Paris Ring Road were talking about the return fleet from the East, the mysterious cargo of tea loaded on the merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty, and so on, suddenly there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves, which was a group of French royal cuirassiers galloping along the carriage and horse path of the Ring Road.

The people of the old part of Paris stopped talking and began to crane their necks and look at the empty carriage road, waiting for the arrival of the legendary Prince Foquansky's "Qing Heavenly Soldiers"!

The "Great Qing Heavenly Soldiers" did not make them wait for a long time, but it made them feel a little disappointed.

Soon, a group of "dwarf soldiers" drove along the road from the Brittany Peninsula to Paris, and entered the Paris Ring Road.

These "dwarf soldiers" are very short, and their average height is more than half a head shorter than that of a Parisian man in his sixties of one meter, and at first glance he thought he was a boy scout! When I got closer, I found that these "dwarfs" are all bearded men, and they should all be adults, who knows? Maybe the little boy over there in the Great Qing Kingdom was born with a beard?

Of course, the people of the old district of Paris also noticed the braids on the back of the heads of these "dwarf soldiers", but this did not surprise them much, after all, the French soldiers still wear wigs in this year! A fluffy, curly wig that looks more difficult to care for than a pigtail, and I don't know what to do with it?

And what amazes the people of the old area the most is the gorgeous and solemn military uniforms of this "Qing Dynasty Dwarf Heavenly Soldiers", as well as their strict and majestic marching formation!

Of course, it is impossible for these dwarf soldiers to enter the land of France in samurai suits with particularly wide sleeves and trouser legs, and they are the Qing soldiers of Prince Foquansky.

So Li Zhongzheng asked people to prepare warm hats with glass tops, black satin-covered robes, and gowns as dresses (and cotton regular clothes were also prepared). This fabric is made of the best "woven product" black brocade, shining in the sun, and the women in the old Paris can't take their eyes off such a good material, why don't they have it?

The queue of the dwarf soldiers was also practiced - when they were floating on the sea, the Ming army officers who accompanied the team were training their queue, although the deck area of the ship was limited and could not be opened, but they knew the basic queue skills. After the landing in Brest, it took another two weeks of intensive training before hitting the road. By the time they arrived in Paris, they had been able to get out of a fairly tight queue, stronger than most European mercenaries!

In addition, these dwarf soldiers were all armed with flintlock muskets, and they were flintlock muskets with sleeve bayonets, the bayonets were very long, sharpened, and glittered under the sun, and from a distance, they looked like rows of moving bayonet jungles, which were particularly murderous!

It turns out that this is the real strength of the Qing Heavenly Soldiers!

The people of the old district of Paris are knowledgeable, and his Sun King often holds military parades, and they are tired of seeing it, so the ordinary European elite has long been out of sight, and now I feel a little interesting when I see the heavenly soldiers from Asia!

Except for being a little shorter, this Qing Heavenly Soldier from Asia seems to surpass the elite of the Sun King in other aspects!

The uniforms are more solemn, the queues are more neat, the weapons seem to be very sophisticated, and there is a very special bayonet, which does not seem to block the muzzle, and it looks quite advanced.

It seems that all the previous rumors about how weak the Chinese army was and could be conquered by a few thousand or ten thousand Spaniards or two thousand were nonsense. With this military appearance, the Spaniards will give away their heads as much as they go!

And such an army was also defeated by the republican Ming. It seems that this republican system is indeed superior!

France's country seems to be a little behind!

"Arise, people who do not want to be slaves, their blood is boiling"

Just when the people in the old area thought of the superiority of the republican system, they listened to the cordial and passionate tune of "Datong Song", and suddenly they were played by the drums and military horns! Then the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty who were marching all sang "Datong Song" together!

When the people of the old district of Paris heard this song and this song, they unconsciously held their heads high, as if they were about to go into battle

"Arise, people who do not want to be slaves, their blood is boiling"

Louis XIV, who was standing outside the gate of the Louvre and waiting for the "Qing Heavenly Soldiers" and the Ming Mission, also heard the "Song of Datong", although he did not understand Chinese and did not know what the lyrics were? But he instinctively felt that something was not quite right.

Why does this song sound so creepy?

"What song is this?" The Sun King of France asked.

"My Majesty," replied little Kirbel at once, "this is the national anthem of the Ming Dynasty, the Song of Datong." ”

"Datong?" Louis Ma's face sank, "That is what kind of country belongs to the whole people, we want to choose meritocracy to govern the country, we want everyone to be equal and happy, we want the elderly to be supported, the talents of young and middle-aged people can be brought into play, and children are well cared for and educated, etc.?" ”

He was talking about the Book of Rites. The words of the French version of "The Journey of the Avenue".

"The Book of Rites", "The World is Public", "The Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System", and "Ming Yi to be Interviewed" are all banned books in France today, but the Sun King himself has read them all carefully and can understand all the ideas in them, so he knows how dangerous this set of contents is! I also understand why the upper elite of the Dutch also hate the same "republican" Ming as they are.

Because Da Ming takes the republic seriously!

Their course is completely different from that of the Dutch business oligarchy republic, and they are really pursuing equality of their countrymen, not only in name, but also in terms of property and educational opportunities.

Although the Ming did not pursue absolute equality, nor did they strangle the most outstanding citizens like the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, but left considerable space for outstanding individuals and powerful families, they still pursued equality and strived to protect the basic rights of the common people, including the right to grow and develop! This will inevitably be limited by the elite and the ruling family.

This set of ideas is simply poison for countries like Europe that value blood!

However, Louis XIV had no choice, because France was now surrounded by powerful enemies.

England, the Netherlands, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire had twisted together against France, and with a resolute attitude that could not be reconciled – for the continent had a tradition of striking at the strongest since the rise of Charles V's empire.

Because no one wants a trend towards unification on the European continent. France had been at odds with the Habsburgs for the same reason!

Now that the Habsburgs have weakened, it seems that there is no possibility of rising, and France is expected to take its place as the hegemon of the European continent. Therefore, it is only natural that France is being targeted by other countries.

Of course, France has no choice to become stronger, France has to rise in order to prevent itself from being taken by the Habsburgs, if they don't rise, the Habsburgs will rise, and the French will have to speak German in the future!

Didn't this kind of thing almost happen in later history?

So, if France is not strong, it will not work, and if it is not strong, it will be gone. And get stronger. Overwhelmed the Habsburgs, then the Bourbons of France would be the second Habsburg!

This can only be said to be in troubled times, and dare not lie flat. Unless France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands all bow down at the feet of the beautiful father, and the beautiful father is watching, then everyone can rest assured and be bold and lie flat together.

But now that my father is not born, who dares to lie down?

Therefore, Louis XIV could only bite the back molars and accept the 200 million livre of "black money", and then form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, which advocated republican equality.

Although the Ming were far away, and they had many enemies, and the two sides had very different philosophies, it was always advantageous to have such a powerful friend for France, which was increasingly isolated on the European continent.

Just as he was thinking about his fate of leading Europe and even uniting Europe, the annoying tune of "Datong Song" finally stopped, and was replaced by the very pleasant French national anthem "God Save the King".

"God bless my king Louis and wish him a long life. God bless my king, always victorious, Mu glory."

On the square in front of the Louvre, the officers and soldiers of the Royal Guard of France, lined up in a neat formation, also sang the French national anthem to the music.

In the sound of the French national anthem, 3,000 "Qing Heavenly Soldiers" also completed the whole team in front of the Louvre. 3,000 people formed a huge vertical formation, everyone stood solemnly, carrying flintlock pistols on their shoulders, motionless, and looking at it with a special momentum.

Following these 3,000 "Qing Heavenly Soldiers" into the square in front of the Louvre, there were also officials from the Ming Dynasty and the "Fu Ji Qing Dynasty", the former was the Ming mission led by Jia Guozhu, and the latter was the "Fu Ji Daqing" mission led by Guanyin Bao and Xival.

According to the schedule, Louis XIV will also review the Royal Guard of France and Prince Foquansky's Qing soldiers together with the Ming Dynasty and the "Fu Ji Daqing" mission, and review them in a big way in front of the ambassadors of various countries in Paris.

He is going to use this military parade to tell the whole of Europe that the Kingdom of France has formed an alliance with the Ming Empire, and is ready to jointly support Prince Foquansky to seize the throne of the Qing Dynasty!

The Hague, Netherlands, Ruling Palace.

The Dutch consul, William III, Prince of Orange, today shut himself up in his office in the consul's palace, and saw no one except with two representatives of Amsterdam merchants, the Dutch Provincial Council and the Speaker of the Amsterdam City Council, Gaspar. Fig and Anthony. Hines discussed countermeasures.

It was said that it was a discussion, but in fact all three of them did not say a word, just stared at each other, and each of them had a report of the Dutch East India Company and a report of the Dutch ambassador in Paris.

The East India Company reported that three spice islands in the East Indies were suspected to have been robbed by the French fleet and Japanese mercenaries, and the losses were extremely heavy!

The report of the Dutch embassy in Paris confirmed the "accusations" of the East India Company...... The French raid on the spice islands owned by the Dutch East India Company was no longer suspicious, but the evidence was conclusive and could not be denied.

And the French did not seem to think of denying it, and they held a grand military parade in Paris to welcome the Ming and Prince Foquansky missions from afar.

And those Japanese mercenaries who robbed the "Spice Island" seem to have turned into Prince Foquansky's guards.

It is obvious that the masterminds of the "Spice Island Incident" are the French, and the Ming side may also be involved.

And France and the Ming Dynasty seem to be formally forming an alliance to jointly resist the eleven alliances led by the Netherlands, England, and Spain.

Of course, an alliance between France and the Ming is not the worst thing. This was expected by the Dutch, and they had a way of coping with it.

What really shocked and puzzled William III was the loss suffered by the Netherlands in the spice trade of silk, porcelain, sugar, etc.

The French robbed the Spice Islands of a whole year's production!

And they also shipped in in-demand goods from China that were worth a lot of money.

The Dutch, who had long had a monopoly on trade between East and West, were now facing the embarrassing situation of having no goods to sell.

And the French, who had always had to buy expensive goods from the East from the Dutch, bypassed the Dutch middlemen and bought or grabbed everything they wanted. It is even possible to sell surplus goods to the rest of Europe......

"Gaspar, Anthony," said the Dutch consul, who had probably been awake all night, at last, in a hoarse voice, "you now know the difficult situation facing the Republic, right? The despicable French robbed our island, and shamelessly bypassed us to start direct trade with the Ming Dynasty.

If we don't stop it...... We will lose the maritime trade on which we depend. The Netherlands will no longer be a great republic, she will become poor, helpless, weak, and bullied. In the near future, the country will even become part of the Kingdom of France.

The freedom that our forefathers won through the Eighty Years' War will end at the hands of our generation!

Two gentlemen, you say, what should our republic do? Is it a fight, or is it surrender? ”

(End of chapter)