On January 31, 1667, on the last day of January, Li Qing quietly returned to her room after a banquet for all the staff at Amsterdam Trading Station.

There were two Greek maids in the room tidying up the mattress. They were very cute and charming. They were given to him by Li Qing when she was in the Ottoman Empire. She helped him spend a lot of lonely time over the years. However, as he grew older, he was unable to do so, and he also had the idea of ​​dismissing these women. He had already told them that when he returned to the local area after his term, he gave them a considerable severance payment, so that they could find someone to marry each other, so as not to delay themselves.

After asking the two maids to serve him a pot of tea, he waved his hand and repelled the two of them, then carefully took out some documents from the safe, and carefully studied them with the dim whale oil candle. The news in the letter was very messy, and there were all aspects. Because it involved the local source of information, it was more sensitive. Therefore, if there was no need, Li Qing would review, refine, summarize and summarize himself, so as not to cause leaks if there were too many people in charge.

The first news came from Italy. Louis XIV, the king of the sun in France, was at its peak. This was not only reflected in military and fame, but also in the fields of academic and cultural. After Colbert, at the instruction of Louis, he gave the Vatican library director Alachi, the Duke of Modena Graniac, the historian of the United Provinces, the famous mathematician Huigens, and the city Altov, which was not very familiar to the French, several professors of Helmstite to solicit letters and subsidies (Louis said in the letter that although he was not their monarch, please agree that he was their sponsor), he continued to recruit talents throughout Europe in the past two years, and the efforts were quite large.

Louis XIV's behavior of spilling money has caused great responses, and put these scholars or artists' monarchs (usually major investors) in an embarrassing situation. I believe that if these scholars have any research results in the future, France cannot guarantee that they will benefit, but I believe that there are some benefits. As for those artists, they will naturally repay their investors with poetry, drama or painting, so that Louis and France's fame may rise to a new level.

The second news came from London, revealed by English and Italian merchants familiar with the East Coast. The news was mainly related to the Black Death in London. The news said that the revived Black Death caused great panic in London. The epidemic spread very rapidly. The number of people died was reported to be as many as 10,000 or 20,000, including many handicraftsmen working in the Parish of St. Vidast, and they are an important part of the British shipbuilding industry chain.

The language of the letter writers, as some shipbuilding technicians and other handicraftsmen either died of illness or fled, the British who had just gained the upper hand in the naval battle with the United Provinces may encounter some trouble, that is, they repaired ships and recruited personnel advantages would be weakened a lot, and they might even drop to the same level as the Dutch, which is very unfavorable for them. You should know that the speed of repairing ships and the quality of good quality may very likely mean that you have more ships than others during the war. Originally, Britain relied on its strong industrial strength to take advantage of this, so that it gained the upper hand on the battlefield.

But as soon as the Black Death occurs, the problem will be big. I don’t know how many successes the British can still have. Anyway, their opponent United Provinces have always been "recharge players". Although there have been plague in China and tens of thousands of people have died at present, they are rich and powerful, so they can still buy ships, cannons, supplies and even people from abroad. This may allow them to gradually turn their disadvantages in this naval battle that has gradually become a tug-of-war, and it is unknown that they will climb to the heads of the British in the future.

Seeing this, Li Qing also took out a local fountain pen specially made for diplomats, dipped it ink, and wrote a few lines of notes after the news. This is his habit, and recorded events that are important and may have a significant impact on the future situation. The Black Death in London and Amsterdam is likely to have a significant impact on the ongoing war, which must be closely watched as a qualified diplomatic official.

"...There are many shipbuilding technicians in Amsterdam, but there are many shipbuilding industry practitioners in the United Provinces. They have moved to surrounding areas. The impact is expected, but not very large. Moreover, many of the Dutch rigs, artillery and supplies are purchased abroad, not in areas where the plague is raging, so the losses may be far from as large as I imagined. As far as I observe, commercial circulation has been affected, and personnel and ships entering and leaving the port have been strictly inspected and restricted, which at most reduces some efficiency..."

"... London's shipbuilding and related industrial chains - such as barrel hoops, rope-making, cast iron anchors, ballast stones, water pipes, canvas, etc. - are mostly crowded in a few parishes such as St. Vidast and St. Thomas. Although there is no specific data during the disease attack, there must be many. The British's advantages in ship construction and repair have been slapped. Although they can transfer related industries to places such as Norwich, Bristol, Portsmouth, etc. - they must have been doing this - and there are some unsized industrial foundations in the area, but chaos over several months or even a year is inevitable, and many British ships returning to the factory for repair will be affected. Moreover, their sailors have escaped a lot, and it seems that it is destined to be more difficult than before to summon them to supplement the damage..."

In fact, in the three consecutive British-Dutch naval battles in the second half of this year, the English had already gained the upper hand. They lost less than 30 large and small warships in the battle, but they lost 40-50 warships, and the casualties were much higher than those of the English. In addition, they also captured and burned more than 100 merchant ships from the United Provinces, causing the Dutch to suffer huge losses of more than five million rupiahs, which was almost half of the budget for rebuilding the naval in winter last year, which was extremely shocking.

But now this relatively favorable situation seems to have been reversed by this plague that has been raging for a long time, and the British's confidence in winning the war has been severely shaken. What's more, the Dutch's will to fight seems to be much more determined than the time more than ten years ago. Although their losses since the war started, if they are fully quantified into money, they are almost two to three times that of the English, but who has made the United Save a lot of money? Who made them more money? I used money to spend two ships to fight you, which would be enough to waste the British to death, right? Unless your MPs are willing to generously donate additional funds to the navy, it is so difficult, especially in the current stalemate, no one will be willing to throw money into a bottomless pit unless they are sure to win the war.

The Battle of England and Dutch was related to the future direction of Europe, so Li Qing paid special attention. He was once really worried because the British performed much better on the battlefield than the Dutch. But fortunately, the Dutch were rich and had a lot of money to continuously supplement the damage! In addition, they also had an excellent Admiral Druittel, who was extremely good at melee in shallow water areas. He had always known to play the advantages of the Dutch in melee and chaos to avoid a dignified maritime decisive battle with the British fleet. Therefore, he turned the disadvantages of the Dutch navy alone in difficult circumstances. He even relied on his superb skills and the advantages of the British not familiar with his tactics. He won several tactical games, which further increased the confidence of the Dutch.

"Now the third-level parliament in The Hague is excited and insists on fighting, and the public opinion is the same in the outside world. In this way, even the Orange faction, who has always been in confrontation with the Republicans, cannot say anything anymore. United Provinces have increased taxes again for the war this year, and issuing public debts is very clear. The British have never been able to compare with United Provinces in terms of sufficient war fees. If nothing unexpected happens, the British should be unable to waste the war first. In the end, the situation has been settled." After writing the notes, Li Qing took a sip of tea and said to herself softly.

After reading the news about the battle between Britain and the Netherlands, Li Qing turned the page of the documents at hand. At this time, what was placed in front of him was the most important news in recent stages, and it was also the matter he had been busy with, namely the news of Western and French relations.

In fact, news about the impending war in the West and France has been circulating throughout the European courts. Louis' envoys often commented in public, pointing out that their kings should enjoy "legitimate right to inherit the inheritance", and that the Spanish Netherlands should be transferred to him and Louis's name as the inheritance that Princess Teresa should obtain, otherwise they would claim rights through war. This statement undoubtedly aggravated the tension between the two countries, and the Spanish might not necessarily surrender, as their officials said to Li Qing: "Although Spain is weak, it is also dignified. The Southern Netherlands is a sacred territory under the name of King Carlos, and no one can covet it, even if he is the king of France."

Therefore, basically all countries have realized that it is inevitable that Spain and France will fight for King Philip's legacy, unless the Spanish government personally presents the South Dutchland before Louis launched the war of aggression, but this possibility is infinitely close to nothing, because the situation in Spain does not allow this.

Besides, is Louis XIV's goal really only one South Netherlands? I'm afraid it may not be possible! Once the 200,000 army really launches a war of aggression, then how to end it will be all based on the situation on the battlefield. South Netherlands, Lorraine, Francheconte, Strasbourg, which one is not coveted by Louis? If the fight is easy, it is possible to occupy them all. How can this be accurate?

As Louis XIV wrote in his memoirs, Louis took advantage of the death of King Philip of Spain and the convenience brought by the Second Anglo-Dutch War to decide to launch a war of aggression against Spain, and the reason was also high-sounding: "First is to fight Spain, demanding my rights; second is to defend the Netherlands, to fight Britain. I am very happy to see that I have a great opportunity to become famous in these two wars... and I have to maintain a huge army and drive them into the Netherlands, which is much more affordable than staying in the country to consume food and salary... With the reason of fighting against Britain, I will send my troops and intelligence personnel into the Netherlands and start carrying out more important tasks..."

From this we can see that Louis XIV's attack on the South Netherlands was actually the first step in his series of plans. His ultimate goal was probably to completely annex the entire Union Province and hold this fat and oily land firmly in his hands. Of course, this is relatively far away, but before that, it is probably not difficult to take down the South Netherlands, which is also rich, before this.

Therefore, the attitude of the Spaniards is really not so important now, because no matter what, Louis will fight this battle to achieve his ambition to finally annex the Netherlands. It is estimated that the Spaniards also saw this, so they didn't say much and started preparing for the war directly. The East Coast people from the New World were found to act as thugs, which is probably an important part of the war steps. As for the others, it is probably to ask for help from the United Provinces, and the Spaniards can only do this. The relatives of Austria seem to be unable to rely on them for the time being, because these ungrateful bastards actually covet the throne of the young King Carlos, which is really disgusting and shameful!

"Then, the war is actually on the verge of outbreak. Now, it depends on when the French will take action!" Li Qing poured out the cold tea, then stood up, looked out the window with heavy snow, and sighed softly, and murmured to himself: "The naval fleet is probably ready, right? Once the French officially declare war, the main fleet will immediately drive from the Cape Verde Islands to Bilbao, Spain, and then use this as a base to attack the French navy, block its overseas trade line, and bombard its homeland; and another side division will also set off from Trinidad, attack the French colonial islands on the New World, completely ruining their colonial slaves for many years, and see what expressions these guys with nostrils will look like at that time!"
Chapter completed!