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The third stop of the Qin envoys' visit to Europe was Paris, France. At that time, France was also called the Bourbon Dynasty, and the reigning king was Louis Dieudonné Bourbon, also known as Louis XIV.
Louis XIV was perhaps the longest-reigning monarch in the world, reigning for 72 years.
In 1643, Louis XIII, who was only 42 years old, breathed his last. Louis Dieudonné Bourbon, who was less than 5 years old, was declared the King of France and Var in the arms of his mother Anne.
Louis XIV was young and was regented by his mother Anne. At this time, all of Europe was in chaos and ruin.
These dozens of years, due to the disagreements between Protestant and Catholic countries, led to a full-scale European war - the Thirty Years' War.
In 1636-1637, Spain attacked France and the French army won. By 1648, the two sides of the war were impoverished and on the verge of collapse: the Habsburg royal family and France, Sweden, and the principalities of Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria and other principalities in the Holy Roman Empire signed the Treaty of Westphalia. The Thirty Years' War was settled.
But just as the war between European countries ended, a massive Fronde riot broke out in France. For France, this was like adding insult to injury.
At this time, France was still at war with Spain (1635-1659), so it was caught in serious internal and external troubles. France's national strength was severely weakened, and its original ambition to dominate was abruptly interrupted; its status in Europe was reduced to a second-rate country, which can only be said to be the sadness of France.
The rebellion not only caused great social chaos, but also caused the government to suffer a sharp drop in tax revenue, and its military strength declined from 150,000 to more than 50,000. The young Louis XL was forced to flee Paris twice during the riots.
When the Qin envoys entered France, the rebellion of the Fronde had not yet subsided, but they were driven out of Paris. Zhang Haoran led about 200 marines to escort them, and 500 French soldiers sent by French Prime Minister Mazarin to escort them to Paris.
The Fronde Rebellion in France was caused by dissatisfaction with the policies of Prime Minister Mazarin, who was the lover of Queen Anne, the mother of Emperor IV. As both prime minister and cardinal, he actually held great power in France.
When Mazarin became prime minister, the 30-year war in Europe was about to end. In order to meet the needs of the war, Mazarin advanced money to financiers in exchange for allowing them to collect taxes and national revenues. These tax farmers made huge profits.
When the provinces had been plundered to the point of impoverishment, the government planned to squeeze the middle class and judges of the High Court in Paris. In April 1648, the court issued an edict to suspend the salaries of judges of the High Courts in various places for four years, thus intensifying the conflict.
In May 1648, the Paris High Court joined with other courts in various places to put forward 27 suggestions in the name of rectifying government malpractices, declaring that the inspectors sent by the king to various places were unconstitutional, and demanding strict financial reforms and the protection of personal freedom.
In August 1648, inspired by the great victory of Prince Condé at Lens, the Queen Mother and Mazarin ordered the arrest of P. Brussels and three other people who led the movement. This atrocity immediately aroused the anger of the people. An armed uprising broke out in Paris.
The insurgents built 1,200 barricades overnight and fired at the houses of Mazarin's supporters with 'Fronde'. In the provinces, violent uprisings also broke out.
In October 1648, King Louis XIV fled. Soon after, France signed the Peace of Westphalia and the French army withdrew from the front. In January 1649, Prince Condé led a large army to besiege Paris.
Because the nobles and the bourgeoisie feared the expansion of the popular uprising, and were even more horrified when they heard that King Charles I of England had just been executed, they compromised with the king.
On March 11, 1649, the two sides signed the Treaty of Rueil. The Parisian people who revolted fought with the royal army for more than three months and finally failed.
However, the sporadic and scattered struggles have not stopped and have continued, and are now intensifying.
This time, Zhang Haoran and his team sailed south along the English Channel from London, landed in Le Havre after reaching the Seine Bay, and then headed east along the Seine River to Paris.
When they marched to the small town of Vernon west of Paris, an unfortunate incident happened that night. In order to create chaos, the Fronde attacked the town of Vernon at night. The 500 French soldiers responsible for providing escort for the Qin delegation were defeated in one fell swoop.
Fang Ge, deputy commander of the Great Qin Royal Marines, led two hundred marines and had to face the Fronde rebels who swarmed in from the darkness. After the Fronde rebels rushed into the town of Vernon, they set fire everywhere, and soon the whole town was surrounded by raging fire.
Some of the Fronde rebels were holding swords, some were holding bows and arrows, and some were holding muskets. They rushed in following the firelight. There were shadows everywhere, shouts and gunshots.
Fang Geda commanded the Marines to defend the castle where the delegation members were staying overnight. In order to prevent the fire from spreading, he ordered the soldiers to tear down nearby houses and clear a fire zone.
The minister Gorhat, who was specially sent by Prime Minister Mazarin to welcome the Qin envoys, also ran away. His face was as pale as a ghost, and he shouted to Zhang Haoran anxiously: "Your Excellency the Ambassador, retreat quickly, retreat to Paris..."
Zhang Haoran pretended not to hear anything. He asked Deputy Envoy Zheng Jie to place nearly 100 people from the delegation in two large rooms, and asked Deputy Commander Fang Ge, "Commander Fang, what's the situation? Can we hold on?"
Fang Ge held a Type 69 flintlock rifle in his hand. He spat out the dust in his mouth and replied, "The enemy attacked suddenly. It's dark at night, so it's hard to know how many troops there are. But don't worry, Master Zhang. Unless the enemy brings cannons, they will never be able to capture this castle."
Fang Ge spoke lightly, but in fact, he was unsure. The 500 French soldiers guarding the outskirts of the town collapsed too quickly. They had no time to go out to scout the enemy situation. The enemy had already rushed into the town and set fire everywhere. They didn't know how many enemies there were, what their equipment was, and whether they had any artillery.
It was obvious that these Fronde rebels had planned this. If they had a huge army and rushed towards the castle, Fang Ge would only have 200 men. The wall of the castle was only an ordinary courtyard wall one foot wide and eight feet high, not the kind of thick wall with military defense. Not to mention an explosion, even if more people pushed hard, the courtyard wall might be pushed down. No one could guarantee whether it could be defended by then.
Moreover, since the enemy came well prepared, it would not be surprising if they brought artillery. If that were the case, the situation would be even more dangerous.
The town of Wei Xiaonong was not big to begin with, and the enemies rushed in from all directions, shouting like a wave. Under the firelight, their shadows were like ants, and the momentum was shocking.
Bang!
Suddenly, a bullet came from the street in front of him and hit the stone wall next to Fang Ge, creating a spark. Xiao Wu, a sergeant next to him, asked anxiously, "Commander Fang, the enemy is coming. Give the order to shoot! Shoot!"
"Hit me!" Fang Ge was hit in the face by gravel, feeling the pain so much that he immediately got furious.
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
The Qin army's rifles suddenly fired like beans, and tongues of fire shot out in the night, which was particularly dazzling. The enemies rushing down the street immediately fell down one after another, emitting bursts of screams;
At the same time, hundreds of rockets suddenly rose up from behind a house a few dozen steps to the west of the castle, like shooting stars streaking across the sky, and shot into the castle... ...
Seeing the situation was so critical, Fang Gobi pushed Zhang Haoran back into the house and shouted, "Rockets, quick!"
The three Qin soldiers on the wall immediately carried rockets and aimed at the houses in Xize, pulling the trigger. Chirp! Chirp! Chirp... ... ... ... Three dazzling rays of fire shot out in a flash, and in an instant three deafening noises were heard. The houses in Xize were blasted into flying dust and flames. The enemies hiding behind the houses were either crushed to death or blown away. It was a horrible sight. Those who were lucky enough to stay alive were so scared that they ran away in panic.
Fang Ge was really going all out this time. With a command, several more rockets were fired at the street corner. Boom! Boom! Boom...balls of fire rose up, like the bloody mouths of demons in the night, blasting the enemies rushing in, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere. The street corner, which was full of dark shadows, was suddenly empty!
"Great! The enemy has retreated!" A Qin soldier just cheered, and suddenly someone shouted, "Commander Fang, it's bad! Behind us, at the end of the street, the enemy is pushing artillery towards us!"
Fang Ge yelled, "What? Cannons, there really are cannons..."
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ps: The third update is here, I'm urgently looking for monthly tickets, emergency monthly tickets! I'm going to continue writing, brothers and sisters, please give me some more monthly tickets to encourage me! (To be continued...)
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