Chapter 42: The Most Valuable Gains in the Battle of Hertelle
When night came, Louis deliberately went to the Queen Mother's room, both thanking her (for potatoes) and apologizing to her. After all, his stubbornness during the quarrel before hurt the Queen Mother's heart.
But just like the past and the future, a mother will never hate her children. Queen Mother Anne had a dispute with the king and was just unwilling to see her children in danger, not for power or anything else. Louis fell to her knees and leaned into her arms. Her heart melted and heated like the snow of fire. Louis hadn't done this for several years before. After all, his body was the soul of an adult, and people at this time had little idea of childhood. Everything depends on the mother or the child himself.
"Mr. Bishop sent me a letter," said Anne. "Fortunately, we have found a place to stay here, Louis, you are about to be a man, my dear, I will hold a grand ceremony and banquet for you."
Louis raised his head from his mother's knees, and then he suddenly realized that he was indeed fourteen years old, but there was nothing to care about now. According to the arrangement of the Bishop, he had to wait at least twenty years old and mature enough to intervene in political affairs. He himself was not in a hurry to gain power - he had not even established his own court, and the people around him might not be trustworthy. The inhuman creatures that appeared in the dark even entered and exited the palace like no one. Being a king is not a reason to die. Now everyone's eyes are on the Queen Mother and Bishop Mazaran, which is also a good thing for him.
"I would rather win," Louis murmured, "come to celebrate my coming-of-age ceremony."
"What's the problem?" The Queen Mother said immediately generously: "I will directly order General Schaumberg to fight when he encounters the enemy."
"I'm afraid I've met you," said the king. "I met a messenger on my way to you, and he told me that an army led by Viscount Tirena is not far from us."
This sentence suddenly made the Queen Mother widen his eyes. This is why the King did not tell her the news as soon as he entered the door. Even so, she still took out the salt with her hands and sniffed her nose a few times. A strong smell of ammonia mixed with the smell of spices. Even Mary, who was standing next to the Queen Mother, couldn't help but make a face. The King held the Queen Mother's hand, "I said not to use this more," he said in a friendly tone of reproach: "This kind of thing is very harmful to health."
"But without it," said the Queen Mother, "I'm about to faint." She put the sniffing salt back into the small bag on her belt: "Vissue Tirena, alas, I know this man, and it's no surprise to him commit such a sin."
"I haven't heard it," Louis asked. "What kind of person is he?"
"He was the second son of Duke Sedan. According to tradition, his brother inherited the title and territory, and he went to the army to serve the king."
"Then he should be loyal to us."
"Once," said the Queen Mother angrily: "In 1642, his brother, Duke of Sedan, was thrown into prison for opposing Richelieu. In order to redeem his name and honor, he handed over the territory of Duke of Sedan. Viscount Tirener, as his younger brother, was certainly implicated, but after you ascended the throne, Bishop Mazaran granted him the scepter of the Marshal and gave him a reward worth ten thousand livres."
Louis did not refute that this was the so-called superior thinking, but in France, at least in Viscount Tirena, this approach did not play the right role, and then he thought of a possibility: "How is his relationship with Prince Conde?"
The Queen Mother seemed a little reluctant, but said: "He served in the army with Prince Condai."
That's right, Louis thought that nothing could be more respectful and trustworthy than friends who fought side by side. Viscount Tirener chose to stand in Prince Conde's camp, but he was afraid that his friendship with Prince Conde was the heaviest weight except that the Duke's territory was taken back by the royal family. "If I could see this general," Louis said: "I will talk to him, maybe he would change his original idea."
This sentence made the Queen Mother laugh. Louis was still a child after all. He did not understand politics. The Queen Mother thought, "If he could," she said like a promise of a toy: "I will let him see you." After that, she kissed Louis on the face and sent him out of her room. As soon as Louis left, the Queen Mother summoned Shaumberg. General Shaumberg was wondering at first why the king's servant Bang Tang sent him such a letter. When he saw the Queen Mother, he understood that he respectfully accepted the Queen Mother's orders, and of course, he placed them aside. After all, the king's will was in front of him. As a general, he did not think it was right to blindly follow the Queen Mother's orders.
At least he would not command the army to rush out to fight Viscount Tirena.
Interestingly, before the war began, the envoy of Viscount Tirena came to meet the Queen Mother and the King, and handed over the letter from Viscount Tirena, which earnestly demanded that they surrender so as not to be unexpectedly misfortune. Viscount Tirena was willing to ensure their safety and treat them according to the treatment that a king and the Queen Mother deserved. The letter was of course burned by the Queen Mother, and the king said to the envoy with a kindness that if Viscount Tirena was willing to surrender, he would also give him the treatment he deserved.
This veil of affection, perhaps not entirely hypocritical, was torn apart by the real battle at dawn the next day.
The old city of Hetel was originally a solid military fortress. After entering the age of hot weapons, there were six artillery guns on its walls, but Viscount Tirener had twelve. He ordered the engineers to build high mounds and push the cannons up the hills to reach the point where they could fire the cannons on the walls.
The cannons roared and the smoke evaporated. Shoumberg won because the walls were thick and high. Tirena won because the number of soldiers and artillery was superior. Under the almost uninterrupted bombardment of the twelve cannons, the ancient city wall finally exposed its weakness. The city was built in 940 AD. At that time, there was no artillery. As time passed, the peeling walls finally collapsed completely, revealing a gap. Tirena's soldiers cheered, but the commanders on both sides knew that this was the beginning of the real battle.
Schumberg commanded the soldiers to set up fortifications behind the city walls - this was the king's suggestion. Perhaps out of the child's innocence, he asked the craftsmen to make something similar to a Trojan horse, with wheels under it, which could be pushed away. Schumberg said that it was a bit like an ancient hammer cart, because it was also a triangular ridge, with bags of soil piled up under the wooden board. This rough fortification could protect machine guns that were several times more powerful than machine guns, not to mention the simple combs of today.
The King's Army hid in such fortifications and fired at the rebels. The rebels fought back, but their achievements were few, but they themselves suffered a fatal blow, which further lowered the morale, which was not very high. After all, they knew that they were aiming the gun at their king, and Viscount Tirener also discovered this, but at this point, he could not retreat, so he could only order the soldiers to continue to move forward and tear the opponent's defense with flesh and blood.
At this time (about two or three o'clock in the afternoon), two three-masted ships were taken off from the upper reaches of the Aine River. This was very common, but some familiar people would scream, because the two three-masted ships had muzzles, and each ship had twelve muzzles. At this time, the window panels of the muzzles had been opened, and the muzzles were facing the rebels outside the old town of Hetel.
Before anyone could notice, the dense fire lights that could only be seen in purgatory were raised in those black muzzles, and they did bring people to hell. Viscount Tirener's army was unable to move forward, and flesh and blood flew across the back. The soldiers whined and ran around, hoping to get rid of this net that would make a scream. Although the officers tried hard to maintain order, they soon became powerless. Just when everyone in the rebels was desperate, the shelling suddenly stopped.
The battlefield suddenly became quiet. At first, there were still one or two muskets, and it disappeared in a few minutes. Only the injured soldiers were still crying and moaning miserably. The fire place was still crackling and smoke rose, but it seemed as if God reached out and told them to stop. They all stopped and turned from beasts back to humans.
Then Viscount Tirena saw an officer walking out of the fortifications that were only a hundred feet away from him. He raised his hand so that his soldiers would not be out of the fire due to tension. He did not recognize this man, but he should be younger than him. Even facing hundreds of muskets, he did not show a look of fear.
He walked towards Viscount Tirena, and Viscount Tirena also walked towards him. Although they did not know each other, they knew that the other party was his opponent as soon as they met.
"Good luck!" said Schaumberg, the younger one among them, shouting, taking off his hat and waving it, bowing to Viscount Tirener.
"Good luck!" said Viscount Tirena, although his army was hit by the destruction of this man, he still maintained the demeanor and mind that a son of a duke should have, and his anger burned in his eyes, but did not spread to his words and actions.
"Frederi Schumberg." said the visitor.
"This is not a French name," said Viscount Tirener. "You are a foreigner."
"Yes, a foreigner is guarding the French king, and a Frenchman is attacking the king's army." said Schumberg.
"That's because the king did something wrong," said Viscount Tirener. "And I came to ask him to correct this error."
"Do you use cannons and muskets?"
"If the king is willing to follow other ways of advice," said Viscount Tirener with a tough heart.
Such words undoubtedly made General Schaumberg angry. Although he had not been in contact with Louis for so long, he asked him to say that the young king had done what he could do now, "So do you know who ordered me to stop the shelling?"
Viscount Tirener was not willing to answer, but he knew that this struggle was useless, so he said, "It's Your Majesty."
"His Majesty the King of France," said Schumberg, saluting respectfully: "He asked me to ask you if you would surrender."
"I'm not at the end of my life," said Viscount Tirener.
"But the king did not want to see another Frenchman die," said Schumberg. "Every side, he said, it was his people, and God appointed him to rule them, so he cared for their lives, just like he looked at his own children."
Viscount Tirener didn't speak, Schomberg glanced at him and walked back.
Only Viscount Tirena knew that he had been defeated and was defeated.
Viscount Tirena's army retreated and camped on the bank of the river, not caring that the two three-masted ships were only half a river from them. Viscount Tirena sat on a large rock, staring at the dark river water in a daze. An officer who was trusted by him brought him a cup of hot tea, which he held in his hand and did not drink: "What are the soldiers saying?"
The officer did not answer him.
Viscount Tirener has found the answer from silence.
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Chapter completed!