I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 124 A Letter from the Happy Charles II to Louis

   Sovereign and great king, my dearest brother Louis, may God make you more honorable with good blessings.

  I am writing to you on the last day of April, Your Majesty, by the grace of God, I have heard that you have a sturdy and beautiful heir, congratulations! It is a pity that he did not deepen the connection between Britain and France, but fate is so, it never waits and never looks back.

I have probably already replied to the matter you asked me last time. Although there are different opinions in the parliament, at my insistence, they are willing to discuss the Dunkirk issue with the envoy you sent. It is only about your Brother, the marriage of Philip, Duke of Orleans, and my sister, Princess Henrietta... They seem to be seeking the marriage of Leopold I or Don Juan Jose, who met you in Dunkirk Face, what kind of young man do you think he is? Although he has the title of duke, he is still an illegitimate child, and I think unless Spain can pay a decent enough price, it is not that I will not consider it.

   Of course I expected Henrietta to take the surname Bourbon, but the question is, if you stick to the previous proposal, will you be able to put up with a brother and sister with a meager dowry? Although I want to say that I love this sister very much, you also know that the Breda Declaration I issued in the Netherlands a year ago not only forgave my people and guaranteed their freedom of belief, but also admitted that they were in chaos Ownership of property acquired during that period - that's the point, because that's when the royal land was auctioned off, and my current finances depend almost entirely on Parliament, who set up a so-called royal fee program for me and all the royals, each A grant needs their signature, you are also a king, you know how terrible our expenses and the royal family are, so Henrietta's dowry may not be satisfactory.

But if you don't mind this, Your Majesty, I can try again with Parliament, many of them are enemies of France, but I am a friend of France, and you helped me when I was traumatized Not forgotten, always etched in my heart - I mean, if you really need Dunkirk, I'll try to make it happen.

Besides, Mr. Munch, I mean, the Duke of Albimar, advised me to forgive those traitors as much as possible, though I have thought countless times about erecting them all the way from Dover (the port of return of Charles II) to London Countless gallows and hang these vicious guys one by one like Vlad III (Archduke Impaler), but I took his advice in the end, yes, I reciprocated generously supporters of , and then be lenient with those who deserve **** - I only signed a death sentence with nine names on it and every one of them was on my father's death sentence for their king Sign it, it is a reward, as the messengers of God say, a tooth for a tooth and blood for blood.

And then there is Richard Cromwell, who escaped, and at this point we can see that he had no fatherly courage or boldness, and again, in consideration of the future, I have decided not to pursue unless he returns to England.

Now let's get to the point, my dear brother, Louis, about Oliver Cromwell, fortunately, before I came back, he died, under the curse of the people, in the name of Lord Protector. Buried in Westminster Abbey, it is said that when his body was laid on the stone platform, the only one willing to cry for him was a dog, and of course everyone hated him. I dug him out of the grave, beat his body with an iron whip, then cut off his head, tied it with wire, and hung him on a cathedral cross, I hope you too can witness this scene, Because I know that you hate rebellion as much as I do, but unfortunately it is not easy, so I ordered my painter to sketch this scene for you.

Next I have to talk about my marriage, as you may have heard, they found a Portuguese wife for me, Catherine, daughter of Joao III, who will bring me a dowry of £800,000, and Two cities, Tangier and Mumbai, I don't know how this person is, I just hope to be as good as your wife, Your Majesty, I am eight years older than you, and I should have an official heir.

   By the way, I also heard that you rebuilt Paris? It's really enviable. It's like a great project like Hadrian, the wise king of Rome, who built the walls. I'm also worried about the dampness and filth of London. If possible, please send a few Come and let me see if there is anything I can do to imitate one or two.

   Also, Cromwell (Oliver) once conspired with the Spaniards, intending to cooperate to win Calais, do you know?

Finally, two important things that we will face together, Dunkirk and Henrietta, I hope you will seriously consider it, I would like to express my sincere thanks, I will join my mother and my sister for you pray.

   God bless you.

  London, April 30, 1661, your dearest friend, Charlie.

  —————

Wang's younger brother Philip read the last sentence aloud before putting down the letter. Although his marriage was mentioned twice in this letter, as a young man who should have valued and yearned for his own marriage, Philip didn't care, but Since Louis and Teresa's marriage is also more responsible than emotional, he has nothing to say about it, and judging from the situation between the two when Henrietta was still in Paris, it is good that they don't hate each other.

  Louis had to remind Philip that the marriage was very possible.

   "But you can't ask me to love her." Philip answered him confidently.

"But you have to respect her," said Louie, "if a woman in a marriage does not have the love and respect of her husband, her life will be a very sad one, even out of pity. , I also hope you can treat her well."

"I will, brother," said Philip, and then he read again the letter that Charles II had written to the king of France, from which it could be seen that Charles II was, in fact, very earnest about this marriage. , "because he is now in a dangerous and embarrassing position." Louis asked Philip to sit beside him, Philip of course would not be allowed to have spies, so there were many things he did not understand - in the letter of Charles II A lot of the content is in one word or deliberately omitted. For example, there were fifty-seven people who signed the death sentence of Charles I. By the time of the restoration of Charles II, one-third of them had already left. One-third of the world was in exile, and Charles I executed eleven people, not nine as he claimed, because two of them were executed horribly, and the one Louis now knew was called John C. Cromwell was sentenced to five horses and the body was thrown into the market to be trampled on - Cromwell's head was hung from the top of Westminster Abbey, and his body was whipped and returned. It was hung on the gallows at Tybourne execution ground, and became the best sign to warn the traitors and the object of ridicule and ridicule.

Yes, to many, Oliver Cromwell is a hero, but to the commoners threatened and restricted by his strict laws, he is a brutal false king, who was previously believed by Charles II in the letter The sarcasm that Cromwell only had a dog cry for him when he died may not be too exaggerated - since Charles II re-emerged on the throne, he banned all and Cromwell at once. The relevant laws, gambling, greyhound racing, dances, fine decorations and costumes, wine and delicacies have once again returned to people's lives, and he even holds banquets every night, all night long, as if to lose the previous ten years. The joy and enjoyment are all recovered in one day.

This has won him the support of most of the commoners. Just as Louis commented, people are creatures who like pleasure and hate labor and rules. Oliver Cromwell can be a devout and assiduous believer. Some people will praise him, but he can't ask others to do the same. His officials and troops fell to Charles II immediately after his death, and it is not without reason, let alone these people, even ran to Holland Richard Cromwell also lived very well, singing every night and having several lovers. Obviously, he was also restrained very hard.

   "In addition to these," said Louis, "there is also the situation of Charles II."

   "Is there a second Oliver Cromwell?" Philip asked.

"Oliver Cromwell has already set the worst example." Louis left the next sentence - this arrogant man, torn off the king's face with the glory that has been on his face for a thousand years. The mask, he let the commoners know that the king can also die - to be convicted by some humble people, and then executed, when his head rolled to the ground, no angel came to the ground, punishing those who rebelled with thunder, very It is hard to say, no, it should be said that in the future there will definitely be a king or queen who will be pinned on the guillotine, waiting for the executioner to swing his sword. Cromwell broke people's cognition and broke the rules, which is what Louis was most angry about - after all, he is the king now, if possible, his son, grandson will also be king, although Cromwell died , but the vicious seed has spread everywhere and is planted in people's hearts.

Philip did not have a correct understanding of this, although Louis has been taking him to learn, but he is not a king after all, he just simply hates Henrietta, although their friendship is only from the defense of the two kings and queen mothers - he means, in After the first riot, the Queen Mother of Henry I intended to promote the marriage of Princess Henrietta and Louis, which was destroyed by her sister-in-law Anne, the Queen Mother, but what left the young man and woman was only right strong hatred for each other.

"Let's take a look at this." Louis did not let Philip think too much, and pointed to a secret newspaper. Philip opened the scroll hesitantly. After reading the contents, he also said Could not help but pity the current Charles II. It is no wonder that Charles II's letter to Louis was so humble. Now Louis can control all the power of the court's harem. It belongs to the king's company alone. There are guards, dragoons and musketeers. These Although the number of troops is not large, they are all elites. Apart from them, there are also the army in the hands of Prince Condé, Turenne and Friedrich Schumberg, and in Versailles, half army and half civilian 10,000 of them, all loyal to the king—as well as the forces of Orleans in the hands of Philip, and the army in the domain of the Duchess of Montpensier.

And now Charles II, although he is the king, the only army he can hold is the Guards and a few scattered soldiers who stay elsewhere. It is no wonder that he is not willing to give Princess Henrietta enough dowry, but also looks forward to it. The 800,000 pounds brought by his future wife are still trying to facilitate the sale of Dunkirk.

  Everyone knows that it takes more money to support a strong army than to rebuild a city.

   "But the British envoys were reluctant to give up Dunkirk, and they offered a ransom of half a million pounds..." Philip said that Louis might be able to support it, but the price was far beyond his budget.

   "Then let the people of Dunkirk move." Why did the king hold the ceremony of entering the city at that time? It is precisely because of the need to emphasize France's ownership of Dunkirk that in the subsequent negotiations, fortunately there were Prince Condé and Viscount Turenne. Although he was in the inner world, they still signed a contract with the British according to the king's expectations. Agreement, that is, to have a thousand garrisoned troops belonging to France at Dunkirk. This agreement was denied by the British Parliament and the royal family today because it was signed with Cromwell's son-in-law, but the thousand garrison in Dunkirk never let their guard down - after all, they knew the king from the beginning I have no intention of giving up on Dunkirk.

It is especially worth mentioning that the British garrison in Dunkirk is now the new model army, which means that for Charles II, they are all traitors. Although Charles II claimed that he would not pursue it, they It was inevitable that people would be panicked, so on the night that Louis's order was issued, Dunkirk quietly changed hands - this time, no matter how Britain and France negotiated, the actual ownership of Dunkirk was already in Louis's hands - not in vain He suffered for a while.

Perhaps not only the British Parliament, but also Charles II was furious and heartbroken, but the negotiations that followed were completely a matter of the British doing their best to make their expulsion appear more graceful and calm, while the French envoys turned against the previous His eager attitude, he happily watched the joke on the other side—if it wasn’t for the king’s order to arrive at Dunkirk for the second time—in the end, the ransom for Dunkirk was directly reduced from half a million pounds to a hundred thousand pounds, almost equal to Free gift.

   (end of this chapter)