I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 132 Shameless Louis XIV

Castel Sant'Angelo was originally a tomb built by Emperor Hadrian for himself and his descendants. It was a round castle, but it was later used for military purposes. Now it is the last retreat left by the popes for himself. The secret road between the palaces, the Pope can go from the Palace of the Pope to Castel Sant'Angelo very smoothly, but the problem is, if Castel Sant'Angelo is also surrounded by the army, then the Pope and the priests are just moved from one prison to another prison. - The Pope has sent messengers countless times to contact the king of any Catholic king, for kings outside France, he seeks their support, and for French kings, he begs and intimidates.

Under the hint of Louis, the Duke of Luxembourg and the Marquis of Craki, who were ordered to lead the war, did not enter Rome immediately. They just garrisoned neatly outside the famous circular square. Almost all the aborigines in Rome were driven out by them. These days, the Duke of Luxembourg is making a careless "pilgrimage" under the guidance of the Marquis of Craki - those monasteries and bishops' private residences hidden in the green mountains and clear waters, there are countless treasures and sacred objects hidden in the monasteries and bishops, which were originally used by the Romans. The cellar used as a mausoleum was full of wine and ham, and they enjoyed it while waiting for news from Spain.

It should be said that the Pope is most looking forward to the reply of two Catholic countries, one is the Holy Roman Empire, the other is Spain, and originally there was also the United Kingdom, but since Henry VIII, this country has no pope. , but since Louis had already decided to attack Rome and never returned empty-handed, he would not have been unprepared and did two things before the army set off, one thing was to write to the sultan of Ottoman Turkey, In view of the fact that as early as the time of François I, the king of France had been in contact with the enemy of Christ, and he was very affectionate. After giving up part of his interests, the sultan simply agreed to the request of the king of France—that is, to send troops to Hungary. Principality of La Sylvania.

The Duchy of Transylvania can be said to be born out of the Ottoman Turkish governor system, that is to say, the ancestor of the grand duke was only a minister of the Sultan, but with the support and encouragement of Habsburg, he betrayed the original Master, Hungary has completely become a buffer zone between Habsburg and Ottoman Turkey - once the Sultan sends troops, even against Trasylvania, the Holy Roman Empire cannot remain indifferent, and a large number of troops are stranded on the border of Austria-Hungary. It was impossible to come to the rescue of the Pope.

As for Spain, Luxemburg sighs and laughs at the thought of it, he must admit that his friend and master, the Prince of Condé, lacks the unscrupulousness and limitlessness of being a monarch compared to Louis XIV. The pagans cooperated, and even before the war began, a fee worth about 30,000 livres was drawn from the empty treasury and handed over to General Schumberg - who was originally a Protestant mercenary from the Holy Roman Empire The soldier general, even though he has now become a French marshal, is still so calm when he starts to hire soldiers and harass the motherland, although he hires all Austrians - yes, all Austrians, but Disguised as Portuguese.

What is even more ironic is that the 3,000 mercenaries led by General Schumberg actually won a lot of victories in the war with Spain. Even if they failed to invade the occupied territory and occupy the castle, the Spaniards were still troubled by it. , they can only be vigilant and dare not be taken lightly - they thought this was the vanguard of Portugal's war against Spain, but they didn't know that Schumberg followed the king's will, just to hold back Spain, and would not really fight against the main force of Spain at all. , according to the tradition of mercenaries, as long as the Spaniards do not move, the shadow will naturally disappear after waiting for three months.

   But the Spaniards do not know this, and neither does the Pope.

General Schumberg is an Austrian, a Protestant, and was hired by the Bishop of Mazarin before. Such a person, ask himself, the Duke of Luxembourg does not think that the Prince of Condé will be willing to accept him, and even he cannot help but reject him. and contempt, but Louis XIV used this person more decisively and easily than using his own arm, and this one did not live up to the king's expectations.

"Mr. Duke?" Hearing such a shout, the Duke of Luxembourg realized that he had been staying on the misty city walls for too long. As we all know, the Lord's largest residence on earth has no walls. The place where they are located is the ruins of ancient Rome. The once powerful and mighty ancient Romans have long since turned into smoke in the air, and now only France has inherited their will - everyone knows that in Europa, and even beyond Europa, there is no more king than the king of France. The ancient and orthodox inheritance is the reason why both the king of England and the king of Spain must bow before the king of France.

Even the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire can only have the superficial respect of the French kings. After all, their emperors are elected by the electors, and the French kings determine the ownership of the throne because of their blood. Although the Duke of Luxembourg is the Prince of Condé His best friend, but he also despised the various bribes and promises made during the election of the Holy Roman Emperor, asking him to say that it was no different from business between merchants.

"Mr. Duke?" The Marquis of Craigie called again. This time, the Duke of Luxembourg finally came to his senses. They were standing on the ancient city wall, and they could see a group of people coming out of Castel Sant'Angelo. It was the Pope's Guard, their breastplates looked dull and filthy in the mist, their brightly slit tunics and striped trousers lost their brilliance, and although they had spears in their hands, their demeanor always gave a sense of sympathy. A feeling of cowardice - this is normal, after all, in the previous battle, the French's muskets and arrows gave them a very deep impression.

If they are willing to look up, they can still see the bodies of their colleagues dangling under the bridge of the Pont Sant'Angelo. This is still a selected part, and more are thrown into the river. This behavior may lead to The plague, but the French are obviously not going to stay here for a long time. In the case that they can't wait for reinforcements, the Pope is worried that when the French leave, they will take the church with them. This is not the first time. , the beautiful man Philip's rebellion has made France happy for a hundred years, and maybe the current Saint-Louis also wants to be happy.

"It's the Pope's messenger." The Duke of Luxembourg said that since he first entered Rome, the Pope's messenger had come to visit. Of course, at that time, his attitude was quite arrogant, and he even dared to use leather The punishment of excommunication threatened the duke and the king behind him, but to the embarrassment and horror of the duke of Luxembourg, Louis XIV was clearly prepared for it, and he said kindly, through the duke of Luxembourg, that he There are also a few Jansenist clergy here. The king feels that what they say is not without reason. If the Pope thinks that there is something wrong with what they say, he can come and argue with them in person. The king has already been in Paris or It was Aung Hlaing who prepared a comfortable place to ensure that after the Pope came, he would never want to go back, or that His Majesty the Pope wanted to continue living in Avignon, although it was no longer the Pope's territory, But pious kings are willing to serve the messengers of the Lord on earth.

What makes the Pope even more helpless is that if the previous werewolf incident did not happen, or if the bishop of Mazarin did not take revenge and make amends, then they could use the Inquisition to threaten the king, because to rectify the underground world of Paris, the king completely offended the vampires. Even if this clan is not popular among the blood clan, the inhuman power is still unavoidable.

It is a pity that the chief judge of the Paris Inquisition is already Elarius, this young priest is neither docile nor loyal, at least to the Church of Rome, and the Church can be used to hold the inner world - those priests' families and The means of kinship, be it wheat or cotton, were weakened by the generosity of Louis XIV, perhaps because the king was too young, and under the guidance of the sorcerer Bishop Mazarin, his fear of the inner world And defense is not as deep as other kings - under the propaganda and intimidation of the church, the kings have always regarded the world as a quagmire of sin, and the current king of France not only always sticks out his toes tentatively, but also wants to get out of the quagmire. Fish out the plump eel.

The Roman Church has nothing to say or do about it. They have been able to exert influence on the family where the judges of the inner world belong, because the monks in the inner world have almost no farming at all under the blow of wizards and dark creatures. Or the possibility of hunting. What they can do is to export monks and holy knights to the church, and then get supplies from the church. To put it simply, they are another form of mercenaries who exchange their lives for money—so Even after some countries proclaimed Protestantism, the Roman Church was not able to withdraw their asylum immediately.

Louis had noticed the clue as early as ten years ago. If the Roman Church could control the Inquisition, then under Henry VIII, the people of England should have fallen into the carnival of dark creatures and wizards, but the fact is not. In this way, he asked Elaly that not only did the Inquisition in England not disappear, but it was still somewhat thriving—surely, after he threw an olive branch to the religious forces in the inner world, it was very difficult for the Roman church to have any influence on the inner world in France. influences.

   And, given the audacity of Louis XIV, the Pope has one more thing to worry about besides yet another Avignon-like disgrace.

  ———

The carriage was chaotic, the Pope's messenger went out early in the morning in order to hide people's eyes and ears. When he came back, the morning light just touched the ground, but the Pope's heart did not fall because of the smooth trip. He prefers to see the messenger's delay If they don't return, it means they are haggling and arguing, and the messenger came back so early, either because the French didn't accept the Church's terms at all, or the Church messenger couldn't accept the French's terms - he sent his own nephew , another Qiji, also a cardinal, who, by reason, already has a lot of power, and he is well aware of how eagerly his uncle is waiting for the outcome of the negotiations, and will never intentionally delay...

   The Pope sat in his dormitory and waited anxiously.

   A few minutes later, he heard the familiar footsteps. Perhaps it was an illusion. The Pope always felt that the footsteps of his nephew were especially heavy today.

  ———

   Let’s go back in time a few days ago.

Although the French army in Italy can be said to be powerful, but Louis XIV never thought of repeating the prison of Avignon from the beginning, mainly because the operation of the beautiful man Philip was too devilish, from 1309 to 1377 It goes without saying how much the Avignon Church, which was manipulated by France, gave France in 2010. Of course, other countries would come to their senses after suffering. Otherwise, there would be no ridiculous three popes. It’s just that every country is There was a scramble to seize the rights of the church, and then although the Church of Rome finally became the Church of Rome, not the Church of England, the Church of France or the Church of Austria, but every Catholic country and even Protestant countries reached a consensus - Avignon This kind of thing must never happen again!

So Louis can surround Rome and intimidate the Pope, but if he shows that he wants to control the church, even if he wants to fight on multiple sides, all the Catholic countries will inevitably be attacked in groups, so from the beginning, Louis XIV has demarcated the bottom line of negotiations.

  ———

Time goes back to the present, the Pope is facing several demands made by the King of France, and... According to the demands of the King of France, these demands are his minimum bottom line. If there is any problem, the Pope can meet him in Paris and personally talk.

The Pope was furious about this, but he really didn't dare to try it. Maybe the king of France would really do such a dreadful thing, and maybe he would be forced to give up his prey under the gaze of many enemies, but the problem is Yes, although the former Boniface VIII was said to have escaped, it can also be said that the beautiful man Philip did it on purpose. When he died, Alexander VII was already an old man. He didn't want to repeat the mistakes of Boniface VIII at all. Even if the church could return to Rome and regain its glory, he was already a dead bone at that time. What good is his family?

   Therefore, he must have stayed in Rome, and he was prepared to endure humiliation, but when he heard the request of the French king, he couldn't help but jumped up, ignoring the majesty of the Pope, and swearing.

  ———

   "The Pope must be yelling right now," Louis said.

   "You do..." Bontang said politely: "It's too much."

   "No way," said Louis. "I'm short of money, Bontang, my dear friend."

   (end of this chapter)