I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 136 The Duke of Lorraine

With the assistance of the wizards, the progress of the new dock in Dunkirk can be described as fast. The king's adventure is not unrewarded. Whether it is the shortening of labor hours, or the salary expenditure of laborers and officials, professors, all have been reduced by one. For the most part, this made the Bishop Larivière (formerly the dean) to keep silent. He persuaded the king to stay away from those heretics as much as possible. , As for the dock project, for him, it was just a matter of taxation and labor. He could not see the suffering imposed on the civilians. Louis couldn't say much about it. After all, the people at this time still Without a clear enough self-awareness, they will more often follow the baton of those with ulterior motives. For example, now, Louis' generosity to the refugees is limited to the Paris Basin, but it cannot be extended to Lyon or Provence, otherwise the people there He would be the first to jump up to chop off his head.

It's not that the commoners now are ignorant of good and bad things, but they are definitely more willing to believe their lords, priests or anyone with titles than kings thousands of miles away. The news at this time. At most, it can only be passed by pigeons and horses, and most people are illiterate. It is very easy for the local ruler to distort or tamper with the king's will-it seems that communication and education still have to be put on the bill, so The problem arose again - the king was short of money.

In the eyes of a monarch who could not say, "Even if the flood floods the sky after I die," the treasury would probably never be full. Louis put down the quill in his hand. Compared with the previous French king, he had an extra expense. It is the inner world. The people of the inner world need food and cloth more than gold and silver, but the people of the **** outer world also need it. The king has the heart to buy wheat from Greece or Italy, but the result has been repeatedly increased. The sultan of Ottoman Turkey also A letter was sent to him, reminding the pagan brother not to go too far.

Oh. Louis thought blankly, let alone wheat, he has more things to do. In order to ensure that the Holy Roman Empire would not have the opportunity to support the Vatican, under the persuasion of the envoys he sent, the Ottoman Turkish Going to attack Hungary, and the Holy Roman Empire complained bitterly on the iron hoof of the Sudanese army. After insisting on it for a period of time, it appealed to all Catholic countries for help - as the nominal descendant of St. Louis, of course, Louis could not sit idly by, although He is the one who should be cursed in this matter... He plans to send a new army of 5,000 people. Fighting the infidels is the dream of every Catholic. With the consolidation of the faith, the fear and empathy of the soldiers Heart will be weakened to the greatest extent, which is easier to hone a reliable army than in a civil war or fighting with England, Spain.

It's just that the equipment and clothing of the soldiers... Another expense... Of course, Louis could have the soldiers prepare their own weapons, horses and clothes as before, but since seeing Cromwell's new model army, the young king has not Having changed his previous thinking, a mixed, ignorant army who does not know why or for whom he is fighting will never be able to fight against a unified thinking and determined army - he allocated funds for this new army. The army prepared clothing, weapons, and horses (though only the most common trotters), and allowed these soldiers to call themselves the king's soldiers, and to embellish red ribbons on their cuffs.

   He wanted these soldiers to remember their king as they fought for God.

  These expenses, fortunately, can be made up with the money saved from the construction of the Dunkirk Dockyard. But soon, a new problem came again. It was not a war, but if it was not handled properly, it might be the beginning of a new war.

   Here we want to mention a person, that is, a certain adult who occasionally passed by in the previous riots and rebellions, that is, the Duke of Lorraine.

The Duke of Lorraine is an interesting man, although people still accuse him more of being weak, incompetent, capricious, reckless, etc., but how much of it comes from his enemies or betrayed by him Those who have died, such as the duke of Gaston, who was dying, despite the anger of the king in order to gain his support, the duke of Gaston insisted on marrying his sister as his wife. As a result, in the most important battle of Paris, he obviously After taking the money of the Prince of Condé and the Duke of Gaston, he led his army around Paris and returned to Lorraine, leaving his allies alone. It can be said that the situation at that time, if his With the army inserted, Louis and Mazarin probably won't win so easily.

Now that the Prince of Condé has been forgiven by the king, and the Duke of Gaston has been forgiven by God, the latter is powerless, the former has not forgotten this changeable villain, and the Duke of Lorraine has indeed encountered difficulties. That is, he may be dead soon, but there is no heir, and the messenger of the king's accountability has also arrived at his castle.

Let’s talk about the situation of Lorraine again. At the beginning, the territory of the Middle Frank Kingdom was divided into three parts when Charlemagne’s eldest son Lotaire died, and it was divided into Lotrenia-Lorraine, Burgundy-Provence, Italy. . Lorraine split into Upper and Lower Lorraine in 953, Lower Lorraine was merged by Burgundy in 1406, and the current owner of Upper Lorraine is the Duke of Lorraine we know, he is not the last Lorraine The eldest son of the duke, but the second son, like his elder brother, married his uncle's daughter, and perhaps it was for this reason that at the instigation of his wife, he usurped the position of his elder brother's heir and became the Duke of Lorraine, But he wasn't able to eradicate it, his older brother was still alive, in fact in exile, and he may have created a curse that he didn't have an heir, and now the doctor has nothing to do with his... horrific disease that cannot be made public, and death is only a matter of time.

   So he was not afraid when confronted by the king's messenger, on the contrary, he proposed a deal.

  Although Louis knew that he might not have any good intentions, he could not give up easily—because the condition given by the Duke of Lorraine was to decide to return Lorraine.

Any king would be tempted by such a reward. It is not easy to take back a noble's territory. Except for open rebellion, there is almost no reason for rulers to take back the fiefs granted to their subjects. These fiefs remain in those hearts. In the hands of the unpredictable are the source of ambition and the fertile ground for conspiracy. Even if they do not want to rebel, then their interests and ideas will make the king's claims and laws impossible to move outside Paris, and can take back such a huge territory as Lorraine. , is simply something that Louis dreams of, and even the exchange conditions proposed by the Duke of Lorraine are not difficult for the monarchs elsewhere.

No, it should be said that for Louis, as long as he is willing to let go of his conscience, the conditions of the Duke of Lorraine are not so harsh - he only asks that until he dies, he still retains the title of Lorraine and has the right to expropriate a portion of the land. Million livres in taxes. This request is aimed at the merchants and commoners in the Lorraine territory. It is also them who are suffering and despairing. The Duke of Lorraine can go to see God after enjoying himself and splurge, and the king can come to Lorraine in the form of a saint - as long as he Declare Lorraine tax-free for a year or two, and the people of Lorraine will see him as a living savior.

And the reality is the same, whether it is the minister, the queen mother, or the judges of the high court, they are only arguing about the second condition of the Duke of Lorraine, that is, he wants to be a blood prince, and here it involves The class part of the French royal family, to put it simply, the title of the Prince of Blood required by the Duke of Lorraine is divided into three types, the last one is for women, leaving aside, there are two types for men, the first one, It is also the most honorable member of the legal clan, that is, the clan closest to the royal family by blood. When the royal family is extinct, the first blood prince will become the heir to the throne. Before Henry IV, he was the first of the Valois royal family. Blood Prince.

Of course, the Duke of Lorraine would not have expected this kind of treatment. It was impossible, absolutely impossible. He was praying for the second title. They were called His Royal Highnesses, but this request was fiercely fought by Princes Condé and Conti. Opposition, Louis has no doubts at all, if he agrees, maybe Prince Condé will set off a second rebellion.

This torment, which seemed to be reversible for Louis, continued for several weeks, and the king, after thinking for a while, summoned the Viscount Turenne, a friend of the Prince of Condé and a loyal servant of the king, and as soon as the king saw him, he Almost amused by the vigilant look on his face, this gentleman must have been wandering between the king and his friends for a long time, "I have an important thing for you to do." The king couldn't bear to torture the old general, so he Directly: "I heard that the former Duke of Lorraine is still in the Netherlands."

   "In exile, Your Majesty," said Viscount Turenne.

"Then can you send him back to France?" asked the king, "perhaps you can try to get him to recruit an army." He looked at the other side's flickering eyes: "Let him rush the man for us. Duke of Lorraine."

   "You want the Duke of Lorraine to come to Paris?" Viscount Turenne was also thinking, and he probably guessed what the king meant.

   "Well," said the king, "but you have to be careful not to really let him reset."

"How is it possible," Viscount Turenne was satisfied without being caught between friends and the king, "I will do this for you, I want him to linger in front of the fragrant meat, but he will never be able to bite. One bite."

This sentence made the king smile again. Of course, the Duke of Lorraine is a pitiful rabbit, if not a piece of fragrant meat. His army was disbanded after the riot, and the existing forces were completely unable to deal with the leader. The elder brother of thousands of soldiers, after weighing it up, he took a carriage, ran to Paris, and went to the king's knees to ask for asylum. He did not dare to mention the previous conditions, but he would never let go. Anyway, the king wanted nothing. It was impossible to take Lorraine, and the king immediately accepted his complaint and placed him in the original Richelieu house.

This made the Duke of Lorraine deeply dissatisfied. Everyone knew that the Louvre was the center of France, and all the glory and glory were only in the Louvre. He suspected that the king’s move was just to put him under house arrest, but the king’s messenger, the The Count of D'Artagnan, who was returning from Dunkirk, showed great admiration for this, and the Duke of Lorraine couldn't help but feel deeply curious. He knew that the Count of D'Artagnan was the king's favorite, and the favorite was very fond of him. Where does envy come from? He couldn't even live in the Louvre.

But such questions were quickly answered. When he stepped into the hall, he felt that it was different from the outside. The air here had a fragrant aroma and was warm, but it was not the kind brought by charcoal. It always smelled of smoke, but the smell he smelled was a little damp, the comforting dampness—he looked around, under the brilliant lights, there was no fireplace, just one in an alcove Statue of flowing water in the middle - clean water pours from the water bottle held in the hands of the snow-white marble female figurine into a lotus leaf-shaped tray, turning up the sparkling foam.

Only at this time did the Duke of Lorraine realize that the ground he touched after changing into soft-soled shoes was hot. He couldn't help exclaiming, and subconsciously leaned over to touch it. Only then did he realize his gaffe and couldn't bear it. He blushed, but fortunately his entourage and the Count of D'Artagnan also seemed to be attracted all the attention by the ingenious mirrored walls and gold leaf ceiling. They even asked the Duke to remind them to withdraw their sight-then the Duke served by the servants. Next, go to the bathroom next to the bedroom to wash up. The renovated Richelieu House, the bathroom is almost the same size as the bedroom. When I looked up, I realized that there was a glass ceiling above the fixed bathtub, and I could see the clouds directly.

"This is something that can only be enjoyed by the sultans of Ottoman Turkey." The Duke of Lorraine couldn't help shouting. Although he was disgusted with books like many dignitaries, he was very interested in listening to the extravagance of the sultan. It is said that the sultan once built a bathroom in his harem that could see the sky when bathing.

   And people here are willing to learn more than just a bathroom…

  ——

   "Is he still satisfied?" asked the king without looking up.

   "Even a devil," said the Count of d'Artagnan, "can't have any more dissatisfaction, and even a king can't have such enjoyment. Your Majesty, you are very kind to him."

"I just moved some of the things I heard here." Louis replied that in this day and age, the sultan of Ottoman Turkey is still the sultan of Ottoman Turkey. He just used some means he could do, although It is impossible for him to prepare a harem for the Duke of Lorraine, but he can still do it with a bathroom and several famous brides.

   (end of this chapter)