I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 138 Changes in the Swedish throne and some trifles in the French court

Although Charles I was beheaded, from the perspective of people at this time, especially the monarch's position, Louis must admit that he did nothing wrong on the King of the Seas. England is an island country. The army only has the navy, and other countries can shrink in the face of the threat of the enemy. As long as Britain is cut off from the supply line, its economy and people's livelihood will be destroyed. The British navigation regulations are born from this, it Not only against the Netherlands, but also against any country engaged in third-party trade, which requires strong naval support, and in the first Anglo-Dutch war in 1652, although the British won the victory, it also clearly exposed the A weak underbelly, it is not invincible.

Charles I saw this before anyone else, and in the pamphlets sent by Louis' agents, there are several books about the Sovereign of the Seas, one of which is devoted to the hull ornaments of the Sovereign of the Seas …including, but not limited to, the head of the ship, the engravings on the cabins and masts, and the ubiquitous motto. The Sovereign of the Seas was built for a full year and nine months. It was the largest warship of its time, with a keel of about a hundred feet long, a total length of one hundred and fifty feet, a breadth of sixty feet, and a depth of seventy-five feet. It weighs more than 1,600 tons and has three decks. It is said that the original designer only reserved 80 guns for it, but Charles I insisted on increasing it to 102 guns, the lower deck and the main deck. Thirty guns have been put on the shelves, twenty-six on the upper deck, twelve on the first floor, fourteen on the half deck, and ten bow guns and some tail guns. It can be said that they are fully armed. After the ship was completed, it immediately participated in various naval battles, which was a lot of credit.

The funny thing is that, although this warship had great achievements, it became one of his crimes in the trial of Charles I, because he looted too much money from civilians and businessmen in order to build this warship, and those people were accusing him of it. Indignant, not only convicted him, but also beheaded him like a thief, but the battleship built with the tax money plundered by the king was not relentless, not only in the first Anglo-Dutch War, Cromwell This battleship was sent to the main battlefield, and it was rarely moored quietly in the dock after that, but at that time, its crown sail had been taken off, and it was replaced by the mark of the protector of the country. The sailors above also wear Cromwell's red coats.

In today's battle, Louis also saw that the crown sail was hung up again, and all the places that had been changed by Cromwell returned to their original appearance. The symbol and expectation of this monarch sailed again and appeared on the battlefield. Afterwards, its deterrent power is as good as ever, or in other words, its deterrent power has never disappeared, whether it belongs to rebellion or to the king, but the jackets of sailors and officers have changed the color of the shoulder straps. Bright vermilion, it is clear that Charles II is now only afraid that it will be difficult to raise funds for the replacement of soldiers' costumes.

This is the disadvantage of a monarch with a tight throat by parliament. He can never guarantee the loyalty of officials and generals to him. After all, their salaries are not taken from the king. The monarch, whose power is in his own hands, has to bear the weight of ambition, but when he witnessed the power of the Sea King, he couldn't help but breathless and clenched his hands - in the heat weapons are still limited to artillery and muskets. At that time, when the material of the hull was limited to wood and a little copper plate, the tonnage of the ship could almost be said to be the sharpest weapon in the fleet, even if Louis just overlooked the sea king from a high altitude with the help of the eyes of birds How the HMS crushed the Dutch warships - even without firing shells, its shadow was enough to cover ordinary ships under him, and it is conceivable that if he was on these warships, only watching the Sea King towards him. The overwhelmed huge body can't help but tremble with fear. This is not a question of bravery or not, but the fear of giants in human instinct.

It's a pity that the ships of the British Navy at this time are no longer as strong and agile as before. The King of the Seas can only be said to be able to reluctantly restore the last dignity for them, and to ensure that the fleet will not be completely defeated. I remembered what Charles II had complained to him--he said that when his father, Charles I, out of his duty as a king for national honor and safety, decided to levy taxes to build his fleet, all the Ministers and nobles are saying that his loyal and affectionate subjects will be greatly encouraged and promoted... Those subjects are willing to donate special funds for ships... They generously and selflessly support the king's decision...

But by the time the fleet was built, the Sovereign of the Seas was completed, and victories after victories continued, these "loyal and affectionate" subjects resented the king again, forgetting what the king was built for The fleet also forgot the cheers they made when they saw the fleet enter the sea, and only cursed at their thin clothes and thin porridge, but in fact, even Oliver Cromwell was regarded as a protector of the country by them. Sir, the burden on them is not much lighter, otherwise where would Cromwell's new model army come from?

  This is the people, Louis said to himself, there is an old saying in the East that is right, they are like rivers or oceans, they can hold up the huge ship of the royal family, and they can capsize it deep underwater at any time.

  The king absently embraced little Luciano in his arms, lost in thought.

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Such questions continued until the king returned to Paris, and the questions that were placed directly before him, like omen, seemed to be an example of this sentence—the Duke of Lorraine was reluctant at Richelieu, and he was not even very He was willing to go to the Louvre, and he was busy going to see him until the king came back. After all, his request still needed a clear answer from the king.

To say that you do not want to take back Lorraine is nonsense, not to mention that the Lorraine area is a buffer zone for conflict between France and the Holy Roman Empire, and its vast area and inheritance significance alone cannot allow Louis to let this opportunity pass. . Not to mention, Lorraine also has huge output such as planting, animal husbandry and quarrying. The ale and cheese here are very famous, and the production of wool can also bring considerable benefits to everyone, but at any time, as long as this land Still following the policy of focusing on agriculture, according to the request of the Duke of Lorraine, to collect taxes worth one million livres when he still owns Lorraine, which will undoubtedly exhaust the people there. Efforts - don't think that this million livres is one million livres, this is just the part that the Duke of Lorraine got, and the explicit or implicit expenditures are still unknown.

Louis rarely speculates maliciously on others, but the Duke of Lorraine - with his near death, it is hard to say whether he will be full of resentment towards everyone, towards his brother, towards the king, and even towards his courtiers With the people, he is about to go to see God, and it doesn't matter what will happen in the future. In this case, why would he not let himself spend his last days happily? Of course, if he is happy, he can also give him Of course he is willing to bring a little trouble to his brother and the king, and the people of Lorraine are the trouble he wants to leave to the king or his brother.

  Those people, whether kings or dukes, who have been almost deprived of their last ounce of life, have only two options if they want to collect taxes from them, either to die for themselves or to let others die.

  But it will take at least three or five years for Lorraine, who has been exploited to the limit, to return to life. During this time, can the king or duke have no choice but to provide for these despicable commoners? Even if they were willing to endure such torture for this large territory, what about the officials and priests of Lorraine, where did their salaries come from? There are also churches, official residences and shops, the construction and repair of docks and warehouses, etc. The money needed to maintain the operation of a territory is incalculable, and these payments may exceed the one million livres demanded by the Duke of Lorraine. you.

The behavior of the Duke of Lorraine can be said to have little goodwill, and the judges of the High Court couldn't help but discuss it endlessly. This may be the biggest deal since the king's official rule. If done well, the king's authority can be improved to a higher level. If they don't do it well, the king's past exploits will inevitably be much bleak. They all made suggestions to the king, suggesting to give up Lorraine. After all, even if Lorraine does not take it back, it will still be the territory of France, but if the king can't handle this million miles well Foer's question, in case Lorraine rebels - this is very likely, then the Holy Roman Empire may take advantage of it, and Lorraine may directly rely on the Holy Roman Empire at that time.

The fears of these judges are not unreasonable, but Louis has decided that he will take Lorraine and solve the five-hundred-year-old bone in the throat of the French king. Now that he understands the idea of ​​the Duke of Lorraine, he can find a solution. The solution - he summoned Colbert, Colbert was a businessman, he had also been to Lorraine, and even if he didn't, he could find people who often did business with Lorraine to find out the truth of Lorraine.

   "Do you think," asked the king, "is it possible to prevent this million livres from becoming a burden to the people of Lorraine?"

  ———

Colbert led the way, and the king checked the letter from Dunkirk. With the assistance of the wizard and the cement, the construction of the dock has come to an end. Milady said that the young wizards have been from the beginning. They are unwilling, and now they are reluctant to give up, many of them have hardly left the inner world, and their understanding of the outer world is limited to the descriptions of elders or other people, and those who have the courage and means to go to the outer world Among the wizards, very few can enter the palace, most of them are in the countryside and wild, relying on one-handed magic to do some unbearable things, just like Varo Vesalius, he can also be said to be a potion master when he was in the inner world. The proud disciples of , but in the world, they are preparing those love potions that everyone knows well, firstly because of the lack of raw materials, and secondly because only this kind of potion can be swallowed recklessly.

For these wizards, the state of the world is of course very bad, no, it should be said, from the Louvre to the whole of Paris, before Louis set about the renovation, it was not much better, the roads were dirty, dusty, and the rooms had no Sanitary facilities, only nobles and wealthy businessmen can have servants - there are many bad things in the world, but it is better than the existence of soul servants (that is, the humanoid puppets working in the wizard's field), they not only Undertaking the heavy field work and doing all the things wizards disdain to do, in the inner world, wizards have at least tidy streets, small but at least sanitation dwellings, clean water and food, if not that kind of A poor **** who really has no talent can still afford to hire a soulless servant to clean the room and take care of the housework, which is already equivalent to a small noble or businessman in the world, such as the Duke of Colonna, It can be enjoyed more than a king.

But in Dunkirk, the residences prepared for the wizards were also rebuilt by the king, with water (one of them was still hot!), bathrooms, toilets, clean and rich food and drink can be guaranteed, There are also lovely girls (although they thought they were just a bunch of eccentric scholars) and generous stipends. The last two points are absolutely impossible for them in the current inner world, and they can't help but not be moved, but after the completion of the shipyard project , where can they go back?

Moreover, returning to the inner world means that they have to go to the exchange office to repay the money, which can be said to be quite a lot of income in the outer world. After arriving at the exchange office, only two-thirds or more will fall into their hands. Little, they have to face the cramped room and empty life... So Milady came to ask if the king still had something to do for them.

  The king really had it, but he wrote to Milady that he didn't have it for the time being, and let these wizards go back to the inner world first.

It is certainly possible to continue to use these wizards, but the contempt of the wizards for the mortals of the surface world is deeply rooted. If the king hires them again, it is difficult to say whether they will breed the idea that the king must also rely on them, and only let these wizards understand, They are not unique, they must be obedient to them.

Immediately afterwards, the king wrote another letter to Rong Ke, his teacher in the inner world, Rong Ke had money, and the first thing he did was to buy a small pitted owl as his contact with the king. Tool, this little owl is so small that it hides in its fist, and it is also very smart. The downside is that it cannot carry too heavy and too large things, and it flies relatively slowly, but such pitted owls are the most common in the world. Also, because the body is too small and it is full of bones, it is rarely hunted, but it is safe. The king rolled up a piece of paper, tied it to the little owl's leg, fed it a piece of chicken, and let it out.

   Just a few minutes later, Bontang knocked respectfully on the door and asked the king if he had time to visit the queen mother once.

   For the Queen Mother, Louis has always respected him very much, and since Louis came to power, the Queen Mother would not call him away from the study unless it was important.

Louis went to see the Queen Mother. Although this princess from Spain has reached the age of having a grandson, she is still beautiful in appearance and elegant in manner. In comparison, Queen Teresa is also a Spanish princess, which is somewhat inferior. But this is not easy to say, after all, the Queen Mother's husband has gone to see God, but the Queen's husband is like the rising sun.

   (end of this chapter)