I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 141 Varro's real use and the results of the king's experiments

This job was originally entrusted to Colbert by the king. Under the king's behest, the businessman's son founded the Royal Academy of Sciences of France a year ago. In addition, the Academy of Sciences is also located in the castle of Viconte, which Fouquet once showed off to the king. This castle was suggested by the ministers to be listed as another palace of the king.

But Louis didn't like this castle very much. Apart from Fouquet's sake, he didn't want others to think that he disposed of Nicholas Fouquet for personal gain. Another important reason was that this castle and Like many mansions today, although they are magnificent, they still have no water, no bathrooms and toilets. To be honest, the two hundred and fifty fountain kings in them wish that there were two hundred and fifty urinals and toilets. That way the guests of that grand ball don't have to worry about smelling strange smells at any time, and the servants in charge of the fireplace don't have to be constantly on guard because the charcoal is always doused with urine.

But at this time when the castle was completely completed, it was difficult to renew the bathing and sanitary facilities. Louis was able to add these facilities to the Louvre because the Louvre was almost half-abandoned after the two riots. , only one frame and surface are still intact, and he is only doing repairs with him and Philip and the Queen Mother, as well as some adjacent King and Queen suites (these rooms are almost only provided to important people), so let It was not too difficult for them to be human and more comfortable and safe, but the Viconte Castle was brand new and it would be impossible and wasteful to renovate it all, so the king had to add one to the rear and one to the side of the building. Sanitation facilities, one for bathing and one for personal problems.

Such inconvenience is of course unwilling for the current king to endure it, but to the provincials, it can be said to be quite new and advanced, and it is only about ten leagues away from Paris, not so far that it is impossible to obtain the latest information from Paris, sufficient The supply of these scholars will not be too close to cause too much nuisance to these scholars. For example, the "Ming Shu" who have had a tradition for hundreds of years is suitable for education and research such as the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Although some people criticize that such a disposal may not be too expensive, because although it is the Royal Academy of Sciences, but because the founder is not a traditional sword-wielding aristocrat, not even a robe-wearing aristocrat, he is just a flattery and gets reused It is no wonder that there are more scholars on the sidelines than those who are glad to be invited. After all, there are many salons in Europa discussing science, philosophy and literature at this time, and many ignorant nobles are like collecting holy relics. Collect scholars and use them to decorate the facade. Although Colbert is said to be a king behind him, but the king is so young and obviously likes to use military force, it is difficult to say how long he can support intellectual support.

There are only twenty-five people in the Academy of Sciences now, including Colbert and Descartes, as well as some scholars who were attracted and guaranteed by Descartes. Among them, the most valued by the king is Gerard Descartes, The architect, born in 1591, is from Lyon, and his family has served the royal family for generations. He was a member of the Wang army during the riot, but he is obviously better at architecture and mathematics than fighting. His mentor used to be Richet. He stayed in the bishop's service. He followed his mentor and left a lot of proud works in Lyon and Paris. After hearing about the establishment of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Mr. Descartes will also serve here, he did not hesitate to come to Paris and Vicon. special.

He is now building the aqueducts of Paris for the king. The filth of Paris has always been the king's heart. In this age of medical chaos and underdevelopment, no matter how wise and powerful he is, as long as he is still a human being, then it is inevitable Threatened by the plague at all times, but when the upper-middle class in Paris still has to buy water, how is it possible to let them bathe, clean their houses and even the streets every day? Therefore, the canal is the most important project, even earlier than the public health facility. In any case, the existence of the latter must be built on the basis of the former.

  The previous renovation of Paris by the king has included aqueducts, which has also reduced a lot of trouble, after all, many residences have lost their owners. The water and sewage works were carried out at the same time. According to the request of the king, a large reservoir and aqueduct were required in the upper reaches of the Seine. When it is used for water, it can also be used for flushing the sewer, and it can also ensure that the water level on the banks of the Seine is stable all year round.

   Of course, these projects can never be accomplished overnight, and in the case of Lorraine, the king needs chemists and agriculturalists even more to see if they can solve the problem raised by the Duke of Lorraine. But now chemists are more often called alchemists, and agriculture hardly exists. It's not that people don't value agriculture, but people still think that agriculture needs more of God's blessing. In the UK, the economic behavior of wool over wheat has also directly affected some French people. They also began to pull up wheat to grow pasture like the British did. Of course, no one cares about planting research. Most of Lorraine is a plateau area, which is not suitable for growing wheat, but there are only a few traditional industries, such as quarrying and logging.

Louis is very worried that if he agrees to the request of the Duke of Lorraine, the Duke of Lorraine will follow the example of the British and contract out the land tax for the next ten or twenty years to those greedy businessmen, and then these businessmen will ignore it. He fell down the big trees that had been growing for decades and hundreds of years, scorched the land, planted grass, and raised sheep for wool, so that even if he got Lorraine, he was still a Lorraine on the brink of famine and riots. .

He asked Colbert to look for those who had research on minerals or machinery, hoping that they could find a new way out for the people of Lorraine, but now a wizard came and told him that he had a way to solve the problem of Lorraine. Inevitably, the king was curious, and for this reason the king would not be stingy.

Varro Vesalius is not a strong-willed person in character, and escaping from the inner world with his wife and children may be the most courageous thing he has done in his life. Proud, but as cold and even more backward and difficult as the inner world, the outer world wiped out his arrogance and innocence, and after his wife was taken away, a letter from his daughter was completely destroyed. His final fantasy - worst of all, in Dunkirk, he's like an elephant tied to a stake, erroneously siding with Marie Mancini instead of focusing on it to serve the king.

  With the guarantee of Marie Mancini, he can return to the inner world, but what is the use of returning to the inner world? Does the potion master in the inner world still lack a Varo Vesalius? And Marie didn't care about his betrayal of the Mancini family. The rest of the Mancini family didn't forget, and in the inner world, the people the Mancini family wouldn't use, and others wouldn't use it either. Varro could only Staying at Palazzo Colonna, but not even the job of mixing potions for Duke Colonna Jr. is in his hands.

  If it wasn't for Vesalius' father's mentor, he couldn't watch the descendants of his disciples sink in such a foolish way, Varo Vesalius might have been completely annihilated in the vast crowd like anyone who disappointed the king. But what I have to admit is that Varro does have a unique talent... He came to the king, even if he can't say that he is confident, he can be said to have a bit of confidence.

   "Look, Your Majesty." He said, "I have concocted a potion."

This potion in a glass bottle looks like a colorless grease. Madame Lavalier seems to walk between the king and the wizard inadvertently. In addition, there are two priests of the Inquisition behind the king. Luo Vesalius was an assassin, so he wouldn't even think about breaking through this sturdy line of defense, not to mention that there was a licking cat on the king's desk.

   "What can this potion be used for?" asked the king.

"For testing." Varro said, and then he took out many small bags of soil, gravel and other things from his sack. He couldn't tell what it was: "Your Majesty, just put local soil in In a potion, it will immediately turn into various colors, and you can see from the colors, what minerals are there, and what soil is more suitable for seeds." As he said, he put one of the rocks The powder was sprinkled into the potion, and sure enough, it quickly turned a rich red color under the gaze of people.

   "That means there's a lot of copper in it," Varro said. Then he tried another, this time the potion was brown. "That means there's gold in it."

At this time, even the cat boy raised his body unconsciously, and the king heard the priest behind him sigh slightly. He looked at Varo with a complicated expression, looking at those earnest eyes, he initially wanted to stay When I went down to Varo Vesalius, it was because of his surname. His ancestor, Andre Vesalius, had a lot of research on the human body. He hoped that Varo Vesalius could inherit the wisdom of his ancestors. Now look at him. The idea of ​​​​may not be wrong, but the problem is that this wisdom point is obviously in the wrong place, no, it is not in the wrong place, it can only be said that it is beyond the king's expectations.

   "How much soil and gravel can be identified now?" asked the king.

  Varro Vesalius visibly shrank: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he said embarrassingly, "I really don't have enough samples in my hands."

"You mean," Louis thought for a moment, "just put a soil or stone dust in this potion, and it will take on a variety of colors according to the largest component, and then you can take a sample from another place. To compare or differentiate, right?"

  Varo paused: "So to speak."

The man-handed king is enough here. He signaled to Bontang, and Bontang brought the first bottle of potion to test. In the inner world, the glass manufacturing process is slightly better than the outer world, and the potion bottle is like air. Clarity, he shook it slightly, and found that the red solution inside had a strong sense of hanging on the wall, like fine wine, he tried pouring it on the parchment, and received a dissatisfied look from the priest. .

"How do you know if its smell is dangerous? Your Majesty?" he said, and Bontang took it away from the king at once when he saw it, too fast and too hasty for the liquid to be absorbed by the parchment. , a drop of liquid fell on the mahogany table, and Bontang subconsciously wiped it with his sleeve, but found that the red mark left by the liquid could not be wiped clean.

  Mahogany is originally a colorful wood, even so, the red trace is still distinct like a stamp printed on it. While Bontang began to frown, the king laughed happily.

   "This potion," he asked Varro, "how many colors has it been able to take on so far?"

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When the Duke of Lorraine was summoned by the king, he didn't even remember what day it was or what day it was. When he was sorting out his clothes and preparing to go to the Louvre, he no longer felt ashamed at first because he was arranged in the palace. Embarrassment and anger, but a bit of nostalgia, not to mention that people at this time have become accustomed to feces everywhere and the air is foul. If so, they will not change their residence frequently (if they have the conditions), or go to the countryside and manor. On vacation, when there were no conditions, I kept throwing lavender and straw on the ground.

Not to mention the owner of this palace, even the servants are more willing to work in this palace. Although their bathrooms are shared, they are better than those of the old palaces. The floors here are marble or It is wood, it is always clean, there is no pungent smell on the drapery, and there is no charcoal in the fireplace that cannot be burned for no reason. Their bodies are even cleaner than some nobles, which makes them involuntarily to generate some vanity.

Even more so with the Duke of Lorraine. After living in the fragrant and clean palace for a few months, he was not even used to the smell of the streets, but God knows, the streets at this time are much better than they were a few years ago, at least not so much. Pave the ground with manure.

When the Duke arrived at the Louvre, he breathed a sigh of relief after smelling the familiar smell, and then he couldn't help but frown again.

   He doesn't really want to go back to Lorraine, what should I do?

This sentiment was maintained until the great room where the visitors came, and the king said to him, agreeing to his request, that Lorraine, from now until the moment of his death, could set and collect all the taxes by himself. .

   "But what if I can't levy a million livres?" asked the Duke of Lorraine brazenly.

To his surprise, the king not only heard the meaning of his words, but also graciously promised that if he was willing to give this power to the king, the king would buy it for one million livres, which made the The Duke of Lorraine felt a little doubt in addition to his excitement. Just like all greedy businessmen, a tolerant customer made him look forward. After hesitating for a while, he said that he would consider it.

A few days later, word came out of the High Court that there were many people who were going to object to this important matter, because they agreed that Lorraine was not worth that much, and people were quite concerned about the army the king sent to Lorraine. Reproach, because Lorraine is not yet the king's territory, he has no right to target the brother of the Duke of Lorraine, which is the right of the Duke of Lorraine, so the Duke of Lorraine changed his mouth and said that he could spend one million livres. He sold Lorraine's income to the king at the price, but he not only insisted on a title equal to that of Prince Condé, but also the ownership of the palace in Paris until his death.

   (end of this chapter)