I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 174 The affair of Joan of Arc

Louis became king as a child, but the veil of the world was slowly lifted until he left Paris for the first time and encountered a werewolf. Louis did not know whether his father, Louis XIII, was also an adult. Only allowed access to this huge secret, but for a person with a mature mind, whether it was the Queen Mother's will or the Bishop Mazarin's take for granted, there was a bad consequence, that is, the young king did not. He would easily trust people in the inner world, just like he did to those Parisians, he forgave them, treated them kindly, and rewarded them, but only the people close to the king knew that the king trusted those who were once refugees. Now the people of Versailles - to put it simply, the Parisians can happily welcome the next king without Louis, but the people of Versailles can live a prosperous and peaceful life, relying entirely on Louis' preference.

The same is true of the wizards in the world, and the king must believe them completely, unless they are completely prostrate at the feet of the king, and Louis controls life and death. The problem is, if this is the case, the wizards are like chicken ribs to the king. It's tasteless - Milady is very clear as the secret agent's purpose, but although she is also a witch, she is still a secret agent before her identity as a witch, and even her identity as a secret agent is more important than that of a wizard, so she can gain Louis's trust. , although Mary has received the love and pity of Louis, but in the balance of the king's heart, her weight is probably not as heavy as Milady - and the werewolf Louise, her identity has many secrets, except for In addition to being a werewolf, her clan was once hired by the king's enemies and attacked the king, almost killing Lu. In this respect, Luis can be said to be quite bold and willful. If Bishop Mazarin was still alive , or the Queen Mother knew, and would not allow Louise to stay with the king anyway. Louise also knew this deeply, and she was not as good as Mary, at least having a child - among the king's courtiers, she was one of the few who had no way out.

So, quite amazing, Louise didn't know that in the king's mind, she was not as useless as she thought, but Louis would never tell her that such a mistake he made on Mary once, Certainly not repeating the same mistakes.

   "Tell me now," Louis asked Louise to sit down. If it was just a casual chat, he would hold Louise's hand, but now it's almost equivalent to work, and the atmosphere is naturally more serious.

   "I said before, Your Majesty," Louise straightened her body and put her hands on her knees: "They beg your forgiveness."

"Well," Louis nodded, "I see, then they said, why did they ask for my forgiveness?" He asked calmly: "It's because they are far away from the royal family and are unwilling to perform their duties, Or did they conspire with Gaston, Duke of Orleans, to assassinate my father Louis XIII?"

   "They didn't conspire with the sinner Gaston," Louise said.

   "Then that means they are just standing by indifferently."

   "There is a reason for this," Louise leaned forward slightly: "Your Majesty, it was Charlie of Valois who betrayed them first, not that they betrayed the royal family first."

   "Let's talk next," Louis crossed his fingers coldly: "I'm listening."

   "You should know Joan of Arc."

   "Oh, of course I know." Luika paused: "This saint recognized by the Roman Church is also a witch?"

"Otherwise," Louise said, "although her parents were not serfs, they were only free countrymen with a land of fifty acres, and her father might have held a modest position in the village. It is impossible for him to have a vision beyond that of a general or minister, let alone to raise such a brave and wonderful daughter - Joan of Arc is the most outstanding student in the witch order, she With a corps of teachers no less than a prince, she was carefully raised and disciplined...to—"

   "To be queen."

  Louis interrupted her, and Louise's eyes widened in surprise: "No, Your Majesty, how can you think that, the witches are trying to make her a hero, and it is true."

"Then I can only say that they have greatly beautified their original purpose." Since he did not use his royal lady as a decoration, Louis did not hesitate to be patient, "Louise, tell me, you Do you think my marriage to Queen Teresa was about love between a man and a woman?"

   "...No," said Louise after hesitating for a while, "your marriage is a covenant between the state and the state. It's out of a public heart rather than a private one. You respect her and love her, but it's not... love."

"Yes," said Louis, "so it is very difficult to be queen of an ordinary birth." When he read the records of Charles VII, many of them were unreasonable. I was confused, but now these places are all clear. If Joan of Arc is a witch, and as Louise said, she is still a character carefully cultivated by the witch order, many incomprehensible developments are quite reasonable. .

"It's not that such a thing hasn't happened," Louis said. Compared with some undisclosed things in the French court, he knew more about some things in the English court on the other side. In other words, the French are always very Willing to see the enemy's jokes, though the reverse is true - "Henry VIII." He softly named the king, the outlaw, the excommunicated king, king of both England and Ireland , is also the Pope of Protestantism, the kingship and religious power are all in his hands, not as an enemy or me, Louis still admires this person very much, but Henry VIII is the most enviable thing in the mouths of many men. Boundless beauty and cruel heart - Henry VIII had six queens and countless lovers, but their ending, especially the queens, is really frightening - no wonder some people say that when the women were crowned, they knelt on the guillotine Up.

  Henry VIII's first queen was Princess Catherine of Spain, a poor woman who died in a monastery after being forcibly divorced.

His second queen is Anne Burling. It has to be mentioned here that the Burling family in England is also an existence that is very similar to the Mancini family. First of all, as Thomas Burling, he was an ordinary The businessman, the second is this businessman, actually married Elizabeth, the daughter of the ancient Howard family. He and Elizabeth had several children, each with beautiful appearance and tall stature. The first to enter Henry VIII's vision was the eldest daughter Mary Berlin, but at that time Henry VIII had not completely abandoned Queen Catherine, so Mary Berlin was replaced by her own sister Anne Berlin after being the king's lover for several years.

And Anne Berlin was more fortunate than her sister, that is, Henry VIII was tired of the tug-of-war with the Spanish and Roman churches, and began to establish Protestantism. Queen Catherine was no longer so indispensable, and Anne Berlin was pregnant. Now, if she gave birth to a son, then the king must give her an unshakable identity, lest the future inheritance of the prince be questioned, just like this, Anne Berlin became the second queen of Henry VIII, but She was quickly disliked by the king after giving birth to a daughter, imprisoned and executed for having a shady relationship with her brother, who was also spared.

Then one of the king's maids, Jane Seymour, was lucky enough to step on the queen's position because she was pregnant. Unfortunately, she died after giving birth to the prince. The king concluded a fourth marriage contract with Anne of Crivis. Married, but it was not so much that he married Anne of Clevis, but that the Howard family took the opportunity to send Catherine Howard to the king, so Catherine Howard became the fifth queen of the king, but she had not yet Before she could conceive a child, she was also executed by Henry VIII for adultery. It is said that she had two lovers, one was a minister and the other was her personal secretary.

  The last queen of Henry VIII is Catherine Parr, but if it is said that it is out of love, no one will believe it. If it is said that this is the exhaustion of the king after a series of wonderful operations, many people agree.

But as a king, as Louis, who was allowed to glimpse the secrets of the inner world, he saw more things. Behind the romantic affairs that people talked about, it was the game between the inner world and the outer world. First of all, Henry VIII's acceptance of Catherine of Spain, who was his sister-in-law, as queen, was a submission to the Roman church, but such submission soon became increasingly unwilling, especially because Catherine did not seem to bring him a healthy life. The idea of ​​the heir - Henry VIII was soon known by the Howard family, or the Berlin family hidden behind the Howard family, so Mary Berlin and Anne Berlin were sent to the king.

Louis didn't know how much Henry VIII knew about this conspiracy, maybe he didn't notice it at first, but after Anne Berlin gave birth to her daughter, Henry VIII's love for her suddenly took a turn for the worse. The matter, for Anne Berlin's crime, Louis did not believe very much. First of all, according to Anne Berlin's younger brother George confessed under torture, he used to be happy with three friends, and Anne was not very happy. It is worth scrutinizing. At that time, Anne Berlin was already the queen, and there were countless pairs of eyes watching her every move. It was impossible for her to gossip without any rumors. Secondly, Anne Berlin was a smart person. She knew her identity very well. A businessman's daughter, who relied on the king for everything, could not have done such a stupid thing.

Some people also said that it was because Anne Berlin gave birth to a daughter, which was also unreasonable, because Anne Berlin was still very young at that time, young enough to have another child or many children, but Henry VIII did not. As if urged by something, he dealt with her neatly, and Louis thought about it. If he was in Henry VIII's position and found that his court was being invaded by wizards, then admitting that he had been betrayed by his wife would become a crime. A simple thing, after all, there is no crime other than this that makes one accept so quickly that a queen has been beheaded.

And the Berlin family wants to say whether they have fought back...it should be, because Jane Seymour was obviously recovering well after giving birth to the prince, but it took more than ten days for the infection to appear, and she died. The production thing is not very well understood, but what kind of infection can be delayed until more than ten days before the outbreak... Louie has not heard of it.

And the Howards, whose failures in Berlin failed to affect their power, managed to get Henry VIII to marry Anne of Clevis, but the Duke's niece Catherine Howard (Anne Berlin's cousin) became The queen's maid, and easily took the queen's position - here Louis is not sure whether Henry VIII noticed that this was another conspiracy of the Howard family, but it is very ironic that the queen was also announced with multiple Male adultery was executed, she was beheaded, her lover was split by a car, and this time all the Howards except the Duke of Norfolk were arrested and imprisoned, and their property was confiscated.

Moreover, when Louis turned to the last page, he found that Henry VIII was nearly sixty years old at the time, and his time was running out. His marriage with Parr was a compromise with the Roman Church, because Parr accepted and agreed with Protestantism. Sympathetic, but always a Catholic, and the reconciliation with the Howard family - finally Henry VIII released almost all the Howard family members and returned some of the property to ensure that after his death, only ten-year-old Prince Edward can Sit safely on the throne of the king.

Now back to Joan of Arc, Louis did not want to veto Joan of Arc's nobility and bravery. It can be said that her achievements and good deeds made many men bow their heads in shame, but this upright girl I don't know, her appearance has never been an accident - if the Berlin family and the Mancini family are taking the path of Israel, then the witches in France are more ambitious, they not only want A queen also hopes to get a saint, perhaps precisely because France at that time has indeed reached a point where the mountains and rivers are almost exhausted.

In the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, the French King Charles VI was defeated by the then English King Henry V due to insanity. Therefore, in the treaty, his queen humiliatingly admitted that Henry V would be the heir of France. And the regent, and the area north of the Loire River was assigned to Henry V, so the British always claimed that France belonged to Henry V. As the eldest son of Charles VI, Charles VII was not recognized, and he was still king at that time. Charles VII, the prince, has not yet ascended the throne, and only prayed in vain all day long in Chinon, but he never gave up - it is difficult to say, when Joan of Arc, who was still a peasant girl at the time, came to him and said that he could save France. What a mood.

Yes, of course, a peasant girl could not save France, but a witch and a witch sect might. Louis had no way of knowing the mood of Charles VII at that time, but he believed that Charles VII was only afraid of the truth about Joan of Arc at that time. Knowing her identity, it would be impossible to explain the miracles that happened to her - gaining the support of soldiers and generals; predicting that the French near Orleans would be defeated at the Battle of Herring; traveling alone through the vast territory of Burgundy (enemy) Wait - although to the uninitiated, this is a gift from God to this girl and to France.

After this, the support that Joan of Arc received from Charles VII was almost complete and thorough, her horses, armor, flags, swords and entourage, etc. were all generously given by the Dauphin, and she received it from the Dauphin His authority is more than those of the older and more experienced generals with surnames and families, even above those of the earls and dukes.

The series of incredible victories that followed need not be recounted, but it is said that although Joan of Arc was always in the lead, she never won by personal valour, and even she herself said that her banner was better than her sword—that is to say , she is more like a resourceful tactician, which is reasonable and unreasonable, and it is reasonable, that is, Joan of Arc was still a sixteen-year-old girl at that time, and it is impossible to be like Samson (invincible in the Bible). The power of the giant) to control the victory or defeat of the battlefield is unreasonable, because any decision made by Joan of Arc has never been wrong or failed. She seems to have countless eyes, countless ears, and the movements of the enemy. She couldn't hide it from her at all, and her own reaction was all she expected...

   But if it is said that there was a witch sect at that time, it would not be surprising at all to contribute to their own agents.

If you can directly see the records and letters of the time like Louis, you can see that Charles VII was not as ungrateful as people accused later. Very trustworthy. It can be said that without Charles VII, Joan of Arc would not have had any chance to give her a voice. After all, until now, women have always been regarded by men as fragile and sinful little creatures. They cannot be trusted, nor can they be trusted. Can not be trusted, when Joan of Arc appeared in Chinon, because she was wearing armor, wearing men's clothes, with short hair, and was accused of being a witch (although it was true), or Charles VII instructed the priests to use the teachings. -Women can wear men's clothing and armor to exonerate Joan of Arc to ensure their virginity. As for the subsequent rewards, they are not worth mentioning compared to the support on the battlefield. Show real achievements in Joan of Arc to prove themselves Before, the protests of those generals were almost all suppressed by Charles VII.

When the door of Reims opened and Charles VII was crowned, he immediately decided to make Joan of Arc Marquis. For a person who was just a peasant girl, this award was already very rich, and the war was not over at that time. Some people say that the war was over. After that, Joan of Arc may become a Duchess, maybe...

   (Add more thousand words to achieve!)

   (end of this chapter)