I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 175 The surrender of the witches

   "She didn't accept."

   "Well," Louis only hummed softly to Louise's subconscious rebuttal, "This is the beginning of the shattering." Whether it was for Charles VII, France, or Joan of Arc.

Joan of Arc showed a very indifferent or contemptuous attitude towards the prize that others had asked for, yes, to the saint who never denied his virtuous character even in letters written by Charles VII. For a woman, a mortal title is not even more worthy of her appreciation than a cute little flower. She finally asked the king to be exempted from the three-year tax in her hometown, but she was not the lord there, that is to say, these benefits are. If it doesn't fall to her, she still only speaks for the poor people - but that's why all saints must be canonized after death, and people will only worship those stone statues that will never give an answer, a Living saints were not welcome, and perhaps sensing the hostility of the court toward her, Joan of Arc soon returned to the army.

Joan of Arc's idea is right. In the army, she is loved much more than in the court. Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even the two powerful nobles, the Duke of Alençon and the Duke of Dunois, are convinced by her. , and a large number of young generals headed by Marshal Gil de Lei became the fans of this French peasant girl. When things have developed here, it can be said that the idea of ​​the witch sect is completely feasible. Of course, Joan of Arc did not Royal blood, and she does not have a rich dowry and vast territory, but she has her own merits and an army, which is incomparable to any princess or duchess. France's offensive against Britain is still increasing. The British were completely driven out of France, and Joan of Arc's status was bound to be unshakable.

Although Charles VII had a wife by then, and their eldest son was already six years old, it was no surprise to ambitious witches that an exotic queen suddenly died of a sudden illness, after all. At this time, France is still in turmoil. The problem is that although these witches intend to start with the royal family, they, like the Mancini family in Gayola, underestimate those mortals who have been conspired almost from birth The courtiers and servants surrounded by tricks, if Joan of Arc accepted the king's reward at that time, they may not be stingy with an earl or a duke's husband, but the problem is - Joan of Arc's refusal came from her firm heart, but Aroused the suspicion of those deceitful people.

Once these cruel people become suspicious, the saint who is like a lamb on another battlefield has no room to resist, or that she and her supporters have no chance to see the conspiracy. First of all, in the French military situation In a good situation, the French ministers insisted on peace talks, and then, after a close battle, the order from the king asked her to lead the army to retreat. Two months later, Joan of Arc and her army were sent. Going to a small town called Compiègne to fight the British and Burgundians, and in this small battle, Joan of Arc, who has won countless victories on the battlefield, was ambushed by two powerful forces, Even so, she still led her soldiers to retreat to Compiègne. Originally, as long as Compiègne's defenders opened the city gate, Joan of Arc would be safe and sound, but a ridiculous scene appeared, Compiègne's people were afraid The pursuing enemy refused to open the door, and Joan was captured by the Burgundians.

When seeing this, many people will feel indignant, and many people will shed tears for the saint, but as a king, Louis can see the violation at a glance. She is the uncrowned king in the army. Even the marshals and dukes once fell under her knees and obeyed her. The king loved her even more. The lord of Compiègne was just an ordinary viscount, who did not even enter the army. There are only a few dozen soldiers. Excuse me, how could such a weak and incompetent person have the courage to shut out the hope of France, the daughter of Orleans?

It can only be said that behind the viscount, there must be an even more instigator that he cannot refuse. Louis deliberately searched for the whereabouts of the viscount, and found that he had been inexplicably sick before Joan of Arc was convicted and burned to death. died, and it is quite confusing that after Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, Charles VII, despite his reputation for being ungrateful, did not negotiate with the Burgundians and the English to try to redeem Joan of Arc - But if Joan of Arc is an agent introduced by the witch sect, then these things can be easily explained, and Louis can even see the clear line - since Joan of Arc refused to award the award, I am afraid that some people suspect that she has more Big ambitions, yes, even if Joan of Arc doesn't, as long as they investigate carefully, the clues left by the witches will always be revealed - not to mention that many times the witches don't even cover it up, like Joan of Arc During the Battle of Roy, it was clear that the French army was facing a shortage of food, but a lot of beans suddenly grew in the fields, even after a priest came out and admitted that he thought the end of the world was coming, so he asked the farmers to plant in advance. Beans, but not all are blind, deaf and fools, let alone on the battlefield, Joan of Arc always has easy access to a lot of important information that mortals cannot.

Since he realized that Joan of Arc had the power of the inner world around him, any king would be vigilant, especially at that time Charles VII also had priests and wizards around him. Although the wizard around the king was also French, he obviously belonged to the outer world. In the non-world, those witches would not be satisfied with the actions of the Witch Cult - as a result, Joan of Arc was eventually burned to death on the old market square in Rouen, and the witches were wailing and cursing. Go, what happened after that Louis is not so clear - even what happened before is he speculated.

This can be said to be the greatest effort made by wizards after Merlin. The witches' hatred of Charles VII has continued to this day. When the wizards of the Valois dynasty reached the Bourbon dynasty, they were almost withered. These witches hidden in the forest are still there - but they live in France, but they don't want to obey the king, for them it is revenge, but for Louis, it is a corpse meal - but he will not take one A single powerful force is placed on his side, just like Zmish's patriarch is dangerous, but he has never directly rejected Amon's help, or even condoned his peeping, and he did this to ensure that another blood clan , the balance between Prince Vanderbilt, the Inquisition, the wizard, the werewolf... People often commented on him that the king was a kind and tolerant person, only Louis himself knew, he just made sure that this fragile regime would not be in every way. It falls apart under pressure.

   This is also the reason why he attached so much importance to the subsequent battle of Flanders. This was his first battle as the king of France. This battle was destined to bring him and France long-term peace or long-term turmoil.

   "How many of them are there now?"

"Three thousand people." It was the population of a small village. Louis didn't quite believe it, but he didn't want to ask more. The exposure of Conflan was not the will of the witches, but the Serbian werewolves hired by the king as the king's dogs. The group has been chasing them all over France, and their living range has been reduced again and again, so they have to bow their heads and beg for mercy - otherwise they will be deported to Spain, but according to Marie Mancini, there are wizards in Spain, and they all They are notorious dark wizards, otherwise they would not be able to survive in the most severe and dangerous places in the entire Europa. The witch sect who are used to living leisurely in Spain will only be regarded as sacrifices, experimental materials and scapegoats by them. Or the vessel that gave birth to offspring, they never dared to leave France.

   "In that case," said Louis, "they still boldly refuse the royal call. ’

Louis XIII had summoned these witches, but they never responded. Perhaps they had gloated over the news of Louis XIII's death... Louis put away his anger, "I can forgive them," he said: "But I need them to atone for my sins, tell Louise, first, they will move from the Confrans to Orleans," this was also considered by the king. Compared with the Serbian werewolves, these witches are more controllable The **** is smaller, so it cannot be placed in Paris or Versailles, and the only person who can make him believe is Philip, the Duke of Orleans, so keeping the witches in Orleans has become the best choice. "Second, in Buddha In the battle of Randall, they will send a thousand men to go with the army."

If an ordinary peasant, after drinking three cups of ale, swore drunkenly that Louis XIII had been caught by the devil before he fell from his horse, this is pure gossip, but for those at the palace at the top of the pyramid , this is a fact, although the queen mother and the bishop of Mazarin are both secretive, but after the king's younger brother Philip inherited the territory and title of the duke of Orléans, with the help of the Duchess of Montpensier, the daughter of Gaston, he was quick to hide his ears. The situation took ownership of the whole of Orleans, and although the Duke of Gaston had destroyed much of the evidence before and after his death, his wife and daughter had always left some traces.

Flanders belongs to Spain, and Spanish dark wizards will naturally appear in Flanders, and it is said that those distorted paintings are from the hands of a certain dark wizard - Louis wants to go to Flanders, he must also To face the dilemma and threats like Louis XIII, he had considered hiring Gayola's wizards, but these wizards were left to his de facto eldest son, little Lucy. The battle of Naples, which made Louis hesitate, some people may say that there are also priests of the Inquisition available. They are indeed some reliable and tough fighters, but as Louis, these are not enough to make up for all the shortcomings.

   "Third," said Louis, "I want to see them."

   "They?"

"Yes," Louis said with a smile, "I haven't seen any witches in France, and I heard from you that their order has a total of seven elders to determine the direction of the order. In this case, I will meet you alone. That one is not very good, let them come to Calais, and I will see them there." In fact, he was inclined to the former for a moment, but then he also thought of the relationship between him and the witch order. The relationship is more similar to the enemy, and the witches will not miss the things he thinks of, so let them decide for themselves how many people to come and who will come.

  —————

Louise was obviously heavily influenced by the witch order. After all, werewolves and wizards are natural enemies—although the source is only because of the **** of resources in the world, but don't forget that Louise's father, Clay Lan was almost tortured to death by the wizards. As a werewolf and a daughter, Louise's attitude was really worrying, but Louise also knew about Louise's weakness, so he simply sent Louise away. In Marseilles, she was separated from the witches of Conflan by an entire France, so that at least until the end of the war, it was difficult for them to form any strong bond between them.

And the reason why I chose Calais, needless to say, it can be said to be the lair of Marie Mancini and the gathering place of Gayola wizards. They enjoy sunshine, fresh air and delicious food in this city. Abundant food and spacious accommodation are also always waiting for the king's call. When facing a group of witches, they are Louis' shield and spear.

For these witches, Calais is also a good place. This port city has a long dark golden sandy beach, gray rocks and emerald green gentle slopes. It belonged to Spain a few years ago, so people here can speak both Spanish and French, which is very similar to Conflan on the French-Spanish border, and although the shadow of the war is not long gone, it is already very much here. Prosperity, lace from Calais, wool from Flanders, silver from London, spices from Haussmann, and ceramics and crystals from Lorraine and Alsace...behind the bright glass of the shop, it shines like jewels Hui, it was almost impossible for them to walk - but the head of the witch sect expected to be in a remote place, and it would be difficult to ensure his own clothing, food, shelter and transportation, not to mention the clanking silver and gold coins in his pockets.

However, these people still attracted the attention of others. The reason is very simple. These witches have extremely moving figures and beautiful faces. Their clothes are not as dignified as the women of Calais, with gorgeous shawls and fluffy Long hair is obviously easy to cause people's misunderstandings - fortunately, they also have the king's doctor Varo Vesalius, he may be the best envoy, first of all, because of his wife, he will not treat any beautiful Women are easily tempted; 'Secondly, he is also a wizard, and witch tricks cannot fool him, nor can he detect the king's intentions from him.

Although Manit, the witch at the head, touched Vesalius' face with a smile when she boarded the carriage, she didn't make any more frivolous actions after seeing Vesalius just turned away in disgust. , just after the carriage door closed, her smile disappeared immediately, and the witches who were still like happy birds on the street seemed to suddenly turn into terrible owls. Of course, they hated betraying Joan of Arc And the French royal family of the order, but without the protection of the royal family, their life is also very difficult, in such difficult circumstances, there can be no naive people - and they no longer allow naive members like Joan of Arc.

Joan of Arc was a bitter fruit not only for Charles VII, but also for the English and Burgundians, and for France, as well as for the Order of Witches. They single-mindedly wanted to create a pure and flawless saint, but they did not expect that a How can a real saint accept the filth hidden under the light? In historical records, Joan of Arc escaped many times, and even broke his leg once, but it was unsuccessful. People criticized Charles VII for his ill will, but In fact, the witch sect also watched Joan of Arc die indifferently, because before Compiègne, Joan of Arc had fiercely argued with them countless times. She did not admit that she was a witch, and she was unwilling to accept the witches. , she refused to be elected as a queen, thinking only of returning to her hometown to be a nun after the war.

The witch sect who found themselves doing useless work for more than ten years was of course very angry, but it was a pity that all they could do was just this one time, and they had to die. Disgusted, so they refused to enter the palace, but then they deliberately stood by.

They had expected the new king to submit to them - but the intrusion of the Mancini family from Italy was beyond their expectations, and the new king's tough tactics put them in a dilemma. The werewolf leaders who hunted them down were good men with weak temperaments, and the witches of France had always had a flexible silver tongue.

The King's Palace in Calais is a new palace, built by the people of Calais-that is, the guild leaders and jazz here to welcome their new king. Compared with the Louvre, the palace can be called small, and It has a strong Byzantine style. The square and huge courtyard is lush with flowers and trees, and the water is gurgling. The ground, walls and pillars are all milky white marble. There are exquisite statues in the niches. When the wind blows, it rolls and swims in the room like the morning mist. Under the window, there is always a velvet or satin covered soft slump, and the soft slump is a small round table with copper feet and glass surface. , on the round table, there are fresh pink roses or daffodils in a white ceramic jar that looks like a lady's skin.

The air here is not only fresh, but also filled with a refreshing scent of frankincense. Although he repeatedly warned himself to be careful, Manit and others couldn't help but take a deep breath several times. Don't think that living in the forest and the wilderness can What a good smell, the air there is clean, but even if you live next to a stream, a closed wooden house will inevitably mix everyone's smells together and ferment into a sour smell, let alone in winter when you can't bathe .

   Doors kept opening in front of them, and when they saw Bontang, the king's valet, they bowed immediately—they took the gorgeously dressed Bontang as the king.

   However, as the king's valet, it is not an exaggeration to accept their salute. Bontang nodded slightly, "Please wait here for the summons," he said.

   Only then did the witches realize that they had mistaken someone, and Manit coughed softly, "Then let's wait for a while." After all, it is impossible for the king to wait for them, they should know.

   It shouldn't be long, because from what Louise said, and what they found out along the way, this His Majesty is a rather lenient person.

   (Add more thousand words to achieve!)

   (end of this chapter)