I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 19 The Ambitious Mr. Lariviere

Paris was chaotic at this time, but as far as Louis knew, there were about the following people - the top of the class, of course, belonged to the king, the king's younger brother and the queen mother, followed by noble relatives such as the Prince of Condé and the Duke of Orleans Gaston. With the princes, next to them are the cardinals, and against them are the venerable marshals and generals, and then the sources of the rebellion, the members of the High Court, the financiers and the great lenders and the supervisors hated by the former, then lawyers, ordinary priests and doctors, then securities brokers, businessmen, and painters, architects, sculptors, and novelists who serve the above people. below them were artisans, servants, and the poor in the city and peasants outside the city.

In addition, there are probably some people who make a living by serving the royal family and nobles. They are like chasing a school of whales in the sea, and they feed on the leftovers left by the servants. Specifically, there are private priests. , clerks, stewards and stewards, policemen, agents, attendants, cooks, janitors and coachmen, etc.

In the previous Frondist movement, in addition to the private armies and guards of the princes and judges, the most people were the citizens of Paris, who should be loyal to Louis, but it was not without reason that they would be easily incited. For those who were favored or reused by the king and were able to accumulate wealth without limit and splurge (such as Richelieu), the common people of Paris have been living in extremely difficult living conditions, they not only have to bear heavy taxes, but also pay rent. Money, water money and bread money, as well as some unspeakable expenses, where they live, the windows have no glass, the doors are broken, some people cook directly on the floor of the room, they are often sick, and they have no money when they are sick Healing, some people can't even get a wife, and sometimes they have to wait for the landlord to collect the rent before they find out that their tenant is dead, and in this life with almost no end in sight, there are still people who are constantly harassing them. put pressure on.

  Although Louis can't interfere in government affairs now, he still hears a few things. For example, the bread in Paris is now almost twenty sous a pound.

Here we want to briefly mention the French currency system in the mid-seventeenth century. Riffre and Su are both familiar terms, but they are not among the common currencies. They are just currency measurement units. A pound to a pound of silver equals twenty sous. Therefore, most of the French people in the 17th are using the Golden Louis, the Big Ecu, the Little Ecu, Denier and Liard. A gold louis, as the name suggests, is a gold coin. One gold louis is equal to twelve to twenty livres (one livre is equal to twenty sous), and one (silver coin) is equal to six livres and twelve sous. , a small (silver coin) ecu is equal to three livres and six sous, one sous is equal to twenty copper deniers, and one denier is equivalent to three liards of copper coins.

   That is to say, converted into the currency we are familiar with, a pound of bread costs about 300 to 500 yuan.

Such a price is enough to collapse the whole region and even the country, and after the Queen Mother Anne returned to Paris, a mass of candles and spices of 100 gold louis would be used, no matter what else, sometimes Louis really wanted to stop her from praying. , it is better to exchange these hundred gold louis for a hundred pounds of bread, and at least a hundred families will be grateful to the royal family for this, rather than full of resentment.

It is a pity that he was unable to convince the Queen Mother Annie. At this time, people do not have the concept of charity. A person is starving to death because he is not diligent enough, and he is sick because he has done evil things. The punishment given by God or It is retribution, even Cardinal Mazarin does not agree with Louis's method, those bright white Equus and golden "Louis" can be used to purchase exquisite clothing, delicious food or horses, shotguns, and even throwing It doesn't matter at the gambling table, but to help the poor...so strange, so strange, no one has ever done such a thing.

Bishop Mazarin resolutely refused, and the people around Louis almost had the same idea. They believed that giving bread to the poor like this would only add laziness and rascals, and if this behavior could not continue, the person in charge would definitely Will be hated - this is also a good point. Louis changed his statement and asked the bishop of Mazarin to investigate the wheat merchants in Paris to see if anyone was hoarding them. Bishop Mazarin did not answer him, but asked the king, he and the bishop before. As I mentioned, I want to ask about the Inquisition. The bishop already has a candidate. When is the king going to summon him?

Bishop Mazarin said this, and Louis knew that this matter could not be pursued. He knew that Bishop Mazarin must have accepted bribes from merchants. This kind of thing is almost commonplace in the court, dating back to the time of Philip IV. , ministers crowded around the king, vying for his favor, and then relying on this favor to make a fortune, Richelieu was like this, so was Mazarin, he was even willing to make concessions on some things, so that the young king would not be held accountable.

What Louis mentioned before was the win-win relationship between the royal family, the church and the Inquisition, the outer world and the inner world, and the priest he had seen came, and the priest was very happy, because he was just a The abbot is neither a black judge of the Inquisition nor an ascetic like an executive officer.

Speaking of which, he also made a joke recently, because he admitted that he had obtained a lot of merit in the previous werewolf riot, and even had an intention to have a relationship with the Vice-Archbishop of Paris, Reis, and Prince Conti (Prince Condé's younger brother) Competing for the hat from Rome (referring to the cardinal), of course, he was a comical failure, but he was ridiculed by all Parisians.

He was not discouraged, really, this Monsieur Lariviere may have no other strengths, but he has an extraordinary desire for power and money, so from him the king can know more than others. , so Bishop Mazarin sent him in order to prevent the king from continuing to care about the relationship between wheat and bread.

It was the first time that Dean Lariviere entered the Richelieu House. Of course, the mansion that could be used by the king as a palace would not be shabby and narrow. It was an H-shaped building complex. Each building had three floors. A long corridor supported by countless Doric columns is added on the ground floor below. The corridor is decorated with various sculptures and named after this. Decorated with many sculptures related to sailing ships.

Passing through the bow porch, you are greeted by a rectangular garden distributed on the opposite axis. This garden is about 600 feet long and 200 feet wide. In the center is a fountain that is as round as a full moon and surrounded by neatly trimmed trees. Although it was a severe winter, the flowers had never given off their fragrance, but the air was filled with a clean smell... Yes, Dean Larivière didn't know how to describe it, but it was... that kind of... clean smell that was comfortable.

Alas, he is also very clean today. After all, he has inquired about the king's preferences in many ways, and almost everyone is impressed by the king's requirements for cleanliness. We have said before that people at this time do not love cleanliness. The cost of bathing is considerable. Second, the church does not encourage people to take frequent baths. The third is the fear of the Black Death who will soon leave. But they don’t really let themselves live in such a dirty way. Linen, warm water to wipe the body, especially the face and hands, women also need to add the chest, the nobles will change their clothes frequently, almost every few hours, so although the streets of Paris are smelly. God, but except for some poor people who can't find even a spare piece of cloth, people with a little wealth don't smell so scary.

But their king can be said to be harsh in this regard, and his preferences—although he has not yet been in power, still affects all the people around him. Dean Lariviere is willing to win the favor of the king, and it is even more so. It took a lot of thought, in addition to washing himself clean, he also sprayed perfume imported from Cologne, Germany, this is an expensive and wonderful liquid, more expensive than gold, but it is worth it , for the young king laughed as soon as he looked up and saw him.

   (end of this chapter)