I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 40 The famine caused by the war

This surprised the king. He was not sure whether the other party was the kind of potion master he understood, but with the current medical level, if there is such a person who can make a person infected with dysentery heal instantly, or make a defect The medicine for the regrowth of his limbs, I was afraid that the wizard had long been regarded as an incarnation of an angel, so he quickly calmed down after being slightly excited, "Then why is he here?" He asked in a low voice, "How can I find you?" At the same time, he didn't miss a trace of sarcasm in the man's eyes.

   "He was my teacher," Mary said. "Before...something happened, so..."

"Let me speak, Mary," the man interrupted Mary: "Nothing to hide, Your Majesty, it was indeed an accident—I mean, I met my former student here, This is not my original wish, because I am tired of serving the powerful, which is why I was expelled from the inner world - the inner world no longer accepts me, and my family, and we have no identity in the outer world, guard They treat us as refugees, we are driven out, even beaten and imprisoned, and most unfortunately, the world is constantly getting worse, and the medicines I make are not trusted, even if someone wants to buy them, I bring them out of the world. There was not much material, my wife was seriously ill, and my daughter was dying of starvation, so when I saw Mary, I dropped my foolish pride and knelt before her and begged for a loaf of bread.

   That's it, my purpose is not pure, Your Majesty, but also not greedy, I just want to live with my family. "

When he had finished, he bowed deeply to the king, and nearly fell as he straightened, and Louis looked at him, gave him a piece of chocolate, "eat this," he said, "and tell me , what can you do."

That man had seen chocolate. Chocolate was brought back from America by the Spaniards in the world. Anne of Austria, although so called, was a princess of Spain. When she married in France, she also put chocolate. It was brought to the French royal family, but for people in the inner world, this dark fruit has long been the main ingredient in magic medicine, and it is even more common for a potion master. He devoured it as soon as he took it. Then I finally got some energy and strength.

He came to the inn where the king stayed again at dusk. This time, because the king had instructed the guards around him, he was not disturbed. In one room, he placed the medicines he made on the crumbling table. , as the king expected, most of them were useless, or only useful to people in the inner world - for example, potions used to replace blood in rituals, powders that can induce hallucinations, love potions made by angels , dandelions that can make you popular, foxgloves, mandala, etc. used as poisons... The only two that can interest the king are flying potions and invisible potions, which can be used not only on wizards, It can also be used on mortals, but the problem is that the main ingredient of the former is belladonna, and the main ingredient of the latter is oleander, and both of them need to be applied to the whole body to be effective, not to mention whether there is such a thing in an emergency. In their spare time, the poisonous components of belladonna and oleander alone can be absorbed by the mucous membranes. The special constitution of wizards ensures that they will not suffer from it, but for mortals, they may die from it at any time, and maintain The time is also shorter and lower than that of the wizard.

But the king still bought the two potions, and the ones that Mary thought she needed, but it was not realistic for the potions master to follow them away, first their team was not safe, and second the bishop's Eyes and ears have been paying attention to them, Mary is his niece, of course she can be tolerated, but not necessarily for a potionist who has been expelled from the inner world - although Mary has repeatedly stated that her teacher is an extremely talented person, but Both the king and the man knew very well that a truly unique master would not be easily abandoned by the inner world. He might be talented, but he was not so indispensable.

Before the king left, the wizard brought his wife and daughters to thank the king. In addition to a bag full of gold louis, there was also a set of identity certificates that the king ordered the officials here to sign for them, so that they could You can safely choose a place to live in an unknown place.

The king saw his wife. It is said that the potionist who was expelled from the inner world had a great relationship with his wife. As soon as Louis saw her, he understood that he had seen many beauties since he came here. From male to female, but the potionist's wife is not so beautiful, but rather a kind of delicacy close to Tu Mi. Even if she has a big belly and a gaunt face, she still can't hide that kind of frightening beauty. To describe her, she is like a crimson rose with dry petals. Even though most of its vitality has been lost, it still has an incomparable color.

   But she clearly only loved her husband, and so did her husband, who stood there as if there was no third person around.

They already have two daughters, and one is in the womb of his wife. The eldest daughter is five years old, but it can be seen from the facial features and facial contour that she has almost completely inherited the beauty from her mother. Her sister is still a The eldest daughter, Artenais, who was unable to walk steadily, was very bold. Her eyes could hardly be separated from the king. Her father asked her to salute the king. Pulling the king's collar: "My lord," she said, "when I grow up, can I marry you?"

   Before the king could answer, "No," Mary, who was beside him, said firmly: "No, it will be me who will be the queen in the future, and I will marry the king."

   Artenais didn't look very sorry: "It's all right," she said, "it's okay to be your lover."

   "No," Mary continued to stop: "His lover is only me."

   "But you are not beautiful." The girl said earnestly: "The nobles always deserve the best, you are not."

Mary almost became a puffer fish, but Louis held back his laughter and gave the girl a gold Louis: "You should live with your parents well, when you grow up," he said: "You will meet Go to a young man who loves you, then marry him, have a child, and live a good life." He didn't care about Artenais' words at all, and who would care about a five-year-old child? It was Mary's idea that made him tick off the calendar - remember to talk to her.

   It was just what happened later that made Louis never think of this small incident.

The king's army at this time was probably not as numerous as that of his father Louis XIII's escort, and wherever he went, he soon heard the slogans and guns of the rebels, and the bishop's messengers would transfer them to another place. Going to a place, they gradually went farther and farther, and they became more and more barren.

Louis once thought that the poor in Paris were already quite miserable, but only then did he realize that the poor outside were living a more miserable life. Although the bread in Paris is expensive, at least there is bread, and the towns they passed through before at least still have baking. Charcoal for bread. There is no bread or charcoal here, people rely on prayers and "bread" (white earth and the last remnants of flour and bran mixed together) to survive, the streets are full of rigid skeletons of the dead, There is a carriage and two handymen who are responsible for throwing them on the cart and dragging them away. The two handymen are also yellow-faced and thin, but when they pull up the bones, they are as relaxed as girls playing with their dolls.

The motorcade did not dare to stop in such a town. They ran through the squares and streets as if they were running away, staying only by the deserted woods or by the streams, but there were also many hungry people here. When they were about to starve to death, these lowly people could no longer care about the laws or regulations. They first killed the ox, horses and donkeys for farming, and then ate the seeds left behind. The old people and children were the first to be discarded. Then the people with strength entered the lord's forest. After the animals in the forest were captured, they began to collect fruits and leaves. When the fruits and leaves were all eaten, they could only rely on the bark and nuts for a living. .

Louis couldn't let his servants go to inquire about the news, but fortunately he also had Mary by his side, the little witch took a broom to inquire about the situation around at night - this phenomenon is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster - the first Frond rebellion Although the king and the queen dowager were very passive, not many towns and provinces were affected, but the leaders of the second slinger rebellion were Prince Kongdai, King Contiqin and Duke Longueville. There are important regions such as Bordeaux, Giena, Poitou and Anjou, and the provinces, cities and villages outside them have royalists who support Louis XIV, and some who are willing to pay allegiance to Cardinal Mazarin The pious, and the ridiculous who would rather be at the beck and call of a lady (the Princess and the Duchess of Longueville), or the dastardly villain bought by Gaston, Prince of Orleans, they have almost nothing in common , apart from frantically and dazedly calling up troops and conserving money - but did not find that their already meager reserves had been consumed by them in just a few months.

The movement started in January 1650, and by July 1650, the wheat and dried meat that had been collected before, as well as the peasants who worked in the fields, seemed to disappear suddenly in one day, - Sharp-eyed man Perhaps the appearance of famine has long been expected, but more people can only watch the doomsday come ignorantly.

There is not much Louis can do. He can only guarantee the supply of himself and the army of the king's party. Although the price proposed by the accompanying merchants is almost suffocating, at this time, as long as there is bread, it is better than everything, which makes following the king. The army not only did not disperse, but more and more, the Queen Mother Anne had asked the king to disperse some people, but this time Louis would not agree no matter how much she pleaded, even if the pressure these people brought him made him sleepless at night , now he is like a urchin holding the blade of the sword, and the empty stomachs of thousands of people are the stubborn stones hanging on the hilt.

Louis had pinned his hopes on Charles II of England - he had already ascended the throne, but unfortunately, the king's brother, fought with the rebel army at Worcester in August, and the whole army was destroyed. Even he himself wandered around like a beggar for more than forty years before being retrieved by his loyal ministers. He was still waiting for Louis to give him a little help. It seemed that he wanted to get some wheat from England. After the impossible, the only two Louis could rely on were Fouquet and Colbert. Before Colbert had lived up to expectations, he had brought several ships of corn from Italy, so that the commoners in Paris finally had something to fill their stomachs. This time they went to Italy, Spain, and Greece, hoping to get enough wheat, or anything to eat.

   (end of this chapter)