I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 91 Military Expenses and Rouge

As said before, the Prime Ministers of France and Spain are trying their best to win over a rebel, namely Cromwell, the protector of England and Ireland, just because he has a strong army and a dozen people who are the only ones who obey him. It was only because of his previous actions that he executed a king and exiled a king. In this transaction, neither King Philip of Spain nor King Louis of France had any direct appearances or written letters. , coming and going is either Don Luis from Spain or Mazarin from France. It is precisely because the exchanges between them are not public that we now have no idea of ​​Cromwell's thoughts at that time. We only know that he finally chose the French, which is only relative, and he is not without anything. I beg, every soldier he sends requires a salary.

   But since the protector of the country has made a decision, the battlefield will naturally not be in Calais, but in Dunkirk.

Here we will mention the familiar Prince Condé and Viscount Turenne. The pair who were close friends in the battle of the old city of Hertel became mortal enemies. Condé knew Turenne, and Turenne also Knowing Kong Dai, so their war in Flanders was like two carpenters sawing a big tree, coming and going, often back and forth - not long ago Kong Dai and the assistance of the Austrian Marshal Don Juan , broke through the defenses of Marshal Laferté and captured the poor nobleman, but in a flash, Viscount Turenne assembled the defeated army, counterattacked the Spanish army and captured a city, which was in It is rare in military history; however, in less than a year, Condé made another beautiful counterattack at Cambrai, this time not only thwarting Viscount Turenne's siege plan, but also his army.

It must be said that what else can allow people to peek into it and choose a winner to bet on, may lie in the authority and support that the king of Spain or France is willing to give these two outstanding military geniuses, on this point, The king of Spain is bound to be incomparable with the king of France. Although it is common for nobles from one country to serve another king at this time, and even bear titles from two countries, Kongdai was an enemy general who had fought against Spain for many years before. , the king can naturally be generous, but the soldiers may not be able to - of course Kong Dai can gallop on the battlefield and strategize strategies, but when it comes to how to control these subordinates who used to be the enemy to reach the point of being like an arm and a finger, it is also a A hard thing.

Compared with Condé, Viscount Turenne has a lot less constraints here. In other words, the king has no help and trust in him. After forming an alliance with Cromwell, his general Robert Black led the British fleet. Blockade of the Spanish coast and important ports, cut off all commercial communication between Spain and the West Indies, and also intercepted an important carrier fleet. This ship belonging to the king of Spain was full of jewels and gold. The total value exceeds Four million livres was a serious blow to Spain - because the gold from the colonies was prepared for the coming war.

At the same time, the British fleet also had 20 ships heading for Dunkirk. They carried 6,000 soldiers with rich combat experience and joined the French army. At this time, Kong Dai and Marshal Don Juan had to lead the army. Return, after all, Dunkirk is more important to Spain than those two ships of gold.

What was before Mr. Bishop and Louis was that they desperately needed a sum of money to satisfy Cromwell's insatiable appetite. Mr. Fouquet had a clever way of collecting money, but the king did not want to indulge him too much, because the treasurer was best at It is a loan, this method can indeed make up for the deficit on the book as soon as possible, but for Louis, it is like drawing blood from the human body and then injecting the blood into the body. He was full of blood, but in the final analysis, the blood he had lost before was not made up. On the contrary, in the process, Mr. Fouquet took the opportunity to take a few mouthfuls.

What the king wanted to do was to sell luxury goods for those nobles and noble ladies, and as soon as Marie Mancini appeared in the hall, it attracted everyone's attention, and it can only be said to be commonplace after a few hundred years. Hairstyles, decorations and clothing, but at this time strikes people's hearts like thunder - beauty is often unified, unless it is distorted for political or other purposes, even if there are jealous people who do not want to admit it , then the king personally invited Miss Marie Mancini to dance the Gavert dance, and I heard that all this outfit was at the king's instigation, and those sour and strange words immediately turned into envy and compliment.

Not to mention, when the king came to her with Miss Mancini's hand, the Queen Mother said kindly to Miss Mancini: "What a beautiful little rose this is." This is the end of her unilateral cold treatment of Mary.

The next day, the king saw that, starting from the Duchess of Montpensier, to the lowest maids in the court, they no longer put turbans on their hair, but curled their hair like Marie-here You can see how much power and wealth can have in beauty, such as the Duchess, whose curls are as beautiful and elegant as those Greek statues, and when it comes to the maids, Bontang can't help but issue orders, no. They were allowed to grill their hair on the charcoal in the fireplace, and there was a stench of burnt flesh everywhere, and their curls were messy, of different sizes, and had many defects and yellow spots.

If anyone remembers, the youngest son of the barber who volunteered, the family name was Champagne, and when his father was the king's barber, people said Champagne, which meant the man who was fortunate enough to be allowed to touch The artisan of the king's hair, after Marie Mancini shook the court with a beautiful and unique hairstyle, when people talked about Champagne, they meant this little Champagne, who became famous overnight. Just because he was even more arrogant than his father - not only did he have to pay five hundred livres every time to get him to make that hairstyle for himself, this little Monsieur Champagne used it for the haircut. The satin roses, camellias, diamond hairpins, or other precious accessories on the dress cannot be rejected. Once rejected, he will turn around and leave immediately... In this way, the gold Louis used for every haircut can even be put into There is a small box as big as a whole hand. Even so, the ladies still flock to it... After all, the hairstyle made by this little Mr. Champagne is so beautiful, so beautiful that as long as it doesn't rain, they will definitely only ride Open-top carriage, so that passersby appreciate and admire.

Moreover, the king often holds **** recently. In addition to the ladies he invited according to the etiquette, there is also Marie Mancini. Almost all the people he invites have extremely unique ideas, although the king knows that these are all young Champa. Nietzsche's masterpiece—or rather he gave M. Champagne little advice, but he must be impressed... With the rumors that Mister Bishop intends to choose a "royal lady" for the king, every noble Women have different hairstyles at each dance, and they are getting more and more exaggerated and gorgeous... When the king dances the gawat with the other gentlemen, he needs to turn his head back and forth to avoid the lady's head The "special tax" paid by M. Champagne to the king when the flowers and feathers were still plastered was sufficient for the pre-war period.

   "Women are terrible," said Louie.

Marie, who was sitting at his feet, heard this sentence, and inevitably made a dissatisfied voice. The king had to make a concession again, and promised to go to Versailles with Marie before going to Dunkirk. Alone, only Both of them.

   (end of this chapter)