I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 94 The King Comes to Dunkirk (Part 1)

Everyone knows that the king broke up with his lover Marie Mancini before going to Dunkirk. Perhaps for Louis, sharing power is his greatest gift to love, and for Marie …these things are not as good as the little rose the king put in her hair at Versailles.

But in any case, the king must go. Of course he can leave this matter to the Bishop of Mazarin, no, of course he will not do so. This power is exactly what he has been trying to do over the years from the Bishop and the Queen Mother. What was captured, how could it be easily given up.

Mary rushed over at the last moment, and the king's closeness to her in recent days was not without effect. At least the king's musketeers and cavalry immediately retreated when they saw her. Her hand rested on the gilt frame of the car window, her eyes were full of tears and remorse: "Louis," she whispered, "Louis, you must come back! Sure! I will pray to God and ask him to bless you. Come back safely!"

Others may not think that praying to God is such a great thing, but Mary is a witch, and the king could not return such warm feelings, only quickly pulled a ring on his finger and put it on Mary's. Thumbs up, "I'll be back," he said hastily, then watched Mary step aside, supported by the Queen Mother's lady-in-waiting—previous behavior was already quite disrespectful, and the Queen Mother stood there backed up, giving The last glimpse of his eldest son contained concern and expectation, and his younger brother, Philip, Duke of Anjou, rode beside the king's carriage until he sent him to Versailles before turning back.

  Louis fell on the soft seat, pressed his forehead, and sighed.

  ———

Bishop Mazarin and Viscount Turenne have been waiting for the king in a village near Dunkirk. This village already belongs to the French. In order to ensure the safety of the king, the residents here are forced to relocate. Only the most loyal of the king are here. Soldiers and officers.

But also because it was regarded as the king's residence in Dunkirk, the Viscount Turenne, or more correctly, his Captain Vauban, rebuilt the town as an important military fortress, Before the king could see them, he saw the horsts, the fortifications, the parapets outside the trenches, the trenches and the inner trenches, the newly built low walls on the periphery of the villages and towns, and the sentries walking around behind the walls, As soon as they saw the king's chariot, a man walked out and asked the leading officer for a password.

When he heard that the king was coming, the sentinel ran back immediately, and then a dazzling red banner and a French king's banner were raised, and a few minutes later, the Viscount Turenne arrived in Pegasus, and he personally The king opened the door, helped him out of the carriage, bowed to the king, and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to walk in front of you and guide you."

   "That's what I expected," Louie said.

   Then Viscount Turenne drew his sword, held it in front of him, and strode forward. By this time the guards and musketeers beside Louis had dismounted, and their hands were on their muskets and sabres, for the soldiers were coming out of their cover, and they were all armed—the next moment, the king listened to To the sides of the drums, amidst the rhythmic drumming, a man in Spanish clothes came out, holding a key in his hand.

   "What a small key this is," said the king, unable to resist.

   "Yes, Your Majesty," said Viscount Turenne proudly, "because it belongs only to this town, and the keys to Dunkirk are much larger. But it will take some time."

   "I hope I won't wait too long." The king said with a smile.

   "There is no doubt, Your Majesty, God is my witness." Viscount Turenne replied quite confidently.

The king took the symbolic key, the soldiers blew the horn, then the drums, and then the soldiers who had left the low wall raised their guns - to the sky, the guns were fired, and the Viscount Turenne bowed again to the king , and brought a horse for the king, and after he served the king and mounted, he led the horse to the center of the town, which was the best building here, and according to the king's preference, that is to say, There are toilets and toilets, repaired - Bishop Mazarin welcomes the king here, and he also lives here because many things need to be consulted with the king.

Some of the soldiers were seeing the king for the first time, and the king's caravan, which stretched out for a quarter of a mile, making them both curious and surprised, and they kept guessing what was in the carriages. What are they all - the reason why there is no guessing that the king's lover is sitting in it is because the carriages are completely closed, leaving no gaps.

But they soon learned, for the carriage stopped in the town square, and every thing unloaded on it caused the soldiers to talk with excitement - it was the rations they needed most, from dry meat to flour, from salt , butter to sugar, coffee and tobacco, and even firearms for three carriages. When the last ten open-top carriages were lifted from the felt cloth, the crowd cheered even more, because there was nothing else inside, it was Ten dismantled and bundled cannons.

   "We could have had twenty artillery pieces," said the king, "but I think the stomachs of the soldiers should also be well armed."

   "What you said is absolutely correct," Viscount Turenne said with a smile: "Your Majesty, we all know that soldiers may only flee without gunpowder, but without bread is worse than without gunpowder."

   "But, Your Majesty," said Bishop Mazarin, after watching for a while, "how much of this is yours?"

   "All," said Louis, "my soldier, my general, my bishop."

   "I mean your clothes, your accessories, your water bottle and potty..." Mr. Bishop said, "and your sheets and pillows, don't tell me you came to Dunkirk empty-handed?"

"The Queen Mother has indeed prepared many things for me," said Louis gently. In fact, these carriages were prepared by the Queen Mother, and the honorable mother brought his bed, and a group of attendants and maids, but he threw them all at Versailles, along with all the things the king thought they didn't need to take with them, arguably less than the first time they left Paris because of the riots, to describe it, probably Pretty much the same stuff any man would bring on a business trip - he wasn't on the run due to a riot this time, there are trusted subordinates here, the king doesn't think he needs to bring those & you know, he thinks enough **** That's enough, even if Bontang was silently angry all the way - don't ask how Louis knew, he probably spent more time with Bontang than the Queen Mother.

   Mr. Bishop sighed.

  The king smiled. "Mr. Bishop," he said, "perhaps you would like to have dinner with me?"

  What else can Mr. Bishop do? He can only bow slightly, "My honor, Your Majesty."

   "Don't be unhappy," said the king, "we found a whole nest of quails on our way."

   "Today is Lent," said the Bishop angrily.

   "But when I found them, they were swimming in the pond. As usual, Mr. Bishop, they are fish, and we can eat fish during Lent."

   "Well, then it must be a quail raised by the devil," said Mr. Bishop, "I have never seen a quail swimming in the water."

   "In this case, we will eat them all the more," the king said with a smile: "Let them suffer in our stomach hell."

Having said that, even the bishop was speechless. He slipped away under the pretext of praying. Only when Viscount Turenne and the king were in the study, the king took out a large stack of money orders from Amsterdam. Of course he would have preferred to support the French bankers, but these were for the six thousand British soldiers sent by Cromwell, the Protector, because the Bank of Amsterdam had to go to Amsterdam to exchange drafts over six hundred florins, The king asked Fouquet to convert them all to less than 600 florins, so as to avoid the exchange disputes between the British officers, so there would be such a large pile.

When   Viscount Turenne took them, his hands were shaking: "Your Majesty..."

"Don't thank me," said the king, "thank the ladies, they're so brave." This is the last of the jasmine powder and rose rouge for the money, and knowing it's the last powder of the year, these lovely The small boxes and jars were sold for astonishing prices in Paris - the king knew for the first time that the profession of surrogate shopping began in Paris in the seventeenth century - the ladies of Paris bought the powder and left their share My son, the others were sold to people from other provinces at several times the price. It is said that there are fake king's fat powders in farther places.

   Of course, after hearing this, the king sent his musketeers to check the matter, and confiscated all the illicit gains.

   "Your last letter to me said... Cromwell sent his... New Model Army?"

   "Yes, Your Majesty," said Viscount Turenne, "please come to the window, and you can see them training."

   (end of this chapter)