I

  Chapter 759 756 [Gifts and gifts in return]

   If in another twenty years, the French royal family welcomes Chinese envoys, it is likely to use Chinese sedan chairs directly.

  At that time, the royal families of various European countries were competing for the luxurious decoration of the carriage.

  Louis XIV took a unique approach and produced a sedan chair with carved gold ornaments, silver and silk, which instantly compared a bunch of carriages. Even the bearers who carried the sedan chairs were all dressed in Chinese costumes, which was so cool every time they went out of the palace.

   "Charlie, you have been to China, and you are with the distinguished guest." Mazarin ordered.

   "Yes! Your Excellency Prime Minister!"

  DArtagnan accepted the order happily, led the guards forward, escorted with the Chinese guards, and immediately aroused the resentment of the other French guards.

  Mazarin is a traitor who everyone shouts and beats, and d'Artagnan is Mazarin's running dog.

   When Mazarin resigned for the second time, D'Artagnan also lost his position. Instead of leaving Mazarin, he also became Mazarin's retainer.

  Mazarin is now the prime minister again, so he defies all opinions and appoints d'Artagnan as the captain of the bird house guard.

  Of course, friendship belongs to friendship, and the money to buy an official is still paid.

  Mazarin was very generous and was willing to give dArtagnan a discount. Later, d'Artagnan sold the position of captain of the guards for a total of 80,000 livres. Because of the discount, he made a lot of money, so he pooled the money to buy the position of captain of the infantry company of the guards.

   "Da da da da!"

  More than a dozen carriages advanced slowly, the guards opened the way in front, and the Chinese guards and d'Artagnan led troops to protect the two sides.

  Paris citizens stood on the side of the street to watch the excitement, but they could not see the Chinese nobles in the carriage. They could only cast their eyes on the Chinese guards, and the peculiar guard helmets became the focus of attention.

Mazarin was in the same carriage as Zhang Ruifeng, and an interpreter was sitting next to him: "Your Excellency, the empress dowager and your majesty the king, welcome you at the Louvre. There will be a grand banquet here, and hundreds of nobles have been waiting for a long time. If you like hunting, you can go to Versailles in the suburbs, where there is the hunting palace of the former king."

  The Palace of Versailles has not yet been officially built at this time. There is only a wooden house in the forest, which is specially used for the French royal family to rest when hunting.

   "It's time to work." Zhang Ruifeng smiled.

  The Louvre is only a few hundred meters away from the Seine River, and it arrived in a blink of an eye after getting off the boat.

  Queen Anne stood at the front, holding 15-year-old Louis XIV. Hundreds of nobles gathered together and accompanied the royal family to wait for the arrival of the Chinese mission.

  The Duke of Condé's two failed rebellions led to the complete loss of power of the local power faction in France. The lords of the provinces have all moved to Paris to settle down, building a large number of villas in the suburbs, and the taxation of the territory is exclusively for them to squander in the capital. This is similar to the Japanese shogunate, which also allows the lord to settle in the capital, preventing rebellion and strengthening centralization at the same time.

  The two sides introduced the main characters to each other, and Louis XIV kept looking at the Chinese envoy.

  The young king felt cheated. The styles of clothes worn by Chinese people are different from those made by French tailors. He decided to ask the tailors to make several sets again.

  The grand dinner is scheduled to be held on the second day. The Chinese guests are exhausted from the journey and have to rest in the Louvre for a day.

  When the nobles dispersed, the court minister arranged for the Chinese envoy to stay. After a short rest, Queen Anne took her son and ran to find Lu Tianxiang, Zhang Ruifeng and others, and invited Chinese guests to visit the palace collection.

  Queen Anne pointed to a box and said, "I asked top French craftsmen to make this. Does China have such technology?"

   "Sure enough, it is exquisite, which is rarely seen in China." Lu Tianxiang replied with a smile.

   It is a golden filigree inlaid treasure chest, with gold and silver silk to outline the pattern, and then inlaid with gems and other ornaments. It is golden, rich and luxurious, but also very vulgar, densely covered with gold threads, and has the same aesthetics as Qianlong.

  Hearing that it is rare in China, Queen Anne's vanity was satisfied, and she said to Lu Tianxiang: "If Her Royal Highness likes it, when I return to China, I can give you a gold and silver silk product as a gift."

   "Thank you very much." Lu Tianxiang said along the lines.

After visiting the room, Queen Anne pointed to a certain wall: "This is a jade mosaic that originated in Italy, and is now popular all over Europe. I have specially set up a mosaic studio. Although it is not perfect, as long as I continue to In a few years, it will definitely surpass that of Italy."

   "It's really beautiful."

  The Chinese envoys had a hard time complaining, and those jade stones didn't know what material they were made of. The flowers are colorful and colorful, and after being made into mosaics, they are put together into complex patterns on the wall.

  What's so good about this thing? It's even popular all over Europe.

   Immediately afterwards, we visited the porcelain showroom.

  Blue and white porcelain, imitation Ru porcelain, multicolored porcelain... densely packed, everywhere, and there are even porcelain vases half a person's height.

  Pan Wei was born in a wealthy family and was familiar with all kinds of porcelain. He couldn't help lowering his head and curling his lips, because many of the collections here belong to the middle and low-end goods in China.

   "Hey, what is this?"

  Pan Wei walked up to a porcelain plate, which was held up by a wooden base inlaid with gold and silver.

  Queen Anne introduced: "This is a Chinese porcelain plate collected by her deceased husband. The purchase price at that time was 10,000 livres (1040 taels of silver)."

   "Can I touch it?" Pan Wei asked.

   "Of course." Queen Anne smiled.

  Pan Wei carefully picked up the porcelain plate, the more she looked at it, the more weird she felt.

  The main pattern of the porcelain plate is a deer and crane pattern, and the background pattern has pine trees, which indeed belong to the Chinese theme.

  But the deer, the crane, and the pine tree are awkward no matter how you look at them. The pattern is divided into two layers, inside and outside, densely packed, and there is not much space left. Chinese people will feel panicked when they see it.

   Looking at the bottom of the plate, Pan Wei almost laughed out loud. There was actually the logo of Qumisha studio there.

   During the previous visit to Persia, the Chinese mission had seen this kind of logo, and many of the porcelain used by the Persian royal family came from this studio.

  Three words: Shanzhai goods!

  Persian porcelain craftsmen, in order to earn money from Europeans. Therefore, Chinese elements such as deer, crane, and pine are used, while catering to the aesthetics of Europeans, the patterns are made complicated and dense. Such nondescript things happen to be what European nobles like, and they are willing to spend huge sums of money to buy them as Chinese products.

   Until now, the French royal family has been kept in the dark, thinking that this is a Chinese porcelain plate.

  Pan Wei pointed to the logo of the Persian studio, winked at Cai Yuncheng, then smiled and said to the Queen Mother: "This kind of porcelain plate is extremely rare in China, and it is the first time I have encountered it."

   Queen Anne was even happier, feeling that her late husband had bought the right one.

  Lu Tianxiang said: "This time in Europe, His Majesty the Emperor of my country prepared five pieces of porcelain as a gift to the most friendly country. Thanks to the hospitality of the Queen Mother and His Majesty the King, one of them is going to be presented to France."

   "That's really great, please thank His Majesty the Emperor of China on your behalf." Queen Anne said happily.

  The old lady couldn't wait, so Zhang Ruifeng asked the female officer to bring the porcelain.

  Louis XIV looked at the wooden box curiously, unpacking one layer after another, and it turned out to be a porcelain bowl imitating Ru.

  Ru kilns have long since disappeared, but imitation Ru porcelains are blooming everywhere. In particular, Zhao Han lifted the ban on Ru porcelain, and folks can also legally buy it, and the technology of imitating Ru porcelain has become more and more exquisite.

  The bowl in front of me is the best imitation Ru porcelain, and the price in China is too high, so it is impossible to export it overseas.

   There is no pattern, just pure azure color, which corresponds to Song Huizong's phrase "After the rain, the sky is clear and the clouds are **".

  Louis XIV was dumbfounded and said after a long time, "I seem to see the clear sky after the rain."

Pan Wei flattered: "Your Majesty has good eyesight. This kind of porcelain is the clear sky after the rain. In ancient China, there was an artist emperor who saw the clear sky after the rain. He wrote poems and let the craftsmen painstakingly develop them. Finally, this kind of porcelain was produced. Plant Ru porcelain."

   Queen Anne stared intently, thinking about how to return the gift.

   Such a peerless thing, I am afraid that tens of thousands of livres cannot be bought, and the price unit should be calculated in one hundred thousand. One hundred thousand? two hundred thousand? Three hundred thousand?

   Three hundred thousand livres is thirty thousand taels of silver!

   But it is worth it, no matter how much money is worth it, the worst is to set up a few more official positions, and then let Prime Minister Mazarin sell the officials.

  Louis XIV in history was a master of selling officials, who took the initiative to set up countless messy official positions. 14,000 livres can buy the steward of the capital, responsible for managing the timber loaders in the port and squares of Paris; 9,000 livres can buy the steward of Rouen, responsible for managing the timber workers in Rouen; It is to use a small stick to pry open the pig's mouth and check the pig's tongue to determine whether it is sick.

   Now the prime minister is still helping to sell officials, quietly sharing the loot with the queen mother.

  Wait until Louis XIV takes power, a special agency for selling officials will be set up. Since buying and selling official positions is a legal business, the government has reason to levy taxes, ranging from 10% to 25%.

  Investing in official positions, just like investing in real estate, can be inherited and transferred. Some popular official positions can not only earn money, but also have room for appreciation. Just pay taxes to the government when the official position is transferred.

   Buying and selling official positions also requires taxation. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty had to call an expert after seeing it!

   After dinner, Queen Anne called the Prime Minister and asked: "The Chinese emperor presented a work of art of extraordinary value. What kind of gift should we give in return?"

Mazarin replied: "You can't give gold back directly, that would be too vulgar. Craftsmen must be summoned to create unique works of art. Only such a gift can show French style. Why not choose two of the most vigorous and vigorous BMWs and rebuild them A most magnificent carriage. The ornaments of the carriage must have a Chinese style, and must be decorated with gold and inlaid with the rarest and most beautiful gems."

   "This is a good idea, and I will leave it to you to handle it." Queen Mother Anne said, she had great trust in the Prime Minister.

  The people think that Mazarin is a traitor, but in the eyes of the Queen Mother, Mazarin is a loyal minister. It can not only help her earn money, but also cut off her political enemies and settle those local nobles who oppose the royal family.

  As for the life and death of the common people, what does it matter to the Queen Mother of France?

  (end of this chapter)