King's Landing in France

Chapter 90 What do you mean by losing money and losing your daughter?

It stands to reason that in this era, nobles should first send a servant to send a letter when they visit each other, but An Ning can't control that much, anyway, I am not a noble, so I go directly.

He returned to the Royal Palace with ease, and went straight to the main house.

The butler of the main house was also very knowledgeable, and immediately went to inform the Duke when he saw An Ning.

A moment later, An Ning saw the Duke himself in the Duke's study.

"Why are you here? I thought you were busy preparing to set off to suppress the bandits." The Duke greeted An Ning, gave An Ning a firm hug, and then lowered his voice and whispered, "I think Lafayette's respect for you Prestige seems to be very unconvinced, be careful of fraud."

An Ning smiled wryly, and said that I also knew about the fraud: "Your Excellency, I already knew about the fraud. Guess how many people Lafayette gave me?"

"How many?"

"There are less than [-] stragglers, and these people can't even walk in line. And the entire army has only fifteen trained non-commissioned officers. These people will retreat after the first round of firing."

The Duke frowned: "Is this too obvious? You should protest to the Parliament and ask Lafayette to give you more troops."

"Lafayette would say we're just going to play for the main force."

"So what do you plan to do? Use this little force to fight the rebels to the death?" the Duke asked.

An Ning: "How is that possible. Of course, I will wait and see the situation when I get to the position. If Lafayette's troops don't come out, I will come back and file a complaint."

The Duke nodded: "Very well, I will also help you urge Lafayette to send troops. That's why you came today, right?"

"No," An Ning shook her head, "I'm here today for another matter. I hope His Excellency the Duke can sponsor a military fund."

The Duke frowned: "Sponsorship funds? Didn't Lafayette give you money?"

"Yes, but the coupons. In the rebel area, the coupons may not be easy to use. I need silver coins, crowns, and livres."

The Duke frowned and looked embarrassed: "Because of the revolution recently, my territory can't collect taxes..."

An Ning curled her lips. Sure enough, when money was involved, the Duke was not so easy to talk to.But this evasion is a bit too deceptive.

It is true that the Duke cannot collect farmers' taxes, but he has mines and factories in his territory, and he has many business names in his hands.

Relying on the duke's face, the duke's business can get tariff relief in many border territories, and it can make a net profit by transporting goods from southern ports like Marseille.

So it is absolutely impossible for the Duke of Orleans to have no money—it would be better to say that for a new bourgeoisie like him, the farmer's land tax is a small amount, and if you give it up, you will give it up.

It is precisely because of this that the Duke of Orleans pushed forward so vigorously when the decree was signed last August—for him, he only sacrificed a small profit in exchange for a great reputation, which is an unprecedented good thing.

An Ning: "Your Excellency, although I'm just putting on a show this time, what if I get a good chance to wipe out the rebels in one fell swoop? Isn't this possibility worth your risky investment?"

"If your army is stronger, I'd like to give it a try." The Duke shook his head, "But you also said just now that it's just a mob. Naturally, I'm worried that my investment will be wasted."

An Ning: "You can't think like this. In fact, tomorrow you can announce that you have funded the counter-rebellion and gained great prestige. Now in the National Assembly, as a nobleman, you have less right to speak than Mirabeau. I don't think you should Do something to increase your influence in Parliament?"

When the Duke of Orleans heard Mirabeau's name, his face darkened.

Mirabeau was originally a writer supported by him, and he was mainly hired to write dirty stories about the queen. Unexpectedly, the miscellaneous fish raised by his subordinates are now flourishing in the parliament by relying on their flexible social skills. The Duke is of course unhappy up.

An Ning deliberately provokes the Duke by provoking Mirabeau, reminding the Duke not to miss this good opportunity to increase his reputation.

The Duke stood up, walked back and forth in the study twice, then pointed to An Ning and said, "I can only give you a one-time subsidy, [-] livres, all of which will be converted into silver coins, and there will be no more."

An Ning immediately saluted the Duke respectfully: "Thank you very much for your generosity."

Duke: "I'll write to the bank right now and ask them to prepare silver coins. Tomorrow...no, it should be the day after tomorrow. The silver coins will be delivered to your manor."

The Duke said "your manor" here. In fact, the manor where An Ning lives is also the property of the Duke. Thinking about it carefully, he is really trying to catch the Duke.

An Ning bowed to the Duke again: "I don't have any doubts, waiting for the silver coins to arrive."

Duke: "Well. By the way, have you eaten? If you haven't eaten, stay and eat together."

An Ning: "Sorry, I have another important thing to do tonight."

"What's important?" the Duke asked half-jokingly, "more important than having dinner with your benefactor?"

"I need cavalry, marching and fighting, without cavalry as reconnaissance cover is not enough, troops without cavalry are like blind men, it is easy to bump into the enemy and wipe them out."

An Ning paused for a moment, "Based on what the captain from Libreville who fled back said, they didn't have cavalry for reconnaissance. As a result, they ran into the rebels head-on, and were slaughtered in a hasty fight."

The Duke nodded: "Indeed, cavalry is very important. But as far as I know, the entire National Guard has no cavalry. Where are you going to get cavalry? Do you want it from the old army stationed in Verdun?"

What the duke said was indeed true. The cavalry is expensive, and it takes time to develop. So now the cavalry in France are all the old kingdom army, and the number of cavalry owned by the National Guard is zero.

Lafayette also thought about hiring the hussars of the Royal Army and turning them into cavalry troops of the National Guard.

But most of the hussars were Hungarians. They thought their employer was the king and looked down on the National Guard composed of men in trousers.

As for the cavalry unit composed of the French, most of the cuirassiers are aristocratic lords, and most of the lancers are of noble origin. Although the dragoons are known as infantry fighting on horseback, most of them are either rich or noble.

The main skill of riding a horse, except for nomads, other ethnic groups is basically only the leisure class can play.

An Ning, a cobbler who can ride a horse, will attract a group of people who are inexplicably surprised.

In short, it is a bit difficult for this group of people to join the National Self-Defense Forces composed of trousers.

No wonder the Duke wondered where An Ning was looking for cavalry.

An Ning: "Indeed, there is probably no way to borrow the cavalry unit of the army. However, there is a cavalry unit. I think we can try to borrow it."

Duke: "Which cavalry unit?"

"Her Majesty's Imperial Guard Knights, those girls are also cavalry, if they are only used for reconnaissance missions, they should be enough. Don't you think His Majesty the King is willing to show his presence now?"

The Duke's mouth became O-shaped: "You mean Christina and the others? Sometimes I really think that you are quite whimsical, and you dare to think of anything."

An Ning: "Don't you think this is the most feasible way to obtain cavalry under the current circumstances?"

"The premise is that your majesty can really be persuaded by you..." The duke hesitated halfway through speaking, "Damn, your majesty must have been frightened to death when he saw you, so he didn't dare to say no. Since you are going to find your majesty, you should Hurry up and start, I wish you success... If you borrow cavalry, remember not to send my daughter to a dangerous place."

An Ning: "Don't worry, I won't really let a group of noble ladies go to charge. I can't afford any mistakes in this group of people's charge. Then, I will leave."

An Ning stood up, bowed to the Duke, and then walked backwards out of the room.

As soon as he left, the duke snorted, "Hmph, you're asking me for money and a daughter. You'd better remember your investment in suppressing my rebellion this time."

(End of this chapter)