I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 171 Hofburg (6)

After being summoned by Leopold I, Prince Conti went to see Milady with mixed feelings, the glamorous lady sitting by the window, with needle and thread on her knees, and no other woman he had seen before. There is no difference, but she is playing with nearly a handful of monarchs in the palm of her hand, and devised an unprecedented big scam that swept hundreds of thousands of people into it.

   "You shouldn't see me again," Milady said, "but that's all right, I'll be leaving Austria soon."

Prince Conti sat upright in front of her and nodded respectfully: "I understand that this move is indeed a bit reckless, but I have too many questions in my heart, and if I don't get the answer, I will be like the one who can't crack the Sphinx. The enigmatic King Laios of Thebes was tossing and turning."

   "Okay," Milady smiled: "Ask whatever you want, and I will definitely answer everything."

   "What did Count Usipius meet in Mostar?"

   "Meet a bunch of liars," Milady said bluntly.

Prince Conti's pupils clearly dilated for a moment, "How is it possible?" He exclaimed, "He is not an ignorant person, nor is he a frivolous child, nor is he a person who believes in people lightly and ignores them. Dumb dude, if he gets to Mostar, he should know how to find the Governor of Bosnia and get the real message from him."

"As the saying goes, a hundred lies or a hundred truths are no more than ninety-nine truths," Milady said, "except for the Bosnian governor he saw, Your Highness, everything else is true. Yes, although those Ottoman Turks only know that they are playing with a stupid Austrian, they don't know why the count came, but his identity is enough to make them willing to cooperate with the crooks to put on a good show on stage, Of course, the clinking of gold coins is also a must, and maybe someone will report to the Governor of Bosnia, but whether he senses the wind or is indifferent to it, the best thing to do is to allow the scam to end perfectly."

  Prince Conti put himself in his shoes and thought that, if he were the Governor of Bosnia, the stupid mistakes and jokes of an Austrian could outweigh any excuse when confronted by the Sultan's emissary.

   "Who are those liars?"

   "Little people who are not well-known, it must be said that they often play monarchs and ministers on the stage."

   "You let a group of criminals do this?"

"Not only criminals," in fact, the main actor is Mr. Molière, who is now famous in Paris, and the dancing girl is his lover Julie Beyer, half of the other performers are from prisons, Usually from a theatre company.

  Prince Conti shook his head: "How can you have such self-confidence that you can hide from a close minister beside an emperor?"

"As an envoy, Count Eusebius has been sent to Rome, Florence, Holland and Spain. His ability is unquestionable, but in this matter," Milady explained patiently, "he has a fatal The weakness, to be more specific, is that he is one of the rare Austrian courtiers who does not know much about Ottoman Turkey, or that his knowledge of Ottoman Turkey is limited to books and intelligence, and like many people, in In his heart, the governor of Ottoman Turkey has a fixed image, greedy, arrogant, gluttonous, ****, barbaric... Just like in the preaching of the priests, the whispers of the court ladies, the tacit teasing of the men Like Yan Xian, a beast wrapped in countless extravagances, if you put the real Bosnian governor in front of him and let him see a good man who is not inferior to any monarch, he will be suspicious. Woolen cloth."

   "He didn't even ask for proof..."

"How to prove it?" Milady said: "Through the mouth of the governor's cronies, he already knew that the governor's wife was the maid of honor sent out of the palace by the Sultan Mohammed IV of Ottoman Turkey. This is an honor. But it's also the eyes and ears. This secret won't last long, and the decision he makes is likely to be within a few days.

   "Alas, you are forcing Leopold I to make a decision as soon as possible."

"It's hard for people to think rationally when time is tight, and they can only act according to their instincts. No king can refuse the possibility of expanding territory. Our kings can't, and neither can the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire." Mi Leddy put away the needle and thread: "The next thing is up to you. Before, His Majesty the King just used the Spanish inheritance in exchange for Leopold I's neutrality to Flanders, and now Bosnia is added, and it can even be said that The whole of Slovenia, if handled properly, Austria will no longer be just one or two miserable ports, and it can also have a place in the subsequent battle for sea power."

   "Then the decision I can make is the concession of His Majesty the King on the Bosnian issue."

"Not only that, the price offered by the 'governor' is thirty knightly lands, a duke's title, and gold and silver worth one million livres, to say the lands and the title of Leopold. De I can give it, but only this money. When he became the Holy Roman Emperor, his father could bribe all the electors for this. Not long ago, he just married the Spanish princess Margarita, because Margaret didn't swear off the inheritance, so her dowry was not huge, so now he's empty." Milady looked at Prince Conti sharply: "Now the only place where he might get a big income right away Only France."

   "One million livres..." Prince Conti hesitated.

"Oh," Milady's smile suddenly burst into full bloom, and even Prince Conti couldn't help but be startled: "My dear lord," Milady said, "we only need to obtain the document with the emperor's signature and seal. Now, as long as there is this document, the Emperor will never dare to intervene in Flanders' affairs, nor will he dare to ask our King to fulfill anything in this document - once it is leaked out..." She did not continue. Go on.

  Prince Conti trembled slightly, for he suddenly realized that his danger might not be before the signing of the instruments, but after the signing of the instruments.

   "Okay," Milady said at last, "I'm leaving, and your mission is at a critical juncture—it's all up to you."

  The wide silk skirt gently brushed the knees of Prince Conti, and when the prince turned his head, Milady could not be found again.

  ————

   "Witch!" Prince Conti scolded angrily, who was now on the run.

As Milady anticipated, although the possibility of Bosnia being taken into Austrian pockets may have made Leopold I lose his cool judgment, so that the Austrians and Prince Conti switched positions in the negotiations - originally the French were in the Downwind, now the Austrians are in the downwind, or in other words, who is in the downside depends only on who asks for others, Leopold I was reluctant to reach a contract with Louis XIV to divide up Spain and its territories, at least it should not fall on paper However, Louis was also a king. In politics, cheating or betrayal was commonplace, not to mention that Leopold I was also the brother-in-law of King Carlos of Spain, and it was not without reason that he wanted to meddle in Flanders.

The secret negotiations between Prince Conti and the emperor's close officials lasted for three days and two nights. They did not sleep. The smell of coffee and tobacco lingered in the curtained room. At the end everyone had red eyes and pale skin, like It was a ghoul who had just crawled out of the grave, and Prince Conti's heart had been hanging high, and he had no doubt that if Leopold knew that the so-called Bosnian governor's intention to sell his territory was a hoax, Maybe he would have him dragged out and hanged immediately, not even his blood and identity could save him, but when the document signed and sealed by Leopold I was sent out, he almost wanted to Laughing - if it wasn't for Milady's reminder, he might have relaxed right away, but he knew it was the most dangerous time.

According to the outcome of the negotiations, Austria will remain neutral and silent in the matter of Flanders, and will not pursue ownership of Flanders because of the inheritance held by Princess Margaret, in exchange for France will pay value Five hundred thousand livres of gold and silver, renunciation of the Spanish throne - the matter of Bosnia is not reflected in this document, after all, it has nothing to do with this matter, although Leopold signed this document, he Still a little hesitant, he stipulated in the document that this document should be kept as a permanent secret, only the monarchs of the two countries and related persons have the right to know, and this document will not be kept in Austria, nor will it be kept in Austria. It will be kept in France, it will be placed in a reliquary, and it will be handed over to the Grand Duke of Tuscany to keep it, and to open the box in safety and to ensure that the contents are not damaged, you will need two keys, one in Leo In the hands of Pod I, one is in the hands of Louis XIV.

Now this little box is in the arms of Prince Conti. As soon as he left the Hofburg, he saw a torch burning in the dark night behind him. Maybe Leopold regretted it, maybe he realized that it was just a hoax, In any case, the emperor obviously wanted to recover the document, and it would be better for the French who knew about it to be surprised.

The result is now that Prince Conti and his guards are being chased by a group of people who were first mounted on horses, and when they left Vienna and entered the Innsbruck area, they began to jump off their horses and chase their "people" on four legs. , to be right, the werewolves were chasing, Prince Conti remembered that at the time of the first Frond riot, because of the contradiction between the bishop of Mazarin and the French royal family and the Roman church, the church deliberately removed the Grand Inquisition of the Paris Inquisition. The king who was still very young almost died at the mouth of a werewolf. He didn't expect that he would encounter such a thing - while he cursed Milady's crow's mouth, he nervously watched the situation behind the carriage - those who were hired by him. The soldiers who came either escaped or lost their lives, and the loss to his guard by the King and Prince Condé was equally heart-wrenching. Prince Conte stretched out his hand to his chest and murmured a prayer that God would send thunder to kill them. Dark creatures.

He had thought about whether he could buy these werewolves, but the monk beside him resolutely gave up his stupid idea. The monk looked at the fur color and features of the werewolves, and said that it was probably because of the The werewolves of Sbruck, Innsbruck was the home of the Habsburg royal family for generations, and it is said that there are still several portraits of werewolves hanging in the Ambras Castle - as devout believers, they do so, and the church does not. To investigate, it is only possible that werewolves did appear in their family, but they don't know whether it was an alien bloodline or an ancestral bloodline that suddenly appeared. Anyway, it is impossible to buy these werewolves.

"I still prefer Europa from ten years ago." To be less respectful, Prince Conti always felt that since their king returned to Paris, the inhuman creatures they saw - wizards, werewolves, vampires, became more and more Too much, the king played with these monsters that should be cursed to **** for 10,000 years or more like a chess piece, and put them where he saw fit. Unexpectedly, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire also opened the way The taboo gate - thinking of this, Prince Conti couldn't help but shudder. He seemed to have seen that the high walls standing in the inner world and the outer world were gradually collapsing, and the momentum was unstoppable. Yes, this is a vicious circle, as long as there is When a monarch uses dark creatures, monarchs elsewhere are forced to use them, like wizards and monks beside the king.

  In the past, the church might have been able to contain one or two things, but as Rome became increasingly rotten and degenerate, the authority and power of the church were rapidly diminishing like frost in the sun. Now it is difficult for the church to protect itself, let alone intervene in the affairs of various countries.

   "We're on the Brenner Pass!" cried a Musketeer, riding his horse to the carriage. The Brenner Pass is the lowest and most important mountain pass from Austria to Italy. As long as it passes through it, it means that they are in Italy. That is to say, at least they will no longer be so blatantly plotted.

   "Great!" said Prince Conti, "but what about the assassins?"

Yes, I don't know when, those werewolves suddenly disappeared, but Prince Conti didn't think they would die like this, and the monks around him were still vigilant. At this moment, a smelly wind blew. When he came over, the musketeer with a puzzled head suddenly flew out from his neck, blood flew to the air and the prince's face, the prince shouted, and the monk who was in the carriage immediately grabbed him and took him dragged into the carriage, but the werewolves were already encircling them from the dense forest on both sides.

   "Perhaps I should say a prayer, or repent," the prince gasped.

   "Do it, Your Highness." The monk said: "The situation is not good."

   "I would like to hear a rebuttal," said Prince Conti: "Brother monks!"

The monk didn't answer, and he didn't have the energy or time to answer. He and his other brother fought against almost three times as many werewolves, and more werewolves were attacking the musketeers, if they were equipped with the previous That kind of musket, the musketeers are afraid that they can't pose a threat to the werewolf, but now they are equipped with almost all new guns developed by the bachelors and craftsmen. They don't need to be ignited and can be fired in bursts, especially bursts. The special holy silver (with Silver cross or silver holy weapon smelted) bullets continuously hit the werewolf's body, which not only can lift the fur, but also make the flesh and blood splash, revealing the bones and the soft internal organs under the bones, even if the werewolf's recovery ability is very strong. Strong, but a dead werewolf is useless no matter how strong the recovery ability is.

  In this way, these musketeers hold the most werewolves, and after the monk has once again retreated to the prince, let's go first! "He says.

  Prince Conti had to object. The carriage had already galloped, but it was probably only a few hundred feet away, and the narrow road was blocked by the fallen giant tree.

The gray-black beast revealed its figure, and Prince Conti sighed. Although the king reminded that these monks might look down on mortals because of their extraordinary qualities, he did not expect that he would not even say a word with the respect of the prince. There is no chance, this is a good time, he glanced at the faces of the monks, they were not much afraid, but he did not want to see God so soon.

Then, it was as if God finally heard the prayer of this not-so-devout believer, and so on, maybe the devil gave him an answer—the werewolf who suddenly appeared was biting with some other werewolves, Even the monks could not help being sluggish - but then the prince saw the black riding suit... "Madame Lavalier?" He asked in surprise, although he also knew that the royal lady was not just The king's lover, but it's too surprising to see her suddenly appear in such a remote place. Even if Milady appeared here, Prince Conti would not care too much, after all, that person was originally a spy, and This Madame Lavalier was originally a maid by the side of Princess Henrietta, and later became a female official of the Queen Mother. Although she later became a royal lady, her face was not worthy of people's praise, although the prince should not be too much. I guessed at the king's preferences, but in terms of appearance, this lady was really lackluster, and the impression she left on the prince was a gloomy and indifferent shadow.

Now this shadow has suddenly become thicker, the kind of deepness and depression that almost swallows people alive, so that Prince Conti dare not even speak to her for a while, but fortunately not, because the royal lady suddenly jumped from the horse When he went down, he tore his neckline when he was in the air, and when the pearl necklace collapsed, he turned into a big silver-white wolf and ran towards the **** battlefield.

Prince Conti turned his head sharply to look at the two monks, and the two monks just made a look of disgust, and did not want to stop or kill the giant wolf incarnated by Lavalier. Meaning, Prince Conti suddenly became weak, "God," he complained: "Can you tell me about these terrible things one by one?" There was actually a werewolf beside the king! Still a female werewolf! She is still a royal lady! Now he can understand why Madame Lavalier has been rumored to be pregnant all these years, but she has never had a child. The king will never allow herself to have a werewolf descendant, but as a royal lady, she always Not being pregnant can also be a laughing stock or a crime to blame, because at this time people believed that a man could not get a woman pregnant, and a woman could not get pregnant because of an unforgivable sin, which Louis already had. With two sons, he was the king again, so Madame Lavalier had to keep getting pregnant and losing her fetus if she didn't want people to question herself.

   "I said," but Prince Conti couldn't help but ask: "Do you know that too?"

   "We did counsel."

   "The king also did a penance mass."

The monk said that, Prince Conti could only make a face, and he also slowly released his finger on the trigger - the short-handled musket that the king gave him, was smaller and more powerful than the guns equipped by the musketeers. Big, the distance between him and the monks, its bullets are enough to penetrate the steel plate, the body of these monks should not be as hard as the steel plate, he can confirm this, because the werewolf's claws can only twist the sword, but cannot destroy the steel, but he tried , the bullet capacity of this gun.

Well, but looking back on it, their king wouldn't have left such a big mistake for him, or for these monks, Prince Conti sighed, leaning on the carriage of the carriage, listening to the outside With the voice and the gradually relaxed bodies of the monks, he knew that he had gone through another fatal crisis.

After a while, he saw Madame Lavalier walking back slowly with a huge werewolf head in her hand. Obviously, the werewolf on Madame Lavalier's side won a great victory. —Just looking at Madame Lavalier, who had changed into simple casual clothes and described even a little haggard, and the strong blood that followed, Prince Conti bemoaned that his king was not a real knight- Even if Madame Lavalier is more of a handsome man than a woman, she is still "she", and the king's posture is to treat her as a vulgar mercenary...Prince Conti spread out The thinking stopped abruptly when the lady slammed open the car door, so it seemed that the king was right, he said in his heart, while looking at the royal lady.

   "Give me the paper," said Madame Lavalier, "and I will bring it to the Grand Duke of Tuscany."

The Prince    looked at her for a while, and then suddenly smiled: "Who asked you to come to me to get the papers?" He asked: "It's not His Majesty the King, is it Milady?"

   Madame Lavalier frowned, "It's Madame Milady."

"Oh, then it's a pity that your news has been delayed a little," said Prince Conti. "When I left Vienna, Marie Mancini, Duchess of Colonna, had obtained the king's permission to take from me The paperwork is gone, and she is probably in Florence now."

He just watched Madame Lavariel's expression become dangerous. In recent years, everyone knew that the king's new love and old love had been fighting endlessly for the king's love, but he didn't expect that the women would not only be there Showing charm between the bed curtains, and drawing swords in order to win the king's favor on the battlefield - the king really raised the standard and requirements of the royal wife a lot, at least Leopold I was not a witch or a witch. The werewolf's royal wife, shouldn't he say that his king is really daring?

  Fortunately, Madame Lavalier only stopped for a while, and as if angered, she threw the werewolf's head at the feet of the prince, and then turned and left.

  ———

"Prince Conti has arrived in Florence," said Louis, a few steps away from him sat the generals who were about to show their talents in the coming battle of Flanders-Prince Condé, Viscount Turenne, Captain Vauban, and... the Duke of Orleans, the Duke of Orleans, who sat closest to the king, almost knee-to-knee, while the Prince of Condé was the furthest from the king, and ever since he had been pardoned and forgiven by the king, he had always seemed to be unable to do so. As if deciding how to deal with the king, he seldom spends time alone with the king. Even if he does, it is for the purpose of making official announcements and leaving. If the king invites him to have dinner with him, he will definitely suffer for several nights after returning. It is said that It was stomach discomfort, so the king no longer made such invitations later, and he did not intend to torture Prince Kongdai.

  The king said that, of course, the first to relax was Prince Kongdai. Although this younger brother also made him very troubled, but the younger brother is the younger brother. It is impossible for Prince Kongdai to be indifferent to his safety.

   "The biggest problem has been solved," said the king, "then next is..."

   He smiled and looked at everyone: "War!"

   Give away 2500 words and continue tomorrow.

   (end of this chapter)