I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 185 Saint Denis (4)

People only saw the king suddenly stand up from the seat, they looked at each other, not knowing what happened, only the Marquis of Lois suddenly realized - because of all the people present, only the king had enough to clearly see the city of Lille. the telescope, others can only guess or wait for the sergeant's return - the king's hand clenched into a fist, a suppressed shout made his lips tense, and he pressed the gilt copper tube tightly to his eye socket , staring at the battlefield filled with smoke and dust for a moment.

Under the French's new tactics, the first to die are the veterans who have been on the battlefield. Of course, no one will easily put the newcomers in front of the array. They don't know how to face the enemy, and they don't know how to avoid their companions. , to put it simply, they may not even be able to escape, they need someone to lead and encourage, but the incident happened suddenly, and even the officers were shocked for a moment, and they watched the French three times as much. After the fire knocked down the soldiers in the front row, they moved the muskets from above the shoulders to below the chest - of course, they also saw the cold light on the barrels of those muskets, at first they didn't care about it at all, the length of the infantry muskets at this time About four feet or so, plus the bayonet on the casing, it will not exceed six feet, and at most will not exceed the height of an adult male, and whether it is a halberd or a spear, more than seven feet, this foot The distance can decide life and death.

The problem is that a large part of these spearmen and halberds are newcomers, and at this time the French are already running, and the distance of more than 100 feet is not necessary for the musketeers who do not need to wear heavy armor. The distance that can be reached soon, the spears are not even fully put down. What's worse, even the veterans who have passed the battlefield, when they are aimed at the muzzle of the black hole, can't help but instinctively want to dodge, they It might take a while to remember that these men were out of bullets - but in just a moment, the royal blue torrent rushed into the formation of Lear's army.

In fact, although Lille's army has been hit hard before, the Spaniards once dominated the entire Europa with military strength and tactics. If Lille's commander can make a decisive decision, whether it is to order the army to retreat, or to push forward , there is no lack of a corresponding method, but even he hesitates - the soldiers can't get instructions, so some are still fighting, some have retreated, and some are desperately looking for their superiors, even so, until At this moment, the Lille people may not have no chance to fight back, but at this time, with a loud trumpet, the king's guards marched calmly from both sides. After adding the rifling, the bullets of the musket have more Great power, they don't even get close to the battle formation of halberds and spears, they just walk around them and shoot - every time, a few halberdmen and spearmen will fall. Hundreds of years ago, Mongolia People used to make proud Christians tremble, and now the king's guards have replaced bows and arrows with muskets, and can tear large pieces of flesh from the enemy's body.

The king sighed softly and put down his telescope. Even though he had an army of tens of thousands and excellent generals like Viscount Turenne and Captain Vauban, wars, especially wars of this era, were often more difficult. It's like fate's tricks on human beings. It's not uncommon for people to have an advantage but suddenly lose due to various accidents. It is not uncommon for kings to die on the battlefield. Otherwise, there would be no famous saying "I am willing to use the crown Change a horse!", and for Louis XIV, he needed not only a victory, but an unquestionable, indisputably glorious victory to finally lay the foundation for him as a lord.

The fall of Lille was a foregone conclusion before the King's Guardsmen appeared, and as the Lilleians eagerly closed the gates to keep the scattered soldiers outside, the grenadiers came on horseback, separated by a road. The moat, throwing the clay pot at the city gate, it was a bold move, because there were still soldiers running on the city wall, they could be hit by arrows and bullets, or they could lose their lives in the roar of artillery, but maybe the inside The Er people also realized that any of their resistance was useless except to anger the enemy, and no one made a threatening move.

   "Wait until the battle is over," said Louis XIV to the Marquis of Lois, "remind me that I will give each soldier a Grand Ecuador, and these grenadiers a Golden Louis."

"As ordered, Your Majesty." The Marquis of Lois bowed happily to the king. The king just handed him the telescope, not anyone present. Obviously, this reward is the Marquis of Lois and his father, the current What the War Minister wanted most - when the King moved forward, he would not hesitate to follow, while everyone else had to be one step behind.

The behavior of Louis just now was indeed intentional. The Marquis of Lois was not a person who was good at fighting. Before leaving Paris, the evidence that he impressed the king was the improvement of the casing bayonet. After leaving Paris, he was in charge of three. A large army, with a total of nearly 50,000 military supplies, has not made a single mistake, and the king will not be stingy with his favor. If he can get his wish this time, then he will also let those who have made achievements around him do so - Lois The Marquis should want to take over the position of his father, Minister of War.

As Louis thought about it, he stood on the edge of the high mound. Behind him was the huge milky tent, the royal flag of the golden lily on a blue background, and the private flag embroidered with the coat of arms of the sun in gold thread. He made a sound, and the ministers surrounded him respectfully. At this time, it was dusk, and the night was coming, but those who saw the king thought that they had seen a rising sun.

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The mayor of Lille, a Flemish man, stood on the wall at great risk and looked into the distance - also holding in his hand a telescope, originally a product of the Netherlands - in 1604 In 2000, the first crude telescope was born from the hands of a spectacles merchant. Even though it can only enlarge the object five times, people still flock to it. Later, the Italian Galileo managed to improve it. The east and west are closer to a distance of about five miles, but the best craftsmen who make telescopes are still in the Netherlands—like the telescopes in the hands of the mayor, they are not worse than those in the hands of the king of France.

He also saw the king, a young, ambitious king, his heart fell like a man who stepped into the air, and he had also heard about the new king of Spain, Carlos II, what kind of a Useless and weak, he would have rejoiced at that time, because it undoubtedly meant that Spain must not continue to control Flanders by force, but he should not forget that in the land of Europa, if a lion weakened , then there must be another lion to take its place.

   And Flanders is just a herd of antelope, and the antelope cannot decide to be eaten by the lion.

   "Where's the commander?" he asked.

   The mayor thought he would not get an answer right away, but the people around him answered him right away: "He is dead."

The Spanish commander was unfortunately killed by a grenade thrown by the French in front of the city gate. The porcelain sliced ​​his throat, and the blood could not stop. When he was carried to the mayor, the blood stained. Condensed, he looked like he was wearing a thick black armor.

   This guy is not a good man, but the mayor went to a priest and gave him the last sacrament.

   Next, it's something that those who are still alive have to worry about.

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  Louis and his courtiers, or any Frenchman, didn't care what the mayor of Lille was thinking, and the king only smiled a little when he finally lowered a white flag in front of the gate of Lille.

   "Do you know?" On the way to Lille, the king asked the Marquis of Lois with great interest: "Why do people show a white flag when they admit defeat?"

"As far as I know," the Marquis of Lois was careful not to let his horse's head go over the king, and kept a distance where he could talk to the king without shouting: "It should be because such a flag is completely white, which means failure. The one who has lost everything and lost all combat capability." He carefully observed the king's expression: "There is also that, Your Majesty, which also means that they allow the victor to paint his coat of arms on it, as the city's emblem. new sign."

   This sentence really made the king smile, "Maybe it's just because it's the easiest cloth to get," he said.

Then he stopped in front of the open city gate, and in the fearful gaze of the people in Lille, he raised his whip and pointed at the city gate. This city gate in Lille has three door openings, the largest in the middle and two smaller on both sides. Small symmetry, it originally had a Spanish name, but: "From today," said Louis, "this is the Porte de Paris."

Compared with painting his coat of arms on the white cloth, he would rather remember his victory today in this way. The flag can be changed at any time, but he will make people in the future remember this Paris gate forever, here is the Sun King's. The first Arc de Triomphe, but it won't be the last.

The mayor of Lille raised his head slightly, but didn't say anything. At this time, whatever he said would be self-disgrace. Moreover, he had also heard that the king of France was a pious and kind person. Maybe his The rule would be milder than that of the Spaniards.

Louis was indeed gentle, and indeed kind, but his kindness and gentleness were towards his people, those who would be loyal to him, pay his taxes, support him, and give their lives for him, and Not Lorraine, Alsatian, or Lille, and the people of today are not as docile as the people of later generations thought, they have fangs even if they are lambs, and even the French will murder the French. King, let alone these Flanders?

How the Duke of Gaston got those Bosch paintings from Flanders, even Madame Milady has no credible information, but to say that the Flanders have nothing to do with it, Louis would not believe it.

After receiving the silver key from the mayor of Lille, Louis issued a ban. After Vespers, only the French were allowed to walk in the streets. During the day, only a few people were allowed to leave the house. The prosperous The city of Lille seems to have become a dead city sacked by the plague, and people are panicking, but such measures have indeed driven out a lot of hidden rats-the appearance of these people swaying on the gallows and wheels can be mentioned to many people. When I woke up, sure enough, there was a nobleman from Lille who wanted to plead with the king and ask him to revoke the ban. When the first person was hanged, no one tried or whispered.

The soldiers who surrendered to the French, both Spaniards and Lille, were driven to build the broken walls and gates, as well as the new fortifications that Captain Vauban was eager to try, and the heavy labor knocked down many people at once. , standing with the walls and fortifications are the tombs of the captives.

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   "It seems that the King of France is not a benevolent monarch as rumored?"

  In the shadows that mortals can't see, two wizards are watching all this, one of them is particularly leisurely, "Does this make you feel better? My best disciple?"

   "A king is not something we can judge," Rubens said.

"A king is also a mortal." Jeromenes said, he is a arrogant person by nature, even ordinary wizards are only materials and sacrifices in his eyes, let alone a mortal, even if he is the king of France, he once Killed one French king and killed another and he didn't even know who killed him. "Perhaps you're still talking about your God," he said sharply, "I don't!" Rubens denied it immediately, and at the same time there was a bit of bitterness in his heart. Unlike Bosch's first student, old Peter, Rubens After being a nobleman, he worked as a maid with a countess since he was a child, and later won the appreciation of the duke. All the way to the sky, he is not only a painter, but also a foreign minister, but he also has the pain of being humane. First of all, he is a The sorcerer, and secondly, his teacher (unknown to the Countess at the time) was Jeromenes Bosch. A crazy dark wizard.

In fact, Bosch is not only a dark wizard, but what may make many people unbelievable is that he was once an aide, only one step away from a real clergyman, which also makes his paintings more absurd. The ground presents a sacred and compassionate scene to people, which is one of the reasons why the Roman Church banned his paintings. Seriously, if it is just stupid, there are too many stupid paintings. Well, it was Bosch who revealed a terrible truth to people that made him intolerable - but now Bosch doesn't care about that anymore, he's more keen to use his paintings as people to create a living Hell, especially for the dignitaries.

   Being able to take the fate of these eminent people, wise people, and outstanding people in his hands, he muttered, it feels really good.

After   , he took Rubens back to his workshop to continue the creation of the Saint-Denis triptych.

   There is another chapter tonight, it will be very late, you can read it tomorrow morning.

   (end of this chapter)