I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 310 The King's Royal Expedition Again

There are few doubts about the decision of Louis XIV, but there are still many people who are worried about France. Even with the large-scale use of muskets and artillery on the battlefield, the king behind him has rarely Affected by the war, but this time the enemy of Louis XIV was the Ottoman Turks. For most Europas, it was a group of devils who would breathe fire and smoke in their ears - and although the expansion of Ottoman Turkey had followed. It has gradually slowed down with the death of Suleiman I, but it is still a huge empire, a tiger can be daunting, and a giant elephant can be even more shy.

   Some people even suggested that even if the king sent reinforcements, he did not need to go out in person, and he would only have to send a few capable generals to perform his duties.

"But here in the Habsburgs, Leopold I must personally lead the army. If I don't show up, then he will be the commander of the coalition forces. I don't think he will blaspheme God and make deals with the devil, but he will definitely To the Austrians and his allies." Louis said to the Duke of Orleans, and this time he was going to take the Dauphin of the young Louis, so the Duke of Orleans and his son had to stay in Versailles or Paris - the same as the last time he Fighting Holland and Flanders, the Duke of Orleans left little Louis for the same reason: "The Duke of Colonna has already been in battle, and little Louis is about to come of age..." Louis paused, "In Leo Before the eldest daughter of Pod I married King Carlos II of Spain, he probably wouldn't have the strength and will to form an alliance to fight against me, so perhaps the biggest battle in the past few years is this time, and it is against me. The Dutch campaign was different from Flanders," he said quietly: "This war will be more brutal."

   "You are too harsh on little Louis." The Duke of Orleans said angrily: "He is normal, brother Wang, you are not normal."

Such rude words, let others hear it, they will be shocked. Even if the king immediately ordered the guards to expel the speaker, or even imprisoned in the Bastille, it is not impossible, but the Duke of Orleans said so, and Louis fully understood what he meant. : "No no no," he said, "I don't mean to blame him, on the contrary, I am very happy," Louie said: "You know I used to almost have a love, until now, I do not know Should I regret or should be glad, I stopped before I fell completely, and I would love to see little Louis get the gift I lost." He thought for a moment: "He is different from me, he has a strong and dear Father, and a loyal and generous uncle who...has the power to indulge and fail."

After Louis said this, there was silence in the room for a long time - Louis lost his father at the age of five, although he returned the enemy for Louis XIII, whether it was the wizard who cursed him or the mastermind behind him, even The Roman Church... But it was an indisputable fact that the impression of Louis XIII in his mind became more and more indifferent. He was lucky. The Duke of Orleans could hardly remember his father's face now.

"I'm sorry, brother." The Duke of Orleans whispered. During the riots of the Foliage, the Queen Mother and the Bishop of Mazarin still resolutely excluded him from government affairs, so how bad the situation was at that time, he had to re-open in a few years. To sort out the memories of that time, we can only get to know it by testing and inquiring from the Duchess of Montpensier, Grand Condé, Viscount Turenne and even Marshal Schumberg.

But it's impossible to say that Louis has empathy - if I had to give an example, if the Duke of Gaston or the Prince of Condé were to take their place, they would end up no better than Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower of London. where to go (note 1).

To say that the Duke of Orleans never complained about the partiality of Bishop Mazarin and the Queen Mother would be a lie. Although he became an adult, no matter what temptation and turmoil he encountered, he firmly stood by his brother. An unintentional accusation showed that those dark things still left a trace in his heart after all.

"It's nothing," Louis said calmly, "and, even if I do have something wrong, are you perfect?" He tugged at his brother's light blue scarf tied into a bow: "Philip, we all have shortcomings. , but it's been fine without making things worse."

The Duke of Orleans tried to smile, but failed, he may still be the boy trapped in the little skirt, and his brother has never been able to give his heart to another person completely. This is a good thing for the country, but it is not For Louis himself - he must now start to envy the crown prince, little Louis. He has a good father and has not lost him, so this child can have such lovely distress.

   "I agree with you now," said the Duke of Orleans. "Take him to the field, and as long as he sees more of those terrible Ottoman Turks, his troubles will surely disappear."

Louis laughed unabashedly: "Then it's settled, Philip, you will guard Versailles, Paris and France for me. By the way," he touched his cane: "If possible, in these two or three years, you will It would be better to have more children with Henrietta, I don't want my youngest son to be too lonely."

   "Have you not given him a name?" asked the Duke of Orleans.

"I'll give him a name when I get back," said Louis, deadpan, who now looked like a king again: "While I'm away from France, the Duke of Colonna will return to his wife. Siena, where he will compete for and accept the loyalty of the remnants of Anjou - so there is only Madame Milady here in the world, she is a shrewd spy, but she is still too weak to deal with bigger things , so I've turned some of the business over to Mrs. Montespan to see how much she can earn for her son."

   The Duke of Orleans wisely did not pursue this further: "Do you still intend to involve the Duke of Colonna in the affairs of Siena? But as far as I know, Cosimo III has two sons."

"It's a pity that one of those two children, although of the same age as the Duke of Colonna, has nothing to praise, not even the sharpness and prudence of his father. As for the younger son, he was born weak and sick, and some doctors said that he might not be able to give birth."

   "If the wizards can cure Carlos II," said the Duke of Orleans, "then they can cure the child."

"I also want to tell you about this." Because the secret agents are related to the inner world, the leaders of the spies are Madame Milady and Elarius, who are directly responsible to the king, so the Duke of Orleans doesn't know about this matter: "Those black Wizards...the so-called cure is likely to be drinking poison to quench thirst." Louis recalled the secret scroll that Erael brought him: "In the magic of wizards, any transaction related to vitality is not equal."

   "But if it works, there will still be people who will follow," said the Duke of Orleans.

"Maybe while the wizards still had the world in their hands." In ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, there were often large numbers of slaves dying either simultaneously, or successively but uninterruptedly—while the wizards were still When it was priests and shamans, they could do whatever they wanted, but now, it is impossible, and this kind of spell will attract huge backlash.

What exactly is it, even Elarius doesn't know very well, but the current situation in Spain is like a pyramid built on a small ball, which may completely collapse at any time - that small ball is imposed. Carlos II of black magic.

   "So the Church of Rome just stood by? Is the Duke of Luxembourg being investigated here for instructing the priests to sell arsenic for the sake of hundreds of Riffles?"

"The Church of Rome knew very well who would be their enemy," Louis said, "and even if Carlos II died, or the Duke of Don Juan or the Queen Mother of Habsburg died, whoever ruled after that died. Can a Spanish, a French, or an Austrian still convert to Protestantism? If only ministers and commoners die, then they will not have to worry." He shook his head.

   "Both of them?" asked the Duke of Orleans, the grandfather of Clement X and Madame Aubigne.

"Why not, they are quite alike in this respect," Louis picked up the two letters to Philip: "the former is crazy, the latter is ambitious, but they are more worried that I will marry the princess and the princess to the Protestant king and The matter of the Archduke." Sweden had converted to Protestantism as early as Christina's father, Gustav II, and now most Swedish citizens are Protestants at birth, which is why Queen Christina originally intended to convert to Catholicism , the domestic Protestant church did not hesitate to stand on her cousin's side.

After the eldest princess Elizabeth married to Sweden - of course the Roman church still wanted her to maintain her Catholic faith, but Louis XIV, who loved her daughter, believed that Elizabeth had better keep the same faith with her husband and subjects - Louis was a religious pragmatist , it does not mean that others are too, and there are also many grievances caused by conflicts of religious beliefs.

   As for the big county master, Louis will not force it, what a joke! Brandenburg-Prussia is a Protestant country (let's call it that), but when the new defender of Catholicism, Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire used him, he didn't hesitate to let the grand county master keep it. As a Catholic, first ask Leopold I in what name he accepted the allegiance of a Protestant.

  ——

In France, and in any place where Christ is believed, it is often said that the devil comes, and the devil arrives—the king and the duke of Orleans have brought up the marriage of the lord of the county, and the son of the grand duke of Brandenburg-Prussia has come to see Louis XIV, The reason why he asked to see Louis XIV was also very simple. His father, the Elector of Brandenburg, wanted to follow the will of Leopold I and lead his army to rescue Vienna, so he had to return to Prussia as soon as possible to perform the duties of an heir.

After speaking, Frederick looked at Louis XIV expectantly. Although Brandenburg's envoys repeatedly said that the king of France was likely to refuse to send troops, or just let his generals do the work for him, he didn't think so... His guess was correct, and the king of France nodded. "Maybe I will meet your father in Hungary."

   The little Mr. William's eye gleamed at once, but it soon dimmed, for he remembered that he had to stick to Prussia, and it was impossible to fight the heathen with his father, and Louis XIV.

If Louis had heard Frederick's heart, he would have told him that, even in battle, he would only sit in a castle some distance from the battlefield and wait for his general to deliver victory - a king, unless he Whether Alexander or Caesar is reincarnated, it is best not to go to the battlefield and cause trouble for your soldiers and generals.

   Frederick retired with secret regrets, and Louis still had a lot of work to do.

Although it has been decided to let the Duke of Orleans stay, it is also a problem to choose which general and field marshal to go to Hungary with the king. General Vauban is available - Louis plans to recall the Viscount Turenne, and Grand Condé also has his eldest son returned to the king at his disposal.

Marshal Schumberg was once an Austrian, and it was not Louis's style to make him embarrassed between Leopold I and himself, but the king showed this meaning, and the Marshal Schumberg immediately ran to the king. - The flash on his chest immediately caught the king's attention, wasn't that what the king gave him for the first time - the big diamond pin.

It is said that Viscount Turenne also planned to duel the foreigner (then Schumberg had not yet acquired French nationality) to decide the ownership of the pin—not for its value, but for its meaning .

He came to ask the king, and he was righteous. As early as twenty years ago, Louis XIV granted him French nationality and made him a Frenchman. "And," he said bluntly, "Your Majesty, this time you Without me, what do you want others to think of me? They will definitely say that my loyalty must have unknown flaws, so His Majesty is not willing to use me." He raised his eyebrows slightly: "In addition, this time you I was not allowed to go because Leopold I might be the commander-in-chief of the coalition, and he might be an enemy of France in the near future, so must I still be excluded?"

  Note 1: Edward V, the eldest son of Edward IV, became King of England after his father's death, but within a year, he disappeared mysteriously in the Tower of London with his only younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. They were succeeded by their uncle, the regent, Richard III, Duke of Gloucester.

   (end of this chapter)