I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 315 The King's Royal Expedition (6)

Louis XIV listened attentively. The spies of France were now all over the country and half of Europa, as well as England and Scotland, and part of the colonies - but these spies, wizards or not, could not penetrate the Ottomans thoroughly. The Turkish Empire, not because they were deliberately slack, but because the Ottoman Empire was too special.

First of all, although the sultans and grand viziers of Ottoman Turkey allowed different beliefs in the empire, just like Louis XIV imposed different levels of taxation in the newly conquered Flanders and the Netherlands, although Ottoman Turkey was said to be multi-faith Empire, but for those Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants of different faiths, and even some Buddhists, they have always been inferior, and they not only have to bear heavier taxes than those who believe in the only true God, but also pay a "blood tax" - that is, handing over their sons to become soldiers of the Sultan, these children leave their parents and their homeland at a very young age, and come back as a complete Ottoman Turk, in addition to these, they are legal, commercial and marriage. , each of which is lower than the believers of the one true God.

Especially in some big cities that have been ruled by the Ottoman Turks for many years, such as Bosnia, which was once used by Monsieur Molière as a large theater, and who shamelessly and boldly deceived the envoy of Leopold I. The city - M. Molière said after his return that almost all the Turks walked in the city - no, it should be said that everyone dresses as best as possible in their attire, and anyone who is out of line will be caught by countless pairs of eyes. Watching, even so, people with unfamiliar faces, even if they are false converts, will be used by Sudanese spies... Most of these people are retired soldiers from the Yenicheri Corps (Sultan's Guards Corps). Officers, who were not allowed to marry in the Legion, were educated all day long to be faithful to their faith and to the monarch (here, M. Molière also gave Louis XIV a meaningful look), which made them remain steadfast even after they left. will not abandon their responsibilities.

So, any foreigner who shows up in an Ottoman Turk city, and everyone he meets, from an innkeeper, a spice merchant, a bartender in a café, even a camel and horse-leasing business, is Noose wrapped around their necks.

As for the wizards and the inner world, unfortunately, maybe there existed there, but the order of the Ottoman Turks is much more fierce than the Roman church - although the process is not very clear, but they may have directly robbed a group of witches, and when the child was born After killing their mothers, when these children grew up, they naturally became the most fanatical believers and executioners of the sect. With this sharp knife, the Sultan and the Grand Vizier of Ottoman Turkey were like skilled farmers. Little by little, the wizards were driven out of their lands by wielding a scythe to harvest wheat.

   One might ask, are there no wizards who have followed the example of making worlds everywhere as dwellings? Yes, but as I said before, the beliefs of the Ottoman Turks absolutely do not allow any error or wavering. They are not like the Roman priests. They only care about whether there are gold coins in the box of indulgences. Constantly expanding religious territory while purging those who are not religious enough - this is quite deadly for wizards.

Just like the islands of Gayola and Gilead, the wizards will in fact still have contact with the outside world. A Catholic, a Protestant, or no matter what kind of believer, when they see real benefits, they will hesitate and pretend not to see it. You can hear it, but you can't hear it, but believers in the true God don't.

The inner world is not an extra space, it actually exists in the outer world, but it is very remote and unknown. At the same time, it is brewing strange power, which promotes the formation of magical creatures, and is more suitable for wizards to survive. They are often a deep path. A canyon, a lonely island, a dense jungle, a swamp shrouded in fog... But if someone is suspicious, determined, and has enough manpower to investigate, they can still find something wrong from the map and calculations.

  The problem is this, it becomes difficult for the wizards to operate in the territory of the Ottoman Turks, except for the question of belief, they are as conspicuous as ink spilled on white paper. But to Louis XIV's surprise, Amon told him that although the Ottoman Turks could not tolerate wizards, they could tolerate vampires and some magical creatures. Although they were all classified as devils, sometimes there were also fallen ones. Believers are willing to make deals with them.

There is a clan of vampires wandering in the Arabian region. Amon calls them the assamais. These assamais are wandering in the dark and hot sand, doing business as mercenaries and assassins. He also asked Louis XIV if he was interested. To buy this group of blood clans, Louis refused without even thinking. He was in contact with the two princes, Theodoric of Vandro and Amon of Zmish, and read a lot of books of wizards, and then he knew that the blood family valued their ancestral land-generally speaking, the ancestral land of the blood family was very important. It is the place where the second or third generation of vampires were born. They may even have been kings and lords. For a very long time for the vampires, they carefully managed their own territories, cultivated heirs, established armies, and even held trials. , executions of vampires whom they thought might be a danger to the clan, were also there.

Among the thirteen clans, Zmish is quite powerful, but their fate is ill-fated. They turned out to be the first blood clan to lose their ancestral land because of the change of human power and the change of land. Prince Meng is more reckless when it comes to doing things. At the same time, the Gangaro family from Scandinavia is also very embarrassed - this situation is not without solutions for them, that is, the family is completely Destroy another clan, and then dominate two territories.

   But Gangelo dared not confront Zmich...

Well, let’s put these aside, mainly because Assamai has been wandering in the Arabian region, and when the Ottoman Empire was at its largest, there were four core areas—the Nile River Basin, the Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula, which were born here respectively. After the Persian Empire, the Alexander Empire, the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Arab Empire—and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, so Arabia is only a part of the Ottoman Empire. What price will he have to pay to make this group of blood people give up their territories?

   And the "devils" couldn't enter the sultan's palace, even the capital, they couldn't provide any valuable information.

Most of Louis XIV's intelligence about Ottoman Turkey came from businessmen. Although the Venetians and the British have been secretly communicating with the Ottoman Turks, when it comes to their close relationship, they can't compare with France for the time being. And after Louis came into power, such as wine, spices, potatoes, chocolate, coffee, fat powder, glass, porcelain, colorful clothes and gems with new cutting methods, they were still sent to Istanbul, the white and black people of Sudan. The manager is the biggest buyer, although everyone knows that these businessmen often have two jobs, but who makes French businessmen always come up with fresh and good things.

But it is very difficult to find out the real secrets. "I only know that Muhammad IV has not been in power so far," Louis said a little helplessly: "His father Ibrahim I is said to be an arrogant Madman, so Mohammed IV was forcibly deposed when he was six years old, and now the Queen Mother, she is a Venetian woman, and promoted the people of Kopruli to be the Grand Vizier." This is why the Ottoman Turks Although they captured Crete from the Venetians in 1969, the Venetians still held on to a glimmer of hope. After all, the Ottoman Empire was under the control of the Queen Mother for three hundred years. Maybe they thought that this The Venetian woman, the mother of Muhammad IV, will also become a female sultan.

It is a pity that this lady is not destined to become the second Xu Leim (Note 1). Although Coprüli was promoted by her, from the very beginning, he unceremoniously asked her for four major privileges. One: executive power. No interference; 2: Possess the right to appoint and remove personnel; 3: All reports must be reviewed by him; 4: Complete trust is required, and no doubts can be given to him. These four requirements are almost completely empty of the sultan and his mother. If it is placed in the period of Suleiman I, or even in the period of Sultan Xu Leim, he only needs to finish the first one, and the following things do not need to tire his tongue. because the sultan will immediately order the **** who is waiting by his side to hang him with a longbow.

But what is astounding is that the mother of Mohammed IV actually agreed. Of course, not everyone was willing to believe this grand vizier, so he ruled for five years and executed 35,000 people. Among them, 4,000 were dignitaries. What was the concept? At that time, there were only 300 officials handling political affairs in the court of Ottoman Turkey. Rotated at least ten times or more in five years.

With such brutal means, the Grand Vizier has firmly established himself as the uncrowned king. He is not a person with only brutal nature and no outstanding talent. During the years he has ruled this huge empire, He reconstituted the navy of the Ottoman Turks, lifted the Venetian blockade of Istanbul, and recaptured two important islands; he sent troops to exterminate the rebels in Asia Minor; pushed the empire's borders to the Don, Volga generation - Directly against Russia; and another is to capture Romania again and restore its rule there.

If the Ottoman Empire, under the control of Ibrahim I, was like a carriage that was dragged by a mad horse and could fall apart at any time, then Coprüli was the one who slowed down the carriage. , At the same time, he also raised the weapon in his hand, so that people can see that the Ottoman Turk Empire still has fangs and teeth. He died in 61 and handed over the position and power to his son.

"Do you know what he said to Muhammad IV before he died?" said Louis: "Four more, never listen to women, never make ministers rich, always keep the treasury full, never let The army is idle."

Ludwig I was stunned for a moment, "It seems that Muhammad IV did indeed do it, at least he must have done the last one," he tasted: "No wonder you say that he is a bishop like Richelieu. characters."

   "And his son, Ahmed," added Louis, "who also inherited the ideas and ideas of his father, and this war is the most conclusive proof."

   "How terrible," said Ludwig I, "for the will of one, or two."

   "That's why people chase power," Louis said, "at all costs."

Ludwig I had a hard time determining whether Louis meant anything, he shook his head, if Louis XIV was such a man, he is now Prince of Condé, or worse - just a puppet, like Poland before King, "Then it's up to me," he stood up: "Most of my information comes from focusing on the military, Your Majesty, this time we may have to face 250,000 enemies."

   "Sounds pretty scary," Louis replied, "Tell me about it."

"The first is the Yenicheri Legion you mentioned just now, but it includes soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, and in this war, the Sultan and the Grand Vizier allowed all Ottomans to join the army, so the total number reached 170,000, Including the Sipacian cavalry, but also a large number of Azaps (infantry); their vassals, the Kurds of Asia Minor-Anatolia, the Rumelians of the Balkans, Transylvania, Moldavius Servants of Asia and Wallachia (Romania), the Crimean Tatars who served the Sultan, and Hungarian Protestants, who probably also had countless muskets, artillery, and ammunition, from the special From Upper Hungary occupied by the Grand Duke of Transylvania to Transylvania, all the way down, it is their territory, and they can get supplies from it without carrying too much baggage."

   "So what about us?"

"You have 30,000 people here," said Ludwig I. "I have about 15,000 people here, as well as Austrians, Danish and Norwegians, Spaniards and Portuguese, and Switzerland... our total number. It can reach about 150,000 people, but Your Majesty, there is a problem here."

   He stood up and walked to the window: "Please look outside."

Note 1: Roxelana (1506-April 15, 1558), called Hürrem in Turkish, and Karima in Arabic, meaning "honorable" "), Empress Suleiman I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Because of his political power, he was known as the Sultan of Hurem in the history of the Ottoman Empire.

   (end of this chapter)