I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 325 Before the Great War (7)

Prince Louis will feel frustrated and worried, but Louis and others will not be so - there are also monks and wizards around Little Louis, who can ensure the absolute safety of the crown prince, and the infiltrating Crimean Tatars are not Many, in this era, it is almost impossible to completely separate the battlefield from the rear. A commander has to face many things - such as endless procrastination, defections and betrayals. Not even fighting on French soil now.

With the explanation of the Marquis of Lois, the crown prince was surprised to know that as the coalition troops came to Kamnik, the half of Slovenia that spread out from Kamnik first suffered a battle from the Holy Rome of the monarchy. The catastrophe of the empire and its allies - according to tradition and agreement, Leopold I had to provide a large part of the supply for the military horses that came to his aid, and the Austrian duchy alone could not afford it - then Slovenia as a vassal of Habsburg With the servants, it is necessary to take on this heavy responsibility.

   Kamni is a big city, but how many original inhabitants are there? There are also the herdsmen on the highlands of Velikaprani, where they graze. Tens of millions of cattle and sheep have now been replaced by densely packed soldiers. None of them left their tents and houses voluntarily, and many more It is empty hands and full of despair - under the advice of Louis XIV, the Marquis of Lois can only guarantee that the French will not rob the cattle and sheep of the herdsmen, or the property of the residents, their wives and children like the bandits. It could be preserved, but neither Louis XIV nor Lois could intervene in the armies of the Spaniards, Austrians, or other princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

And as I have described, in addition to the salaries paid by the employers, mercenaries have two main harvests. One is the assets owned by the civilians in the battlefield and the cities and villages near the battlefield, and the other is the The "legacy" stripped from the dead. Because the Habsburgs have not yet fully acquired Slovenia, they still wear the mask of kindness when facing the lords of Slovenia, but those ordinary people treat them like bleating lambs, and they will not think about it. How much damage will these mercenaries cause to Kamni, even if all the plundered citizens and herdsmen die, as long as the city still exists, there will still be people who will continue to migrate in and thrive. They, as well as the lords and nobles here, and even the wealthy merchants, will not suffer any serious losses.

But for the inhabitants of Kamnico, and the herders on the highlands, it was a catastrophe—imagine a quiet, warm evening with children looking forward to the berries in the woods and husbands estimating the berries in the wheat fields. The harvest or the newborn lamb, the wives are thinking about the new cheese, the young men and women are thinking of their lovers... The old people kneel before the icon or the cross and pray in a low voice... They may have heard that the pagan army has Approaching the Sava River, the war was imminent, but like everyone with a little bit of luck, they stayed because they lived poor and couldn't stand the torture of being displaced.

   Then they were driven away.

If they were fortunate enough to meet the French, then they could get a little compensation, but if it was someone else... The herdsmen of the highlands were more savage and vicious than the citizens of Camnico, who immediately after being driven and plundered The decision to go to the Ottoman Turks was not surprising—there were only a hundred or so Tatars brought in by them, so the garrison didn't notice it.

Realizing that apart from the French, the real army might not be as fair and upright as he thought, the Dauphin fell into a rare silence, and after he was slightly relieved from such horror, Louis asked him to go with Louis again. The subordinates of the Marquis of Vas registered the dead and wounded soldiers together. Mr. Pierre's ruthlessness made the French people around the Dauphin not suffer too much damage, but some people were still killed or injured. When Pierre said that there were three dead and eleven wounded It didn't sound amazing at all, but after he named their names one by one, the blurry image immediately became clear in the crown prince's consciousness, and his eyes couldn't help but fill with tears, "Really Is it? Antoine, Barre and Gabriel..." He choked: "They..."

   "It is a pity," said Pierre, "your highness, but it is an honor and honor that they died for you."

The Dauphin shook his head sadly. Like his father Louis XIV, he knew very well that death was never honorable... Louis has always tried to minimize the casualties of soldiers and officers, but as long as it is war, death It was inevitable - the Dauphin remembered that when he left Versailles, his father was ordering Levaux to design a cathedral, and it was said that all the names of the heroes who died for him, for the Bourbons, and for France would be inscribed in the church. on the walls, so that every descendant can learn about their heroic deeds.

There is one thing that people may not believe now. When the Sun King decided to erect a statue of the playwright in the Grand Theater, people in Paris thought it was a beautiful thing to praise, but when the king deliberately made it ordinary When soldiers, officers built a cathedral, people started talking and didn't understand why the king did it - there were also marshals and generals who were favored by the king before and were allowed to hang portraits on the walls of the palace, or in designated places. Buried in the cathedral, but those soldiers of humble origin? Even Cardinal Larivière, who has always been indifferent to everything, once inquired about the meaning of the crown prince...

The crown prince did not realize his father's intention until now. He remembered those three people. Antoine was a romantic seed, the second son of a baron, and he was better at dressing up than any noble girl the crown prince had ever seen; Barre A dark-skinned Marseille, he was supposed to serve in the naval fleet, but came to him because of his father's relationship with the Marquis of Lois; Gabriel... He is not much older than the Dauphin , shy by nature, but very good at taking care of horses...

A monk performed the sacrament of death for three persons, who lay side by side on a couch made of two tables joined together, and the first sight of the Dauphin saw Gabriel, the young musketeer, from the peeping out of the sheets. Physically, he did not suffer much damage, as if he was asleep, but his face was pale, his lips were blue and purple, and a silk scarf was tied around his neck to cover the opening on his throat. It is said that his horse unfortunately retreated when Falling, he fell off his horse and couldn't get his feet out from under the horse for a while, and a Tartar jumped up and cut his neck neatly - Barre's body was more than his. More wounds, the fatal wound was a hole in the chest. Compared to Gabriel's pale face, his dark skin reminded the Dauphin of the silk that had faded from washing and drying many times, wrinkled and glowing. Grey - Antoine's face is covered with his favorite hat, the ostrich feathers on it, dyed bright red, have been broken, and hang over the brim of the hat, the Dauphin stepped forward, trying to uncover the The friar stopped him when he was taking the hat: "No, Your Highness," he said: "His face was trampled."

The prince withdrew his hand silently. He knew what the monk was talking about. The real battle was completely different from what he imagined, and what the playwrights and painters described. People were biting together fiercely like beasts, although they had no sharp teeth. Fangs, but swords and muskets—and horseshoes with iron paws, and no one will see you if you fall in a melee.

   "Are you going to see the wounded soldiers?" Pierre asked.

   "How are they?"

"Thank God," said Pierre, "two will have their arms amputated and three will have their feet amputated, but they will all survive." He said vaguely, before His Majesty had boldly introduced wizards into the army , these five men also had to die, but now even if they lost two hands and two feet, they could go back to Paris or Versailles - the man who was wounded in the battle for the king, no matter his origin, can be in the Paris Basin Obtaining a small fief and a considerable annuity ensures that he and his family can spend the rest of their lives prosperous and worry-free. In their careers, they will also receive special treatment.

Therefore, in the French army, even in the wounded camp or the dormitory, there will be no stagnation. When the prince enters the room, the unfortunate people are still sleeping because of the wizard's narcotics. It will be a hard day, but they will always calm down - as for the other injured people, they are just broken bones or flesh wounds, so when the prince came, they were sitting around playing cards , There were some shiny little things spread out on the card table. The crown prince deliberately looked away to give them time to sweep the coins on the table into their pockets.

Unlike these active musketeers, the Polish Tatars, Anwo was placed in a room alone. He was lucky. Although he was trampled on by a horse's hoof, several ribs were broken and his internal organs were injured, but these injuries did not affect him. For wizards, it's not a big deal - even Louis didn't know whether to blame this young man for this battle. He deliberately wanted to show his agility and force in front of the crown prince, but he didn't expect a small Temptation will attract so many enemies.

When he saw the crown prince, he was silent for a while, then jumped off the bed, knelt in front of him, and touched the crown prince's feet with his forehead. Little Louis took a step back subconsciously, "Don't be like this, Anwo, "I don't blame you," he said.

   "Then you still want me." Anwo said sadly.

"I want you, but you can't be so reckless in the future," said the Dauphin, and the Tatar chief had indeed mentioned that he had several sons, but they were all out at war now - people like that, whether it was Louis Or Ludwig I, who would not let them serve the Dauphin—this is a waste. Seriously, no one thought that the first battle would happen to the Dauphin of France; Secondly, compared to Anwo, the sons of the elder Tatar leaders will only be more cunning and changeable. Before the heart of the prince is immature, he should not be accompanied by such strangers.

The answer of the crown prince made Anwo show some surprises, but it was only a little bit. Mei Duo was his sister from the same mother and had a deep relationship with him. Even for the Tartars, a daughter was far less valuable than a son. death still makes them sad.

   At this time, a mournful cry came from a distance, "Who is that?" asked the crown prince.

   "Those highland herdsmen," Pierre said without changing his face.

   "Are they going to be executed?"

   "It's not just execution, we're in Slovenia now," Pierre said: "According to the traditions and laws here."

Yes, in Paris and Versailles, all kinds of torture still exist, especially for those who dare to hurt and assassinate the king, members of the royal family, but the most cruel ones, such as sawing, ratting, and the Iron Maiden, have basically been executed. Cancelled, but the assassins will still have their hands chopped off, or their fingers pinched with pliers, before being beheaded or hanged - these people are doomed to die when they attack the crown prince, but the The way of death of the Tatars in Rimia is different from that of the herdsmen.

Those Tatars were torn apart by the horses—before that, the Tatar chiefs who fell in love with Louis XIV deliberately cut their limbs and joints, otherwise it would be difficult for the horses to really tear off the human limbs— Unlike France's benevolent five horses (neck, limbs), the Tatar chief, mourning the death of his daughter and nephew, used only four horses, and when those Crimean Tatars fell to the ground, he Set them up on sharpened wooden poles—that's what Ahmed did to the Christians.

This is because the Crimean Tatars are strong cavalrymen. As for the herdsmen, they were beaten with whips, weeping and peeling bark, paring wooden poles, and preparing torture tools for themselves. When they saw the **** bodies around them, How could they endure their grief?

These wooden poles would stretch from the French garrison to the king's castle, as Vlad III did to the Ottoman Turks, forming a **** road that neither Louis XIV nor his generals would like to see In such a scene, if they don't do that, they will be looked down upon by the Tatars or Slovenes, and the highland herdsmen will not appreciate it, but will only feel that the French are weak and can be bullied. Did the Atartars hide in the woods closest to the French garrison?

No matter what they thought, when more than two hundred people were worn on the wooden poles, the entire Kamnico city became much quieter, and even those occasional small conflicts suddenly disappeared. Now - the French have been provoked a lot before, and those mercenaries who are used to mischief are not ashamed of the generosity of the French, they just think that these French are really stupid and cowardly, some people even before the legend, the French They won not because they were brave, but because their weapons were new enough and their ammunition was abundant.

Now they know, the French will never mind treating you like a sheep to be roasted, and you'll have to deal with the torture device that runs through you—though they must be polite throughout the process. , gentle and amiable.

   (end of this chapter)