I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 363 Naughty Mr. Villar

Louis XIV quickly left the Hurons and black slaves behind, first of all they were not French, not his people, and secondly, whether they were blacks or Indians, they were too far from the king, and black slaves were now commonplace Used on the islands of the Caribbean, the Indians have nothing to do with most of the French, and in the months after the Duke of Montreal's birthday party, the king has been throwing a banquet—for reasons, just look for it.

It's just that Louis XIV's banquet is always accompanied by the sound of rumbling guns. The rebels in Lorraine are accustomed to it. Amsterdam and Groningen belong to the newly occupied areas. Occasionally, some waves are also within the scope of people's recognition. The ancient port city dates back to 600 AD, founded by the Phossians in ancient Greece and under Roman protection during the Roman Republic - but, mind you, it remained a long time after that. It is an independent city. Although it lost its civil rights because of the wrong team during the Roman Civil War, it is true that the Maasai people have always maintained their pursuit of freedom until now.

  The big-nosed French king François I once suffered a shipwreck near Marseilles, so he built a huge fortress in Marseilles, but it seemed useless, whether it was against storms, enemies or plagues. During the reign of Louis XIII, there was a black death in Marseille, which caused the death of tens of thousands of people. Therefore, after Louis XIV came to power, he also specially sent officials to Marseille and other port cities to visit and inspect to ensure the port's safety. Safety and cleanliness reduce the recurrence of plagues like the Black Death. Later, the king's doctors researched cowpox. After Paris and Versailles, people in port cities were the first to accept cultivation. After all, the density of population in ports and the frequency of movement are far better than those in inland cities.

And so... the ironic thing happened, a priest believed that the king of France had been deluded by the devil, and he was not trying to save the people of Marseille, but to consecrate them to Satan, once the horned bull The removed cowpox liquid is injected into the human body, and those who receive the planting will grow horns, turn into a cow face, or moo like a cow...

   People with a little common sense and reason will of course not believe in the nonsense of the priests. If you grow cowpox, you will become a cow, so have Paris and Versailles now become the king's cattle ranch? But people who believe this kind of lie are not smart people, not to mention, when this priest gave a public sermon, he got two people who were bribed. They first showed the audience the cowpox planting on their bodies. Traces, and then when the priest's holy water is poured, he immediately rolls to the ground, shouting and shouting like a bull.

  The priest took this opportunity to stir up the ignorant people.

The person who was sent to Marseille to deal with the matter was Jean Barr, the first batch of military academy graduates, Chaud-Louis Hector Villar, who was born in 1953 and came from a humble background. He was one of the refugees whom the king gathered during his exile, but fortunately they were not ordinary farmers or craftsmen. His father was a lawyer. He took a small job, went to the government for many times, and finally fell under the command of the Duke of Conti. With such a father, when Villar became an adult, he naturally entered the army - although his father hoped He was able to carry on his own business. But what young boy at that time would not want to serve the king with a knife and a gun?

Villar also entered the military academy as an officer after many years in the army. Of course, he and Jean Bart, and Louis. Joseph. de Bourbon, the grandson of the Duke of Vendome, were three in Paris and Versailles. There are three famous generals on the Rouge Street. Unlike Jean Barr, he got more news from the court, almost no less than Joseph. When he was appointed, he guessed that this was the king and the veteran. their last test.

Because of the great plague 80 or 90 years ago, the population of Marseille has not recovered until now, and the riot was strictly sealed within a controllable range by the Governor of Provence, but the various losses caused by the chaos caused by the riot are definitely There is no going back - the whole of Marseille is in a state of serious stagnation, and once Villar arrives in Marseille, he is not even interested in cleaning and sweeping the city first - he is as stingy as Louis XIV, facing the towering walls, He did an astonishing thing.

  He found some ancient trebuchets, and threw several corpses that seemed to be infected with smallpox into Marseille, just as the Tartars did with the Europas.

The Maasai people who were waiting behind the city walls went crazy, but in the past few decades, human memory is not so short. At that time, the memory of the survivors of Marseille when most of the city was empty immediately resurfaced in front of them - although smallpox It is not as highly contagious and lethal as the Black Death, but people in this era still cannot understand and understand how the epidemic is transmitted - just look at the protective clothing of Dr. Bird's Beak, they feel that contact (even trampling the pavement where the sick have entered); talking and breathing, or turbid air; even by looking, it is possible to infect a healthy person with the plague.

No one dared to collect the bodies of the smallpox patients, they hung from the eaves, hung from the branches, lay among the gravel, quickly decayed and smelled, and people ran to the church, crowded around the priests, scrambled to receive communion , trying to escape the plague and the death that followed - but it seems that suddenly, some people have a fever, some people feel pain all over, and some people have pustules on their bodies... The whole city is full of cries and sounds. Prayer, then curses.

   Some parts of the city were on fire. Others tried to escape from the port, but Villar blocked the port from outside.

   Within a week, the people of Marseille opened the city gates by themselves.

   The governor of Provence could not help but look pitiful. "If you do this," he said, "you may bring disaster to yourself."

   "What are you talking about," Villar said. "Are smallpox patients so easy to get?"

   "But those corpses?"

   "Just some criminals," Villar said. "I have a doctor under my command who can make vivid smallpox pustules with ointment."

   The Governor of Provence looked at him: "Fake?" He looked at Marseille: "But as far as I know, some people really got smallpox."

   "You can ask the doctor to see it, it will definitely not be smallpox, even the Black Death." Villar told a not very funny joke: "Suspicion is a ghost."

Villar's family was once prosperous, but after years of famine and the resulting riots, their escape was a fluke - exile was unbearable for a man as noble as Louis XIV, and for a common man. Not to mention a human family. During his exile, Villar's father was impressed that a man who used to be a doctor could use various poisonous fruits, leaves, and roots to stimulate the skin, so that the Ominous scars and pustules develop.

This made him seldom come back empty-handed when he went begging. People were more afraid and disgusted than sympathizing with him. Even if everyone's situation was not very good, when they encountered such a dangerous patient, they Wouldn't mind giving a handful of wheat, or a bowl of beans.

When their lives settled down and recalled what happened at that time, Villar's father told Villar, and Villar suddenly remembered this matter this time, so he asked the army doctor - there are really people who can do it, This is nothing to a doctor, after all, the first thing a doctor knows is all kinds of poisonous herbs and berries, some of which can kill people immediately, and some can save people when they are measured.

The people of Marseille were of course unwilling to believe it, but after the king's army entered the city, they went to clean up the corpses without hesitation, walked calmly in the streets and alleys, and even entered the house, and they did not wear protective clothing. , with a mask - here are two explanations, depending on which one they believe, one is that the king's soldiers had been vaccinated, they didn't become cows, and they didn't suffer from smallpox; the other was that they were frightened by several corpses Broken guts.

Villar didn't care what the Marseilles thought at all. He was proud that he won Marseilles without losing a single soldier. The intelligence sent by the spies—when the Marseilles panicked to the extreme, this gentleman didn't care. Thinking of this, Villar shrugged, ignoring the angry roars and protests of the priests, in front of the governor and the members of the Marseille city council. face, and stripped these people of their clothes.

The priest's body was exposed to the eyes of the people, because the cowpox had to be planted on the top of the left arm for verification by the king's request, so - they immediately saw the golden lily mark - the doctors first opened the wound with a silver knife , but that method is not suitable for children, so later the king's physician leader Lom, after inventing the beak protective suit, then invented a tool for growing cowpox. Its principle is similar to that of a dip pen, and the hollow pipe is connected to A pointed tip, which pierces the skin, and the vaccinia fluid flows in with it.

In order to allow people to remember the favor of the king, the pointed head quickly turned into a simplified golden lily pattern. After the wound healed, the outline of the pattern became more blurred, but it was still clear that the trace was still there. It was quite new, and Villar laughed at a glance: "So you are also afraid of smallpox infection?" He didn't even ask the doctor to change the tools.

Knowing that they had been deceived, the Marseilles glared at the priests and their entourage, but this was a good thing, that is, the officials and doctors sent by the king to Marseilles stayed in the dungeon well, although their spirits were apathetic, but they did not. He was tortured, but he didn't die, but it would be hard to tell if Villar slowed down. The stake was already ready. It was just that the priest thought that a suitable day should be foretold, so he came to hold a grand bonfire banquet - in fact, he was worried that he would not The implant was successful or the doctor concealed some steps.

   "Don't worry," said Mr. Villar, who looked like a dude, with a smile: "The stake will not be wasted."

Although it was almost made into a barbecue, the moral bottom line of the doctor is obviously higher than that of the average person. When he heard that someone had smallpox, he went to see it immediately. There are also some doctors in Marseille who were originally strongly supportive of cowpox cultivation. , But the words of the priests were more powerful than them, and people not only did not believe their words, but also arrested them as spies and traitors.

After some discussion, they agreed that no one in the city had smallpox, and the result was confusing. If there was no smallpox in the city at all, then the high fever, the rashes and pustules on the skin, and the What about people who are in pain?

"I don't know either," said Villar, "but Jean Bart told me that there is a penalty among pirates, where they hang a man upside down, in a dark room, at his throat. Cut a small incision on the top, put a bucket next to it, and tell him that his blood will drip into the bucket, and when it is full, he will die." He made a gesture: "But the dripping is just a skin bag, If the pirate can survive until the next day, he can live, if he can't - Barr said no one can, and the next day they all get a horrified corpse, and it's strange that, It really looked as if it had been drained to death."

   "Didn't he die by hanging?" the Governor of Provence couldn't help saying.

"It's possible," said Villar, "but he said, blindfold someone and tell him he's going to get scalded by a soldering iron, and even just put a cold iron on and he'll get scalded and reddened. scars and blisters."

   "It does happen." The doctor also said the same: "Some people are so sensitive that they will drive themselves crazy even if it is just a lie."

The Count of Provence didn't say anything else. There would definitely be the king's spies in the crowd to help fuel the flames, but he also knew that people often say that if you call the devil, the devil will come. A person who often complains about himself will not be healthy. The Maasai were originally frightened birds, and there will be people who regret it after the impulse - it is difficult to say whether those who claim to be infected with the disease really feel uncomfortable...

Needless to say what happened after that, the priest and his followers were sent to the stake, "Even if it is to send fireworks in advance for the wedding of the eldest princess and King Carl XI of Sweden." Villar muttered, revealing that With a naive smile, he is only twenty-four years old this year, and he is handsome.

"Elizabeth probably won't like this kind of fireworks." After reading the spy's report, Louis XIV lost his hands and rubbed his forehead annoyed. Don't get me wrong, he didn't do what Villar did - he wasn't a natural cruelty but the behavior of the priest and the Maasai really angered the king - if it wasn't for the priest who had not planted cowpox and had selfishness, the officials and doctors he had finally cultivated would have become a pile of useless ashes .

   "The governor of Provence is also a useless person," said the Duke of Orleans.

"I can't blame him entirely. He probably didn't expect the mayor of Marseille to be stupid enough to believe a priest's words." Louis said, if the mayor hadn't been sheltering, covering up and participating in the conspiracy, the doctors and epidemic prevention officials escorted by soldiers would also be Will not be caught unsuspecting: "But it's not a bad thing, after a while, I will send another person to be the mayor of Marseille.

   "The governor of Provence will also be replaced," said the Duke of Orleans.

"It's probably not possible in these few years," Louis said. "Although our students have spread all over the middle and low-level officials, a governor can't be loyal or rigidly act according to the law. Moreover," he drew a circle: " The court and the people at court won't agree, and I'll have to wait—Philippe, can you give Henrietta more children? When they graduate from school, our burdens will be much easier."

The Duke of Orleans glared at his brother. As the years passed, he found that his brother became more and more "lively" and "unscrupulous", but thinking about the hardships they suffered before they reached adulthood, this kind of life seemed to turn their lives upside down. The behavior of coming here is not surprising: "Can I have children with other women?"

"It should be fine." Louis said, as if he had made his three illegitimate sons dukes, and he intended to let them follow the example of the first king of Naples in the future, changing from illegitimate sons to pure and noble royal origins. It is highly respected in the mouth of the dignitaries, because for thousands of years, the king as the biggest prince has only been tirelessly expanding his territory: "But until now, have you not reconciled with Henrietta?"

It's ridiculous to say that Henrietta kept silent when people intended to marry her daughter, the Grand Princess, to Carlos II, who was still a fool and disabled at the time and was destined to have no descendants and long life. , without saying a word, obviously intending to make the Grand Princess the victim of her younger brother. Louis and Philippe can understand why she made this decision - she was not too young when she gave birth to her son, and she lived better as a foreign princess in France than Queen Teresa from Spain. Difficult - after all, Queen Teresa may bring a Spanish crown to the Bourbons, but Henrietta's brother is Charles II of England.

The king handed over the women's college to her and the Duchess of Montpensier, and also intended to promote her and stabilize her position in the court, but in matters between husband and wife, as Philip's brother, he has no room to interfere - Duke of Orleans Annoyed that she didn't love her daughter - when the grand county master was growing up, he had been fighting outside for the king, thinking that his wife, who had gone through so much hardship when she was a child and a young girl, would definitely treat her daughter even more. Indulge, like him and Louie.

The results of it?

It wasn't just Henrietta's indifference to her daughter that made Orleans angry. Although he also knew that all royal marriages were a kind of political covenant, or even a financial transaction, he, like Louis, was doing everything possible to make it possible. Dancing in a cage with shackles as far as possible—Louis can do everything in his power to seek power and love for his daughter, and of course he can, does she just distrust him? What did she say to the Grand Princess? Even for France, he and Louis were not despicable and shameless enough to exchange the lifelong happiness of their daughter and niece for a covenant!

   "Okay," Louis couldn't help his younger brother, "as long as it's your child."

In today's France, people from humble backgrounds who are innocent are not without a chance. Colbert is the idol worshipped by businessmen, Vauban is the target of young officers, and Schaumberg is the pinnacle of foreigners in France. Even the Tatar Anwo, because of his heroic performance in the Battle of Kamnic, was able to accompany the crown prince. When the bravery and wisdom of men can still be respected, they gave the commoners great confidence. , the nobles are also willing to accept them as a member of the pyramid class.

  However, officials like governors, inspectors, and magistrates are much more sensitive. Sword-wielding nobles cannot tolerate robed nobles to seize their status and glory. How can nobles willingly bow their heads in front of a former commoner? But it's different when it comes to people with royal blood and surnames, and no one knows how to respect the two more than nobles.

   "You can also have more children with Madame Montespan." The Duke of Orleans didn't want to mention Henrietta too much, so he joked with the king with a smile.

"She will only have one child." Louis said, the Duke of Orleans heard the king's words - if it was someone else, only Bontang and Queen Teresa could understand. Knows Louis, and Queen Teresa feels the same - if Madame Montespan has many children with the king, she will be more wild, because everyone who knows the king knows that the king loves children very much, and one more child , Louis has an extra chain on his body. When dealing with Mrs. Montespan, it is inevitable to shrink. But if there is only one child, then the one who is worried about gain and loss will become Mrs. Montespan, because the meager relationship between her and the king is all about Relying on this child to link - the king does not have a term of office, but the royal wife does.

   "But she will do it," said the Duke of Orleans.

   "My spy will keep her in custody." Louis said, "Besides, I have you, brother."

"Since you have given me this power," said the Duke of Orleans bluntly, "I will accept it." Although the Duke of Orleans is the king's eyes and ears in the court, he has always been cautious about Madame Montespan before. Attitude, mainly because it is difficult for people to believe that the king does not have much feelings for Madame Montespan. The Duke of Orleans was also one of them before, and he is unwilling to affect his relationship with his brother for such a woman.

But it now appears that the King's attitude towards Madame Montespan was similar to his attitude towards Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans - a feeling that could not be described as disgust, but by no means a love, and they looked at them and just It was like watching a statue that could shatter at any moment.

   "Wait when I get back," said the Duke of Orleans. "I'll talk to Henrietta."

   "Be nice to Henrietta," Louis said. "We were close playmates when we were kids."

   "Who said that," said the Duke of Orleans, "did you forget that I hated her since I was a child? I even pushed her from the chair beside you to the ground, and she cried so ugly."

   "Alas..." Louis turned his head away.

  ———

Louis' eldest princess and Philip's grand dame are over fourteen years old, and it's no wonder that the Swedish royal family can't wait to fulfill their engagement. In this era, sixteen is the age for a girl to mature, and her **** are bulging. , with a slender waist and blushing cheeks, ready to be a wife and a mother—especially, whether it is the princess or the princess, the king has always paid attention to their health, and in every way, they have not suffered as much as Henrielle A miserable tower or Teresa can even receive political education and martial arts lessons like a prince, learn to ride (straddle) and use a musket.

Not to mention, Louis repeatedly told the eldest princess that although Sweden's covenant with France was important, her happiness and life were more important. In the eldest princess' dowry, in addition to the five mentioned in the marriage negotiations between France and Sweden, In addition to the money of 100,000 livres, Louis also planned to let her take away a cavalry company. All the expenses of this cavalry company will be paid by the French royal family, and they will only obey the orders of the eldest princess.

"Really?" The Grand Princess heard this, her eyes lit up, her "special teacher" told her clearly and in detail a series of terrible things that happened to the British royal family during the period of Charles I. At that time, her grandmother, like her grandfather, was declared guilty of treason. At that time, if it wasn't for the Queen Mother Mary, the wife of Charles I, who promptly left her infant daughter and ran to Paris, I was afraid that there would have been one more on the guillotine. A head that has worn a crown.

Even Henrietta, even though she was a princess, was born without the salute, the bishop's blessing, and the people kneeling in worship. She had to leave her biological mother while she was breastfeeding, and was fostered in a humble little aristocratic family. The Queen Mother Mary took her to Paris, but her life was not much better—even though she is now the Duchess of Orleans, her height and weight are not even comparable to her fourteen-year-old daughter, and she is not as loud as her voice and pace. Fit - Her body is not too fit.

  So, in the vortex of power, being a member of the royal family does not guarantee that you will always be safe and sound. What's more, when the eldest princess married into Sweden, she was a foreign queen like her mother and grandmother, so the doubts and conspiracies that she had to face would probably be no less.

   "Really." The eldest princess nodded, "But my father said, in order to prevent people from making irresponsible remarks, the personnel of this company can't use French, only Swiss."

   "Swiss mercenaries are quite professional," said the grand shire, "but then little Eugen will be sad."

"Come on, don't say that," said the eldest princess, "he's just another brother of mine, just like the little Duke of Engien." If it was another noble girl, saying this in front of her would make the eldest princess unhappy, but If it is the big county master, it is a kind reminder: "I will meet him before I leave."

Perhaps it was because when little Eugen first met the king, it was the eldest princess who extended his hand to him. At that time, little Eugen, who was only nine years old, was in the darkest stage of his life - he only knew who he was. , noble and embarrassing, he was the illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and the Countess of Soissons - an era in which the nobles had a very strange view of such a relationship, and they did not condemn the emperor Betrayal of marriage with Madame, but will mind the Countess of Soissons - although she is Italian, her sister is the royal wife of Louis XIV, her husband is the Count of Soissons, the king's half-brother and cousin , then, as a French, she should be the royal wife of Louis XIV, not Leopold I's, which is akin to treason, and neither the French nor the Austrians will be satisfied.

To say that the Count of Soissons is a straightforward soldier, he has always maintained an attitude of indifference to his frivolous wife. It is also possible that his love and affection are all pinned on another woman, but that woman She is a commoner who has given birth to several children, but she has never been able to enter the church with him - he sees hope in the Duke of Mortmar.

Louis XIV was a generous man, as he had hoped, and he solved the problem of little Eugen for the king - he admitted the child - anyway he would have more to leave to his own children, and the king consecrated him His lover was Countess Lemont, and he asked Mr. Bishop to revise the birth certificates from Eugen onwards, to advance the death of the first Countess of Soissons, and the time of his engagement with his lover to follow.

Although later generations were stunned when they saw this series of dazzling operations, for the priests of this era, it was all routine. The Count of Soissons was satisfied and returned to the army to continue fighting for the king. Eugene, as said before, stayed at Versailles, and was looked after and raised by the Queen Mother together with the Dauphin, the Duke of Enghien, and others.

   His room was not far from the crown prince, and they often contacted and got along with each other during class (when the eldest princess didn't go to the women's college).

  Little Eugen unfortunately inherited some features from the Habsburgs. His appearance was unattractive, and because of his overly square jaw, he looked old and serious, and he was surrounded by the crown prince and the Duke of Colonna, which made him even more tragic. Princess Elizabeth is like his control group - the Bourbon children have light blond curly hair from childhood, and grow up to show golden brown or tan, she inherited Louis' beautiful eyes, and her mother's beautiful eyes. Queen Teresa's most beautiful nose and mouth, the most fortunate thing is that the big Habsburg chin does not show on her face, her facial contour is reminiscent of the king who was born in the Medici family. Queen Mother.

  Because of Louis's attention, she has a kind of pride and dignity that no noble girl has ever had, and because of Louis' education, she is kind, kind, and intelligent.

   It takes less than a second for a princess like this to make a young man with low self-esteem germinate sweet and bitter emotions.

   The addition is complete!

   (end of this chapter)