I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 388 Fleet! fleet! fleet! ! (superior)

   "That's right." After roughly understanding the king's intentions, Reverend Paul asked again: "What do you mean by the liturgy? Isn't the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin just past?"

   "Then you also know that His Majesty's birthday will be a month after the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary." Jean Barr said.

The priest widened his eyes: "But how can those Parisians, Versailles, bear the king's celebration in Dunkirk?" Although he has been living in the small town of Dunkirk, the merchants and smugglers He needs to be well informed. Of course, he knows that the Parisians and Versailles almost regard the king as a statue in the Palace of Versailles or the Louvre. Even if the king goes out to fight, they will complain endlessly. This time the king decided to go on a grand tour, They also kept mumbling, let’s take a look at the king’s chariot. Except for those who were fortunate enough to be ordered to serve in the chariot, more people came by themselves. Of course, this is not a cost that everyone can support, so these people Almost all of them are dignitaries with bulging waist pouches.

If those people were to know that the king's birthday celebration was being held in Dunkirk, they would explode like fireworks at night, thought the priest, and at the same time there was a feeling of joy in his heart, and he knew a lot. The Parisians, who have read the Paris newspapers, know that the Parisians regard themselves as first-class citizens of France, and regard the provincials as slaves and aliens, and their daily rhetoric, arrogance and arrogance are disgusting—if the king really decides to live in Dunque Erke started the celebration ceremony (the king's birthday celebration usually lasts for a long time), and he was very interested to see the faces of those "Misters" in Paris, it must be very embarrassing.

   "I can only say that it is difficult for Parisians and Versailles to raise objections." Jean Barr said with a smile.

  The priest blinked.

  ———

"After all, compared to Paris or Versailles, Dunkirk has an unparalleled advantage." Louis XIV turned around with a smile, and for the first time he willingly put on extravagant and heavy Chinese clothes: "I really don't know how you can bear it," the king complained to his brother, frowning. "This dress can be used as armor."

The Duke of Orleans replaced the king's first servant today and dressed the king. The coat the king complained about was the one he was carrying before, and of course he knew the weight - maybe fifty pounds, which was about the same weight as a suit of armor. , some armors are even lighter: "The fabric of this dress was originally woven with gold threads, and then the maid was embroidered with delicate patterns on it," the Duke of Orleans knew this all too well: "And then the pure Gold trim and jewel buttons, pins and stuff."

   He took a step back and looked carefully: "Impossible, brother, of course, I'm not talking about clothes."

Louis XIV smiled, he was two years older than the Duke of Orleans, but now the Duke of Orleans looked older than him, of course, the Duke was pampered and cared for maintenance - he did not forget to apply facial fat on the battlefield, and he looked like he was Younger than his peers, but still incomparable to the king. The two noble brothers looked at each other and hurriedly moved away. Only a few knew what had happened to the king in the period following his assassination at Dunkirk, and even fewer knew how the king took his life from death. -Although Patriarch Vanderbilt swore that one of the vampire artifact he held could transform a mortal into a wizard, or vampire, it would leave no trace after the infused blood was exhausted - perhaps, after all, if That holy artifact can create wizards and blood races without limit, and there is no place for mortals to stand in this world.

Only Louis and Mary know that after entering the inner world, he was indeed inspired by the talent that only belongs to wizards, and it was quite outstanding. If it wasn't for the fact that Louis was originally the lord of a country, he might have stayed or was left behind. Down.

   But has that extraordinary blood really left Louis XIV's body completely? Someone tried to use the Dauphin and the Duchess of Montpensier to prove that the king was a wizard, and perhaps they were suspicious of the king - wizards have longer lives and longer youth than mortals, everyone knows this.

   "Wait a minute," said the Duke of Orleans suddenly: "You should use some powder and rouge."

  Louis glanced at his brother. The servants on the side were a little confused. The king never used powder, but Bontang also suddenly interrupted and said, "I also think you need to use some powder."

   "Today the sea breeze is too strong," said the Duke of Orleans, "it will sting the skin and chapped lips, so you should take some protection."

   "The duke is right." Bontang said, not on the king's side, but on the other side was quite new to him, but he had already guessed the king's brother's intention, and of course he had to show his support.

"The two most important people have spoken," Louis walked back and handed the cane to the servant on the side. "And they agree, it seems that I have to submit to your oppression." This sentence will be heard by others. The liver and gallbladder trembled, but for the Duke of Orleans and Bontang, they only felt intimate. The Duke of Orleans calmed down and took the powder sent by Bontang. The king does not use powder, but there must be a brand new powder in his bathroom, because Queen Teresa, who may have stayed overnight in the king's bedroom, Mrs. Montespan and her brother Philip, had to carefully dress themselves up many times a day.

  It may be that these powders do not need money. The Duke of Orleans rubbed a thick layer on the king's face not so politely, and carefully rubbed some rouge on his cheeks, and also used some lip gloss for the king. When the king stood up from the chair again, he was no longer so abrupt in the mirror... Even if someone faced the king directly, they would only think that the king looked energetic and youthful because of his fat powder.

  Louis took the cane and tapped lightly on the ground: "Let's go."

   The Duke of Orleans took a step forward, Bontang took a step back, and the younger brother walked behind the king. While his eyes were suddenly stinged by the white light, he heard the cheers that seemed to shake the world!

   His footsteps also slowed down, and the cheers were for the king.

Louis went straight to the huge terrace facing the port of Dunkirk. The white marble and gold and silver foil made it look like a semi-circular gemstone. From the edge of the terrace hung the sun king, so to speak. It is the golden lily sun flag of France on a blue background, with snow-white drapery hanging from the sides and the top. The strong sea breeze lifts and lowers them, rolling them like waves on the sea. The people nodded slightly, touched the brim of their hats with their fingers, then turned around and sat down on the gilded seats that were located slightly in front of the center.

The band in the square began to play, the crowd gradually dispersed, no, it should be said that the nobles and officials were taking their places - they had special stands, overlooking the whole of Dunkirk, as the priest Paul saw, Ordinary people stayed in the square, while enjoying the bread and beer rewarded by the king, while waiting for the grand ceremony to begin.

The people behind Louis, from Queen Teresa to the Duke of Orleans, also took their seats one by one. Almost all members of the royal family were on the terrace. The Queen's eyes quickly swept across the seat of the Duchess of Orleans, and then heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Although the Duchess of Orleans has been too weak to attend the banquet and ball, she still insisted on coming today - she must be present for today's ceremony, otherwise the rumors will intensify, the Queen does not like the Duchess of Orleans, but she is not bad enough to be willing Watch her die.

Reverend Paul sat in the most remote part of the stand, and he had no resentment about it, his hands, feet and cheeks were tingling - for he could probably have guessed why the king was there, dared and must be in Dunque Erkra pulled back the curtain for the opening of this huge celebration. He heard someone whispering behind him, guessing if the king had arranged some special performance at sea, was it fireworks? Unlikely, now is the time when the sun is at its hottest.

   Someone said, it must be fireworks, because he has heard the sound of the salute.

The corners of Reverend Paul's mouth were pulled apart. Indeed, it was Dunkirk's cannons at the beginning, but it was not an echo from a distance. People started to stir slightly from the unexplained silence. Some people with excellent eyesight had already Seeing a few dark shadows appearing from the southwest, they stood up, causing some people's dissatisfaction, but soon, all of them stood up.

The    ships were approaching them.

At first, they looked so small that they could be covered with a needle nose, but in an instant, they grew so large that they couldn't be covered by the palm of their hand, and people were whispering - because they didn't see anything like this. The huge hulls match, the huge sails are stacked, but they see the gray-white smoke rising into the sky. Some generals who have fought at sea have seen the ships are shrouded in smoke - that is the smoke rising from the bombardment of artillery. , or the burning of the hull and canvas, but those ships, the dark ships, did not seem to be destroyed at all, and they were chopping waves at a speed of more than six knots.

In fact, because the voyage is here, even if the steam ironclad ships move at a speed of more than six knots, it will still take a while, but the people are curious about this strange new ship, and secondly, more ships are following. After that, they counted excitedly, unable to detect the passage of time at all—one, two, three, four… ten, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred! When this number appeared, even some ministers could not help but be stunned. They heard that the king was building a navy and fleet belonging to France, but... France's sea power was almost equivalent to a blank during the Mazarin period.

Among these people, the Duke of Saint-Simon and his party members are particularly conspicuous. Their expressions are as weak and dazed as the French navy thirty years ago. They can hardly believe their eyes and refuse the counting numbers that rushed into their ears. How could it be possible? ? "Maybe Louis XIV just brought some armed merchant ships..." a baron said in a floating voice.

But they will soon be disappointed. Among the excited counts, the black ship at the top is already preparing to enter the port. The ship that once shook Louis XIV suddenly silenced everyone. What kind of a ship is this? giant? It is simply a fortress floating on the sea. It is even more incredible for someone like the Duke of St. Simon who used to rely on intelligence for a living, because it is huge in size, fast in speed, and light enough to turn, like a knight in full armor. Doing a nice minuet... wait! The Duke of Saint-Simon suddenly raised the telescope, just as Jean Bart once did in that little naval battle, pressing it tightly against his eyes, and despite the paint, he was still able to distinguish the rivets from the plates connection traces.

   As long as anyone who has seen a ship with their own eyes knows that the hull shell of a ship will not be piece by piece, it will only be piece by piece, so that it can be fixed on the rib frame, so what are those square plates? The Duke of St. Simon remembered something he had vaguely heard about - he didn't really believe it at the time, maybe he believed it, but he shouldn't have... So much, how much he saw, thirty ships also covered in heavy armor .

thirty! What an amazing number! Of course, the Duke of Saint-Simon remembers Princess Henrietta. The Duchess of Orleans had thirty Calais boats in her dowry. At that time, there was a lot of discussion in the court, the court and the public, mostly accusations. People thought that the king should not be impulsive and naive. Ambition allowed the British to use tasteless Calais boats as dowry, but at the king's insistence, these thirty Calais boats were delivered to the French as part of the dowry.

   The Duke of Saint-Simon has been tracking this for a while, and then he heard that they had been sent to Nantes, probably being used as a merchant ship, so he didn’t pay attention.

   Then, after an interval of ten years, they reappeared in front of him as... iron ships!

  The Duke of St. Simon felt that he was having a terrible nightmare. If he had known...why would he have taken refuge with the British and Austrians? But it's really not his fault, who could build such an iron ship? And by what means to drive and control them? In retrospect, where did Louis XIV get so much iron?

  ——

   "Thanks to Leopold I." Louis XIV said solemnly.

   (end of this chapter)