I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 391 The subtleties of Brittany (Part 1)

  The width of the strait between England and France makes it difficult for both Dover and Dunkirk to have any secrets.

  On a sunny day and the wind is calm, the two can see each other from a distance. If you have the blessing of a telescope, it is not difficult to see what the other is doing.

The tower guards stationed at the White Cliffs Lighthouse in Dover saw the French fleet, and the sound of the cannons quickly attracted soldiers and officers, who ran to the lighthouse, holding binoculars, and what they saw was not much different from the French. , a young officer with keen eyesight and good at drawing painted as much as possible what he saw, and then synthesized the descriptions of others into a detailed information and sent it to Hampton Court Palace in London.

"The Happy King" Charles II rarely held a banquet or dance that day. After the Minister of the Navy and the Chancellor of the Exchequer were summoned by him, the attendants outside the door heard Charles II's hoarse and distorted scolding. After a while, the two lords ran out with their heads covered, and Charles II was silent for a while in his room, not even having supper—and when night fell, he left Hamp with two priests Dun Palace.

  People didn't know where he went at first, but the next day they knew because they saw the Duke of York.

The Duke of York was caught by Louis XIV and thrown into the Bastille for his attempted assassination of the French Duchess of Orleans. Although Charles II was forced to redeem his younger brother at the request of face and parliament, as soon as he came back, the duke was Became a frequent visitor to the Tower of London.

There are always some people with a keen sense of smell who heard the news of the Dunkirk naval exercise, and they immediately linked the two things together. It seems that Charles II was not touched by brotherhood, but had to release York. Duke - The French navy is strong, but still immature, if they wait until they sharpen their swords with pirates and the Dutch government in exile... Britain is about to lose its sea superiority over France after losing its land superiority over France.

   He must recall the Duke of York.

  ——

   Now, let's go back a little bit to the time when Louis and the Duke of Orleans said they were going to Rennes by ship.

Where is   Raine? Rennes is the Duchy of Brittany. Of course, it is now the capital of the region of Brittany. Its lord is the king of France. daughter of the Duchess) married and succeeded in taking Brittany into his arms while inheriting the throne of France.

This happened in 1518, that is to say, it is only a hundred years from now. More than a hundred years is long enough for a person, but very short for a country. The relationship between Brittany and France The relationship between them is like a wolf and a hunter. Sometimes the giant wolf can bite the throat of the hunter, and sometimes the hunter can split the head of the giant wolf. Although this beast is temporarily chained, it can still be regarded as France. A big worry with Louis XIV.

  The previous rebellion did not involve Brittany, which was a bit confusing, but when the king gently uttered the word "Ren", the Duke of Orleans and the people around them couldn't help but change their colors.

  Speaking of which, the relationship between Brittany and France is no simpler than that between Britain and France. The origins of the Bretons are quite complicated. Some people are descendants of the original Gauls, and some people migrated south because of the invasion of two Germanic tribes, the Anglo and Saxon, and the Welsh and Kang people who crossed the channel to Brittany. The Vol people, who were once ruled by the Romans, were also the last fallen territory of the Western Roman Empire, so they vaguely regarded themselves as the last Romans.

After the Roman Empire was completely destroyed, the Bretons faced the attack of the Germanic-Frankians. The Franks and the Bretons fought for many years, but they were still unable to conquer this area, and finally had to admit the Duchy of Breton. Independence - the subsequent French kings used marriage to seek Brittany many times, but Brittany also rebelled and regained independence more than once. There was no Brittany in this rebellion. Unusually, everyone thinks that there must be a conspiracy.

Rennes of Brittany was not originally on the list of the Grand Tour, unlike Nantes, although Nantes has a castle of the Duke of Brittany, it was originally built by the Duke of Brittany (the father of Duchess Anne's) , And because Nantes used to be the concentration of Huguenots, after several **** combs, it was more stable here, and then because the king intended to rebuild iron-clad ships here, he stationed an army here. An army of ten thousand people will be more reliable.

   But where is Wren? It has been the gate of Brittany since the first century BC, during the reign of Rome. In 510 AD, Brittany became a duchy, and it was the capital of the duchy. All the dukes of Brittany were held in the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre. At the coronation ceremony, he had to accept the mayor's key at the city gate and swore to protect Brittany. It is a holy place for Brittany independence supporters and one of the most entrenched cities for anti-French forces. The king's parade is to stop in this city, and his ministers and generals absolutely disagree.

"I know what you're worried about," said Louis. "But Brittany is unlike anywhere else. The people here are warriors. Not even Charlemagne conquered them. It takes strength and fearlessness to subdue them," he said. Passing through everyone in the room: "Have you seen those in Paris or Versailles who have the power to represent Brittany? No," he replies in his place: "They are determined and sober, and if the parade Let Brittany pass, and they will only despise Bourbon more and more, and they will not see themselves as a Frenchman - because the French are the losers of the Bretons."

   "I will destroy them," said the king, "so that we truly have Brittany."

The people who were qualified to enter this room looked at each other. They didn’t think it was possible to convince the king. They looked at the Duke of Orleans. Now, only the Duke could persuade the king to change his mind. To this noble pair of brothers.

"Let's have dinner first," said the Duke of Orleans, and soon a sumptuous dinner was served. Louis had always been very modest in the evening, but today they only had one or two "King's bread" for their lunch. Now Louis Really hungry, he sat down first, and then let the duke sit down - in the time of Louis XIII, the king's brother and the duke needed to hold a lamp for the king's handkerchief, and Louis was not interested in such red tape - if this brainwashing method worked , Louis XIII doesn't have to worry about the Duke of Vendôme and the Duke of Gaston. For a dignified person, this will encourage him to strive to seize power. For the king's younger brother, there is only one way to climb the throne. .

The Duke of Orleans was also used to eating with the king. He lifted his coat and sat down with him. He washed his hands with warm water with lemon. The first thing that came up was hot fish soup and clam soup. Of course, eating seafood by the sea was the most exciting. Pleasant, fresh food brings a delicious taste and mellow taste. The Duke of Orleans sipped the soup and asked, "What are you going to do with those Bretons?"

   "I will first look at their attitudes and thoughts," said the king, "to see if they are for their own personal gain, or for the people of Brittany."

"I think it should be the latter," said the Duke of Orleans, "or we should be able to see Bretons in Versailles." Like the Dukes of Lorraine, they would be happy to sell Breton for a good price, but Likewise, at any time, the person who lifts the banner of justice will be someone of high power—like William Orange. This is not surprising, because whether it is politics or war, leaders need to have enough knowledge and experience, at least they must have received an orthodox and complete education, otherwise, like most riots, they will disappear silently in history. in the long river.

This is not contempt, nor is it rhetoric, if you haven't forgotten the shoe uprising we mentioned earlier - the fool who confessed everything honestly when he confessed to the priest, even if not, an illiterate peasant who does not know how to count How to read maps, write letters and calculate troops and supplies?

   "If it is the latter," asked the Duke of Orleans, "what are you going to do?"

   "I'm a peace-loving person," Louie said, "I want to negotiate with them first."

  ———

Before today, the Duke of Saint-Simon had ridiculed that the Duke of Vendôme had to be a junior, even if he was appointed by the King of France to bow his knees to the former enemy. Unexpectedly, he soon followed the Duke of Vendome. 's footsteps.

The king asked him to negotiate with several of the people in power in Brittany, but let the Duke of Saint-Simon read it as a negotiation and write a threat, but he thought about it, if he was Breton, it would be difficult to find any maneuver or There is room to fight. There is no doubt that on land, Louis XIV will never lose like the giant Antaeus (Note 1). With this huge fleet, especially after thirty ironclad ships, given time, Whether it is Spain or the United Kingdom, they can only shout in vain.

  Louis XIV did not go directly to Brittany like Charles VIII once did, in fact, he seemed to desire peace as he said—duke Saint-Simon is a personal opinion. But the point here is that the king may be about to make two laws, one is the law of the sea and the other is the law of slaughter.

  Two laws directly related to Brittany.

Open the map and you will find that the Brittany region is a peninsula that stretches out to the sea, surrounded by the sea on three sides and facing the French interior on one side. It is not surprising that the people here are so fierce. They can be said to have no way out, but No matter how brave the warriors are, they need to eat, drink, clothe, and need all kinds of utensils and weapons... The two biggest products of Brittany are seafood and livestock.

With such a fleet, the king of France can calmly blockade the French offshore waters, and all fishing boats will undoubtedly be controlled by the king's officials. Although the specific laws have not yet been promulgated, the Duke of Saint-Simon knows a little bit. In other words, the two laws must include something like a license. To put it simply, no vessel can sail without the permission of the king. At this time, there is no recognized concept of territorial waters. Whether it is a route or a sea surface, it depends on What is the strength of the navies of the nations, and where the artillery reaches is the king's domain - this works just as well at sea, but if so, the law of the sea alone could starve a third of Brittany's population hungry.

   As for the resistance... The Duke of St. Simon did not think that the broken little fishing boats could stand against the king's fleet.

As for the slaughtering law, this law has been considered by the king for a long time, because if slaughtering, storage and feeding are not appropriate, it may cause a plague. Paris and Versailles, as well as Orleans and Blois have already begun to implement slaughtering laws. Although there are some stumbles, those stamped fish, pork, beef, mutton, chicken and duck quickly won the favor of the ladies and cooks. In this era, if food poisoning is not easily cured, many People, especially the elderly and children, can die from vomiting and diarrhea.

However, the spy of the Duke of St. Simon also submitted a corresponding report. The Duke of St. Simon was keenly aware that this was also one of the methods used by the king to choke the lord's throat. When the output of the territory must be changed by the hands of the king's officials When the coin clinks... it doesn't matter if you're stuck in your own territory and you don't step into Paris or Versailles - that's why he took a bribe from Leopold I, which is Louis Fourteen is not right, of course.

I want to come to those Bretons who will have the same idea. The king may not attack Brittany on a large scale, but if the two major outputs of Brittany are restricted by the law of the king - even if they secretly go to sea, the king's The law makes it clear that meat and fish that have not been inspected cannot be sold publicly. If poisoning and plague are caused, the sellers will hang one by one from the street light poles.

   The most annoying thing is that this kind of law is still popular with the public, who must have had enough of muddy duck, chalky bread, and oiled raw meat (which looks fresher).

  In fact, in addition to these two, Brittany also has a good production, that is, the pottery of Compay, but since the king fired beautiful and good china in Lorraine, the pottery of Compay can no longer be sold.

The meaning of the    king is very clear, he may not act rashly, but if the Bretons firmly refuse to accept the rule of the French king, he will slowly trap Brittany to death.

  ———

   "As a matter of fact, about Brittany," said the King, "there is a big question."

   "What's the problem?" asked the Duke of Orleans.

   "Have you heard of King Arthur?"

  Note 1: Antai is the son of Poseidon, the **** of the sea, and Gaia, the goddess of the earth. He never gets tired, his body absorbs the power of the earth as soon as it touches it

   (end of this chapter)