I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 393 The subtleties of Brittany (below)

   Viscount Arthur of Rennes has been in a bad mood recently.

   He was uncomfortable for a while when he heard that King Louis XIV of France was about to start a great parade.

  Look at the name, everyone, Arthur is not a French name, but from the twelfth century to the present, many dukes of Brittany have chosen this English name - this is a subtle and direct way of resistance. It was said that Brittany swung between England and France until the Duchess married King Louis XII of France, and Brittany had to reluctantly surrender. And because Louis XII had no son, the duchess almost made Brittany independent again - later François I married the daughter of Louis XII and the duchess, and their son François II ascended the throne. Only later did Brittany truly become part of France.

But in the time of Henry IV, Brittany also broke out a riot, seeking independence, of course, this riot was quickly quelled, but the Bretons still stubbornly believe that Brittany is only cloth Brittany-Louis XIV officials and clergy in Brittany had a hard time carrying out the king's policies, no matter how coercive they were, the Bretons would still loudly declare that they were Bretons, not French!

   They even refused all the benefits promised by the king...from potatoes to the poll tax, everything, or slack in work, or disobeyed, their stubbornness was a headache.

   They even started to hate the French more than the British, who at least didn't claim Brittany as theirs?

Viscount Arthur never naively thought that the Sun King Louis XIV would allow Brittany to continue the existence of a country similar to a country - Flanders belonged to Spain, Holland was simply an independent country, and Louis XIV still Didn't he just go all the way through the lowlands? ! He fought with the Spaniards, with the Austrians, with the Ottoman Turks, his appetite was never satiated, his eyes were always on the ends of heaven and earth...

   He even held the most desolate North America, Riga, in his hands, let alone France and his Brittany.

But the message brought by the Duke of St. Simon, rightly speaking, a threat, is also something that the king can easily do, even if he doesn't believe it, he will see the king's fleet in a few days - the king will ride his ironclad ships around the whole cloth Brittany, landed in Vannes, and then traveled by road to Rennes, the capital of Brittany. In the past few days, his spies have been able to frequently detect that the king's garrison has gathered and moved on the border between Brittany and the Loire... They were the king's strongest shield outside of the Guard, and they were all loyal—of course, if a king was willing to treat his soldiers like a nephew, he could certainly gain loyalty.

Of course he mocked the Duke of Saint-Simon mercilessly—although he was a duke, but from the point of view of genealogy, everyone knew that the Duke of Saint-Simon's claim that they were descendants of Charlemagne was pure nonsense, and even if it was Charles The descendants of Man the Great, the Bretons, would not be afraid of this defeat (Charlemagne failed to conquer Brittany). Moreover, the Duke of Saint-Simon was not only expelled from Paris by Richelieu, but also failed to obtain any benefit from the son of Louis XIII, otherwise he would have another mission when he came to Brittany.

   "Charles II is just trying to imitate himself," murmured Viscount Arthur. He stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the forest of Booth Leand in the dark, although he could see nothing. Less than five hundred feet away from him, the messengers of the two countries each occupied a room. The envoys of the British were not some lords or ministers, but wizards. Charles II was bolder than Louis XIV. More than one-third of the secret missions were colleagues of the devil. They arrogantly demanded that Asia The Vicomtesse sided with them against King Louis XIV of France.

   Viscount Arthur was indecisive.

As a Brittany, of course he would be willing to return Brittany to independence, at least for maximum autonomy from Louis XIV, but the problem is, if half of the messages from his spies are Really, then Brittany's navy will indeed encounter a tough and powerful enemy - Louis XIV's existing fleet, not to mention Brittany, even the British are afraid of it.

  Viscount Arthur also heard about the small naval battle before the Dunkirk Sea. That kind of huge black ironclad ships will indeed directly determine the success or failure of naval battles. After that, the British seem to be working hard to build similar ships, but I don't know if they have succeeded. Viscount Arthur was worried that the British would incite a rebellion or riot in Brittany, as they did a while ago, and let them delay the pace of Louis XIV's conquest, without considering the interests of their collaborators, and even Adding fuel to the flames—and history is not without such an embarrassing situation—the monarch of a country will lie, evade and turn ruthless, when Brittany will face the king’s wrath, but the British have nothing to lose.

The Duke of St. Simon is not worthy of the respect of Viscount Arthur, but the edict he brought is indeed true, and Louis XIV can indeed fulfill the threat he placed in front of the Bretons. Three hundred ships are enough to block Breton. All the ports of Taney, patrolling every fishing ground, searching every boat and fish market, the standard is here with the king's officials, fish, lobsters and oysters can not stand any delay, if the Bretons do not bow their heads, Even if you can catch fish, you can only watch them rotting on the dock.

   Another Brittany industry, animal husbandry and slaughtering as well…

   As for Compay, Viscount Arthur is even more bitter. Compay's cousin has long complained that since Lorraine began to produce ceramics, Compay's pottery is not very easy to sell.

   Resistance, delay, or submission? Viscount Arthur tossed and turned, unable to make a decision anyway, but the Sun King's fleet would not wait for him. The viscount watched with trepidation at the news sent by the carrier pigeon. The black fleet was approaching Vannes day by day. His cousin wrote to him personally to tell him that the king did have an iron armored fleet. The battleship was covered with iron armor and breathed. With white smoke, it can travel more than forty nautical miles a day. The British never showed up from beginning to end, and even the caravans cautiously detoured or walked slowly. That is to say, even if the Bretons took refuge in the British, the British might not be able to help the Bretons. .

So Viscount Arthur was even a little happy when the British wizards asked to enter the Booth Lyond Forest. The Booth Lyond Forest is also known as the Lost Forest. Every year, there are many people who stray into it and eventually disappear. People, whether civilians or nobles, are treated equally in this forest, and sometimes even people who go to search and rescue are caught in it.

  If these servants of the devil were killed in it, he would not have to explain to Louis XIV how there could be any trace of the English here.

  ————

   The Forest of Booth Leand is a dangerous and rich mystical place for mortals, but a majestic and sacred mausoleum for wizards.

   Contrary to the guesses of mortals, the wizards knew very well that Merlin's burial place was indeed here. But to find it, let alone mortals, even wizards are difficult. Because after Merlin was imprisoned or assassinated by Vivian, in order to prevent anyone from doing something, the witch Morgan, also one of the fairies in the lake, cast a spell on the path leading to Merlin's tomb, and anyone who stepped there would If you want to get lost, you can't get out and get out. The wizards call it the Valley of the Lost.

The Lost Valley is the same for mortals and wizards. No, it should be said that it has a stronger obstacle to wizards. British wizards have always prided themselves on being orthodox, and they have not been able to obtain any benefits here. After the quagmire of breath, a red-haired wizard couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't we move Merlin's corpse back to London in the first place?"

   "Perhaps it was because Brittany was the king of England at that time," replied another wizard with gray feathers in his hat sullenly.

"Stop complaining," said the eldest wizard. "It's over, complaining is useless. We're already in Boothryand, and that's fine. Even if we can't find Merlin, there's something we can use here. thing."

   "Those Italian wizards will protect Louis XIV," said the red-haired wizard uneasily.

"We are the descendants of Merlin," said the wizard in the grey-feather hat, disdainfully. "Those frivolous idiots are only good at working between the bed sheets, and they are trusted by Louis XIV because a Gayola witch has become his spouse."

   "I don't think so," said the only witch in the party. "They can turn into dragons. It was seen with their own eyes. Two dragons fought over Gayola."

The gray feather hat let out a sharp sneer. He was the representative of most male wizards in the UK. He looked down on both witches and red-haired Celtic wizards. Although the former was also very powerful, the latter lived in Britain earlier than Merlin. , but since the barbarian—that is, Germanic—invasion, the Celtic natives have instead become slaves and livestock. The mortal concept of class also affects wizards, and red-haired wizards are also of low status in the world.

   The older wizard coughed unpleasantly. Although he is not very good to witches and Celts, Merlin was indeed the last king of the Celts, and Brittany can also be said to be the last gathering place of Celtic extraordinary power, here It's hard to say what will happen if you talk nonsense or show malice.

   "Merry is right," said the older wizard, "I also heard that Louis XIV had an alliance not only with wizards, but also with vampires and werewolves."

"Fights between mortals should be handled by mortals themselves." Gray Feather Hat said irritably, he didn't want to admit that he felt uncomfortable since he entered the forest. The wizards did, and believed in hunch, he fortuned Several times, there was no comforting response.

   "If Charles II could settle it," said the older wizard, "we would not be here, and he would not grant our request."

"Do you run a school like a mortal?" said the gray-feather hat. "I don't think it would be a good idea. Wizards have a tradition of wizards. We can't teach students like a workshop owner recruiting apprentices. How did you convince those big parents? ?"

   "With Gayola and mortal artillery ahead, I don't need to convince them," said the older wizard. "We must ensure that the power of the sorcerer will prevail over the weapons of man."

  The witch Merry turned her head and sighed: "Can we really do it? Louis XIV has wizards, vampires and werewolves, and priests of the Inquisition..."

   "There is one thing sure to attract this arrogant majesty," said the older wizard.

"what?"

   "King Arthur's holy sword," replied the older wizard.

   "But we didn't..."

   "We just have to release the news," said the older wizard. "As long as Louis XIV is as ambitious as we know him, he will certainly not pass up this opportunity to disrupt Great Britain easily."

King Arthur's holy sword generally refers to the sword of the king he wears. The name of this sword is destined to be owned by the ruler of Great Britain. You must know that just like the king of England always declared himself the king of France, the king of France also He never gave up his covetousness for the British throne. Once he got the Sword of Kings, Louis XIV could claim that he was the Lord of the Destiny—of the two countries. Retreat could trigger another civil strife in the UK, and it could be regarded as a return to Charles II. A slap in the face.

  ———

   "Alas." Louis XIV raised his head, looked at Vesalius in surprise, and said, "You forged a holy sword?"

   (end of this chapter)