I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 398 Duties of the King

  The king has changed.

Surprisingly, apart from the king's younger brother and the king's first servant, Bontang, the first to discover this was not the king's trusted ministers, such as Prince Conti and Lois, but the newest recruits. The Duke of St. Simon - when he realized this, he did not hesitate to hand over the intelligence network in his hands, far more humble than when he was "invited" by the king to join the parade.

The Duke of Vendôme couldn't help but feel curious, he came to visit the Duke of Saint-Simon, and wanted to know the reason why he did so - he thought that this former enemy and friend would have to go through a lot of torment and hesitation before willingly surrendering the last. What about "assets"?

The Duke of Saint-Simon hesitated again and again, "It's not that I don't want to tell you," he said, "it's an indescribable feeling." It was with this ability that he could rise from an ordinary attendant to a high-ranking minister of Louis XIII. "All I can say is, sir, do you feel that the king has been . . . less patient since that day?"

   The Duke of Vendôme took a breath. He was the king's bastard, and after three kings, he knew what it was like when a king lost his patience - why do people fear kings? Nothing is more powerful than a king's words.

People may feel that they are too cruel and indifferent, but they do not know how many intricate, heavy and cumbersome official duties they face every day, and every event, even the smallest, may involve thousands of people, and the king. They have to make decisions in minutes, quarters of hours, at most days, and even so, the ever-changing situation can still cause unbelievable waves - so in many cases, a capable and bold king will To deal with the affairs at hand as quickly and ruthlessly as a cold and ruthless machine can ensure that the huge ship of the country continues to move smoothly.

But let the Duke of Vendôme say that Louis XIV is already a very great king, and when he is turning the tide, he is also trying to maintain that little humanity in his heart - so the Grand Condé who once betrayed the king and the country can wait. He was forgiven and even reused; the sensitive Viscount Turenne could become the governor of the Netherlands, and when the Duke of Luxembourg was framed, the king did not take his territory and title with the flow, but returned his innocence and let him He continued to serve in the army; and the Huguenots, the Duke of Vendôme had no doubt that if it were Louis XIII, if he had a standing army as large as Louis XIV, he would have driven out all the Protestants Go out, instead of graciously leaving them a place to live, not asking them to convert, and not asking them to pay heavy taxes.

  Let's not talk about other things, what kind of king can launch two consecutive wars that are similar to the whole country, but would rather mortgage the palace to the merchants than to collect war taxes from the civilians, or sell the tax package? The longer Louis XIV was in power, the stronger the people's support for him, wasn't it precisely because the young king hadn't raised a poll tax since he took power?

Thinking of this, the Duke of Vendôme even felt that what the Duke of Saint-Simon was worried about was not so important. Of course, this was also because the Duke of Saint-Simon was still guilty, and he was already a minister trusted by the king. From a standpoint, he felt that the Duke of Saint-Simon and those Bretons were not good things! He would rather the king be stricter, so that these ignorant guys can taste the taste of being burned by the sun! They thought it was the time of Louis XII, when the king of France had nothing to do with this country within a country! ?

"But since you have already handed over all the people in your hands," the Duke of Vendôme comforted unintentionally: "The king will at least save you a room in Versailles, and you will see if any of your children are smart and loyal enough. like my little Joseph, your Majesty needs young people now."

   The Duke of Saint-Simon glared at the Duke of Vendome... If no one else said it, would the Duke of Vendome still know? His luck with his heirs was not very good. It was only after Louis XIV began to use wizards that he dared to seek the help of magic potions. His son was born in 1975, but he was born in 2006, and he was older than old age. The reason why he tried to coerce the king in the first place—he couldn't wait for more than ten years, twenty years, to bring his son into the Palace of Versailles with his own hands to seek a future for him.

Now that his son can walk a hundred paces on his own, or ride a pony, it is amazing. Of course, there is a reason why his wife is too doting, but a two or three-year-old child can be with an adult. Yes, compared to young men who have served in the king's army for many years? Of course not!

   "It seems that I have to try to live longer." The Duke of St. Simon said through gritted teeth.

"It is fortunate that you were not entirely on the side of the king's enemies, at least not in this case," said the Duke of Vendôme. "Perhaps I can advise the king to arrange our rooms together, Claude. De, old man," he asked casually, "do you want to? We can go fishing and boating on the Grand Canal of Versailles together..."

The Duke of Saint-Simon glanced at this old rival. After decades of entanglement, they may know each other better than they know themselves. The Duke of Vendôme is obviously trying to win him over. It is no exaggeration to say that Versailles is a big battlefield. , the Duke of Vendôme is also a Bourbon and has an excellent grandson. As for the Duke of Saint-Simon, he said that he handed over all the power in his hand... Do you believe it? On the premise of not offending the king, he must still have something to rely on.

Now the Duke of Vendôme is looking for an alliance, and the Duke of Saint-Simon finds that he has no choice. He has been away from Paris for too long. Although he has countless friends and relatives in his fief, he is one in the Louvre and Versailles. Lonely poor man, with the Duke of Vendome as the intermediary and guarantee, he can open the situation as soon as possible: "I am very good at fishing, then don't be too jealous of me," he said: "Maybe we can compete today. already."

   "I would love to," said the Duke of Vendôme, "but today?"

   "Today only," said the Duke of St. Simon meaningfully: "Today we disembark in Varna, and tomorrow our majesty will receive an unexpected gift."

   The Duke of Vendôme blinked, and it seemed that he had caught a fish.

  ——

The bay where the Vannes region is located, that is, Quiberon Bay, is not suitable for first-class battleships such as ironclad ships because it is full of shoals, reefs and narrow waterways. This huge fleet is docked on Belle Island. Here, the king and his party changed to a smaller ship to enter Quiberon Bay. There are two ports in Quiberon Bay, but the king chose Navarro port. Nake is closer for the sake of it.

Karnak is a small town with no military or financial advantages, it is special in that it is surrounded by miles of granite Stonehenge, which are far older than humans have fallen on paper. In the face of history, in the era before the detection equipment, one can only say that before the Christians, the Romans and even the Celts, these megaliths stood here.

Of course, the Bretons would not be surprised that the king would be interested in visiting Karnak. The king was also curious, and the Stonehenge of Karnak has been certified by scholars as a place for astrological divination and worship. According to the legend, they can also be said to be a holy place-these boulders were once strong Roman soldiers. At that time, because of the emperor's will, they hunted down Christian saints, and God sent angels to rescue his shepherd and lamb. As soon as the angel saw these soldiers, he pointed at them and turned them into boulders.

As for the fact that these megaliths may have appeared before **** Christ was born, and how the Roman emperor would have sent at least 10,000 soldiers to hunt down one or two Christian saints (in the heyday of Rome there were only 300,000 to 350,000) the strength of men), the priests presumably disdain to explain...

Unlike other places, the Bretons will not welcome the French king. They are stubborn to the point that they are not willing to accept potatoes. Of course, there are also the rich seas and plains of the Bretons, and their dependence on potatoes is not as good. For the big reason elsewhere - as for the warning given by the king's messenger, it has not yet reached the ears of the common people - there is a group of young people in Karnak, eager to try, and want to give the French a color.

   They were not so arrogant as to want to attack the king. They only planned to secretly replace the king's flag with the black and white striped flag of Brittany when the king's motorcade was stationed in Karnak.

The head of the group was the son of the mayor of Karnak, and when he and his friends met in the town's only tavern, they didn't know their plan was dead - a musketeer and two The attendant came to the town and calmly told the mayor that before dawn, every townsman here must leave the town and go to a wasteland ten leagues from here, even if it is to see the old man of God and Babies who are still breastfeeding are no exception. Anyone who dares to stay here will be regarded as assassins, and will be tortured by beheading, branding, and dismembering their bodies.

"It's impossible," cried the mayor in surprise, "it's only a few hours before dawn, some old people and children can't walk at all, and we don't have enough carriages! And you let us leave our house, who will come? What about protecting our property?"

   "This is not our concern," said the Musketeer. "I can only advise you to pack up and leave as soon as possible." He paused, "As you said, it is only a short time before dawn."

   "You still say that your king is a benevolent man!" said the mayor angrily.

The Musketeer laughed: "You also said that this is our king," he reached out and nodded his hat: "When you can see our flag, our soldiers will enter the town, I hope by then Empty - I'm also a kind person, mayor, and I hope you're kind enough to your people." With that, he turned and left, leaving the mayor in shock and anger.

Whether the Frenchman was intimidating or genuinely admonishing, the mayor couldn't afford to gamble—the town of Karnak was not as populated as the boulders at Stonehenge—which were originally said to be 10,000, and after thousands of years of Due to the wind and rain, people dragged horses (the people nearby regarded them as free stones), and there were only less than 3,000 stones. There are only more than 2,000 people in the town, but as the mayor said, there are the elderly, the sick, pregnant women and children, not to mention ten fa, even if it is one fa, they may not be able to walk by themselves. And that wasteland is a peninsula that stretches from Karnak to the Gulf of Quiberon, and the road is covered with rough gravel and thorns, and there is no smooth road, and no fresh water or food.

The mayor cried out to his servant to call back his son and relatives, regretting that he had forgotten to ask the musketeer when they could come back, but if it was to keep the king safe, the French might only They will stay for a short time. In any case, they still have to bring sufficient supplies, but in this way, the vehicles and horses in the town are even more stretched.

He looked worriedly at the cobalt blue sky, it was eight o'clock in the evening, and it was time for most people to lie in bed, comfortably waiting to fall asleep, and his servant ran out with torches, then more torches It was lit up and scattered in all directions, and the whole town was awakened from its hazy drowsiness.

Cries and curses followed. People in this era are no better than people today. They almost never leave their homes, except to go out to sea, go to the dock to do things, and go to a church hundreds of feet away to go to mass. Or go to the market to buy and sell goods, for them it is a serious event that requires a long preparation in advance, and they are suddenly driven to a wasteland ten miles away, and they don't know when they will be able to return. Can you come back, you can imagine how panic these people are.

The mayor's son ran back before that, as a traditional Brittany and a young lad, his face flushed with anger, panting: "Have you just compromised like this!" He was furious asked.

   "Or else?" said the mayor, "Are you going to take a gamble? The king of France is just talking?"

   "He won't," said the young man, "nor dare."

   "His enemies are Leopold I, Carlos II, Charles II and Sultan Mehmed IV of Ottoman Turkey." The mayor said, "What are we?"

   “But Brittany…”

"Brittany also relies on his kindness," the mayor has always seen clearly: "He is willing to treat Brittany well, Brittany has a chance, but if he doesn't, what he has to pay The price is also far less than that of Brittany, let alone us."

He looked at his stunned son and smiled: "Otherwise, why do you think those Huguenots are so docile? The king asked them to move thousands of miles away... Are they just a group of people who only scream The little lamb? Brittany speaks as well as they do... We have no chance of taking on this king."

   (end of this chapter)