I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 42 The Most Valuable Gains in the Battle of Hetayl

  When the night came, Louis went to the Queen Mother's room specially, not only to thank her (for the potatoes), but also to apologize to her. After all, his stubbornness during the previous quarrel hurt the Queen Mother's heart.

But just like the past and the future, a mother never hates her child, and the Queen Mother Anne had an argument with the king just because she didn't want to see her child in danger, not for power or something, Louis I. Kneeling on her knees and leaning into her arms, her heart melted and heated up like ice and snow that met fire - Louis hadn't done this for years before, after all, he was an adult in his body. The human soul, and people at this time have almost no concept of childhood, everything depends on the mother or the child's own thoughts.

   "Mr. Bishop has sent me a letter," Anne said. "Fortunately, we have found a place to stay here. Louis, you are about to come of age, my dear, and I will hold a grand ceremony and banquet for you."

Louis raised his head from his mother's lap, and suddenly remembered that he was indeed almost fourteen years old, but the current situation was really nothing to worry about. According to the arrangement of Mr. Bishop, he would not be able to intervene until he was at least twenty years old and mature enough. Political affairs, and he himself is not in a hurry to take power - he has not even established his own court, and the people around him may not be trustworthy, and the non-human creatures that haunt in the dark are entering and leaving the palace as if no one is in the realm- Being a king is not a reason to die. Now everyone's attention is on the Queen Mother and Bishop Mazarin, which is also a good thing for him.

   "I'd rather have a victory," Louis murmured, "to celebrate my bar mitzvah."

   "What's so difficult about that?" The Queen Mother said generously immediately: "I will directly order General Schumberg to fight, when encountering an enemy."

   "I'm afraid we have already met." The king said: "I met a messenger on the way to your place. He told me that an army led by Viscount Turenne was not far from us."

This sentence suddenly made the Queen Mother's eyes widen, which is why the king did not tell her the news as soon as he entered the door. Even so, she took out the smelling salts with trembling hands and sniffed a few times. A strong smell of ammonia mixed with the smell of spices, even Mary, who was standing beside the Queen Mother, couldn't help but make a face, the king held the Queen Mother's hand, "I said don't use this too much, "He said in a friendly tone of reproach: "This stuff is very damaging to health."

"But without it," said the Queen Mother, "I would pass out." She put the smelling salts back in the pouch on her belt: "Viscount Turenne, alas, I know this man, do what to him. It's no surprise that such a sin is committed."

   "I haven't heard that," Louis asked, "what kind of man is he?"

   "He was the second son of the Duke of Sedan. According to tradition, his elder brother inherited the title and territory, and he served the king in the army."

   "Then he should be loyal to us."

"It used to be," said the Queen Mother angrily, "in 1642, his brother, the Duke of Sedan, was thrown into prison for opposing Richelieu, and in order to redeem his name and honor, he returned the When the Duchy, the Viscount Turenne, as his younger brother, was of course not immune to some implication, but right after you ascended the throne, the Bishop of Mazarin, in order to ease the relationship between us, gave him the marshal's scepter and gave him value A reward of ten thousand livres."

Louis did not refute, this is the so-called superior thinking, but in France, at least in this Viscount Turenne, this attitude did not play its due role, and then he thought of a possibility: "He and Condé How is the relationship with the prince?"

  The Queen Mother looked reluctant, but said: "He served in the army with Prince Kongdai."

That's right, Louis thought, there is nothing more worthy of respect and trust than friends who have fought side by side. Viscount Turenne chose to stand in the camp of Prince Condé, except that the Duchy of Sedan was taken back by the royal family. , his friendship with Prince Condé was the most important weight. "If I could meet the general," Louis said, "I would talk to him, and maybe he would change his mind."

This sentence made the Queen Mother laugh. Louis was still a child after all, and he didn't understand politics. The Queen Mother thought, "If it is possible," she said as if promising a toy: "I will let him come to see him. Yours." After she finished speaking, she kissed Louis on the face and sent him out of her room. As soon as Louis left, the Queen Mother summoned Schaumberg, and General Schaumberg wondered about the king's attendant at first. Why did Bondang send such a message to himself? When he met the Queen Mother, he understood. He respectfully accepted the Queen Mother's order. Of course, he put it aside after all. After all, the king's will was Former - As a general, he also didn't think it was right to blindly follow the Queen Mother's orders.

   At least he won't lead the army to rush out to fight Viscount Turenne.

Interestingly, before the war, the envoy of Viscount Turenne also came to see the queen mother and the king, and delivered a letter from Viscount Turenne, in which they earnestly asked them to surrender to avoid unexpected misfortune, Turenne. The viscount was willing to keep them safe, and to treat them as a king and queen dowager. Of course, the letter was burned by the queen mother, and the king said to the messenger cheerfully that if Viscount Turenne was willing to surrender, he would also give him the treatment he deserved as a viscount.

   This veil of affection, perhaps not entirely false, was torn apart by the real battle at dawn the next day.

The old city of Hertel was originally a solid military fortress. After entering the age of hot weapons, it also had six artillery pieces on its walls, but Viscount Turena had twelve. He ordered the sappers to build high mounds. , to push the artillery up the hill to the point where it can shoot at the artillery on the city wall.

The artillery roared and the smoke was steaming. Schaumberg prevailed in the thick and condescending city walls, and Turenne prevailed in both the number of soldiers and artillery pieces. Under the almost uninterrupted bombardment of twelve artillery pieces, the ancient city walls were finally exposed. From the weak inside - the city was founded in AD 940, there was no such thing as artillery, and as time passed, the layers of the peeling wall finally completely collapsed, revealing a gap, and the soldiers of Turenne cheered Get up, but the commanders of both sides know that this is the beginning of the real battle.

Schaumberg ordered the soldiers to erect fortifications behind the city wall - this was the king's suggestion, perhaps out of the child's innocence, he asked the craftsmen to make something similar to a wooden horse, with wheels under it, which could be pushed around , said Schaumberg, it is a bit like an old ram car, because it is also a triangular prism, and under the wooden board is a bag full of soil. Even after two or three hundred years, this kind of rough fortification will not be A machine gun that is several times more powerful can also act as a shield, not to mention such a simple matchlock gun.

The king's army hid behind such a fortification and fired on the rebels. The rebels returned fire, but they had little success. They themselves suffered a fatal blow, which further lowered the morale that was not very high - after all, they knew He was pointing his gun at their king, and Viscount Turenne also discovered this, but at this point, he could not retreat, and could only order the soldiers to continue forward, so that his own flesh and blood could tear through the opponent's defense line.

At this time (about two or three o'clock in the afternoon) two three-masted ships were disembarked from the upper Aisne, which is very common, but some people who are familiar with ships must have exclaimed, because these two The three-masted ships all have gun muzzles, which are warships. Each ship has twelve muzzles. At this time, the windows of the muzzles have been opened, and the muzzles are facing the rebels outside the old city of Hertel.

Without waiting for others to notice, those black muzzles burst into dense fires that can only be seen in purgatory, and they really led people to hell. Viscount Turenne's army was unable to move in front, behind Flesh and blood were flying, the soldiers were screaming and running around, just hoping to get out of the screeching snare. Although the officers tried their best to maintain order, they soon became powerless. When everyone in the room was desperate, the shelling stopped suddenly.

The battlefield suddenly fell silent. At first, there was one or two musket shots, and it disappeared after a few minutes. Only the wounded soldiers were still crying and moaning miserably. The fire place was still crackling and burning, and the smoke was rising. But as if God stretched out his hand and told them to stop, they all stopped and turned back from beasts to men.

Then Viscount Turenne saw an officer come out of the fortification only a hundred feet away from him. He raised his hand, so that his soldiers would not get fired because of their nervousness. He did not know this man, but he should be younger than him. Some, even in the face of hundreds of muskets, did not show a look of fear.

   He walked towards Viscount Turenne, and Viscount Turenne walked towards him. Although they did not know each other, as soon as they met, they knew that the other was their opponent.

   "Good to meet you!" cried the younger of them, Schaumberg, taking off his hat and waving it, bowing to Viscount Turenne.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Viscount Turenne said. Although his army was devastated because of this man, he still maintained the demeanor and mind of a son of a duke. His anger burned in his eyes, but It didn't spill over into his words and actions.

   "Friedrich Schumberg," said the visitor.

   "It is not a French name." Viscount Turenne said: "You are a foreigner."

   "Yes, a foreigner is guarding the French king, and a Frenchman is attacking the king's army," said Schaumberg.

   "That is because the king has done something wrong," said Viscount Turenne, "and I have come to ask him to correct it."

   "With artillery and muskets?"

   "If the king is willing to listen to other means of advice." Viscount Turenne said firmly.

Such remarks undoubtedly **** off General Schaumberg, who, though he had not been in contact with Louis for that long, had to say that the young king had done what he could now, "Then you know it is Did someone order me to stop the shelling?"

   Viscount Turenne was reluctant to answer, but he also knew that the struggle was useless, so he said: "It is Your Majesty."

   "Your Majesty the King of France," said Schaumberg, with a respectful salute: "He asked me to ask you if you would surrender."

   "I'm not at the end of my life," said Viscount Turenne.

"But the king didn't want to see another Frenchman die," said Schaumberg. "Whoever it was, he said, was his people, and God appointed him to rule over them, so he spared their lives. , as if you were treating your own children."

  Viscount Turenne did not speak, but Schumberg glanced at him and walked back.

   Only Viscount Turenne knew that he had been defeated, a crushing defeat.

After Viscount Turenne's army retreated, they camped on the bank of the river. They didn't care that the two three-masted ships were no more than halfway up the river. Viscount Turenne sat on a large rock and stared at the dark river in a daze. , an officer who was deeply trusted by him brought him a cup of hot tea, which he held in his hand and did not drink it: "What are the soldiers talking about?"

The officer    did not answer him.

  Viscount Turenne has found the answer in silence.

  ———

   Early the next morning, Viscount Turenne came to the city gate and surrendered to the king.

   (end of this chapter)