I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 517 The Archbishop of Toledo and the Duke of Don Juan of Madrid (Part 2)

   This behavior, which is almost equivalent to threatening the enemy with his own life, made Louis XIV a little helpless.

His sorcerers reported that in the cathedral, no, it should be said that in the splendid cathedrals of Toledo, the Spanish priests seemed ready for martyrdom, surprising, but true, no But themselves, and some devout believers, and those ancient and sacred buildings.

In addition, the Archbishop of Toledo is not a serene one. Among those who guard the gunpowder, there are actually wizards and monks from Spain. Although they have been fighting for nearly a thousand years, they have never died, but in front of such an enemy, they finally stopped the war—although they still Not to the point of fighting side by side, but with them, there is no way for the wizards of Louis XIV to guarantee that there will be no omissions. And once there are omissions, the reign of Carlos III will inevitably have a bad start... Louis XIV considers whether to negotiate with the Archbishop of Toledo, he does not want tourists to walk to the ruins hundreds of years later , there will be a tour guide pointing to the blackened stone and saying: This is when Carlos III ascended the throne, and his opponents destroyed the building with thousands of years of memory and immeasurable religious and historical value in order to destroy his enthronement ceremony. …

   Although this is not the fault of Carlos III or Louis XIV, it is unpleasant, right?

   However, Louis XIV would not agree to the two conditions proposed by the Archbishop of Toledo.

First, the so-called Spanish Church is still owned by the Spanish Church, that is, it does not recognize the French king or Carlos III's right to appoint and remove the priesthood, but if the Spanish priesthood is still in the hands of the Roman Church and the Spanish nobles, it is equivalent to a split. Spain's two major forces of secular and religious, Louis XIV did not want his son to be a country within a country in the future, a headache for the king of kings.

Second, Spain is still Spain, there is nothing difficult to understand, just according to the ideas of the diehards, Spain will be passed on as a complete country, not as some French hope, in the future through inheritance law or Marriage and France become one, but if this is the case, even if little Louis still cares about the family relationship with Charles, after a hundred years, Spain will still be Spain, France will still be France, and the two countries will still be enemies. At that time, if someone— Don't look at it, it's you, Leopold I and his descendants, who blocked the relationship between the two Bourbons by instigating alienation. In the light of the two countries are at odds, in the worst case, Spain will eventually return to the hands of the Habsburgs. It is more likely that the two countries were weakened by the war - and that after that, it is more difficult to speculate.

Louis XIV did not want to agree to either of the two conditions, but it was really a tricky thing to deal with those "inhumans" who were like termites hidden in the soil. The wizards of Bourbon tried to raid a few times, And the wizards and monks of Toledo responded to the king's temptation with a frantic revenge—they burned a monastery, and the kerosene—that is, kerosene, the light fuel that had prevailed in France, quickly put the six The civil buildings built in the 19th century turned into piles of charcoal wafting faint smoke. Several monks did not leave. They were burnt out along with the flames. The surrounding people went to the ruins to pray, and some people held portraits and wrote on them With the names of the dead, maybe in a few days, the Roman Church will enshrine these people as saints.

   But was Louis XIV the kind of man who would give in to the mob? Whether they were wearing cassocks or not, but just as he was discussing with the generals and wizards how to minimize losses, Bontang entered the room and whispered a few words in the king's ear, astonished Louis. He raised his eyebrows from different places, "Okay," he said to the courtiers around him: "There is an important guest visiting, it seems that I have to say goodbye to you - our meeting will be postponed until ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

  Everyone got up and said goodbye immediately. When they left the room one after another, everyone was suspicious. At this time, is there anyone who can change the king's attitude?

The Count of Soissons, who was walking at the end, glanced subconsciously as he was about to turn the corner, and saw that Bontang was leading two men in hooded cloaks into the king's room. They were tall and much taller than Bontang. , doesn't look like a lady. When a person walked into the room, maybe he noticed the sight of the Count of Soissons and turned his head. Although his face was still hidden in the shadow of his hat, there was a light color. His hair was slipping out of his cloak like a curved moonlight.

   That's all the Count of Soissons saw. The visitor walked into the room under the guidance of Bontang. The first person saw the situation in the room and couldn't help laughing: "What a grand welcome ceremony!"

Hood was expressionless. As the first wizard to follow Louis XIV, he has always been trusted by the king and has great combat experience. He fought wizards and mortals. After the Battle of Kamnik, he often served in the army. Beside Louis, it can be said that a wizard who had been so humble climbed to this position, which was really unexpected. Because of this, he is like a fanatical believer who admires his master to Louis. The cautiousness and subtlety that extends from this make Madame Milady, who has now replaced Marie Mancini, to rule Bourbon in the house. The team of spies in the world, believed that it was best to be placed by the king's side.

   The temperament that makes ordinary people seem a little critical has indeed made Hood make a lot of achievements, especially after the start of the Spanish Succession War, the assassination of the Sun King began to increase again. However, in the face of these two guests, Hood still felt that the manpower around him was too thin, because the people who came were the two blood princes, the family patriarch, Amon and Uriel.

Prince Uriel only intercepted Louis' younger brother, the Duke of Orleans, not long ago, although he did not want to kill the Duke, but intended to assimilate the Duke into his own descendant, so that even for his younger brother, Louis XIV would also Unable to expel them as he did to Nofele, he wanted to maintain Marcawi's position in Spain, but his plans were sabotaged by Amon and Theoderic.

   After the Duke of Orleans escaped, he also told his brother about it. But compared to wizards, monsters, beasts, possessing human intelligence—even higher than vampires, and having the same social system as humans, vampires are not as easy to destroy or conquer as wizards—witchers are more like humans with special abilities , still need shelter, clothing, food and clean water, just look at the wizards of Gayola, and they still inevitably maintain contact and contact with the surface world.

But vampires, although they live in the human world, human beings are food to them, and they do not necessarily need a fixed residence, clothes and human communication. If they are forced too much, they can still develop their descendants wantonly. The good world has turned into a **** slaughterhouse - they are said to have done so in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries under the chasing of the church, when the "Black Death" destroyed city after city, but that city was Destroyed by the plague, the city was destroyed by half-dead people and monsters created by the blood race, no one knows.

Louis XIV said that he expelled Nophele from France, and it was also because Nophele lost his ancestral land, and secondly, lost the holy relics, and then, the Vanderbilt family was protecting the Bourbon family, and they could not break through. Aldric's bulwark had to temporarily give up hatred. To be more correct, Nophele can almost be said to be a half-destroyed blood clan.

But Mokawi is different. They are very similar to the dark wizards in Spain, that is, since they can avoid the slaughter of the strict Spanish Inquisition, they must have something special. The dark wizards who can survive in Spain are all With two brushes, the vampires who are still able to keep their ancestral land in Toledo are even more dreaded - their brushes must be more than one of Prince Uriel.

The two uninvited guests only stayed in the king's room for a short time before leaving, and Louis XIV pondered for a while in the light of the candle, looking at Hood beside him: "Go and give it to me Check out one thing."

   "Please order, Your Majesty."

   "You go to Chacha, Marcawi, what did Prince Uriel decide to cooperate with me and the French?"

Hood showed a confused look. He was a wizard and lacked political sensitivity. In his opinion, Prince Uriel was able to obtain His Majesty's forgiveness and serve His Majesty after he had offended his brother. , is already a 120,000-point honor, is there any hidden secret?

Louis looked at him and laughed, but the lack of political sensitivity of wizards is a good thing, after all, they have special abilities, "Go check it out, and tell me the results." After all, Hood is not like Patriarch Mancini. The wizards who have close contacts and know enough about vampires - the vampires may be more arrogant than wizards. After all, humans will not be humble to cattle and sheep, or treat them as equals. Theoderic was originally out of pity and heart knot (this is also his country), Amon is out of curiosity and interest, what about Uriel? At the beginning, he didn't plan to negotiate with Louis, but tried to blackmail him with the Duke of Orleans. Now he actually shows up and trades with Louis...

  Although he begged His Majesty the King to forgive his previous sins, and to allow Marcawi to keep his original ancestral land, and that the Marcawi family could continue to live in Spain for a long time - but Louis always felt that it was not the things that moved the prince.

  ———

The history of the Mocawi family in Toledo is much longer than that of humans. Humans lived here in the Bronze Age, and blood races often haunt in megalithic tombs. Romans, Visigoths, Moors... come and go, Human life is short, the blood race exists for a long time, the secrets of human beings will become dust with death, but the secrets of the blood race can be remembered forever because of longevity.

The Romans like to build amazing underground works in every city, and Toledo is no exception. It's just that after the barbarians occupied this place, I don't know how many secret tunnels have been abandoned for more than a thousand years, but sometimes the blood tribes will also It can walk freely in another form, especially Mokawi who has the incarnation of moths. Moths are small insects that can walk freely as long as there is a small gap, and Mokawi's talent is hallucinogenic.

The wizards here probably didn't expect the Marcawi to be inclined towards the French. One by one, they were led out of the monasteries and churches, the gunpowder was removed, the kerosene was emptied, and the French monks and priests replaced them, and the nearby It was only when people saw an unfamiliar face at Mass that they realized that Toledo had become a possession of the Sun King.

However, the French army officially entered Toledo on a bright morning. Among the clear-cut and richly dressed musketeers, Louis XIV and his second son Charles, the king of Spain, sat in a golden carriage. Carlos III.

On the fourth day after the official coronation of Carlos III in the Cathedral of Toledo, the Pope's will came too late, and Louis XIV didn't even bother to look at it. To say that the Church of Rome only relied on Princess Teresa's marriage. The oath he made before, but since Philip IV could ignore the embarrassment and pain of his eldest daughter and refuse to pay the dowry of half a million livres, he should not complain in **** that France was taking fire and looting.

Archbishop of Toledo, no, he is no longer an archbishop, but a friar, Brother Win. He was dressed in simple linen and tied a belt, watching the mighty procession go to the cathedral, with mixed feelings in his heart, Al Belloni supported him by his side—he was very weak now, but he still wanted to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter in Rome, and if he was lucky, he would be buried in the same city as the saint’s disciples.

"Let's go."

Alberoni is also going to Rome. Although his teacher wanted him to go to Paris with him, he felt that he should go to Rome to study for a while, but it was more likely to accompany the teacher to the end of his life. For a period of time, this was the gift of the Sun King, and it was also his reward. Some people might think it was not worth it, but he felt very happy.

   They went against the flow of people to the city gate. When they were about to pass through the city gate, they were signaled by the guard to go to the side, because a group of nobles was coming from outside.

  It was Duke Don Juan and his entourage.

   Duke Tang Huang hurried past them like a whirlwind. The former Archbishop of Toledo was pale, although he already knew from Alberoni that Madrid had surrendered earlier than Toledo, and he always had a glimmer of extravagance.

   Maybe Duke Don Juan just fled Madrid? He was the illegitimate son of Philip IV, but also the king regent of Spain. If he can raise the flag, there may still be a glimmer of hope, at least the French will put down a little arrogance.

   But now, he only saw a gorgeously dressed, beaming Duke Don Juan eagerly kneeling in front of the French.

   (end of this chapter)