I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 525 Gian Medici's Supplementary Narrative (Part 2)

   One day, Luciano I called me to go, and he wanted to send me away, "There's going to be a big battle here soon."

I couldn't disobey his will, not to mention that after my father was recuperating in seclusion, he and my sister were my guardians. "Go to Versailles," he said. "You can also visit your abbey." He reached out and touched it. My hair, "I'm not urging you to serve God all your life, it may be a little hypocritical to say that," he sighed: "A robber stole all the money from a merchant, and then graciously gave him a little travel expenses. "

   He stared at me for a while: "But I have something to do."

   "It's what Louis XIV had to do." I said boldly.

"No. Ji'an," he said, "I also have my ambitions." He paused: "I told my father, wait... when everything is over, you can choose to return to the world, or Keep going up, he won't tax your monastery, you can use all the income as you like, as long as you don't hurt your body and soul."

As far as I know, the king of France gave me a very large monastery, with its vineyards and lavender fields, about 1200 acres, and an annual income of tens of thousands of livres. If I decide to wait until If I leave the monastery after this battle is completely over, then I will also have an additional income of nearly one hundred thousand livres around me - I mean, Cosimo III and all the properties of the Medici family, except for the part that must be passed on, It will be divided equally between me and my brother.

   Of course, the Sun King is not that kind of greedy person, and he doesn’t care about this little money. I only learned after I joined the army that the army’s expenditure was not less than the water flowing out of the river.

After I arrived in Versailles, like other nobles, I had a room of my own. The queen appointed a female official to take care of me. I could choose to stay in the palace to recuperate, go to school, or go to a monastery for further studies. I temporarily choose Staying in Versailles, I can see that the queen wants me to do the same, after all, before the dust settles in Italy, maybe someone is thinking of using me or my brother Ferdinand to threaten Louis XIV.

   "What about my brother?" I thought I would see him as soon as I got to Versailles.

"He," Queen Teresa said, embarrassed, amused, and a little envious after she spread out her fan, covering half of her face, "he may be in Prussia now." I heard the news, Can't help but be surprised, "Where is he going to do?"

  You know, even my father, Cosimo III, and the people at the Tuscan court thought he was in Versailles or Paris. There are many swingers in these two places, and the residences of "Ming Shu" are all over the place. Louis XIV is not a strict person, and he will not show any traces for ten days and a half months, and no one will doubt or worry.

"He only went to Prussia not long ago," the queen said. I thought the queen's expression was a little weird. Maybe my brother's sudden departure was true. She was worried about whether I would have doubts about them, but for some reason She couldn't tell me the truth.

Thinking of this, I stopped asking questions. After a few days, I gave the maid next to me a ring and asked her to tell me how my brother came to Prussia... After she hesitated for a while, Just tell me that there's actually no conspiracy involved, but it's really hard to tell.

Here I have to say that both the Tuscan court and the Versailles court have their own eccentric understandings of marriage and love, but one thing is the same. Rebellion is important, they can accept all kinds of immorality with a smile, from a public lady of the royal family to a eunuch, but when a noble person of status is tempted by a heterosexual who is not enough to step into their class, they are like committing a crime As if they had committed some unforgivable sin, all would strongly oppose the affair between them.

  My brother Ferdinand, the eldest son of Cosimo III, future Archduke of Tuscany (not now, of course), fell in love with the daughter of a pirate.

   This kind of thing that is enough to be written by later generations and made into a movie is a scandal in the Palace of Versailles! The maid said firmly that although she was only the daughter of a viscount, she believed that Eva, the pirate's daughter, was lucky enough to win the king's favor and was allowed to enter Versailles. The female official beside her, but in the final analysis, she is still a vulgar woman, and she can't even speak French!

I have to say that when I heard that my unruly brother actually had a real love for such a woman, I would definitely get to the bottom of it. Even if the maid received the ring, she didn't tell me everything, but I knew the name. It's not hard to keep listening. The results left me speechless, I really don't know - this lady Eva is not a pirate's daughter, I should say, a privateer like a pirate, and her uncle, father, and even a cousin are engaged in this dishonorable Professional.

The reason why she was summoned to Versailles by the king was because she occasionally uncovered a conspiracy about the British, and what was even more surprising was that the spy turned out to be her husband. She was almost killed by him, but she insisted She went to her uncle and informed her about it—in a sense, she buried her husband with her own hands.

   is such a lady, although I don't know what she looks like or what kind of personality, but I know she is definitely not easy to mess with...

At that time, although my brother had a relationship with her, everyone thought that the relationship was bound to end. After all, the identities of the two were too different. When Ms. Eva went to Prussia with the grand princess, Ferdinand should have Going to find a new love - he seemed ready to do the same, but then, you know, as soon as he heard that he had been given up his worldly status to become a monk, he didn't hesitate to pack his bags and ran off Prussia…

   "But now their identities are still so different." I said bluntly: "Now Ms. Eva is the Countess of Nice, and my brother is just a little monk."

   "The king will definitely give him a title." The queen said: "The marriage will not be impossible at that time."

  I don't think there's anything wrong with this marriage. The Medici family was originally just a small businessman who bought pills. After thinking about it, when the war in Italy is over, my sister's husband, Luciano I, will definitely give my brother and me a title, and if we want, we can enter the army or the government.

   Our future is nothing to worry about.

  …

  I thought that after I came to Versailles, I only knew a thing or two about the situation in Italy through the letters with my sister. I didn’t expect that the Sun King would allow me to understand the current situation of the peninsula through newspapers, publications and messengers from Italy.

   The three refer to each other, and by comparison, I can probably create a general outline.

Muhammad IV of Ottoman Turkey was indeed an ambitious man. As the second sultan to sail across the sea after Suleiman the Magnificent, he commanded his army of 200,000 people. After several months of lengthy attacks , finally occupied Sicily, which is the island I mentioned earlier, which originally belonged to the Duchy of Savoy. With this big island, he was able to transport an army of 200,000 people to the real battlefield one after another. Naples.

The easternmost corner of Sicily, a small town called Messina, is the closest place to Naples. From Messina, you can directly see the city walls of Port Reggio. You only need boats, even sampans and wooden barrels. The Ottoman Turks built the pontoon bridge—supposedly using some kind of tricky technique, but others say the pagans colluded with the devil to build a bridge overnight for tens of thousands of people.

The battle after    was, in a sense, lackluster, because... in a battle against 200,000 enemies, all skill, strategy, or tactics are useless.

   The place where the Ottoman Turks landed was the port of Reggio on the Italian peninsula. Maybe some people don't pay much attention to that place, let's put it this way, it is often said that the Italian peninsula is like a high-heeled boot reaching into the sea, then Port Reggio is the position of the toe of the boot, and the Gulf of Taranto is the heel and toe The depression between, where Lecce is located is the heel of the shoe.

Occupying Sicily, Mohammed IV has confidence that once things go unfavorable for Ottoman Turkey, he at least has a place to retreat and repair the army. He followed the upper of Italian boots all the way up, facing Facing the countless fortifications such as bastions, city walls, trenches, etc., these fortifications continue to consume the lives of Ottoman soldiers, but as every time before, the death of the Azap infantry has never been taken seriously by the officers and the sultan. , troops from Istanbul and other parts of the vast empire were still being brought in by ships.

   This is a flesh mill.

I suddenly understood why, even though there was a federation of Italy and Luciano became the king, Louis XIV's generals only used the soldiers of the Italian princes as sappers. They didn't have the courage and courage to face the tsunami like a tsunami. The number of the Ottomans who rushed over was so terrifying that it was hopeless. Just seeing it would make one lose the courage to resist.

General Vauban's incessant, almost frenzied, maligned fortifications in these months finally gave the answer in the face of the Ottoman Turks - they were like a sharp knife. Small knives constantly cut small wounds on the giant beast of the Ottoman army. It might not have any effect at first, but as winter was about to enter, the harm caused by these wounds became apparent.

  —

Muhammad IV is not a fool. He will not repeat the mistakes that Koppel has made. In the early battle, Louis XIV and his allies adopted a method of fortifying the wall and clearing the field, making the same amazing number of Ottoman Turks. The army was in trouble because of insufficient supplies. This time he first occupied the rich Sicily, and then ordered the merchants and governors to bring sufficient food.

  So, although Vauban also used a similar technique, it had little impact on the Ottoman Turkish army.

  Mohammed IV even remembered warning the officers that soldiers were not allowed to easily enter the completely enclosed space, and the shock caused by the disaster caused by the big explosion was still fresh in his memory.

   But at that time, Louis XIV needed a sealed space because the quantity of gunpowder was insufficient, and when the dust exploded, a large space with little air circulation was required. But General Vauban didn't have this trouble. He had plenty of gunpowder and grenades.

With fortresses and walls, throwing ammunition at the enemy, even the Italians could hold on for a long time, they would also destroy roads and plant grenades in the wasteland - after the invention of the flintlock, metal pieces and Flint quickly rubs to generate sparks, and the principle of igniting gunpowder has been well known to many people. General Vauban's craftsmen have come up with a cannon that can be hidden underground and triggered by a cable... He thought so at the time, but After reading it, Vauban asked, since this cable needs to be pulled manually, is it possible to let the enemy pull the rope by himself?

   Of course, many times, seemingly ridiculous inventions are just going in the wrong direction. The craftsman just adds a small device similar to a mousetrap, so that the enemy can "pull the rope" by himself.

This kind of weapon that was buried in the ground and would explode at an unknown time caused a widespread panic. Even if the sultans and their maesters showed the unexploded grenades to the Azaps, it still could not alleviate their panic. After all, it is unknown. The fear is the deepest.

  This kind of underground grenade, no one knows how much General Vauban buried, plus the fortresses and fortifications in this part of the boot toe, as well as the layers of barbed wire, which greatly slowed down the Ottoman Turks' attack speed.

   Muhammad IV did not think this could pose a threat to him. He had countless soldiers and countless wheat. Although the French fleet had been attacking them, he also had countless ships, and he was able to land in Sicily and maintain this important waterway - until a terrible news came.

   The Prince of Transylvania rebelled.

The army of the    rebels went all the way south, invincible, and approached less than fifty miles from Istanbul.

   (end of this chapter)