I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 53 Two Rebellious Wars

As we mentioned before, the Duke of Mortmar fell in love at first sight with a potionist's wife, a witch. Even if she had a husband and children, it would not quench his desire for love. He not only wanted her body, but also wanted To get her love and loyalty, for this, he officially married her, but such a marriage is difficult to get the recognition of the main branch and collateral, so he wants to impress with a gift worth 100,000 livres King, in order to persuade the unwilling people in the name of the king.

But for Louis, although the arrival of 100,000 livres was timely, it was far from enough for a duke. In addition, D'Artagnan mentioned that the duke has no heir. He couldn't help but think further. He meant that if the duke's infatuation with the witch continued until she gave birth to a son, the duke should be able to pay more in order to allow his son to inherit the title and territory. That's right - no, it should be said that he should think about the future now.

   So the king had to write to the bishop, asking him to remind the Duke of Mortemar about this, and to inform him of the arrangements after that, asking him to give him advice. Mr. Bishop quickly replied to the letter, he revised some mistakes in the king's plan because he did not understand the current situation or the tradition, and respectfully asked the king for forgiveness, because he saw the matter urgently, so he did it first After some arrangements were made, the Duke of Mortmar was reminded to go to Orville.

Orville is a small town on the banks of the Oise, about nine leagues from Paris, where, two hundred years later, a frustrated and unhappy painter spent the last seventy days of his life, In the past 70 days, a large number of exquisite works were created and buried here. This small town is also famous in the world, but at this time, it is not famous, and Prince Kong Dai is only here for a short stay.

The king told the queen mother to ask her to write a letter to Prince Condé, asking him to take care of his relatives and come back to Paris. He was able to do what he wanted, don't let France fall into the abyss of civil war, then talk about everything - it was a letter for peace, so to speak, which surprised the Queen Mother, because as far as she was concerned, her eldest son was not like that Cowardly people, and they now have their own army, but the king kept begging, and the queen mother wrote a letter and gave it to the messenger for him to take to Orville.

But the messenger left too late, and encountered robbers on the way, so when he arrived at Auvers hard, the Prince of Condé had already left, and the messenger finally learned from the soldiers left by the prince that the prince had gone to Angers, He went to Angers again, and the prince read the letter and expressed great regret, because if he were still in Auvers, he would have rushed to the king and accepted this sincere proposal, but he is now in Angers, surrounded by With many loyal people, in order not to disappoint them, he could only regretfully reject the king's proposal, that is to say, he had to fight the king.

Louis received the Prince's reply and was not discouraged. He asked the Queen Mother to continue to write to the Prince, while receiving the envoy of the Duke of Orleans, his cousin, the Duchess of Montpensier. After the previous events, the Duke of Orleans may feel this Daughter is really easy to use. After repeatedly inviting Louis to enter Paris and failing to succeed, he let his daughter go out, completely disregarding the current royal family's disgust for her, which is slightly wrong. She will not only be humiliated, but may also be killed. calamity.

But for the Duke of Orleans, this is nothing at all. He has always been dissatisfied with his succession after the eldest daughter (the territory of the Duchess of Montpensier). If the Duchess of Montpensier can succeed, he will Of course it's good for him, but if it doesn't work, it's not bad for him either. After all, as I learned from Louis, now in Paris, the Duchess of Montpensier is almost more famous than her father.

To say that the Duchess of Montpensier, in terms of appearance and aura, seems to have been reborn. It seems that Orleans and her party have become an opportunity for her to climb up. The Queen Mother did not want to see her, and Louis told him bluntly that he Still waiting for Prince Condé's reply, if possible, he is willing to take the prince's arm and enter Paris together.

   "As for the reason," said Louis, in the childish tone that could only belong to a child, "of course it is because I prefer to trust the prince." Not your father.

When these words were uttered, Louis stared closely at the face of the Duchess of Montpensier, who still did not know whether the Duchess of Montpensier's infatuation with the Prince of Condé was a disguise or sincere, but when After seeing that there was no strange expression on the Duchess's face, he was almost certain.

At this time, the queen mother's maid appeared outside the door. It seemed that the queen mother had some orders, so the king ran out. The duchess noticed that a drawer of the desk was slightly open. She looked around and found that the attendants were all in the corridor. Inside, he boldly walked over, opened the drawer, opened the letter and read it. She read it very seriously, and almost wanted to print every word in her heart. When she heard footsteps in the corridor, she hurriedly folded the letter, stuffed it into the drawer, and closed the drawer.

The king didn't seem to notice the drawer, let alone the letter inside. He simply said a few words to the Duchess and then dismissed her. Of course, when the Duchess was still the darling of the royal family, even Versailles would definitely There is a room for her, but now that the Queen Mother can't wait to hang her, how can she let her stay? The duchess had to take the maid guard and return to Paris overnight.

   The Duke of Orléans didn’t really want to believe the information brought back by the eldest daughter at first, but the king soon gave him conclusive evidence—Prince Condé was canonized as Grand Marshal, and he was about to lead his army back to Paris in the near future.

It is precisely like this that after the Queen Mother showed her weakness again and again, Prince Kong Dai, who was always on the move, finally made a decision, but there was also the reason why he thought his career did not go smoothly - he was only welcomed in a few places, and he was very popular. Some French people still only recognize the king. Although he has outstanding military skills, his subordinates are not necessarily. They suffered repeated setbacks under Turenne and Schaumberg, and thus produced a lot of contradictions - which made Kong. The acting prince couldn't help becoming tired and tired, and his vision of becoming a king was no longer so firm, so although his sister, the Duchess of Longueville and his wife tried to persuade him, he still agreed to the king's proposal, but he also had a request, That is to enter Paris with eight thousand soldiers belonging to him.

  The king agreed.

Prince Condé returned to Paris in 1652, and the bishop of Mazarin, who had been recalled to his side by the king at that time, immediately announced his retirement again, and transferred a considerable part of his power to Condé, which made the Duke of Orleans uncontrollably red-eyed. After all, after the king came back, his acting king became very embarrassed, especially after the king held his coming-of-age ceremony, he decided to move the High Court of Paris to Pontoise. It stands to reason that he has become the duke of Orleans. The High Court of the Middle Thing should have rejected such an order at once, but to his fury, fourteen judges complied with the king's will, and now there are two high courts, one for the Duke of Orleans and one for the King, It is no wonder that the Duke of Orleans would go mad at the power in the hands of Bishop Mazarin.

Of course, the Duke of Orleans is not unaware of the hostility of the Prince of Condé. During a banquet invited to the residence of the Duke of Orleans, he slapped a supporter of the Duke, a duke's son, who was also a duke. Strong and arrogant young man, so he immediately responded, and the two distinguished adults fought together, and finally the Duke of Orleans had to put this brave young man in prison for a few days.

But to say that this is the end of the matter, I am afraid it may not be. Just when Prince Condé temporarily left Paris due to some affairs, two of his subordinates, two prominent dukes, had an argument and decided to decide the outcome by duel. , as a result of which a duke died. Whether or not the Duke of Orléans wrote it, no one knows.

  The king was awakened one night by the roar of artillery, and it was not surprising when he heard the cries of the soldiers.

  ————

"It's too dangerous, my lord," said the Duke of La Rochefoucault. If the Duchess of Longueville were here, he would definitely feel jealous, because the concern expressed by the Duke of La Rochefoucault at this time did not contain any hypocrisy. , but very sincere.

At this time, the night is coming. Except for the red light brought by the torches, only the faint red afterglow illuminates the dark woods and buildings. The vampire Amon stood in front of the open window, looked at his hand for a while, and suddenly stretched it out. When he went out, the remaining sunlight immediately burned his skin, and the Duke of La Rochefoucault looked flustered, but he didn't dare to say anything.

When he didn't know Amon and vampires that well, he was able to talk nonsense or be self-righteous, but since the Prince Condé left Paris, the vampire's connection with them has become closer, and the closer the duke is to them, the more The more courage that disappears as quickly as the water that falls into the net - it is said that Prince Condé wants to return to Paris because of this consideration. There are inquisitions, there are countless ascetics and paladins, and vampires no matter who they want. Everything has to be done with more caution.

   But what does Amon want to do? He watched the smoke rise on the back of his hand, but when he felt pain, he felt bored - a bat flew over and squeaked at him a few times, and the expression on Amon's face became even rarer.

   "So..." he said softly.

   He withdrew his hand and went back to the duke; "Your master is fighting with Gaston, Prince of Orleans."

  The Duke of La Rochefoucault was startled, he jumped up from his chair, "I must go now!" He said: "I beg your pardon, Your Highness, I..."

   Amon waved his hand and didn't seem to care at all.

   "A piece of advice," the vampire said with a cruel smile: "See the situation, Duke, see the situation, and then make a decision."

   (end of this chapter)