I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 533 Go to hell!

   "Let them all go to hell!"

   This is the answer given by Louis XIV.

After he got the Netherlands, it has to be said that the French army at that time, and even himself, were like strings that were stretched to the limit and could not bear any pressure, so he decided to divide the Netherlands with other countries. If not, then The establishment of the anti-French alliance is only a full ten years ahead of schedule. But now, after twenty years of his meticulous planning, Leopold I and Charles II are about to take the ready-made fruit from him with the slightest movement of their lips?

how is this possible? !

Louis XIV's 20 years of painstaking efforts are not only for the dowry of half a million livres, but also for his army, his son (or if there was no Charles, he would have given little Louis the scepter of Spain), his army. The people, the treasury and the inner treasury that he has tried his best to fill... Isn't all of this an expectation that once Bourbon gets Spain, he and France will inevitably face countless pairs of jealous eyes that go crazy?

Not to mention that both Leopold I and Charles II were defeated by him before they reluctantly offered to negotiate. Even when Charles II went to see God, Louis would not satisfy their greedy appetites. King's disputes are always settled well - come, come fight!

   On this continent, no matter how grand, how elegant, or how good and reasonable in name, in the final analysis it is the way of the barbarians, they have never changed, and never want to change.

Hearing what the king said, Elari couldn't help laughing, "Oh, my dear Louis, I can almost imagine how ugly Leopold I and Charles II would look when they heard such a reply. Now," he thought for a while, "it's almost like a letter written by the Cossacks to the Sultan."

   "You can't say that," Louis said calmly: "" "I didn't let Leopold I go to grass goats, and I didn't let him lick the devil's ass."

  Erael laughed even harder. The letter he speaks of was written a few years ago by the sultan of Ottoman Turkey when he ordered a group of rebellious Cossacks to surrender, and its content is so rude that it cannot be repeated even by Jean Bart, because of its blasphemy and viciousness, the sultan does not even allow it The clerk archived, Quan Dang did not have this incident, but there were so many people who were willing to see the Ottoman jokes, this letter still circulated.

Erale was not surprised that Louis could see the letter, and he could see it, but he immediately said with a serious face: "I would like to ask, Your Majesty, has the military power of the Ottoman Turks weakened to this point? "

  You must know that this happened five years ago, and the Sultan who was humiliated by the Cossacks was none other than Mohammed IV.

"It's just a monster with a huge body, but the inside has been hollowed out." Louis said that if he was Muhammad IV, he would definitely try to avoid war, because the Ottoman Turkey was constantly declining, and his enemies were Constantly strong, but if there is no war, the shadow left by Ottoman Turkey to the Europas can last for a long time, but once the war begins, every defeat is a hole that allows people to glimpse its fragility.

   "When you sent a messenger to ask papa to call the countries and start the tenth holy war, I couldn't help but be surprised, especially since the main force of this holy war is still mainly Italians."

   "Italian mercenaries are not as cowardly as you think, they are just too greedy, selfish and unethical."

Elatrix grinned subtly. Louis XIV's subtext was that the Italian soldiers were a group of armed merchants willing to die for money. They might be hired to fight, but the money wasn't enough to make them die. , but if they can get a lot of "just" wealth from the holy war like the former Crusader knights, they will definitely rush up without hesitation.

The wealth that the    Crusader knights gained from the holy war was enough for them to build several nations.

   "No wonder the priests of the Roman church don't like you," Elarius said.

   "They won't like anyone who dares to shake their interests, Elarius. After you arrive in Rome, they should also try to bribe you."

"Yes." Speaking of which, Elarius will still show a disgusting look. In the Decameron written by the Italian Giovanni Boccaccio, he once described how a pagan went to Rome in person , to see what religion a friend wants him to convert to. Of course his friend would be horrified because he knew how rotten and hopeless the church in Rome was, and who knew that his pagan friend had been converted after returning from Rome because "such a depraved church has not yet caught fire. There must be a true God in prison..."

   "I thought they would be better after the Reformation."

   "Compared to the time of Alexander VI," Elarius said, "the priests are indeed better at smearing and powdering."

"It was because of Protestantism that they had to change." Louis said: "But any existence with endless power and no restrictions will inevitably embark on a rotten road. Sometimes, you will feel that they are in the world. As if to show how sinful human beings are." He slowly rubbed the handle of his cane, and Elali felt that he was not talking about the church. After a moment of silence, the prince in red smiled slightly: "Then you think Rome should be changed. What is it like?"

   "I just know it should change," Louie said horribly, lightly. "But I don't know how it will change."

   "We probably won't be able to see it anymore." Era sighed.

   "Not necessarily," said Louis. "If little Louis is to be crowned in the future, I hope that the one who puts the crown on his head is you."

  Eraro took a deep breath.

"I feel that our subject is slipping into the abyss," Elatrix said, and Louis XIV's suggestion made him both panic and undeserved hope: "I have been frightened enough today, good majesty. , let's talk about something else."

   "What do you want to hear? Well," Louis said indifferently: "I will give you a thousand pagan nobles who are willing to convert, and I will give you another hundred thousand livres."

  A thousand pagan nobles willing to convert is not a small number, but who made Mohammed IV bring enough people?

There have always been many ways to convert a pagan. Physical persuasion can be used for a thousand years, or even later, not to mention that there are many well-informed obedients in the Ottoman army - most of them are from Sipahi, That is, the cavalry of the Ottomans. Most of them are descendants of nobles in the conquered areas, and they are both soldiers of the Sudan and hostages of the Sudan. They have such an identity, and of course they will not be afraid of being held accountable for conversion issues. .

There are also the officers of the Ottoman servants and entourages, the Turkmens, or the Tatars, the Georgians, who are more similar to the sultan as employers and employees, and of course not for the sake of belief. Small things usher in the calamity of death.

...what some devout believers are reluctant to admit is that what Bishop Elarius brought back to Rome was not so much a group of converts who showed the majesty of God, but rather a pile of active wallets, because as captives, these nobles It can pay its own ransom.

Eralio could get a hundred thousand livres from Louis and bring back a thousand living golden figures, which the cardinals of Rome would have believed when they received such a pleasant and dignified gift. As Elarius said, Louis XIV of France was a good man who was extremely loyal and obedient to God and the Church...

  Era was a little surprised that Louis XIV handed over this matter to his son, the young Luciano.

   It's not that he doesn't recognize Luciano's talent, but this kind of thing - he can only say that Louis' son is really like his half-brother, and has the qualifications that a ruler should have. To put it directly, even Luciano is not the kind of king that the church likes. He may have faith, but he will definitely not love the priests in Rome.

  It was only when Elarius handed over these thousand people to Elalo that he met Luciano for the first time.

"You've grown up, Lucy," said Elarius. The impression the Duke of Colonna left on him was a melancholy young man, but now he saw a rude soldier with a tall stature and a thick chest. , with a thick beard on his face and disheveled hair on the temples, no trace of Marie Mancini can be seen.

"Because of the relationship to negotiate with those Ottoman Turks." Most of the Ottomans and their vassals like to keep thick beards, and without beards will give them the impression of being weak and deceiving. In order to avoid meaningless disputes, the Duke of Colonna Just grow a beard.

The life and death of Muhammad IV is now unknown, and the Ottomans left in Sicily can be said to have been fatally hit, but Naples is stranded with most of the army, and these soldiers are also led by their Grand Vizier. , but the rumor has spread to the hearts of every Ottoman - they can't help but believe that the supply quota has suddenly dropped to a point where they can hardly fill their stomachs, and the regiments closer to the coast have also seen fire and black smoke, once The masts that stood between the blue sky and sea also seemed to disappear overnight (thanks to the French fleet).

The number of people who once brought great pressure to the enemy will also bring pressure to the Grand Vizier. He is not a very talented person. Facing questioning eyes and dangerous eyes, he can only shiver in the tent. , praying day and night to his true god—or if the Ottoman army could break into Naples, or a more fertile place, they would still be able to survive by pillage, but the cowardice of the people of God , but they don't know how much cement has been accumulated. The man-made boulders that once hindered them during the great battle turned into low walls, bunkers and all kinds of strange fortifications. Their enemies obviously did not expect to be able to win in the battle. , but as long as it can delay their footsteps is enough.

  Hunger can make people weak and angry, not to mention... The sultans have indeed left them, and they don't know if they can go back, or if there is a way out.

However, neither Louis XIV nor the Duke of Colonna could treat them like the Ottomans in Sicily. They were too numerous, and everyone knew that the beasts in the trap were the most ferocious. He was waiting for an emissary from the Grand Vizier or the new ruler of Istanbul.

The    messenger came, and he brought a letter from the new sultan.

Muhammad IV was "dead", and the Queen Mother supported his son and reached an agreement with the youngest son of the Koprulu family. They urgently need this army to return to Istanbul, and they don't even mind paying some ransoms and feeding them. commissions from the Genoese and Venetians - because only they had enough ships to transport these tens of thousands back to Istanbul.

   "Write a letter to the Grand Duke of Transylvania," Louis XIV said to the wizard beside him. "He should have withdrawn to Romania."

  ———

   "Aren't we going to try again?" The Grand Duke of Transylvania, a friend and general of Tekei, asked regretfully, looking at Istanbul, where he could still vaguely see the outline.

   "No, we can't be too greedy, the Ottoman army is coming back," Tekei said.

   Saying no regrets is false.

  Istanbul, once Constantinople, has always been an unshakable fortified city. When Mohammed II bought the Genoese and sneaked into the Golden Horn from the Galat region controlled by the Genoese, he even unexpectedly laid a slipway and dragged 80 sailboats into the bay, attacked by sea and land, and finally conquered this majestic fortress.

After changing from Constantinople to Istanbul, the fortress was repaired and strengthened by successive sultans, and now it has four layers of defense, a moat and a low wall, an outer wall made of limestone strips and an inner wall of granite strips. The wall, and five hundred towers, could cover any section of the city wall.

  Although the aid from France gave them a considerable amount of artillery and a large amount of gunpowder, it was still impossible to capture this heroic city before the Ottoman army turned back.

   "There will be a chance," Tekei said, "and it won't be long."

  ———

  The Viscount Turenne in North Holland heard the good news that the Ottomans had to withdraw from Italy, and welcomed the coalition of the British and the Danes.

  Faced with threats from France and Sweden, the Danes finally found a suitable ally. Louis XIV's answer made Charles II, who had become more self-willed in recent years, furious. He was like a crazy gambler. In spite of the opposition of Congress, he followed Louis XIV's practice and mortgaged the property belonging to the royal family and united the Netherlands. The government-in-exile and the Danes have built a new fleet to regain lost dignity in North Holland.

   (end of this chapter)