I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 549 Five Years Later (Part 2)

   "The yield of potatoes is six thousand pounds per acre," said the Irishman: "Ma'am, there is only a thousand pounds of wheat."

To the marquise of Lafayette's surprise, these two red-haired Celts were not the poor as they were supposed to be, they were rare, and after England invaded Ireland, they still had a noble blood. One of the families who continued to keep their manor and farmland with a prominent name, "but here you will allow me to say no more to that honorable name," said the Irishman. "We have put our ancestors to shame." He Looking at the Marquise: "It's not a servant relationship. Your son is a good man and a loyal knight. We are loyal to him, and there is no place for any shame or hesitation."

   He had a look of pain: "I feel sorry, ma'am, because I have to abandon my people and my domain."

"Ah, yes," murmured the Marchioness, who should have guessed that poor people would not have such a tall stature, such a burly body that exists as a samurai, without enough wheat, meat, and butterfat. , "You must have suffered a very terrible disaster."

   "It didn't happen overnight." The Irishman said: "The English do not recognize my title, because it was obtained from the king of Ireland."

   "Is that William Wallace?"

"Yes, the English refuse to recognize him as a king, but in our hearts," the Irishman gestured, "he will always be our king, our chief." He went on: "In the time of my great-grandfather. , the English made up many charges, put him in prison, and forced him to use his property to atone for his sins. Even so, when I took over the property from my father, we still had about five hundred and thirty acres of land, and It's the kind of good arable land, and the Irish are willing to rent my land because I won't exploit them as cruelly as the English."

"There are always people who want to take the only land from me, I do my best, ma'am, but I support the rebels, I need more food, potatoes produce six times as much as wheat, and the English don't like potatoes , they won't come and **** the potatoes, so—I have potatoes on all my land, and only a very small one for wheat."

"The potato disease actually started six or seven years ago. I remember it very well, but only a few fields were affected at that time. I sent samples to the University of London and Edinburgh to ask scholars how the disease came about. The Irishman said this with a sarcastic smile: "They told me that it was caused by too much water in the fields or too hot soil. It was just an occasional phenomenon, so I didn't need to worry about it."

"Then, one summer," he looked up at the ceiling, as if back to that day: "A group of farmers came and told me that their potatoes were mildewed on both the leaves and stems, and I I hurried to see it, and after I saw it, I pulled them all up. As a result, the potatoes in the ground were also moldy. I knew it was not good at the time, so I immediately set up a fire and burned them all. The potatoes next to me were not spared either. But I did this, others may not go, their potatoes died in large numbers, and the plague spread everywhere, and my fields were not spared."

"I sent letters of petition to London, and Edinburgh, and I thought, whether it's Charles II or James II, if one of them is willing to take care of us, I'm willing to bow down to him. , sincerely, but no matter who is there, my appeal is in vain." He paused: "I even went to London myself, not only did I not see Charles II, but I was imprisoned, and then someone asked me to Redeem my life and my freedom with the land I have."

"Of course I'm reluctant, but if I die in London, my wife, my children, my friends, my sharecroppers, they'll have no one to trust, and they'll be devoured at once. , I can only give up my cultivated land to fulfill the wishes of those people." He breathed lightly: "My buyer is still a person with some compassion, or it may be because he used an excessively low price. I got a large piece of land and was in a good mood, like a friend who advised me to get out of London as soon as possible, and as for my original prayer - not to mention whether it could reach the ears of Charles II, or whether he would care A poor man, an Irishman, and the ministers and nobles who surround him would not be willing, and they want to take this rare opportunity to take the remaining land in the hands of the Irish."

"Why do they do this?" asked the Marchioness, incomprehensible, to say that France also had many colonies, such as Holland, such as Flanders and Alsace, such as America, and Spain, where Louis XIV lived. Taxes, servitude and different laws were implemented in the local implementation stage, but even in the most rebellious Netherlands, if suffered such a natural disaster, Louis XIV would not stand by and take advantage of the fire.

"This is the difference between Your Majesty and Charles II." The Irishman took the opportunity to compliment: "I was too naive, ma'am, but at the time I thought the same as you - at least let people live, our request How lowly, but we should have known, when 'sheep cannibalism' happens, look how they treat the poor, yes, maybe a shilling can save a life, And those gentlemen and ladies can save hundreds of shattered families by tying one less lace ribbon." At this point, his voice suddenly rose: "But madam, why do they do this? Poor people, The Irish are completely different creatures from them, no, it should be said that not only is it different, but it is also a disgusting existence like a mouse and cockroach, wouldn't it be better to die?"

At this time, his eyes were full of tears: "Ah, ma'am, I hurried back to Ireland, my home, when I was leaving, although there were people who died of starvation, but those people were all Old people and children, the officials also promised me that food would be distributed, but as soon as I set foot on land, I saw burned and deserted villages, heavily guarded cities, and people lying on the roads. corpses—they lay there, the wild dogs feasting.

I was rushing home like crazy, and I met several robbers on the way. They wanted everything, money, food and water, even your body. Fortunately, when I was in London, I still got some support, I With full strength, he killed them all.

When I got home, my youngest daughter was dead, and there were several relatives, yes, didn't I say that I also planted some wheat, they were all forcibly taken away by local officials, my wife Only with tenant farmers and servants to live on potatoes that are not fully moldy - but how much can that be? Madam, I don't know how long it took, we ate weeds, sawdust, and dirt, and my eldest son ate poisonous nettles, and died, very quiet, I think it must be because there was no moaning and crying Strength, because I am the same. "

   His tone was extremely flat, but the Marchioness was unavoidably horrified.

"Just as I was about to die—I even thought about killing my other children and my wife while I still had the strength to keep them from being tortured." He raised his eyes brightly: "Suddenly, Someone came in and asked me if I wanted to go to work in America."

   "Ah!" The Marquise patted her knee, as if she had patted off the chill: "Yes, he told me."

"Yes, it's your son. He needs some people to help him manage his property in the New World. The merchants entrusted by him have taken away many people, including my family and my brother's family. "

   "You don't have to call him a benefactor at all," said the Marchioness softly. "He just hired you."

"Saved me, and my family." The Irishman retorted: "Did you see someone hire a servant and take away the whole family of servants?" He shook his head: "He gave us a new five hundred mu."

   "The New World is very rich in land resources."

   "But he doesn't have to come to us at all, he doesn't have to hire us, he can buy some dark people, just like the British do."

   "Our Majesty doesn't like the slave trade, which is probably the least Roman thing about him," said the Marquise.

"He is like the rising sun, and you are like the moon and the stars," said the Irishman; "his light shines on the Irishman through you." It is not an honour to meet your Majesty, but if you can meet him, madam, please convey to the saint the respect and gratitude of the Irish."

  ———

They probably don't know that His Majesty the King, whom they are referring to, is in disguise, sitting on a chair outside the café, in the company of Pierre Montesquieu, the cousin of the Count of D'Artagnan, in the late autumn. In the sunlight, watching the people coming and going.

Since the imperial period of ancient Rome, emperors and kings had a hobby of engraving their own portraits on coins, and Louis XIV was no exception. His mint also used a steam engine to drive a press to create the coin. The coins are so clear and beautiful that the outline of the king's face is so familiar - who doesn't like money?

This has greatly restricted the freedom of His Majesty the King. Today, he wanted to take to the streets on a whim, and he even put on a beard for himself. Everyone who came and went couldn't help but glance at him, but there was a strange face beside him— Pierre was not a familiar face to the Parisians, although he often accompanied the king, but he was a very different from D'Artagnan, a taciturn, conservative by nature, who rarely went to the opera, let alone the opera. Salon or banquet, very few people can recognize him at a glance.

   If the Duke of Orléans, the Count of D'Artagnan, or Jean Bart, the Marquis of Crecy, the most familiar flower masters in Paris, the king will be recognized all at once.

   "They must think you are a Russian," Pierre said with a smile.

   "Are there many Russians in Paris now?"

"Not much, but Your Majesty, almost only the Russians in Paris now have beards." At first, it was because of the effect of each other. Later, the Parisians, and even the entire French, and the Europa people discovered that without a beard, they look younger and cleaner. Not much more, as for why the Russians are so stubborn, it is said that they think the beard is a symbol of masculinity.

  This beard really hindered many people. Several officers stopped for a long time, but left hesitantly.

   "It must be said that there are many Irish people now," said Louis. The characteristics of the Irish are still very obvious, a little rough, bold, broad and flat face, thick long eyebrows and apricot-shaped eyes, especially many of them have red hair, this hair color is due to the Irish long-term It was preserved without foreign intrusions - not the Tartars nor the Romans except the English.

   "There are more Irish in Montreal." Pierre said lightly, in fact, he should have said that there were many Irish in the whole New World.

After reaching an "agreement" with the Duke of York, Marshal Schumberg took a group of hot-blooded young officers to the New World. After they allied with the Indians and drove the British out completely, a problem lay In front of them, the area of ​​the New World is almost comparable to that of Europa. If the number of Indians is counted, there may only be 1.5 million people in rough statistics, and the French immigrants who have no great interest in leaving their country and home are even more Less, they also lack the motivation to stay - businessmen are only for making money, soldiers are only for building merits. Louis XIV had to promise them land, so these young soldiers, or merchants recognized by the king, and many Indians, all jumped into big landowners.

   Then who will grow wheat, corn, tobacco, cotton, and potatoes for them? Some French merchants could only come back to Paris and bribe the people close to the king, hoping that His Majesty would allow them to continue the slave trade. Here Louis doesn't want to hide, Portugal, Holland, England and France have all done the slave trade, and even Denmark, Sweden and Brandenburg have intervened...but this kind of business Louis will probably never like it.

   Just when Louis was considering whether to move some of the inhabitants of Flanders or Brittany, the Huguenots, to move there first...

   The potato plague broke out in Ireland.

Louis didn't want to thank God for this. There were countless **** lives behind it, but his response was still very fast. He immediately sent letters to Charles II and James II respectively, and bought employment Ireland for French businessmen. People and concessions in and out of Ireland. These two "His Majesty the King" are fighting in full swing, and they are only short of selling their palaces. Of course, they will not refuse this unexpected income.

   Besides, they were also worried that if it continued, millions of hungry Irishmen would start a riot, and they had no extra troops to destroy them.

At first, Colbert and the merchants thought the king was joking... When the latter actually got the permit, the fleet also entered the St. George's Strait under the eye of the British fleet - almost dumbfounded - because Louis XIV They have always been very concerned about the population. They probably never thought that the lord of a country would sell his people on a per-capita basis.

   Yes, by the head, every Irishman, they were to take a tenth of their commission to give to the King of England.

   (end of this chapter)