I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 576 Da Kongdai bids us farewell (Part 2)

It was the first time for poor little Eugen to stand in front of a bed of hay mattresses with worms crawling around, even if they were dry and fresh, but the mattresses were still rushes despite the fur. A bit at a loss.

His memory before the age of three is not much clear, except that his mother repeatedly said that he was the son of an emperor, but when he was in Soissons, the Countess of Soissons had also started to use the wool that the king admired very well. Mattress. Later, he came to Versailles. Versailles had cotton and fur in addition to wool, but no matter what kind, it was absolutely clean, dusted with medicinal powder, and guaranteed not to have a single flea and bed bug.

The linen sheets were supposed to be new, starched, and maybe the people here thought it was a great treat and privilege, but little Eugen just felt like he was lying in a field of nettles—the linen was finely treated It is also quite soft, otherwise people have been wearing it as underwear before Louis XIV, but still the same problem, no kind of fabric can be more sympathetic to human skin than cotton, not to mention that little Eugen, as the adopted son of the king, his The bedding has always been cotton from America. The seeds of this cotton come from Arabia. It is a very rare and good cotton. The woven cotton has a silky luster, and it feels like running water when touched.

Little Eugen has fought for nearly ten years, but when fighting, the king can bring his bed and bathtub, and the treatment of the commander will not be so bad. He really has never slept with living creatures. bed. In the end, he could only instruct the servant to take out his white cotton pajamas from the luggage, spread the pajamas on the bed, and cover them with a sea otter skin cloak. Itching, I took out the mirror and looked at it, only to find that my unprotected face had been bitten by insects several times.

He washed in the wooden tub, wiped the medicine, and then barely recovered his energy and walked downstairs. The servants hesitated, as if to stop him from eating in the hall-the place they stayed in was a three-story building, just the so-called three-story building. The first floor is just a towering attic. As for the first floor, it was very late when they arrived here last night. There are no kerosene lamps or gas lamps to illuminate the place. The candles can ensure that they can see the steps and the ground clearly and will not fall. That's fine.

When he went downstairs, he realized why the servant was stopping him, and it was obvious that the people here had done as much cleaning and repairing as possible, such as the icons on the walls—you could tell which church altar it was from at a glance The triptych was taken down, probably to cover the big hole in the back, and the floor is covered with carpet - but at first glance it's not the original, it's too small, so small that it shows a clear line of light and dark, you know, after friction , muddy and greasy, or tormented by the sun, wood floors are sure to leave indelible marks.

Here, little Eugen has to say or suffer from the sun—because the windows here are still old wooden shutters. Obviously, the sun does not always come here. He sat down at the table and saw that the Duke of Orleans was enjoying An extremely simple, even degrading breakfast, boiled eggs and wine, which they brought.

"If you want something to eat," said the duke, "I advise you not to." He glanced at the attendants next to him: "One of my attendants went to the kitchen last night to ask for a late-night snack, and has not stopped diarrhea yet. What?" Little Eugen lost his appetite. "Sir," he asked, "did they do this on purpose?"

   "I don't think so," said the Duke of Orleans. "You'll understand when we go out."

  Little Eugen had to suppress his dissatisfaction and anger, and ate two eggs at the Duke's insistence. But after a while, the mayor of Prague came in awe. Of course, Prague is a city in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the territory of the Holy Roman Emperor, but even in wartime, a prince and a possible emperor An illegitimate child is enough to turn the city upside down.

Just as Louis XIV must support Charles II in defeating Cromwell, the protector, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire cannot play any conspiracy when the armistice and the contract have been signed and the mission is normally performing its duties and exercising power. Tricks, this is the tacit understanding of the kings, otherwise, the Holy Roman Empire will never even think about sending missions, marrying other countries, or letting the princes of Habsburg go out to study, and his princes will condemn him for acting too recklessly , and too despicable.

   "We are going to church at St. Vita Cathedral, so come along too." The Duke of Orleans said indifferently.

The Mayor of Prague relaxed a little bit. He was also worried that these distinguished French people would go to Prague's churches in the old town or square, such as the Church of the Savior and the Church of St. Nicholas. It was not that he did not want to, but the St. Vita Cathedral is obviously safer than other churches.

  The sky is bright, and little Eugen can see more things.

  Where is Prague? It is not an ordinary city. Not only is it not far from Vienna, as the little Eugen said, it was also the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia. At that time, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Charles IV of the Luxembourg Dynasty. He is also the king of Bohemia. He places great importance on the city. He not only repaired and expanded the original Prague Castle, but also built a new city next to the old town, as well as universities, bridges and many churches. Prague Castle The Cathedral of St. Vita is one of them.

Little Eugen wondered at breakfast whether what they had encountered was due to the hatred or contempt of the Prague people, but as soon as he walked out of the official residence, he immediately understood that this official residence may be the most complete and cleanest in the whole of Prague. Architecture - How much prosperity has been in Prague, how much decay it is now, the streets are bumpy, the sewage is flowing, the building walls are mottled, and there are black marks carved by the oil smoke of the torches, perhaps to avoid accidents, facing the street. The doors and windows were closed, and they reminded of witches' teeth—dirty, crooked, and chipped everywhere, but there was still occasional filthy smoke coming out of it, with those from horseshoes and wheels. Underflow, but it is difficult to find the source of the odor mixed together.

   When they passed the church on the side of the square, the church was missing several colored windows, and it was dark, like the hollow eye socket of a blind man.

   You must know that the church has always been the richest, even more than kings and emperors. "The archbishop here is really slack." Little Eugen couldn't help saying.

   "Mr. Bishop has been busy renovating St. Vita Cathedral." The mayor dare not say that the Archbishop of Prague has been busy amassing money, trying to return to Rome or seeking another rich bishop's behavior.

   The Duke of Orleans guessed it, but it really had little to do with him.

They didn't meet anyone along the way until they entered Prague Castle. The attendants in the castle turned out to be yellow-faced, skinny and unresponsive. Little Eugen was even horrified until he saw the Bishop of Prague and his priest. People, the priests were all fat and ruddy, which made him feel relieved.

   They simply took the sacrament, prayed, and after listening to the sermon, little Eugen discovered a strange thing. "What about the nobles here?"

   It stands to reason that even if he rejected the canonization of Leopold I, the Duke of Orleans is here, and they should come to see the Duke.

"Either you don't have the qualifications," Philip was both the king's younger brother and the duke of Orlian, unless he granted permission, not any minor nobles would have the honor to see his face: "Either he went to Vienna with the emperor. ."

"Is it the Twice Throwing Out the Window Incident?" asked the Duke of Enghien the Younger. "The Twice Throwing Out Window Incident" was an event triggered by a religious conflict that eventually triggered a political earthquake. To put it simply, it was Posey. When the Protestant "Hussites" in Mia held a parade for the first time because of the death of their leader Huss, they were provoked by the behavior of people from the city hall throwing stones from a height, and rushed into the city hall to remove the mayor and others from the city hall. The window was thrown out of the window, and the "Hussite War" was fought for fifteen years.

The second time was because Ferdinand of Habsburg, who first became the king of Bohemia, was persecuting the Hussites because he wanted to revive Catholicism in Bohemia, so the Hussites repeated the same mistakes and rushed into Prague Castle. , threw the king's three ministers out the window... This reckless action brought about the famous "Thirty Years War".

During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedes entered Prague. The king fled with his ministers, generals, and queens, leaving behind the Prague people to welcome looting, qiangbao, burning and slaughter. Prague melted in just a few days. It was in ruins. If the King of Bohemia is willing to come back here and rebuild the capital after this, Prague may still have a chance to prosper, but the Habsburgs' indifference and injustice are beginning to emerge at this time. The king not only did not return, but also moved the capital directly to Vienna.

Prague has since become a political and economic depression, arguably the ugliest scar of the Habsburgs - where the king was once persecuted by the mob and expelled by the enemy, just as Leopold I was not so good. They are willing to mention Flanders, and Ferdinand and his successor were not very willing to mention Prague. Prague has almost become an unexplainable place of exile. All officials who are sent here from Vienna are rejected by the upper class. Well, when they got here, they either did their best to scavenge for money so that they could be transferred as soon as possible, or they gave up on themselves and devoted themselves to enjoying themselves.

  Although this place is so bad that even the most beautiful "Ming Shu" will not set foot here.

Little Eugen paid attention to the servants in the castle. They should be the best people among the commoners in Prague, but apart from being thin, what is shocking is that they seem to have lost their expectations for life. —their clothes are clean and tidy, yes, but they can be so careless that they twist the wrong buttons, reveal the lining, break the candles, the altar may be clean enough, but the curtains are dusty, and the corners of the house are full of feces, which makes Ou Root can't help but think of yesterday's bathtub, those little thorns that can be cleaned...

None of them even bothered to leave with them. They looked at the French embassy, ​​full of boredom and hatred. Every glance seemed to drive them away. I hope they can leave as soon as possible, and don’t get in the way of the Prague people here. eye.

  Little Eugen felt that even if they cast a ferocious look from a refugee like Milan, it would be much stronger than this kind of inaction that seemed to exude a decadent smell.

   "How does it compare to Vienna," asked the Duke of Orleans with a smile, "how?"

Little Eugen was reluctant to admit that Leopold I was already a not-bad ruler, but what he saw and heard during the next journey completely overturned his original idea - it seemed simple The only thing is to let the people have something to eat, clothes to wear, roof tiles to cover, a job, support for children, medical treatment when they are sick, and then die in bed safely, further, they can read books, they can go shopping, Being able to enjoy... It’s so difficult, so rare, some city managers, whether bishops, mayors, or lords, as long as they can take the first five steps, that is to say, they can ensure that the Civilians can survive and reproduce, even if they are compassionate and capable.

  Some people who are cruel, or have powerless hearts and are easily deceived, their territory is probably a lifeless quagmire like Prague is now.

Those who have no light in their eyes are not like this at the beginning. They have also struggled and resisted, just like the Hussites and the natives of Bohemia before, they have been hit and destroyed more than once. To be what they are now - they don't know what to do, to die, or to live? which is easier?

   "It's dreadful to think that Paris is almost like this," said the Duke of Orleans.

   "How is that possible?!" Little Eugen said immediately, and the little Duke of Angien also showed his approval.

   "Come on down, we are almost in Poland," said the Duke of Orleans, "and worse things are waiting for you."

  ———

Little Eugen did not think that there could be anything worse than the cities they had seen, even though he had heard that the Polish Schlachta class still practiced slavery, looting the Cossacks from the Ukrainian plains (sometimes). There are also Tatars) as their own slaves.

Cossack originally meant "light pack", referring to "light cavalry", "sentry", and was later referred to as "free man" or: "people who dare to resist", in fact, the original Cossack It was a group of Slavs who could not bear the enslavement of the Golden Horde. In order to avoid the whip of the Mongols, they ran to the grasslands of southern and eastern Europe, which were inaccessible at that time, and reproduced there to this day.

It's just that these Slavs never imagined that after the Golden Horde was completely destroyed, the backward serfdom was still inherited by people of the same color as them, and even carried forward. The catastrophe they once escaped has landed again. on their heads.

   (end of this chapter)