I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 584 Louis XIV bids us farewell (Part 1)

  In 1718, at the turn of spring and summer, Versailles was like a pair of colorful gold brocades, exuding a charm that has never faded for fifty years in the bright but not dazzling morning light.

Queen Teresa got up very early today. After a simple wash, with the help of the maid, she put on a gray-purple cashmere robe over a fine cotton shirt and coat, casually put on a pair of soft flat shoes, and went to the place. into the king's bedroom.

As early as more than ten years ago, the king canceled all the tedious and tortured ceremonies, and handed over most of the government affairs to the crown prince, little Louis. He and the queen originally occupied a large suite—that is, several rooms overlapped. The suite that was together is now shared by two people in a large suite. The queen's bedroom and the king's bedroom are only separated by a living room.

After questioning, Queen Teresa entered the king's bedroom, and the king in the bedroom had already stood up. The window curtains were all pulled open, and the transparent sunlight illuminated the room without the slightest gloom. Louis sat relaxed in front of the window. In the armchair, facing the window, facing a large full-length mirror, and wearing only a loose shirt, little Champagne was combing the king's long fluffy hair, while Bontang watched.

  The crowd saluted the queen, who bowed her knees to the king, then walked over, took the ivory comb in the hand of little Champagne, and slowly combed Louis's hair.

When the queen did this for the first time, both the third-generation M. Champagne and Bontang were very surprised, and the queen herself was a little uneasy, but the king did not object, and even showed a little happy look, so on that day After that, the queen would get up early every day and come to comb the king's hair.

The king's hair was still thick and smooth, as if time had stood still, but it had changed from light to dark, and dark to light, and now it was as white as silver, or ice, Trey. Sarah took the ribbon and tied Louis' long hair, ran her fingers through the curled ends, and leaned down to kiss the king's noble head.

   "Okay," she said.

  Louis smiled, took the Queen's hand on his shoulder, and held it: "Come on," he said, "today we are having breakfast in the rose garden."

June is the season when roses bloom the most, because the king likes roses, so not only France, but all countries that maintain contacts with France (whether friendly or hostile) will use roses as one of the national gifts, France and Spain, and Italy. When the merchants traveled around, they would deliberately select good local roses and send them back to Versailles. Today, the Rose Garden of Versailles can already be called the Rose Mountain, and it can be transplanted into the courtyard. One is not the most precious, beautiful and fragrant variety at this time.

When Louis walked over with Teresa on his arm, a half-opened yellow rose caught his attention. Even if it had not fully opened, its petals could cover the palm of the king. He admired it for a while and put it It was folded down and inserted into the queen's bun.

The attendants set up tables and chairs beside the lush "Chinese vermilion". There are several simple and fresh foods on the table. It is also a common practice for kings and queens. However, if you dine in the roses - "Chinese vermilion" is a merchant The hybrid varieties of vermilion rose and rose that they brought back from the Far East are not only rich in color, but also very sweet and sweet. The Queen only felt that every bite of the food was saturated with this refreshing fragrance, and it tasted extraordinarily delicious.

  Wrong, she thought in her heart, not because of the roses, but because her heart was so happy because—His Majesty was by her side.

She doesn't know what happened. She married Louis of the same age when she was 20 years old. At that time, there was only anxiety and fear in her heart, and love couldn't take up the slightest bit. She was lucky to give birth to an heir for Louis, and then It was the eldest princess, and later Charles, King Carlos III of Spain. In those years, she fought side by side with Louis, and had each other - Louis was a temperate person, and there were never more than three royal ladies by his side, and never would. Indulge the royal lady or the minister to bully and humiliate her, he gives her enough respect and even has power.

   At that time, every time she prayed to God, she thanked Him for giving her a marriage that exceeded her expectations.

   Then, when did this gratitude change? Teresa would laugh at herself occasionally. At twelve years old she did not have a budding heart. At twenty years old she was like a stagnant water. At thirty, forty and fifty years old, she Willing to be the Sun King's right-hand man, the important minister in the bed, who would have imagined that when she was about to reach the end of her life, she would instead give birth to all kinds of tenderness and love?

  Louis saw the Queen's eyes, he had seen it in the eyes of Mary and many other ladies, he put down the teacup and stretched out his hand to hold the Queen: "It's only us now." He sighed.

   "Yes, Your Majesty," said the Queen.

Queen Teresa almost hoped that this period of time could continue indefinitely, which is of course impossible, although Louis handed over most of the government affairs to the little Louis, and the son of the little Louis, the Duke of Burgundy (because he is also called Louis. , so here we still refer to the title), but sometimes, he will pick out some interesting affairs at will to handle it himself.

   For example, today he is going to receive two embassies, and these two embassies come from one place—the Far East.

Regarding that ancient and huge country, Louis XIV has always maintained an attitude of closeness and fear, and even made Bishop Mazarin puzzled, because it is too far away from France, so far away that he can completely ignore it. - At that time, they were most concerned about the hegemony of Europa, and they didn't care much about the far east, except for the silk and porcelain there.

When Princess Isabella of Portugal married into France, she brought some treasures from the Far East, all of which were transported back to Portugal by Portuguese merchants from the port of Macquarie. Louis also asked these merchants, and they said, Marco Poe The country of gold and silk that Luo describes is now ruled by a group of Tartars, whose sultans have innumerable wealth, women and land, but are very harsh on their people, who live extremely hard lives, even the most difficult among them. The rich also endure the enslavement of the humblest officials. In the cities and villages, the scenes they see are completely different from those recorded by the merchants earlier. There are few livelihood facilities, the streets are dusty, and there is no water. On rainy days, the dung of cows and horses will float up and circle around your feet.

The complaints of the merchants were of course related to their identities. After listening to their words, Louis XIV went to inquire about several bishops, all of whom had priests going to that vast "savage land", nothing else. The reason is because there are unbaptized and unbelievers there. When the people in Europa were either Catholics or Protestants, the priests had to go to the New World and those countries that did not believe in Catholicism to establish their careers.

The bishops gave him some more news, because some of their priests already had their place on the side of the Tatar sultans, although the Tatar sultans did not want to be Catholic, but they were more concerned about their medical, Mathematical and astronomical geography were of interest, but they knew more than the merchants who could only linger in Macquarie Harbour.

The request of one of the clergymen caught the attention of Louis, who said that he had received several students in the Far East, all young, bright and enlightened, and that he hoped that they would come to Paris and study in the school opened by the king, The bishop, too, was curious, and relayed it to the king, who, as a matter of course, was granted permission—not long after, the young men arrived in Paris, and after their initial dazzling, they soon plunged into their studies.

Weird clothes, strange hair, and yellow skin—but today in Paris, there are Indian governors and counts, who at most arouse some curiosity, and are not as discriminated against as the English here—in their After the hard work and self-discipline have been praised by the teachers for many times, the difference in appearance and attire is nothing, and the young people in Paris are even more jealous of their achievements.

   Not to mention, it wasn’t long before they, too, were dressing like Parisians, and after gaining access to Versailles, they looked no different from their peers around them. They also learned to swim, hunt, and play around. The only difference was that after buying a lot of books, they began to find out how to buy muskets and artillery.

The king's birds also reported back to the king that they often stayed in the café all day, listening to heated speeches and debates, taking notes, and they even asked the speakers with horror and disbelief—they were they? How could the kings allow them to go so far as to claim that a country does not necessarily need a monarch?

  Why not? The speaker said that a king who meets the expectations of the people will not care about such remarks, and most of the kings who care about such remarks are people who have to be afraid of them because they go against the will of the people. In this case, why do they still Would such a king be allowed to sit on the throne?

  Though he was beaten up by people passing by outside the cafe afterwards - that's for later.

   But the consequences of these words are very serious for these yellow-skinned young people. Some of them have a high fever after returning.

  ———

   "And then?" asked the Duke of Burgundy, a little late, a curious young man who had indeed vaguely heard that France had a number of special trades with that distant country...

   "Then as you can see," Louie said, "a newborn child born from a decaying and decaying body, they came to us at the same time."

The Duke of Burgundy, as his grandfather's entourage, stood on the left side of the throne. He watched expectantly as the heavy double doors were opened, and a group of people walked in under the leadership of the Count of D'Artagnan. Their walking posture was very strange. , It will remind people of geese swaying from side to side. Everyone is trying to make a majestic and solemn look, but after seeing the king, he immediately bowed down and made a five-body appearance, which shocked the Duke of Burgundy! He had only seen this gesture when the most severe ascetic monks worshipped the icon.

   "Did you not talk to them about etiquette?" Louis asked helplessly.

Count d'Artagnan smiled--even though he was nearly eighty years old--and said: "Of course I told them, but after a careful study they think that you should accept the second to the kneeling of their sultan, so..." He shrugged and made a helpless gesture.

   "Let them stand up," Louie said. "I'm not surprised at all."

The Duke of Burgundy saw that they were all wearing clothes that were similar to those of young people from the Far East, with only differences in texture and embroidery. They were almost all old people. After taking off their hats, they could see that they were all wearing wigs. Count Danian said that they were all important ministers of the sultan, and they brought letters from the sultan to meet the king, hoping that the two countries would have good relations and have frequent exchanges.

Louis took the letter they brought, and opened it... Of course, it was ghostwritten by the priest, except for those meaningless embellishments and unconcealed arrogance, which probably meant, asking, ha, yes, asking Louis XIV to decree , ordered those businessmen and officers to cut off their relationship with the "traitors" and not continue to trade and live with them, otherwise the great sultan would take harsh measures to treat the French businessmen and missionaries, treating them with the "traitors" as equals treated appropriately.

"Who are the traitors he's talking about?" The Duke of Burgundy read the letter with Louis XIV sideways and couldn't help asking, because he saw the name of the Marquis de Lafayette in it, the The Marquis is indeed a bit... but he has a high reputation for his integrity and integrity. The Duke of Burgundy had met and talked to him at a banquet a few years ago. He did not think such a person would join in with a despicable traitor.

   "It's the embassy from another country we're going to meet soon." Louis whispered.

Louis's whisper may not have been so quiet, and the envoys of the Tartars heard it, and one man's eyes suddenly widened - he may have learned French, and the sentence is not complicated, and the Duke of Burgundy thought he would ask him loudly, but After his fury, he hesitated, until the Count of d'Artagnan brought them out of the auditorium, and they made no sound.

  Louis shook his head.

Immediately afterwards, those embassies who came from the same place as the Tatars appeared. When they saw them, the eyes of the Duke of Burgundy lit up. All of these embassies were young people with tall bodies and sharp eyes. , can speak French and Latin proficiently, even more standard than French provincials. Each of them had their hair cut short, and they wore tight trousers and coats, and short cloaks, not Paris, but Montreal, more simple and military, probably brought by the Marquis of Lafayette. .

   But their military rank is not the sun, it is another more ancient symbol, Louis XIV's eyes paused on it for a while before slowly leaving.

   They bowed to the king, and then handed over their credentials.

   "Where is your country?" Louis asked.

   "In the place you know, it never left, we just took it back." The young man at the head said proudly.

   (end of this chapter)