I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 66 The King's Income and Expenditure

Here we will first mention the Peace of Westphalia. The premise of the Treaty of Westphalia was that the Franco-Swiss Alliance defeated the Holy Roman Empire's army at the battles of Smarshausen and Reims - although the French It is the winning side, and Alsace and Lorraine have almost become the actual occupation of France, but since the death of Louis XIII, the successive riots and rebellions in France have indeed affected the bishop of Mazarin, the real ruler of France today. The right to speak among the kings, so after several consultations, Philip IV of the Holy Roman Empire decided to sell Alsace to the French for three million livres, some of whom were sick and died. relationship soon.

"And unfortunately," said the Bishop, "the eldest son of Philip IV, Balthazar, left this sinful world eight years ago, and now he has only two daughters, and it is hard to say that his queen, your aunt Elizabeth Whether he can still give birth to a son, and if so, he needs a lot of money to ensure that his son can be elected as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. them."

   "What if not?"

"Even if he doesn't, he still needs money, Your Majesty, you know, although in the Holy Roman Empire, the princes fought each other in the name of the Protestant and the old, in fact, just like you, their real purpose was only for more territories and Power is nothing but Philip IV, of course, could not have been unaware of this, so he needs more soldiers, more equipment and more supplies - to fight those ill-conceived members of the Alliance."

   "The Protestant League and the Catholic League," said Louis. "The Emperor is on the Catholic side, but it seems that his enemies are not just from different faiths—and what do you mean by saying he is like me?"

   Mr. Bishop gave the king a knowing smile, and Louis gave him a look back. He really didn’t know how this Mr. Cardinal, who was married to the wizards, could so confidently accuse others of not being religious enough.

   "Okay," said Mr. Bishop, "now we have a problem, Your Majesty, we have been procrastinating for six years, and we may not be able to procrastinate any longer. Our shortfall is about two million livres."

Two million livres were as light as a feather for Louis ten years later, but for the current king, it was as heavy as a mountain. He summoned the accompanying merchants and used some later methods to raise money. The property worth 100,000 livres was exchanged for the ownership of 2,000 acres of land in the Versailles area, which was used to resettle more and more refugees - as well as repair roads, open up new land, and deploy various equipment, livestock, and building materials. , the king promised them the right to use the roads and some buildings here - for the next ten years, they could gallop on the roads of Versailles, and they could also open hotels or shops here. Fortunately, this was Versailles—a barren place full of swamps and dense forests, which had little use other than hunting. If it were Paris, the promise of the king would never have been approved by the Queen Mother Anne and the Bishop of Mazarin.

But in addition to these 100,000 livres, the king is only afraid of having more additional income for the time being, but it is absolutely impossible to give up Alsace, not to mention that the French threw in Alsace and Lorraine. The military expenditure and life of the fee, the unique position of Alsace alone - it itself lies between France and the Holy Roman Empire. If the Holy Roman Empire wants to do something to France, it is the best outpost. To say that France wants to do something. What to do with the Holy Roman Empire, it is an indispensable stronghold. Now Philip IV of the Holy Roman Empire is worried about the vague division within the empire. , if they delay in fulfilling the agreement in the treaty, what will happen in the end?

   "How much income do I have now?"

It stands to reason that Louis' current income should be quite considerable. After all, since the Capetian dynasty, the royal family has owned 14 palaces, 35 castles, and 1,450 estates. The king is the lord of those places. , the right to take their taxes and tribute; and the twenty-six regional bishops, and the appointment of sixty-seven royal abbots—the beautiful man Philip snatched from the Roman church, so if there is a great If nobles want their children to become bishops, they must pay a series of huge fees to the king, not the pope, and in order to ensure that their status is not shaken, bishops also offer precious gifts, and a third One or one quarter tithes.

   And it is known that when it comes to wine and agricultural products, there is nothing better than the produce of the monastery, and these also have a part of the king.

   And the king also has the right to mint coins. If the game between Gold Louis, Silver Ecuador and Bronze Liard is played well, what else can be more profitable than this business?

In addition, like the priesthood, the office of officials can also be bought and sold. In addition to the cost of purchasing the office, the officials also pay an annual tribute to the king. For example, as mentioned earlier, each supervisor needs to pay an annual tribute Polekin.

   And the court controlled by the king, in many cases, also used money to clear the way and bribes as a result. It is said that there is an income of nearly 100,000 livres every year.

Originally, the king of France was like the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was said to be the most lofty ruler, but he was only one of the more powerful princes. the second estate of the nobility and the third estate of the burghers), but in the Hundred Years' War, France was repeatedly in precarious danger, so the French said that they must have a strong leader, but such a leader You can’t get it with your mouth. The war devours not only human life, but the wealth created by human beings is the biggest consumption. Therefore, the third-level parliament has to repeatedly make concessions to the king on taxation matters. By the time of Charles VII, such concessions had turned into complete compromises, allowing the king to collect taxes in peacetime to ensure that France would always have a solid and credible standing army.

The problem is, such an optimistic situation is rare even in the time of Louis XIII. The royal family should have an annual income of 50 million livres in name, but in fact it is not bad to get 10 million livres. Moreover, with the decline of royal power and disputes, this number is still shrinking, and the tens of millions of livres do not belong to the king alone. The operation of the territory, the salary of the army, and the salaries of officials almost all come from this. .

Louis really wanted to pull his trouser pockets to see if he could drop a gold Louis out of it - of course, this is just a joke, the hardest time is over, just the cost of ruling a country, compared to a person, even It is a family, it is too heavy and huge, and even makes Louis dare not think about it in detail. Now he almost envies the monarchs on the other side of the ocean, because they can seize the property of ministers or relatives at will. , but for France, and even the entire Catholic world, a king who does this will only be attacked by his subjects, even if the subject has committed an unforgivable sin - to recover the territory, it must be traded and Discuss, like the former Duke of Sedan.

   And such opportunities are rare. Especially for members of the royal family, like the once rebellious Prince Conti, who is still His Royal Highness, and as far as Louis knows, the Bishop of Mazarin is still trying to get him to marry one of his nieces, and Prince Conti fled to Spain. , Philip IV (who was also the king of Spain), made him his general and conferred Luxembourg to him, but his territories and assets in France still belonged to him, even if he died, the assets His son, now the Duke of Enghien, will inherit, and the king will at most receive an inheritance tax.

"I can raise 500,000 livres here." The cardinal said voluntarily. Louis knew that the bishop's private property was far more than this figure, but he could understand that if Mr. Bishop gave an astonishing figure, he would make up for it directly. For this shortfall (although there is also a part of his merit), he may not get gratitude but a deeper fear, "I will ask my mother to raise some of it on my behalf," Louis said: "Of course, you and the Queen Mother's money are all paid for. It will be recorded as a loan, and when the treasury is full, I will repay it with reasonable interest."

   "I think the Queen Mother should also be able to get this number." The cardinal said: "Then we are still short of a million livres."

Louis thought of a person, "Where's the Duchess of Montpensier?" The Duchess of Montpensier spent 200,000 livres to repair a castle, and her annual income is around 500,000 livres , it shouldn't be difficult for her to come up with a year's income.

  Mazaran frowned his heavy eyebrows slightly, and he looked particularly dignified when he did this: "Then she will definitely ask to return to the palace."

"If it's just this request, I'm not worried at all." Although the queen mother hated this girl who had been raised by her own hands, but mercilessly betrayed the king and her, but for these political animals, the court may not necessarily There is no room for a Duchess of Montpensier: "I think she will ask us to pardon her father."

   "She really has a lot of affection for her father."

   "It's a pity it's not as good as Kongdai."

   This sharp sarcasm made Mr. Bishop smile, "Then what are you going to do?"

   "I want someone to go to the Duchess of Montpensier, no, wait, maybe not one, but two."

   "You made me curious."

   "A man who is very good at dealing with women, and a shrewd businessman." The king looked at the sky outside the window. "Bontang, call me D'Artagnan and Colbert."

   Long live the 70th National Day!

   (end of this chapter)