I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 77 Reconstruction of the Three Palaces (Recommended by Sanjiang)

The next day, the king went to see the queen mother—not something every son or king would do, but Louis, in his heart, went every morning (and postponed it if he was in a hurry) with his mother. Doing morning prayers will undoubtedly stabilize and enhance the status of the Queen Mother. After all, after Louis became an adult, many people wondered whether the young King would be dissatisfied with the Queen Mother's constraints on the King in previous years, especially the Bishop of Mazarin. It is also gradually making a gesture of retreat. But the king's actions told them that he still respected his mother very much, which made the turbulence in the court disappear again. This is exactly what Louis needs, stability, stability, he needs time, Compared with the space to show his hands and feet, a long-term quiet and stable Paris is the basis of his rule.

It's just that after the prayer ended today, the Queen Mother did not get up immediately. She put her hand lightly on her eldest son's hand and looked at him with tender and kind eyes. Louis found that the part he inherited from the Queen Mother was more than his. His father, Louis XIII, is much more, and it is no wonder that some people have always questioned his bloodline with Philip. Louis XIII is not ugly, and can even be said to be gentle, but Louis and Philip can be said to be a pair of beautiful men, but Louis is more inclined to Male, and Philip is more inclined to female, or Philip's appearance is biased to blame the bishop of Mazarin and the queen mother. But no one can deny that they are far more beautiful than their uncles, nephews and even sisters, no matter when they were young or now.

"Mother…"

   "Your Majesty," the Queen Mother said softly, "From tomorrow onwards, let me meet you."

  Louis couldn't help showing a bit of surprise when he heard the words: "Did someone say something?"

"No," said the Queen Mother, "it is my decision, Your Majesty." She stretched out her hand and stroked her son's face: "There cannot be two suns in the sky, nor can there be two in the court, my dear king. A voice, before your father, now you, Louis XIV, everyone should bow down to hear your voice, starting with me."

   "You don't have to be so anxious."

   "Now is the time," said the Queen Mother: "Paris last night was beautiful, Your Majesty, I like it very much."

In the court, no matter how small things will turn into huge waves, let alone such a big move, Louis' servants and confidants soon discovered that although their previous orders were not unworkable, they were not as good as they are now. Even the King's religious teacher, Abbot La Rivière, told the King that he had been given a better room with a view of the Seine and Notre-Dame.

The king just laughed it off. He is not ready to move the positions of these veteran servants and stewards in the palace. Although it is said that with them, the operation of the palace can continue smoothly, but it is precisely because of them that Some stereotypes and bad habits cannot be erased. When Philip, Duke of Anjou was tidying up his room to deal with those private matters, some people even managed to enrich themselves or use their own power to hinder them—of course, these people are now there. In the Bastille, the Bastille wouldn't be a prison until about a hundred years later, but the king didn't mind putting it into use early.

Perhaps the Queen Mother realized this and transferred the management of the court from her to Louis, but Louis soon handed it over to his younger brother Philip, who still lives with the Queen Mother. At the same time, if there is something he can't handle, he can immediately ask his mother for help, and the Queen Mother will not be depressed because of the sudden idleness. Women in the palace often have only two ways to pass the time. One is to Gambling, one is doing mass, both are enough to make the money in the hands of the queen mother pour out like water. The king will not covet his mother's money, but the money can obviously be used in better places.

   For example, the renovation of the Louvre, the renovation of the Tuileries, and the renovation of the Richelieu House.

Bishop Mazarin recommended an architect to Louis, Louis Levaux, yes, another Louis, but then we can call him Monsieur Levaux, who was pale and slightly puffy, with black curly hair hanging from the top of his head. To be honest, the bangs on the forehead are really sparse. Fortunately, he is neither an actor nor a singer. He has no requirements for the appearance of the king, but he is still a little hesitant about the requirements of the king - the king asked them to remodel the palace. The residence is not surprising, the problem is that he requires every suite to have a washroom - a euphemism, of course, which is in fact a room for a range of cleaning equipment from bathroom to toilet, if only from In terms of room and area, it is not difficult to do this. At most, some nobles have to move out of the Louvre. This is not a big problem. The previous rebellion of Prince Condé and Duke Gaston made many rooms empty. After coming down, Lever heard that some people had been eager to submit applications, but the king had not approved it for a long time, and it was for this reason.

The most critical problem is the water supply and water supply required by the king. In seventeenth-century Paris, there were no water pipes or anything similar to this, and people's understanding of water resources was extremely shallow. All kinds of alcohol can satisfy their thirst for water, or they can buy water from other places where the water is naturally clean; as for the common people and the lesser people, most of them fetch water from rivers and aqueducts - to say that the Seine can be said to be inclusive of all things , people fetch water, swim, bathe, wash clothes, wash leather, kill fish, slaughter livestock, and dump manure... all inside, the whole river is dark and dark, even so, it is the life of the uninhabited No water, every time he sees it, Louis suspects that this city is indeed favored by God, and there is no plague frequently in such a dirty situation.

The king intends to build an aqueduct to divert water from the Tairan River, a tributary of the Oise River north of Paris, to Paris, but the project lacks both money and time. The estimated time of up to five years has forced the king to find another way. It is possible to build a small reservoir where the Seine River enters Paris, and the water from the reservoir will be introduced into the Royal Palace after preliminary treatment, used for cleaning water, and launched... Louis can only temporarily lead it to the Seine River, although he is also looking for a better The solution, but at this time the French still considered feces to be as filthy and sinful as the devil, and it was not easy for them to dispose of it properly and toss it in the fields - given that even a commode and a The excrement dumped on the road was eventually washed into the Seine... The king had to comfort himself that this was only a stopgap measure.

   Anyway, he was fed up with having to move from palace to palace every once in a while to deal with the filth.

Levaux looked in detail at the sketches provided by the king—the toilet bowl. He saw that the main material of the sign was ceramic, and he couldn’t help but stunned slightly. The people of Europa have been advocating porcelain for a long time, and the earliest dates can be traced back to the Roman period. At the same time that they bought ceramics from the East with a lot of money, they were also trying to imitate them. At this time, there were also many imitation painted pottery utensils in Louis's court. After a period of time, it is easy to crack and seepage of water. Even so, the pottery produced in Neville, Lyon and Rouen is still an important family property that is regarded as treasures by many middle and lower classes.

In fact, the prototype of the toilet has also been presented to the king, but after testing, it is found that it is easier to break than the porcelain plate, jar, etc., especially in the place where the pipe is bent, where it is easy to be thin, and finally be turbulent. The water broke through, and then a goldsmith managed to create a brass bend to barely put it into use, and before using it, a wooden seat frame was made for it, both for aesthetics and to ensure use. the safety of the user.

   However, apart from the important ministers and nobles, few people could use such things. Louis only provided such pottery in a few important suites, and others could only use the same room or toilet.

Even so, the required launching works were quite large. Fortunately, Louis could move around. He renovated the flower gallery between the Tuileries Palace and the Louvre, and then officially named the Richelieu House as the Royal Palace. , officially included in the palace group of the Bourbon family.

Of course, for the king, the needs of the individual are always lower than the needs of the country. Although he has not yet officially ruled, the Bishop of Mazarin has let him participate in some important meetings. He's just a novice in his studies, and he can't even name most people - some of the things that concern him are: Prince Condé has been fighting for Spain all the time, only in the face of Viscount Turenne's At that time, his victories were not as many as before. It may be that Viscount Turenne knew his military style well or that he did not want to face his former colleagues and subordinates... Finance Director Nicholas Fouquet used the funds of the treasury to lend, and obtained a considerable amount of money. Proceeds... The Duke of Gaston was seriously ill in the exile of Blois and was dying - to be sure if he was really dying or if he had other plans... The messenger to the kingdom of Naples has returned, and the situation is not as good as the bishop expected, and the Neapolitans hate Spain People, but also not interested in the French... Cromwell, the protector of England who unified Scotland and Ireland, is now called His Highness by his subordinates, and has also been suggested to take the throne, which his army occupied not long ago In Jamaica, although the king has spoken in advance, there are still ministers who suggest to maintain a good relationship with Cromwell... The Swedish King Carl X's request for Mrs. Christina Alexandra is still delaying and evasive... 1632 Saint-Germain In the Treaty of Enlai, the French colony of Quebec in the Americas has been returned to France by the British, and now there is a need for a manager there, and whether it should be divided into a city or a province...

   After attending the meeting, the king will go back and read the book, the records, and the information given to him by the bishop. He has not yet officially ruled, but he has already felt the pressure of 120,000.

   So tonight, he rarely stayed in the study to kill off some leisure before going to bed, but went to the Queen Mother.

  The king was only outside the door when he heard a loud and cheerful cry.

   (end of this chapter)