I

  Chapter 763 760 [Buying official system to revitalize France]

   Early in the morning, on the big bed.

  Pan Wei was woken up by a movement, and opened his eyes in a daze to see that the big yangma was getting dressed.

   "Honey, it's time for me to go back to my room." The Marchioness Elizabeth Turpin smiled at Pan Wei while getting dressed.

  Pan Wei originally planned to sit up, but suddenly felt a pain in his waist, so he simply lay down again. This big ocean horse is strenuously hurting his body.

  European nobles have very contradictory attitudes towards marriage.

  They value virginity very much, because the eldest son must inherit the family business, so he must be his own. But after the birth of the eldest son, the couple fulfilled their family obligations, and they can basically play their own things in the future.

  Of course there are cases of jealousy, and there are quite a few. Killing an adulterer in a duel, or being killed by an adulterer, this kind of thing happens more than once or twice.

  But judging from literary works, they always praise extramarital affairs, thinking that is beautiful love. The jealous husband, the man who loses his mind because of jealousy, is a villain that is ridiculed in literature.

  Pan Wei lived in the guest room of the Marquis's house as a distinguished guest.

   Face still has to be done, after all, the Marquis is also at home. The Marquise touched her at night, and went back to her room in the morning, pretending nothing happened.

   Only when the ladies gather, the Marquise will show off and talk to her girlfriends about the behavior of Chinese men in bed. Just like hundreds of years later, a group of scumbags gathered to brag about which girl they dated.

   "Boom boom boom!"

"Come in."

   After sleeping for a long time, Pan Wei was awakened by a knock on the door.

  The maid pushed the door open and said, "Sir, Master and Madam invite you to dinner."

"knew."

  Pan Wei got up to get dressed, and the maid hurriedly served her. It's a pity that I am not familiar with Chinese costumes, and the maid's service has become a mess.

"I will do it myself."

   Now it is a private identity, and Pan Wei is not wearing an official uniform. She was dressed in a gorgeous silk robe, tightly tied with a belt, and a jade pendant hung from her waist. She wore a small crown on her hair, which was fixed with a gold hairpin.

   This guy came from a wealthy family, and after a little tidying up, he is the young master Pian Pianjia, who confuses the Marquis.

   When they came to the living room, the Marquis Le Tellier, the Marquis Elizabeth, and the Marquis' fourteen-year-old son Loire were already sitting neatly at the dining table.

  Le Tellier, the first French Minister of War.

  His son, Loire, will become the second French Minister of War.

  The father and son were the founders of the French professional army and the foundation for Louis XIV to become the Sun King.

  Before this, the French army only had companies, and the lords of various places refused to integrate into regiments, and the royal family could not control the army at all. The greatest achievement of the iron-fisted Prime Minister Richelieu was the establishment of the Minister of War, the forced integration of the army, and the professionalization of the French army.

  Prince Kong Dai launched a rebellion, and local nobles responded one after another. In fact, it was a general outbreak of long-term conflicts. The most important reason is the continuous reform of the army, and the royal family is constantly strengthening its control over the army.

  Pan Wei was ordered to sleep with the big horse, and he didn't sleep indiscriminately. He chose a specific target.

   Seeing Pan Wei come to the dining room, Le Tellier nodded and smiled, not minding his wife's cheating at all, but Pan Wei was a little guilty as an adulterer.

   "Please sit down." Elizabeth smiled.

  Pan Wei cupped his hands in return: "Thank you for your hospitality."

  Pan Wei is a talented student from Jinling University. He started to learn Latin before going to sea, and he did not delay his homework all the way. Now he can easily communicate in Latin.

  The family murmured words over breakfast, thanking the Lord for giving them food.

  Pan Wei did as the Romans did, and also read along in Chinese. He seemed very pious, but he was actually saying: "I really want to go back to Nanjing. Foreign food is so bad. It's not bad to eat something new, but it's really boring to eat every day."

   Everyone finished their breakfast quietly, and the table manners were quite particular.

   Filling his stomach, Le Tellier stood up suddenly, pointed to the gold medal on his waist, twisted his body back and forth, and said, "Pan, does my brand look good?"

  Pan Wei couldn't laugh or cry.

  Because of the Chinese missions, most of them wear jade pendants, which look very fashionable. So the French nobles followed suit, but they felt that jade was boring, and only gold could reflect their status.

  The piece hanging from Le Tellier's waist was made by artisans. The whole body is made of gold and inlaid with gemstones of various colors. The pattern is actually a pine crane, which makes Pan Wei feel awkward no matter how he looks at it.

   "Very luxurious, an excellent work of art." Pan Wei smiled and praised.

  Le Tellier proudly said: "This is made by the best jewelry craftsman in Paris. The jewelry master first made the gold medal for the Queen Mother, and the second is for me. Even the king and the prime minister must be ranked behind me."

  Prime Minister Mazarin is just a lackey of the Queen Mother.

  The Minister of War, Le Tellier, is the real authority. He doesn't even need to look at the face of the Prime Minister!

  Richelieu's military reforms are already out of shape. The original intention was to allow civilian officials to control the army through logistics and finance, but now the Minister of War has military power.

  So after Louis XIV came to power, the relationship with Le Tellier was very stiff.

  The story of the man in the iron mask in the Bastille has spawned many literary and film works, and it is even rumored that the man in the iron mask is the twin brother of Louis XIV. This rumor was spread by Le Tellier, obviously to show Louis XIV some color.

  Louis XIV still had nothing to do with him. When he continued to reform the army, he could only let his son take charge.

   After showing off the gold medal around his waist, Letellier felt that Xiaoguan was very handsome. He also wanted to wear this kind of Chinese-style hair in a bun, and then tied it with a small crown. Unfortunately, the shabby hair volume on the top of his head did not support this difficult operation.

   After chatting for a while, they finally got down to business.

  As the French Minister of War, Le Tellier wants to know about China's military system, and Pan Wei also wants to know about the French military.

  The two hit it off immediately, and the fourteen-year-old Loire listened carefully.

  Loire, the young master of the Marquis family, has already worked in the French Ministry of War, and he has grown up at the age of fourteen in Europe.

   According to the standard set by the church, men are fourteen and women are twelve. Marriage is prohibited in principle for girls under the age of fifteen, but exceptions can be made after the age of twelve, as long as their parents agree.

  In terms of marriage, the Roman Church is actually quite advanced.

  You can get engaged at the age of seven, and if you are underage, repenting is allowed.

  Slaves marrying freemen, Christians marrying heathens, Christians marrying heretics, these marriages are considered valid by the church—and they end badly when pursued, and both husband and wife hurt each other. To put it bluntly, I respect your freedom of marriage, but you must pay the price for a free marriage.

   In addition, the church also stipulates that blood relatives within four generations are prohibited from marrying.

   Obviously this rule is useless, the nobles are too lazy to bother with it, and the commoners don't even know about it.

"In China's army, the highest command power belongs to the emperor. Under the emperor, there is a cabinet, which is responsible for the operation of the government. Under the cabinet, there are the Ministry of War and the Dudufu. The Ministry of War is responsible for logistics and the appointment and dismissal of senior generals, and is responsible for formulating military strategies. The Dudufu is in charge. Recruiting soldiers, formulating specific combat plans, dispatching troops, appointing and dismissing middle- and low-level officers..." Pan Wei said the situation without reservation, and the French could not learn it anyway.

  Le Tellier became more and more alarmed the more he heard it, because the Chinese emperor was so powerful and had absolute control over the army.

   After Pan Wei finished speaking, he began to ask about the French military system.

Le Tellier said with pride: "Before I became Minister of War, there were no real professional soldiers in France. I merged infantry companies from different regions into an infantry regiment with a unified command. Each regiment appointed a regiment commander." Regiment commanders, take orders from the infantry chief. This method has been used before, but it is not systematic, because the logistics of the army are in the hands of the nobles..."

   "In the previous exchanges, you seemed to look down on the French system of buying officials. But this is the essence of reform!"

"Wealthy civilians and middle-class aristocrats get into power by buying officials. Then let the civilian officials control various departments of the government, bypassing the power control of the big aristocracy. After the civilian class takes power, the senior officials in charge of the military will Sent to the army as a supervisor. Below the supervisor, there are many civilian specialists who are responsible for the payment of military salaries, logistics storage and other matters..."

   "Why did Prince Kong Dai rebel? Because the nobles are about to lose control of the army."

"If I can defeat Prince Condé once, I can defeat him ten times. Give him a hundred chances, and his rebellion is doomed to fail. Because I have established a warehouse system (military warehouse) and a standardized military purchase contract, which can always guarantee The logistics of the army. The professional soldiers after my reform, their military honors have surpassed their origins. More brave boys, maybe from the common people, maybe from the small nobles, they have glory and are willing to fight for the king, they are called unified command."

   "And those noble rebels, with chaotic command, poor logistics, and soldiers lacking a sense of honor, how could they win? Even if they can win once or twice, they will collapse in a long-term battle."

  Pan Wei was almost dumbfounded. It turns out that buying and selling officials can be so high-sounding, and it really helps the king to regain power.

  The French system of buying officials is very similar to the imperial examination system in terms of effect.

  The imperial examination system broke the rule of the powerful in China. The system of buying officials also broke the rule of the French aristocracy.

  A large number of emerging bourgeoisie and petty aristocrats crossed the traditional class restrictions by buying officials. And the king also got rid of the constraints of the big nobles through these people.

  The more official positions are sold, the more the treasury will be filled, and the more successful the deprivation of power from the great nobles will be.

  However, there are also serious consequences. The emerging official class has caused the bourgeoisie to come to power. At the beginning, it was only middle and low-level positions, and gradually high-level officials appeared, and when it developed to a certain level, a bourgeois revolution would break out.

  The king of France did take power from the traditional aristocracy, but handed over power to the emerging bourgeoisie.

  Continuing to develop, the kings of France will be happy for two or three generations, and after a hundred years, the bourgeoisie will rule the world.

  Pan Wei didn't think that deeply, but he subconsciously felt that there was a problem.

   Official positions are all bought, so whoever has the money is the best?

  The court is full of rich people, and everything they do is based on profit. Can the people bear it? After the rich take control of the court, will they feel that the king is too much of a hindrance?

  It is true that Pan Wei came from a wealthy family, and it is true that he wants to destroy Zhao Han's land system. But he also has the bottom line of a traditional scholar. Imperial power must be maintained, and benevolent government must be implemented. The princes of the imperial court must be gentlemen, and they must not be merchants covered in copper stink.

  (end of this chapter)