I Am Louis XIV

Now that it was decided, the next day's itinerary was quickly handed over to Cardinal Mazaran. He carefully checked the king's handwriting, not so much to identify the authenticity as to estimate the size of the letter. The king's application and proficiency in the letter, after reading it, he wrote directly at the bottom of the letter: I respectfully follow your orders. I signed my name under this sentence, and then attached a note to his mercenary leader, asking him to send a hundred strong and beautiful young men to take charge of the Queen Mother, the king and his brother tomorrow. For the safety of the people, each person can get an allowance of a louis d'or.

Before sending this letter, he sent his trusted priest to ask the presiding judge of the Inquisition (Paris court) to come to him. He exchanged a thousand louis for the presiding judge's promise that tomorrow There will never be any werewolves or vampires in the streets of Paris-this Mr. Eralio is very young, with a pair of slender brown eyes, and he smiles like a fox. Passing the crowded gold coins in the small box, he casually mentioned that he received a letter from Mr. Majdalcini yesterday. In the letter, this man who has become the agent of God The agent, Mr. Maidalcini, "quite" disagreed with the ambiguous gesture of the Inquisition towards the French royal family, and urged them to withdraw from Paris as soon as possible until Bishop Mazarin agreed to their request and no longer sheltered Urban. The Barberini family of the VIII expelled them from Paris.

But even if it was to thank Pope Urban VIII for his promotion, Bishop Mazaran would not do this, not to mention that he has already received a considerable gift from the Barberini family, and France is not afraid of Innocent. The tenth, the only thing he miscalculated was that the church took advantage of the Paris civilian riots and urgently summoned the presiding judge of the Inquisition at that time, so that the king and his party were attacked by a group of Serbian werewolves, but fortunately there was still Mazaran in the inquisition at that time. The bishop's one hole card is—that is, Mr. Elliott.

Mr. Eralio was originally just a small clerk in the Paris court. His ability to act beyond his authority had something to do with becoming the presiding judge and Mr. Mazarin's strong support. As for the original presiding judge, since he was willing to obey the Pope's edict, Stay in Rome forever, don't go back to Paris.

But what needs to be solemnly declared is that although Mr. Eralio and Bishop Mazaran stand on the same side, official affairs still need to be handled openly. After all, people in the other world have also reminded Eralio that he cannot do too much like the previous presiding judge. The earth tends to express the world, whether it is the Holy Father or the bishop - Mazaran is quite disapproving of this, but for him, it is not a matter that can be solved with gold louis, and it is also convenient for Eraio to express to the people in the inner world bona fide.

"Do you have enough wheat?"

"Enough," said Eralio, "or you can give us some more grease."

The bishop nodded: "Take it." He said: "I will send the merchant to you." Even though Eralio was young, he never revealed to him too much about the situation in the world, just like he never Answering questions about wheat, and always being vague about other materials, lest the bishop might guess how much power they still have in the other world, but they have always welcomed gold Louis, although Mazarin's spies never Not a single coin that has been marked has been seen in circulation.

After getting a satisfactory answer, Eralio left immediately without pretending to have a close relationship with Mr. Bishop. After he left, Reis, the vice-bishop of the church, immediately came to visit. Speaking of which, this guy is really shameless , he stood on their side when the people rioted, and when the king returned to Paris, he pretended to be loyal to the royal family, and even visited Queen Mother Anne frequently, trying to persuade her to replace Mazarin s position.

If it wasn't for the king's resolute opposition, maybe he would have succeeded. Seeing that old face that was uglier than himself, Bishop Mazaran wanted to open the drawer several times, and write the Vice-Bishop of Lace to Prince Condé. The letter with Gaston, Duke of Orleans, was thrown in his face, but then he suppressed his anger and politely sent him away. In addition, he reminded the archdeacon of Reis that the king wanted to rebuild Dürer. Of course, this is very pious, the matter of the Rigong Chapel, the archdeacon can't turn a blind eye or listen to it.

So the king unexpectedly received two more money orders, one from Bishop Mazarin, worth 1,000 louis in gold, and one from the vicar of Lace, worth 1,500 louis in gold.

In this way, what he has to do becomes easier. Of course, these bills of exchange will not be exchanged for bread, which will only satisfy those wheat merchants who are hoarding. The king handed over this matter to Mr. Fouquet, the supervisor. Mr. Politician, once again got a chance to prove himself, he will exchange the money for the most coarse grains such as oats, rye, peas, etc. Everyone who is willing to come to the church to work can get the grain directly.

What made him regret was that although the king relied heavily on him, he also gave Jean-Baptiste Colbert a chance, yes, the small businessman who provided the king with horses. Kay was much more dangerous and difficult, for he was going to Italy to buy as much corn as he could, a crop also grown in France, but not yet well known to the citizens of Paris, and for that reason its price was still low. It was not carried up by unscrupulous businessmen.

The king stood at the window and watched Colbert ride his horse away from the Richelieu house. He followed the horse cautiously at first, but when he reached the corner of the street, he couldn't help jumping on the horse excitedly and galloping quickly. , No, at most, a businessman like this can only be lucky enough to see the faces and demeanors of the nobles when he is guarding the gate, but he has already entered the hall and served the king just like those noble adults.

"Better not to disappoint me." Louis murmured, the bishop and the queen mother did not approve of the king's appointment of Colbert, because he was not even as good as Nicolas Fouquet, Fouquet's grandfather, father and himself were all kings In other words, he can barely be regarded as a "cloaked nobleman", although such an identity can be hereditary by paying the "Polekin" annual tribute to the king every year, which is different from the "nobility in robes" who originally obtained titles based on blood and merit. "Aristocrat with Saber" is completely incomparable, but it is always better than an ordinary businessman with a car.

It is not easy to convince them, and it is conceivable that if Colbert fails to do a good job, it will be very difficult for Louis to promote anyone in the future. In this case, Mr. Colbert will not only lose his reputation There might even be a noose waiting for him.

Today the king is going to bed later than usual, but still earlier than most people in the court, just like now, the bell of Notre Dame has struck five, the citizens have gone to bed, and the people in the court The night has just begun. If there is no dance, then Queen Mother Anne and the ladies must be gambling. There are very few entertainments in this era. Louis also thought about whether he could come up with some games to occupy the gambling position, but he thought that in the future he would He might have to do something, and he put it down gently again.

And just as he was about to go to bed, his bedroom chief and first attendant Bontang also came back. According to the usual practice, he was going to supervise the sleeping conditions of his younger brother Philip, Princess Henrietta and Miss Mary Mancini, If they still stay in places other than the dormitory, Bontang will read the king's edict to them, asking them to go back to sleep immediately. Although in her heart, it is not worth caring when the children go to bed, and they are not commoners who need to get up early to work or be stingy with candles, but she is very happy to see that the king can love his younger brother.

"Your Royal Highness Philip thanks and greets you, Her Royal Highness Princess Henrietta thanks and greets you... Miss Mary Mancini..."

Louis waited for a long time but couldn't wait for the next sentence. He put on his linen long underwear, "What?"

Bontang looked around and was sure that only the king and himself were there: "Miss Mancini hopes that I can bring you this, she said that putting this under the pillow can make people sleep well and be energetic..."

Bontang's hesitation was not unreasonable, because what Marie Mancini gave him looked like... some kind of instrument for cursing.

It was the fruit of an oak tree, but it was dyed turquoise. The lower part was carved into the shape of a closed eye. The eyelids and eyeballs were clearly recognizable. Strange words were engraved on it. It was fixed on a silver base, The base was made into a raven's wing.

The king sighed softly, "It's just a little girl's imagination," he said, "Give it to me, Bontang."

He took the acorn fruit from Bontang, who was still a little hesitant, and put it under the pillow while the chamberlain was hesitant to speak. Sure enough, he slept so well that night, he doubted that he was not there. Turned over in sleep.

Bontang opened the window, and fresh cold air rushed into the room immediately, as well as the transparent and bright golden morning light.

At this time, there are at least two bells before the queen mother wakes up. Farmers, citizens and merchants have already appeared on the street at this time. The king had a simple breakfast to complete his two courses - fencing and dancing In the dance class, his younger brother Philip was his dance partner. When he was fencing, his younger brother was going to try on new clothes. After the class, he added a piece of cheese in the bathtub, and he and his younger brother were outside the Queen Mother's bedroom. Waiting in the small reception room, the queen mother finished dressing and dressing in about an hour and a half. A day of getting up early for the market.

After the Queen Mother watched mass, their lunch was of course served in Richelieu’s house. Although hundreds of years later, people were more keen to taste delicious food while shopping, but at this time more of the Paris market was still Most of it is chalk and sawdust, and there is no fermented bread; sour wine directly mixed with dirty river water; roast duck made of mud; cheese full of maggots, only shiny because of a layer of grease on it...

When a group of people finally left the Richelieu house in a mighty way, the sun was slightly slanted. Fortunately, the red children's market chosen by the bishop for them was not far from the Richelieu house. At the time of Louis XIII, it was wide and neat, and the excrement on the road was not piled up too high. There were three or four jewelry and silk shops worth seeing on the street, as well as copperware shops, bakeries, ceramics and toy workshops. , there are vegetable and fruit stalls and livestock dealers in the street square, and further back, near the Seine River is the fish market, because it takes a lot of water to process the fish, and there are piles of fish skins, scales, and fish offal that need to be thrown away , Mr. Bishop does not advise the king to go there, because the stench there can be suffocating.

And then you just dump this suffocating garbage into the Seine and keep drinking water from it?

Fortunately, Bishop Mazaran would not be stupid to drink this kind of water. He, the royal family, and some important officials all drank the spring water sent from Fontainebleau. Fontainebleau originally meant "beautiful spring". Paris is about fifteen leagues away, and water is delivered to the Richelieu house every morning by carriage, and even the water for the king’s bath comes from here—this way the price of water has long surpassed that of milk, of course Louis knew about this, but he also It can be regarded as not knowing that his frequent bathing is not just for cleaning, but also for health. After all, medical methods at this time are still equivalent to murder.

Of course, it is impossible for the king and all the nobles to go on foot. They rode in an open carriage and were escorted by musketeers and mercenaries to the red children's market. He ran out of the building, bowed to the king at the command of a priest, and shouted long live the king.

"These are the children from the Santa Maria Orphanage." Seeing the king's puzzled look, Fouquet quickly leaned over and said, "They always wear red cloaks, that's why the market here is called the Red Market." Children's Market."

It seemed that the oldest of these children was only as old as his younger brother Philip. The king stretched out his hand to Fouquet, and Fouquet immediately took out the money bag knowingly. One of the musketeers at the side said: "Go to the priest and let him make a bowl of cabbage soup for the children, with cheese and butter in it."

The musketeer went at once, and the king returned the purse to Fouquet, who looked eager to compliment the king's mercy, but the market had already arrived, and the king was distracted by a loud hawk , Looking at the light golden back of the head left by the king, the robed nobleman had no choice but to shut his mouth resentfully.