I Am Louis XIV

The fact that the Queen Mother was concealed by the Duke of Orleans was that Louis not only let Philip read the secret letter, but also gave the Duke of Orleans a position that was almost impossible to refuse, that is, to hold some spies for His Majesty the King. The reason why it is said is partly because Louis did not have any mature intelligence network in his hands. His spies were inherited by Bishop Mazarin from Bishop Richelieu, and then expanded a part, and finally handed over to him.

Here I have to mention the composition of these spies, just like Bishop Richelieu, some spies are served by monks and priests, because people will always go to them to confess their sins, and the secrets they hold are better than the stars in the sky. Even more—although according to the laws of the church, any secrets they hear are not allowed to be leaked, but...the bishop has the right to listen to the confession of a priest or any clergyman, so I want to thoroughly To keep a secret, one must endure spiritual whiplash.

There are also criminals who are brought out of prison like Mrs. Milady. If they are unwilling to serve the bishop, they will go back to prison or even to the guillotine or gallows. Some branding will also prevent them from returning to normal life forever.

There are also some traveling merchants, they are not trustworthy, they are not so much working for the bishop as they are working for the clanging coins, their information is often inconsistent and unreliable, but sometimes It will also catch a big fish by mistake.

In such a chaotic situation, when he was in the other world, relying on some fragmented time in his studies, the king also discussed it with Mrs. Milady, and the result was that he decided to return to the watch world to deal with this chaos. To make a rectification, he did not interrupt the spies in the hands of one person, so that if that person wanted to deceive himself, it would be too easy. Louis wanted to divide the intelligence network into three parts.

The first part he was going to give, or ask Philip to form, was to "follow" the usual practice of people after hundreds of years, that is, to serve as ambassadors and their entourage, officials in countries other than France. People will be the eyes and ears of Louis. Although this is almost the same for everyone, Louis' expectation is a more orthodox and efficient organization. The reason why he wants Philip to be the leader of these people is also because of Philip's status. Detachment, in many cases, the presence of the Duke of Orleans is enough to guarantee and protect many suspected people, or in critical moments, he is also the last object that others dare to block and hurt.

Philip accepted the decree with great excitement, even though for all but the king, and a few others, the position would never be on paper or widely known.

The second part is the intelligence network left by Mazaran to the king. This network temporarily excludes priests and monks-because the king does not naturally suppress their identities, it is not easy to buy these priests , and may even fall into the trap of the church instead, so only criminals like Mrs. Milady, thieves, mercenaries, and tavern owners who have one foot on the prison door are still alive. As soon as they can be used, these people, after the king thought about it, temporarily mentioned Count d'Artagnan to the position of one of the secret agent leaders. Count d'Artagnan who came to accept this position was very happy at first, But when he heard that he might work with Mrs. Milady in the future, his face changed sadly.

But this is necessary, they were originally Madame Milady's subordinates, Count d'Artagnan was going to hand over to Madame Milady - the king smiled and reminded this frivolous gentleman that the relationship between him and Madame Milady was originally There is a fate, "Although Mrs. Milady played a little joke with you, sir, she is still a very attractive lady. Isn't this enough for you to forgive her?"

"What you said is true, but, Your Majesty..." Count D'Artagnan said with a sad face, "That's the problem." Not only because Milady played him ruthlessly, but also because she and Dada Niang is exactly the same kind of person. In their interactions with the opposite sex, they are like beasts, presumptuous, vicious and ruthless-not to mention congenial, even d'Artagnan or Milady would definitely be more willing to accept A really nice guy for company.

It's just that no matter how reluctant Count d'Artagnan is, he will have to work with Madame Milady for a while. Madame Milady was placed in the world by Louis, firstly to isolate her from the intimate relationship with her former subordinates, and secondly It turned out that Milady also needed to build a big net for the king in the inner world, but to achieve the goal, the support of the outer world was indispensable. Of course, the king would not do it himself, so naturally only Count d'Artagnan would serve on his behalf.

When Count d'Artagnan left, it happened that his younger brother Philip came to be summoned by the king. Although he was a little puzzled, he almost never commented on official affairs. It was the king who told him that he intended to let d'Artagnan Becoming the head of the secret agents confuses Philip even more, because the Count d'Artagnan does not seem to be a man who is good at keeping secrets.

What the king didn't tell his brother was that sometimes, an overly flashy appearance can be the best disguise. It's not surprising that someone who is good at making love with hobbies suddenly appears anywhere. He is powerful, It will drag all malicious eyes to itself, just like it is difficult for people to see the things covered by the shadow under strong light.

Of course, as he said before, he handed over the conspiracy affairs in the court to Philip—forgot to say that, apart from abroad, the French court is also within the scope of the prince's responsibilities.

The real spy leader is Colbert. People despise his background because he is just a businessman with a car, but the coverage of the businessman is wider than that of "Ming Shu" and the nobles, and they deal with more people-and the businessman They are already sensitive enough to intelligence, otherwise how could they hoard, buy short and sell short? And no matter when and where, war is always inseparable from food, armaments, and transportation. As long as you can grasp the trends of the commercial society, it is not difficult to speculate on the situation in any country or region.

In addition, although there is a gift from the bishop, the king is more willing to build a team that belongs only to him. The merchants entered the king's vision at the right time. Compared with "Mingshu", bandits and priests, merchants are more involved. Moreover, it is not surprising that there are businessmen who talk a lot and look at the situation. After all, business opportunities are often better than military aircraft. More importantly, after accepting the lessons of Charles I, Louis did not want to force the merchant class into riots and then cut them off. In his own head, before he can temporarily shake the interests of priests and nobles and reduce the tax burden of merchants, he can only try to hang honors and titles on the hook, and see if he can manage to catch this still neglected big fish.

There are definitely big fish.

As soon as Philip left, Colbert came, and he brought the latest coins—although he was only five years old when Louis came to the throne, Bishop Mazarin still minted a silver coin of one crown for him as a celebration. On that silver coin, the profile of Louis' head looks like a perfectly baked small white bread, and the bulging cheeks make him look very childish. Bishop Mazarin once wanted to re- A silver coin was minted as a celebration, but the situation was tense at the time, so Louis refused after consideration. Now that he is not only officially in power, but also has an heir, the minting of coins is naturally placed at the forefront of the schedule.

Colbert is only the Minister of Finance. Although he was appointed to be responsible for the casting of the latest gold Louis, the person responsible for designing coins is still in charge of professionals. Charles Le Brun, his family has always served the French royal family, but his Both his father and grandfather were good at sculpture, and he was good at painting. His teacher was also Poussin, who was favored by Louis XIII. He also followed Poussin to Italy to study, and he has a deep understanding and experience of ancient Greek portrait sculpture.

These are not the reasons why Louis finally chose him to take charge of this important work-the reason why this painter in his forties was trusted by the king was because he, his family was completely royalist, When the king was in exile, he even refused the service of the Duke Gaston and the Prince of Condé, which was dangerous for a painter who had the power to throw him into prison and even He was hanged, but fortunately he was not so stupid as to be caught, and fled immediately after rebuffing the two great men, and later heard that when the king was in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, he also entrusted a customer to deliver a This exquisite hand-copied Bible is dedicated to the Queen Mother.

It's like remembering the enemy, like these little people who have done their best, Louis will never forget. Although Mr. Charles's talent is really mediocre and cannot be compared with those talented painters, Louis still A big deal—during the riots, almost all the ceiling paintings of the Louvre were destroyed by soot and flames, requiring a lot of repairs and repainting, all of which were handed over to Charles Le Brun, who It also lived up to the king's expectations, and it was done quickly and well--the poor brother Philip is always hesitant to speak... His brother is almost perfect, except for the bad aesthetics, not to say His aesthetics is equivalent to judging ugliness, but...Louis is obviously more inclined to pragmatism or...straight masculinity, even if he can distinguish some subtle differences, he won't care.

So after the emmmm people secretly said, Charles Le Brun still proudly took over the task entrusted to him by the king. He designed a silver coin of one ecu, and a gold coin worth twenty livres, silver coin Louis on the top wears a laurel wreath, with curly hair hanging over his shoulders, and a buttoned cloak underneath. His young forehead is straight and smooth, his eyes are piercing, looking straight ahead, his nose bridge is high, his lips are tightly pressed together, silver coins The reverse side of the shield is the coat of arms of Louis when he ascended the throne, the top is the crown, and the shield is the symbol of the royal family, the lily.

Louis on the gold coin removes the laurel crown and cloak, fully presenting the personal charm of the young king. On the reverse side of the coin is a cross of equal length, with a crown at the top and four lilies in the middle.

"It's all good." Louis said, rubbing the surface of the coin. At this time, the coin casting has started to use the screw press machine, which is faster and more beautiful. The edges of the silver coins and gold coins have a circle to prevent someone from deliberately grinding off a part. The sawtooth patterns that came to collect money, the portraits are exquisite, and the date and letters are very clear. The king nodded to express his satisfaction, while gently weighing the weight in his hands: "How much gold and silver are there?" he asked.

Every country, and even every lord who has the right to mint coins, will keep secret about the gold and silver content in the coins. He does not intend to play tricks on the coins, like the Italian florin, the Spanish piastre, the Hungarian forint, the Dutch Antillean guilder, the Polish zloty...the real value of the coin At the same time, it also means the credibility of a government or a country. Unless France can have an unshakable position like the behemoth later, it can not care about these things, let alone the real value of coins, even if it is a piece of paper printed in color. The same can be flocking to.

"But..." Colbert said, he was still a little unwilling, because he always had an idea, that is, to ensure France's gold and silver reserves as much as possible. He used to be just a businessman, but now he is also a member of the French Academy. Academician, with his further grasp of finance and economy, he firmly believes that the precious metals that a country can possess represent the power of the country.

Louis knew what he was thinking when he saw him, and the king couldn't help laughing, "wait a minute, Jean," he called Colbert's Christian name affectionately, "if you insist on your idea, then Believe me, God has more for me and for France than for gold and silver in our poor people."

Colbert politely showed a questioning look.

"Wait a little longer," Louis recalled the gold and silver mines in those two distant New Worlds, "at that time, I will let you see, it is the land promised by God, and the gold is like buried in the ground." There will be gold in every river, and you won't even have to dig, just put your head down and kick away the pure nuggets, like early-fallen fruit in an orchard."

Colbert looked at him as if he were an idiot talking dreams.

How is this possible?

—————

Tomorrow's Japanese chapter will add a thousand characters.