I Am Louis XIV

From a long time ago, Colbert, even Fouquet, or Bishop Mazarin discovered that, unlike Louis XIII and the previous kings, their young kings never seemed to intend to seek military expenses from the common people. Or royal expenses, whether in exile or back in Paris, the king is like an acrobat walking on a thin wire, countless louis d'or from rebellious family members or those who need the king's forgiveness People flow to the state treasury, and from the state treasury to the army and those loyal ministers without restriction - Bontang can fully understand the king's anger towards Fouquet. Maybe Fouquet is because he saw that Bishop Mazarin was pocketing himself in this way, but the problem Yes, Bishop Mazaran left this sinful world and donated to the king an astonishingly large amount of money that should have been given to the church.

Of course, if Mr. Fouquet is willing to die and leave all his property to the king, the king will miss him, but even so, the king has not signed his death sentence. Chateau de Bastille, enjoying his prison life, which, Bontang said, was still better than ninety percent of the French.

After Mr. Fouquet's property was confiscated, it also became a great help for the king to support the government and the army, but for Bontang, it is impossible for any one person's property to complete this arduous and long task—— Although it is rich, the property of Mr. Bishop and Fouquet is like a lake. It seems to have considerable reserves, but under constant absorption, there will always be a day when it will dry up. Only the taxes of the common people, although it falls on everyone. Few, but the strength of tens of millions of people gathered is like a rushing river, only they can support the big ship of France.

Louis knew what Bontang was thinking. In fact, bankers, governors, and lords had already come to test the king's ideas, wanting to fight for the position of tax collector. The huge benefits this position can bring, even Let their bribes fill the entire Louvre, but the more they do this, the more vigilant the king will be. Don't forget, these people who aim to make money, if they pay one now, they will get a hundred in the future.

Therefore, the young king would rather suspend the infrastructure construction of Dunkirk than increase people's taxes or appoint new tax collectors, or sell the tax revenue of a certain area directly to bankers, Bontang I think the taxes on the French people are not heavy, and the king did not even raise taxes or add new types of taxes during the civil war for several years, which is already considered kind, but Louis is not the kind of king who has never left Paris or even the Louvre. Even though it is true that he rarely goes out now, the spies he has spread out have continuously reported the situation in various places in France to the king at his request.

Let's put it this way, the war has consumed a lot of the French population, especially the adult males. If Louis hadn't deliberately promoted the cultivation of potatoes and sweet potatoes, there might be a famine in France now. Now, it can only be said that the people are just Getting a little respite doesn't mean they can stand another frenzied exploitation.

Fortunately, two consecutive foreign wars, a deterrent one against Spain, and one real one against Italy, were victorious. Louis did not hesitate to extort a large sum from the Spanish court and the Church of Rome. The benefits that the pope conceded are not comparable to those pitiful riads on the common people, but Louis may be the only one who does this for the time being. As for other kings, they will still choose to squeeze their own people, after all These two wars, if a little careless, will lead to complete destruction, so why don't they beat the soles of the feet of those lowly people? They don't know how to resist, and they dare not resist.

Really? Louis thought in his heart, any intelligent, no, it should be said, creature with survival instinct, will it really not show its fangs and claws when it is oppressed to the last step? When Charles I of England was sent to the guillotine, the anger of the kings of Europe was still concentrated on Cromwell, Lord Protector. Perhaps for them, their noble eyes would never look down.

In fact, not only the outer world, but also the inner world, little Luciano is still a toddler, but he already has a place in the council of wizards, and the coat of arms and logo of the Duke of Colonna have also been adopted by the inner world. As everyone is familiar with, Lady Milady is more respected and convenient when she walks in the crowd as the duke's maid than when she walks as a free wizard. Louis remembered the reward she gave not long ago. In the other world, there are many poor people like Wizard Waro, but after hundreds of years of management, the solidified class and traditional education methods have also nurtured a group of cowards. Not only do they not want to change the fate of themselves and their offspring, but they also don’t want to see others do so—there are even more people like Waro wizards. They can make some small resistance, such as running away, but their thoughts are still fixed In youth and even teenage years—though Louis could still start a fire if he wanted to.

But he doesn't, can't, and is unwilling. He stands here. As a king, he is destined to be unable to completely betray his class. He is a ruler, and his rule will inevitably continue. From yesterday to tomorrow, from the front World to inner world, therefore, he will not create revolutionaries, but only a new, more benevolent monarch: "Grow up quickly, little Lucy," he said in his heart, and then he will pay attention The power returned to the documents in his hands, and the submission of Spain and the Roman Church filled the king's purse again. This money was arranged by the king when the French army entered Rome.

Dunkirk, a city where you can see Britain as long as you stand on the beach, the reason why the Lord Protector of England, Cromwell, was willing to send troops when Louis XIV was reluctant to recognize him was that Formed a coalition with the French to attack the Spaniards, just because when the Spaniards occupied Dunkirk, the city became a lair for Spanish raiding ships. As long as Dunkirk was there, it would be difficult for most British ships to To escape the plunder and destruction of the Spanish pirates, then the question is, although the port city belongs to Louis now, wouldn't Louis do that?

How can it be! Not to mention Bishop Mazaran and Prince Condé, especially the latter, even though the life and death of the king was uncertain at that time, Condé was still a rebel who had just been captured, and they immediately decided to take the right to garrison from the British no matter what. , even if it is only half, this is Louis's original plan. As for Cromwell, if he hadn't been seriously ill at that time, I am afraid that the British conspiracy has already progressed to the next step-the next step is to cooperate with the Spaniards , to capture Calais in France, yes, Oliver Cromwell's original plan was like this, to capture Dunkirk from the Spaniards with the French, and then capture Calais from the French with the Spaniards, so that the British There are two crucial port cities, one can ensure that Britain's throat will not be choked by the enemy, and the other can threaten both France and the Flanders region-mainly the current British territory. against the Netherlands.

It's a pity that he still had to answer the call of God and go to heaven, leaving behind Charles II, although people say that the reason why Charles II sold Dunkirk to Louis XIV at such a low price , to thank Louis XIV for his help during his exile, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that if the New Model Army in Dunkirk hadn’t lost Cromwell at that time, they were worried that they would be hanged or hanged because they belonged to rebels. It was hard labor, so that he had no intention of persisting in fighting, which caused Dunkirk to actually fall into the hands of the French. This seemingly frivolous and naive monarch would not make this decision.

He was a king after all. So, Louis sighed, the British Parliament really shouldn't be aggressive towards Charles II, everyone knows that the so-called deal is just to save some face and losses for Britain, otherwise, who can really retake Dunkirk ? Their war with the Dutch is imminent, because Britain was defeated in the first Anglo-Dutch war, so this time the British must use a big victory to wash away their shame. There is still the possibility of war with France, but out of hostility to the king, the British MPs dismissed the king's navy minister Hyde. This behavior can be said to be intentional to weaken the king's wings. Despicable——Charles II complained a lot in the letter, but it's hard to say that he didn't want to seek Louis' empathy or sympathy.

If Charles II intends to seek military help, at least for now, Louis is powerless, and the same is true for economics-when the first payment from the Duke of Parma came in, the king immediately allocated funds to Dunkirk He has already prepared to strengthen Dunkirk's defense from both land and sea. Dunkirk originally had a dock, but the king hoped that it could berth at least 30 warships, so it may require tens of thousands of manpower or more , The source of these laborers is also a problem. As I said before, the population of France can also be said to be dying. Although many strong men and women can be recruited in Versailles and the Paris Basin, these people can say It is the most important bargaining chip in Louis' hands, and also a future soldier, or the soldier's mother. He would not use them for this kind of hard but simple labor.

So what about looking for people from outside? It's hard, there are a lot of mercenaries, but when the dignitaries still relied on manors and workshops as their main source of income, they also valued manpower. Now, if they want to find a large number of hard-working laborers, Louis only has two Try, one is a slave, the other is a slave—except that one is a black man from the New World, and the other is a wizard from the other world.

In Calais, when he was with Mary, the king heard her complain more than once. The population of the other world had grown, and some family members were forced to become overseers in the farm. It is some mortals whose souls have been taken away. In fact, they don’t need their supervision. However, the education and guidance they received still made them dare not leave the inner world, or in other words, they absolutely disdain to live in the outer world like a mortal.

At that time, the king thought that if the magic of wizards could do things that mortals can't do now, he could hire some wizards from the other world, and he didn't even have to worry that they would not be willing to obey the laws and accept The command of mortals, anyway, is the Mancini family, and if they only work at night or in places that are not seen by mortals, then it will not affect the secrecy that those Extraordinary people in the inner world and the outer world want to maintain.

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Hood is a wizard. He feels that he should not be regarded as a foreign wizard, because his grandfather was a wizard, and he was lucky to marry a branch woman of the family, but unfortunately, his blood still cannot make him a member of the family. His pedigree chart, his name doesn’t even have any meaning, his magical power is mediocre, and his mentor only guides him step by step. He is not only a student of Hood, but also several people, all of whom he needs to be responsible for guiding. In this way, Hood From an ordinary disciple to an ordinary wizard, he was not even allowed to enter the shop, or the manor, let alone the parliament and the court.

Just after he failed again—he tried hard to become a patrol member, but failed, the news that the Mancini family intends to recruit some wizards to work in the watch world flowed into his ears, and he looked at the animal suspiciously. The crow—it is arranging its feathers slowly, and it seems that the news it said before was just a meaningless croak. Hood took out a silver coin from his pocket and put it in the small cloth pocket hanging around the crow's neck, " On the other hand," Hood said.

The crow pecked at the small cloth pocket, and waited for a while, seeing that it was impossible for him to knock out another silver coin from Hood's pocket, then quickly repeated it angrily. Hood heard clearly this time, This made him uneasy. Firstly, this time it was actually a job issued by the Mancini family. Secondly, although he had to go to the watch world, he could directly get the money from the watch world. The money in the watch world was more valuable than the money in the inner world. Everyone knows this, even if they need to be exchanged, their value is still better than the coins in the other world.

Then he looked down and saw that the crow was still there. "Oh," he said, "you can go, you fool with wings! . . . oh oh!"

The crow gave him a vicious peck and flew away.