I Am Louis XIV

The Duke of Lorraine will also find out later that he enjoyed more fun in the former Richelieu house and later the king's palace than the Sultan. He felt it when he entered the hall, and the floor heating was not his illusion. It was the king who pre-laid copper pipes under the marble or wooden floor when renovating the Richelieu house. The hot water flowing in the copper pipes came from the boiler that was constantly tumbling day and night in the huge and tidy kitchen. The boiler was connected to With the water pipe, the steam poured into the airtight furnace body, and the boiling water pressure was sent to the important parts of the mansion-if people were here hundreds of years later, they would shout "steam engine!" But it is not a steam engine, at most It can only be said to be the prototype of the steam engine, and it was not invented by anyone, because if it is said that steam is converted into power, Hiro of Alexandria, a boring scholar, invented it in the first century AD. Back then he was just using steam to turn a hollow ball, no real purpose, just for fun and fun.

The steam machinery here was also presented by the academicians of the French Academy of Sciences in order to flatter the young king, but the king just stared at it for a while and began to ask if it was possible to apply it to a more practical place.

The geothermal heating in Richelieu's house is just a new attempt, but bathrooms and personal hygiene facilities, that is, toilets, ceramic washbasins and bathtubs are all equipped, but unfortunately, at this time, the king cannot use white porcelain for the time being. Painted pottery and brass can only be used to make these utensils, but these are enough for the Duke of Lorraine. After enjoying himself comfortably in the bathroom, what greets him is different from other places, exquisite and diverse. Delicious food - it was the first time he saw meals that looked like pictures. They were placed on expensive white porcelain plates, and each plate only had one or two bites. The craving for the next dish, he thought he would feel hungry, in fact, after serving twelve courses in a row, he found it difficult to stand up.

When he returned to the bedroom, the sheets and blankets were thick and soft velvet, lying in it was like lying in a warm cloud, and the Duke of Lorraine discovered that there was a flat copper kettle hidden in it, which was wrapped in fur. , continuously exuding heat without scalding people, and the fireplace in the room is always burning, Mr. Duke actually felt hot in winter for the first time, and he slept comfortably until the next morning. When he woke up, he cleaned up in bed—a new fad he hadn’t known since arriving in Paris, but after a mouthwash he did feel refreshed and eager for breakfast.

The breakfast of noble people in Paris is also different from that of other provinces. It is placed on a large silver plate that can only be lifted with both hands. It is fruit juice in a glass container and white bread, French fries, scrambled eggs and cold meat in a white porcelain plate. It is not the most honorable to say these, but the Duke of Lorraine only tasted it, and was attracted by its wonderful taste just like the dinner. Especially when he ate French fries and ketchup for the first time. Perhaps no one could resist the combination of ketchup and French fries at any time. In the end, he was a little unsatisfied and ordered the kitchen to make a big plate for him at noon. Of course his request can be met.

After the meal, the Duke of Lorraine was surrounded and went to the bathroom. When he came out, the hairdresser and tailor had already greeted him. They were all servants of the king, and they came to serve the Duke of Lorraine entirely at the behest of the king. The Duke of Lorraine also showed an unusual solemnity, including respect for the king's vassals, and also a vague awe of the new fashion in Paris - when people in other provinces were still growing their long hair in a mess, people in Paris had begun to cut their hair Ironed into neat and gorgeous little rolls, both men and women, although their clothes are solemn and elegant, cumbersome and exquisite, but they have extremely subtle requirements in color, the tailor even took out a color card, respectfully When asking the Duke of Lorraine to choose his "personal color", the Duke even felt a little ashamed for a while, because he didn't know what a contrasting color is and what an approximate color is, although the colors are not as diverse as later generations (for now No chemical artificial dyes), but enough to blow the Duke of Lorraine's mind.

This color card gathers all the dyes on the market now, except royal blue—the Duke of Lorraine chose the so-called "personal color" with great difficulty. It is said that this will be the special "color" he needs to maintain all the time. This is true from clothing to accessories, but the tailor also inadvertently revealed a secret, that is, princes like Prince Condé can get the gift of the king and use royal blue as their personal color. Duke Lin's envy and hatred, he tentatively asked how he should get such an honor, but at this time the tailor firmly shut his mouth.

How the Duke of Lorraine is wandering in heaven and hell for a while is not something the king has to consider. The construction of the dock in Dunkirk is progressing smoothly, so the next step is the construction of the ship.

It is nonsense to say that the kings of France did not pay attention to the navy, but the investment of the navy is undoubtedly several times that of the army. No matter what kind of warship it is, the price is high, and the most advanced shipbuilding equipment at that time Technology was in the hands of Britain and the Netherlands, and they also ruled the Atlantic Ocean. There were about 50 French warships in the time of François I, but only 20 in the Richelieu period. Richelieu managed to buy forty Calais ships from Spain (the ones mentioned above), but only thirty were ready to go into battle, one of which was equipped with seventy guns and was favored by the French. He talked about it for a long time, but after Louis went to see it, he knew that not only these ships had been in disrepair for a long time, but they were also far behind the existing warships. Such round hulls and slow-moving warships would be destroyed in less than an hour when they reached the sea. British or Dutch warships sunk.

Moreover, the king does not have naval officers and soldiers, shipbuilding factories and shipbuilding facilities. In fact, even if he has Dunkirk, he can only have fifteen or six ships that can berth in the new dock.

This may be the reason why the British parliament did not pay too much attention to Dunkirk. Maybe they felt that Dunkirk was important, but they could take it back at any time. Now the main enemy of Britain is the Netherlands-the reason why they impeached the navy Minister Hyde is only because Hyde is Charles II's confidant—Louis would like to thank this contempt, and hope that this contempt can last for a while. Why, he does not have the right to speak at sea— While the Duke of Lorraine was living his happy life, the king had come to Calais, where he witnessed the second war between England and Holland on the sea with the help of the witch.

The first Anglo-Dutch war took place a few years ago, when Charles II was still in exile and Britain was still ruled by Lord Protector Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell represented the interests of merchants and bankers Of course, they will not show mercy to the Dutch who intend to seize the right to trade at sea. In the continuous situation, and no one is willing to bow their heads and admit defeat, the smoke of the sea has been filled for two full years. The United Kingdom finally gained control of the English Channel, and the Netherlands They also won the naval battles of Elba Island and Livorno, which limited the trade of the British in the Mediterranean, but the Netherlands at that time was ultimately unable to fight a protracted war with a behemoth like the United Kingdom, so in 54 years, they The Treaty of Westminster was signed, in which the Netherlands reluctantly admitted defeat and agreed to the navigation regulations issued by the British.

The most critical item in the British navigation regulations is that all goods imported from the UK must be transported to the UK by ships from the UK or the place of origin. That is to say, third parties with shipping capabilities are not allowed to intervene, and the Netherlands has always It is a country that takes trade intermediaries as its main income. Such regulations undoubtedly directly hit its interests and authority in shipping. There is no doubt that the Netherlands has never stopped vigorously developing its navy in the past two years. Although the navy was not involved in the civil war in successive years, it was also affected-mainly because Cromwell wanted to suppress the royalist party in the country, expedition to Ireland and Scotland, and alliance with France to fight against Spain, so Before his death, Britain was already burdened with a debt of two million pounds. Coupled with the greed of political and military officials, this debt increased by another million pounds in the short chaotic time before Charles II's accession to the throne. In this way, in order to repay the debt, even the navy's military expenditure has been reduced to only two-thirds of the budget. Although compared with other armies, their treatment can be said to be very good, but as Louis saw, The navy is the greediest and hungriest of all the gold-swallowing beasts. Once the military expenditure is insufficient, the disadvantages will be revealed immediately.

With the help of the raven's eyes, the British warships they saw at sea were obviously more dilapidated and clumsy than the Dutch warships, the number of crew members was obviously insufficient, and the courage to fight was as weak as the morning fog-the Netherlands dispatched in this battle This kind of warship is a sail battleship, with a wooden hull structure, wrapped with copper plates under the waterline, driven by wind, and with a displacement of about 1,000 tons. Dutch ships are not only bright in appearance, but also have guns. The number of muzzles is also far more than that of the British. Although the British Galen ships are equipped with three layers of muzzles, the flames ejected from the muzzles are obviously not as many as the Dutch warships. With its outstanding speed, it seized a favorable position, opened the battle line, and aimed the side of the ship at the British fleet that was still facing the enemy at the bow——the British fleet, which was originally at a disadvantage in the number of available gun ports, made things worse, golden red The cannon fire of the ship continued to ignite on the dark black hull, like a small cluster of flowers that bloomed in an instant. The blue water reflected this gorgeous scene, black smoke and white steam rose continuously, The mast snapped, the sails fell, and they saw a burning British warship staggering towards the Dutch fleet, obviously wanting to die together, but the Dutch were not stupid or blind, and their guns were concentrated On this ship, it quickly caught fire, and the sailors jumped for their lives, their bright uniforms standing out on the sea like little berries dropped on the grass, and their ship became a The most radiant and largest flower of fire, it burned with a decisive attitude, turned into a big torch, and finally accompanied by a violent explosion, it broke into two pieces, and the broken part was submerged by sea water. It immediately became charred, and the flames struggled to climb the bow and stern pointing to the sky, but in the end they were completely annihilated in the slowly rotating vortex.

Even if he was just looking down from the sky and watching from the crystal ball, Louis still couldn't help holding Mary's hand tightly, and Mary was the same. After suffering some setbacks, the little witch became more rational , She has read some books and knows what these warships and wars mean to Louis, and she... She means, can she give Louis some help.

"It's hard." Louis replied, not intending to hit Mary, it's really impossible, except for some assistance that may be given during the construction of the dock, the inner world can't have a direct impact on the outer world for the time being, And even in the inner world, there are still national boundaries. France has French wizards, Italy has Italian wizards, and Britain also has British wizards. In the world of Italy, but for French wizards, Louis did not value them, but had an established idea, that is, since they lived on the land of France, they were destined to be his subjects, and the Mancini family In the Inner World where he is located, he is an invader, but in the Inner World of France, he is the ruler of course, and he will try to take it back into his own hands whenever there is a suitable opportunity.

Mary showed a disappointed expression, but before Louis firmly established the rule of the table world, he would not pay too much attention to the inner world for the time being, unless the Mancini family in the inner world could come up with a large amount of real money.

As I said before, even if the army is all gold swallowing beasts, the navy is also the largest one, and the manufacturing costs of warships vary, but take the "Monarch of the Seas" that Charles I once wanted to build as an example. It can be said that it sounded the horn of his death-because it was precisely because of wanting to build this huge war propaganda tool that Charles I issued a writ after the dissolution of Parliament, collecting physical or cash as "ship special funds," in June During the year, 800,000 pounds were searched, and the construction cost of the Monarch of the Seas alone was 70,000 pounds.

Its construction cost is about the sum of ten warships equipped with forty cannons. That is to say, a warship costs at least seven thousand pounds, which is about the same price in gold louis. Now both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have three hundred pounds. If there are more than one warship, how much does Louis need to spend to make up for this shortfall?