I Am Louis XIV

The king originally entrusted Colbert to do this job. Under the king's instruction, the merchant's son founded the Royal French Academy of Sciences a year ago. In addition, the Academy of Sciences is also located in Vicomte Castle, which Fouquet once showed off to the king. This castle was suggested by the ministers to be listed as another palace of the king.

But Louis didn't like this castle very much. Apart from Fouquet's sake, he didn't want others to think that he disposed of Nicolas Fouquet for personal gain. Another important reason was that this castle and Like many mansions nowadays, although they are magnificent, they still have no water, no bathrooms and toilets. To be honest, there are 250 fountains inside. The king hopes that there are 250 urinals and toilets. In this way, the guests of that grand ball don't have to worry about smelling strange smells at any time, and the servants in charge of the fireplace don't have to be vigilant because there are always charcoals being doused by urine.

But at this time when the castle has been completely completed, it is difficult to add bathing and sanitation facilities. Louis can add these facilities in the Louvre because the Louvre is almost half abandoned after the two riots. , only one frame and surface is still intact, and he is only doing repairs on himself and Philip and the queen mother, as well as some adjacent king suites and queen mother suites (these rooms are almost only provided to important people), so let It is not too difficult to make them more humane and more comfortable and safe, but Vicomte Castle is brand new, it is impossible and too wasteful to renovate all of it, so the king can only add one to the rear and one wing of the building. Sanitary facilities, one for bathing and one for dealing with personal problems.

Of course, the current king is unwilling to endure such inconvenience, but for people from other provinces, it can be said to be quite new and advanced, and it is only about ten leagues away from Paris, which is not too far away to obtain the latest information from Paris. The supplies are not so close that these scholars will be disturbed too much. For example, the "Mingshu" who have a tradition of hundreds of years are suitable for education and research such as the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Although some people also criticized that such a disposition may not be too costly, because although it is called the Royal Academy of Sciences, the founder is not a traditional sword-wielding nobleman, or even a robed nobleman, but a nobleman who has been reused by flattery. The son of a merchant, it is no wonder that there are more scholars who stand on the sidelines than those who are readily invited. After all, there are many salons discussing science, philosophy and literature in Europe at this time, and many ignorant nobles are like collecting sacred objects. Collect scholars and use them to decorate the facade. Although Colbert is said to be the king behind him, but the king is so young and obviously likes militarism. It is difficult to say how long he will support knowledge.

There are only twenty-five people in the current Academy of Sciences, including Colbert and Descartes, as well as some scholars who were attracted and guaranteed by Descartes. Among them, Gilard Desargues is the most valued by the king. The architect was born in Lyon in 1591, and his family has served the royal family for generations. He was a member of the royal army during the riots, but he was obviously better at architecture and mathematics than fighting. His mentor was Riches He stayed in the service of the bishop. He followed his mentor and left a lot of proud works in Lyon and Paris. After hearing that the Royal Academy of Sciences was founded and that Mr. Descartes would also work there, he came to Paris and Vicon without hesitation. special.

He is now building the aqueducts of Paris for the king. The filth of Paris has always been a serious problem for the king. In this era of chaotic and underdeveloped medicine, no matter how wise and powerful he is, as long as he is still a human being, it is inevitable Threatened by the plague at all times, how is it possible to let the upper-middle-class people in Paris bathe, clean their houses and even the streets every day when they still have to buy water to drink? Therefore, the water canal is the most important project, even earlier than the public health facilities. In any case, the existence of the latter must be based on the former.

The king's previous renovation of Paris had included the aqueduct, which also reduced a lot of troubles. After all, many houses have lost their owners. The upper and lower water works are carried out at the same time. According to the requirements of the king, large reservoirs and water channels are needed in the upper reaches of the Seine River. When used for water, it can also be used for flushing sewer pipes, and it can also ensure that the water level of the Seine River is stable all year round.

Of course, these projects can never be completed overnight, and on the issue of Lorraine, the king needs chemists and agriculturalists even more to see if they can solve the problems raised by the Duke of Lorraine. But now chemists are more often called alchemists, and agriculture hardly exists. It’s not that people don’t value agriculture, but people still think that agriculture needs the blessing of God. In addition, from The economic behavior of the British, where wool is more important than wheat, has also directly affected some French people. They have also begun to imitate the British by pulling out wheat and planting grass. Of course, no one cares about planting research. Most of Lorraine is a plateau area, which is not suitable for growing wheat, but there are only a few traditional industries, quarrying and logging.

Louis is very worried that if he agrees to the request of the Duke of Lorraine, the Duke of Lorraine will follow the example of the British and contract out the land tax for the next ten or twenty years to those greedy businessmen, and then these businessmen will ignore it He fell down the big trees that had grown for decades and hundreds of years, scorched the land, planted pasture, and raised sheep for wool. Even if he got Lorraine, it was a Lorraine on the verge of famine and riots. .

He asked Colbert to find those who have research on minerals or machinery, hoping that they can find a new way out for the people of Lorraine, but now a wizard came to him and told him that he had a way to solve Lorraine's problems, which is It can't help but make the king feel curious, for which the king will not be stingy.

In terms of character, Varo Vesalius is not a firm-willed person. Escaping from the other world with his wife and children may be the most courageous thing he has ever done in his life. He once stood up for such determination. Proud, but as cold and even more backward and difficult as the inner world, his arrogance and innocence were wiped out completely, and after his wife was taken away, a letter from his daughter completely destroyed him. His final fantasy - worst of all - was that in Dunkirk he was like an elephant tethered to a stake and mistakenly sided with Marie Mancini instead. Dedicated to serving the king.

With Mary Mancini's guarantee, he can return to the inner world, but what's the use of returning to the inner world? Does the potion master in the other world still lack a Varo Vesalius? Moreover, Marie doesn't care about his betrayal of the Mancini family. The rest of the Mancini family have not forgotten, and in the other world, the Mancini family will not use people, and others will not use them. Stay in the Colonna Palace, but no one will even entrust him with the job of preparing potions for the little Duke of Colonna.

If it wasn't for the mentor of Vesalius' father who couldn't watch his disciple's descendants sink so stupidly, Varo Vesalius might have been completely annihilated in the vast crowd just like anyone who disappointed the king. But what I have to admit is that Varo does have a unique talent... Even if he can't say that he has a well-thought-out plan when he comes before the king, he can be said to have some confidence.

"Look, Your Majesty," he said, "I have concocted a potion."

This potion in a glass bottle looks like colorless grease. Madame La Vallière walked between the king and the wizard seemingly inadvertently. In addition, there are two priests of the court behind the king, so even if Wat Luo Vesalius was an assassin, so he didn't even think about breaking through this solid line of defense, not to mention there was a kitten licking its fur on the king's desk.

"What can this potion be used for?" asked the king.

"For testing." Varo said, and then he took out many small packets of soil, gravel, and other things that he couldn't tell what they were from his pockets: "Your Majesty, as long as you put the local soil into this In this potion, it will immediately turn into various colors, and from the colors, you can see what minerals are here, and what the soil is more suitable for seeds.” As he spoke, he took one of the rocks The powder was sprinkled into the potion, and sure enough, it quickly turned a rich red under the watchful eyes of the people.

"That means there's a lot of copper in it," Varo said. Then he tried another potion, this time the potion was brown. "That means it contains gold."

Now even the kitty raised his body unconsciously, and the king heard the priest behind him sighing slightly. He looked at Varo with a complicated expression and looked at those earnest eyes. At first, he wanted to leave When I got down to Varo Vesalius, it was because of his surname. His ancestor Andre Vesalius had a lot of research on the human body. He hoped that Varo Vesalius could inherit the wisdom of his ancestors. Now look at him His idea may not be wrong, but the problem is that this wisdom point is obviously in the wrong place, no, it is not a wrong place, it can only be said that it is beyond the king's expectation.

"How much soil and gravel can be identified now?" asked the king.

Varo Vesalius flinched visibly: "Sorry, Your Majesty," he said in embarrassment, "I really don't have enough samples."

"You mean," Louis thought for a moment: "As long as you put a kind of soil or stone powder in this potion, it will show various colors according to the largest ingredients, and then you can take samples from another place To compare or identify, right?"

Valo paused: "You can say that."

The King of Hands is enough here. He signaled to Bang Tang, and Bang Tang brought the first bottle of potion to be tested. In the inner world, the manufacturing process of glass is slightly better than that in the outer world, and the body of the potion bottle is like air. Clear, he shook it slightly, and found that the red solution inside had a strong sense of hanging on the wall, like fine wine, he tried to pour it on the parchment, and received a dissatisfied look from the priest .

"How do you know if its smell is dangerous, Your Majesty?" he said, and Bontang took it away from the king immediately when he saw it. His action was too fast and too hasty, and the liquid had not been completely absorbed by the parchment. , a drop of liquid fell on the mahogany tabletop, and Bontang subconsciously wiped it with his sleeve, but found that the red mark left by the liquid could not be wiped clean.

Mahogany is originally a brightly colored wood, but even so, the red trace is still vivid like a stamp printed on it. While Bontang began to frown, the king smiled happily.

"This potion," he asked Varro, "how many colors can it take so far?"

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When the Duke of Lorraine was summoned by the king, he didn't even remember what day it was or what day of the week it was. When he was arranging his clothes and preparing to go to the Louvre, he no longer felt ashamed at the beginning because he was arranged in the palace. Embarrassed and angry, but with a bit of nostalgia, not to mention that people at this time are used to feces everywhere and the air is dirty. If so, they will not change their residences frequently (if conditions are available), or go to the countryside and manors. On vacation, when there were no conditions, I kept throwing lavender and straw on the ground.

Not to mention the master of this palace, even the servants are more willing to work in this palace. Although their bathroom is shared, it is better than those old palaces. Whether the floor here is marble or It is wood, which is always clean, there will be no pungent smell on the curtains, and there will be no charcoal that cannot be burned for no reason in the fireplace. Their bodies are even cleaner than some nobles, which makes them Involuntarily produce some vanity.

The Duke of Lorraine is even more so. After living in the smelly and clean palace for a few months, he is not even used to the smell on the street, but God knows, the street at this time is much better than it was a few years ago, at least not so much Use manure to pave the ground.

When the Duke arrived at the Louvre, he was relieved when he smelled the familiar smell, and then he couldn't help but frown.

What should he do if he doesn't want to go back to Lorraine?

This mood has been maintained until the big room where the visitor came, the king said to him, agreeing to his request, Lorraine can set and collect all taxes by himself from now until the moment of his death .

"But what if I can't collect one million livres?" the Duke of Lorraine asked shamelessly.

To his surprise, the king not only understood the meaning of his words, but also generously promised that if he was willing to hand over this power to the king, then the king would buy it with one million livres, which made him happy. The Duke of Lorraine felt a little bit of doubt in addition to his excitement. Just like all greedy businessmen, a tolerant customer made him hesitate. After hesitating for a while, he said that he would think about it.

A few days later word came out from the High Court that there were many people who wanted to object to this important business, because they agreed that Lorraine was not worth so much money, and there was a lot of interest in the army sent by the king to Lorraine. Criticism, because Lorraine is not yet the king's territory, he has no right to target the Duke of Lorraine's brother, which is the Duke of Lorraine's right, so the Duke of Lorraine changed his words and said that he can use one million livres The price was to sell Lorraine's subsequent income to the king, but he not only insisted on a knighthood that could be on an equal footing with Prince Condé, but also the ownership of the Paris palace until his death.