I Am Louis XIV

At this time, due to the struggle of the witches, part of the oil paint has peeled off, revealing the real night sky, and the real night sky is no different from what they saw before. In other words, Bosch’s technique is still traditional tempera painting The technique is to superimpose translucent paint on the real scene layer by layer. Behind the broken hole, the faces of black wizards are exposed. They use brooms, and some ride nightmares. They are like Looking at the witches like free products, the ruthless gaze seems to have decided how to cut these witches, but they must first remove the burden attached to these precious harvests. A black wizard just waved his hand, and one of the witches let out a horrified cry Screaming as her "husband" was thrown down without a fight behind her.

As if they had discovered some kind of interesting game, the dark wizards laughed loudly, obviously they could throw all those mortals on the ground in one breath, but they deliberately pointed their fingers or wands at the witches, With their heart-piercing screams, they threw the soldiers far away one by one—in order to escape as soon as possible, the witches pulled their brooms to a height of three hundred feet or even higher, surpassing the dark wizards. The mist and clouds were intentionally created, not to mention that these soldiers were all injured, even if they were intact mortals, they would surely be smashed to pieces if they fell from here.

While the black wizards finished these mortals, they were still busy cleaning up the tears shed by the witches. These tears from the heartbroken people have many magical uses even for mortals, let alone witches. When the wizard commanded the crystal bottle to fly into his hand, even though there was only moonlight here, he could see that the tears in the bottle were not crystal clear, but filled with impurities. These were not ordinary impurities, but pain was mixed in the tears He took a glance at the blood, put it away with satisfaction, took out another empty bottle, and wanted to collect more, but when he looked at the witch, he found that there was a strange smile on her lips. He thought she was crazy, but then it occurred to him—he didn't seem to be able to hear the last screams of those mortals.

As a dark wizard, this gentleman's reaction is not insensitive. As soon as he pulled the broom, he suddenly rushed out a dozen times, and a flame flew past his boots, just a little bit - Hood thought in his heart With a sigh, he raised his hands and recited the spell. Another spell was brewing in his hands, but the black wizard's spell had already been struck back—even the wizards of Gayola Island, it was difficult to compete with these black wizards. One-on-one confrontation of wizards. After all, the situation on Gayola Island has not yet reached the worst point, but since Louis XIV has decided to bring the power of the other world to the battlefield, he will not let these wizards continue to be like a bunch. Loose sand—the Gayola wizards here are all trained like soldiers in the army, and they will not face the enemy alone. A transparent shield thrown by a wizard was smashed in front of Hood's eyes At the same time, another wizard's magic had already hit Hood's opponent, and took away one of his arms. The black wizard controlled the broom to descend in embarrassment and tenaciously. During the descent, he took out a withered broom The monkey's paw pressed against his broken arm, so he could cast spells again.

As soon as he landed on the ground, he realized that these wizards who did not know where they came from were all in teams of three or three. Three groups formed a pair, and three groups formed a pair. They were like arrows. Protection, some people make up the knife, once a wizard in the group falls behind, the other two will cover each other and retreat until there are new wizards replenishing - this is incomparable to the dark wizards, even though they face each other alone For any wizard, powerful power can guarantee that they can escape even if they cannot win, but now they have to face enemies that are several times their own, and there is no way to trust others and make others trust themselves— —They couldn’t be like Hood, who boldly handed over their backs to their companions, and there were no rare cases of black wizards fighting each other, and the black wizards here were even hired by Leopold I Yes, they are even more afraid of each other.

They know what to do, but that's how it is with a lot of things, it's not something you can do just because you know what to do.

The witches watched these newly appeared wizards fly to them and cast spells to break them free from the trap. They had time to say thank you in a hurry, and immediately turned around and flew down to find their lovers. No wonder the black wizards didn't hear the shouts. It turned out that countless entangled vines suddenly grew out of the wilderness. Their tough branches and leaves were like elastic mats, stably intercepting the soldiers who fell from midair. , apart from short-term panic, and some unlucky ghosts broke their hands and feet again, none of them suffered misfortune.

Hood glanced at the weeping witches, and clicked his tongue. On Gayola Island, there are still not many wizards who choose mortals as wives and husbands, and these Bohemian witches don't care.

But this can be regarded as a blessing in disguise, Hood turned his gaze to a farther place, and the members of the Witch Cult were still fighting crazily with the dark wizards - just like Hood, wearing a shimmering sun emblem The wizards slowly gathered together, just like the black wizard who encountered Hood. The black wizards don't have any professional ethics and contract spirit. Once they find that the situation is not good, they run faster than anything else, but Today, their king didn’t simply drive them away. Even if there weren’t all the dark wizards in Flanders, they could be said to be a force that should not be underestimated. If they escaped, no matter what In the future, whether to be hired by the enemy or harbor hatred for the king will be too troublesome.

Hood and other wizards raised their hands tacitly. They didn't completely destroy Bosch's "painting", and even made up some holes. Wizards, as for the ground, another part of the wizards of Gayola Island is in charge.

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Manit didn't know that their reinforcements, no, it should be said that the reinforcements of mortals had arrived. She and the members of the sect can be said to be the witches with the most inheritance, but they can only rely on tenacity to face the dark wizard. The will and courage to fight against them, and the black wizards think that it is only a matter of time before they get them, and they are not willing to be hurt by the final counterattack of the beast—but as time goes by, a few of them headed by Bosch The black wizard began to get impatient, and before the rolling black magic, the members of the sect kept falling, and finally only Manit was left.

Manit dragged her feet and hid behind a high-backed chair. She was hit by a withering curse, and her entire foot shrank into a dry stump, which continued to spread upwards. She clenched her teeth , amputated her own foot from the knee, and then burned the wound with flames. The severe pain made her unable to press down even if she chewed the aconitum. She watched her blood condense into a small lake on the ground, and began to read Say the last mantra.

She didn't notice the relief on the armchair—Saint Magdalene squirmed suddenly, and the long hair that was used to wipe Jesus' feet protruded from the back of the chair, hanging down like a poisonous snake, suddenly tightening Wrapped tightly around Manit's neck.

It was so powerful that it even pulled up Manit who was lying on the ground. Manit pulled out the knife and wanted to cut it off, but she could only cut off a handful of sawdust every time.

Bosch didn't go over, he waited leisurely, just like every time he cursed, his saints could always bring him rich rewards.

"Do you hear anything?" asked the Piper suddenly.

Piper, a rather rare dark wizard who is willing to respect some rules, just like he once took all the children from that city and traded them to other dark wizards, but first of all, Make the city unwilling to honor its previous commitments. His flute can drive flying insects and mice, and he is also extremely sensitive to the movements of these small creatures. Although almost all the insects and mice have been driven away or swallowed, he still vaguely feels a trace of uneasiness.

"It's a bunch of mortals," one of the dark wizards sneered, "and their general wants to come and fight us."

The black wizards laughed in unison. If a team of monks from the tribunal came, they would have to be vigilant, but what can ordinary people do? Dark wizards can distort the trajectory of arrows or bullets, they can confuse mortal vision, they can change the color and quality of air, they can animate dead things, and they can make a mortal man fall dead instantly - killed by that soldier before The black wizards were ridiculed mercilessly, and they all believed that if they were themselves, they would never make such a stupid mistake.

Then they saw an incomparably bright white light.

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The artillery of the seventeenth century was still front-loading artillery, that is to say, everything from gunpowder to shells was loaded from the front of the barrel. There were three types of shells, solid stone shells, solid iron shells, and hollow shells. There are iron bullets with explosives, but at the end of the sixteenth century, a small number of shotguns appeared. This kind of shotgun is cylindrical, the outer layer is tin or thin iron, and there are round iron pellets inside, which need to be fired. At the time, the gunner had to first put in the silk gunpowder pack, the wooden bullet holder and the shotgun. This kind of shotgun was only used to attack dense formations because of the low power of a single iron pellet and the short range, but because the artillery was inconvenient to move on the battlefield— —Even the most rigid officers will not order soldiers to stand neatly in front of the artillery, so the frequency of use of shotgun is not high.

And with the help of wizards, these six-pound cannons were quickly transported to Waterloo, and those gunners didn't even know that they were going to attack some dark wizards. Even if the king didn't know the situation in the town well, he had a certain understanding. Those black wizards didn't pay attention to ordinary people. To them, the original residents and the women and children of Brussels were just a group of trembling rabbits and chickens. Duck, after the witches escaped with the soldiers, and the elders of the witch order headed by Manit confronted the dark wizards, they kept shifting the battlefield, and they were already some distance away from those mortals. If shotguns were used, the king would need to Only Manit was discarded, but dead men cannot speak, and even if the witches could summon Manit's soul, she would have nothing to complain about to the king.

The last battlefield of the black wizards and witches is located in the small church in the town. Unlike the cathedral made of stone in people's conception, this small church only uses stone as the foundation, and the towering walls and zenith are all It was wooden, and although the people here did the best they could, it fell apart in an instant under the bombardment of the shot.

What the dark wizards saw was the light from the shotgun bursting in the air, of course. Iron pellets do not emit light. This is a white phosphorus pellet that the king tried to throw under the power of the inner world. White phosphorus is a material that is easy to burn, but it is not easy to maintain its stability. The wizards of La Island have experimented many times before refining and blending a wax-like potion from coal. White phosphorus is hidden in it, and it will not explode when it comes into contact with oxygen. At that time, the heat coming from the speed will melt these "waxes", exposing the white phosphorus inside, so that the white phosphorus will burn, and not only that, this wax will become very viscous after melting. It is a flame that will not be extinguished when the attached thing burns out. This kind of viscous auxiliary material helps the white phosphorus not to be easily bounced or brushed off, but fixed in one place to burn continuously.

If white phosphorus falls on the skin, it can burn until it reaches the bone.

Manit almost gave up resisting. The pain of suffocation is something that no one can imagine, but at this moment, her throat suddenly loosened, and she fell to the ground. Even if her eyes were black, she could still feel a burning sensation. bright light.

The high-backed chairs were placed in the ear room on one side of the altar, which should be used for those distinguished guests to sit. The hard oak wood unexpectedly withstood the first wave of white phosphorous, and the saint Mordara on the relief twisted painfully. Moving his body and making piercing screams, Manit pressed the last handful of aconite into his mouth and swallowed it, and crawled behind the altar on all hands and feet. Because there was no ceremony, the marble altar was empty and there was no incense boat. There is also no white linen, but it has become the safest place.

She looked out from behind the altar, and saw the black wizard who was always hiding in the crowd, but the most insidious shot, his face was "flowing" horribly, and Manit heard someone shouting "Bosch! ’ And he just waved his hand and the voice disappeared.

"Transform!" Bosch screamed when he realized that he couldn't pass through the flames: "Transform! Rush out!"

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PS: For some descriptions in the book about industry, war techniques and weapons:

Because this chapter writes about shotgun, I will spread it here.

At the end of the 16th century, standard shotguns made of small metal projectiles or metal fragments in the barrel appeared in Europe. The material of the barrel was tin cans or thin iron sheets. The shotgun, and then ignite the primer, and the metal-skinned shotgun disintegrates after a short distance out of the barrel, and the metal projectiles disperse into raindrops and bombard the target, which is used to kill groups of people and horses exposed on the ground. Because the shotgun spreads out after exiting the muzzle, the effective range is relatively short.

With the help of wizards here, Louis managed to add white phosphorous to the shotguns, which enhanced the power of the shotguns, while ordinary stone bullets and iron bullets can be effective against city walls and dense formations (they will still be damaged when they hit the ground). Constantly jumping, especially for the cavalry formation, it is very lethal). But for wizards, it is only possible to use it in this special situation-needing the cooperation of some other wizards, compressing their scope of activities to a small point, or luring them to gather together.

What Louis is testing here is whether the weapons of mortals have enough lethality against wizards, and the final hole card is the wizards of Gayola Island.

After that, we talk about revolvers and steam-powered ships.

Of course, in people's minds, the revolver is the first revolver in the modern sense invented by American Mussel Colt in 1836, but the prototype of the revolver first appeared in China, but It should be said that in a real sense, the single-barreled multi-chamber revolver appeared at the end of the sixteenth century, and first appeared in 1597, and it was fired with flint instead of a matchlock. However, this kind of pistol is not easy to make and the price is high. , so it has not been popularized on a large scale, and is generally customized by nobles, and in this article, this kind of revolver has not been popularized in the army, but is just a gift from the king to his close attendants and ministers—so Shouldn't be a problem. Judging from the pictures I found, it is not much different from the later revolver.

Finally, let’s talk about steam-driven ships. Similarly, the most well-known thing is that Watt improved the first practical steam engine in 1776. As for the use of steam engines on ships, it was in 1802 that Fulton (French) built the first steam engine ship, but the concept of steam engine was expressed by ancient Greek scholars in the form of "steam floating ball" as early as the first century AD, and later temple gates also used this Conceptually, Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance also envisioned steam-powered cannons. It was not until 1679 that the French physicist Denis Pabon invented the working model of the first steam engine, which was the first time that the idea of ​​steam power technology was put into practice. In 1695, British engineer Seville created several steam pumps for pumping water. This is the first time steam technology has been used in production. Afterwards, Newcomen and others continued to develop the steam engine, and finally produced the first steam engine that could be used as power in 1705. This steam engine was called "Newcomen steam engine", and it was used as an engine that could drive water pumps. Drainage equipment for coal mining and mining.

So here Louis XIV just advanced the practical work of steam equipment by 20 or 30 years. With the help of wizards, the sealing and durability of steam-driven equipment can be guaranteed, so it is not impossible to appear steam engine ships in advance. Moreover, Up to now, those thirty Calais ships are still undergoing secret modification and experiments, and have not left the dock yet...