I Am Louis XIV

Molière's Glorious Theater Troupe failed to find any possible flaws, and they were finally let go. After all, they accepted the invitation and employment of Charles II. They rented a house on a street near Whitehall Palace. A large house, the brightly clad, rosy-cheeked Frenchmen stand out like a bright flower in the gray earth--though Charles II outlawed all Oliver Cromwell's According to the decree, the British can now hold banquets, dance, sing, and watch plays, but Londoners, who mainly believe in Protestantism, still habitually wear dark clothes. Once Molière and his little lover walk on the street, They will be watched frequently.

Molière is not a young man anymore, he was born in 22 years, and he is 48 years old this year, but when he wears a black wig, apricot velvet clothes, and puts white powder and rouge on his face, he still looks the same. In good spirits and full of air, he and his troupe had the honor to enter the Whitehall Palace the next day to perform a new play for the king - "Don Juan". Of course, Don Juan here does not refer to the current Spanish regent King, but based on a Spanish legend "The Playboy of Cervella", this play greatly mocked the church and the nobles, so when it premiered in Paris, it attracted a lot of complaints, but Molière had some The Duchess of Montpensier, as an asylum, would not even take a provincial governor or earl into his eyes, and naturally he would not care about those gossips—in London, the mood of Protestants is much more complicated Now, although they have always thought that Rome is a filthy swamp, they still feel a little uneasy when someone puts it naked in front of them.

In the whole hall, only Charles II laughed unscrupulously. He really liked the show so much that he even allowed an actor, Molière, the owner of the Guangyao Theater Troupe, to talk to him.

As soon as he entered the comfortable and secret small hall, Molière bowed deeply to Charles II, and then quickly took off the necklace around his neck—he was playing Don Juan just now, and now he is in costume. He was still wearing it well, and Don Juan was a frivolous nobleman, so his clothes and accessories even surpassed those of the ladies, and the gold necklace that Molière hung around his neck was not only big and heavy, but also Inlaid with palm-sized rubies, "This is what our Majesty ordered me to bring to you."

Henrietta had returned to Paris a week ago. This was the answer Louis gave to Charles II. Charles II raised the necklace suspiciously, only to find that it was not as people thought, it was faked by stained glass and gilded iron chains. fakes, but real gold and precious stones, "and the diamond ornaments worn by the three beautiful ladies." Moliere said: "A total of about half a million livres, our majesty hopes that they will Let me relieve your worries a little."

Charles II was almost convinced that the absurd rumor was true, that is, Leopold I's emissary foolishly regarded a troupe as the Sultan of Bosnia, and now, this person was in front of him, and he actually He was so bold that he put jewelry worth half a million livres on himself and the actors, entered the palace in full view, and came in front of him—but there was no doubt that this was the best, Charles II said that bills and checks are of course more secretive, but the problem is that although these things appeared very early, in the 17th century, it was the Dutch who used these methods the most. The problem of currency, so that the largest and most liquid financial market system was born in the Netherlands. Although the use of bills is secret, if you are a little careless, it will be regarded as evidence of his treason and pro-law.

It is even more impossible to bring gold and silver worth half a million livres, and it is almost impossible for him to meet alone with the French envoy, so that a neglected and despised actor can calmly Hand over the return from the King of France to Charles II without hesitation-Charles II also has credible people here, who can quickly disassemble these beautiful jewels and sell them-although Louis promised that as long as the British When the war between France and the Netherlands broke out, if he controlled the Dutch navy, he would send 15,000 soldiers from Dunkirk to remove the noose around Charles II's neck, but Charles II would not All chips were placed on the king of France, even without Henrietta's reminder.

This tangible bribe would be used by Charles II where it was most needed.

No one knows about the deal between Charles II and Molière. Although it is also due to wizards, it can also be said that Charles II's ministers and parliaments also despise their king, but there are monsters like Louis XIV. , Charles II's heart has long been twisted to a terrible point. He admits that he is cowardly, but he will also desperately put all his eggs in one basket.

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The army of Louis XIV who stayed in Flanders spent the whole winter and one spring in Flanders, and during these long months they were not idle, although Duke Philippe, Condé The prince and the king returned to Paris together, but the Viscount Turenne and the Duke of Luxembourg were asked to stay in Flanders—the supply of tens of thousands of people has been transferred from France to the people of Flanders, which is of course extremely heavy As a result, several turmoil broke out in Flanders, but for the soldiers who had gone through the war, these sporadic and chaotic resistance only made their blades brighter and sharper.

In addition to the supplies of the army, the Flanders were also forced to build a new road, which is like a tragic wound, directly passing through most of Flanders from Brussels, and connecting with Guise in Picardy , so that the army of the French could drive directly into Flanders, and so it was, before the wind had time to heat up, and Louis XIV's splendid caravan once again appeared on this road.

This new road has not only the king's convoy, but also 30,000 soldiers, followed by military merchants. This time is different from the king's first personal expedition. The ministers, officials and lords can be said to be They went on and on and couldn't wait to offer a large sum of money, begging the king to accept it, and the conscription officials barely took any effort to collect the amount requested by the king. When they left Paris, many young people came from other provinces— —As the saying goes, the prosperity of the world is all for profit. Although Louis XIV did establish a solid throne of kingship through the war against Flanders, these people still wanted the benefits brought by the war.

I won’t say how much livre the king got in Flanders. In the era when there was no law of war, soldiers’ looting was allowed, even if most of the soldiers stayed in Flanders, but those The wounded soldiers still returned to Vers and Paris ahead of schedule, not to mention how rich Flanders is - just think about it, in the past hundred years or so, 30% of the total income of the Spanish royal family One of them hails from Flanders, just know what a land of milk and honey it is, and a few lucky loot can make a family jump a class in an instant—that is, they manage to buy a The position, whether in the church or in the official residence, was transformed from a commoner family to a bureaucratic family.

How can such huge profits not make people excited? Moreover, the ministers and nobles looked farther. At the end of the seventeenth century, Flanders not only became the woolen workshop of the whole of Europe, but also gradually replaced the French champagne fair based on woolen fabrics, becoming a A huge center of commerce and logistics, in Flanders, with gold, silk, spices and wine, and any commodity you can imagine and imagine, and when Spain became weak, their merchants Also relying on its own means, let this region grow slowly, instead of continuing to let Spain suck blood. It can be said that if Louis XIV hadn't intervened, perhaps a few decades later, the stronger Flanders would also Following the example of the Netherlands, it is possible to declare independence.

But now Flandre is nothing more than Louis' pocket, the unformed military system is vulnerable to artillery, and a plump prey will only make the hunter happier, not depressed, Parisians , or any Frenchman with a keen sense of smell, would expect to take a bite out of this cake—the money and manpower they contributed was quickly invested by Louis into a new military torrent, nearly 100,000 The army, like an arrow, pointed straight to the Netherlands.

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William III, this young man who bears the expectations of his family and the country, is only twenty years old this year. He sits silently in the city hall of Amsterdam, listening to people's disputes—even if the enemy is in front of him, the senior officials of the provinces, Officials—from the youngest clerk to the prime minister, still have their own ideas. The Dutch have only been independent from the Spanish Habsburg family for sixty years, and of course they don’t want to return to the rule of a king— —William III suffered all kinds of embarrassment and suspicion because of this reason. After all, the Netherlands was able to compete with Britain for maritime supremacy in just a few decades. The navy in hand, the Dutch army is simply a poor thing - in Morris of Nassau, that is, William Orange, the younger brother of William I built an army of about 20,000 in order to resist Spanish rule Later, the land blades of the Netherlands were also sharp for a while, but with the retreat of the Spaniards, the merchants of course needed ships instead of iron cavalry to open up and fight for waterways for them. The army was shrinking day by day, and when William III took over the banner of commander , the Dutch army is not too many, or ironically 20,000 people.

The point is that the war seventy years later is completely different from the war seventy years ago. Compared with the Dutch army with spearmen, the French army, which is almost entirely dominated by thermal weapons, is not only far superior to theirs Tactics and armaments, there are crushing numbers, and they also have the Viscount Turenne, if you have not forgotten, the Viscount Turenne is the favorite student of Maurice of Nassau, the founder of the Dutch army, He learned more from his uncle than a whole military school. He also knew the advantages and disadvantages of the Dutch army. It can be said that the Dutch army confronted the French head-on. There is almost no other possibility.

And these high-ranking officials have different ideas. Some want to bribe the French king, or his trusted ministers and nobles, in order to expect Louis XIV to change his original plan; Some people think that they should negotiate a peace with Britain as soon as possible, so that the Dutch navy can be transferred back, and the threat of Dunkirk and Calais may be able to force France to retreat.

But among these people, William III's opinions are the weakest, and they are also the least concerned by these people. The prime minister's vigilant eyes made William III feel deeply distressed, and he walked out of the meeting room—anyway, no one noticed. He, he walked all the way to the side of the chamber, from here you can see the blue ocean, the milky white sky, and the wings of seabirds break through the clouds like daggers.

"I still don't agree with your previous idea."

William III looked down, and standing under the steps was his only friend Samuel. Samuel was an Englishman, but he taught William III French. After William III's mother passed away, the parliament had to send his guardian When the power was handed over to his grandmother, the British around him were all driven away, but Samuel had just sneaked from London to Amsterdam a few days ago. As Charles II's secret messenger, he told William III that Charles Charles II intends to return part of the debt owed by the Stuart family to the Orange family, which is a large amount, worth about 400,000 livres. Perhaps his nephew could manage to recruit some of his own soldiers for the coming war.

William III was skeptical about this, and everyone knew that Charles II was financially stretched, but Charles II's proposal really moved his heart-"it is the queen's dowry." Samuel said.

Indeed, in the royal family of this era, dowry arrears has almost become a tradition. This is true for Philip IV of Spain and Joao IV of Portugal. The actual amount of Queen Catherine’s dowry is completely different from what Joao IV promised. In this case, it is also possible for Portugal to replenish part of it year by year, mainly because William III really needs a share of money that can be controlled in his hands.

So on the night of this day, a three-masted ship sailed from the port of Amsterdam, with William III and his two entourages on board, and they went for the debt owed by the Stuart family to the Orange family. , they arrived at Whitehall Palace early the next morning.

Then he was put under house arrest by Charles II.