I Am Louis XIV

No one knows exactly how much wealth Louis XIV took from the Netherlands and Flanders in the end. People only know that Colbert, the king's most trusted finance minister, stayed in Amsterdam for 30 days before finally being able to escape and return. Paris, and his department officials stayed until the Viscount Turenne re-entered Amsterdam to assist him in completing the work before he was able to leave-it may have taken more than a year.

Ironically, there were even Dutch caravans among them, and while they were still at sea, Holland ceased to exist, and they were caught between a rock and a hard place - but had to go back to Amsterdam or The Hague, Genty Viscount Rainer was surprised that there were even two large ships full of spices. The value of the goods was about 200,000 livres. If they arrived in Amsterdam a few months in advance, or Prime Minister Witte, or William The third is still in Amsterdam, and France may really have to return empty-handed this time. After all, 200,000 livres are placed in the hands of a decisive king. Threat and oppression to the French army.

But this is all later. At this time, Louis XIV was still on his way back to Paris. After the Battle of Amsterdam, the Duke of Orleans was asked by the king to return to Blois first. It wasn’t that the king had something for his younger brother. Suspicion, but he has been worried about the smallpox vaccine research and development of his doctors and medical researchers in the letters he received before-he can't feel at ease if he doesn't see it with his own eyes, but as a king, It is not an exaggeration to say that if this incident happened a hundred years ago, it would be very important. Possibly hailed as a holy site.

The Duke of Orleans returned to his brother with good news. Because the medical school is located in Blois, it is very likely that he will be in charge of it. The young Duke can be said to be in high spirits— ——He said to his brother, "What a huge income this will be." Not to mention, there are no fewer kings who died of smallpox, just like William II, the father of William III. It is said that he died of childhood smallpox, and every time smallpox broke out, he would take away hundreds to tens of thousands The unequal population, although not as desperate as the Black Death, is also as terrifying as a devil.

Especially in the whole of Europa, only Blois has the prescription to treat smallpox—to be precise, the vaccine, they used human and cow pox as the vaccine, and it was successful—that is, the people in those three villages, since then, probably It will take many years, or even half a lifetime, to be unable to get out of the Blois Valley, just like those artisans who were detained by the Venetians on the island in order to guarantee the secrets of mirror manufacturing, but they have nothing to pity, they can be in their own It is much more comfortable to spend the next years without worrying about food and clothing in the homeland than farmers or craftsmen who have to work hard all day for their stomachs.

Those thugs who dared to attack the king's physician did not have this kind of preferential treatment. They are now in the underground prison of the Castle of Blois, and what awaits them is endless experiments. This kind of behavior is not uncommon at this time, let alone In Blois, even in Paris, medical students practiced mostly with criminals, some alive and some dead.

The Duke of Orleans may have been away from His Majesty the King for too long. From the time the King saw him, to eating together, to going to bed, the King’s ears were almost filled with his voice, until Louis told him bluntly that he needed a In the quiet sleeping environment, he stopped reluctantly—"Where is my nephew?" He asked.

"In Paris," said Louis.

"I mean the Duke of Colonna," said the Duke of Orléans.

"I asked him to go back to Gajola Island." Louis took the robe handed over by the Duke, "This time the wizards of Gayola Island did not do badly in the war against Flanders and the Netherlands. I let him Go back with my reward—the other thing is to let him select some wizards from Gayola and Calais, they will work in the new provinces of France, and they need to be carefully reviewed and selected after recruitment."

"You want them to replace the wizards of Flanders and Holland?"

"I can't give those dark wizards a chance to make a comeback." Louis said: "Flanders, Holland, no matter what they look like, I hope they belong to me, and only to me."

"Little Lucy is only twelve years old this year." The Duke of Orleans said: "Shouldn't you let Mary do this?"

"Little Lucy still has a lot to do after that," Louis said. , Louis has a way to cover up or suppress it, but in France, let alone others, even Louis may not be able to tolerate it.

"Will he attend the Triumph?"

"Probably," Louis said, "by the way, there's one thing I think you already know. Philip, you're going to have a new nephew or niece."

"I don't know if I should be happy about it," Philip said. "I don't agree."

"If you have to say it, Philip, I owe Madame La Vallière something."

"She doesn't believe you." Philip said unhappily. The king had in fact promised to place her group in Vincennes, but Madame La Vallière always felt that she had too few chips in her hand-he thought so.

"Think about it from her standpoint," Louis persuaded, "Philip, after all, they are werewolves and creatures of darkness. Once I, or my heirs, change their minds, they will face disaster, and , if it comes to taking advantage, it's me, not her, who is the one who caused it, and I haven't given her love, so how can I demand that she love me?"

"She said so, and probably thought so."

"Otherwise," Louis said, "not everyone can accept Chilulu's deal. With a high-sounding name, she doesn't have to suffer so much."

Philip shook his head with pity in his eyes, of course it wasn't for his brother, he was annoyed at Madame La Vallière's overreaching, but now he was going to pity her again, the king didn't seem to think she had any real love for him , I just don't want to believe the promise he made before, but a child who is connected by blood can always change many things.

But Philip knew that this maid who had been hiding behind Princess Henrietta was indeed holding a sincere heart—Princess Henrietta was his wife now, but she also almost became Louis' queen, so Louis Ruth could have hidden it from anyone, but never from Henrietta—women are always very sensitive about their romantic enemies.

———————

Madame Lavallière, who was talked about by the two most noble brothers in France, was leaning against the window at this moment—this is Amiens, a large city on the banks of the Somme River, where the king and his party stayed in the castle. The castle was built in the 13th century. It is majestic and tall, and the courtyard is covered with green grass. Knowing that Mrs. Lavallière accompanied the king, the dignitaries here not only presented many precious gifts, but also presented the most precious gifts to the Amiens. My favorite puppet theater troupe wants to win the smile of this noble lady, but how can Mrs. La Vallière care about watching a puppet show now?

Looking at the window less than ten feet from the ground, Mrs. La Vallière even jumped out of the window and fled into the vast night...

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Mrs. La Vallière was startled, and turned her head suddenly. It was Valo Vesalius who came, "I advise you not to do this," Vesalius said, "Of course we are sent by the king, but you If you insist on going your own way," he pointed out the window, "guess, if you really walk out of here, the king will regret it and want to restore your trust, or will he break the contract with the Serbian werewolf?"

"He won't," said Madame Lavallière weakly. "He loves children so much."

"As long as you get out of here, no matter if you give birth to a human or a werewolf, he will not recognize him. An illegitimate child not recognized by the king, madam, his fate will not be any better than that of your clansmen." He paused: "Madame, you are lucky, you are not a person who has suffered." He raised a hand and interrupted Madame La Vallière's retort: ​​"When you were with your father, Your father has status among human beings - he is an officer, after you become Princess Henrietta's maid, you can still live comfortably, not to mention, the king promised you to become his lover, Madam of the first royal family, you may have suffered some torture, but you have not lived a truly miserable life like those inferior people."

"But I have," Vesalius went on. "I have, ma'am, I was as naive as you, thinking that with my own talents, I could take on the life of myself and even my wife and daughter. You may not know that when I first met the king, I didn't even take this mortal To put it in perspective, although I was so embarrassed at that time that I wanted to borrow money from my student, Miss Mancini. No, it should not be called a loan, it should be said to be begging, but I didn’t realize it at the time, but hunger, Cold and sickness are not the most frightening thing. Do you know what is the most frightening thing about being a powerless person? That is, you will never be able to control your own destiny. When you endure, when you are silent, when you When you suppress your anger in your bosom, you think you can live peacefully—even if it is extremely cold, but as long as those people, those powerful people change their minds, you will lose what you take for granted everything."

"Are you talking about yourself?"

"I'm talking about the lesson I've learned. There's no law or morality that people must obey. Ma'am, when bad luck comes, you will find yourself so weak and incompetent-the king has been very kind to you, But that doesn't mean he can't be cruel to you, and you don't want to lose the kid - if he's unlucky enough to be a werewolf, but do you think about it? You know that once you lose the king's protection, werewolves are in the watch world and are servants of the devil, the Inquisition A priest, a human soldier, or even a foolish serf would pick up a hoe and drive him away, and in the other world, think of your father."

"Then you are persuading me to watch him die?"

"If he is indeed a werewolf, I am indeed persuading you to let him die."

"You are a father too!"

"Because I am a father." Vesalius said unwaveringly: "I used to hate my wife, my daughter. I abandoned everything for them, but in exchange for their ruthless betrayal, but then..."

"later?"

"Later I understood, ma'am, that even if I dug out my heart, a promise without strength to back it up would only be a disappointment. Wizards, mortals, werewolves...everything like that, I let them be tortured by hopelessness, I couldn't Deny the pain they give me."

"But it's not your fault."

"It was my fault," Vesalius said. "I could have avoided, at least the suffering they suffered later, and I should have realized when the Mancini family decided to end my marriage to my wife that even though I gave A dose of poison for them is better than taking them out of the inner world and drifting blindly in a completely strange and dangerous outside world—of course." He smiled: "This is also a selfish way. In fact, because I don't want to lose them, the behavior of the Mancini family is humiliating and whipping to me, but to them... it shouldn't be too bad, just another marriage contract."

"Didn't you ever think about taking them back?"

"My other identity is hidden," Vesalius said: "The daughter of the imperial physician and the daughter of the duke are two completely different concepts in the court. I hope to get my daughter back, but I hope she Can be happy."

"You see," he continued, "you can take your child away, but you have to think about it. After ten years or even a few years, even if he can live because of your actions, he will definitely hate you. Yours, when he has no food, no clothes, treks in the jungle, sleeps out in the wilderness, eats worms and rats to keep him alive, has no name or identity, yet his half-brother can wear fur Clothes, calling for friends, followed by countless attendants, leading hounds, riding Arabian horses - when he raises his musket, he may be aiming at your child, and he will never know that he has a werewolf brother .”

Speaking of this, Vesalius sighed, "If you think our Majesty can't do it, you can continue to do it according to your wishes."