I Am Louis XIV

The Palace of Versailles in later generations has another name, the Palace of the Sun, because it is not only the palace of the Sun King, but also because it shines with incomparable brilliance during the day and night—these rays of light come from the decorative lines on the walls, The gold and silver foil on the statue and the door and window frames, as well as the sunlight and candlelight refracted by the huge floor-to-ceiling glass-in order to ensure the splendor of this palace, the subsequent royal family and government have to pay a large sum of money every year to repair the wind and rain. Gold leaf and silver leaf damaged in the sun, this fee is almost never owed, except during the two world wars.

At that time, in order to defend the huge inheritance left by the Sun King to France, the royal family and the government did not hesitate to do anything. In order to ensure the military expenditure that seemed to have no end, the repair and maintenance of the Palace of Versailles also stagnated for several months. One day, a poet happened to pass by the Palace of Versailles and saw that this magnificent giant-like palace also showed some vicissitudes of life. In the morning newspaper, not many people noticed it at first, but from that day on, people living in Versailles found that people were coming to them one after another, bringing commonly used tools, equipment, paint and a small amount of gold leaf and silver. Foil, who hadn't been hired by anyone to restore the giant to its original splendor.

There are more and more people like this, and reporters have come. After their propaganda, the French, who can only live on potatoes and corn, took out the last bit of gold and silver-the fork with the coat of arms, the girl's Hairpins, bases and handles of ceramic jugs, even wedding rings, false teeth in the mouth of the elderly...these have all been turned into giants' clothes, and no one knows whether these efforts will be turned into a pile of bricks tomorrow Debris—the bombing of Paris wasn't over then.

It was only later that people learned that the enemy's general had indeed received an order to bomb the Palace of Versailles - the Palace of Versailles was no longer a simple building or a work of art at that time, it could even be said to be the spiritual sustenance of France and the Allied Army, and the Palace of Versailles shined One day, the Sun King seemed to be able to protect his people for one day, but the general refused this order resolutely, saying that he did not want to be the sinner of the entire human race, and the order was quickly transferred to another general. In his hand, although the general surrendered, the bomber crews sent suddenly became dull. The bombs they dropped either destroyed the farmland or broke the water canal. Anyway, the Palace of Versailles stood safe and sound until the end of the war. However, the French government only needs to repair and dredge the artificial canal before it can reopen to the outside world.

Surprisingly, although the French government was the victor, they not only awarded the "Louis Monument" to those who had contributed to the restoration of the Palace of Versailles (whether it was free work or donations of gold and silver), or to future generations. Fourteen Medals of Courage" (this is specially set by the Sun King to inspire those non-combatants who do not directly participate in the war, such as armaments, logistics, and transportation, but have a great relationship with the success or failure of the battle), declaring that they and their descendants can always In addition to free visits to the Sun Palace, the same preferential treatment is also given to those soldiers who can be found out, although they have accepted the order to bomb the Palace of Versailles but have not carried out it.

Although this also caused a little criticism-but the general public, especially the French, still think that this kind of move by their royal family and government has not fallen into the reputation of the Sun King. The enemy, sent to be a king.

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Of course, Louis at this time did not know that his descendants and the government would be able to do such a miracle three hundred years later, and they gave him the first cauldron without hesitation. He was only satisfied and excited now.

Mr. Le Vau, the original architectural designer of the Palace of Versailles, originally expected to expand the hunting lodge of Louis XIII into a U-shaped building, and then extend the wings to the left and right sides. This idea is not incorrect, but it cannot Satisfying the appetite of Louis XIV, his original idea was that this new palace was to replace the original political and economic status of Paris. Louis XIII's hunting palace may be very meaningful, but even if its small size is ignored ( Relatively speaking), its location also caused people to suffer a lot of constraints if they wanted to expand the Versailles area with the New Palace as the center in the future, so the king pointed out another wider place—there was It was still swamps and dense forests. After several years of burning the trees and draining the swamps, a huge open space was finally leveled.

The soil excavated from the canal project carried out at the same time was transported here and compacted to form a high platform. The height of this man-made hill is about 300 feet. There is a platform for resting and looking at the distant scenery, and it is enough for people who are not active enough to breathe out of breath. Therefore, there are winding ramps on both sides of the steps. There are still very few people who have obtained this privilege, and Prince Conte is one of them, as well as Philip, Duke of Orleans. In fact, Philip, like Prince Condé, can walk up with his own feet—they are all soldiers after all, but The Duke of Orleans has always been the most hated guy in Paris. Unlike the Prince of Conti who quietly admits his lack of physical strength and sits on his shoulders to enjoy the wonderful scenery, the big hat of the Duke of Orleans is simply amazing. As eye-catching as a banner, when he saw His Majesty the King standing on the balcony, he waved his hat desperately at his brother...

The queen mother sighed: "You should ask the Duke of Orleans to calm down," she said tactfully: "After all, this is a formal occasion."

"I think it's very good for Philip," Louis said, "Mother, all I have done is to hope that you will have no scruples." He glanced at Philip who had jumped off his shoulders and happily ran towards him : "Although this is just the beginning."

Louis only thought it was the beginning, but for many, he was already standing in the hands of the goddess of victory, the king at the center of the Palace of Versailles, the intersection of the crosses, which was once used to celebrate the Grand Palace of Flanders. The Hall of Victory receives the kings, dukes or envoys of various countries-this hall has been ordered to be the Hall of the Goddess of Victory. Dressed in fine clothes, wearing a crown, and holding a scepter, when he called himself the Sun King, many people secretly laughed at him, but now, who doesn't think that this title complements the king?

The first person to come forward was of course one of France's most powerful allies, King Karl XI of Sweden. The Dauphin, as described long ago—and if King Charles II of England was here, too.

The king of France is qualified for this. As early as 996, the French king Robert the Pious had achieved an equal status with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; when Henry V asked "Fatty" Louis to surrender, the fat man The king immediately rallied tens of thousands of soldiers at Saint-Denis, and directly scared Henry V away. His short reply of "Bah, German" has been handed down to this day; After the coalition between the Roman Empire and England, it was confirmed by Pope Innocent III at the time that "the King of France does not recognize any secular authority higher than him"; Needless to say, the outstanding feats of the handsome man Philip IV; Louis IX, also It is St. Louis, who publicly said that the French king who ruled France because of the royal blood is better than any emperor elected (because the Capetian dynasty has been passed down for eleven generations); the jurisprudence of the fourteenth century Jia wrote in legal documents that "the king is the emperor in his own territory."

Of course, all of the above can only have a real deterrent effect when France's national power and military strength are superior. After Karl XI bowed his head and kissed Louis' hand, he stepped aside to serve as the next king of Denmark, Frederick. King Ke IV gave up his seat, and he also respectfully kissed the king's hand, followed by the Portuguese regent Pedro II, who was born in 48 years and had a good appearance, but everyone who saw him had a different expression Subtle changes... because his mother-in-law is the granddaughter of Henry XIV and his lover, and the wife of the current King of Portugal, Alfonso VI. To put it simply, Pedro II not only seized the power of his elder brother , and took his wife as his own—and in a sense, Louis XIV was the queen of Portugal's... uncle.

Although there are not a few kings who married their sister-in-law, the most famous one is King Henry VIII of England, but such a scene is still a bit embarrassing-the three kings (although Pedro II is still the regent, But we all know when he will become king depends entirely on his own mind) After that is the Duke and the Elector, the emissary of England is the Duke of York, he is pale, it seems that he has not recovered from the grief and anger of being deceived and played by his brother Come here, after saluting, his eyes unconsciously fell on the Duke of Orleans beside the king. For a moment, he secretly cursed in his heart that the two brothers would also have an irreparable rift because of the wall in the future.

The Duke of York was followed by the Archbishops of Münster and Cologne, who were also a religious prince from Rome. He was very annoyed that the Duke of Orleans had placed him after the Archbishop of Cologne and even the Bishop of Munster, but he had no choice. Before the start of the war, it was France who asked the Church of Rome, and the bribes from Louis XIV were extremely generous. Even so, the Church of Rome was obedient, and kept urging Louis XIV to fulfill his promise as soon as possible—that is, Persuading Charles II to restore the Catholic faith, while flirting with Leopold I—before Amsterdam was captured, the bishops of Rome agreed that the French king would fall into the quagmire of the Netherlands because of his greed, and wanted to take advantage of it. In addition to Leopold I, those who robbed were also this group of always sanctimonious bastards. They can be said to be full of hatred for France. In the past, they might have threatened them with the world, but since this king who has no taboos Having bought off the priests, vampires, werewolves, and wizards of the Tribunal, they ran out of cards to play.

The cardinal backed away, and the person who stepped forward was Jan Sobieski. People are still a little unfamiliar with this name, because he is just a great nobleman in Poland. The grandfather of the mother of this great nobleman was the eldest son of the Polish royal family. Commander, he inherited the blood of the matrilineal line. He has military talent and courage beyond ordinary people. He has a great deal of respect for the two kings of Poland, whether it is the former king John II who has abdicated to the monastery, Kazimierz, There is also the newly elected Michal Krebt Wisniowitzki, who is not in the eye, and is working tirelessly to make himself the king of Poland, and his wife is a Frenchman , he has thus been enlisting the support of Louis XIV.

Envoys from Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg and other countries followed immediately. They tried their best to put on a calm posture, but everyone knew that they must be extremely frustrated—especially Carlos II. However, on this occasion, no one dared to speak out—compared with them, the Russian envoy was quite relaxed. He was entrusted by the Romanov Tsar to investigate this prosperous land. Relations between the country and its rulers - especially since Sweden has been allied with France - are not very good between Russia and Sweden.

In addition to these people, there is another unexpected guest, that is, the envoy of the Ottoman Turkish sultan. If Louis XIV and France are like the rising sun, then Ottoman Turkey is like the setting sun. Although the color is dim, it still has a huge body. , It’s frightening, their sultan was at war with Poland not long ago, so Jan Sobieski glared at him, and he couldn’t help but feel a lot of worry in his heart—after all, the alliance between France and Ottoman Turkey can be traced back to By the time of Francis I...

The last one who was allowed to step forward was the Swiss Confederation Ambassador. Switzerland has always had a long-term employment relationship with France. Swiss are not uncommon in the French army, but after Louis XIV came to power, the king encouraged the French to protect their own The country does not employ foreigners, so the proportion of Swiss in the French army has been greatly reduced. The Swiss parliament suspects that this is a sign of France's intention to separate from Switzerland, or even aggression, and it will stand against France in the previous war— —their bet was undoubtedly in the wrong place.

What is even more ironic is that when the emissary from Basel was signaled to retreat, he still had the courage to ask: "Your Majesty, the glorious Sun King," he said: "There is Dutch envoys are waiting for your call."

Louis XIV, who had already half turned around, paused for a moment, then turned around, with an unfathomable smile, and tapped the ground with his cane casually. After the crisp sound, there was silence In the Hall of the Goddess of Victory, people can only hear the voice of Louis XIV, "Holland?" He said softly: "What Netherlands?"

Afterwards, no one dared to make a single sound, and everyone bowed or knelt deeply, respectfully sending this powerful ruler out of the hall.