I Am Louis XIV

The French King Louis XIV and the Dauphin Louis and their entourage left Florence the day before the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, four days earlier than expected. This change came from several secret letters received by the king.

On the return journey, the crown prince Louis rode in a carriage with his father. It was about two hundred and thirty miles from Florence to Paris. The carriage traveled about fifty miles a day - of course, if the road was smooth, Changing horses at each inn and running day and night, the daily journey could be doubled or tripled - but Louis XIV seemed to have no intention of doing so. He stayed overnight at the inn. Opening the car curtains during the day and looking at the scenery outside can even feel a bit relaxing. This puzzled and comforted the young Louis, the crown prince, who knew a little about the contents of the secret message.

If my father didn't appear very anxious, then there shouldn't be any big problem...

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Let us advance the time slightly, to about the time when Louis XIV was entering Florence and before the wedding of the Duke of Colonna to the daughter of Cosimo III had taken place.

Although the air in Amsterdam is very humid because it is close to the sea, the temperature in August is quite comfortable. It is cool from morning to afternoon, and only a little cold at night - so the office of the Dutch Governor, Viscount Turenne, is full of people. In the evening, the fireplace was lit. The rising flames quickly dispersed the fog in the air and made the room dry. Viscount Turenne stretched his legs and feet comfortably. He was also a sixty-six-year-old man. He was on the battlefield. Having to sleep in the open air, joint problems are a pain for almost every general and soldier. Therefore, when remodeling the city hall, which will be the future residence and office of Viscount Turenne, the king specifically ordered that every large room needs to be Add sanitary facilities and fireplace.

However, no matter how good the fireplace is, it is still not as good as the plumbing room that Viscount Turenne tried in Nantes - there is a steam boiler room behind the apartment. After the steam drives the machinery to work, the residual hot water or other things, Anyway, Viscount Turenne didn't quite understand, so he sent it to each room through pipes pre-buried in the walls and floors, so that the room was always warm... It was only when the king's steam-driven iron-clad battleship sailed out of Biscay Before Taiwan, this technology could not be promoted on a large scale for the time being.

Regretful, Viscount Turenne couldn't help but feel refreshed. His body, which had been working hard all day, seemed to be filled with energy and became energetic. He shook the bell on the table: "Coffee!"

After a while, his personal servant brought him...a glass of milk. "Sir," said the servant who had been with him for more than thirty years, "Mr. Bontang does not allow us to serve you coffee in the evening." Tire Vicomte Nadez couldn't help but glare at him, saying that it was Louis XIV that the dignitaries looked up to and yearned for, and it was Louis XIV that their servants looked up to and yearned for... Mr. Bontang beside him, they eagerly recorded Bontang. Every word and deed of the gentleman strives to be closer to him, so that although many officials from other places fail to develop good habits of bathing and changing clothes for a while, their servants will help them develop it.

After all, in this era, the words of the hostess may not be as useful as the words of the male master's valet or butler.

This is the problem that Viscount Turenne is facing now. His old servant has obviously decided to stand with Mr. Bontang at all times. Regarding Mr. Bontang’s instructions, how did Viscount Turenne obey Louis XIV? , that’s how he obeyed Mr. Bontang, such as the fireplace, the coat, the milk, the sugar... etc., by the way, there are also the vegetables that Viscount Turenne hates the most - not to mention that adults are not picky. Viscount Turenne, like most nobles, believes that vegetables are only eaten by women, children, and even poor people. At a banquet, the protagonist is always meat, all kinds of meat, and vegetables are just decorations. And a lot of them are beans.

But since their king got a lot of vegetable seeds from nowhere and vigorously promoted them, the French became keen on eating vegetables, but Viscount Turenne still stubbornly refused. Apart from beans and potatoes, sweet potatoes As for other vegetables, these three are the only ones that can fit into his mouth because the first two will have a meaty taste after being stewed with meat, while sweet potatoes are sweet.

But he was sixty-six years old. Please reiterate, sixty-six years old. Louis XIV knew very well that the complex situation in the Netherlands would exhaust a strong young man, but he really could not find anyone better than Tiray. Viscount Turenne was a more suitable candidate, so he could only send Viscount Turenne to the Netherlands. However, at the same time, although Viscount Turenne had followed Prince Condé in the second Fronde rebellion and even became an enemy of the king, in After the Battle of the Old City, he was always loyal to the king, fought bravely, and had a keen eye. Even when facing Prince Condé, whom he had once loyal to, he did not hesitate at all during the Battle of Dunkirk. Only after returning to Paris , he indeed begged the king's brother and the queen mother for their love because of the previous relationship between Prince Kong Dai and him.

Therefore, Louis still values ​​him very highly, and Louis, who values ​​​​love, must love this older friend and courtier very much. To a certain extent, Mr. Bontang is indeed the king's mouthpiece. As soon as he shows his love for Turenne Due to the Viscount's respect, even though Viscount Turenne was hundreds of miles away in Amsterdam, no one dared to slander him in front of the king.

This kind of life makes Viscount Turenne happy. Although he sometimes dreams of returning to the battlefield, he also knows that this is the king's arrangement and the best arrangement for him. After he stabilized the situation in the three provinces of the Netherlands for the king, Later, or in other words, after France completely annexes the Netherlands, he can retire with a title of marquis or duke and return to the fief or a manor near Paris to recuperate. The king also promised that Versailles will always have In one of his rooms, he would be a little old man covered in glory.

For the second-grandson of a landless duke (his grandfather, the Duke of Sedan, had lost his territory and title because he was involved in a rebellion against Bishop Richelieu), could there be a better ending than this?

Apparently, some people think that there is.

When Viscount Turenne was picking up the cup and painfully drinking the milk without sugar or honey, his old servant suddenly let out a soft sigh and walked to the fireplace - for safety, there was a It is an iron fence, and the king requested that the iron fence be in the shape of a U, three inches higher than the mouth of the fireplace. It is movable and can be opened when it is necessary to add charcoal to light the fire. After adding the charcoal, it must be closed and fixed with a latch after the ignition is completed. - This is not because the king is making trouble, but because a terrible accident has happened before - because the skirts worn by the ladies in the palace, with their skirts and bustles, have become bigger and bigger, so big that at some point , they could not get into the carriage, go out or look back without the help of others. Sometimes, when they sat by the fireplace, their skirts would fall into the fire unknowingly, and then those beautiful ribbons, lace and satin... ...You can imagine how fast they burned, so fast that you couldn't take off your skirt before you were burned to death.

The victim of this accident was just a kitchen maid, but as soon as he heard about it, the king immediately issued an order. Within January, all the fireplaces in Versailles were equipped with such iron bars. Although it was not very pretty, it was It did give many people a sigh of relief - when the Queen Mother and the Queen insisted on plating these fences with gold and silver, the last objections disappeared.

The fireplace fence in Viscount Turenne's room is just an ordinary black iron fence. It has effectively prevented the dozing Viscount Turenne from extending his head or legs into the fireplace more than once. The top of the fence shows a beautiful golden lily. Flower pattern, what the old servant saw was a silver necklace hanging from the neck of the flower bud.

The pendant of the silver necklace was a horn. Viscount Turenne immediately sobered up when he saw it. He took the necklace and held the horn in his hand, "Take it out, old Barn, remember you didn't see anything. Don’t know anything.”

"Sir..." Barn has been with Viscount Turenne for more than thirty years. How could he not know that the horn is the heraldic symbol of the Orange family?

"Don't worry, I know what to do." Viscount Turenne said easily, even with a bit of amusement.

The old servant sighed, "You are already this age..." He shook his head, looked at the empty milk cup, put it back on the tray, and walked out.

Although he drank milk, for Viscount Turenne, catalyzed by the horn necklace, this cup of milk was almost like coffee. He held the pendant and fiddled with it several times with his nails, and the pendant opened with a snap. The pendant was as long as an adult man's middle finger and as wide as two to three fingers. It was enough to hold a small roll of paper. Viscount Turenne opened it and read it. The content above was indeed not beyond his expectation: "I am indeed old," he said to himself, "but there is someone who is still young."

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The next night, Viscount Turenne changed his clothes, put on his cloak, hat and mask, and went to the St. Nicholas Church in Amsterdam at the time and place written on the note.

St. Nicholas Church was originally a Catholic church built in the 13th century. However, in the 16th century, after the Dutch Protestant power surpassed the original Catholic power, it was converted into a Protestant church. The church was originally displayed in the niche. The statues were removed and the icons daubed, so that the whole church looked much plainer.

But from beginning to end, two things have not changed, and that is the wooden ceiling - the church dome made of shipbuilding wood and shipbuilding craftsmanship, looks like a capsized ship, weighing on everyone's heart; Some are the stone floors under people's feet - the dense writing shows that these rectangular stone bricks were originally tombstones. St. Nicholas Church stands on a cemetery. We have no way to trace what the original builders thought. , but this feeling of being silently watched by thousands of dead people does make people look forward to being freed from the heavy burden of life.

You should not continue to wear a hat and mask when entering the church. Viscount Turenne held the mask in his hand, put the hat under his elbow, and walked towards a person sitting in the rows of seats.

"Long time no see, William."

"Long time no see, Henry."

After greetings, the two cousins, who were very different in age, were silent. William III was only born in 50 years, and Viscount Turenne was born in 11 years. When William III was born, Viscount Turenne had already returned to France and became the Prince of Condé. After serving, they might have met on the battlefield, but William III's reckless actions caused him to be imprisoned by Charles II of England for a long time. He was released only after the dust settled. He got Utrecht, but this piece of The narrow land was not so much his domain as a buffer zone between British and French forces.

He had no army. In order to "help" his nephew govern Utrecht, Charles II was not ashamed to send a dozen British people to fill the court and government in Utrecht. William III was just a man who let them A puppet at the mercy of others. To make matters worse, the people of the Netherlands neither trusted nor respected the prince. First of all, William III disappeared without a trace when they resisted the invasion of the French and British. After the Netherlands was partitioned, he suddenly became a With the Prince of Utrecht, it is difficult not to think that he had taken refuge with King Charles II of England and betrayed the Netherlands.

William III had no way to defend this. Charles II would not publicly claim that he imprisoned the Dutch rulers. He would only say that he invited his nephew to live in the Tower of London for a period of time. Although everyone knew that the Tower of London was a prison, But the other unquestionable identity of the Tower of London is that of the palace of the Tudor royal family - and there is almost nothing to blame about it.

What's more, the British imposed levies in Utrecht, but the documents had the signature and seal of William III. Although some Dutch knew that this was not William III's original intention, they were still full of hatred for him.

Expelling the British one by one, bringing back the exiled and imprisoned loyal subordinates one by one, and then gathering the scattered people's hearts bit by bit, this is what William III has been doing in the past few years. Viscount Turenne has always seen the matter - based on the king's order and compassion for blood relatives, as long as William III does not directly threaten the rule of France, Viscount Turenne will not do anything.

Because once William III's rule was stabilized, it was Britain, not France, that would be most affected. He was originally the British agent in the Netherlands, just like Viscount Turenne was the agent of France, but just like his Like his ancestor Silent William, William III was obviously not willing to be just a rubber stamp. His actions in the Netherlands had seriously affected the authority of Charles II. All South Holland and Zeeland in the UK continued to set off one after another. The riots - it is difficult to say that this was the instruction of William III, but Utrecht, Zeeland and South Holland were the parts that Britain got in the partition of the Netherlands. No country would be tolerant of colonies and new territories. In Utrecht When the people of Lecht were no longer oppressed by excessive taxes, how could Zeeland and South Holland continue to endure the exploitation and oppression of the British?

In comparison, North Holland, Groningen and Friesland owned by France are much calmer. It's not that Louis XIV's taxes are not heavy, but that Louis XIV has formulated a stepped tax law from the beginning. To put it simply, although the taxes in the three provinces of North Holland are much heavier than those in France, they are subtly different from the previous taxes. As we mentioned before, this is because the previous taxes in the Netherlands included the naval ship manufacturing. With maintenance costs, after the Netherlands was conquered and the fleet ceased to exist, this tax could of course be waived - then every Dutchman could see that the tax they had to pay was not always so high, only ten In ten years, the tax will drop to one-half of the original amount, and in twenty years it will be one-quarter - that is, the tax that the French will have to pay. In other words, if the people who see the notice now are young people Middle-aged people, or even people who have just entered old age, can see themselves being treated equally with the French in their lifetime.

But there are many details for adjustment in the French tax code, and the penalties and rewards are equally huge. For example, if there is a riot in one place, then the nearby villages and towns within three days will be held accountable, and the main culprit is the lowest. The punishment is also exile - the French king does not need thugs and mobs! Accomplices and affected villages had to pay heavier taxes and bear additional expenses incurred by the French to quell the rebellion.

In contrast, if someone is willing to inform, or prevent, or even eliminate - such as a priest with a holy name does, then they can make a request to the King of France.

Even some good people who are noble in nature and have no desires will find it difficult to refuse this, because in an occupied area, the local people will inevitably suffer all kinds of sufferings, even if Louis XIV is not an extremely greedy person ——Some unavoidable tragedies will inevitably occur,

Riots cannot solve all problems, or in other words, they will only cause bigger problems, but making demands to the king is equivalent to having a direct channel of complaint to heaven. With such a person, as long as he keeps this No Frenchman, not even the Viscount Turenne, could stop him from speaking - so they had to restrain themselves.

After all, everyone knows that the Sun King has as many spies as there are birds in the wasteland and in the city.

Not to mention that the common people who are unwilling to resist are too ignorant and cowardly - they want to take back what has been taken away. Compared with the nobles and wealthy businessmen of the past, the ordinary people of the Netherlands under the rule of the French, let alone Living well in the past cannot be said to be worse than before. If you have shipbuilding and other excellent skills, it is not impossible to live better. There has always been only one voice in France, and that is the king. All the stereotypes and customs of the Netherlands before They are like dust in front of him. As long as ordinary people are willing to work hard, they can get enough money to support him and his family, and maybe add a piece of meat to the dinner plate and put it on the neck of his wife or daughter. Tie a delicate lace belt.

There are more than tens of thousands of such people, they are the real Netherlands. Although they will lament the ill-fated Orange family, the weight of their sighs will never be able to overwhelm their newly born youngest son, or their new born son. Old father's cane - they will never let themselves be easily involved in a riot.

Update completed.