I Am Louis XIV

What would the king care about? In fact, before Louis XIV's charioteer left Paris, the dignitaries in Paris and Versailles had already bought the answer from Madame Montespan and then repurchased the answer. One or a few good prices - this is the tacit approval of the king. Greedy and unfaithful people can be found everywhere at any time, but if they know what the king cares about, they will do their best to complete part of the work even if it is just to whitewash the appearance. ...Otherwise, Louis couldn't hang them one by one on the gas lamppost.

It will take only twenty years to cultivate a group of officials with true professional ethics and love for the people. Louis thought in his heart, fortunately the recommender of the mayor of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was Colbert. Colbert may have many shortcomings, but he still had a lot of loyalty and understanding of the king. The person he recommended They are also some very interesting guys - the mayor of Saint-Germain-en-Laye can answer almost all the questions raised by the king: such as the popularization of primary education; the establishment of almshouses; the repair and maintenance of water and sewerage projects, etc., even if it is not He knew all the family treasures without stammering or gibbering, and he could even provide complete data and time. When the king asked to see the school and the workhouse with his own eyes, he did not shirk or embarrass himself, he was very straightforward. The ground agreed.

Although this approach was very untraditional and etiquette, no one present could change the king's mind. They turned a corner a few hundred feet away from the Palace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and headed towards the school and workhouse. He walked past the place in a mighty manner. Saint-Germain-en-Laye, like all cities, is invisibly divided into the upper town and the lower town. The upper town is the residences and apartments closest to the king's palace and monastery, and the lower town is the low shanties close to the city wall. At that time Because the buildings near the city wall were most vulnerable to attack and were likely to be demolished for fortifications and throwing objects when defending the city, only the poor would live there.

Even though stone bombs are almost no longer used in sieges and defenses, Xiacheng District is still not a place where noble people would set foot. The school is better. It was expanded from a small chapel, because it is a newly built Even though it looks very rough (almost without any decoration), it still looks neat and beautiful because of its glass windows and chalk coating. The people studying inside are all the children of the lower-class residents - stewards, Servants, millers, goldsmiths, etc., they are richer than the real poor, but it is not so easy to get their children to study, especially girls, because boys can be sent to monasteries. Girls received education from priests, but only girls from noble families could study in convents.

Now these children have the opportunity to learn. They were driven out in groups. When they saluted the nobles uneasily and shyly under the command of the teacher, their movements were not too clumsy. Louis paid attention to their clothes. Unlike the adult men and women who crowded on both sides of the street and shouted long live for him, most of whom were dressed in bright satins and velvets, the children almost all wore uniform gray linen jackets, trousers or skirts, and some boys also Like the girls, they wear aprons around their waists, obviously to prevent them from being too naughty and getting their clothes worn and dirty. But looking at their faces, even if they are not as beautiful as roses, they are at least round and red. Their shoes also fit well, and their hair is neat enough - but this is thanks to the fact that the teachers are vomiting into the palms of their hands. Then smear the spit on the children's heads.

"How many students are there?" Louis asked.

"Three hundred and fifty boys and one hundred and twenty girls," the mayor replied respectfully.

Louis gently asked some questions to several older children. These older children were about to graduate from school. They could complete addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within 10,000, they could copy and read simple articles, and they could also sing hymns. It was no exaggeration. It is said that these are enough for them to get rid of simple and repetitive manual labor and engage in some easier jobs than their parents - and two or three of the most outstanding children have been recommended by teachers to bishops, judges or lawyers. Able to receive further education at a university in Paris or a similar city.

As these teachers expected, the king encouraged them with full appreciation, not only spiritually, but also realistically gave each of them a gold louis reward. I won't say how surprised and happy these children were. Their teacher almost fainted with excitement.

According to the king's instructions, almost all schools were built using aqueducts or water wells, and were equipped with complete sanitation facilities so that children could develop a good habit of cleanliness from an early age. This aqueduct extends from the school to the lower city. The condition of the lower city is certainly not as good as that of the upper city where the king's team passed before. Some of the walls here are covered with wooden boards and the ground is not smooth enough. The mayor said angrily because there are always people stealing cement blocks. This statement makes It sounds unbelievable to people now, who would want a cement block? But in fact, in this era, people in the shacks did not have the money to lay wooden floors or marble tiles. When they saw that the cement roads were so good, they took the idea to break them up, dig them back and lay them on their own In the house.

"But by next year, or the third year, we will have enough funds to complete the renovation of the lower city." The mayor said.

Louis didn’t think he was lying, because Saint-Germain-en-Laye was once the place where the king stayed for several years. Just like Paris and Versailles became more glorious because of Louis XIV, many people came to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Come visit the former residence of the great Sun King. Although the palace cannot be entered, they can also taste the delicacies "praised" by the king, visit the tailor shop where the king "customized" clothes, and the royal wife who was specially designed for the king. The famous powder shop of the Duchess of Colonna, the blacksmith's shop where horseshoes were made for the king and his loyal musketeers, and some even claim that he once served the king on the road - he was a man who always carried two large logs. Bucket, a "serviceman" wearing a big shawl. One of the two wooden buckets contained clean water, and the other was for people to solve their personal problems. He said that he was lucky enough to see the king's buttocks... This was of course nonsense, but just Some people believe that because everyone knows that their king loves to be clean and will not just squat down and release him in a corner like those poor people...

Who knows, when public washroom facilities have been built in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, there will still be tourists who are willing to pay a small crown to enjoy the same price as a king...

Although some people say that this is simply rumors and slander, with the powerful ability of the "Sun King" to carry goods, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which has little output, did use this to achieve a balance of payments and even a slight surplus - Mayor In this way, it is also because the first stop of the King's parade is in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and he has already thought of imitating the Stations of the Cross in a special place - allowing tourists to walk through Saint-Germain-en-Laye according to the route of the King's parade. Of course, there will definitely be many places where their generosity is needed along this journey. As for whether the king really tasted these foods, supplies or had any wonderful affairs, can tourists still go to the Palace of Versailles to ask?

This approach may indeed be a bit... too reckless, but this mayor is worthy of being recommended by Colbert. He knows very well that the king cares more about whether his will and decrees are implemented to the end than the so-called royal dignity. He also had some thoughts that he shouldn't have, but in the end he suppressed his desires - he could even proudly say that at least one-third of Saint-Germain-en-Laye's income was actually used by him. In reality.

Let’s not talk about the other two-thirds... This is because neither the bishop nor the censor of Saint-Germain-en-Laye is too greedy...

Speaking of the bishop of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye Abbey, he is really not a bad person. At least he presided over the construction of the workhouse. This is a new building that uses the latest building materials, namely cement bricks. There are three The courtyard is arranged in a row, with the church in the middle, which is home to the poorest people-mainly homeless people and beggars, and then the sick. The bishop was originally in the queue to welcome the king, but as soon as he heard that the king wanted to visit The workhouse, he immediately ran to the workhouse to clean up.

"How many people can fit in here?"

"About three thousand people." The bishop of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye Abbey replied enthusiastically. The mayor hesitated. Of course he was willing to continue to be the king's guide, but... he couldn't be allowed to take away all the benefits alone. In France, the appointment and dismissal of high-level clergy rests with the king, not the pope. Bishops also need to show their ability and loyalty to the king, so after thinking about it for a while, the mayor took two steps back and gave up the stage to his colleagues. .

It can be seen that the workhouse has been cleaned in a hurry and the pavement is wet. There are no noisy children or rude women in the courtyard. Looking through the wiped windows, you can see that everyone is working seriously and thoughtfully. Busy at work - Although the workhouse is a charity, everyone has to work. The men are responsible for grinding bones collected from everywhere. These things that are ground into powder will eventually become fertilizer in the fields. The women do weaving and weaving work, and the children sometimes help them, and sometimes they pick down feathers.

Every room was very quiet. This was not because the king was here, but because the rules of the workhouse were like this. In some local workhouses, the inmates were not allowed to speak even in the courtyards and sleeping areas. They had to remain silent. Silence shows humility.

Walking through the long corridor connecting the three places, behind the church is the hospital. Let's put it this way, because the number of doctors and nurses in the medical school is not luxurious enough to be decentralized to these places - here is responsible for taking care of The only sick people are nuns and monks, but now they can do more than pray to God: "We provide sugar, boiling water and herbs," the bishop said, "and clean beds."

Indeed, the cleanness of the beds here is surprising, because the king came to the workhouse completely on a whim. It can be said that these white sheets and fluffy curtains are not all superficial. "There are only some mild patients here." "The bishop complimented: "Your people are pious, wealthy and healthy. There have been no plagues or deformities in Saint-Germain-en-Laye for a long time."

"This is a good thing." Louis said. There is no tradition of one patient or several patients in one room. There are about one hundred and eighty beds. All the patients are in a hall, separated by curtains, but since the bishop If there are no infected people here, then it can be tolerated. Although there is a bit of sour smell in the air, it is inevitable. The king stayed for a while and then left. After all, there were too many attendants around him. Staying here would be a good way for them to treat the disease. Neither is good.

What’s interesting is that the eldest princess who has been following the king, as well as distinguished young men such as Ferdinand and Frederick, can’t help but open their eyes wide. I’m afraid this is the first time they have seen this with their own eyes. After all, As the princess, the grand duke's son and the prince, who would dare to take them to a place like the workhouse if not Louis XIV? And the workhouses elsewhere were only worse and more chaotic.

"I just saw someone chewing on bones." The princess whispered.

"Well, it's not surprising." Louis also whispered. The princess must have seen the men responsible for grinding the bones secretly chewing the bones. This is a common thing in the workhouse. After all, people here cannot often When they eat meat, some of the bones are still fresh, with minced meat and marrow remaining, so they can't help but take a few bites... So this job is very lucrative, and in some of the more stringent workhouses, there are also Someone was fighting over a fat bone—this was something he didn’t know until he took office long after he took office.

"So before making any decision," Louis said to the princess, "it's best to understand as much as possible the ins and outs of the matter and all aspects."

This is why sometimes good intentions do bad things. As they see now, there may be well-intentioned people who think that this kind of hard work should not be done by people in the workhouse, but they don’t know that without this job, these men will Having to lose the last bit of comfort in their lives, they will only feel angry and disappointed, and no one knows what the final result will be.

After seeing the workhouse, they took a general look at the situation in the Lower Town - the King was finally willing to return to his Saint-Germain-en-Laye Palace, which made many people relax. The King walked around in the Lower Town, and again It was unsafe and precarious (for anyone), but fortunately His Majesty seemed satisfied and agreed to hold a banquet and accept people's audience on the third day.

This is what a king should do.