I Am Louis XIV

"Okay," said Mary, "now you can open your eyes and look at the crystal ball."

The king opened his eyes according to his words. When he looked at the crystal ball, what he saw was a thick white fog at first, but after a few seconds, the thick fog gradually dissipated. What he saw first was black and white. He was up and down, and before he thought of something discordant, the perspective suddenly changed, and he realized that what he saw before was a sleeve of Fouquet, and the hand stretched out of the sleeve crushed a bit of bread, and threw it on the On the wooden board of the window sill, the "camera" swayed rapidly again, shaking up and down so that the king was dizzy, the king turned to Mary, and before he could say anything, Mary shouted viciously: "Look at me!" What are you doing! Look at the crystal ball!"

The king was stuck and had to obediently obey. Fortunately, the "camera" was no longer shaking at this time. It was pulled to a far away place, but it was still watching Fouquet. The pitiful appearance of Zhan, he looked into the distance with a deep expression, holding the letter that the king gave him in his hand, this letter may have cost him his life, but it may also be the starting point for him to embark on the road of beauty. It depends on how he chooses the first step——Louis' eyes stay on him for a while, then look away to see if there are people around who seem to be talking or interacting with him, and then move with the "camera" , he saw the scene inside the inn, but it's a pity that this inn is just like other hotels, uniformly dirty and simple, and there is nothing special about it.

"But at least he's on his way," said the king softly. Fortunately, it was morning, and Mr. Fouquet finished his meal (that is, the loaf of bread) and set off. The golden sun shone on his face instead of his back, which meant that he was walking east. Liege is located in Belgium. On the border with the French Ardennes, that is to say, on the east side of Hautelle, Paris, Orleans, and Bordeaux on the west side - M. Fouquet is not going to their enemies.

"Your...this," the king didn't know how to describe, "how far can you see?"

"It depends on how long the smell of the rose can stay on him," Mary said. "My rooks track the target by smelling the smell, and they won't find it if it fades away."

"That would be wonderful," said the king. "It seems we will be able to see him arrive in Liege."

"How did I not know that the smell of that rose could last that long?" Mary muttered strangely.

The king smiled: "Because Mr. Fouquet will definitely keep it. If he successfully completes the task I entrusted, he will show it to me when he comes back."

"how do you know?"

"Because it's me, I'll do it." Anyone, including the king, would love to see even a small favor remembered.

"Man!" Mary sighed.

———————

Mr. Fouquet didn't know that he was being watched by magic. Although he didn't travel day and night - he knew that he couldn't do it. If he fell ill and stayed in the hotel, it would only delay his time, but he still managed to walk thirty spells a day. On the night of the third day, Bishop Mazaran arrived at the hermitage of Bishop Mazaran. Bishop Mazaran carefully chose a monastery like a castle-this kind of monastery is not uncommon in Europe. The castle is the monastery, and sometimes the monastery is in the forefront, because in addition to jewelry, holy relics and books, most monasteries have a large food store and brew their own wine.

When Mr. Fouquet asked to see the bishop, the bishop was invited by the abbot to judge the quality of the "holy water". Of course, it was not the spring water with salt, but beer, which was golden in color and rich in foam. Monks started brewing beer as early as the eleventh century, but it has never been made public. It is said that someone is suggesting to the Holy Father in Rome that monks are allowed to brew their own beer and drink it on fasting days to supplement the lack of nutrition. The Holy Father is always busy all day long, so he can't take care of this for the time being—anyway, even if it is fasting, the priests in Rome will not starve. People say that the priests in Rome are all top three, but it does not mean that they are on The attainments in religious studies refer to their extremely fat bodies.

Bishop Mazarin was noncommittal about this, and he was also not interested in whether monks could drink beer on fasting days. Although he declared that he was retiring, his heart was always by the king's side, and his eyes had been closely watching Paris, Orleans and Every move of Bordeaux has never been relaxed. As soon as he heard that someone was coming from Hetel, he immediately put down his glass, while the abbot took his leave rationally.

When Fouquet saw the Bishop, he knelt down and kissed his ring, and the Bishop agreed. He had a vivid impression of Fouquet and knew that he was on the side of the king and him, but he did not immediately listen to Fouquet. Instead, he asked him to stand up and walk in the courtyard with him—the courtyard of the monastery is different from ordinary people, there are almost no tall trees, it is difficult for peepers to hide their tracks, and it is difficult to eavesdrop on their words . Fouquet readily obeyed. After all, if he was only in the courtyard, he could escape once the bishop got angry. In the room...he can guarantee that his guards live on both sides of the bishop's room.

To Mr. Fouquet's surprise, the Bishop read the letter and did not lose his temper. He lowered his head and thought for a while, "Then that's it." Frowning in front of good things.

"What?"

"Why, didn't His Majesty tell you?" Bishop Mazarin said kindly: "You know, because of the incident in St. He goes back to his Siena and continues to be his farmer, but me and the king also need a trustworthy person to take care of our finances, you know, Monsieur Fouquet, money is being used everywhere now, I give the king I sent a letter asking him to recommend someone."

He glanced at Fouquet, "He recommended you, Mr. Fouquet. From now on, you will be the Minister of Finance, and you will be in charge of the treasury for the king...Why is your face so ugly? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Sorry..." Only Fouquet knew that water had accumulated in his boots, and his underwear was even soaked. It would be a lie to say that he had no other thoughts, but he has a gambler's personality. Natural nature, so he still came, he won the bet, but he still couldn't stand the dizziness for a while, he knew that this was the king's test for him, whether he decided to betray, or wanted to escape, or because he was not cautious enough. If he made any mistake on the road, all that awaits him is disaster.

"By the way." As if he didn't notice his strangeness, the bishop said leisurely: "I have agreed with His Majesty before that I will first hand over the money order worth 500,000 livres to you, and you will be in charge and take care of it. For safety's sake, I will let my guards escort you back to Hetel," he called to a bunch of withered eggplant vines, "Let Charles de Baz Castelmo come to me." Immediately Someone responded loudly and ran back to the monastery quickly: "That is a Gascon, but he has a good mother, we all call her Françoise de d'Artagnan Montagne." Madame Desquieu, so occasionally we call him Comte d'Artagnan, or d'Artagnan, you can call him what you want, he is not so bound by etiquette."

In the time that Monsieur Bishop had finished speaking these few words, that M. d'Artagnan, a good young man with a red face (perhaps only because he was running too fast), was running up to Fouquet. He was tall, tall, with shining brown eyes, and as soon as he saw the bishop, he saluted him, kissed his ring, and then asked aloud whether the bishop had called him and whether he had any important business entrusted to him. He does, all he can do, if the Bishop bids him.

So the Bishop told him about this matter, and asked him to take someone he believed to be credible, protect Mr. Fouquet and a huge sum of money, go to the old city of Hetel, and hand them over to His Majesty the King.

"Oh, I always come back," said d'Artagnan.

"Don't come back," said the Bishop, "I'm sending you to the king. What's the use of you staying with me, with a priest? It's better to fight for the king. Your Majesty is a generous and generous man." Just man, you are being valued by his side, which is what a talented young man should do."

"And," added the bishop, "your cousin, Pierre de Montesquieu, is also in the king's musketeers. Wouldn't you like to fight by his side? I think he must be very I miss you so much, you go to him and make a contribution so that you can return the title he lent you."

Having said that, d'Artagnan also agreed, because when he joined the army, he used the title of earl lent to him by his cousin Pierre, so that he could quickly enter the sight of the bishop and Marshal Gramont, and was awarded recommended, so he kept thinking about it: "Not only that," he said, "I owe him seven hundred louis d'or."

"Then you should go all the more," said the bishop. "There will be many battles to be fought, and you will have to get a reward from the king."

D'Artagnan immediately bowed to express his obedience, and thanked the bishop well. After he returned, he chose three of his friends as companions—they were also willing to serve the king— They set off in a hurry on the second day, and then returned to Hetel on the seventh day after Mr. Fouquet's departure. When he saw the king, Fouquet immediately threw himself at his feet and thanked the king for his trust. .

"Then I can trust you," Louis asked.

"Undoubtedly!" said Fouquet, "even if you asked me to dance with the devil, I would go and ask you whether you would like to see the Blanche or the Miereux (two popular French dances at that time). kind of dance).”

"I don't want you to dance with the devil," Louis said, "but the people you will deal with are probably similar to the devil. You have to be careful to save your life."

"As long as it is your will."

The king nodded to Bontang, and Bontang went out, leaving only Fouquet and the king in the room.

"I want you to do something elsewhere." Louis said: "I will give you one hundred thousand livres first, and you go to a reliable printer to print some beautiful little pieces of paper, which must be arranged in order. The twelve digits of the paper, the printed molds must be extremely fine and difficult to imitate, and they will be destroyed after printing, and then you will place some advertisements in the newspapers, telling people that these pieces of paper will be sold for a small crown each Go out——When all the pieces of paper are sold, you will set up a large barrel that can be rolled on the square, put small balls with numbers in the large barrel, and leave a small hole in the barrel. Ball drop - you can let a person who is famous for being fair and innocent, or an ignorant child shake the big bucket, shake the twelve small balls, and after they are discharged in order, the reward can be determined according to the number of similar numbers amount."

Nicholas Fouquet was originally a shrewd person, and he had an unparalleled love and talent for making money. When Louis said this, he immediately understood, and he clenched his fists excitedly, wishing to do it right away! This is faster than he expected, using the way of lending to accumulate wealth faster! simpler!

"It's more dangerous, too," Louie said.