I Am Louis XIV

Everyone listened and all agreed.

"But here's the problem," the young priest said: "Even if we knew about this kind of thing, it would be difficult to find a way to deal with it."

Leon and later Uccles, or how many cities in France and Spain prospered from the holy city of Jerusalem along the Pyrenees, needless to say, because there are countless Endless pilgrims come along this road to worship the tomb of St. James. These people are spread throughout Europe, mostly Spanish and French. Now Spain's anti-French alliance has pushed the former Knights of Santiago to the front line. In order to use the power of religion to fight against the powerful French.

Because there are a surprising number of Catholics in the French army.

As for Leon's holy relics, they are just a gimmick to attract pilgrims. Not to mention the priests, even little Eugen knows how many ways to create them - statues of saints weep, crosses glow, or birds and beasts Some of the wonderful sights gathered somewhere require non-human beings such as wizards who are indeed different from ordinary people, and some only require simple mathematics or alchemy knowledge.

But for those ignorant believers, will they listen to your explanation? Pilgrims have to put down their work, prepare food on the way, buy expensive passes, endure all kinds of hardships on long journeys, and face the threats of bandits and wild beasts... Generally speaking, it is just for themselves. Not many people make pilgrimages because of their faith. Most people hope to obtain God's care and peace of mind through pilgrimage because they are trapped in a quagmire of pain that they cannot escape.

The "knights" of the Knights of Santiago faked holy miracles and welcomed so many people in order to use them to put pressure on the French. After all, no one who fights for life and death in war will show mercy to the enemy, but if faced with What about a group of old people, women, children and sick people? To make matters worse, they may have been inspired by the priests in Leon to form a "holy army" to fight against Louis XIV's army.

The Roman Church still has tens of millions of believers, among whom are Louis XIV's relatives, friends, generals and ministers. Once the conflict here is exaggerated by the church and the anti-French alliance as a "religious war", France will Forced to take an "unjust" stance. Although the church would not force Louis XIV to walk barefoot and without a crown to the place where the Pope was stationed to plead guilty as he did during the humiliation of Canossa, there would definitely be a period of turmoil in France.

"Let us consider it carefully." Little Eugen said, and everyone left the conference hall and returned to their respective rooms.

It must be said that when the Duke of Luxembourg handed Leon over to little Eugen, others thought he was too gullible and overestimated the young nobleman, but for little Eugen, the city of Leon was not a problem—— It is too old, and the Spaniards did not regard it as an important fortress and did not repair or transform it. Although its walls are tall, they are still used to resist ladders, battering rams and inefficient artillery as they were during the Two Kings period. Designed and built, all the artillery now owned by the French can completely defeat and penetrate it.

The army in León is not the standing army set up by Carlos II and his ministers after France, but the private armies and mercenaries of the princes and lords of Galicia, as well as the knights of Santiago who don't know when they will appear. ... It should be inseparable from the local church. Their fighting power is not strong, not to mention those unethical mercenaries and privately owned armies. Although the soldiers also have money and land (they are generally (sharecroppers), but it is equally impossible to make them risk their lives to fight for their masters. As for those Santiago Cavaliers, they are purely decorative.

It turns out that the problem lies here.

At this time, he heard someone knocking on the door - their meeting place was in a small room outside little Eugen's dormitory. During the war, no one would be too particular.

The person who came was the deputy captain of the grenadier company under Little Eugen. He was a tall and strong young man. Of course, all grenadiers were tall and strong, otherwise they would not be able to throw the grenade far enough. He He has the name of a traditional Huguenot named Collini, the same name as the admiral who was unfortunately killed in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.

"Mr. Colonel." He bowed to little Eugen politely as soon as he entered the door. Unlike other company captains, this deputy captain maintained a hundred thousand respects for little Eugen from the beginning. Even if some people ridiculed him for being too subservient to the nobles from Paris, he didn't care at all - so now, when little Eugen has made people bow their heads with his uninterrupted victories, he is still very close to him.

"It's almost dinner time." Little Eugen said, "Would you like to dine with me?"

"It's an honor," Collini said.

Dinner in the military camp is also very simple, with potatoes, pork or beef topped with sauce and some available vegetables, but as the leader of the legion, little Eugen has good wine here.

Collini took the position of the attendant and served little Eugen with a glass of wine. Little Eugen signaled that he could have his own meal without being polite. After eating and drinking happily for a while, he said to little Eugen. Eugen said: "Mr. Colonel, I have some ideas about Leon. I hope you can listen to them."

"Okay," said little Eugen, "I just want to hear your opinions."

"I wonder if the Knights of Santiago in Leon faked the Holy Miracle, then we can imitate their method and make the Holy Miracle appear in other places and attract people to that place." Collini Said: "The problem we are encountering now is that there are a large number of pilgrims coming to worship the holy relics in Leon. So if there are holy relics appearing in other places, they may leave Leon and go elsewhere."

Little Eugen thought for a while, "This is also the method I have thought of, but people coming out of the city said that a few days ago Leon City stopped allowing people to enter and exit at will, especially those who want to go out. In addition, even if We can create holy miracles, but how can we spread them to people's ears? Those soldiers patrolling the city can put suspicious people in jail without any trial."

Collini was visibly stunned: "Gee," he said, "I thought you were going to accuse me of forgery."

He was a Calvinist—what the so-called Protestants call Huguenots in France.

There are many differences between Protestants and Catholics. One of them is that the Catholic Church worships saints, including: the Virgin, angels, saints, and saints. Protestants are generally limited to the cross—not even Jesus, because in Calvinist teachings After Jesus Christ completed the great work of atonement for mankind, he returned to heaven and carved the image of Jesus on the cross. On the contrary, it violated the commandment of "no idols" in the Bible.

So he said that there was not much hindrance in his mind when he faked the holy miracles, but unlike Collini, little Eugen was a Catholic.

The people in the Palace of Versailles are all Catholics without exception. In addition to the issue of faith, it is the good deeds of the Queen Mother who was born in the Medici family - the original St. Bartholomew's Massacre, but Catholics The massacre of the Huguenots, regardless of age or sex, rich or poor, lasted from night to dawn. The streets and rivers were littered with corpses (people at that time did not sleep at night). Wearing precious clothes), blood spread everywhere like sunshine - those crazy believers did not even spare children and pregnant women.

It is conceivable how much hatred the Huguenots had for the French royal family. Of course, there was no room for these dangerous heretics in the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre.

"What the red princes of the Roman Church are doing," little Eugen asked strangely: "Why can't we do it?" Otherwise? Where in the world do so many holy objects come from? Even if the saint's bones can be separated, there are only 206 bones in a person's body, and the Virgin Mary only has one head of hair. But look at it, it seems that anyone walking by on the street can have it. Take out a reliquary containing the bones of a saint or the hair of the Virgin...

We have also mentioned before how many believers there are in the Roman Church.

"That's really disappointing," Collini said, but judging from the look on his face, his words probably had little connection with his heart, maybe because he had another method.

"What if we disguise ourselves as pilgrims, sneak into Leon, and then try to open the city gate?"

"It's a very old method." Little Eugen said: "But it's not feasible. How many people can you walk in? Leon City also has fifteen thousand soldiers. In addition, even if you open the city gate, they will still be there. Pilgrims can be driven to stop before us.”

"We will try to cause some disturbance," said Colini. "And then, sir, please put the Protestants in the army at the front."

Little Eugen was stunned for a moment: "Sorry?"

"The reason why you are in trouble is because Catholics are not allowed to kill each other. This is a doctrine and a rule that you abide by, but..." He smiled slightly: "This is not the case for Protestants, sir. Protestants are against Catholics. Catholics will have no hesitation or complaint against Protestants, since they are all heretics."

Little Eugen glanced at him, his eyes full of doubts: "But you are still His Majesty the King's soldiers."

"We can leave the army." Collini said cheerfully: "Whether it is the Spaniards, the pilgrims in Leon, or the priests of the Roman Church, no one can accuse our Majesty."

"Then you can go by yourself," said little Eugen: "You must need something that no one can give you except me."

"That's true," Collini said. "Some of the latest grenades."

"I understand," said little Eugen, "but I still don't understand that if you are not in the army, I cannot take credit for your achievements."

"Can't we just go back to the army?" Collini said. "When you become successful, it won't be a big problem to promote one or two people."