I Am Louis XIV

Luciano I called me that day. He wanted to send me away. "There will be a big war here soon."

I couldn't disobey his will, not to mention that after my father retired to recuperate, he and his sister were my guardians. "You go to Versailles," he said, "You can also visit your monastery." He stretched out his hand and touched it. My hair, "I don't force you to serve God all your life. It may be a bit hypocritical to say so." He sighed: "A robber robbed a businessman of all his money, and then gave him some travel expenses. "

He stared at me for a while: "But I have something I must do."

"It's something Louis XIV must do." I said boldly.

"No. Ji'an," he said, "I also have my ambitions." He paused: "I told my father that when... everything comes to an end, you can choose to return to the secular world, or Just continue to climb up, he will not tax your monastery, and you can use all the income as you like, as long as you do not harm your body and soul."

As far as I know, the King of France gave me a large monastery, together with its vineyards and lavender fields, covering about 1,200 acres, which can bring me an income of tens of thousands of livres every year. If I decide to wait until If I leave the monastery only after this battle is completely over, I will also have an additional income of nearly 100,000 livres - I mean, the property of Cosimo III and all the Medici family, except for the part that must be passed on. , will be divided equally between me and my brother.

Of course, the Sun King is not that kind of greedy person, and he doesn't care about this little money. It was only after I joined the army that I learned that the army's expenditure was no less than the river water flowing out.

After I arrived at Versailles, like other nobles, I had a room of my own. The queen appointed a female official to take care of me. I could choose to stay in the palace to recuperate, go to school, or go to a monastery to study. I chose for the time being. Staying in Versailles, I can see that the queen hopes that I will do the same. After all, before the matter in Italy is settled, someone may want to use me or my brother Ferdinand to threaten Louis XIV.

"What about my brother?" I thought I would see him as soon as I arrived in Versailles.

"He," Queen Theresa unfolded her fan and covered half of her face, then said with embarrassment, amusement, and a little envy: "He may be in Prussia now." After hearing the news, I couldn't help but be shocked, "Where is he going and what is he doing?"

You know, even my father, Cosimo III, and people in the Tuscan court thought he was in Versailles or Paris. There are many swingers in these two places, and the residences of "famous ladies" are scattered everywhere. Louis XIV is not a strict person. No one will suspect or worry him if he does not show any trace for ten days and a half.

"He just went to Prussia not long ago." the queen said. I thought the queen's expression was a little strange. Maybe there was something behind my brother's sudden departure. She was worried that I would have doubts about them, but there was some reason why She couldn't tell me the truth.

Thinking of this, I stopped asking any more questions. After a few days, I gave the maid next to me a ring and asked her to tell me how my brother ended up in Prussia... After hesitating for a while, I , just tell me that in fact there is no conspiracy involved in this matter, but it is really difficult to say it.

I must say here that both the Tuscany court and the Versailles court have their own eccentric understandings of marriage and love, but one thing is the same. For these nobles, the disparity in status is far greater than the disparity in morals. Rebellion is important. They can accept all kinds of immoral behavior with a smile, from being an open royal lady to a eunuch, but when a noble person with status is tempted by a person of the opposite sex who is not enough to step into his class, they are like committing a crime. As if they had committed some unforgivable sin, everyone would strongly oppose the matter between them.

My brother Ferdinand, the eldest son of Cosimo III and the future Grand Duke of Tuscany (of course, no longer), fell in love with the daughter of a pirate.

This kind of thing, which was enough to be written into novels and made into movies by later generations, was a scandal in the Palace of Versailles! The maid said categorically that although she was only the daughter of a viscount, she believed that Eva, the pirate's daughter, luckily gained the king's favor and was allowed to enter Versailles. She also confused the princess and became a The female officer next to her, but in the final analysis, she is still a vulgar woman, she can't even speak French well!

I have to say, when I heard that my bohemian brother actually had true feelings for such a woman, I definitely wanted to get to the bottom of it. Even if the maid took the ring, she didn’t tell me the whole story, but I knew the name. It is not difficult to continue to inquire. The result left me speechless. I really didn’t know—this Ms. Eva was not a pirate’s daughter. It should be said that she was a privateer who was similar to a pirate. Moreover, her uncle, father, and even cousin were all engaged in this dishonorable business. professional.

The reason why she was summoned to Versailles by the king was because she accidentally uncovered a conspiracy about the British. What is even more amazing is that the spy turned out to be her husband. She was almost killed by him, but she still persisted. Then she walked to her uncle and informed her of the incident - in a sense, she buried her husband with her own hands.

She is just such a lady. Although I don’t know what she looks like or what her personality is like, I know she is definitely not easy to mess with...

Although my brother had a love affair with her at that time, everyone thought that the love affair would end in nothing. After all, the two identities were too different. When Lady Eva went to Prussia with the princess, Ferdinand should To find a new love - he seemed ready to do so, but then, as you know, as soon as he heard that he had given up his secular identity and became a monk, he packed his luggage without hesitation and ran to Prussia...

"But now their identities are still so disparate." I said bluntly: "Now Ms. Eva is the Countess of Nice, but my brother is just a minor monk."

"The king will definitely give him a title." The queen said, "When the time comes, this marriage is not impossible."

I don't think there's anything bad about this marriage. The Medici family was just a small businessman buying pills at first. Later I thought, when the war in Italy ends, my sister's husband Luciano I will definitely give my brother and me a title. If we want, we can also join the army or the government.

There is no need to worry about our future.

…

I thought that after arriving in Versailles, I would only know a little about the situation in Italy through letters with my sister. Unexpectedly, the Sun King allowed me to learn about the current situation on the peninsula through newspapers, magazines, and envoys from Italy.

By comparing the three with each other, I can probably create a rough outline.

Mohammed IV of the Ottoman Turks was indeed an ambitious man. As the second sultan after Suleiman the Magnificent to sail across the sea, he commanded his 200,000-strong army and after several months of lengthy attacks , finally occupied Sicily, which I mentioned before, the island that originally belonged to the Principality of Savoy. With this big island, he was able to transport 200,000 troops to the real battlefield one after another, that is, Naples.

The easternmost corner of Sicily, a small town called Messina, is the closest place to Naples - you can directly see the city walls of Port Reggio from Messina, and you only need a boat, even a sampan, or a wooden barrel to get across. , the Ottoman Turks built a pontoon bridge - it is said that they used some mysterious method, but some people said that the pagans colluded with the devil to build a bridge for tens of thousands of people overnight.

In a sense, the subsequent battle was lackluster, because...in a battle facing two hundred thousand enemies, all skills, strategies, or tactics were useless.

The place where the Ottoman Turks landed was the port of Reggio on the Italian peninsula. Maybe some people don't pay much attention to that place. Let's put it this way. People often say that the Italian peninsula is like a high-heeled boot that stretches into the sea. Then Port Reggio is the tip of the boot, and the Bay of Taranto is the heel and toe of the boot. The depression between them, where Lecce is located, is the heel.

Occupying Sicily, Mohammed IV had confidence that once things went against the Ottoman Turks, he would at least have a way out and a place to reorganize his army. He followed the upper of the Italian boots all the way up, facing Facing countless bastions, city walls, trenches and other fortifications, these fortifications continued to consume the lives of Ottoman soldiers, but like every time before, the death of Azap infantry was never taken seriously by the officers and the Sultan. , troops from Istanbul and other parts of the vast empire continued to be transported by ship.

This is a flesh and blood mill.

I suddenly understood why even with the Commonwealth of Italy and Luciano becoming the king, Louis XIV's generals only used the soldiers of the Italian princes as engineers. They did not have the courage and courage to face the tsunami. The numbers of the Ottomans who were rushing over were so terrifying that they were simply despairing. Just seeing them could make people lose the courage to resist.

In the past few months, General Vauban's endless, almost crazy, and constantly criticized behavior of building fortifications finally gave the answer when facing the Ottoman Turkish army - they were like sharp swords. The small knife kept cutting small wounds on the giant beast of the Ottoman army. It might not have had any impact at first, but as winter was about to enter, the harm caused by these wounds became apparent.

————

Mohammed IV was not a fool. He would not make the same mistakes that Koprulu made again. In the great battle, Louis XIV and his allies adopted the method of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, which caused the same astonishing number of Ottoman Turks to be defeated. The army was in trouble due to insufficient supplies. This time he first occupied the rich Sicily, and then ordered merchants and governors to bring sufficient food.

Therefore, although Vauban also used similar techniques, the impact on the Ottoman Turkish army was not great.

Mohammed IV even remembered warning the officers not to allow soldiers to easily enter a completely enclosed space. The shock of the disaster caused by the big explosion was still fresh in his memory.

But at that time, Louis XIV needed a sealed space because the amount of gunpowder was insufficient, and a dust explosion required a large space with poor air circulation. But General Vauban didn't have this problem. He had plenty of gunpowder and grenades.

Even the Italians could hold out for a long time by relying on forts and walls and throwing ammunition at the enemy. They would also destroy roads and plant grenades in the wasteland. After the invention of the flintlock, metal parts The principle of rapid friction with flint to produce sparks and ignite gunpowder has been known to many people. General Vauban's craftsmen came up with an artillery that could be hidden underground and fired with a cable... This is what he thought at the time , but after seeing it, Vauban asked, since the rope needs to be pulled manually, is it possible for the enemy to pull the rope himself?

Of course, many times, seemingly ridiculous inventions are just in the wrong direction. The craftsman just adds a small device similar to a mouse trap, which allows the enemy to "pull the rope" by himself.

This kind of weapon that was buried underground and would explode at any time caused a widespread panic. Even if the Sultan and their bachelors showed the unexploded grenades to the Azaps, they still could not alleviate their panic. After all, the unknown The fear is the deepest.

No one knows how many of these underground grenades General Vauban buried. In addition, the continuous fortresses and fortifications at the tip of the boot, as well as the layers of barbed wire, greatly slowed down the Ottoman Turks' attack speed.

Muhammad IV did not think this could pose a threat to him. He had countless soldiers and countless wheat. Although the French fleet has been attacking them, he also has countless ships. He was able to land in Sicily and maintain this important waterway - until a terrible news came.

The Prince of Transylvania rebelled.

The rebel army marched all the way south, invincible, and was already approaching less than fifty leagues from Istanbul.