I Am Louis XIV

After careful consideration, the Sun King Louis XIV actually rejected the proposal of some people in the UK (this is the most important!) to let the son of the Duke of Orleans, as the son of Princess Henrietta, go to London to inherit the throne of the British King. ask. This certainly aroused a lot of discussion, especially among the people who had no way of knowing the inside story. They discussed the matter enthusiastically, imagining how those Englishmen knelt before their king and swept away the dejection since the Hundred Years' War - although Louis X IV has completely driven the British out of Europe, but it is an indisputable fact that the French were once beaten by the British to the city of Orleans. If they say, the French army does not come to London once, it is really impossible to relieve their anger.

"This is the bad thing about peace." The Duke of Orleans said with a smile while reading the newspaper. "Does anyone still throw money bags at Versailles now?"

Louis shook his head helplessly: "I have asked the guards to catch them and return the money bag."

Those people who loved the king and had established a simple nation and nationalism through long-term education and propaganda were very concerned about this matter. When they knew that the king rejected the British request, they had no intention of blaming Louis XIV. Or the ministers around him, they just thought that it might be because the king was unwilling to collect war taxes, the poll tax had not increased or changed for many years, and the war with the Holy Roman Empire had continued, so he was inevitably strapped for military expenses, so, In their straightforward little minds, there was a simple idea.

The king has no money, but they do, so they just give the king some. Anyway, their lives now are no longer any better than they were fifty years ago.

There were also some officials and nobles who were not transparent enough to ask the bank when they would issue war bonds again.

"Do you think it is possible, Your Majesty?" asked the Duke.

"Personally, I don't want to see little Philip get involved in that muddy water." Louis said. May I? Yes, he could ask young Philip to go to London, but as he said before, how can weak outsiders compete with those entrenched local forces? Not to mention fighting for power, it would be good if he could save his own life, and even if he had a child with Princess Anne, it would still be Stuart's child. The British would not allow the French to participate in the education of the future king. So, in the end, What can France gain?

In contrast, the British gained a lot. They got a healthy king, a chess piece that could restrain France, and a possibility - don't forget, the Duke of Orleans is still one of the heirs to the throne of France, and so is his son. , don’t get to the end, it’s not France that gets England, it’s England that gets France.

But soon, whether in the Palace of Versailles or outside the Palace of Versailles, those disturbing discussions gradually disappeared - because the civil strife in England began again.

The only direct descendant of the Stuart dynasty was Princess Anne. Her cousin Philip Jr., son of the Duke of Orleans, clearly expressed his rejection. The British found that they could only accept a lonely queen. Logically speaking, all kinds of entanglements should be resolved. It ends here. In view of the current situation in England, they should enthrone the Queen as soon as possible to calm the riots and calm the people. But the problem is-there are two mistresses in Hampton Palace now.

On the issue of Charles II and James II, Queen Catalina and Mary, Duchess of York, were once allies. They concealed each other's plot to kill their husbands, but in the face of power, this alliance was too frivolous. Like the morning mist - Catalina should have been the undoubted queen mother, if her son was still alive, but now it is her niece who takes the throne, but this does not affect her taking it for granted that she should be the queen mother. The girl regent, the Duchess of York, was not to be outdone. She was the stepmother of Princess Anne - and the British encountered a problem. They had to admit the legitimacy of James II. First, James II was indeed after Charles II. Dead, both the king and the crown prince are dead, and the king's brother is naturally the first heir; secondly, if James II can still only be recognized as the Duke of York, then his attack on Buckingham Palace where the king is located is unquestionable treason - they Should a traitor's daughter be allowed to ascend the throne?

But once the legitimacy of James II is recognized, then the Duchess of York should be James II's queen...

The most embarrassing thing is that Queen Catalina, as a Portuguese princess, is still a Catholic and has not even been officially crowned because of this. This makes those who are willing to support her unable to use this to accuse the Duchess of York... …At this time, we have to lament the decisiveness of Mary, the Duchess of York, Queen of James II, who resolutely converted to the Church of England.

Queen Anne immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and the forces on Queen Catalina's side were instantly defeated. Catalina was first forced to retreat to Kensington, and then to Rochester, which was some distance away from London. Here she had to She said this was a wise decision, far better than anything else, because as soon as she heard that Baron Marlborough, that is, John Churchill, who had climbed into the Duke of York through his sister's nepotism, was leading his army to Rochester, she immediately We boarded the boat and passed through the Thames River, heading straight for Calais, France.

Her decision was extremely correct, because Mr. Churchill was ordered by Queen Anne to arrest Queen Catalina. Once arrested, she would be escorted back to London and thrown into the Tower of London, where the Archbishop of Canterbury She was charged with planning her husband's death on the advice of the Pope and other Catholic powers.

Presumably the British people would not care about whether she, a foreign queen, or a Catholic prostitute was innocent. They only wanted to see the head of a noble woman fall to the ground to satisfy their dark and ulterior desires and vent their feelings since Charles II came to power. The accumulated depression and irritability.

Catalina ran fast and Mr. Churchill returned without success. Fortunately, the turmoil in England finally came to an end. Queen Anne held a grand coronation ceremony, and her stepmother stood proudly as the Queen Mother Regent. Side, it is said that it almost blocked the path of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Queen Catalina naturally came to seek the protection of the Sun King Louis XIV. She is the aunt of the French Crown Princess Isabella. Although she did not have much love for this dishonorable illegitimate daughter before that, she only After she became the Crown Princess, she sent envoys according to etiquette to send gifts and blessings, but now that France and Portugal are allies, Louis XIV certainly would not let Isabella go and receive him on his behalf because of such a trivial matter. As for asylum, there is as much as you need.

Not to mention how Isabella entertained this stranger-like family member, Louis XIV welcomed another important envoy. This person came from the Hofburg Palace and was the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. He was a special envoy with a sad look and was dressed in black. Louis was a little surprised when he saw him, thinking that he was here to report his funeral.

"No, the emperor is seriously ill, but there are still several months before God's call." The messenger was unexpectedly straightforward and frank, but there was really nothing to hide. The crown is a symbol of power. It is also a representative of obligation. It is impossible for an emperor, a king, or even a lord to stay in his palace for a long time without seeing ministers, generals, and people. And Leopold I was so ill that he could not even attend Mass. There's nothing you can do, there's no way to hide this kind of thing.

Before he died, there were several things that must be arranged. The first was this war that made everyone feel tired.

—————

Leopold I, Charles II and Louis XIV can all be said to be from the same era. Charles II was the oldest and Leopold I was the last, but he was only two years younger than Louis XIV. He had many similarities with Louis XIV, and was often compared with him. It can be said that at the beginning, Leopold I did not take Louis XIV seriously.

At that time, France was a rotten, old, and damaged old ship. Although it was huge, it was about to fall apart and be submerged by the waves of history. But what about Leopold I? He was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Although this emperor was elected, Habsburg had been firmly entrenched in this position for a hundred years. There were always seven emperors including him, regardless of Which emperor, stupid or smart, cruel or benevolent, is committed to one thing - to make this emperor worthy of his name.

Leopold I also saw the various efforts made by successive French kings to centralize royal power. He felt that he would not be inferior to Louis XIV in this regard, even if the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had constraints from the princes, but that The king is still under the control of the Queen Regent and Bishop Mazarin, and his spies reported that although the young king is very smart, he is too weak. This shortcoming can easily make him controlled by others—— He was always surrounded by all kinds of careerists, such as the Duke of Gaston, the Prince of Condé... At that time, Leopold I also thought that it would be great if he had a sister, and he would marry her To Louis XIV, perhaps France could be included in the Habsburg bag.

When did the great change come?

King Leopold I no longer remembers it, as if in a blink of an eye, a docile lamb turned into a cunning fox or a ferocious lion.

Before the War of Spanish Succession, the Holy Roman Empire and France had no formal war, but elsewhere, they fought more than once. Leopold I never won once. If that was all, forget it. What frustrated him the most Yes, he also had to pay for his failure with money, dignity and power - he meant that he mistakenly sold Flanders for half a million livres and gave Louis XIV a handle. , and humiliatingly begged the church to call for the assistance of other Catholic countries in the subsequent Great War to prevent Vienna from being destroyed - and even the most stubborn and despicable people cannot deny that among the Catholic coalition forces, the most powerful The person who was also the most intimidating, and who finally dealt a fatal blow to the heretics, was Louis XIV.

And even if he is reluctant, after suffering these humiliations, he must copy the good policies advocated and promoted by Louis XIV to Vienna and even the entire Austria - because these policies have truly made France stronger. Fortunately, this kind of behavior is almost always done by kings who still have a sense of responsibility. Leopold I often used this to comfort himself.

Only his closest attendants knew that the emperor never opened the curtains of his bedroom at night. Why? Because his secret lover, the Countess of Soissons, Marie Mancini, the sister of Louis XIV's first royal wife, accidentally looked over when she occasionally stayed overnight in the king's bedroom in the Hofburg. I looked out the window and blurted out——

"This place really looks like Paris!"

These words pierced the heart of Leopold I like a sharp thorn. But tonight, Leopold I, who had been lying in bed for three months, suddenly ordered his attendants to cover their clothes tightly. The curtains were drawn back and he was asked to be led to the window.

The emperor stared out the window, looking at the bright window glass, the neat streets, the golden gas lights, the tall and lush street trees - and suddenly he smiled sadly: "This place really looks like Paris."

He looked at it for a while and then murmured: "Maybe I shouldn't have treated her like that."

The attendants knew who the emperor was talking about, but none of them dared to answer. The lady suddenly had an accident when she returned to France - thinking about the king's respect and love for the Count of Soissons, how much of this accident was it? The artificial element is also unknown. Originally, Leopold I could have intervened and even prevented the lady from leaving - but he did not.

Did King Leopold I have any love for the Countess of Soissons, or did he only have some good feelings? He couldn't confirm it himself. The only thing that was certain was that at that time he just wanted to embarrass Louis XIV, who had deceived him about Flanders. For this reason, he never even acknowledged Olympia. Mancini, that is to say, she is informal, despised, and no different from those "famous ladies".

He also thought of his and her son. This child was left by Louis XIV. Of course Leopold I knew it, but he knew that an illegitimate child could never become an official heir. He still looked forward to getting it from the queen's belly. He also had Philip now, but for some reason, he suddenly missed the son he had never met. People said that he was a strong young man and a general with great war talent. He served Louis XIV and won numerous feats in the war against his biological father.

"It's a pity that the name is so unpleasant." He whispered.