I Am Louis XIV

In 1718, at the turn of spring and summer, Versailles was like a colorful gold brocade, exuding a charm that had never faded in fifty years under the bright but not dazzling morning light.

Queen Teresa got up extra early today. After a simple wash, she put on a gray-purple cashmere robe over a fine cotton shirt with the help of her maid, casually put on a pair of soft flat shoes, and went Went to the king's chamber.

As early as more than ten years ago, the king canceled all the cumbersome and torturous ceremonies, and handed over most of the government affairs to the crown prince Louis. He and the queen originally occupied a large suite - that is, a suite of several rooms. The suites that were stacked on top of each other were now shared by two people in a large suite. The queen's bedroom and the king's bedroom were only separated by a living room.

After asking, Queen Teresa entered the king's bedroom. The king in the bedroom had also stood up. The windows were all opened, and the transparent sunlight illuminated the room without any darkness. Louis sat relaxedly in front of the window. Sitting on the armchair, facing the window and a large mirror, wearing only a loose shirt, little Champagne was combing the king's long, fluffy hair, while Bontang looked on.

Everyone saluted the queen, who knelt to the king, then walked over, took the ivory comb in the little Champagne's hand, and slowly combed Louis' hair.

The first time the queen did this, both the third generation Mr. Champagne and Bontang were surprised. The queen herself was a little uneasy, but the king had no objection and even showed a little joy, so that day After that, the queen would get up early every day and come to comb the king's hair.

The king's hair is still thick and smooth, as if time has stopped here, but it has changed from light color to dark color, and from dark color to light color. Now it is as white as silver, or ice and snow, Trey Sha took the ribbon and tied Louis' long hair, ran her fingers through the curled hair, leaned down and kissed the king's noble head.

"Okay," she said.

Louis smiled, pressed the Queen's hand on his shoulder, and held it: "Come on," he said, "Today we will have breakfast in the rose garden."

June is the season when roses bloom most enthusiastically. Because the king likes roses, not only France, but all countries that maintain contact with France (whether friendly or hostile) will use roses as one of their national gifts. France, Spain, and Italy When businessmen were doing business, they would also specially select the best local roses and send them back to Versailles. Today, the Versailles Rose Garden can long ago be called Rose Hill. One is not the most precious, beautiful and fragrant variety at this time.

When Louis walked over with Theresa on his arm, a half-opened yellow rose caught his attention. Even if it was not fully opened, its petals could already cover the king's palm. He admired it for a while and then took it. Fold it off and put it in the queen's hair bun.

The attendants set up tables and chairs next to the dense "Chinese Vermilion". On the table were several simple and fresh foods, which was also a common practice for the king and queen. However, if you dine in the rose garden - "Chinese Vermilion" is The hybrid varieties of vermilion roses and roses brought back by merchants from the Far East were not only rich in color, but also had a particularly sweet and refreshing smell. The queen felt that every bite of the food was soaked in this refreshing fragrance and tasted particularly delicious.

Wrong, she thought in her heart, it was not because of the rose, her heart was so happy because - His Majesty was by her side.

She didn't know what happened. When she was twenty years old, she married Louis, a man of the same age. At that time, she only had anxiety and fear in her heart, and love could not occupy the slightest bit. Fortunately, she gave birth to an heir for Louis, and then It was the eldest princess, and later Charles, King Carlos III of Spain. In those years, she fought side by side with Louis and helped each other - Louis was a temperate man, and there were never more than three royal ladies around him from beginning to end, and he never He would indulge the royal wife or ministers in bullying and humiliating her, but he gave her enough respect and even power.

At that time, every time she prayed to God, she would thank Him for giving her a marriage that exceeded her expectations.

So, when did this gratitude change? Teresa would occasionally laugh at herself. When she was twelve years old, she had no romantic feelings. When she was twenty, she was like a calm backwater. When she was thirty, forty, and fifty, she She is willing to be the right-hand man of the Sun King and the important minister in the bed curtains. Who would have thought that when she is about to reach the end of her life, she will develop all kinds of tenderness and all kinds of love?

Louis saw the look in the Queen's eyes, which he had seen in the eyes of Mary and many other ladies. He put down the tea cup and stretched out his hand to take the Queen's hand: "It's just us now." He sighed.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said the Queen.

Queen Teresa almost hoped that this period of time could continue indefinitely. Of course, this was impossible. Although Louis handed over most of the government affairs to Louis the Younger, there was also the Duke of Burgundy, the son of Louis the Younger (because he was also called Louis , so let’s refer to each other by title here), but sometimes, he will randomly pick out some interesting matters to handle personally.

For example, today he has to receive two envoys, and these two envoys come from the same place - the Far East.

Regarding that ancient and huge country, Louis XIV has always maintained a close but fearful attitude. It even made Bishop Mazarin confused because it was too far away from France, so far away that he could not care about it at all. ——At that time, what they were most concerned about was the hegemony of Europa, and they didn't care much about the distant east, except for the silk and porcelain there.

When the Portuguese princess Isabella married into France, she brought some treasures from the Far East, which were transported back to Portugal by Portuguese merchants from Macau Port. Louis also asked these merchants, and they said, Marco Polo. The country of gold and silk described by Luo is now ruled by a group of Tatars. Their sultan has countless wealth, women and land, but he is very harsh on his people. The people live an extremely hard life, even the most difficult among them. Rich people also had to endure the servitude of the humblest officials. In cities and villages, the scenes they saw were completely different from those recorded by earlier businessmen. There were almost no livelihood facilities, the streets were dusty, and there was no water supply. On rainy days, human, cow and horse feces will float and swirl around your feet.

The complaints of the merchants were certainly related to their status. After listening to their words, Louis XIV went to ask several bishops. They all had priests going to the vast "barbaric land" and nothing else. The reason is that there are unbaptized unbelievers there. When the people in Europe were either Catholics or Protestants, the priests had no choice but to go to the New World and countries that did not believe in Catholicism if they wanted to establish their achievements.

The bishops gave him more information, because some of their priests had already established their own positions with the Sultan of the Tatars, although the Sultan of the Tatars was not willing to embrace Catholicism, but was interested in their knowledge of medicine and medicine. They are interested in mathematics, astronomy and geography, but they obviously know much more than the merchants who can only wander around Macauer Port.

The request of one of the priests caught Louis' attention. He said that he had accepted several students in the Far East, all of whom were young, smart and enlightened good people. He hoped that they could come to Paris and study in the school opened by the king. The bishop was also curious, so he conveyed it to the king, and the permission was granted. Not long after, these young people arrived in Paris. After being initially dazzled, they quickly devoted themselves to studying.

Although the clothes are weird, the hairstyle is even weirder, and the skin is yellow - there are Indian governors and counts in Paris today. At most, they arouse some curiosity, but they are not as much discriminated against as the British here - in After their hard work and self-discipline were repeatedly praised by their teachers, the difference in appearance and dress was nothing. The young people in Paris were even more jealous of their achievements.

Not to mention, it wasn’t long before they were dressing up like Parisians, and after gaining admission to Versailles, they looked no different from their peers around them. They also learned to swim, hunt, and play around. The only difference was that after buying a large number of books, they began to explore how to buy muskets and artillery.

The king's little birds also reported back to the king that they often stayed in the cafe all day long, listening to fierce speeches and debates, and taking notes. They even questioned the speakers with a tone of horror and disbelief—— How could their king allow them to make such wild claims that a country might not need a monarch?

Why not? The speaker said that a king who meets the expectations of the people will not care about such remarks, and most of the kings who care about such remarks are people who have to be afraid of the people because they have violated the will of the people. In this case, why do they still Would such a king be allowed to sit on the throne?

Although he was beaten up by someone passing by outside the cafe - that's a story later.

But the consequences of these words were very serious for these yellow-skinned young people. Some of them actually developed high fever after returning.

——————

"Then what?" asked the Duke of Burgundy. He arrived a little late and was still a curious young man. He had indeed vaguely heard that France had several huge special trades with that distant country...

"Then as you can see," Louis said, "a new baby born from a weakened and decaying body, they all came to us at the same time."

The Duke of Burgundy, as his grandfather's entourage, stood on the left side of the throne. He watched expectantly as the heavy double doors were opened, and a group of people walked in under the leadership of Count d'Artagnan. Their walking posture was very strange. , reminds people of a goose swaying from side to side. Everyone is trying to look majestic and solemn, but after seeing the king, they immediately bow down and bow to the ground, which scares the Duke of Burgundy! He had only seen this posture when the most severe ascetics worshiped the holy image.

"Didn't you tell them about etiquette?" Louis asked helplessly.

Count d'Artagnan said with a smile - even though he was almost eighty years old, he still looked like this - "Of course I told them, but after studying it carefully, they thought you should accept it. Second only to the kneeling of their Sultan, so..." He shrugged and made a helpless gesture.

"Let them stand up," said Louis. "I'm not surprised at all."

The Duke of Burgundy saw that they were all wearing clothes similar to those of young people from the Far East. The only differences were in texture and embroidery. They were almost all old people. After taking off their hats, it could be seen that they were all wearing wigs. According to Da Count Dagnan said that they were all important ministers of the Sultan and came to see the king with letters from the Sultan, hoping that the two countries would have good relations and frequent exchanges.

Louis took the letter they brought and opened it... Of course, it was ghostwritten by a priest. Apart from the meaningless embellishments and the unconcealable arrogance, it probably meant asking, ha, yes, asking Louis XIV. The edict ordered those merchants and officers to sever their relations with the "rebels" and not to continue to trade and coexist with them. Otherwise, the great sultan would take harsh measures to deal with the French merchants and missionaries and separate them from the "rebels" Treat everyone equally.

"Who are those traitors he was talking about?" The Duke of Burgundy leaned over and read the letter with Louis XIV, and couldn't help asking, because he saw the name of the Marquis de Lafayette in it. The Marquis is indeed a bit...but he is well-known for his noble conduct and integrity. The Duke of Burgundy met and talked to him at the banquet a year ago. He did not think that such a person would be in cahoots with a despicable traitor. .

"That's the missionary from another country we are about to meet." Louis whispered.

Louis' whisper may not be so quiet. The Tatar envoys heard it, and one of them suddenly opened his eyes - he may have learned French, and the sentence was not complicated. The Duke of Burgundy thought he would question him loudly, But after being furious, he actually hesitated, and they didn't make a sound until Count d'Artagnan took them out of the audience hall.

Louis shook his head.

Immediately afterwards, those envoys who came from the same place as the Tatar envoys appeared. When he saw them, the Duke of Burgundy's eyes lit up. Each of these envoys were young people, tall and sharp-eyed. , can speak French and Latin proficiently, even better than the French provincials. Each of them had their hair cut short, wearing tight trousers and jackets, and short cloaks. They were not the Paris kind, but the Montreal kind. They were more simple and military-like. They might have been brought there by the Marquis de Lafayette. .

But their military rank is not the sun, but another symbol with a more ancient meaning. Louis XIV's eyes paused on it for a while before slowly leaving.

They bowed to the king and then handed over their credentials.

"Where is your country?" Louis asked.

"In that place you know, it never left, we just took it back." The young man at the head said proudly.