I Am Louis XIV

Louis said so, not without reason.

Cardinal Mazarin’s intelligence personnel sent back a lot of news from England. It can be said that Oliver Cromwell has begun to rule the country as he pleases. He regards himself as the savior of the people and the messenger of God. Not surprising, but when a man places himself in such a lofty position, he is about to fall hard.

"It is also possible that he will become king." said the Bishop: "How close he is to the throne, even if he casts all the royal symbols that crown the king, from the crown to the scepter, from the holy ball to the coronation ring, but he Can always build something new, just like he built New England."

"That's the problem, Mr. Bishop." Louis said with emotion: "From what I have seen and learned, Cromwell is a person who thinks, or is indeed, who advocates simplicity and is dedicated to the country, but he is too paranoid. Well, this is also a common problem of many people, I mean, they think that people are like wood and clay, which can be carved and kneaded at will, and they can remove anything they don't want, or make them become Be what you want, but it's completely impossible.

If Oliver Cromwell becomes arrogant, and even commits all kinds of depraved behavior like King Solomon, Mr. Bishop, even if ten thousand priests condemn him, he will not be afraid. To be honest, just like you Like I said, I might even become a king. "

"That makes me curious," said Bishop Mazarin. "Why do you say that?"

"Although Cromwell always said humbly that his birth was neither humble nor prominent, we all know that in fact his family can be regarded as a famous family, but both he and his father It’s just that he doesn’t have the qualifications to inherit the title, we can completely think so, he said this to win the trust of those common people.”

"Indeed."

"And as a Protestant, he was very hard on himself."

"I don't want to admit it, but it's also really hard to pick out moral flaws in the way he behaves."

"So he also thinks that others should be as devout as him and have a firm will." The king crossed his legs: "He closely monitored every Catholic, and let the soldiers destroy the church."

"Churchs that are too 'Roman'," said Bishop Mazarin, "the ones they don't recognize, the crosses on the walls, the relics and their boxes, even the stained glass windows—because that's also images of the Holy Spirit and saints. Well, they broke the glass, and they took the lead and melted it, and it turned into bullets. But that's not too uncommon for a Protestant."

"What about restricting people's pursuit of beauty and pleasure?" Louis asked. "Strict fasts, no games allowed-playing cards, dice, hunting... He didn't even allow people to go to the theater, and the theaters in England were closed. Let alone the places where famous ladies come and go... Listening to music, singing, and dancing are also forbidden, and celebration banquets have also come to naught, and even exchanging gifts with relatives and friends has become a luxury. The only entertainment left is the singing of hymns."

"God bless them."

"I don't know if God is willing to bless Cromwell, but his measures will only annoy those who originally supported him." Louis said: "I heard that he also intends to restrict and reform clothing and accessories. ? I remember the last time someone did it too."

"Savonarola," said Bishop Mazarin, "he is not far from us."

"So I would say," Louis shook his head, "Cromwell is not far from dying."

"The English are not the Florentines," said Bishop Mazarin.

"But as long as there is a human being," Louis pointed out sharply, "there is no one who does not covet pleasure. No one does not like to eat delicious food, dance and sing, and wear gorgeous clothes. This is human nature and cannot be violated." King He continued: "Of course he can be a saint by himself, but first of all, he is just a mortal in front of power, and he doesn't want nothing; secondly, he is willing to give up worldly pleasures, it doesn't matter, but he can't Asking others to suffer with him."

"So you said..."

"So I said, Monsieur Bishop," Louis poured him a full glass of wine: "If Oliver Cromwell is willing to enjoy himself like a king, as long as he doesn't forget to throw some bread and Gladiator performances, just like those Roman emperors, then his rule may continue for a while, but if he wants to be an ascetic monk and all the people wear rough linen robes, then don't blame them Let him go to the grave first. (The custom at the time was that only those who were determined to dedicate themselves to God or who were about to die could wear monk robes)”

Bishop Mazaran picked up the cup and drank it down neatly: "You may be right," he said, "but it's too impious, Your Majesty. To be harsh, it's even a little too frivolous."

"I would only say that in front of you." The king lifted another cup indifferently, but he only drank lightly, and did not drink freely like the Bishop, or many people nowadays.

"Then what would you say in front of other people?" asked the Bishop again.

"God will pass judgment on the laity's behalf," said Louie.

—————

Of course, most of the time, Louis would rather make the judgment himself.

But tonight, he was specially invited by Queen Mother Anne to her reception room. It turned out that Queen Mother Anne wanted to intercede for someone. When the king heard the name of this person, he was a little surprised and told the Queen Mother that he did not intend to be strict. to punish that man—namely François de Vendôme, Duke of Beaufort, "What makes you think I would be a cruel man?" As an accessory, I have not been able to execute or exile Condé, so I will not treat my other relatives too much (the Duke of Beaufort is the grandson of Henry IV, the nephew of Louis XIII, and the cousin of Louis) .”

"But they all said," the queen mother pointed to the king's coat, "you have prepared a pamphlet, and the names written on it are all the names you are going to hang."

Now the king understood how terrible the rumors in the court were, so he had to show the pamphlet to the queen mother. There were indeed many names on it, but the strange thing was that some queen mothers thought there should be but there were none, and there should be none but there were.

"If this is really an ominous list," said the Queen Mother earnestly, "at least there should be Gaston on it."

The king laughed, and so did the Queen Mother. As for who they hated the most, there was probably no one else except Gaston, Duke of Orleans. "He will stay in Blois forever," the king said calmly, "hold him ambition until death. "

"That's exactly what I expected," said the Queen Mother.

"Then please tell me," asked the king, "why do you intercede for the Duke of Beaufort?" He didn't even notice him, but Bishop Mazaran gave him some reminders before he recorded this person in the pamphlet.

"Because he gave some help." The Queen Mother said that at that time she was just "Anne of Austria", overwhelmed by the Medici Queen Mary and Bishop Richelieu. At that time, she had only a few Several loyal supporters, the Duke of Beaufort was one of them, but after the death of Louis XIII, she began to work together with the bishop of Mazarin. For whatever reason, the Duke of Beaufort refused to believe this "despicable In the end, Queen Mother Anne had no choice but to allow Mazarin to throw the Duke of Beaufort into Vincennes, where the Prince of Condé and the Duke of Longueville were later imprisoned. After the acting prince took control of Paris, the Duke of Beaufort was released, and then he sided with Prince Condé without hesitation.

So he can only be said to be a reckless hapless ghost.

But obviously Queen Mother Anne still remembers a little affection between them, and the king doesn't mind meeting his mother's little request. Anyway, he didn't write down the names of these people to execute them. On the contrary, these are experienced and Generals with outstanding military talents, Louis wrote them down so that he would not let himself accidentally hang or chop off someone's head. He was so envious of Oliver Cromwell because of this, if he also had eleven generals...

Bishop Mazarin also had this consideration. Although the relationship between the Duke of Beaufort and him was a bit... poor, he told the king that the Duke of Beaufort had a lot of experience in naval warfare, so the king immediately remembered him. in the brochure.

In fact, there are some names that were seldom known before in the pamphlet, such as Fouquet, such as Colbert, such as Schaumberg, and the Duke of Mortmar, who was completely unknown to Louis. It was a surprise, he had never thought that such a person would be able to perfectly fulfill his request - because he needed a person of high status to do the spy work, not only that, but he also had to gain the trust of Prince Condé, Sow dissension and encourage lobbying, so that Prince Kong Dai will obediently act according to the king's arrangement.

Not to mention the out-of-the-ordinary outlandish order in the Place de la Bastille... The Duke of Mortemal may not have understood the king's intentions at all, but he did it anyway and succeeded, so the first thing the king thought of was to bring him back to himself as soon as possible If there is an accident around him, he will definitely regret it.

But today the Duke of Mortmar came to bid farewell to the king, and the king can fully understand this. After all, when he was newly married, he was sent by him to work with the Prince of Condé. He gave the Duke a generous reward, but these are fundamental Nothing could compare to those shapeless rewards—the King left the Duke of Mortemart an important post, a room at Versailles, and a fief reserved—for his future heir.

This made the Duke of Mortmar very grateful, and he swore to the king that he would return to the king as soon as possible, or that the king could call him whenever he needed it.

They met Varo Vesalius in the corridor.