I Am Louis XIV

Here we must first mention the Treaty of Westphalia. The premise of the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia was that the Franco-Swiss Alliance defeated the army of the Holy Roman Empire in the Battle of Smashausen and the Battle of Reims—although France is the victor, and Alsace and Lorraine have almost become the actual occupied territories of France. However, since the death of Louis XIII, the successive riots and rebellions in France have indeed affected Bishop Mazarin. France is now truly in power. Therefore, after several consultations, Philip IV of the Holy Roman Empire decided to sell Alsace to the French for three million livres, among whom he was already sick, A relationship that is not long in life.

"And unfortunately," said the Bishop, "Philip IV's eldest son Baltasar left this sinful world eight years ago, and now he has only two daughters. It is difficult to say that his queen, your aunt Elizabeth Can he still have a son? If he can, he needs a large sum of money to ensure that his son can be elected as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The electors have always had a big appetite, and a few hundred thousand livres can't satisfy it. them."

"If not?"

"Even if he doesn't, he still needs money, Your Majesty, you know, although in the Holy Roman Empire, the princes fought each other in the name of Protestantism and Oldism, in fact, just like you, their real purpose is to fight for more territories and It’s all about power, of course Philip IV can’t fail to notice this, so he needs more soldiers, more equipment and more supplies—to fight against those alliance members with ulterior motives.”

"The Protestant League and the Catholic League," Louis said. "The emperor is on the side of the Catholic Church, but it seems that his enemies are not only from different beliefs-and what do you mean he is like me?"

The bishop gave the king a knowing smile, and Louis glanced back at him. I really don't know how the cardinal, who is married to wizards, can so righteously accuse others of not being pious.

"Well," said the Bishop, "now we have a problem, Your Majesty, we have been procrastinating for six years, and we may not be able to procrastinate any longer. Our shortfall is about two million livres."

Two million livres was as light as a feather to Louis ten years later, but to the current king, it was as heavy as a mountain. The property worth 100,000 livres was exchanged for the ownership of 2,000 acres of land in the Versailles area, which was used to accommodate more and more refugees—as well as repairing roads, opening up new land, and allocating various equipment, livestock, and building materials. For the fee, the king promised them the right to use the roads and some buildings here-in the next ten years, they can ride horses on the roads of Versailles, and they can also open hotels or shops here. Fortunately, this is Versailles - a barren place full of swamps and dense forests, and there is not much use for it other than hunting. If it were Paris, the king's promise would never be approved by Queen Mother Anne and Bishop Mazarin.

But in addition to the 100,000 livres, the king is afraid that he will have more extra income for the time being, but it is absolutely impossible to give up Alsace, not to mention the fact that the French lost money in Alsace and Lorraine. The military expenditure and life of Fei, the unique position of Alsace alone - it itself lies between France and the Holy Roman Empire, if the Holy Roman Empire wants to do something to France, it is the best outpost, let alone France If you want to do something to the Holy Roman Empire, it is an indispensable stronghold. Now Philip IV of the Holy Roman Empire is worried about the looming split state within the empire, and he is powerless, so he decides to abandon Alsace. It is hard to say, if they have not fulfilled the agreement in the treaty for a long time, what will happen in the end.

"Approximately how much income do I have now?"

It stands to reason that Louis' current income should be considerable. After all, since the Capet dynasty, the royal family has owned 14 palaces, 35 castles, and 1,450 real estates. The king is the lord of those places. , the right to take away their taxes and tribute; there are also twenty-six regional bishops, and the right to appoint sixty-seven royal abbots-the beautiful man Philip snatched it from the Roman Church, so if there are If the great nobles want their children to become bishops, they must pay a series of huge fees to the king, not the pope, and in order to ensure that their status will not be shaken, the bishops also have to offer precious gifts and three cents. One-quarter or one-quarter tithes.

And people know that when it comes to wine and produce, there is nothing better than monastery produce, and these have a part of the king.

Moreover, the king also has the right to mint coins. If the trick between the gold louis, the silver crown and the copper liard is played well, what could be more profitable than this transaction?

In addition, like the priesthood, the positions of officials can also be bought and sold. In addition to the cost of purchasing official positions, officials also have an annual tribute to the king. Polekin.

And the court controlled by the king, in many cases, also used money to open the way, and the result was bribed. It is said that there is an income of nearly 100,000 livres every year.

Originally, the king of France was like the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was said to be the most noble and supreme ruler, but he was only a relatively powerful one among the princes. However, during the Hundred Years' War, France fell into a precarious situation many times, so the French said that they must have a strong leader, but such a leader People can’t get it just by talking about it. War devours not only human life, but the wealth created by human beings is the biggest consumption. Therefore, the three-level parliament has to make concessions to the king on taxation matters again and again. By the time of Charles VII, such concessions had become a complete compromise, and the king was able to collect taxes in peacetime to ensure that France always had a solid and reliable standing army.

The problem is that such an optimistic situation was rare even during the time of Louis XIII. In name, the royal family should have an annual income of 50 million livres, but in fact it would be good to get 10 million livres. Moreover, with the decline of the royal power, disputes continued, this number is still shrinking, and the ten million livres do not belong to the king alone, almost all of the operation of the territory, the salary of the army, and the salaries of the officials come from it. .

Louis really wanted to pull up his trouser pocket to see if he could get a golden louis out of it—of course, this was just a joke, the most difficult time had passed, it was just the cost of ruling a country, compared to a person, Even a family is so heavy and huge that Louis dare not even think about it in detail. Now he is almost envious of the monarchs on the other side of the ocean, because they can confiscate the ministers or relatives at will. Family property, but for France, and even the entire Catholic world, a king who does this will only be attacked by his subjects, even if that subject has committed an unforgivable sin-to recover the territory, he must pass Transactions and discussions, just like the former Duke of Sedan.

And such opportunities are rare. Especially for members of the royal family, like the rebellious Prince Conti, he is still His Royal Highness, and as far as Louis knows, Bishop Mazarin is still seeking a marriage between him and one of his nieces, Prince Conte fled to Spain , Philip IV (who was also the king of Spain), made him his general and granted Luxembourg to him, but his territories and assets in France still belonged to him, and even if he died, the assets would not Will be succeeded by his son, now the Duke of Enghien, and the king will take at most an inheritance tax.

"I can raise half a million livres here." The cardinal said voluntarily. Louis knew that the bishop's private property was far more than this figure, but he could understand—if the bishop gave an astonishing figure, or directly To make up for this shortfall (although there is also a contribution from him), what he got may not be gratitude but deeper fear, "I will ask my mother to raise part of it on my behalf," Louis said: "Of course, you, and the Queen Mother's money It will be recorded as a loan, and I will return it together with reasonable interest when the treasury is full."

"I think the Queen Mother should also be able to get this figure." The cardinal said: "Then we are still short of one million livres."

Louis thought of someone, "Where is the Duchess of Montpensier?" The Duchess of Montpensier spent 200,000 livres to repair a castle, and her annual income was around 500,000 livres , It shouldn't be difficult for her to come up with a year's income.

Mazaran slightly frowned his thick eyebrows, and he looked extraordinarily dignified when doing this: "Then she will definitely ask to return to the court."

"If it's just this request, I'm not worried at all." Although the queen mother hated the girl who was raised by her, but ruthlessly betrayed the king and her, for them political animals, the court may not be No room for a Duchess of Montpensier: "I think she'll ask us to pardon her father."

"She really has a deep affection for her father."

"Unfortunately not as good as Kong Dai."

This sharp sarcasm made Mr. Bishop smile, "Then what are you going to do?"

"I want one to go to the Duchess of Montpensier, no, wait, maybe not one, but two."

"You've got me curious."

"A man who is very good at dealing with women, and a shrewd businessman." The king looked at the sky outside the window, "Bontang, call me d'Artagnan and Colbert."

Long live the 70th anniversary of the National Day!