I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 239 Amsterdam! (3)

Viscount Turenne later served as the governor of the three new western provinces of France for twenty-five years. When he was in his eighties, he was summoned by the king and returned to Paris. Not to mention Dutch, envoys of almost all countries except France have persuaded him to lead these three provinces to become independent from France. He is the grandson of Orange, yes, but the Netherlands does not strictly enforce it. Primogeniture system, that is to say, after all male descendants die, female descendants can inherit the territories and titles of Orange. If Viscount Turenne is willing, not to mention his three existing provinces, even Orange's All Utrechts of William III were also willing to honor him as King of the Netherlands, but Viscount Turenne never wavered.

Later, when he returned to Paris, and when he saw the king who had grown more calm and wise in the past twenty years, but had not seen the old and fainting king, he suddenly understood, as early as twenty-five years ago, the night before they conquered Amsterdam, he understood Now... the king is a mad and daring gambler who doesn't give the slightest thought that if his offensive in Holland is thwarted, loans to merchants in the name of the royal family will immediately become a mountain on his back, best case scenario Yes, from the king down, all the French will suffer because of this defeat; at worst, once the French people can't bear the pain, they will pour all their anger on the king, Louis maybe Will become another Charles I, who will pay the people's hopes for him with his head and blood.

On the other hand, as long as Louis XIV can completely conquer Flanders and Holland, the wealth plundered from these two sheep with golden fleece can not only repay the loan, but also make every The French benefited from it, just like the former Spaniards and the British, these two countries can be said to have gradually become powerful with the blood of the Low Countries. After the independence of the Netherlands, Amsterdam became the financial and economic center of the world. The merchants took the bonds and notes from the Dutch stock exchange, but left the gold and silver in the basement of the Bank of Amsterdam - once the king's army broke through Amsterdam, these are all trophies. The trophies do not need to be returned or publicized. They will become the most solid cornerstone under the throne of Louis XIV.

From that moment on, Viscount Turenne deeply understood how the king was determined to win the Netherlands. As the first gem set in the scepter, the Netherlands played an extremely important role not only economically and militarily for Louis XIV , in a political sense, it is no trivial matter. How could Louis easily abandon such an area?

Twenty-five years ago, when France was only a "newborn" who was slowly recovering from internal and external troubles, his king dared to launch a national war. Twenty-five years later, France has become a When a huge empire can defend a long coastline, a vast territory, and countless colonies at the same time, some people imagine the independence of the Netherlands?

   Thinking of this, Viscount Turenne would laugh out loud, even breaking one of his own ribs, no, he would never betray his king! Betray his country!

He will go back to Paris and spend the rest of his life in peace in the mansion bestowed by the king, or in his suite at Versailles, and when he dies, he will rest in peace with his close friends, his colleagues, and his relatives. Cathedral of St. Denis.

  ———

Louis did not expect that his actions would cast such a deep shadow on Viscount Turenne. In history, there are not a few kings who borrowed money from merchants because of wars, even if only in the history of France - Philip I, Louis VII, Louis IX (also known as St. Louis) and Philip II borrowed money from merchants because of the Crusades. In 1494, Charles VIII borrowed money from Genoese because of the invasion of Italy, and the interest on the loan was up to 100%. One hundred (annual interest rate), when Duke Charles of Burgundy wanted to be independent, King Louis of France also borrowed from bankers, consolidated allies, bought enemies - but mortgaged the palace, or mortgaged Fontaine, second only to the Louvre. At the White House, Louis XIV was the first.

As Louis told the Viscount Turenne, he was helpless. Generally speaking, merchants borrowed from the king, and the collateral they demanded was usually the tax of the state, and the monopoly of waterways, military supplies or bulk goods, or Export rights, colonial management rights, mineral mining rights, currency casting rights, etc., many chaebols in Italy suddenly prospered in this way, but Louis could not let the military supply, and he was unwilling to let the merchants control the French taxation (the previous stone throwing). This is why the party movement started), and he is even more reluctant to give up the mining rights of minerals and the right to mint coins, so there are too few things he can mortgage - but Fontainebleau can, as soon as he hears that the king is willing to mortgage maple Fontainebleau, these merchants suddenly became generous. No, Fontainebleau does not mean much to the merchants, but even if Louis was beheaded by the people like Charles I, the kings and governments after him would also Buy it back at all costs...

But now it seems that Louis's head can stay on his neck for decades, Fontainebleau is only briefly held in the hands of the merchant in the contract, and there is only time to worry about the battle of Amsterdam - even if The Dutch gathered the remaining land army, that is, more than 8,000 people in Amsterdam, and they were also unable to resist the muskets and artillery of the French king. Even their last trump card was to destroy the sea dikes and make Amsterdam an ocean. In this way, to stop the French invasion, and even, perhaps, the conspiracy to thwart the French army, has been leaked to the king's messenger, La Rochefort, by a naive and ignorant, no, it should be said, arrogant woman. Duke of Co.

   "Bondon," he called.

  Bontang appeared immediately, "Your Majesty, what's the matter?"

"Go and invite Mme. Lavalier to my bedroom," said the king, and Bontang took the lead. After a few minutes, Mme. Lavalier opened the door and walked in. She was one of the first few The genius was summoned to Narden by Louis. As soon as she came, as the first royal lady, she had the room closest to the king, but there was no joy on her face. She had followed the king for so many years, and they were the closest The behavior is nothing more than lying on the same bed, she doesn't know who to hate, the gentle but cruel king, the despicable Marie Mancini, or the self who is waiting for a glimmer of hope .

   "Sit down, Louise," said the king. After a moment of silence, Louis suddenly asked, "What did those Bohemian witches promise you back then?"

Madame Lavalier trembled slightly, but fortunately she was sitting on a chair at this time without a glass in her hand, so she didn't lose her composure—she thought that she was just... at least compared to Marie Mancini's reckless behavior, She just used the privilege of being a royal lady a little bit, or she thought that the king still had a little bit of affection for herself... It was just a small mistake, she thought so until the king went from Flanders to Back, no survivors of the Bohemian Witches follow...

She couldn't sit still any longer. She slipped down from the chair and knelt at the king's feet with her neck hanging down. Madame Lavalier was always criticized by the court for her too strong and neutral face, but she had The delicate snow-white slender neck, and some small curly hair scattered on the back of her neck, made her reveal a rare weakness.

   "Tell me, you know mine, Louise."

"They..." Louise said dryly. She knew that the king might forgive others for any sin that seemed unforgivable, but there was only one kind of sin he would never forgive, and that was lying or hiding from him. It's rare to execute someone for lying to him, but from now on, the person will never appear before him again: "They promised to give me a child."

"child?"

   "A healthy child, a human child."

   "You believe them?"

   "If there is another choice. Your Majesty."

  ... There was another silence, Madame Lavalier's current mood was like that of a criminal waiting to be sentenced.

"You know what?" said the king, "if they lie to you, or if something goes wrong, you are forcing me to kill my own children." He said softly and cruelly: "You know I like children. , from little Lucy, to little Louis, Elizabeth, and any child after me, whether their mother is Mary, you, or the queen, they are the fruit of my tree, though I No need to go through ten months of misery like you, but losing either one will make my heart bleed."

"And you, Louise," he said reproachfully, "I could have had a choice, and I let you choose, I can't give you a child, and you don't even want to believe me? I tell you Have you ever lied? Or never kept your promise?"

"No, you are a kind and good person." Madame Lavalier said mumly, and many people in the court were jealous of her, not only because she got the title and fief from the king, she The relatives of the royal family also got official positions and jobs. In addition, in the ten years after the king was in pro-government, she was the only woman favored by the king. Although there is usually only one wife of the royal family, the female relatives of the entire court are eager to To be able to get the love of the king.

Even her father, Clayland, often reproached Louise for her greed. They were not native French werewolves, but foreigners who had to emigrate from Serbia. Louis XIV, a mortal king, treated them well. His attitude was already lenient and benevolent, not to mention the rest, think of Charles II - but after so long, Madame Lavalier also realized that she wanted to have children for the king, not as good as her What she said was for her ethnic group, but out of jealousy in her heart, for the queen, for Mary, and even for her former master, Princess Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans.

The king did not continue talking, he turned his head to look out the window, the sun was shining outside, but his heart was as cold as a stone in the cold winter: "Well then," he said, "I am willing to give you this chance, even if it turns out that It may break my heart," he said, not looking at Madame Lavalier's suddenly raised face: "but instead, you have to do the work I have given you—Louis, first of all I have to say, This job is not difficult for you, but morally and emotionally, and even for the future existence of your people, it will be a huge and irreparable fault - you may die for decades to come. , in endless remorse... and I can't even give you much time to think."

   "Please speak... Your Majesty."

"Amsterdamians made a terrible decision to keep my army out of the city, and that is to break the sea **** when my army enters Amsterdam, and let Amsterdam re-submerge the sea, seasons like this , even if there is sunshine, the temperature of the sea will take the life and courage of the soldiers," said the king, "but they do not know that I have learned about it - and now I need you and your people to destroy this conspiracy."

   "Your Majesty..."

"It seems that you have also thought of it, yes, even if there is gunpowder, it is not so easy to destroy the embankment, there will be hundreds of people gathered on the embankment, they are just ignorant civilians, there are only their legends in the world Here, according to the laws of the inner world, werewolves, vampires or wizards can hunt them, but they cannot present the inner world so naked to them - you will be exposed to countless pairs of eyes and have nothing to hide." The king said: "I can't kill my soldiers for you, and I can't cover so many eyes. From that day, you must disappear or die. I can only promise you that you will receive A secret shelter for the royal family until the last werewolf dies."

   "Asylum or captivity?" Madame Lavalier asked, trembling.

   "It seems you have understood," the king said with a sigh, "Madame."

"Why not let the wizard do this?" Madame Lavalier asked again, full of anger, her pupils shrunk to a straight line in the sunlight: "Because you love Marie more, and her child?"

The king didn't show that she was on his mind, on the contrary, he glanced at Madame Lavalier reproachfully: "No, you guessed wrong, I can tell you, Louise, why are the werewolf, Not sorcerers," he said softly with the final verdict: "because, of course, sorcerers are more useful than you."

   He didn't even bother to lie to himself. After realizing this fact, Madame Lavalier was so stunned that she couldn't even make a sound.

"But if you and I had a normal human child," said Louis, "he would be legally recognized by me, and his last name would be Bourbon, and he would be born Mr. Duke, with a land, Flanders. Or in a royal domain other than France, he will have a prominent marriage, his wife is not a princess but also a princess, and his children will inherit the glory of the Sun King from generation to generation.

   He bowed his head, "This will be a big gamble for you and me, ma'am."

   (end of this chapter)