I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 24 Red Kids Market

Now that it was settled, the itinerary for the next day was quickly handed over to Cardinal Mazarin. He carefully checked the king's letter, not so much to identify the truth as to underestimate it. After reading the king's application and proficiency in the letter, he wrote directly below the letter: I respectfully obey the order. Signed his name under this sentence, and then attached a note to his mercenary leader, instructing him to dispatch a hundred strong and beautiful young men to take charge of the Queen Mother, the King and the King's brother tomorrow. For the safety of people, each person can get a stipend of one gold louis.

Before sending this letter, he sent a credible clergyman to invite the presiding judge of the Inquisition (Paris court) to come to him, and he exchanged a thousand gold louis for the presiding judge's promise that tomorrow There will never be a werewolf or a vampire in the streets of Paris - this Mr. Elarius, very young, with slender brown eyes and a laugh like a fox, watched one by one. He took out the gold coins that were squeezed in the small box, and mentioned as if nothing had happened, that he had received another letter from Mr. Majdalcini yesterday, in which he had already become the representative of God's agent. People - Mr. Majdalcini "quite" disapproved of the Inquisition's ambiguous gesture towards the French royal family, and urged them to withdraw from Paris as soon as possible, until Mr. Mazarin was willing to agree to their request and no longer protect Urban VIII the Barberini family, expel them from Paris.

But even to thank Urban VIII for his promotion, Bishop Mazarin would not do this, not to mention that he has already received a considerable gift from the Barberini family, and France is not afraid of Innocent Tenth, the only thing he miscalculated was that the church took advantage of the riots in Paris and urgently summoned the presiding judge of the Inquisition, so that the king and his party were attacked by a group of Serbian werewolves, but fortunately there was Mazaran in the inquisition at that time. One of the bishop's cards is—that is, Mr. Elario.

Mr. Elarius was originally just a small clerk in the Paris court. His ability to act beyond his authority was not unrelated to becoming the presiding judge and Mr. Mazarin's full support. As for the original presiding judge, since he was willing to obey the Pope's edict, he Stay in Rome forever, don't go back to Paris.

But what needs to be solemnly stated is that although Mr. Eralio and Bishop Mazarin stand on the same side, official affairs still need to be done in public. After all, people in the world have also reminded Eralio that he cannot be as much as the previous presiding judge. The earth is inclined to the world, whether it is the Holy Father or the bishop - Mazarin is quite disapproving of this, but for him, things that can be solved with Luis are not things, and this also facilitates Elari to show goodwill to the people of the inner world. .

   "Do you have enough wheat?"

   "Enough is enough," Elarius said, "or you can give us some more grease."

The bishop nodded: "Take it." He said, "I will let the merchants come to you." Although Erael was young, he never revealed too much about the world to him, just like he never would Answering questions about wheat, they are always vague about other materials, lest Mr. Bishop guess how much power they still have in the inner world, but they have always been very welcome to King Louis, although Mazarin's spies Have not seen any marked coin in circulation.

After getting a satisfactory answer, Elaho left immediately, without showing how close he was to Mr. Bishop. After he left, the vice-bishop of the church, Les, came to visit immediately. Speaking of which, this guy is really shameless. , he stood on their side when the people were rioting, and when the king returned to Paris, he showed his loyalty to the royal family again, and he frequently visited the Queen Mother Anne, trying to persuade her to replace Mazarin. s position.

If it wasn't for the king's firm opposition, maybe he would have succeeded. Looking at that old face that was even uglier than himself, Bishop Mazarin wanted to open the drawer several times and write Archdeacon Reis to Prince Condé. The letter from Gaston, Duke of Orleans, was thrown in his face, but later he suppressed his anger and politely sent him away. In addition, he also reminded Archdeacon Reis that the king was interested in rebuilding Dürer. The matter of the Ligong Chapel, of course, is very pious, and the vice-bishop can't turn a blind eye or listen to it.

   So the king unexpectedly received two bills of exchange, one from the bishop of Mazarin, worth a thousand louis, and one from the archdeacon of Reis, worth 1,500 louis.

In this way, what he has to do will become simpler. Of course, these bills of exchange will not be replaced with bread, which will only satisfy those wheat merchants who are hoarding strange things. The king handed this matter to Mr. Fouquet, the prisoner. Mr. Political Officer, once again got a chance to prove himself, he will exchange the money for the most coarse grains such as oats, rye, peas, etc. Everyone who is willing to come to the chapel to work can get the grain directly.

What made him regret was that although the king relied heavily on him, he also gave Jean-Baptiste Colbert a chance. Yes, it was the small businessman who provided the king with horses. His task was to be more than rich. Kay is far more dangerous and difficult, because he is going to Italy to buy as much corn as possible, a crop that is also grown in France, but not very familiar to the citizens of Paris, and for this reason its price is still high. Not carried up by unscrupulous businessmen.

The king stood at the window and watched Colbert ride his horse away from Richelieu's house. At first, he cautiously followed the horse on foot. When he reached the corner of the street, he couldn't help but jumped on the horse excitedly and galloped quickly. , but no, a businessman like this can only be fortunate enough to see the faces of the nobles when he is guarding the gate, but he has already entered the room and served the king like those noble adults.

"Better don't let me down," muttered Louis. The bishop and the queen mother disapproved of the king's appointment of Colbert, because he was not even as good as Nicolas Fouquet, whose grandfather, father and himself were kings The supervisor, that is to say, can barely be regarded as a "robed nobleman", although such a status can be hereditary by paying the "Polekin" annual tribute to the king every year, which is different from the one who obtained the title by blood and merit. "Saber Noble" is completely incomparable, but it is better than an ordinary accompanying merchant.

It is not easy to convince them, and it is conceivable that if Colbert fails to do a good job, it will be very difficult for Louis to promote someone else. In this case, Mr. Colbert has not only lost his reputation There might even be a noose waiting for him.

Today the king goes to bed a little later than usual, but still earlier than most of the people in the court, just like now, the bell of Notre Dame has struck five times, the citizens have all gone to bed, and the court The night has just begun. If there is no dance, then the Queen Mother Anne and the ladies must be gambling. There is very little entertainment in this era. Louis has also thought about whether he can come up with some games to squeeze the gambling position, but in the future he will What he might have to do, he put it down gently again.

And just when he was about to go to bed, his dormitory chief and first attendant Bontang also came back. As usual, he was going to supervise the sleeping conditions of his younger brother Philip, Princess Henrietta and Miss Marie Mancini. If they still stay in places other than the dormitory, Bontang will read the king's edict to them, asking them to go back to sleep immediately. Although in her mind, when children go to bed is not worth caring, they are not commoners who need to get up early to work or stingy candles, but she is happy to see that the king can take care of his brother.

   "Her Royal Highness Philip the Younger thanks and greets you, Her Royal Highness Princess Henrietta thanks and greets you...Miss Marie Mancini..."

  Louis waited for a long time without being able to say a word. He put on his long linen underwear, "What?"

  Bondon looked around and made sure that only the king and himself were there: "Miss Mancini wants me to bring you this, she said that putting this under the pillow will make you sleep well and energized..."

   Bontang's hesitation is not unreasonable, because what Marie Mancini gave him looks a lot like... some kind of curse tool.

It was the fruit of an oak tree, but it was dyed turquoise, the lower part was carved into the shape of a closed eye, the lids and eyeballs were clearly recognizable, inscribed with strange writing, and it was fixed on a silver base, The base was made into a raven's wings.

  The king sighed softly. "It's just a little girl's whim," he said. "Bontang, give it to me."

He took the acorn from Bontang, who was still hesitant, and put it under the pillow before the head of the palace said anything. Sure enough, he slept very well that night, and he suspected that he was not there. Turned over in sleep.

  Bontang opened the window, and the fresh and cold air rushed into the room immediately, and there was a transparent and bright golden morning light.

At this time, there were at least two bells before the Queen Mother woke up. Farmers, citizens and traders had already appeared on the streets. The king had a simple breakfast to complete his two courses—fencing and dancing. In the dance class, brother Philip was his dance partner. When he was in fencing, brother Wang was going to try on new clothes. After the class, he added a portion of cheese in the bathtub, and he was with Wang brother in the small room outside the Queen Mother's bedroom. Waiting in the reception room, the Queen Mother finished dressing and dressing in about an hour and a half. At this time, the bell rang for the third time, and it was noon, but for the Queen Mother, it was still for the purpose of going to the meeting. A day in the city and deliberately getting up early.

After the Queen Mother watched the Mass, of course, their lunch was still served in Richelieu's house. Although hundreds of years later, people are more keen to taste delicious food while shopping, but at this time, the Paris market is more of a Mostly chalk and sawdust, and unleavened bread; sour wine mixed with filthy river water; roast duck made of mud;

When a group of people finally left the Richelieu House in a mighty manner, the sunlight was slightly skewed. Fortunately, the Red Children's Market that Mr. Bishop chose for them was not far from the Richelieu House. This market was built. In the time of Louis XIII, it was large and neat, and the excrement on the road was not too high. There were three or four jewelry and silk shops worth visiting, as well as copper shops, bakeries and pottery and toy workshops. , in the square of the street, there are fruit and vegetable stalls and livestock dealers, and further back, near the Seine, is the fish market, because it takes a lot of water to process the fish, and there are piles of fish skins, fish scales, and fish entrails that need to be thrown away , Mr. Bishop did not advise the king to go there, because the stench there can be suffocating.

   Then you throw this suffocating **** into the Seine and continue to fetch water in it?

Fortunately, Bishop Mazarin would not be stupid to drink this kind of water. He, the royal family, and some important officials all drink the spring water sent from Fontainebleau. The original meaning of Fontainebleau is "Beauty Spring". Paris was about fifteen leagues, and every morning water was brought to Richelieu's house by carriage, and even the water for the king's baths came from here—so that the price of water would have already surpassed that of milk, of course Louis knew that, but he could also As if he didn't know, his frequent bathing was not just for cleaning, but also for health. After all, the medical method at this time was still equivalent to murder.

Of course, it was impossible for the king and the nobles to walk. They rode in open-top carriages, escorted by musketeers and mercenaries, to the red children's market. ran out of the building, bowed to the king under the command of a priest, and shouted long live the king.

"These are the children of the Orphanage of Santa Maria." Fouquet saw the king's bewildered look, and hurriedly leaned over and said: "They always wear red cloaks, so the market here is called red. Children's Market."

It seems that the eldest of these children is only the size of the king's younger brother Philip. The king stretched out his hand to Fouquet, and Fouquet immediately took out the money bag, and the king took out a large Egyptian house in it and handed it over to the carriage. A musketeer by the side: "Go and make the priest a bowl of cabbage soup with cheese and butter for the children."

The musketeer immediately complied, and the king returned the purse to Fouquet, who seemed eager to compliment the king's mercy, but the market had already arrived, and the king was caught by a loud clamor. , looking at the light golden back of the head that the king left for him, the robed noble had to shut his mouth angrily.

   (end of this chapter)