I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 274 King Louis I of Poland! (3)

John II, no, Brother John was allowed to stay by the king's side, and he had the honor of being at the same long table as the king at the banquet, even if he was the last, but just look at the restless Poles, and they must think of Louis Fourteen may want to support John II to become King of Poland again - as far as Anzia knows, there are three great nobles who have accepted bribes no less than his. Victory in the election would not be stingy with the money in his hands. As far as he knows, Prince Condé even sold his estate and castle on the east side of Paris.

They murmured and thought it was done very secretly, but even Friar John could see it clearly, he was used to these Schlachta stances when he was King of Poland, and now he feels a bit of sadness and emptiness—he It was not Louis XIV's order to come to Versailles, but that he heard that the Ottoman Turks were attacking Poland, so he wanted to come and beg the French king to send troops.

At this banquet, the king treated him very favorably. Brother John estimated that it was also because Prince Kongdai became the new king of Poland that the king became more and more afraid of this distant relative. He was used to a quiet life. The Prince was also a valiant warrior, and perhaps it would be a good thing for him to be King of Poland - he moved the cup to his lips and wondered if he should leave Versailles sooner and go back to the Abbey of St. Martin in Neville.

  The Poles were so worried that they could hardly eat them, but these troubles soon disappeared in the long-sleeved dance of Mrs. Montespan.

  The people in the French court have the sharpest eyes and the most sensitive ears. The lady of the royal family is also an important position. Those who occupy it are incompetent and will be regarded as corpses. That's right, I'm talking about the two royal ladies before the king. If Marie Mancini people can bear it, because she didn't officially get this title, then Madame Lavalier will let everyone in the court. intolerable.

   As the king's first royal wife, she was supposed to abide by her duties - that is, she must be young and beautiful, elegant, and able to sing and dance, and have a certain literary quality. She will serve as the mouthpiece of the king—in some occasions and situations where the king is not suitable to speak, she will also be a bridge, introducing some ardent foreign ministers to the king, she will become the first person to lead the court fashion, and become the French The most gorgeous dress.

But for reasons we all know, Madame Lavalier was used more by the king as a spy and an assassin. No one in the court knew about it. They only knew that the king's royal wife was a foreigner and only one of the officers. Female, frail, overly religious (she often "praying" in church for long periods of time), plain and monotonous, and most unforgivably, her face was not to the liking of the French at this time, even until the last year. Give birth to a healthy son for the king. Due to this, the departure of Madame Lavalier did not cause much disturbance, and the people in the court could be said to welcome Madame Montespan with joy.

Of course, Madame de Montespan was first and foremost French, although it was pointed out that her mother's resume was falsified - but the Queen Mother admitted that the Duchess of Mottemar had indeed been her maid at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and people were There was nothing to say; she had a well-to-do marriage, was a marquise, qualified to serve queens and kings; she was young, fertile, and radiant when she had done her duty.

Passionate about sponsoring all the artists she deems desirable, she also composes music, writes poetry and paints herself, and her salon is constantly lit with candles, where countless talented people expect an invitation - where they can get Expensive sponsorship, like-minded friends and a most cherished promise - as long as Mrs. Montespan thinks you have this value, she will take you directly to the king. And the king did accept almost everyone who was recommended to him by his royal wife.

Some of these people were sent by him to the Academy of Sciences, which is now in need of young blood, where the youngest Mr. Pascal is already fifty years old, and Fermat, Dezag, and most famously, Mr. Descartes. They are old, their minds are still very flexible, but they are no longer able to carry out experiments; some go to Lorraine and Alsace, branches of the French Academy of Sciences, courses and projects on chemical research and alchemy are always there There is a shortage of manpower; some go to Orleans and Blois, where the hospital and medical care system have already formed a prototype, and any doctor or student who is willing to re-learn, rather than blindly guanchang, bleed, or iron a soldering iron, can Get a seat there. The only thing that made the courtiers and nobles slightly criticized was that when the royal lady recommended these people, she did not look at their origin or even nationality. Among them, there were sons of magistrates, descendants of farmers, or sons of merchants. , There are French, Italians, and Englishmen. The king is very indulgent to her, not only accepting her referrals - for every person she recommends, he will also reward her with a precious jewel.

This undoubtedly made a lot of people red-eyed, especially those ladies who were surrounded by the queen dowager and queen. They were different from ministers and were staring at the new royal lady almost all the time, hoping that she could do something. Wrong, so as to disappoint the king and lose His Majesty's favor. It's a pity that things backfired. Although this lady is also a native of the province, she seems to have been born in Versailles and grew up in Versailles. No matter what happens, she can easily solve it, and the solution is easy, whether it is a temptation, a prank or an accident. Conspiracy - and several times later, the inner chambers, who may have been harsher than the ladies, said that Mrs. Montespan had a level of determination and insight that women in general did not have.

   This is not surprising, after all, Mrs. Montespan's two teachers are her two fathers. She thinks and judges from a different standpoint on many issues.

Just like these Poles, if they change to a royal lady, she may be cautious not to have too much contact with these foreign envoys, or she may just want to make a lot of money from it, but since I heard that Prince Condé and After the Duke of Orleans was bribing these people, she was sure of Louis XIV's thoughts - he did not want to destroy his former enemy, the Prince of Condé, or rather, the Sun King preferred to remain in the shadow of his youth. Let the light of the Bourbon family shine on another distant and weak country.

   She immediately made a decision to let these envoys fall completely for her, her majesty and Versailles. Paralyzing them, bribing them, and letting them utterly degenerate in spirits, honey, and soft embraces - thinking of this, she couldn't help showing a beautiful smile that couldn't even be described in words, a smile that could make the French forgive her. For every reckless and shallow introduction before, not to mention those Polish envoys.

We have mentioned before that Henry III also served as the king of Poland. A hundred years ago, the Poles also sent twelve noble envoys led by cavalry and servants to greet him. At that time, Henry III's sister, also It was the wife of the King of Navarre, Princess Margaret, or by another more familiar name—Queen Margot, who was young and good-looking because she had a really bad relationship with Henry III. , so she was also very keen to send her second brother to Poland to be the king, and the two never saw each other.

She greeted the envoys with great joy—the Polish envoys were full of praise for Queen Margot's face, figure and dress, and even more so when she responded to the bishops in the embassy in Latin. For "the eloquent Minerva (the Roman goddess of wisdom.

Perhaps there is a compliment in this statement, but to put it bluntly, the Poles see the Tatars as savages, and the Parisians see the Poles as savages, a hundred years ago, and a hundred years later, they simply cannot imagine. There is still a woman as perfect as Mrs. Montespan - although she can't compare with Queen Margot in identity, but she can recite the latest poems in Latin and even speak Polish - Polish in the sixteenth. The system was only formed in the 20th century, but she was able to communicate with Polish envoys without hindrance.

After the king and queen led the dance, they danced with Mrs. Montespan three times in a row. Then, Mrs. Montespan happily accepted the invitation of Anzia, the head of the Polish embassy. A fragrant breeze, dexterous birds or dancing in a bright stream of light, he simply did not know where he was, why he came, and even forgot all earthly troubles, including his mission and name.

   The other members of the mission were also surprised to find that they were suddenly popular. Although the ladies could not invite the gentlemen to dance, how could these smart people fail to understand their cues? After dancing for more than an hour in a row, they were sweating and exhausted. They drank a lot of sweet and refreshing sparkling wine in one breath. Sparkling wine is no different from spring water in the mountains.

Mrs. Montespan saw them drinking and took them to the gaming table - for a group of people who were not good at calculating, the complicated card game cost them money in no time, Montespan The lady saw them and took them to play dice, which seemed to be a game that required luck, but in fact their opponent was also arranged by Mrs. Montespan, they won first, and then started again. Continuing to lose, at this time one or two people have become a little sober, they walked to the pool table, hoping to use this game to pass the next time, but they did not know that in the palace, any game is to bet on , they still lost a lot of money.

In the end, the surroundings finally calmed down, and they were horrified to discover that each of them had probably lost hundreds or even thousands of livres. Poland is a vast plain, except for exporting rye, wheat, barley, and oats. There are almost no other trade items outside. Even a big noble like Anzia can buy one of their votes for 50,000 livres. This money is not unaffordable for them, but it is also It can make them sad for a while.

But just after they returned to their room dejectedly, they found a velvet purse on their bed, which contained twice as much gold and louis as they owed tonight, the Poles were excited and surprised. They guessed at first that the man might be Prince Condé, but Anzia sniffed the purse and determined that it was very similar to that of Madame Montespan.

It’s fine if it’s someone else, but these gentlemen are reluctant to owe a debt to such a living Venus, but when Anzia was fortunate enough to visit this lady alone, the lady introduced him with a smile. Duke of Orleans. No one knows what the Duke of Orleans talked about with the descendant of Oborlinski, but after that, the people of the Polish embassy began to lose control and splurge and enjoy themselves everywhere.

What makes Louis laugh is that the Duke of Orleans seems to have given the Poles a lot of bribes, but these bribes have either turned into chips at the gambling table, wine and gourmet food, or jewelry, silk and china, glassware, And most of these things came from the royal territories. The Poles took the bribes in the left hand and returned them to the king and duke in the right hand.

Many of them still owe a lot of money before they left, no, not only them, but also those servants and winged cavalry, although they are not eligible to enter Versailles, but they are also indulged in all kinds of pleasures , almost unable to extricate themselves.

   "I must say that I am very grateful to you," Anzia said excitedly to Mrs. Montespan. "I almost made a big mistake."

"Oh, sir, you mustn't say that, you are a generous man, and those knights are good lads to be commended," said Mrs. Montespan, shaking her fan gently: "and I have yours too. return."

"It's just some wheat and rye." Anzia waved his hands indifferently, Poland's Schlachta occupies 70 to 80 percent of the country's arable land, and it is not farmers but serfs who cultivate for them. That is to say, they only need to keep the meager soybeans and wheat that the poor people can barely survive. All the output can be said to be theirs. Mrs. Montespan does not even ask for it, but buys wheat, so that Even the fifty villages under Anzia's name can meet his demands, not to mention his family.

The other members of the embassy also heard the good news. It was easy for them to use part of the harvest next year and the year after to pay off the debts they owed at Versailles. They praised Madame Montespan for her beauty and kindness, and Secretly laughing at her stupidity, because if she went directly to Poland to buy wheat, it would cost much less than what they owed.

What they didn't know was that just the day after they left Versailles with Prince Condé and his eldest son, Madame de Montespan received the king's reward - a small palace at the end of the Grand Canal, known as Thea farmers.

   I wanted to write a chapter today, but I didn’t finish it…

   (end of this chapter)