I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 288 The Amazing Journey of Anna Maria Luisa De Medici (2)

   The first impression of Paris on Anna of the Medici was that of countless people.

Anna was not loved by her mother, or in other words, none of the three children were loved by her mother, so she grew up under the mother of Cosimo III, her grandmother, which prevented her from being loved by Margo. Rita's bad influence has also lost all the innocence of a child - Cosimo III's mother is also an ambitious woman. When Cosimo III was a minor, she ruled Tuscany for him, and Cosimo III became an adult. She was quiet for a short time, but when Cosimo III lost interest in government affairs, she became the uncrowned king of Florence with great interest.

A grandmother like this, it is unlikely that Anna could expect much love from her, she grew up quietly in a monastery, where, in general, like many aristocratic women, she would stay until ten years. When she was four or fifteen, she was ready to marry, constantly passing from father to husband—but she was fortunate in that her fiancé was the most powerful country in Europa, and the king of France would not do it for himself Their daughters choose an incompetent husband, nor an incompetent wife for their sons—even if their marriages are more political than love.

After Louis XIV made a marriage contract with Teresa of Habsburg, he wrote a letter to let his wife know about himself, France, and the court, so that she would not be married to France. The queen mother was so unhappy and embarrassed - he used this method on his son's wife, because Cosimo III and the daughter of the Duke of Gaston, Louis' cousins, have already formed a de facto separation relationship. , but at this point, the French king's willingness to "recycle" their princesses can be said to be quite magnanimous, so he also gave in on the other side, which was to allow his daughters to be educated in Paris and Versailles instead of continuing Stay in a monastery in Rome.

Nominally, Anna accompanied her mother back to Paris and was introduced to Versailles, but then she would spend six years at the king's school, or more - but after that It's a matter of time, they are going to meet the king who is in the Louvre first.

Montmartre is not far from Paris, just because of some unspeakable flattery, the official in charge of receiving the princess took a motorcade to enter Paris from the Princesse Gate at the top left of the Louvre, although it is called the city gate, but The Queen's Gate is just an independent building in the style of the Arc de Triomphe. Although it is gorgeous, it has no practical effect. This will involve the reset of Paris by Louis XIV, because he does not intend to let Paris continue to be the political and military center of France. , then the original collapsed and decayed city walls of Paris are almost useless. Of course he can rebuild them, but now that the power of artillery is more and more amazing, the defensive role of the city walls is getting lower and lower, so the king's brother Philip finally put all the The walls were all demolished, and a wide boulevard was built around Paris.

This boulevard around the city is connected to the Queen's Boulevard behind the Queen's Gate, which surprised Anna and her entourage, because in this era, city walls and city gates not only defended against foreign enemies, but also distinguished the city from the countryside. But they recalled that the suburbs of Paris were almost not much different from the towns they knew, with the same neat roads and grounds, dense houses and crowds, but such a scene was even more obvious after entering the Queen's Gate. .

Queen's Boulevard is enough to allow four carriages to walk side by side, even so, whether it is horses, carriages and people, the speed of travel is still very slow, they can maintain order and continue to move forward, thanks to the clear demarcation of the sidewalk and carriageway , the rule of walking on the right and the cops appearing from time to time.

Anna's carriage was wrapped in it and moved forward at an almost wriggling speed, no different from those walking civilians. The princess' wet nurse couldn't help complaining, thinking that the officials who received them should take some measures. Anna's maid shook her head after watching for a while: "I don't think it is possible," she said, "I saw the carriage of the Duke and Marquis, not far from us."

"Are we..." The wet nurse asked hesitantly. She wondered if this embarrassing situation was deliberately caused by someone in the palace, but the lady official just waved her hand, "It should be just an accident." She saw a man from the carriage. Get up and down, untie a horse from the carriage, and ride away, which is faster than the carriage. But they couldn't do it, and it wasn't necessary, no matter how slow, they could reach the Louvre in an hour, and they would have an audience with the king tomorrow.

For Ana Medici, she was not angry or suspicious, it was the first time she had seen so many people, she was almost startled-they were walking next to each other, ruddy-faced, full of air, big Most were dressed in satin and velvet, and if not, were embellished with lace and ribbons. Many young or senior men wear royal blue, crimson, or white coats, and because of the epaulettes and straps, they can tell at a glance that they are serving the king - and some are strong and strong. The men's epaulettes have golden tassels hanging down, the broad waist is knotted and hung down from one side, the edges are also hung with tassels, and the dazzling medals are hung on the chest... Young Anna may not know what it means. But the maid beside her had already shown a meaningful smile, but after being glanced at by the female officer, she had to restrain herself for a while, but after a while, she couldn't help but look greedily again.

The female official also felt a little helpless. The Medici family cannot compare with the Habsburgs or Bourbons in terms of background. In the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, there are not many real noble ladies. There are not many choices for these maids. They follow the princess to Paris and Versailles. The most important thing is to rely on their appearance and generous dowry to win a husband for themselves - it is unlikely that a member of the royal family or a nobleman , but those nobles in robes, especially those who were promoted by the king because of the two wars, are still very likely to be upstarts in the army. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that these people have a bright future.

As for Anna of the Medici, although she is more calm than her peers, she is still a child after all. She has been completely attracted by the bright shop windows on both sides of the street. The new block supervised by Philip the Duke of Orleans for the king is all three One-story or four-story houses, the ground floor is full of shops, the second and third floors, and the attic for people, and because the king issued a temporary charter, allowing Parisians to have the greatest freedom during these fifty days, so each shop uses They go out of their way to try their best to attract customers. They either shout, or blow horns and bells, or make huge signs, or hang the goods directly outside the window, or let some flexible The kids run around distributing flyers, and some people hire wandering entertainers to perform magic tricks and burlesque, which has undoubtedly led to further congestion.

Without waiting for the police to drive away, someone in the crowd called out that things were stolen. Of course, this was also a carnival day for the thieves. Everyone was wearing their best clothes, jewelry, wigs and handkerchiefs. The officers also carried muskets and daggers... There were thieves who were caught, and some who didn't. The police were busy running around, and bystanders laughed with schadenfreude.

There are also scoundrels with ulterior motives, who put their hands into the woman's shawl, causing a scream. Similarly, being caught is a good beating, not caught, or caught, but that one. The lady doesn't care, then there may be a good thing, so it doesn't matter - the lady officer glanced at it, then stretched out her hand and pulled the curtain to cover the last gap.

   In short, "Too depraved, too depraved." Anna's wet nurse said while drawing a cross.

  The female official just smiled: "The Romans have no right to blame others."

   Nurse moved her lips disapprovingly, but still did not refute. The background of this lady is not very glorious. It is said that her father is a prisoner and her mother is the daughter of the warden. Although she is smart and agile, because of her beautiful appearance and almost no dowry, she found her when she was sixteen years old. A forty-two-year-old husband died a few years after marriage and left her with no children and little inheritance. This lady was able to live in Tuscany entirely by virtue of her outstanding talent and her husband's few contacts. The Grand Duke found a job there. At first she was just a nanny for the Grand Duke's eldest son, but her talent eventually caught the Grand Duke's attention. After the Grand Duke's eldest son no longer needed a nanny, the Grand Duke asked her to take care of his eldest daughter Anna. After all, no one expected the princess' mother to do anything.

  ———

   "Looks like we're going to start evacuating people three leagues from Paris," said the Duke of Orleans.

   "I didn't expect so many people." Louis said: "I thought I only had twenty million people."

"You have to be sympathetic to people's feelings," said the Duke of Orleans, biting the tip of his quill. "Although you held a victory banquet at Versailles, not everyone is eligible to enter the Palace of Versailles, and since you ascended the throne, there has been little The grand party is held in Paris - it is obvious that Paris is now much better than it used to be. The provincial people have long hoped to have a chance to see its beauty, and so do the Parisians, who have been worried that you have completely abandoned Paris, Be your king only at Versailles."

"And the French don't have to worry about a great famine these days," Colbert said contentedly: "Any businessman knows that when people are hungry, they don't even trade in wheat, but when people are hungry, You can sell even **** when you're full. You haven't had a tertiary council in twenty years, and you'd even rather sell Fontainebleau than keep raising taxes on the peasants, I've never seen Saint-Louis, But, Your Majesty, if someone pointed at you and said that this is Saint-Louis, I don't think anyone would object."

If it was ten years ago, Louis would have been embarrassed, but he is completely used to it now - the ministers of Paris and Versailles only occasionally compliment one or two, and the officials and priests of the provinces, if they can, can go on and on for a day. Being able to apply this ability to military or people's livelihood, Louis would not always be jealous of Oliver Cromwell.

"One more thing," Louis said to Colbert, "I intend to allow the residents of Paris to rent out their spare rooms during these fifty days." To accommodate so many guests, it is not realistic to encourage people to open hotels. After all, such a flow of people will only appear in 50 days, but if someone is willing to rent out an empty room to make a fortune, it will benefit both parties.

   "That's a good thing," Colbert said. "So how much tax do we have to pay?"

"One-fifth." The king said, "This is an extra benefit, and it doesn't cost much." He paused: "Set another price, and they are not allowed to increase the price without limit." The reason why he did this , because the Count of d'Artagnan said that the room on the Boulevard Queens had been at ten louis a day, and three meals were not included.

   When they said that, the little prince, the prince, asked for an audience, and then they saw a group of children come in with an incredible look.

It turned out that in order to settle the disputes among the artists, the crown prince Louis came up with a method of using real money "appreciation" to determine their superiority. This method is not perfect, because the public's appreciation is often affected by identity and status. However, at this time, this is the only way to make these rebellious guys accept the king's arrangement.

   "Have you encountered any trouble?" asked the Duke of Orleans.

   (end of this chapter)