I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 300 The relationship between Madame Aubigne and the world and the Roman Church (4)

Barras, if anyone remembers him, he was the Grand Inquisition of the Paris Inquisition, but at the time of the first Frond riot, because of the conflict between the Church of Rome and the King of France, he accepted the bribe of the Church and embraced With the idea of ​​becoming a bishop, an archbishop, or even a cardinal, he betrayed the king and the bishop of Mazarin and came to Rome. It can be said that without the other preparations of Bishop Mazarin, without the young but decisive Elalius, without the brave little witch Mary, without those loyal musketeers, this article could have ended abruptly in the first chapter.

But after this lord came to Rome, he didn't get what he was promised. How much effort was spent by the Roman church in order to expel the Extraordinary from their ranks, how could it easily let a grand judge become their colleague? ? The Pope at that time was Urban VIII, and after that, four popes were replaced in a row, but he was still forgotten. He lived on the bottom floor of Castel Sant'Angelo with the monks in Rome, eating dry bread and drinking. Shimizu, every day is either praying or training, just waiting for a call—although the monks who have been tamed by the church for a long time are willing to endure such a drive, how can Barras accept such a cruel fact?

   Of course he was a powerful monk, but so what? The devil's servants, that is, wizards, are not as rampant as they were hundreds of years ago. The church - not necessarily them, or more directly - he, they have monks and wizards in their hands. Speaking of which, the difference between the two is not Very big... Ballas was over forty when he left Paris, and now he is almost seventy years old. He has been desperate, cursed, and finally numb.

It was none other than the cardinal leader who saved him. When he was summoned by this lord, he was very surprised, because he couldn't think of why this lord wanted to see him. Of course, he would like to thank this lord, because It was this lord who released him from the cage that did not see the light of day, and gave him the position of a bishop. Although this bishop did not have a parish, he was still very excited. This is what he expected, calm. , without any turbulence, a rich and fulfilling life, every priest can enjoy something that he and his colleagues in the Inquisition and the tribes of the world can never touch.

Of course, this lord is not so tolerant as to waste a bishop's position in vain. Ballas soon knew that this cardinal leader, the person closest to the Pope's throne, was very unhappy with the current Pope Clement X. , even to the point where he was about to turn his face directly. As soon as he saw Barras, he asked him how many Beyonders he could subdue for him. Barras was silent for a while and told him that those stubborn and ignorant monks could hardly be subdued. -Before being driven out, Ballas calmly said the best solution - since it can't be subdued, then don't subdue it.

  By the way, he had already been to Nancy by that time, and had seen Elarius, who was mad with jealousy at the favor he had received from the king of France.

   Now that I think about it, maybe he really is crazy.

Barras was indeed stronger than Ela at one point. As soon as he returned, he immediately poisoned the twenty-seven monks left behind at Fort Sant'Angelo, and then returned to the island of Jilie where his clan was located, and quickly destroyed the entire island. They were all sold to this cardinal leader. It is difficult to say whether the cardinal leader had such a plan from the beginning, but Barras finally got the reward this time, and finally put on the bishop's shawl.

  It was just that he probably didn't expect that after only a few years of peace, he heard this sentence-"Barras, go back to Paris."

  ———

Fortunately, this time Ballas did not need to return to Paris as a bereaved dog. The head of the cardinal gave him the identity of the special envoy of the church. He bypassed Sardinia from the Tyrrhenian Sea, crossed half of the Mediterranean Sea by boat, and landed in Marseille. Then go overland to Paris.

Of course Ballas was reluctant to go to Paris, not to mention that the whole of France has become the bane of the Sun King, the bishop of Rome has no power in Paris, and the chief cardinal also intends to let him serve Louis XIV - he guessed that the lord There must be some secret deal with this king, but it is not his choice, he has almost no way out, just let him return to Paris at such an age and identity, to return to the king of France, he himself feels embarrassed , especially since he knew that the Sun King was very generous to Elarius.

The island of Gayola, where the Elarius people are located, is now the fiefdom of the Duke of Colonna, the illegitimate son of Louis XIV. Elarius has also completely surrendered to the feet of Louis XIV. He once turned his back on Louis XIV. , almost let this majesty die before he grows up, can he still take away his favor from Elarius?

But this is probably what the cardinal chief expects to see, he will not send a monk or bishop who may be bought by Louis XIV, but Balas, even if the Sun King says that he will let go of the past, he will naively believe and accept ?

Thinking of this, Bishop Ballas couldn't help feeling sad. His journey at sea was calm, and he hoped that a storm or pirates would delay his meeting with Louis XIV. Unfortunately, the Mediterranean Sea is approximately half an inland sea. , there are few hurricanes that delay navigation. As for pirates, after Louis XIV re-established the French navy, what else could be used to sharpen their swords except pirates? Whether British, Italian, or Ottoman-Turkish, they either fled or danced the death dance on the gallows among the reefs—Barras saw a few.

As a papal envoy, he was naturally warmly welcomed by the mayor and citizens of Marseille, which made him feel better, except that, unlike his memory, the city may have never been so clean—he suspects people are In order to meet him and clean the streets overnight, he later learned that Marseille had set up a health department in accordance with the latest law designated by the king ten years ago. They were responsible for recruiting workers to haul garbage, clean the streets, and have the right to punish those who arbitrarily In addition to people who defecate and litter, even Marseille's most famous fish market and slaughterhouse have moved outside the city, and the city is also connected to the water.

   "This will cost a lot of money." Barras couldn't help but ask, and this health department... If it really wants to run for a long time, it also needs a lot of money.

This question briefly puzzled the mayor of Marseille for a while, yes, in France, the kind of tax has always been uncertain, because of the Hundred Years War with England, the French king took the power to make tax laws from parliament and the courts, But basically there are several types of taxes—military service tax, poll tax, and Nianyi tax, as well as road construction and corvée tax and salt tax. Later, because the church bought out the tax payment with a sum of money, the nobles followed, and the only people who needed to pay the tax were still the commoners.

So the first thought that poured into Ballas' mind was whether the king set up such a department to increase the types of taxes, but when he mentioned this, the mayor said that the king did not increase taxes because of this, "Our majesty Very rich." The gentleman said proudly: "Not only did he not increase taxes, but he also reduced or exempted the national poll tax for one year." This made the farmers and workers who had been almost breathless before grateful.

   As for the Department of Health - "That's the king's official," the mayor said rightfully. "Of course the king pays them."

Barras couldn't believe it, let alone the king of France, the families he saw in Rome, once they fought, the first to suffer would be the artisans and peasants who had to depend on them, because they needed more soldiers , muskets and shells, but what about money? It doesn't fall from the sky.

  If they lose in the battle, the leader and the knight's ransom are to be exploited from the commoners, and they win? Then the nobles will build a palace for themselves, or hold a grand banquet and martial arts conference, prepare dowries for their daughters, etc., but what do they do for the people? God, they are born to serve the superior, they are lucky enough to have food and clothing, do you still want to get a spoonful from the master's plate?

Barras didn't understand why the king cared about the hygiene of Marseille. It was far from Paris or Versailles. Even if he felt that the poor people were too smelly, he could drive them to a place where they would not affect him. . He fell asleep with this thought in mind, and was awakened at three or four in the morning. He opened the window and looked out. In the tumbling sea fog, he saw a group of people holding brooms. For a moment, he thought I saw a group of wizards, but they soon began to put down their brooms and start cleaning the streets.

They not only cleaned the streets, but also washed the roads with water. By the way, the streets and alleys of Marseille are no longer covered with dust and mud. They are now gray-black mortar roads, flat and tidy, and there are sewers on both sides. The sewers should be Barras didn't look carefully at the lattice board that was poured out of the mold, but he could see that the water was going down very fast. He wanted to wait until Marseille once again poured rain, and the people here could be spared the suffering of flooding.

These people's movements are extremely skilled and fast. Some of them grabbed in front of the sweepers, pulled out their cowhide bows, and smashed small fruits one by one on the window by the window. Barras didn't understand at first, But soon, he heard the voice in the room urging the husband or children to get up. It turned out that they were also doing the work of calling the morning people at the same time. The fruit fell from the window to the ground and was immediately swept away.

Barras also noticed that many people in Marseilles used glass windows. He has seen many mansions in Rome have replaced glass windows, and even several churches have replaced stained windows. It is said that they are all French glass, is the price of glass so low? Even these ordinary civilians can afford it?

He didn't want to go to sleep any longer. He lit candles-the candles here had glass shades, beautiful and bright, not worse than those in Rome. He took out a piece of parchment and wrote a few lines on it, It was still his habit in Rome to jot down something every day, even if it was just trivial things. But he only wrote a few words today when he heard a lot of noise outside. He endured it for a while, and finally sent the priest beside him to ask who was yelling outside.

   It was soon quiet outside, and the priest returned to say that a group of Huguenots were preparing to leave Marseille.

   "Leaving Marseille?" Barras asked in surprise: "Are they leaving France?"

   "Perhaps," said the priest, gloating, "but Louis XIV has issued a decree that the Huguenots are not allowed to leave France easily, they are forbidden to board ships, and are now being escorted to Orleans."

Because of this incident, Barras asked the mayor of Marseille again, because Marseille is a big port, so these things do happen constantly. The mayor of Marseille said indignantly, he really doesn't understand how these Huguenots are The heart of the wolf is not willing to accept the king's kindness. To be honest, Catholics don't like to see Huguenots, and Huguenots don't like to see Catholics. Now the king has prepared a good place for them. Why don't you want to relocate?

   Of course because of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Ballas said to himself.

The massacre of St. Bartholomew also used the wedding of a princess and a king as an excuse. Louis XIV did not even have such an excuse, and it is no wonder that these Huguenots will worry that once they move to Orleans, The king's army would pounce like a wolf and devour them.

But what the Sun King wants to do now is difficult to do. When Barras's motorcade went to Paris, he saw the group of Huguenots on the flat avenue. It is estimated that the mayor of Marseille requisitioned They have a lot of carriages. They have old people, children, and women. They walk on their feet alone. I don’t know when they will get to Orleans. It can be seen that they are all wealthy and can buy from nearby villages. food and water.

Barras didn't think that Louis XIV asked them to move to Orleans just to execute these heretics. If so, these people in Marseilles could be sunk directly into the sea, but since they didn't, then the king must have other intentions. After guessing for a while, he could not help but slowly close his eyes, he was awakened very early yesterday, and then presided over a mass (at the request of the mayor), and he is already such an age... if it was the original The avenue, because of the overgrown weeds and the potholes, made it difficult for him to fall asleep, but now the avenue is like an unfolding ribbon, and the slight and regular shaking of the carriage made him a little sleepy.

   But there always seemed to be something difficult for Barras. He was half asleep when he heard a sharp noise.

   (end of this chapter)