I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 441 The War of the Spanish Succession - Joy Before the War (Part 2)

   "Doesn't the necessary condition to become an emperor or a king be not blood or law, but whether it is shameless enough?" The Duke of Orleans said with a sigh after reading the letter that the king handed him.

Louis smiled. This is why he has insisted on the loyalty of the Duke of Orleans to himself for more than 20 years. No matter under any circumstances, he has never hurt his younger brother and courtiers, so he will speak so arrogantly: "I am also a king. ," he said, "you scolded me too."

   The Duke of Orleans made a grimace. As a man who was about forty years old and his daughter was about to marry, this grimace had a cuteness that did not match his age.

"But you're right," said Louis. "Emperor, king, or even just a governor or a mayor, as long as he is willing to be responsible to his people, he cannot be too constrained by morality. "

  The Duke of Orleans smiled and looked at the young prince, the prince, who was beside him: "Aren't you a little confused, Your Highness?" Of course he understood, he was the governor of Lorraine and Alsace a few years ago.

  The Crown Prince Little Louis thought for a while: "I can probably understand what you mean, but..."

   "But it's always a little difficult, right?" The Duke of Orleans took out his glove and patted it as he pleased: "Tell him about it, Louis."

  The crown prince immediately looked at his father, of course Louis was willing to give him an answer.

The Duke of Orleans said that before, not without reason. In this secret letter from King William I of Prussia to King Louis XIV of France, he can be said to be a scoundrel - he originally accused Leo to Louis XIV. How was Pod I, disgusting - he asked William I to continue the marriage contract with the daughter of the Duke of Orleans, in addition to the agreement, a large part of the dowry of the grand county master will be used to repay the Austrian duchy owed in the great war In addition to the debt, everyone knows how much the Duke of Orleans loves this daughter. Louis XIV also has a good eye for this niece. It can be said that for the sake of the grand county, they will not do anything to the Principality of Prussia...

In short, Leopold I was asking for money and people - he had the audacity to ask King William I of Prussia to stand with him after the marriage contract and to be an enemy of France, for which he even promised, If his son Philip succeeds the Spanish throne, the daughter of the king of Prussia is the latest marriage he considers.

Even if William I couldn't say that he was dismissive, he couldn't believe it, mainly because of Leopold I's behavior... Louis XIV's value and doting on his daughter and niece has always been a mockery of the Habsburg faction. Goal - In ancient Rome, the father was the master, and even had the right to buy and sell his children. In the Middle Ages, the father was the lord, and he could control the life of his children. The father of this era is still ashamed of his tenderness - but it is undeniable that Louis XIV The tenderness of the children, like the fur covering the steel, makes him look less cold and aggressive.

Leopold I...especially the eldest princess Antonia, the little queen of Spain, was bold enough to ride the Toledo riot, the king was seriously ill and dying, and the queen mother ran to Rome overnight when she went to see God earlier. Asking the Pope to dissolve her engagement with Carlos II on the grounds that there is no consummation, and denying that the boy came from his own stomach, caught everyone by surprise.

   Although the Spaniards had red and swollen cheeks, did Leopold I look good? A mean and vicious father to his daughter is not without it. Many princesses lived in monasteries because of the king's unwillingness to give dowry, but it became known to the world that the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire married his eight-year-old daughter to a man like that. monster...that's a bit...

Anyway, William I would never think that he could arouse Leopold I's pity more than the princess Antonia. Generally speaking, the conclusion of a marriage contract represents the covenant between the two countries, although it does not mean that the two countries From then on, we can live in peace, but before the bride's dowry is counted, the last layer of fig leaf is torn away directly - in the following decades, or hundreds of years, the marriage of princes and princesses of the Kingdom of Prussia , I'm afraid I won't get much trust at the political level.

   But was there any hindrance to Leopold I, or rather, to the Habsburgs of Austria? , Of course not, not only not, there are many benefits too! Without the help of marriage, the subsequent development of the Kingdom of Prussia would inevitably be difficult. As one of the seven great emperors, Leopold I did not have to worry that it would pose a threat to his descendants.

William I explained this situation very succinctly. He did not want to be an enemy of France, nor did he want to be an enemy of Austria and its allies. Just look at the map and you will know that he has difficulties - Prussia is located in the upper right corner of the Holy Roman Empire, and France. Between Austria and other electors... If he insists on joining the French camp, it is difficult to say whether the army will be able to go beyond the confines of the empire.

   "He put this question in front of us," the Crown Prince Louis couldn't help but say, "Just to make us forgive him for his 'powerlessness'."

   "It's not an exaggeration to say that two-sided bets." The Duke of Orleans said: "We can make a bet that if the balance of victory and defeat is tilted indefinitely to Party B, he will surely wake up in time and make the right decision."

   "For William I and the Kingdom of Prussia, this approach is right, but it's a bit shameless." Louis looked at the crown prince: "Now, that's what I'm going to say to you."

  The Crown Prince stood up.

"The Duke of Orleans said before that if you are an emperor, you must be so shameless. Yes, child, when you are only a person, you can stick to your beliefs, morals, preferences and even eccentricities, but once you are not When alone—a husband is responsible for his wife, a father is responsible for his children, a son is responsible for his parents, a king is responsible for tens of millions of people behind him—for this To take responsibility, you have to abandon many things, many things that are common to ordinary people, your love, family, yuwang, belief, and then your morality and thinking as a person..."

He took a deep breath: "I have tried to stick to my bottom line, but there are always people who keep trying to break it." The Duke of Orleans walked over and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. Louis took his hand: " And so I keep going back, I'm not perfect, boy," he said: "I don't have much to hold on now, except you, my blood relatives, and Bourbon, and all I have is France and My people..."

"Father…"

"My child, I'm here to talk to you, not to make you a ruthless and cruel person like Leopold I." Louis stretched out his hand to the crown prince, he immediately walked over knowingly, and Louis took his brother in one hand, Holding his son in one hand: "I will only tell you, in fact, my bottom line is that my relatives are above France," he felt the hand shaking slightly, he looked at the crown prince, comforting He smiled: "You should have noticed, my son, there is a saying that there are three kinds of people in the world, men, women and kings, yes, sometimes a ruler is similar to a monster, but it's not for granted Yes, I've always thought that even a king should be a person first and foremost, leaving out feelings completely, and what's left is just intimidating and repulsive."

   "Like Carlos II and Leopold I?" Little Louis asked in a low voice.

"All tyrants are like that," said Louie, "some of them fail, some of them succeed, and I don't want you to be that kind of person, but I want you to understand that there are some people in the world that are like that when you deal with them. When the time comes, you have to stand in their position and use their brains to think, so as not to fall into a passive situation.”

   "To put it bluntly," added the Duke of Orleans, "a knight must know how to fight a knight, and he must know how to fight a vile thief."

   "But what if I have to make a choice?" asked the crown prince.

"You can make your own decisions," Louie said, "but like I said, before you make any decisions, you have to take into account your responsibilities, and you have to remember that you are doing Twenty million French people speak for themselves, just as Leopold I and King William I of Prussia speak for thousands of people behind them."

"I think I see what you mean," said little Louis; "their actions are indeed shameless, but if it is for the sake of their people, this shamelessness is a noble one." If he becomes king in the future, he will also This choice must be made, and when he faces enemies and allies, he must also take these into account - when they love their own people, they must be cruel enough to the people of other countries to maintain them. That's why my father said that a king who is not hated and hated by the people of other countries will not be a good king.

There was silence in the room for a while, the prince was still chewing and comprehending the teachings of his father and uncle, but Bontang stepped forward gently: "I beg your pardon, I don't want to disturb you, but gentlemen, in the Victory Hall, People have been waiting for a long time."

  ———

As described before, the Palace of Versailles is a large cross-shaped building. On its first floor, the center is the Victory Hall, the front is the grand gallery, and the left and right sides are the Bacchus Hall, the Neptune Hall, and the Venus Hall. With Mars Hall, at the rear is the Jupiter Hall and Juno Hall for the king's office, just now they had a conversation in the smaller Juno Hall.

  Leopold I held a grand banquet for his son's naming day, but Louis XIV held this banquet as a prelude to having children - not him, but the young generals who were about to go to war.

Different from the wars of later generations, in this era, the generals who are officers and commanders need to take the lead, especially when charging, even for a person as noble as the Duke of Orleans, and Louis XIV as a king. The same must appear at the forefront of the front line - so, in the army, the loss rate of nobles is not lower than that of ordinary soldiers, and many families are extinct because of this.

So before an imminent war is about to come, the most important things for young generals are not related to the military - they should get married quickly if they are not married, and if they are married, they should quickly give birth to children. The child must also be a boy.

In this war about the Spanish throne succession, the newcomers that the king values ​​and have been honed and tested are all on the expedition list. No matter what their origins, being picked by the king himself is doomed to be able to flourish as long as the fate is not bad. Therefore, in addition to prominent people such as Joseph, the grandson of the Duke of Vendôme, and Eugene of Savoy, even Jean Bart, Villar, Senieret, etc., who came from ordinary backgrounds, could not help but let those people have a daughter The eyes of the nobles glowed.

In addition to the above five people, there are hundreds of officers and lieutenants here. Needless to say, the officers who can stand in this hall can be written down by the king, and they are the ones who have a bright future. For 10,000 steps, even if they are unfortunately killed or injured and become disabled, the insurance system and generous pensions implemented by the king in the army can ensure that his wife and children are safe and well fed. Privileges—like brewing, leasing, and iron-salt trade licenses, exemptions from military academies, or qualifications as clerks or managers in post offices, post offices, and other king-set departments, etc., etc. , .

People call it "the protection of the king", and the soldiers will proudly declare that the king is their "father", and their loyalty to Louis XIV is not inferior to those who have followed St. Louis to the Holy Land to pilgrimage and fight. The knights of the edict, Louis XIV also often referred to them as his "children" without hesitation.

These are enough to attract many nobles outside Paris and Versailles, or those financial upstarts who are even more disdainful than the "robed nobles". They can't enter the class of sword-wielding nobles and clothed nobles, so You can only start with the army, and these officers often make people misunderstand that the recruiting officials also include appearance as one of the conditions - but people in this era do recognize that those who look ugly are cursed by the devil and have a dignified appearance. The people who were blessed by angels were nonsense - anyway, these young men, even if they could not be called handsome, were extremely dignified or majestic, dressed in military dresses that the king specially ordered tailor-made for the most exquisite craftsman and vision. , walked into the hall with a calm demeanor and a firm look, the ladies on the side couldn't help raising their feather fans, hiding their reddish cheeks and shining eyes, and looking at these officers from the gaps - there is a high probability have their husbands.

For girls who still have beautiful fantasies, Qi Yu is proud, young and strong officers are of course better than potbellied, older officers, for officers, these ladies either have a brilliant surname or a big one. A sizable dowry, far more appropriate than the women they could choose, they puffed out their chests, their eyes pierced, and they tried to make a perfect pose.

   This subtle change could not escape the eyes of the ladies, who were whispering and enjoying themselves, until the double doors of the Victory Hall leading to Juno Hall opened wide, and the ceremonial officer stepped out, shouting "The king is here!"

This is a scene that the Duke of Orleans will never get tired of seeing no matter how many times he sees it. The bustling hall suddenly fell silent, the men swayed their hats like wheat straw blown by the wind and bent down quickly, while the ladies swayed The weak Luohua lowered her head and opened her skirt on the floor, only the sound of the king's cane hitting the floor could be heard in the room.

  The king went out three or five feet before people got up one after another. As soon as they looked up, their eyes gathered behind the king. Anyone who can walk behind the king at this time shows that he is one of the king's most important people.

   (end of this chapter)