I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 461 The Road to Adonis (middle)

Traditionally, the crown prince should wait with the king in Berlin, and their messengers would go to the border of the two countries, or an agreed place, to greet the crown princess, and then send the crown princess to the Berlin City Palace, where she was there. Married to Prince Frederick.

There is no direct border between France and Prussia. Fortunately, Louis XIV has bought Lorraine and laid down Flanders and Holland, otherwise they would have to pass through three areas that are very unfriendly to them, the Duchy of Lorraine, and the Archbishop of Cologne. The electorate (the former allies do not mean the future), and the Duchy of Saxony - now they still have to pass through the edge of the Duchy of Saxony, and by the way, above is Denmark, to reach the border of the Kingdom of Prussia.

  From the perspective of the map, it is starting from Paris, diagonally upwards, through Lorraine, Flanders, Holland, then the Duchy of Saxony, and finally the Kingdom of Prussia.

Although Lorraine, Flanders, and the Netherlands no longer exist, only the Lorraine, Flanders and Holland regions in France, but everyone here is willing to become a subject of Louis XIV. , Impossible, even if it were possible, Leopold I and the original rentiers, such as the descendants of the brother of the Duke of Lorraine, the Dutch MPs, and the Spaniards in Flanders, would try their best to learn from them. to provoke, to destroy.

  When the weather is calm, you can see through who is stirring the waves at a glance, but the war is imminent, and some people will inevitably have fantasies.

In this regard, in the information I found, Louis XIV had already made arrangements, that is, some of the most outstanding young people he selected from the guards - there are always some people who are born into the army, such as Prince Maurice, Grand Prix Condé or Vauban, these men are not only gifted, but loyal - loyal to the army and to the king, brave in battle, taciturn, calm in temperament.

They are soldiers and officers, and can even become generals, envoys, ministers, and kings who have deep expectations for them. The "Road to Adonis" is a small test for them before the war begins. .

But the young couples around me didn't know, or didn't care about such an inside story. They only saw it. According to the record, the Prince of Prussia, Frederick, resolutely left his father, duty and country for his own love. All the way to Paris, escorting his bride to Berlin.

   This is so romantic!

  ———

The French government and the Bourbon royal family have always attached great importance to the privacy of the family, especially those related to the Sun King, but for some that they think can be opened to outsiders, they are extremely considerate and amiable, such as the road of Adonis, people can drive , bus rides are available, and an old horse-drawn carriage is available for hire.

   It is worth mentioning that this kind of carriage is actually equipped with real horses. Some people can't help screaming. After all, there are not many opportunities to see real horses except in horse farms or in the countryside. Animal rights activists are said to have protested against it, but in France you can do pretty much anything the law allows you to do, or what the law doesn't allow you to do, with one exception, which involves To Bourbon…

As a huge family covering the entire Europa, the Bourbon family has always been very cautious, but there are times when they are unwilling to back down - the royal family has countless assets, enough for them to employ hundreds or thousands of powerful teams of lawyers, of course there are higher-level and more incompetent. It's impossible to say, I won't repeat it here, anyway, our uncle groom happily told us about it, he thinks those people are stupid, the horse is their partner and assistant, why should they miss it To abuse them for no reason? Stuffing them in the stables, not letting them run, getting out for fresh air, and eating grass is abuse.

   Don't say they make the horses work, they work too.

The carriage journey sounds beautiful and looks so good, in fact you will feel stiff and uncomfortable everywhere after a long time, but the road is very flat - it is said that one of them was laid during the time of Louis XIV, we have been from From the edge of Paris to Saint-Denis, from Saint-Denis to Meaux, and after a night’s rest, from Meaux to Château Thierry, the people around me could barely support me, but I only sighed about the past. It is so inconvenient for people to travel.

   But when they went from Château Thierry to Soissons, they could not help complaining, wondering whether the road to Adonis arranged by the French government was reasonable.

   "Reasonable, absolutely reasonable." The coachman - replaced by a young man, said with a smile: "The way the Prince of Prussia accompanied the Grand County Master on this road and the places where he stayed are all recorded."

I've been looking at maps, not only modern ones, but also from the 17th to the 18th century, so I immediately noticed the reason, and there is nothing incomprehensible about the reason - Thierry There are indeed two small towns between Fort and Soissons, but both of these towns once supported the Fronds or were occupied by the Huguenots. The fleet must be safety-oriented, and they may run day and night, from Château Thierry to Soissons, without stopping for a moment.

Soissons was originally an ancient city, where Pepin's second son was crowned. There are solid walls, prosperous streets, vast pavilions and several towering cathedrals - in the seventeenth century, the church never Can be used as a fortress.

The daughter of the Duke of Orleans and her fiancé, the Prince of Prussia, left a lot of traces here, from the footprints by the river - it is said that the Grand Princess stopped here to watch the golden waves on the river, and the Prince of Prussia invited someone Carved the foot prints of the great county lord on the limestone, and left his own signature on the side, embedded with brass lines. It is said that there was originally gilt, but because of the long days, wind and rain, and tourists constantly touching the golden color subsided.

   But after the brass lines are stroked enough, they also look golden and bright.

Then we also visited the palace where the lord of the grand county resides, which is now the Soissons City Hall, but the office space does not occupy the rooms of the lord of the county and the Prince of Prussia. To the south of the palace is an astonishing rose garden. The rose garden was also written by the Prince of Prussia, but at that time he used broken roses, kept in glass vases or porcelain urns, and laid out a maze of beautiful flowers in the courtyard. Now these roses are planted. of.

   "But the varieties of roses are still those designated by the Prince of Prussia." The staff here said proudly.

   Later we also saw a pipe organ in a room - the kind of pipe organ with a volume almost equal to half a room, I really don't know how the Prince of Prussia did it.

As I read it, I repeated the historical data in my mind. It seems that William I of Prussia also knew that what he did was a bit too much. When the war was imminent, Louis XIV would not easily refuse to fulfill his duties for the sake of not having one enemy. Marriage contract, but he should also understand one thing, that is, a marriage completed under the witness of God can also be rejected under the witness of God-Louis XII, in order to get Brittany, he could deny a marriage to him After several children, the woman who did not survive is his wife. The queen of Spain can also flee to Rome and claim that her husband is a useless thing. Even if Frederick and the grand county master are married, when the war is over, should they continue? This marriage and covenant also depends on the meaning of Louis XIV.

   As the lord of a country he certainly cannot be too servile, but his son can.

In the name of love, it is not humiliation. It is said that the crown prince is like a "squire" to serve the grand county master and the Duke of Orleans to marry him. He has no complaints. Everyone said that he was the golden arrow of Cupid. The arrow hit the heart, if the big county lord did not receive a lead arrow, he should return the same deep friendship.

  Unfortunately, this great county lord, the future queen of Prussia, has the prestige of the "Iron Empress Dowager", presumably not the kind of person who can be easily moved...

  In this city, there are a total of seven similar attractions, we walked through them one by one, and the last attraction is St. Peter's Basilica here.

The meaning of   Adonis has its first impressive expression here—the great county lord and the Prussian prince were assassinated here.

   (end of this chapter)