I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 47 The Bishop's Conversation with M. D'Artagnan

   "Okay," Mary said. "Now you can open your eyes and look at that crystal ball."

King Yiyan opened his eyes. When he looked at the crystal ball, he saw a thick white fog at first, but after a few seconds, the thick fog gradually dissipated, and the first thing he saw was black and white. He was going up and down, and before thinking of something discordant, his perspective suddenly changed, and he realized that what he saw earlier was one of Fouquet's sleeves. On the wooden board of the windowsill, the "camera" swayed quickly again, and the swaying up and down made the king dizzy. The king turned to Mary, and before she could say anything, Mary shouted fiercely: "Look at me. What! Look at the crystal ball!"

The king was stuck and had to obey his orders. Fortunately, the "camera" was no longer shaking at this time. It was pulled far away, but he was still watching Fouquet. Zhan's pitiful appearance, he looked into the distance with a deep expression on his face, and was holding the letter that the king gave him. This letter may have cost him his life, but it may also be a way for him to embark on a splendid road. The first step, just depends on how he chooses - Louie's eyes stay on him for a while, then look away to see if there are people around him who seem to be talking or interacting with him, and then move with the "camera", He saw the scene inside the inn, but unfortunately, this inn is just like other inns, uniformly dirty and simple, there is nothing special about it.

   "But at least it's guaranteed that he's on his way," said the king softly. Luckily it was morning when Mr. Fouquet finished his meal (that is, the loaf of bread) and set off. The golden sun was shining on his face and not on his back, indicating that he was heading east, Liege was located in Belgium The border with the French Ardennes, that is to say, on the east side of Hertelle, and on the west side of Paris, Orleans and Bordeaux - M. Fouquet did not go to their enemies.

   "Your... this," the king did not know how to describe: "How far can you see?"

   "It depends on how long the scent of the rose can linger on him," Mary said. "My rooks track their targets by sniffing, and they won't find them if they fade away."

   "That's very nice," said the king, "it seems we can watch him arrive in Liege."

   "Why didn't I know the smell of that rose would last so long?" Mary muttered strangely.

  The king smiled: "Because Mr. Fouquet will definitely keep it. If he successfully completes the task I entrusted, he will show it to me when he comes back."

"how do you know?"

   "Because it's me, I'll do it." Anyone, including kings, would love to see even a small gift being remembered.

   "Man!" Mary sighed.

  ————

Mr. Fouquet didn't know he was being watched by magic, and though he didn't travel day and night—he knew he couldn't, and if he fell ill in the inn it would only be more time-consuming, he managed to walk thirty miles a day. On the evening of the third day, he arrived at the retreat of Bishop Mazarin. Bishop Mazarin carefully chose a castle-like monastery. This kind of monastery is not uncommon in Europe. After all, what the army loves to loot is either the castle or the castle The monasteries, and sometimes the monasteries are in the forefront, because in addition to jewelry, relics and books, most monasteries have a large storage of food and wine.

When Mr. Fouquet asked to see the bishop, Mr. Bishop was at the invitation of the abbot to judge the quality of "holy water", of course, not the salted spring water, but beer, a golden-colored, frothy wine As early as the eleventh century, monks began to brew, but it has not been disclosed. It is said that some people are suggesting to the Holy Father in Rome that monks should be allowed to brew their own beer and drink it on fasting days to supplement the lack of nutrition. The Holy Father is always busy all the time, so he can't take care of it for a while - anyway, even if you fast, the priests in Rome will not go hungry. People say that the priests in Rome are the top three, but it does not mean that they are religious Academic attainments refer to their extremely fat bodies.

Bishop Mazarin was noncommittal about this. He was also not interested in whether the monks could drink beer on fasting days. Although he declared his retirement, his heart was always with the king, and his eyes had been closely watching Paris, Orleans and Bordeaux's every move has never been relaxed. As soon as he heard that someone was coming from Hertel, he put down the glass, and the abbot of the monastery wisely retired.

When Fouquet saw Mr. Bishop, he knelt down and kissed his ring, and Mr. Bishop allowed it. He had a clear impression of Fouquet and knew that he was on the king's side with him, but he did not listen to Fouquet immediately. The information that came, but let him stand up and walk in the courtyard with him. The courtyard of the monastery is different from the common people. There are almost no tall trees. It is difficult for peepers to hide their tracks and eavesdrop on their words. Fouquet readily obeyed, after all, if it was only in the courtyard, once Mr. Bishop became angry, he could still escape. In the room... He dared to guarantee that Mr. Bishop's room was filled with his guards on both sides.

To Mr. Fouquet's surprise, Mr. Bishop did not get angry when he read the letter. He lowered his head and thought for a while, "That's it." He said that he didn't quite understand why the young man was like this. frowning in the face of good things.

"what?"

"What, didn't your Majesty tell you?" Bishop Mazarin said kindly: "You know, because of the matter in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, I dismissed the post of Finance Director Particelli Emery and let me He went back to his Siena and went on to be his peasant, but the king and I also need someone credible to take care of our finances, you know, Mr. Fouquet, money is being used everywhere now, and I give the king Went to the letter and asked him to recommend someone."

   He glanced at Fouquet, "He recommended you, Mr. Fouquet, from now on, you will be the Minister of Finance, and you will be in charge of the treasury for the king... Why is your face so ugly? Are you unwell?"

"Sorry..." Only Fouquet knew that water had accumulated in his boots and his underwear was soaked. It would be a lie to say that he had not thought of anything else, but he has the nature of a gambler. , so he came anyway, he won the bet, but he still couldn't stand the dizziness, he knew this was the king's test for him, whether he decided to betray, or wanted to run away, or he was not careful enough Whatever mistake he made on the road, the only thing waiting for him is the disaster.

"That's right." As if he didn't see anything unusual about him, Mr. Bishop said leisurely: "I have agreed with Your Majesty before that I will hand over a bill of exchange worth 500,000 livres to you, and you will take care of it. For safety's sake, I will have my **** escort you back to Hertel," he called to a wilted clump of eggplant vines: "Let Charles de Barz Castelmo come to me." Immediately Someone responded loudly and ran quickly back to the convent: "It was a Gascon, but he had a good mother, we all call her Françoise de d'Artagnan Mont Madame Desquieu, so occasionally we call him Count D'Artagnan, or D'Artagnan, you can call him whatever, he's not so strict with etiquette."

In the time when M. Bishop had finished these few words, M. d'Artagnan, a good fellow with a red face (perhaps just because he ran too quickly), ran quickly to Fouquet. , tall and tall with shining brown eyes, when he saw the bishop, he saluted him, kissed his ring, and then asked aloud if the bishop had asked him if he had something important to entrust to him He does what he can, as the bishop tells him.

   So Mr. Bishop told him about this matter, and asked him to take someone he believed to be credible, protect Mr. Fouquet and a large sum of money, go to the old town of Hertelle, and hand them over to His Majesty the King.

   "Well, I always have to come back," said D'Artagnan.

"Don't come back," said Mr. Bishop, "I just want to send you to the king. What's the use of you staying with me, and staying with a priest, it's better to go and fight for the king, your majesty is a generous and A just person, you can be reused by his side, this is what a talented young man should do."

"And," added the bishop, "your cousin, Pierre de Montesquieu, is also in the king's musketeers. Wouldn't you like to fight alongside him? I think he must be very I miss you so much, go to him and do something good, so that you can pay back the title he lent you."

Speaking of which, D'Artagnan also agreed, because when he joined the army, he used the title of count lent to him by his cousin Pierre, so that he could quickly enter the sight of the bishop and Marshal Grammont, and received Recommended, so he kept thinking about this matter: "What more," he said, "I still owe him seven hundred gold louis."

   "Then you should go." The bishop said, "There are many battles to be fought, and you must take the reward from the king's hand."

D'Artagnan listened, and immediately bowed in obedience, and thanked the bishop well. When he returned, he chose three of his friends as his companions-they were also willing to serve the king-and they were there. He set off in a hurry the next day, and returned to Hertel on the seventh day after Mr. Fouquet left. When he saw the king, Fouquet immediately fell at his feet, thanking the king for his trust in him.

   "Then I can trust you," Louis asked.

"There is no doubt!" said Fouquet, "if you want me to dance with the devil, I will go, and I will ask if you want to see the Brauner or the Michelin (two popular French dances at the time). dance)."

   "I don't want you to dance with the devil," Louis said, "but the people you will be dealing with are probably similar to the devil. You have to be careful to save your life."

   "As long as it is your will."

  The king nodded to Bontang, and Bontang went out, leaving only Fouquet and the king in the room.

"I want you to do something elsewhere." Louis said, "I'll give you a hundred thousand livres first, and you can go to a reliable printer and print some fine pieces of paper, which must be arranged in order. The twelve numbers of the paper, the printing mold must be very fine, it is difficult to imitate, and it will be destroyed after printing, and then you will put some advertisements in the newspaper, telling people that these pieces of paper will be sold at the price of a small acre of paper. Go out - when all the pieces of paper are sold, you will erect a large rolling bucket in the square, put small **** with numbers in the large bucket, leave a small hole in the bucket, and only one small ball is allowed in the hole. Drop - You can let a person famous for his justice and innocence, or a naive child shake the vat, shake a dozen small balls, and after they are discharged in order, you can determine the amount of the reward according to the number of similar numbers. "

  Nicholas Fouquet was originally a shrewd person, and he had an unparalleled love and talent for making money. When Louis said this, he immediately understood. He clenched his fists excitedly and wanted to do it right away! This is faster than he expected, using loans to accumulate wealth faster! simpler!

   "More dangerous too," said Louie.

   (end of this chapter)