I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 491 The King's Third Royal Expedition (2)

   Princess Isabella will find that the hostility she feels at Versailles is minimal.

No, no, it's not because the crown prince's respect for her made these dignitaries feel jealous. Before Louis XIV died or lost his authority, no one would care too much about the crown prince. Changed traditions and laws—mainly because at this moment in Versailles, both men and women are very busy, men are busy with Louis XIV's third personal expedition, and women are busy saying goodbye and checking account books.

  In Paris and Versailles, women may have the highest education rates, and after men leave Paris and Versailles, they will also take over the responsibility of managing the family estate, which has also lasted for thousands of years. Because of this, the power of women often changes with the frequency of wars. Generally speaking, after the male master leaves the territory, it is his wife or sister who issues orders, and the side branches have no right to speak, and can only communicate with the territory. The officers and stewards did as they were told, unless the master was confirmed dead on the battlefield.

   In that case, the noble mistress will immediately be reduced to a valuable "thing" tied to the territory. It just depends on whether the future heir will be willing to take over her for her surname and dowry, otherwise she will have to go to the monastery.

The situation is more complicated for the gentlemen who are qualified to enter or live in the Palace of Versailles. Even the Duke of Vendôme, who has to be supported by others, wants to go to Spain with the king, let alone others, everyone knows This could be Louis XIV's last battle - simply put, the last chance they had to show their bravery before the king and have them take their names. Young, old, wise, dull, strong, weak... they scrambled to pay bribes to those who could influence the king, hoping to be one of the five thousand who accompanied the army.

Mrs. Montespan bears the brunt of the brunt of the attention and attention at all times, which makes the royal lady feel a lot better because one of the king's sons is about to become the king of Spain. At the banquet to welcome the princess, she was as always. The ground is the focal point of the scene—she wears a crimson satin dress, the color of clotted blood, with a necklace of pearls wrapped around her neck, in the center of which is a ruby ​​set on a gold base, down to the center of the chest.

   She is a witch and has been able to maintain her youth for a long time. Some people in the court have discussed and questioned her, but as long as the king does not speak, no one will meddle in her own business...

It should be said that Mrs. Montespan really wanted to embarrass the bride. In the court, the status of a French royal wife is lower than that of a princess in etiquette, but in practice it is higher than a foreign woman. The nobles are happy to watch her play tricks on each other, but the communication speed of the wizards is far beyond ordinary people. She already knows that there are three gold mines and two iron mines in the future territory of her son Auguste, the Duke of Montreal. There may be more in the future. For the sake of her son, she can't play any tricks at this time, although she is still very jealous.

   Mrs. Montespan pressed her chest, which always seemed to be empty, from a very young age, like a dandelion that had left its branches.

At this time, the future prince concubine had already walked up to the king and curtly bowed. Under the gazes of countless pairs of eyes, the girl was a little timid and a little dazed, but she still insisted on finishing the salute, and the prince stepped forward and shouldered her shoulders. Looking side by side at Louis XIV.

Princess Isabella has only seen two kings before, Alfonso VI and Pedro II, her uncle and father, the former is sick and bloated, the latter is thin and gloomy, she has seen the portrait of the Dauphin of France, also I have heard that King Louis XIV of France is arrogant like the sun, but all this is not as shocking as when he saw it with his own eyes - maybe because Louis XIV has been thinking and discussing things about war recently, and the atmosphere around him is stronger than before. Much colder, he glanced at the fiancée and nodded - "Your wedding will be held in the Royal Chapel." Because little Louis is still the crown prince, his wedding cannot be held in the cathedral.

   Princess Isabella keenly felt that Louis XIV might not be in a good mood at the moment.

Do you still remember the bet between Louis XIV and the Duke of Vendome? The feast of the Assumption of the Virgin is on August 15th of the Gregorian calendar. Although it is not a religious holiday officially determined by the church, people will still process and do mass on this day, for the sake of convenience. For the record, the Dauphin's wedding is also scheduled on this day - so the Duke of Orleans must be back to Versailles before this day, and he is indeed preparing to leave, but as the Spanish anti-French forces have the upper hand, his return date has been Delayed, but only a few days ago he sent a letter saying that he would go back to France by sea.

Although Spain borders France, during this time there have been assassins and thugs wandering around the Pyrenees Mountains, which may involve the Spanish world-now there is also chaos. To be on the safe side, the Vatican parents around the duke suggested He switched to a boat and set off from Barcelona to Béquier, France, and then along the canal all the way to Versailles.

With the French ironclad fleet roaming around the Mediterranean, the proposal seemed perfectly reasonable, and Louis believed that nothing could go wrong. The greatest crisis facing the Duke of Orleans was over, and after the infamous deaths of priests and councillors, he A half-captain of the Catalans (also because he was a French duke and unwilling to succeed the Count of Barcelona), he agreed with those Catalan deputies - they were willing to accept French rule , although it was a pity to have to let the dukes leave them, it was not long before King Louis XIV of France would cast his glory south of the Pyrenees, and the Catalans had seen and heard What kind of life did their kinsmen north of the Côtes de Rénées live—if Louis XIV could promise to treat them equally, and his son could continue his father's policies, the Catalans weren't ignorant idiots.

   The Duke of Luxembourg will be at the vanguard of this army, whom Louis XIV calls upon after seeing Princess Isabella.

"Do you want me to leave early?" asked the Duke of Luxembourg in surprise. "Go to Catalonia to meet the Duke of Orleans?" He hesitated for a while: "It's not that I don't want to, Your Majesty, but the Duke returned by sea. Wouldn't it be smoother and safer?"

   "I just have a feeling..." Louis said, "I hope to see my younger brother as soon as possible, but in this case, Duke, you probably won't be able to attend the Prince's wedding." He said a little apologetically.

"I'm a soldier. War attracts me more than weddings," said the Duke of Luxembourg, but then he realized that he had said the wrong thing... That is, a king like Louis XIV wouldn't care, and Louis waved his hand: "Then so be it. "

The Duke    bowed and went out.

  ———

   Port of Barcelona.

"Aren't you waiting anymore?" Francisco asked. He is also a Tamarit, but unlike the previous Tamarit MPs, although he is a nobleman, he is also a young man with blood still surging in his veins. Man, he, like many Catalans, longed for a wise new monarch - and he agreed when the Tamarite senator planned to keep the Duke of Orleans and become the count of Barcelona.

But the deputies and priests were killed one after the other, and because of that disreputable reason, this made the young people around the Duke of Orleans feel extremely disappointed and ashamed, and they were also willing to pay for Catalonia All the warriors, Gemma's father and brother, and even what happened to their fiancé, they may have encountered.

Torture and death are nothing to these noble warriors, but when he thinks that he will be insulted after his death, the daughter and wife who swore to protect not only did not receive the preferential treatment they deserved, but instead became wandering girls and slaves. Even they couldn't help trembling all over.

Because of such a thing, these people who originally supported the Duke of Orleans to become the Count of Barcelona are silent, they can't brazenly ask the Duke to stay - he is French, but he has done a lot for the Catalans, But they can't give the duke anything, let alone the title of Count of Barcelona and Catalonia, the duke is a noble and holy man, and his affection for his brother is far greater than those sought by the likes of the Tamarites. Power and money.

Just watching such a good man with noble morals and bravery like a legendary knight leave, they are really sad. While sad, they are also a little confused about the future. The future Lord of Spain is just a child, Catalonia. The whole of Spain will be governed by the governor appointed by the king until Carlos III is able to rule.

   In the past ten or even twenty years, will the governor condone the wanton stealing, humiliation, and even killing of the soldiers like the previous Spanish governor, or the former Grand Kongdai? Will they be burdened with heavy taxes again, or their property confiscated and forced into service?

   After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this battle for the throne may go on for years…

  The brilliance of Louis XIV can certainly shine on the French, but they are not French.

"But my brother, His Majesty the King has been planning to push France's policy farther and wider." The Duke of Orleans pulled his cloak, and by the seaside, the morning fog was still cool: "You should have seen Newspapers, books, or you can go to Flanders or even Holland to see for yourself, to see the ordinary people," said the Duke: "Look at their lives, and then look at yours, or ask them In the past, I can't say everything is perfect, but everything is definitely going for a better place."

"Better?" asked another Catalan who had come to see him off - he was the one who gave Gemma the dagger to defend himself, "Did the King of France ever say what the future would be like? He tried to hold back being mean to the kings but failed: "There are always promises of this kind to us, maybe, that when we get to heaven, everything will be fine."

The Duke smiled and didn't mind the child's rudeness. He stared at the gray sky, "What must be said, my brother told me something, gentlemen, he said, if it is possible, he will I hope that there will be no wars for at least a hundred years in the future, and that all able people can get a job, and the income from the job is enough to support a family with three or four children.

Every family should have a nice and clean house, with a chicken simmering in a pot in the kitchen... On festivals everyone can wear bright new clothes, parade in the streets, sing and dance, and if they wish, You can take a carriage or a boat to other places...A minor child should go to school, whether he is a noble or a commoner, whether his father is rich or poor, whether he is a boy or a girl..."

"everyone?"

   "Everyone except those who have sinned," said the Duke.

"This is heaven," said the man who had given Gemma a goodwill, perhaps because Gemma was finally executed, full of resentment but nowhere to go, but to hear the duke say that, even if he The tip of his tongue was full of venom, and he couldn't say anything sharp: "How could there be such a world?"

In this age when kings still see war as a place of merit, glory and power, commoners are like wheat in a field, and lords and kings relentlessly harvest them, crush them, and feed their soldiers and horses , How about them, very few high-class people care, no, it should be said that they can't see the people who are forced to crawl under their feet.

"Well. So," the duke whispered, as if afraid of disturbing something: "We can only move forward step by step, and even if we may never see it, our descendants will surely see it. ."

   "There must be a good king," said the young Francisco, "and his descendants, and he must also be a good king." This kind of thing cannot be done overnight.

   "Who knows," the Duke showed a bright smile: "Maybe there will be no king in the future."

   "This is absolutely impossible!" the other said firmly, more decisively than before.

   This is also a time when there is no king, no heirs, nobility and ministers, and millions, tens of millions of people, who still have to invite a noble member of the royal family from other countries to be the king.

"Fate is always so unpredictable, and none of us can guess what the future will bring." The duke raised his hat and put it on his head: "But gentlemen, I can say this, if His Majesty the King approves, I will ask him, Back in Catalonia."

   Several Catalans suddenly showed joy.

   "But I have to go now. I'm going back to Versailles for my nephew's wedding."

   (end of this chapter)