I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 499 French and Spanish

  Rul is a Catalan youth, his family is a typical Catalan family, father, uncle, mother and sister, and a little brother.

He remembered that his grandfather once took him to a cliff on the coast and showed him a fort that was about to collapse, where his ancestors had served for thirty years for a Catalan nobleman, He was almost allowed to become a knight, but unfortunately, before the nobleman could fulfill his promise, he was falsely imprisoned in a dispute with the Castilians, who had no children and Castilian The Liars sent an earl to manage the place. The earl hated the gloom and narrowness of the fortress, so he found another place to build his own castle.

The man who had exhausted his life returned home in despair. He became an ordinary farmer, living by growing olives and grapes, but when he was working under the nobleman, he still accumulated a little money, which was not even worth it. It will make those nobles move the corners of their eyes, but it is enough for him to open a small pressing workshop on the edge of the field. He has three sons, all very strong. They worked hard day and night, and finally accumulated a fortune, Sent the youngest brother to a merchant's ship.

The young son later escaped by accident in a shipwreck, and he brought back a purse with a considerable sum of gold florins (Italian currency), which they quietly used to buy more They expanded the scale of their workshops, married wives and had children.

   By the time of the Ruhr generation, the number of the family had expanded to 157 members, but it had rapidly shrunk in the past two years.

The first to be drawn were strong young men, and Ruhl was among them, but his father managed to pay off the "military debt" with their workshop, otherwise Ruhl would have to stay away like other young people. Hometown, if you are lucky, you will come back with an old and broken body in a few years, ten years, or even decades. If you are unfortunate, his family may never know where their loved ones are finally buried, no, maybe Not even a chance to be buried.

But soon, the Spanish wolfhounds began to chase the Catalans again, levying various taxes on them. The poll tax is necessary, and the war tax has always been decided by the adults of Toledo or Madrid. , before it fell to them, officials and governors would also increase their weight, and the fields in their hands soon disappeared, turning into clanging "pistor" (Spanish gold coins), falling on the insatiable greedy in the hands of the enemy.

When the conscription came again, Ruhr's father had run out of money, and Ruhr had to be driven away from the house by the soldiers in the tears of his mother and sisters, but this was not the reason why he finally decided to resist - as a common man. Man, you'd be hard-pressed to put his life at risk, not to mention the fact that the Spaniards will go all the way to his home, but it hasn't been that long - he hasn't gone to the duty station like the others (the Spaniards always scattered and distributed them far away), and met a merchant who told him that his father had been thrown into prison, his mother had fallen ill, his brother had also been drafted into the army, and his sister They were also forced to flee to the monastery for not being able to raise enough tax money.

He immediately wanted to go home, but it's not easy for a Catalan to leave the army, the Spaniards don't see them as soldiers, they are coolies, servants and gun-fillers in the army Shields, they were heavily supervised, unarmed, in an unfamiliar place, working to exhaustion every day, eating little and badly, but Ruhl still took a chance and he escaped.

In fact, he should not be able to escape, but he was so lucky that he happened to meet Lupo's mercenaries. At that time, Lupo had already taken refuge with the Duke of Orleans in France, which means that he was destined to be the enemy of the Spaniards. Under the guidance of Ruhr, they successfully infiltrated the Spanish camp and burned it down. The Spaniards who were able to escape were not enough for the fingers of a pair of hands.

Ruhr and the others returned home impatiently, and they were pleasantly surprised to find that his father had been released, his mother was improving, and his sister had been freed from suffering, as the army of the Duke of Orleans had taken their city. He went home from the monastery of the asylum. Although his little brother did not come back, but because of his meager credit, the Duke's attendants actually went to ask him - thank God, that child did not die on the battlefield because of his appearance. So handsome, so his superiors wanted to sell him to the pagans, and he's in Barcelona now.

   Ruhr is grateful for this, and so is his family, but that’s not to say that they don’t panic when Lupo comes to recruit soldiers with a draft warrant from King Louis XIV of France. They firmly opposed Ruhr's decision - Ruhr wanted to fight for the king of France, which was a good thing for many Catalans, of course, a good thing for courage and virtuous conduct, but there are also People like the Ruhr family who only want to spend the rest of their lives in peace, they don't expect their children to be successful, they just want them to be safe.

   "But we have no fields and no workshops." Ruhr pointed out calmly.

This sentence silenced everyone, yes, they are lucky, there are many families in the city and the village who can't survive the last person, even if they have many members, even the family is well-off, just like that The poor girl who killed the councilor and the priest; some families were torn apart, maybe only one or two people survived, their homes and their families are still there, which is already enviable. But with the two sisters, the little brother, and Ruhl back home, they faced a problem, and that was—they didn't have anything to eat.

Although Ruhl's father was forced to sell vineyards, olive groves, wheat fields and mills, the merchants who bought these assets could not lose in vain, and they were willing to accept the deal at the time. The mercy of the same Catalans - everyone knows that the Spanish tax will be heavier and heavier, people can run away with money, but the land has no feet.

They are now relying on a bounty that Ruhr received from the duke and the leader of Lupo. This bounty is extremely rich for a person, but it is a drop in the bucket for a family, especially a large family. What's more, Ruhl's father was helped by many people when Ruhl disappeared, and now he should repay their kindness.

"If you don't believe in the French, you should at least believe in Chief Lupo," said Ruhr, clumsily taking out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was carefully folded and the words on it were printed. , Ruhr's father took it and squinted and looked at it with difficulty, "This is a condition for conscription." Ruhr explained carefully, but this piece of paper is all in Catalan, and it is very simple, so even if Even Ruhl's sisters can understand it.

   "They all misspelled the words." Ruhl's father hummed dissatisfiedly: "Is this all true?"

"Here is the personal coat of arms of His Majesty Louis XIV." Ruhr said, pointing to his father, who in fact saw it long ago, but he was just unspeakably sad - to Catalonia Humanly speaking, independence is their greatest expectation, but it turns out that none of them can come out with a prominent figure like the Prince of Transylvania. , but don't know where to throw it.

It can be seen that it should be a large number of printing, and then the paper that is distributed is very clear, the young people of Catalonia will be used as reserves or auxiliary troops of the French army, or they will be put into the logistics force. Go, to see if they have combat experience, and whether they are strong enough, whether they are strong-willed, or whether they have a place they want to go - the best treatment is of course the reserve army, and serving in such an army is of course the most dangerous. Yes, because the reserve army may also be sent to the battlefield, and it is more likely to be far away from the homeland.

But unlike the Spaniards, the Catalan reserve army recruited by the French has its own establishment, coat of arms, uniforms, and a series of equipment and supplies like the regular army. Training, during the training period, there is a salary, which is fixed monthly, but this fixed salary is enough for the Ruhr family to eat enough. When they go to the battlefield, they can get the battlefield allowance every day. If they win the enemy's fortress, Or break through the enemy team, and more bounties and promotions await them.

   What makes Ruhr excited is that whether it is salaries, subsidies, or bounties, they can be obtained every month.

   Instead of mercenaries who wait until the war is over to get their money.

Ruhl, of course, wanted to be able to go to the reserve army, but his father rudely pushed his finger away from him in expectation, and continued to look down. The auxiliary army was similar to a craftsman, a doctor, or a rough worker. Simply put That is, they are responsible for the maintenance of various equipment in the army, setting up tents, building fortifications, digging trenches, and also following doctors to the wounded barracks to start operations. They also carry the wounded and dead on the battlefield. Once a month, there will also be a battlefield subsidy, or if the officers and doctors you follow feel that you are diligent and hardworking, they will also give you a bounty.

But the safest thing to say is the logistics force. What they do is almost carry armaments, build roads and warehouses. They are more like workers than soldiers. They are far away from the battlefield - no doubt, they are not required to communicate with the enemy. Fighting, they may still stay in the local area to do things, instead of going to a place where their parents can't see, of course, their remuneration is also very low, so low that if Ruhl chooses this, Ruhl's father, Ruhl's The younger brother and Ruhl have to go to work, so that the others can barely make it through this difficult time.

   "Or," Ruhr's sister couldn't help but twist her fingers in embarrassment after reading the content, and whispered, "Let's go back to the monastery."

  Ruhl shook his head, "Or I'll do the auxiliary work," he said reluctantly: "It's not impossible for us to save a little bit."

Ruhr's father, habitually putting his hand into his pocket, remembered that when he was in prison, his pipe and tobacco bag had been snatched by the jailer. Your brother and I are back, so I won't let you go there again." Although the abbot is a good person, she is not good enough to sacrifice herself, and she can take in the two sisters as a kind of compassion. In the monastery, the two sisters lived on the little food, wild fruits, and blades of grass they brought with them, and now their eyeballs still seemed to fall out of their protruding sockets at any moment. Circle the index finger to encircle both of their wrists.

   "Tell me," said Ruhr's father solemnly, "did the French ever say when the poll tax was paid?"

Of course, they paid the poll tax this year, but it was paid to the Spanish at that time, not to the French. Now Catalonia has become a French province. It stands to reason that they should pay Louis XIV. The poll tax, even the Catalans feel that this is completely understandable and logical, they just hope that there will be no more war tax, or that when they get through these months, the harvest in the fields Turn it into clinking coins and then collect taxes.

Ruhr was silent for a while, then he took a deep breath and said when his father was so anxious that he was about to lose his temper: "The King of France says that Catalonia pays all taxes during this year. No need to pay."

   "How is this possible!" Ruhl's father exclaimed uncontrollably. "How is this possible! He... Your Majesty, isn't he going to fight the Castilians?" He shook his head desperately: "This is absolutely impossible! Ruhr, you must have heard wrong, at least, at least it should be There will be a head tax, maybe less, but there will definitely be a head tax!"

"Not really," Ruhl said, "I asked Chief Lupo," he said with a look similar to his father's, incredulous, "Leader Lupo said there won't be any taxes to pay for these four months. "

   "That must have been a misunderstanding," Ruhr's father said stubbornly, although his wife and daughter's eyes were already filled with tears of hope.

Just then, they heard a sudden uproar outside the door. Someone was beating drums, blowing horns, and shouting something. Ruhl's sister jumped up from her chair and ran behind the door to observe the situation outside through the crack of the door. , a moment later, she came back in a panic and said, "They want us to go to the square!"

Ruhr's father shrugged his shoulders reflexively, as if he was ready to be beaten at any time. Although he didn't speak, his appearance had already shown that the months of imprisonment had destroyed his heart, and Ruhr felt heartache. , "I can go, I'll come back and tell you what they're going to do."

   "...No," Ruhl's father said subconsciously, and then he summoned his courage: "I'll go with you, women and children stay at home." He was talking about his wife, daughter, and youngest son.

   "Don't leave me, dear," said Ruhl's mother, "I don't want to be left behind by you again."

Then Ruhr's two sisters also insisted on going, and they had had enough of staying at home and scared. Since they were going too, Ruhr's little brother was not suitable to stay at home alone, after all, it's still a bit chaotic now , there were bandits everywhere in the shadows, so the family dressed up neatly in their best clothes—the cotton clothes that were exchanged for Ruhr’s bounty—and went to the square.

On the way, they also saw other people. Everyone left in a hurry. Even if there was a greeting or a conversation, it was quick and short. Ruhl saw some young people like him. Some of them were alone, some of them were alone. Holding their families, there are many people who have the same idea as the Ruhr family. They hold the "paper" that Ruhr's father is familiar with. It seems that the French have issued a lot of such recruitment documents.

   (end of this chapter)