I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 62 The King's Pamphlet

  Louis said this, not without reason.

Cardinal Mazarin's intelligence personnel have returned a lot of news from England. Oliver Cromwell can be said to have begun to rule the country as he pleases. He regards himself as the savior of the people and the messenger of God. Not surprising, but when a man places himself in such a lofty position, he is about to fall hard.

"It is also possible that he will become king," said Mr. Bishop, "how close he is to the throne, even if he has cast all the royal symbols of the king's coronation, from the crown to the scepter, from the holy ball to the coronation ring, but he Anytime he can build something new, just like he built New England."

"That's the problem, Mr. Bishop." Louis sighed: "From what I have seen and learned, Cromwell is a man who thinks himself, or indeed is a man who advocates simplicity and is single-minded for the country, but he is too paranoid. Now, this is also a common problem of many people, I mean, they think that people are like things like wood, mud, they can carve and knead at will, they can remove anything they don't want, or make them change to be what you want, but it's completely impossible.

If Oliver Cromwell becomes arrogant about this, and even commits various depraved behaviors like King Solomon, Mr. Bishop, even if there are 10,000 priests to condemn him, he need not be afraid. To be honest, just like you As he said, he might even become a king. "

   "That makes me curious," said Bishop Mazarin, "why do you say that?"

"Although Cromwell always humbly said that his birth was not humble, but also not prominent, but we all know that in fact his family can be regarded as a famous family, but he and his father both There is no qualification to inherit the title, we can totally think so, he said this to win the trust of those commoners."

   "Indeed."

   "And as a Protestant, he was very **** himself."

   "I don't want to admit it, but it's really hard to pick out moral flaws in his behavior."

   "So he also believed that others should be as pious and determined as him." The king crossed his legs: "He closely monitored every Catholic, and let the soldiers destroy the church."

"Churches that are too 'Romanized'," said Bishop Mazarin. "Those they don't recognize, the crucifixes on the walls, the relics and the boxes in which they are placed, even the stained glass windows—because they are also images of the Holy Spirit and saints, They smashed the glass and melted the lead bars and turned them into bullets. But that's not too uncommon for Protestants."

"What about restricting people's pursuit of beauty and pleasure?" Louis asked. "Strict fasts, no games allowed - playing cards, throwing dice, hunting... He didn't even allow people to go to the theatre, the theatres in England were closed, Not to mention the places where famous people come and go... Listening to music, singing, dancing is also banned, festive banquets have become a reality, and even the exchange of gifts between friends and relatives has become a luxury, and now the only entertainment for the British All that's left is to sing hymns."

   "May God bless them."

"I don't know if God is willing to bless Cromwell, but his actions will only annoy the people who originally supported him." Louis said: "I heard that he also intends to restrict and reform clothing and accessories. ? I remember the last time someone did that too."

   "Savonarola," said Bishop Mazarin, "he is not far from us."

   "So I'll say," Louis shook his head, "Cromwell is not far from extinction."

   "The English are not Florentines," said Bishop Mazarin.

"But as long as it is a human being," Louis pointedly pointed out, "there is no one who does not want pleasure, no one does not like to eat delicious food, dance and sing, and wear fancy clothes. This is human nature and cannot be violated." The king. He continued: "Of course he can be a saint by himself, but first of all, he is only a mortal in the face of power, and he does not ask for anything; secondly, he is willing to give up worldly pleasures, it does not matter, but he cannot Ask others to suffer with him."

   "So you said..."

"So I say, Mister Bishop," Louis poured him a full glass of wine: "if Oliver Cromwell wants to enjoy himself like a king, if only he does not forget to throw some bread and Gladiator show, like those Roman emperors, then his rule may continue for a while, but if he wants to be an ascetic and wants all the people to wear burlap robes together, don't blame them Let him go to the tomb first. (It was custom at the time that only those who were determined to dedicate themselves to God or who were dying could wear friars' robes

   Bishop Mazarin raised his cup and drank it quickly: "You may be right," he said, "but it is too impious, Your Majesty, to be harsh, even a little too frivolous."

   "Only in front of you would I say that." The king raised the other cup without hesitation, but he only tasted it, not drinking as recklessly as Mr. Bishop, or many people now.

   "Then what would you say in front of others?" asked the Bishop again.

   "God will make judgments on behalf of the laity," Louis said.

  ———

   Of course, most of the time, Louis prefers to make judgments himself.

But tonight he was specially invited by Queen Dowager Anne to her reception room. It turned out that Queen Dowager Anne wanted to intercede for a person. When the king heard the name of this person, he was a little surprised and told the Queen Mother that he did not want to be strict. To punish the man—that is, François de Vendôme, Duke of Beaufort, "what makes you think that I would be a cruel man?" asked the king: "Although the judgment has not yet been made, as a As an accomplice, I have not been able to execute or exile Condé, so I will not treat my other relative (the Duke of Beaufort, grandson of Henry IV, nephew of Louis XIII, cousin of Louis) unduly. "

   "But they all said," the Queen Mother pointed to the king's coat: "You have prepared a pamphlet with the names written on it that you are going to hang."

  The king can now understand how terrible the rumors in the court are. He had to take out the booklet and show it to the queen mother. There are indeed many names on it, but the strange thing is that some queen mothers think there should be, but they don't, and there should be no.

   "If this is really an ominous list," the Queen Mother said earnestly: "At least there should be Gaston on it."

The king laughed, and so did the queen mother, and whoever they hated the most was probably no one but Gaston, duke of Orleans. "He will stay in Blois forever," said the king calmly: "hold him in his arms." ambition until death. "

   "That's what I expected," said the Queen Mother.

"Then tell me," asked the king, "why do you plead for the Duke of Beaufort?" Speaking of the Duke of Beaufort, he had not played much role in the previous battle, and the king began Without even noticing him, it was Bishop Mazarin who gave him some reminders, and he recorded the man in the pamphlet.

"Because he gave some help," said the Queen Mother. At that time, she was only "Anne of Austria". She was overwhelmed by the Queen Mother of the Medici, Marie and Bishop Richelieu. At that time, she had only a few Several loyal supporters, the Duke of Beaufort was one of them, but after the death of Louis XIII, she began to unite with the Bishop of Mazarin, for whatever reason, the Duke of Beaufort refused to believe this "despicable". The priest”, the two can be said to be incompatible, and the Queen Mother Anne had no choice but to let Mazarin throw the Duke of Beaufort into Vincennes, where the Prince of Condé and the Duke of Longueville were later imprisoned. The Duke of Beaufort was released after the Prince of Deputies took control of Paris, and he sided with Prince Condé without hesitation.

   So he can only be said to be a reckless unlucky ghost.

But obviously the Queen Mother Anne still remembered a little bit of affection between them. The king didn't mind meeting a little request from his mother. Anyway, he didn't write down the names of these people to execute them. On the contrary, these are experienced, and Generals with outstanding military talent, Louis wrote them down so that he wouldn't let himself hang or chop off someone's head by accident. He was envious of Oliver Cromwell because of this, if he also had Eleven generals...

The Bishop of Mazarin also had the same consideration. Although the relationship between the Duke of Beaufort and him was really... bad, he told the king that the Duke of Beaufort had a lot of experience in maritime warfare, so the king immediately remembered him in the on the brochure.

In fact, there are also some names that were rarely known before, such as Fouquet, such as Colbert, such as Schaumberg, and the Duke of Mortmar, who was completely to Louis. It was a pleasant surprise. He had never thought that such a person would be able to fulfill his requirements perfectly—because he needed someone with a distinguished status to do the work of a spy. Not only that, but he also had to gain the trust of Prince Kongdai and provoke him. Divorce, instigate lobbying, so that Prince Kong Dai obediently act according to the king's arrangement.

Not to mention the weird order that came out of nowhere on the Place de la Bastille... The Duke of Mortemar probably didn't understand the king's intentions at all, but he did it and succeeded, so the first thing the king thought was to get him back to himself quickly , if an accident occurs, he will definitely regret it.

But today the Duke of Motmar is here to bid farewell to the king. The king can fully understand this. After all, he was dispatched by him to Prince Kongdai when he was newly married. He gave the Duke a generous reward, but these fundamentals Nothing compares to those shapeless rewards—the king left an important position to the Duke of Mortemar, a room at Versailles, and a reserved fief—to his future heir.

   This made the Duke of Mortmar grateful, and he swore to the king that he would return to the king as soon as possible, or that the king could call on him at any time if he needed it.

   They met Varo Vesalius in the corridor.

   (end of this chapter)