I Am Louis XIV

"It's a pity that I probably won't be able to see the first batch of students graduate from the academy." Prince Condé said regretfully when he and the king were alone.

"Not only that," Louis said, "you probably won't even have the chance to attend the inauguration ceremony of the college."

Prince Condé paused for a moment. He now began to deeply miss the king of twenty years. The king at that time was such a humble, gentle and good man who was good at thinking about others. No, even the king who fought in the Battle of Dunkirk, He was not so straightforward as to be aggressive, but he didn't know that he was smiling. Indeed, when he heard that the Polish nobles intended to elect him as king, the prince's first reaction was not happiness but fear, even if there was no Fronde Regarding the rebellion, any king will not be too happy when he hears that one of His Majesty's great nobles is about to obtain the same prestigious status as himself - he is worried that even if this matter fails to succeed, it will arouse the king's fear. and suspicion, when the time comes, let alone go to the battlefield, he will be considered lucky to be able to live a peaceful life in his own Chantilly Castle.

Even though the king later summoned him and told him clearly that he was more willing to let the blood of the Bourbon family flow in more territories than to be suspicious of his own blood relatives - he convinced Kong, who was still hesitant, with just one sentence. Acting Prince - What the Habsburg family of Austria once did, the Bourbons of France can do the same.

When he was still Prince of Condé, the king said this, which would keep him awake for several days - was it sarcasm or a spy? Or is it malice that you don't want to hide? But now, this rude yet intimate tone has simply put Prince Kong Dai on an equal footing. The gray-haired prince can finally sigh from the bottom of his heart: "Your Majesty, if Maybe, I would rather wait for a year or more."

"I don't want you to do this," Louis said: "The Roman Church has already given us feedback that the Pope's edict will be issued at any time - when he gives the decree to France, the Schlachta of Poland will be eager to issue it. The crown is on your head." At this point, Louis showed a cold expression: "After all, they are definitely more willing to let the King of Poland lead his army into Poland than Prince Condé of France."

"I can only say that I am very grateful, Your Majesty," Prince Condé said, "for the cost of this..." Back then, Nostradamus, a wizard who was good at prophecy, had made a promise to Queen Mother Catherine Medici. , her three sons would all become kings, so the Queen Mother paid 400,000 livres regardless of the empty treasury, and made a promise of a follow-up of 600,000 livres to let Schlach of Poland Tower elected Henry III as the King of Poland, but he did not expect that Henry III would come back after being king for one year. Not to mention this, this time the king not only wanted to bribe the Schlachta people, but also bribed the red prince of the Roman Church. , this expenditure must be considerable.

"Although I really want to say that you don't have to care about these vulgar things at all," Louis said, "but I think we can agree on these in the document after the dust settles." Prince Condé nodded knowingly and talked with the former Henry III is different. Prince Condé will have to give up all his territories and castles when he leaves, so that the Sun King's light will shine brighter. On the contrary, if he is forced to abdicate, even if he can return to France, he will only have an empty title. territory, and so did his descendants, which was also a big bet for Prince Kongdai.

Perhaps the members of the Bourbon family have a secret tendency to go their own way. Prince Condai has no fear of the difficult road ahead, only extreme desire. The same is true for his son. He just thinks of his grandson, who was born in 1968 and is only four years old. "The Duke of Enghien." Louis said that the Duke of Enghien is the title used by the heirs of the princes of Condai. This title still belongs to the prince's eldest son, but the prince's eldest son has decided to go to Poland with his father. When Prince Condé becomes the King of Poland, he will be the Crown Prince. He will have another title at that time, but Louis said this, which means that he still retains this title for the Condé family... If anything happens, the Condé family It can still be passed down, "I also leave Chantilly to the Duke of Enghien." Louis added.

Prince Condé did not speak, but bowed slightly. The two of them understood tacitly that Duke Enghien was kept as a hostage in Versailles, but once the Condé family could gain a foothold in Poland, Enghien, as the eldest son of the eldest son, would inevitably have to do the same. Leaving France for Poland without any title and having the title of Duke of Enghien in Versailles are completely different concepts. With the addition of Chantilly Castle, at least the little Duke of Enghien will not be in any embarrassing situation.

There is no need to say more about what happened after that. The little Duke of Enghien was sent to the court two weeks later. He... was disappointing and not very good-looking. The good looks of Prince Condé seemed not to be inherited by this child. Brown His skin and disheveled hair made him look like a rude savage, and his eyes were fierce, as if he was about to take a bite when he looked at anyone - the eldest princess subconsciously let out a cry when she saw this child. The long "Ah..." This was the first time she had seen such a child. The Crown Prince Louis and the Duke of Colonna were also surprised, but they did not say anything. On the contrary, the Princess Mary immediately stepped forward to greet the little Duke of Enghien. Stretched out his hand.

When she raised her hand, the maid of the little Duke of Enghien was already pale with fear. "Oh my God," she shouted instinctively: "Don't do this! Your Highness, he will bite you!"

But the eldest princess had already held the hand of little Duke Enghien. The maid's words made her look at him in confusion. Although little Duke Enghien still had a fierce look on his face, he did not bite randomly as the maid said.

The king glanced at Bontang, and immediately two guards took the wet nurse and maid of the young Duke of Enghien down.

"Hello, brother." The princess said kindly.

The little Duke of Enghien didn't say anything. He just grabbed the eldest princess's hand, looked at it, and smelled it. Just when people were worried about whether he was going to take a bite next, the eldest princess took him. Go aside and take out the candy from your skirt pocket and give it to him.

The adults in the audience hall wisely did not speak, and did not look at Prince Condé and his son - obviously, it was just a lack of education. Although the little Duke Enghien was only four years old, he was completely like an animal.

The son of Prince Condé is ashen-faced. He and his mother have lived in exile for a long time. When he became an adult, he went to fight in his father's army. His wife is the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria - she doesn't look very...competent now. , but it is true that noble ladies rarely raise and feed their children themselves, and more often leave them to wet nurses and maids. And the little Duke of Enghien is too young. If it weren't for such a big change, his tutor would have used The pointer turned him back into a human.

Because there were too many things going on in the past few days, Prince Kong Dai and his son only took a brief look at the child to make sure that he was in good health and had an upright appearance and did not ask any more questions... "Just right," the king said promptly. He said: "The son of the Count of Soissons is also here today." He looked at his crown prince and the Duke of Colonna. "He will be your classmate."

"That's great," the Crown Prince said seriously.

The son of the Count of Soissons, little Eugen, the Count of Soissons can be said to be Louis' half-brother-in-law, and his wife is the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, that is, Olympia Mancini, that shameless The woman was envious of the favor her sister Mary received from Louis XIV, but Louis would not accept another Mancini, so she boldly clung to Leopold, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Virtue I, and gave birth to little Eugen for him.

Because he didn’t know what kind of traps and plots Leopold I would set for this matter, after consulting the Count of Soissons, Louis XIV asked Madame Miledy to arrange an accident for O Lympia Mancini died on her way back to the country. Little Eugen was originally going to be sent to another place to be adopted incognito, or sent to a monastery to become a monk - it is not impossible that he died in this way from a baby. But after thinking for a while, the Count of Soissons agreed to keep little Eugen in his own name in exchange for the king's recognition of his illegitimate child and his mother - this was what everyone agreed with. It was announced that the true love of the Count of Soissons was given the title of Countess of Soissons. The time of their marriage contract was revised to several years ago, so that the two daughters they gave birth to before also obtained the title of legitimate children. identity, the Earl of Soissons has had a son in recent years.

Although the Salic law is still implemented in France, Louis has already planned that when little Eugen grows up, he will tell little Eugen exactly what happened. Although it is a bit cruel to this child, as long as little Eugen If he is willing, the doors of the king's court and the academy will be open to him. As long as he does not surrender, he can be granted a title based on his own merits, instead of taking away the title and territory of the biological son of his nominal father, Count Soissons. .

But...little Eugen Savoy already knew...perhaps the grandmother who raised him, the mother of the Earl of Soissons and the cousin of Louis XIII, told him - she was writing to Louis The letter stated that some foreigners with Austrian accents had appeared around Soissons recently. Leopold knew that he had such an illegitimate child, and it was difficult to say whether he wanted to do anything - so this Bourbon The lady not only revealed little Eugen's unspeakable life experience, but also begged Louis if he could send little Eugen to Versailles. She could not guarantee little Eugen's safety in Soissons.

Little Eugen is a comparison group with the previous Little Duke of Enghien - Count Soissons's mother is a gentle and tolerant lady, although little Eugen has no blood relationship with her, and can even be called a It was a shame, but the old lady still took good care of him. He should be nine years old this year, only one year younger than the crown prince, but there is not much difference between him and the crown prince in height and weight. Fortunately, his face His figure and figure did not inherit many Habsburg characteristics. He had thick eyebrows, bright eyes, and a high bridge of nose with a small arch, which made him look somewhat adult and calm, without any embarrassment under the gaze of everyone. look.

Louis stretched out his hand. After a slight hesitation, he walked up and kissed the king's hand. This was a sign of closeness. After all, on the surface, he could be said to be a distant relative of the king. Only when he got closer did Louis realize that he was a distant relative of the king. The corners of his eyes were red. Considering that he knew about this before coming to Versailles, it seemed that it was a big blow to the child.

But it was a good thing to finally be able to say that, Louis said in his heart, otherwise he would be resentful when he grew up and realized that he could never get his father's love.

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Louis knew about the fact that little Eugen was dragged into the preparations for the college by the Dauphin and the Duke of Colonna a few days later, but he probably didn’t have much time for the children recently, since the messengers from the Roman Church arrived in Versailles , the Polish Parliament of Nobles also made a decision. Under Louis XIV's money offensive and threat of force, Prince Condé defeated Mr. Lorraine and became the seventh elected king of Poland and the fifth foreign king. .

The Polish Parliament of Nobles will send twelve important members of Schlachta, leading soldiers and servants to greet their king. This scene happened a hundred years ago, and now it has reappeared in front of people's eyes - —At first, Queen Mother Catherine entertained this group of Poles at the Tuileries Palace. This time, they also stayed temporarily in the Tuileries Palace in Paris. After some modifications, they left Paris for Versailles.

Their envoys had attended the victory banquet on the 15th of Versailles, and they naturally exaggerated it after returning. However, the Poles were still doubtful because according to the envoys, the French king did not build a palace, but a palace. city, but since they came to Paris, they had to believe what the envoy said. Even if Versailles was a fiction, Paris was as amazing and admirable as the rebuilt city of Rome. You won’t walk on feces here. , the room is bright and the air is fresh. People coming and going, even ordinary residents, wear brightly colored cotton or satin, and have beautiful little curls. The shops on the street are decorated with large pieces of glass and stuffed inside. It is filled with a dazzling array of products from all over.

"Is it the same at Versailles?" they asked.

"Versailles is ten times better than Paris." The Parisian servant who served them said bitterly, not knowing whether it was out of jealousy or sadness.

Note 1: Before the king’s banquet begins, Mr. Steward will play the clarinet a few times to indicate the start of the banquet. The king is purely teasing here.