I Am Louis XIV

"Then we..."

Duke Sobieski glanced at his eager nephew and shook his head: "We have to wait for the result of this battle, son. At the same time, we can also gain a lot from this process." He knew why this nephew He would be so attentive, and the bribes of the Austrians had already fed him - what disappointed him was not the ambition of this young man. Who dares to say that he has not fantasized about the day when he sits on the throne of the king, especially those who are not as good as Louis XIV and Before these two rulers were even born, the crown and scepter were prepared for the people of Leopold I.

And they still had to fight for it with money, land, horses under their legs, and swords in their hands. When he decided to lead his army to Lviv, didn't he have resentment towards Louis XIV in his heart? His mother was the daughter of the Polish commander, not his son. His territory and castle were also obtained through marriage. His glory was based on his merits. Louis XIV seemed to have left him a choice, but he Knowing that there is only one path he can take.

At that time, if he insists on returning to Warsaw, even if he can become the King of Poland, what is the use of a king without the love and trust of the people and soldiers? Can he reform the king selection system? Or can you control those bishops and nobles? Or is he asking those Shila Chita to serve him? There is nothing he can do. He could only return to Lviv so that the Polish people at least still had their Duke Sobieski, a hero against the infidels.

When he was in Lviv, he had worried about what would happen if Prince Condé of France was not as upright and upright as people said? After all, he was also someone who had competed for the throne with his relatives. Unexpectedly, within a few days, two messengers arrived in front of him. The first messenger brought the news that the great Condai had become the king of Poland, and the second messenger The messenger brought the news that King Ludwig I of Poland was about to lead his army to rescue.

Speaking from the bottom of my heart, Sobieski was full of gratitude and a little unbelieving at that time, but the fact is that the new king of Poland put on armor as soon as he put on the crown. There was no banquet, no procession, and even mass was held before the king. Held without being present - he led France's famous dragoons after the Battle of the Lowlands, ran day and night, and arrived in Lviv in less than a week.

Not to mention that these five or six days are too long - now it only takes thirteen hours to take the train from Warsaw to Lviv, but at that time there were almost no accessible roads from Warsaw to Lviv, Ludwig I and his army also had to pass through many battlefields and battlefields occupied by the Ottoman Turks, as well as the territories of the Polish nobles. Fighting and negotiation were always the most time-consuming - at least after the messenger left, Sobieski finally An optimistic estimate would be two weeks, or even a month, and he has nothing to blame.

At that time, even Sobieski's bodyguards, and even Sobieski himself, couldn't help but stand up and shout loudly the name of the great Condé when they saw the flying blue and gold lily flag.

Another funny thing is that the pronunciation of Conde in Polish is similar to Kant, and some Tatars and Cossacks misunderstood it as Condé - which is a common and convenient vulgar term in Polish. , which probably means greeting your maternal relatives, is very popular, so they also shouted: "Convo! Convo!"

This is not their fault, because in Poland, a noble usually has two ways to show his or her identity, one is the well-known coat of arms, and the other is the slogan they shout during battle. Each family is different. Just like their coat of arms, simple words like hail, blade, and devil can make your whole body shiver when you hear them.

After Ludwig I and Sobieski drove out the Ottoman Turks from Lviv, Ludwig I told Sobieski that he intended to make his family's battle cry "The Beast". "mouth", this also has some origins, because the Condé family is a branch of the Bourbon family, and the Bourbon coat of arms is a gold lily on a blue background. The Condé family cannot use the same one, so on the gold lily on a blue background, they painted There is a red diagonal stripe. Red in heraldry is de gueules, and gueules usually refers to the mouth of an animal in French. Of course, this is a very suitable and brave slogan.

Then as soon as they stepped out of the tent, they heard an earth-shattering "Cornwall! Cornwall!! Cornwall!!!"

…

Although Ludwig I later tried his best to correct this wrong concept, it left a deep impression on people... When he thought of this, Sobieski couldn't help but burst into hearty laughter. His nephew also thought about it - especially the coming war, and just hoped that the French and Austrians didn't understand Polish.

After laughing, Duke Sobieski patted his nephew on the shoulder: "That's it," he said affectionately: "Even Tatars know that good things are most valuable when you hold them in your hands. Letting others see your eagerness will only cause the treasure to become dusty, and this is just the beginning, no one knows what will happen in the future."

The great Condé of France brought his eldest son to Poland, but his eldest grandson stayed in Versailles. He even exchanged his hereditary territory and title with the King of France for his full support. Everyone knew that he was not here to do this. Both King Louis XIV of Poland and Condé the Great intended to keep the Bourbon blood in Poland for a long time.

But for those Polish nobles and those Szlachta MPs, will they be willing? No, they won't, not to mention the benefits that the constant rotation of so-called "monarchs" of different nationalities can bring to them. They also long to be the ones on the throne one day - it can be said that the current Poland is a shrunken country. If the Holy Roman Empire is gone, you can ask the electors if they are willing to give up the power in their hands.

And once Poland has an orthodox and noble king, he will definitely do what Louis XIV of France did to reduce the territory and power of the great nobles and consolidate and expand the royal power. Even if the great nobles of Poland converted several times, they would not be able to change their faith. Would they be willing to have such a king who could be passed down steadily for more than ten generations, and even expand day by day?

So Sobieski was not interested in the olive branch extended by Leopold I at all. Louis XIV would at least use gold, Louis, and silver to buy his wheat. Leopold I really regarded himself as Rome. Emperor? Are you trying to incite his ambition with just one letter? Of course, he has ambitions, but it is precisely because he has this ambition that he needs to rest and rest first and solidify his foundation before going back to consider the next things - Da Kongdai was born in 21 years, and he was born in 29 years. Man, he still has time.

Thinking of this, Duke Sobieski ordered his nephew to ask if Ludwig I had returned from King Louis XIV of France. A few minutes later, his nephew told him that Ludwig I I haven't left Louis XIV's castle yet. Depending on the weather, it's very likely that we'll have dinner or even stay overnight together. Duke Sobieski immediately showed a toothache and muttered, "These sissy French people." ", while shaking his head he went back to the tent.

It is not without reason that Leopold I chose Camnico as the gathering place for the coalition forces. This city is a large city in Slovenia. Behind it is the Alps, and on one side of it is the famous Willikap The Lani Highlands are about two or three miles away from Kamnico. This highland has been the largest herder settlement in Europe for more than a thousand years. You can imagine how vast it is and can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people. For the army, the lush pasture here can also supply war horses and cattle, and the cloud-like livestock and dairy products can also alleviate the pressure on military supplies.

When Ludwig I got up from his long-lost bed, he still felt like he was in a dream - to be fair, the conditions in Warsaw were not only inferior to those in Versailles, but even in Paris. When he first stayed at the Old Palace in Warsaw, he even felt like he was in a dream. I am guessing that John II, who retired to a French monastery, is now living in better conditions than himself? After all, when the king's craftsmen invented the flush toilet, no one expected that the monastery priests would be more enthusiastic than the ladies in the boudoir - they also liked showers, bathtubs and running water pipes, but think about it, there are many monasteries that were the first to It can be traced back to the ancient Roman period. The toilet facilities at that time, whether it was water supply or drainage, were more complete than those in new buildings later.

As soon as he woke up, a personal attendant came to serve him. When he saw that he was not carrying the basin, Ludwig I was still a little unable to react, but he immediately remembered that although Louis XIV was five days old He had just entered the city a while ago, but his engineering team arrived a month ago. They didn't do anything extra, they just surrounded the castle reserved for Louis XIV like a group of busy worker bees. Make a transformation.

So there are bathrooms as well equipped as those in Versailles.

Ludwig I sighed and dipped his toes into the hot bath water, and asked his personal attendant if anyone from the King of France had come to deliver a message to arrange today's meeting. The personal attendant replied that Mr. Bontang had arrived early in the morning. I came here specifically to tell them that His Majesty hopes to have dinner with Ludwig I. Before that, His Majesty Ludwig I should have a good rest and calm down physically and mentally.

Originally, Ludwig I was going to talk to Louis XIV yesterday. After all, the next thing was very urgent. But Louis was shocked when he saw his haggard face and all his white hair. He quickly asked the doctors and monks around him to check his body - mainly because Ludwig I had really not had a good rest in the past few days. He and Duke Sobieski treated the Cossacks and Tatars kindly, although they were against Poland and This was a good thing for other Catholic countries, but it aroused the dissatisfaction of some big nobles. He said that this was purely a guilty conscience, because they were the ones who managed to intercept the Tatar military expenditure and triggered the Tatar rebellion.

The problem is that Ludwig I can't do anything about them yet. He now deeply understands how Louis XIV faced himself during the first Fronde riot. Maybe he should really say retribution... "I remember that I There should be a gold necklace inlaid with amber in his luggage, right?" he asked: "Send it to Mr. Bontang."

The attendant hesitated for a moment: "For Mr. Bontang?"

Who is Bontang? The first personal attendant of the King of France. Some people joke that he is the person who has been with Louis XIV the longest, better than the queen and the royal wife. He is the first and last barrier to Louis XIV. Countless people In order for him to say a word in front of the king, he groveled and showed his ugly face - unfortunately, there were not many people who could let this overly cautious head attendant speak for him.

It was precisely because of this caution that he aroused the jealousy and hatred of many people. At least when Ludwig I was still Prince Condé, he heard such a joke. People said that Mr. Bontang would always To those who asked him to do something: "I will tell the king, I will tell the king..." Over time, this sentence became a perfunctory cliché, so much so that when an abbot asked him what time it was, Mr. Bontang is also saying - "I will report to the king, I will report to the king...".

But anyone who knows a little bit about the situation around Louis XIV will know that Mr. Bontang has always maintained the silence and humility that a personal attendant should have. He will never promise to anyone that he will report to the king, and others will question it. He would forget it. It would be bad if he suspected that Louis XIV intended to alienate or punish them, so he did not give any response - they said this just to laugh at and attack Bontang.

"But Your Majesty," asked Ludwig I's attendant, "will he accept it?"

"Yes." Ludwig I said kindly: "Buntang is like a trusted friend and relative to Your Majesty," he naturally called Louis XIV. This is not a bribe, but a gift. A gift, His Majesty will be pleased with it.”

Ludwig I was right. After Buntang got the gift, he immediately came over and told Louis. Louis admired the heavy amber necklace. The Polish city of Tansk was rich in amber. The amber on this necklace was all It was polished into a square shape about the size of a thumb, showing a translucent golden color, which was indescribably moving.

"Since it's a gift for you," Louis said, "you should accept it well, Bontang."

"But it's too expensive."

"I also have a whole box of similar amber here, Buntang. They are all gifts from Ludwig I."

"But you are the king..."

"You are the indispensable first attendant to the king," Louis said soothingly: "Buntang, if it is Jan Sobieski, you have to be careful, but this is Ludwig I, the former Condé Prince, he is also a member of Bourbon, he knows that you are worthy of this gift, and he also knows that I will think you are worthy, so don't worry, accept it, accept it, and decorate it on whose neck you want superior."

As an aside, there were war cries in ancient China, but when Mr. Zhang was filming "Heroes", the Qin army shouting "strong wind, strong wind" is an artistic fiction, but - it is not without factual basis. The army of the Tang Dynasty There is a tradition of shouting "big wind" before a war to boost morale. The wind here has two meanings, one is "invigoration", and the other is to describe "civilization and reproduction"... Yes, that's what you think it means. .

The same is true for Cornwall here, and it actually sounds a bit interesting when you say it - imagine a group of strong cavalry riding horses and holding spears, or holding muskets high, facing the enemy in front, shouting "I*! I*!!!" "Then he charged forward bravely... Even his spoken language became noble...