I Am Louis XIV

The people in the town of Karnak had to set out in all their glory. They put all their valuables and life-sustaining things on the carriages, on the backs of horses, donkeys and mules, and on their own shoulders - there were only four carriages. Among them, only the mayor's carriage was the kind of carriage with a carriage and a luggage rack that people remembered. Perhaps out of a sense of responsibility, perhaps out of guilt of being unable to resist the French, the mayor gave the carriage to two women who were about to give birth. Pregnant women, and the old priest in the town, because not only was the old priest almost seventy years old, he also gave away two open carriages that belonged to the church property-that is, the kind of carriage that is more similar to a horse-drawn flatbed carriage.

The last carriage belongs to the merchant in the town. His carriage is the largest of all carriages because he often needs to pull in goods from outside and then sell the town's catches or handicrafts - Carnac Because it is also a holy place, people here often pick up fallen stones and carve them into crosses or icons for sale.

At this time, the sky was still dark indigo. Under the moonlight, the scenery was clearly black and white. Only the places with torches had a little color. The mayor looked over and saw that everyone's face was full of sadness and anger. He turned his head, surrounded by Merchant Fernand, Fernand is a short man with dark and rough skin like other people on the seaside. Only his belly, which is similar in size to that of a pregnant woman in labor, shows that he has absorbed more of Brittany's salty food than others. Cream, shortbread, blue lobster and sparkling apple wine, he stood next to the mayor, frowning, rubbing the weird Breton hat in his hand.

His two sons and three daughters were hurriedly running around in the crowd, counting the number of people. Of course, smart people dare not bargain with a king, but there are always some fools who think they are different. Fornan's The children had been taught counting and writing in Huguenot Protestant schools, and it was best for them to count and tell whether everyone had left their houses.

Soon, Fernand's son and daughter came back. Not surprisingly, there were only 1,530 people present, and there were hundreds more who were obviously interested in measuring the French King's patience. The mayor took a sip. Mouth, he was so exhausted that he had no strength at all. Just as he and his son had shouted, if the French king really intended to turn Carnac into a bloody warning, then they might not even be able to see the shadow of the king. Just have to die.

A painful death. As a traitor, it is impossible to be hanged or beheaded neatly.

The mayor can be said to be the lowest-ranking administrator in this ruling system, but as long as he is at a high position, he will know the tricks of power very well, and he will not care what method his townspeople use to expel the refugees. , would Louis XIV care about one or two...even hundreds of Bretons?

Speaking of which, His Majesty was willing to give them a whole night, which was tolerant enough. The mayor thought of this and immediately took action. He took the town's security team - they were only there when needed, and at other times They are ordinary farmers and fishermen, all young and strong boys. The leader is his son who likes to cause trouble. His eyes are red and he looks unwilling, but under the guidance of his father, he also knows the priorities of things.

Unless they're willing to watch those people die, they have to pull them out.

In fact, not everyone is a stubborn fool, some people are just lucky, such as those who have several children, the children are very small and need to be held and carried to move around, and some are too old to stand up. , poor couples with no relatives, as well as blind, lame, and unlucky people with fever, as well as some slight assets that cannot be taken away - such as the owner of the only tavern in the town, whose property is wine. , these things cannot be transported without ten carriages.

"Besides," he said, "even French people still have to drink." He felt that the worst that could happen was that the French would take away the wine, but at least he could still look at his house and workshop.

"In that case," said the mayor mercilessly, "the Musketeer will tell me that all the Bretons will get out, except a tavern keeper and his gang."

The tavern owner smiled coquettishly, and he picked up the package. It seemed that he was not unprepared. Before leaving, he touched each wine barrel lovingly, as if it contained his child, "I hope They just drink," he said.

In addition to these people, the most troublesome are some old people. They think that they can go to see God at any time, so let them die in their own houses. No one can drive them away, not even the King of France.

"But the priest is coming with us." The mayor didn't want to waste any more words. These people are idiots who want to make a bet with the King of France: "No one will give you the last sacraments. Do you want to suffer in purgatory?" The words immediately convinced most of the people, and even a few old guys who had secretly hidden the holy oil were carried out of the house by the hands and feet of the young men.

Among these people, there are also people who are unable to move, disabled people and children who are too young. The children can be stuffed into the gaps in the carriage, others are allowed to walk on the carriage, and there are two who are really unable to move and are not pleasing to the people. The mayor pulled a broken sampan behind his carriage and let them sit in it and be dragged away.

In the darkness, there were whispers and curses - some were even directed at the mayor. They never stopped. Perhaps because of distrust or rebelliousness, the team walked extremely slowly. If someone urged them, they would speak loudly. , the limited time hasn’t come yet. But this situation soon disappeared. When the mayor's pocket watch, which Fernand brought back from Paris, pointed to a quarter past two, everyone heard the sound of horse hooves like thunder in the summer. , they saw in the moonlight, one after another silhouette-like cavalry teams passing between the sky and the earth. The direction they were heading towards was Carnac, the town and the stone circle, which lasted for at least half an hour.

After the surroundings became silent again, the mayor squirmed his dry lips, trying to say something, but nothing came out... Next, they moved a little faster, and at nearly four o'clock By that time, they might have only walked a little more than half the distance. The mayor's heart couldn't help but burn, but there was another painful moan from his carriage - one woman was about to give birth, and the other woman was about to give birth. , I don’t know whether it was because of being frightened or being inspired, but I also started shouting.

Fortunately, women in the town never need doctors or midwives when giving birth. Older women can serve as both, but then they have to stop. Some people are sent to collect water, and some people need to collect firewood. The mayor Clenching his fists, Fernan was asking his daughter to bring some clean cotton cloth. Seeing him like this, his heart sank.

Before he could ask, a proud figure stepped into the temporary camp through the morning mist: "Why did you stop?" the young French officer asked.

"Two women are about to give birth." The mayor said: "Please, and your loyal Majesty, please be tolerant. This is not something we can control."

"You're right," the officer actually agreed, but before the mayor could be happy, he showed a contemptuous and indifferent smile: "It seems that this is God's will, these two Brittas The children of the Nigerians are destined not to have the possibility of witnessing the supreme glory, so take them and continue walking, mayor, if you cannot arrive at the place we designated on time, then you will lose more than this."

The mayor suddenly grabbed his son's arm. The young man, who looked like a king's musketeer, held down his dagger and almost rushed out, but his anger was immediately overturned by the cavalry that slowly walked out of the mist. It was extinguished, and he retreated in shame. There were cries in the carriage, and the stopped team set off again. The French cavalry followed them all the time, like an invisible whip that everyone could only close. mouth, running forward desperately, their throats were full of sweet and fishy taste, but perhaps with the blessing of God, they actually tenaciously supported themselves to the wasteland at the end of the peninsula.

The musketeer snorted softly - His Majesty the King had issued an order early in the morning. No matter whether he was a minister, a soldier, or even a servant, as long as he was a Frenchman, he was not allowed to walk alone outside. As the king's envoy, he and A squad of cavalry act together.

"Mr. Bourbon." A cavalryman rode forward, "We have already counted them. There are a lot of them, and there is one more."

"A pregnant woman in a carriage?"

"Two women gave birth, but only one child survived."

"Maybe it's because God also feels that there are enough people in Brittany." Joseph Bourbon said, as the grandson and designated heir of the Duke of Vendôme, and his mother is the sister of Marie Mancini, he knows There are much more things than others - this assassination of the king involves many people and many levels, many of whom have directly or indirectly received the favor of Louis XIV. Joseph does not know what kind of mood they have to take advantage of it. Such an innocent lady went to assassinate such a good king, but this did not prevent him from expressing his anger.

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"I once wanted to be a good king," Louis said.

If possible, no king would be willing to become a tyrant like Nero who was ridiculed and hated by people. He only wanted to become an emperor with a noble and holy reputation like Trajan and Hadrian. Although Louis said , the enemy's curse is the best compliment to the king, but when he put it into action, he still considered the feelings of each class as much as possible - although he deprived the nobles of their territories and troops, he also gave back He asked merchants to do things for him, but he never delayed or denied debts like other kings; even when facing pagans, whether they were Huguenots and other Protestants, or the Ottoman Turks, he They all showed enough tolerance; even people like the Great Condé and Prince Conti, who almost became acting kings, did not have the slightest grudge when supporting and using them.

Such thoughts and practices allowed him to win the loyalty of countless people, but it also made some people mistakenly believe that they could test the king's bottom line in three places again and again without paying a heavy price anyway.

When he realized this, the first thing that came to Louis' heart was not anger, but exhaustion. He felt a deep boredom. Mary left him forever, and it seemed like she had taken away the most important thing in his body. A part of him, the things he had not been able to enjoy but had expected... those pure, warm, lovely things... all disappeared.

He had thought about how to deal with these stubborn Bretons, gently, step by step, put himself in their shoes, and so on.

But he can also...

Do whatever you want.

Louis couldn't help laughing when he thought of this. "Okay," he turned to the Duke of Orleans beside him, "let's get off the boat."

The people in Karnak Town were driven to the wasteland overnight, but the king's team only set off at noon on the third day. Even if they transferred to a third-class battleship, the height of the ship did not allow them to leave directly. In the past, if passengers wanted to leave such a giant ship, they had to rely on small boats. The ladder was lowered from the side of the ship, and they climbed into the boat one by one. Then the boat went to the dock, and the whole process of leaving the ship was over. But this would undoubtedly damage the majesty of the Sun King, so the officials of Port Navarro could only build a wooden pavilion at the dock in accordance with the requirements of the French. The height of the pavilion was flush with the side of the ship, with a chain in the middle. It is connected with the wooden planks to form a wide floating bridge in the air. The floating bridge and the pavilion are wrapped in shiny silk and large colorful ribbons. The Sun King's flag hangs from a high place, and the flag's swallowtail is decorated with heavy The golden spikes stung every Breton's eyes in the sunlight.

Louis XIV must have walked in front of everyone. Behind him was the Duke of Orleans, followed by a large group of hot dignitaries. When the king walked down the stairs with a cane, he watched the tip of the cane leave a trace on the crimson silk carpet. Viscount Arthur and others who came to greet him could not help but begin to doubt whether the rumor was true. They did not dare to raise their heads and look at the king casually. The Viscount had dared to swing between the British and the French before. It's because Louis XIV has always been very gentle in dealing with opponents. As long as they are not morally corrupt or completely stupid, he seems to be willing to give the opponent a chance.

In comparison, Charles II, who inserted more than a hundred heads of MPs in Westminster Abbey and swayed in the wind with Oliver Cromwell who was betrayed by them, was obviously more dangerous, so at that time he More inclined to Charles II's secret mission, maybe if it is handled properly, the Bretons can not only regain their autonomy, but also regain their independence.

But this arrogant and ridiculous idea was quickly broken by the king's army. When Louis XIV no longer wanted to treat the people of Brittany as subjects, what they had to face was just like what Louis' former enemies felt. Terrifying, or even more terrifying, because they have no real military power - Brittany's real army has long been exhausted by Charles VIII and Louis XII, and the riot before Louis took charge was considered Maza However, the bishop didn't even take it seriously, let alone the current Sun King.

"What is this?" Louis asked with interest. In addition to Viscount Arthur and other Brittany nobles, there was actually a group of prisoners in prison cars who came to greet him.

"A group of fraudsters." Viscount Arthur said: "They claim to be the envoys of Charles II, but they cannot produce a letter of appointment or other legally valid documents."

These are the members of Charles II's secret mission. In addition to the devil's servants who lost their message after entering the Lost Forest, there are also several ordinary people in the mission. After Louis XIV's army surrounded Rennes, Asia Viscount Se made his choice immediately.

"Do you want me to judge them?" This is not unprecedented, because according to tradition, the person with the highest status will automatically become the highest judge of the circuit court. Usually it is Viscount Arthur, but now of course it is the king.

"Let us follow the law," said the king kindly: "the fraudster should first have the hand that forged the document cut off, and then be hanged."