I Am Louis XIV

Peak is just an ordinary blacksmith.

In Toledo, in addition to gold and silver craftsmen, the most is the blacksmith. Toledo's foundry is famous throughout Europe. Even a hundred years ago, when Spain was still fighting the Ottoman Turks, the Sultan required every Turkish officer to have a Toledo steel sword .

Therefore, even if Peak and the citizens around him do not have prominent surnames and status, they still have one or many weapons at hand. Pick held a beautiful pointed hammer in his hand, one end could chisel open an iron helmet, the other end could dent heart armor, and the two people beside him were holding pitchforks—different from the imagination of later generations of modern people, the real The pitchfork is not completely vertical, the four sharp forks are slightly bent inwards, and some people who are more sophisticated will cast small arrows on the top-it is the shape of a devil's tail.

Such a pitchfork is a nightmare for horse riders. When the horse's speed is insufficient, some farmers will rush out from the side and attack the knight with the pitchfork. Although the pitchfork is sharp, it cannot penetrate armor, but they can jam into it. The gap in the knight's armor, and then dragged the knight off the horse.

Peak's father also had such a pitchfork. It is said that British, French, Dutch and Ottomans died under it. However, Peak has always firmly believed that this is his father's nonsense. He never left Toledo for half a step at the beginning, so when he left home, he chose his usual hammer very sensibly.

And knights also use hammers, but there are absolutely no knights who use pitchforks.

Pick wiped the hammer carefully and put it in his pocket. His shoes were already soaked in the icy muddy water. If someone hadn't stepped out and told them to take them to the king, maybe he would have left too. He thought about In my own workshop, I was also worried that helpers and apprentices did not work hard, and there were bills accumulated in their hands. In addition, hammers would rust if they saw too much rain.

There are many people like him, but as they walked through most of Toledo, more and more people gathered around them, and fewer people were thinking about going home.

Milady doesn't know what a "sunk cost" is, but she knows that people will always pay more attention to things that cost them a lot. The accident happened at dusk. At the beginning, most people just wanted to have fun, but after besieging the Santo Domingo Monastery, they rushed to the gate of the old palace under the pressure of anger and impulsiveness. , until midnight, of course, at that time they may have room to turn around, after all, they can only get tiredness, darkness and rain at that time.

But now, they have spent several hours on this matter, and seeing the dawn is coming, even if they don't have the ambition of Peak, they still want to get a result, lest they become fools who spent the night in vain.

————

Habsburg won the Spanish throne through marriage in 1505. Since then, Habsburg has ruled Spain for nearly two hundred years. Unfortunately, Habsburg deserves to be called the "marriage bed" to conquer Europa's family, their kings were not as outstanding in politics as the queen and king of the Trastamara dynasty, and they were not good at ruling, and they were mediocre and incompetent on the battlefield.

The only person who can be called outstanding in military exploits is one-half of the Habsburgs, that is, Charles V, the offspring of Philip of Habsburgs and Juana of Spain, he and the French, Ottoman Turkey People and Protestants all broke out wars and conflicts, and won most of the battles. The Spanish Empire can be said to have become the overlord of Europa under his rule-he and Spain, at that time, also had the same status. It is similar to the current Louis XIV and France.

Not only that, but he also reused the navigator Magellan who was coldly received in Portugal at that time, and supported him to find the New World—as we all know, Magellan later found South America.

Later, Charles V not only inherited Spain and its colonies, Naples, Sardinia, Sicily, and South America, but also inherited his grandfather's Austria, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Holy Roman Empire in name, and Tunisia in Africa. , Oran.

The first country to be called "the sun never sets" was not England, but Spain.

But unlike Louis XIV, the glory of Charles V did not reflect on the Spanish civilians.

Charles V has been in power for thirty-six years, and he has been fighting almost all the time. First, he fought against France for the hegemony of Europa. Later, the overwhelmed France had to form an alliance with Ottoman Turkey, and Spain and Ottoman Turkey became endless enemies. Until 1542, Ottoman Turkey and France forced Spain to sign a truce.

At the same time, Charles V was a devout Catholic who hated the Reformation Movement. Unlike other kings who regarded religious belief as a tool and a banner, he really wanted to build a "pure" heaven on earth, so , After a series of reprimands and admonitions, he went to war with the Protestants in 46 years, and this battle lasted until 55 years, and since 52 years later, he has ushered in continuous defeats.

Ladies and gentlemen, a big battle put Austria's Leopold I on the back of a debt that made him breathless. Charles V came to power in 1520, and then fought four wars with France and the Ottoman Turks. It has been fighting for twenty years, and it has also fought with Protestants for almost ten years, and during this period, it was either neck-to-neck or seamlessly connected. The pressure on the Spanish treasury and the people can be imagined.

At this time, some people may say that the continuous flow of gold and silver from America should be able to make up for this gap, but in fact, such kings as Louis XIV who would rather sell their palaces than raise taxes are rare, and Charles V Not to mention such a tolerant king, most of the gold and silver fell into the hands of nobles, ministers, and priests, and the people only got more power to pay taxes.

Moreover, the influx of a large amount of gold and silver also caused the problem of inflation. That is to say, the common people did not benefit from the discovery of the New World, and the gold and silver coins in their hands were rapidly depreciated due to the infiltration of foreign precious metals...

It was at that time that Peak's great-grandfather had to degenerate from a goldsmith to a blacksmith (goldsmithing was undoubtedly a more respected profession at that time), and after they moved to Toledo, they completely abandoned the past As a member of the blacksmith's guild.

But Peak heard about the glory of the past on his grandfather's knee. What he likes to talk about most is that one of their relatives once received a large reward for exposing a witch, and even became a nobleman's entourage, maybe Now he has become a master too.

With this in mind, he was the first to climb the outer wall of the arena. Looking from the highest point, he could see that there were indeed some people gathered in the circular field in the center—it could be used as a carriage race, this The venue is definitely not small, but what is amazing is that there are enough torches here to illuminate the entire venue, and the most central place is as bright as day.

From top to bottom, from the dark to the bright, Peak could see the scene clearly without any effort. When his somewhat dull brain finally came to his senses, he involuntarily uttered a sharp scream!

————

When the ancient Greeks worshiped Arthenis, the moon god, they used foreigners as sacrifices; when the Thracians worshiped Bacchus, the god of wine, they also dismembered strong men as sacrifices; When the God of Grain is born, a red-haired person is also specially selected for sacrifice.

Today, when dark wizards want to choose sacrifices, living people are still the best choice.

For these people, neither the black wizard nor Carlos II, nor even the two priests who served him, had no mercy. It's ridiculous that those people saw the priest's robe and cross, and asked them for help as pilgrims. Of course, such a request for help would not be answered, and the black wizard took the opportunity to laugh at them, so they changed their words and said that they were A sinner who steals under the guise of a pilgrim is not worthy of a sacrament.

This is real.

When choosing the bait, Milady never thought of using those truly innocent people. This world lacks everything, but there is no shortage of sinful people.

Pretending to be pilgrims to cheat, steal and even rob, and at worst can destroy an entire family, and there are not a few gangs in a village. The main reason is that in this era, pilgrims are usually the most devout believers or monks. They walk on crutches, carry bags, take a dog, and wear hats with shells (the symbol of Saint Jager). , riding a horse or taking a carriage and embarked on a long road.

Because these good people go on a pilgrimage not for atonement, but for blessing, so along the way, as long as they are believers, they must give them help within their ability, a little food, a pile of bonfires, a room (sometimes a stable), pilgrimage When the pilgrims get sick, they need to call a doctor, and sometimes they have to give them a little money to find a place for them to recuperate. The original purpose of many hotels, post stations and shelters is for these pilgrims.

And all pilgrims are also regarded as harmless and good people by default. The farmer will allow them to sleep on the same bed with him, and the lord will give them a place to live. This behavior is still worthy of praise and encouragement.

These bandits pretending to be pilgrims have just such an idea, but they haven't dared to deal with the residents of Toledo. Their target is people who go to Toledo from all over the place. They are all foreigners, and everyone knows , it is not surprising that anything happened on the long pilgrimage.

They steal, rob, kill - no mouth to complain, if the pilgrim is young and straight, they sell him somewhere else to be a slave, of course a catholic cannot make another catholic a slave, But the Ottoman Turks didn't care. "White slaves" were common in their palaces and mansions-these white slaves were usually castrated.

When Milady was looking for the bait, they had already killed hundreds of people. After all, they had been doing this business for several years—it was no surprise that these people could confuse others. Among them were kind old people, some kind Housewives, beautiful young men and girls, they disguised themselves as pilgrims, or found an abandoned farmhouse as a post and inn, depending on the situation.

Those pilgrims did not know that they had been walking with them for several days, or that the "locals" who warmly entertained them regarded themselves as a mobile money bag or a "flesh and blood" cargo.

Their entreaties did not have any effect. In other words, Carlos II and the people around him were like a group of dogs that were about to go hungry after being imprisoned for a long time. How could they not rush to bite the bloody raw meat? I didn't even bother to look for another place—maybe it was also because of hints from Queen Antonia and the dark wizard—the arena is indeed an inaccessible place, far away from the inner city of Toledo. Hard to be noticed.

And what if it was discovered?

Carlos II is the master of Spain and of course the only master of Toledo.

The black wizard who was said to be hired by the Austrians commissioned by Queen Antonia has been standing aside, knowingly not joining the carnival crowd. While the people around the king are satisfied with his self-knowledge, they also sent two wizards to monitor He, but soon the two of them were also attracted by the Black Mass ceremony - even a black wizard rarely enjoys such a gluttonous feast.

The queen's black wizard seemed to be keeping his own place, but his eyes were fixed on the candle holder standing next to the king and the brazier in front of him.

Louis XIV even had to bring a bed with him when he set out on an expedition. Carlos II came here for "fun and pleasure", and he would not make himself uncomfortable. There was a carriage carrying his favorite chair, velvet cushions and pillows ——This is all custom-made, because his current deformed body can't sit firmly in an ordinary chair, as well as food, wine, and torture tools he likes.

The wizard's spells blow away the rainwater in front of his eyes and above his head, and there is a burning brazier beside him, which is not only to drive away the cold, but also to burn red irons, pears and other iron instruments of torture.

This is the brazier, and the candles.

The candles used by the king were of course the best spermaceti candles, which exuded a rich fragrance in the air, and the brazier was also filled with strong balsam, the smell of this precious spice that is often smelled in churches, covering The stench of blood and viscera was suppressed, and the smell of the secret medicine dropped by the wizard was also covered up.

During the black mass, the presider and the participants often also use medicine and alcohol to slowly fall into a psychic state, which will last until the end of the ceremony-but as long as the wizard knows, the gods never hang down. Pity humanity, all medicines, sacrifices and rituals are meant to strengthen the prayers.

Extraordinary people can do many things as long as they have enough power. What people pray for is to kill the enemy, restore health, and reproduce. They can give them all.

Also because of this reason, no one noticed that there may be some special additives in these secret medicines.