I Am Louis XIV

It stands to reason that Mrs. Christina should take the initiative to leave, but for some reason, she stood where she was, as if hesitating, not knowing whether she should say the next thing.

"Anything else, madam, please go ahead," said Louis.

"It's the one who wanted to kidnap me..." Christina said, she didn't pay attention when she stabbed the man in the carriage, but then the French took them together into a brightly lit room, and she Seeing the face of the leader: "That's John Oxenshiner."

"It's him, the leader of the anti-French alliance in Sweden." Louis nodded: "You remember him, no, you probably remember his father, Axel Oxenschener."

"Yes," said Christina, "although I don't have any capital to trade with you, I still want to ask, will you hang him in France?"

"Since he is the son of that Axel Schner," Louis said, "I won't. After all, there are still many people in Sweden who remember Axel's contribution to Sweden all his life."

Axel Oxenschener is a seasoned politician and a very tough figure in the military. He is also the spokesperson of the Swedish aristocracy. Sometimes even Christina's supporter, until the queen did not hesitate to sing against him on the most important things-Christina hates war and prays for peace (Axel believes that war can bring Sweden benefits); Christina promotes a large number of civilians to become officials, military officers and even nobles, but Axel has been strictly limiting the number of nobles and officials, especially those who climb to positions from the bottom up; Christina cannot accept Cousin Karl's marriage (to be precise, with no one), and he doesn't want to have children, but Axel thinks this is the queen's obligation...

Even so, when Christina made the decision to abdicate, it is said that Axel had a big fight with the queen, and died after debilitating as a result. His son and friends could not help but blame the queen for this crime, and never Her supporters turned into enemies, but the later king Karl X's ambiguous attitude towards France and the intimate attitude of Karl XI made these people who wanted to make Sweden the northern hegemony feel like a stick in their throats - after all, France is like that A behemoth, especially after it got the North Holland area, it was too close to Sweden.

The two territories that Karl XI and Louis XIV exchanged during the marriage contract negotiations, that is, Livonia, which Sweden obtained from Poland, Princess Elizabeth brought as a dowry to a territory with a port in Groningen, Sweden— — This kind of thing is very common in this era — but for those die-hard Swedes, this deal is completely worthless for Sweden, and there is a danger of attracting wolves.

This kind of talk continued until the eldest princess gave birth to the heir of Karl XI. This child had the ownership of the father and mother's territories and titles as a matter of course. The world has been recognized by Karl XI of Sweden and Louis XIV of France. In the future, it will be difficult for France to deny the legitimacy of this marriage and let the eldest princess return to France with the territory or marry another.

But there are always some people who are stubborn, or are tempted and bought by Leopold I's emissary, but others don't care, and Axel's heirs have different meanings.

"John Oxenscheiner, I will write to Karl XI about this person," Louis said, "wait for him to reply to me."

Christina smiled: "Then I'm fine." Karl XI couldn't extradite John back to Sweden without paying any price, but in the same way, he can recover the loss from those old-fashioned nobles. , at least it will be difficult for them to continue to criticize Karl XI for being too inclined to the queen in the future.

Christina resigned easily. When the attendant led her to leave, she walked down the spiral staircase on the right and saw someone walking up the spiral staircase on the left. They glanced at each other hastily from a distance. From the appearance, Christina couldn't determine the identity of the other party, but the other party was wearing a conspicuous red hat, which immediately reminded Christina of a noun.

Catalonia.

Anyone who has been a king or queen will inevitably be required to be familiar with the special costumes, characteristics, customs and taboos of each region and nation. This is the most basic requirement for a supreme ruler. Christina turned her head quickly after only one glance, but there was still a smile on her lips. Habsburg intends to use her to contain Bourbon's ally Sweden, and Bourbon can also use Catalonia. Against the Habsburgs.

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Catalonia and Brittany have many similarities - the same long history, rich history, the same was merged into another country through marriage, and the same continuous outbreak of various uprisings because of being squeezed and blackmailed , seek independence. But unlike Brittany, the Catalans used to be quite pro-French, and this situation lasted until the Catalan uprising that began in 1939.

Because in this great uprising, France can be said to be a treacherous and despicable person.

The existence of Catalonia can be traced back to the Greek city-state period. Later, it was occupied by the Carthaginians. After the Romans defeated the Carthaginians, they were torn apart under the attack of the barbarians, and the owners of Catalonia changed again. Became the Visigoths, and when the Moors (Muslims) invaded Catalonia, the Catalans, as the Catholic parish, asked for help from France. After that, although they still maintained their independence, it was Submissive and close to France.

In the eleventh century, Catalonia and Aragon were two independent and equal kingdoms. Later, the two countries were married. Catalonia had the upper hand until Aragon and Castile united together. As a result of the two kings' administration, Castile unified Spain. Catalonia not only lost its right to speak, but also It was strongly marginalized, and by the time of the Thirty Years War, Catalonia was used as a battlefield between France and Spain.

Ladies and gentlemen, if there is anything more tragic than a country at war, it is a third-party region opened up by two countries as a battlefield. It can be seen that the Spanish court, with Castile as its head, did not regard Catalonia as a country. It means that the Castilian army is regarded as part of itself-although in name, the Castilian army will form a joint army with the Catalan legion, but in fact, those Castilian troops are not the same as the ones they hired The Italians who came were no different from the usual occupying forces. They occupied villages, plundered civilians, and extorted property from cities and businessmen. The King of Spain also repeatedly asked for increased military service and taxes in Catalonia.

But there is nothing to blame. Before Louis XIV, all kings believed that it was a matter of course to squeeze occupied territories, colonies, or areas that insisted on independence like Catalonia. Like Louis XIV, even if the other party is required to submit, they will give corresponding preferential treatment clauses. When increasing taxes, they will also measure the weight that the people can bear and give a time limit-what people fear is often not the heavy load. , but this load will never end, and they and their descendants will be like Sisyphus rolling a stone up a hill, with no hope at all. (note 1)

But kings and queens rarely condescend to look down at the hardworking people, let alone those Catalan people who have always been rebellious - of course, the so-called rebellious is what they say, in fact, The Catalans endured for six full years before the outbreak of the great uprising!

In the past six years, the originally wealthy Catalan people were like a green wheat field bitten by locusts, devastated and mourning everywhere. People and Italian mercenaries are full of hatred. What is rare is that the advocates and organizers of the great uprising turned out to be Catalan priests-this shows that for the Castilians, Catalan There is no place in Ronia that does not belong to their enemies!

When the Catalan National People's Congress revolted, it was not without reason that the French were chosen as subjects of vassalage. The first reason was that France once sheltered them from the Moors and was willing to give them autonomy. The second reason was that It's going to fall on the merchants of Catalonia. Although the Queen of Castile has won new routes, new continents and maritime hegemony because of sponsoring Columbus, Catalonia is blocked from this golden mountain. Yes - they are not allowed to participate in trade. For a long time, Catalan commerce has been completely dependent on France's Sirangeloque and Provence, selling goods and returning food. They do not want to go to war with France.

To Louis XIV's deep regret, at that time, King Louis XIII of France and Bishop Richelieu were almost entirely focused on the Thirty Years' War, even though the Catalans were willing to regard Louis XIII as the Earl of Barcelona, It is equivalent to enshrining Roussillon to the Grand Condé, who also defeated the Flemish Legion that the Spaniards were proud of in the later war-Louis XIII and Bishop Richelieu still failed to capture Seize this opportunity, perhaps because they did not expect to swallow Spain, which is still a powerful country.

Although they gave support, they didn't care about the life and death of the Catalans at all, and they didn't control the French troops stationed in Catalonia very well, so that the Catalans discovered that the French The people are no different from the Spaniards—they are deeply disappointed. However, for Bishop Richelieu and his successor, Bishop Mazarin, the expectations of the Catalans were worthless. Bishop Mazarin even almost signed the "Pyrenees Treaty" in 1958. The ownership of Catalonia was fully returned to Spain-because Spain promised to divide Roussillon to Spain forever.

After that, Spain repeatedly mentioned this matter, even in the marriage negotiations between Louis XIV and Queen Teresa... Of course, Louis XIV would not make such an obvious mistake-just like treating Queen Teresa. A dowry of half a million livres... He always avoided or changed the subject, and never gave up the title of "Count of Barcelona" inherited from his father.

Later, Philip IV of Spain died, and the stupid Carlos II came to the throne, and the Spaniards were busy with civil strife and fighting, and because Catalonia is still occupied by the Spanish army, this seems to be a fait accompli - Canada Catalonia belongs to Spain, without a doubt, what is there to doubt?

Not so the Catalans and the King of France.

In the court of Louis XIV, the red hats of the Catalans were not uncommon, because there were some Catalans who migrated from Spain to France near the Pyrenees in France. After the four pro-governments, the situation has improved a lot, so even with the betrayal of Louis XIII and Richelieu, after the persuasion of the French Catalans, the Spanish Catalans are willing to trust the French king again.

This is also because after the Great Uprising in 1939, the Catalan people's vital forces were almost killed and injured. Not to mention that in recent years, although Spain has been expelled from the ranks of powerful countries, the supervision of Catalonia has become even more serious. Harsh - after all, Spain has lost almost all its colonies, and there are not many places to suck blood.

Moreover, in all fairness, Louis XIV and the current France are also at the height of their power and domineering. With the protection of such a king and country, it is possible for Catalonia to get rid of the shackles of Spain.

Carlos II died without heirs, which makes people feel that this may be God's will. Catalonia, and even the whole of Spain, will still belong to Bourbon after all.