I Am Louis XIV

The Duke of Orleans handed the wine to the old man, and he immediately uncorked the bottle with trembling hands and drank heavily. The Duke forgot about him, but he had an answer to the previous question in his heart—no wonder the priest asked such a girl to serve him , and at the same time acting as the eyeliner of the Catalans, Gemma not only damaged her vocal cords, but also her qualifications as a human being.

Ordinary civilians can't find out, but such methods are not uncommon among high-ranking people like him. Maybe the priest didn't intend to delay, but there is definitely an element of smooth sailing. Parricide was a horrific crime, but it was nothing to them, and even the duke knew—he had been in battle, after all—that when a man was wounded—even a strong man , will also be tortured by fever and pain to the point of losing courage and reason, he will not stupidly blame this girl for failing to take good care of the only relative she has.

It was not easy for her to keep herself alive.

But to others, such a person is simply like a devil. No one will think from Gemma's standpoint, and they don't know what it's like to see their relatives lingering in despair. They will only blindly fear Gemma The viciousness and cruelty...Father Clarice, probably similar to the former Bishops of Richelieu and Mazarin, should not have been unexpected, but why did he forgive Gemma's crimes?

A silk thread hanging from heaven to hell, Gemma must hold on tightly, and it is easy to convince people, but it is too difficult to make them abandon everything and follow him.

The Duke didn't know what kind of promise the priest had made to Gemma, but he finally knew why Gemma was indifferent to him.

How can a sinful person be happy, even if only a little bit, Gemma has long since lost hope, and all her motivation may be on the road of redemption pointed out to her by the priest.

However, although the Duke of Orleans knew about these things, he remained calm. Gemma was definitely not an ordinary girl if he was sent to him by the priest, and it might not be time to confront the Catalans now—— Within a few days, the priest took them to another place. To the Duke's surprise, he was also invited to the military meeting this time, and was qualified to participate in the Catalan anti-Spanish war. bingo.

There were no candles or torches lit in the room. There were only as many people here as there were hands and fingers. The Duke saw a few familiar faces under the silver-blue moonlight. They were more respectful to the priest than the previous ones. , and the Duke did not see Tamalit.

"Tamalite is still in the outer city," said the priest.

It seemed that the battle was not going well, and he was in a calm mood, because as the younger brother of the French king, he had been to Lorraine and Flanders, and he knew what a riot was. To put it in a bad way, riots like the Catalans have too many people who know about them, too few people who are in charge or have prestige, the preparation time is too long, and too much consideration... Basically, there will always be a riot. Ushered in the end of failure.

But we can't just blame the Catalans. The Catalan Council of Hundreds has many similarities with Florence's Council of Hundreds, but the latter doesn't want to spend too much money on the standing army. , so they can't keep secrets, and they can't build an army that can be commanded and banned. The people who participated in the riots were all civilians, and they each had commanders and supporters.

In the plan of Senator Tamalite and Father Claris, when the song is played, the Catalans inside and outside Roussillon will attack the Spaniards together, because it is impossible for them to use uniforms to distinguish friend from foe. , It was late at night again, so it was agreed to wrap a white belt around the arm to distinguish the identity.

But who knew that the plan went wrong from the very beginning—the civilians who were assigned weapons even forgot about it. So the scuffle - there suddenly came a group of Spanish mercenaries, they were still laughing and watching the fun, who knew that a person shouted something like "Kill all the Castilians", heard by them.

The governor of the Spaniards also vaguely heard the wind, and he immediately dispatched troops to do an oriole. Those who were caught saw the situation like this, and concluded that the riot could not be successful. In order to escape the gallows Threatened with a beheading block, he shamelessly surrendered to the Spaniards, telling all he knew.

So the Spaniards would come to the chapel in such a timely manner, if the Duke of Orleans had never trusted these Catalans, he would be the turtle in the urn.

The Duke can probably guess what happened afterwards, and lost the opportunity. The Catalans can only compete with the Spaniards by virtue of their numbers. The problem is that the scattered non-military personnel cannot compete with the real army, even if some of them are hired The soldiers contended with each other, so the Spaniards not only controlled the most important positions-castle, water source, warehouse and stables, etc., but also expelled them from the city of Roussillon.

The city of Roussillon is an ancient city, which means that it also has thick and towering walls, and it is condescending and built on the hills. It is doomed to be difficult to attack it from outside the city. The best way is to Too much siege, after all, no one can attack the castle from the cliff, and no one can provide supplies for the castle from the cliff, but the Catalans may not be able to hold on for long-although the priest vowed that the Roussillon region will will fall into the wrath of the Catalans.

But wildfires come and go quickly, especially among peasants who raise pitchforks, scythes or flails in a moment of rage...the Catalan Centuria failed to send enough men to organize them , the duke sighed regretfully in his heart—for some people in later generations, they will feel confused, because although such riots in history were mainly driven by the people at the bottom, the people who led and guided them were either priests or nobles …Not to mention whether the latter is out of selfishness or righteousness, how can they gain the trust of the former?

The problem is that when basic education has not been popularized, there are many people who can only count to twenty (because the sum of human fingers and toes is only twenty), signatures are replaced by ticks, they cannot read clocks, and the words they have mastered ( It only refers to the fact that there are only a few dozen civilians, and it is almost impossible for them to count the number of people, distribute supplies and armaments, read maps, and grasp the time, let alone use tactics and analyze the battle situation.

No, it should be said that those who can do the latter are almost all people like Vauban, Turenne, and Grand Condé who were either born in a noble family or passed down from generation to generation. These farmers and craftsmen even have a guide around them. There is no one to go, where to go, or what to do.

"So the insurrection failed," said the duke.

The priest looked a little embarrassed: "Not yet—at least not a complete failure."

"What do you want me to do?" asked the Duke of Orléans. Now he knew why these Catalans were condescending. They—"You want my brother to help me." He affirmed Said: "But His Majesty also said that he depends on the sincerity of the Catalans."

"We have done what His Majesty wanted us to do, but..." the priest said with difficulty: "We did make some mistakes."

More than that, the Duke said in his heart, you are just like playing a game... "How long can you besiege the city?" He asked: "Although you have purchased a lot of artillery, the caliber of these artillery is more suitable for use on the battlefield." , instead of bombarding the city walls, the Spanish reinforcements are about to arrive in Roussillon. If I were the Archbishop of Toledo, or Patinho, I would abandon those small towns and make sure that Roussillon will never be lost... Roussillon The city of Xiyong is up and down, even if you build siege vehicles and ladders, they won't play a big role, and how many Catalans are there outside the city, and how much do you have to support them now?"

The priest turned his head. After all, he is a clergyman, so he handed over the command of this war to Tamalite from the beginning. Now it looks like a big mistake. Tamalite may not have more military talent than him How much, but the priest still holds a part of the power, so he knows that as the Duke said, the Catalans have hardly achieved any considerable results outside the city of Roussillon. Instead, ammunition has become a deeply frightening thing.

Even Tamalite had to bow his head and entrusted him to make a statement to the Duke of Orleans, hoping that the French could cross the Pyrenees and drive away the Spaniards in Roussillon.

The Duke was silent, he knew what his brother meant, if he stood on the king's side, as the father of the King of Spain, Louis XIV would not support the Catalan riots in public. Although Tamalite is respectful in Paris and Versailles, it is true for the Catalans that they do not want to be ruled by the Spaniards or the French. They have been seeking independence. Going out of the army, but recruiting a group of unruly guys like Brittany and Lorraine for himself, Leopold I really wanted to laugh out loud.

Louis XIV's request to the Catalans was that after the Catalans expelled the Spaniards, he would be loyal to his second son Charles and welcome Carlos III (Charles is Carlos in Spanish) Enter Catalonia, the southern gateway to Spain.

Of course, there is also the imminent war, the kings are eyeing it, and France needs to be more cautious in using its troops.

Since the failure of the Catalans was in the Duke of Orleans' plan, he was naturally thinking about how to solve the problem before him these days. The biggest difficulty was actually that the Catalans didn't want him to intervene in them Now this problem is not a problem, although in the final analysis, they still hope to obtain the military support of the King of France through the duke.

Then, the Duke of Orleans said in his heart, the Grand Condé had conquered Roussillon, but everyone knew the result-the Roussillons refused to fulfill their promise. In the next few years, the King of France will definitely have no time to be distracted by Catalonia, and these Catalans also know it, so what they say now probably does not have much credibility.

"But what if we can get Roussillon?" asked the Duke.

———————

The Spanish governor of Roussillon was not very alarmed. He only regretted that he could not capture the Duke of Orléans, the brother of the French king. Of course, he was not crazy enough to be rude to such a nobleman, but everyone knew that Louis XIV and his brother The relationship is very close, even if it is fake, the Spaniards can make a lot of articles with this hostage.

He didn't care about the riots of the Catalans at all. The Catalans have been resisting and struggling since the time of the double kings, but the results are always the same. They are just like the Toledo court. Said, a group of despicable fools, they always think that they can get rid of Spain and become an independent country, but they never look at their short hands and feet and weak body.

Let the Governor say that the courts of Toledo and Madrid are too generous and kind to the Catalans, and that they should learn from Louis XIV and drive these Catalans out of Spain, Or simply detain them in one place, like raising livestock.

On this morning, he heard the good news that the mob outside the city suddenly dispersed, perhaps reinforcements from Perpyrian or Barcelona came.

A Spanish army of about 1,000 to 2,000 people arrived in Roussillon. Their generals wore black velvet coats and gold shoulder straps, as traditional and serious as Philip IV's time. The number of troops Although not as many as the governor expected, they are well-equipped and energetic. Behind them is a long line of carriages loaded with artillery and supplies, as well as many horses and cattle. No wonder the Catalans saw them. He ran away in fright.

They also brought a letter from the Duke of Don Juan. After the Governor inspected it, he confirmed that the wax on it really belonged to the illegitimate Duke. , although the imperial court was controlled by Patinho and the Archbishop of Toledo respectively, Duke Don Juan obviously had no intention of giving up.

Although the Governor is not that...respectful to the Duke, but that is all in private. On the surface, he absolutely wants to treat the Duke's confidant well, not to mention that the other party did solve the Catalan for him. He arranged a luxurious banquet in the hall of the castle, trying to satisfy the envoy and general.

Of course, the Catalan who betrayed his colleagues was not entitled to a seat at the banquet, but when he leaned over the window and looked out, he accidentally looked at the general, just one glance, he couldn't help but There was a loud cry!

That is the brother of the King of France, the Duke of Orleans!