After breakfast the next day, Catherine found her daughter Margaret, as well as several close relatives and subordinates, and calmly arranged the annual sacrifice of the Medici family, and it seemed that everything was as usual.

During the conversation, she even made an exception to tell a joke, which surprised several relatives!

This is the Black Queen! Even tell jokes! Of course they all laughed along, even if it was out of politeness.

Later, however, Catherine offered to go out for horseback riding, and although she was old, her equestrian skills had always been good. In addition, after all, the child is gone, and everyone thinks it is better for her to go for a walk, so they agreed.

And a few people led by Queen Margot took care of her mood, and did not mention several changes in the family.

So Catherine, accompanied by her maid, rode out. Margaret looked at her mother's back, she was so vigorous and clear, as if she was ten years younger all of a sudden, and she also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She was originally very worried that her mother had been in power for many years, and now she suddenly lost all power, would she not be able to think about it and do something stupid. She even spent the night wondering who she would help if she and her husband were in a fight.

Her husband, Henri de Poupon, has the air of a king, and his ability to act is still above his mother! But she was her own mother after all...... Although I don't have a good relationship with the two of them, this is a big deal, and I still won't be ambiguous.

So at this time, seeing that her mother's mentality was relaxed, she also felt very relieved. This may be the best ending in the current situation!

Several of his elder brothers have passed away one after another, and his mother has no other sons, so it is impossible to have the foundation of the struggle as before-the throne has changed hands, and the surname of the person in charge of the family is now Popang!

And the mother is old, yes, she is almost seventy years old! This also determines that she can't fight as hard as Diana, Doujis, and Douxin *disciples before! She has no future, and that includes herself, her daughter, can see it clearly.

Especially after some recent events, my mother has lost the capital to fight, and she can only kill herself! It seems that my mother knows far more than she thinks!

Margaret thought. She is happy for her mother, and she is happy for her family.

But the bad news came in the evening of the same day! According to the waiters and maids who accompanied the outing, the Empress Dowager's horse was suddenly frightened when climbing the slope for some reason, and the Empress Dowager couldn't control it, and even the people and horses fell off the cliff!

By the time the rescue team arrived, the body of the Empress Dowager had already hardened! Everyone cried all the way, but they still had to transport the body of the Empress Dowager back to hand it over.

Looking at Catherine's still bloodied face, Queen Margot broke her liver and intestines, and Henry also cried with her. According to his arrangement, a state funeral was held for Catherine de' Medici, and the whole country mourned and let her enjoy the glory of mourning!

Out of sight, Henry quietly gave me a thumbs up......

Of course, several of Catherine's relatives were comforted - either in cash, or in land, at least not to be held accountable for their mistakes and faults. That's why everyone said Henry was a good king, including Queen Margot.

A generation of heroines just left, and she left voluntarily - exchanging her old life for the glory and wealth of the entire family, this is a transaction. A successful transaction.

But I can think of her unwillingness! With her personality, if she were twenty years younger, no, ten! If Henry, Duke of Guise, is still here, maybe it shouldn't be this ending, and it is really still unknown who killed the deer.

But now that the wood is in the boat, no one can say anything else without opening their eyes. Although Margaret occasionally had doubts in her heart, she could only cherish this rare peace at the time of the change of throne without evidence.

The effect of Catherine's death is obvious. Originally, many people who were watching and thought that there would be a dragon battle between her and the new king, and were ready to see the dishes under the situation, fell to Henry, so that his royal power was greatly consolidated in the first place!

There are many ways to surrender to this kind of surrender, in addition to recommending yourself, there is also exposing the enemy, so a large number of people with other ideas were found out, and the team quickly stabilized!

Just a week after the founding of the Bourbon dynasty came to power, the reshuffle of the power structure was completed, and several of Catherine's old friends retired.

Half a month later, Henry implemented a change of troops, disrupted the configuration, and prevented mutiny.

He even carried out the reform of agriculture and agricultural tax in a big way amid the cheers of the masses, and the horse was fast and the results were remarkable!

Of course, under my persuasion, Henry postponed the pace of religious reform, after all, it was the Catholic * Catholic * who lifted him to the throne, and it is not appropriate to pull out the cock ruthlessly, turn his face and deny people, this matter should be resolved first, and then slowly advance.

As a result, the new King of France issued a series of warrants, and many discriminatory policies against Protestants had begun to be abolished, and a relatively relaxed atmosphere was slowly spreading throughout the country.

This is a precursor to economic recovery, after all, people can only work in peace. If you worry about whether your faith will be taken away every day, you will not have the heart to develop the economy.

So I promised Henry that I would be an important shareholder and suggest that the Dutch East India Company should strengthen its commercial and trade exchanges with France, further invigorate the economy, and make the economy of the French coast as lively as possible!

Henry reciprocated by promising my caravan a permanent preferential rate of half a fixed rate while trading in France. That is, one-twentieth of profits.

This is a good indication of Henry's sincerity – European countries, including France, have generally enforced higher tax rates due to years of war. Under normal circumstances, the total tax rate of a caravan is about 30%, and in some countries it is even nearly half!

Therefore, Henry gave me a fixed half-percent tax rate, which is equivalent to tax exemption. I did not shirk and promised to increase the proportion of goods from the Far East to France by 50%! So we reached a win-win consensus.

Militarily, Henry also began to shrink his foreign military posture - which naturally included joining forces with Spain against Great Britain, and at my persuasion, withdrawing his troops as well. That's where Henry's genius comes in!

Obviously, he mainly wanted to concentrate on developing the economy and reducing unnecessary consumption, but he showed that he was looking at my face, which made me shake my head and smile bitterly, but he smiled evilly.

Imperial! Imperial!

As for Spain's backlash as expected, that was already in our consideration. It's just that no matter how much they protest, Henry just ignores them.

After all, the two countries are close to each other, and if Spain goes too far, under my lead, France is likely to completely fall to England and form a coalition of Protestant countries, and France will attack Spain with a counterattack, then Philip II will really want to cry without tears.

So Spain also gave a symbolic shout on this matter, with loud thunder and little rain. The diplomatic envoys who negotiated sent wave after wave, but they were all blocked by Henry's excuse that he "had just succeeded to the throne and was familiar with the situation", and it is estimated that these guys are secretly vomiting blood, but there is nothing they can do with this rough man from Navarre.

Of course, Henry was not just talking about it, in order to prevent Spain from becoming angry, at my suggestion, he stationed half of the army on the border with West France, and conducted two large-scale exercises in succession, which was also an important reason for Philip II to calm down.

Of course, I also advised Henry not to be reckless, but to give Philip II some sweetness - so Henry agreed to the request that Spain had been strongly demanding, but Catherine had always refused to use the Spanish double-column silver coin for part of the trade settlement, which was also regarded as giving Philip II a face to step down.

After this uproar, the situation was completely stabilized, and a compromise balance was formed among the countries of Western Europe, led by France, the epicenter of the storm.

So, the time to leave is coming - by now all the purposes of my trip have been achieved, I have succeeded in reducing a serious problem for the British, and I have won a strong ally for myself!

Henry was a real man, and in addition to knighthood and tax benefits, he gave me a lot of practical benefits. Before I left, I proposed to convert all his gifts into the Calais clippers, because - the big war is coming, and I must do my best to strengthen my combat readiness!

Henry, of course, understood my position, and immediately ordered that the price of all the ships I purchased should be reduced by 30%, according to the top equipment. The money was not big or small for me, but it was a piece of Henry's heart, and I laughed at it.

Before leaving, Henry also told me the latest news that Philip II had ordered the ships of the New Land, Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the South Seas to be completely reduced back to their homeland, apparently in preparation for a great battle with England.

Of course, he told me this to make me be careful, careful, and careful, but no, not to fight with Spain, I really don't have to fight with Spain for the sake of England and Spain.

Moreover, Henry told me that after France remained neutral and no longer joined forces with Spain against England, Spain would find a way to win over its other allies. This ally must have been a conservative Catholic state and had good relations with Spain.

With such a calculation, a Germany is alive and well! It seems that this is indeed a matter of concern!

Although I am worried, I know that it is a blessing or a curse, and that it is a curse that cannot be avoided. What should come will come, I can only do what I have to do.

I have some eyebrows about Germany - the current emperor of Germany is Rudolf II, with whom I have no friendship and cannot speak. And his heir is his own son, and killing him will not fundamentally change the situation.

Of course, I had another way - it was as if Matthias was in front of my eyes! This second prince of Germany, the younger brother of Rudolf II, if he returns to China, it should be a very interesting thing!

Of course, Matthias is not well-known now, and he is still engaged in trade development in Sweden and Denmark in the North Sea. All in all, Matthias is not "meaningful" enough now. If we want him to give full play to the best effect, we also need to do some packaging work in a solid way!

Picking up the teacup, I raised my head and drank it all! The star-making project is officially launched!