In June 1682, the Kingdom of France had slowly regained a trace of its former prosperity. In the heart of Paris, King Louis XIV of France had just finished a lavish court banquet. As the time of the East Coast Republic of China in Paris, Lin Dingzhi was also invited, and he brought his wife to the banquet, and talked with many Louis favorites, including Colbert and Lois.

"Your Majesty still misses Molière very much, even though he has been dead for nine years." During the rest time after the banquet, a short middle-aged man sat opposite Lin Dingzhi and commented.

Lin Dingzhi knew that this man, Labruyère, 37 years old this year, the son of a small civil servant in Paris, had a little money in his family, sent him to study law, and also spent money to donate a petty official. The fate of La Bruyère was the fate of the millions of bureaucrats in Paris, who were intrigued with each other and flattered by their superiors in order to be promoted. However, he had a better opportunity, because of his civil and military skills, he was favored by the Prince of Confucius, and became his grandson's tutor, and he began to make a career.

Later, because of the Prince of Condé, Labruyère was valued by some other great nobles, and was given the opportunity to enter and leave the court, which not only gave him the opportunity to climb up the ladder in his dreams, but also caused great discrimination against people like him, who had no roots. And he is not good at relationships, and he is not very good at flattering others, although he has some talents, but he is always cold-spoken, and after a long time, naturally not many people are willing to give him a good face, replaced by more rumors.

These cold receptions made him even more resentful, and he began to criticize things he was not accustomed to in more harsh and sarcastic language. For example, Lin Dingzhi heard that he was planning to write a book describing all kinds of people in Parisian high society, and used the term "royal zoo" to describe these nobles and officials, which is quite interesting.

Today's performance in the Palace of Versailles is Molière's classic play "The Miser", this comedy about the miser Abagon, this comedy about the miser Abagorn is simply amazing, the protagonist is so stingy that he will not even say "I wish you a good time", only "borrow you a good time", such satirical scenes are vividly portrayed by Molière, and are unanimously welcomed by all classes, and it has been performed 47 times in the first four years of its appearance, which is the second most frequently performed play after "The Hypocrite".

King Louis XIV of France undoubtedly admired Molière very much. When The Ridiculous Lady was born, Louis XIV summoned Molière's troupe to the palace three times and rewarded him with thousands of livres; When "The Imagined Green Hat" was performed at the Petit Bourbon theater of the Louvre, Louis XIV saw it nine times in a row; In 1663, when he performed the Versailles Impromptu, Louis XIV was so impressed that he did not hesitate to reprimand the incompetent but extremely skilled royal troupe of wine bags and rice bags, and then he invited Molière to dinner and rewarded him with a relatively generous annuity, which greatly reduced the criticism of Molière for his harsh sarcasm of the world, which Molière married Amunti (the daughter of Molière's mistress who had lived with Molière for 20 years, and who had been in a relationship with many people at the same time, including Molière. It's hard to say whose daughter Amanti is...... It reached such a peak that the bishop of Paris refused Molière to be placed on the grounds that he had not prayed his deathbed, and it was Louis XIV who gave the bishop a secret decree forcing the bishop to give in and agree that Molière should be "buried quietly at dusk and sunset in the corner of the cemetery of Saint-Joseph, on the boulevard Montmartre."

"Monsieur Molière, the most talented playwright and actor since Monsieur Scaramucia, ended the Italian comedy era, ushered in a new era of French theatre, and swept the courts of the world, playing an indelible role in promoting the reputation of the king and the glory of France. There is no doubt that he can afford the rewards and accolades that the king has given him. Lin Dingzhi's words are actually not false. In fact, Molière and his friend Gaurne, these French cultural people, like Prince Condé and Viscount Tyrrenne, fought for France on another battlefield, the generals conquered cities and territories for the country, and Molière strongly exported French culture, this kind of soft power must not be underestimated, and secretly I don't know how many hidden benefits I have sought for France.

Lin Dingzhi's words are not false. In fact, the Kingdom of France is indeed remarkable throughout Europe – well, at least in Central and Western Europe – and is the birthplace of popular culture. For example, many years ago, when the Austrian court still grabbed food by hand, the French court passed on knives and forks, and later the books, costumes, and plays that were popular in Paris's high society would soon spread to the aristocracy of other countries and cause mad imitations.

On the one hand, this imitation brought great economic news to the Kingdom of France—magnificent costumes inlaid with precious stones, high-end ball supplies, mellow wines, beautiful carvings, magnificent paintings, gilded wood, printed leather, beautiful prints, colored pottery, and other luxury goods for personal pleasure accompanied by the cultural export of France, which were exported in large quantities to the courts, nobles and even wealthy merchants of European countries, bringing back a large number of precious metals for the Kingdom of France.

On the other hand, this cultural splendor also greatly improved the image of the Kingdom of France, making the French court faintly above all countries, and all kinds of talents were attracted by the splendor and magnificence of Paris, and they flocked to serve Louis XIV, which undoubtedly increased the strength of France. In addition, when other countries compete with France, they are naturally short-hearted, making them less confident than the French, which is undoubtedly very disadvantageous.

All in all, the benefits of France's strong cultural export to the whole country are self-evident, especially when this country still has a relatively vast territory, a population of more than 20 million and a brave and warlike army, it is even more incredible, and it is no wonder that other countries have to unite to deal with the freak of France, it is really impossible not to unite, unless the French themselves die, otherwise no one has a chance!

In this era, perhaps the rulers of other countries may not be able to see the Tao in this, or even if they do, it is only a vague concept, without systematic cognition, but in front of the people of the East Coast who have systematically studied the mysteries of this, everything seems so natural. As a middle-level and high-ranking diplomat of the country, Lin Dingzhi has also studied this kind of course, and naturally has a clear and profound understanding of the cultural success of the French.

It is a pity that the people of the East Coast do not belong to the same cultural circle as them, the difference is too great, and the geographical distance is too far, so it is difficult for the popular costumes, fine food, printed products, songs and dramas, sports and other lifestyles popular on the East Coast to spread to Europe, or even if they do, their influence is greatly reduced due to various factors, and the effect is not good.

In the impression of Europeans, the East Coast is still only a few stereotypical impressions, such as "comfortable and wealthy", "technologically advanced", "a strong army", and "hereticalism". However, this is much better than a few decades ago, you must know that in the beginning, Europeans thought that it was the Tatars who landed on the steppes on the east coast and founded the country, and the eastern bank capital Vostochny Port had the title of "Tatar Port" among Europeans in the early years, and now this name has almost disappeared, and Europeans have a more positive impression of the East Coast people, which shows the rapid growth of the power and influence of the East Coast Republic over the past few decades.

Labruyère didn't know much about this, but he had a good talent and a vague understanding after long-term observation, so he smiled and didn't say anything more, and then he asked as if he had suddenly thought of it: "I heard that Your Majesty has decided to expand the import quota and types of goods in your country?" Ambassador Lin, I have to say that you have caught up with a good time and decisively seized the opportunity. The French market is not much smaller than the Dutch market, you have been missing this market for a long time, and you will find out the excitement in the future. ”

"Thank you for your good words." Lin Dingzhi picked up the wine glass in his hand, clinked glasses with Labruyère, and said: "Deepening economic and trade ties is in the common interests of our two countries, and there is no denying this. All gentlemen understand this, and you have all made the right choice. ”

Perhaps, as the old saying goes, it is really faster to turn faces between countries than to turn books, and the speed of reconciliation after turning faces is equally amazing! Once upon a time, the East Coast and the United Provinces were so good that the bilateral trade was so great that several solid cooperative relations were formed, and during the three Anglo-Dutch wars, the East Coast decisively sent convoys to transport large quantities of supplies to the Dutch, which made the British grit their teeth with hatred. The East Coast and the French have always been relatively cold, and even during the Legacy Transfer War, the East Coast Fleet humiliatingly blocked the French Western Fleet that had not yet "developed" in the port of Dunkirk, and then shelled many of its coastal towns, which made Louis XIV angry, and ordered the completion of the five-year 65 heavy warship program ahead of schedule, and also added a new round of naval investment. It can be said that the relations between France and Timor-Leste at that time were rather bad, and this is obvious to all.

But now? On the United Provinces side, after William, Prince of Orange, came to power, the relationship between the East Bank and the United Provinces plummeted for various reasons, and the Dutch continued to tear up the agreement and transfer orders to the British, which made the East Coast people angry, and eventually led to their invasion of the Dutch South African colony, which further pushed the relationship between the two countries into the abyss. Later, with the resurgence of republican forces, relations between the two countries were restored, and the trade volume improved a lot compared with the previous state of falling to the bottom, but after all, it has not returned to the previous level. Correspondingly, the relationship between the two countries has not returned to the previous level, and may never be, as long as the Prince of Orange is on the stage for a day!

Finding it difficult to improve relations with the United Provinces, the people on the east coast decisively adjusted their diplomatic strategy and began to make amends in an attempt to reconcile with France. And the French because of their diplomatic isolation in Europe (surrounded by enemies or potential enemies, who would make you want to annex other people's land...... The two countries quickly negotiated in Paris and then reached a package agreement, which made the Hague side very uneasy, and even the Republican parliamentarians who were friendly with the East Coast people wrote privately to inquire, which shows that the rapid change in relations between East and France has made many people extremely uncomfortable.

After the East Coast improved relations with France, bilateral relations were strengthened by the fact that both countries had a common ally, the Ottoman Empire. After the East Coast exported a large number of machinery and equipment for the production of military equipment to the French port of La Rochelle at the beginning of this year, the French reciprocated by opening up more commercial markets.

"There are too many fools in the aristocracy now, but I finally got this one thing right." Labruyère's words were as harsh as ever, and he continued to comment: "In fact, until yesterday there was a proposal to break the de facto alliance with the Ottoman Empire, do you think stupid? The Austrians are our common enemies and those of the Turks, and they should have been fought together, but it is ridiculous that someone should ask to turn against them on the pretext of religion. ”

"You are not pious at all, Monsieur Labruyère, and it may cause you some trouble, as Monsieur Molière did." Lin Dingzhi said.

"Like him, on his deathbed, is there no priest who wants to come and give him a deathbed confession? Hehe, I'm not worried about that, my uncle works in the church, and I don't have any trouble with that. Labruyère laughed and said in a playful tone: "There is no shame in cooperating with pagan countries, in fact, the Ottoman Empire has helped us attract many Austrian main forces over the years, so that they cannot fight us with all their might, and can only rely on those scattered German princes, which is naturally defeated again and again." We, to be honest, also helped the Ottoman Empire attract a lot of firepower, at least in the last few years, because of our ongoing war with the Kingdom of Austria, which attracted a large number of troops, which greatly helped the troubled Ottoman Empire (which at that time was at odds with Poland and Russia). Now that I heard that they are at a standstill with the Austrians again because of Hungary, it is estimated that it will not be long before they will send an envoy to discuss with us and continue to help contain the main force of Austria, right? Anyway, those centaurs are still stationed outside our borders, and the attraction is very simple, but I don't know what they can do. But to be honest, I am not very optimistic, because the combat effectiveness of the Austrian army is not weak at all, although it is not as good as our French army, but it is definitely not to be underestimated. Even if it is a partial division, I am afraid that the chaotic army of the Ottoman Empire may not be able to do it, unless they have an absolute superiority in strength. ”

Labruyère's words are very close to Lin Ding's heart. In his opinion, the Ottoman army did greatly affect its combat effectiveness because of its complex origins, bloated institutions, different beliefs, backward tactics, and poor equipment, and although they had just won a victory in Hungary, it was based on the Austrians retreating and shrinking their forces. God knows what will happen if they don't see it and take it well, but it's not something that the people on the East Coast can control, so let's hope they're lucky.