In order to show his respect and affection for this lady, the king took her by the hand and walked into the hall first, followed by the Queen Mother and Cardinal Mazarin, and behind them were Queen Mary of England and Princess Henrietta, who was held by Philip, Duke of Anjou, and then by the princes and nobles, and the ministers of civil and military affairs, and they followed the king in an orderly and solemn row of hands in pairs, like a pack of dogs following their masters.

As soon as the king entered the hall, the orchestra began to play, a light arrangement of Swedish folk songs, which made Madame Christina smile, and the chairs and long tables in the hall were already in place, and according to the king's request, in addition to the snow-white linen tablecloths, there were innumerable flowers, which were either laid out in the corners like cushions or fell from the corner of the zenith like draperies, and the tables were filled with silver and white porcelain cutlery, and the flowers on the table were placed in crystal bottles, and although it was not yet late at night, the servants had already lit candles, let the light they refract brighten people's eyes.

As for the white, silver, and gold plates, which were already full of preserves and pastries, and the pots and pots of coffee, juice, and honey were almost overflowing, and the hot ones were curling white mist, and the ice ones were the same, and there was a beautiful statue in front of the king, the brother and the queen and the queen and the bishop, and before Queen Mary and Princess Henrietta of England, and in front of today's distinguished guests, and Madame Christina looked at it for a long time before she was sure that it was carved from the solidification of powdered sugar.

Of course, that's not all, tonight's dishes have been prepared since four o'clock in the morning, and by now, some of the guests can almost smell the rich aromas of the delicious food that is ready to be served, which makes them especially feel that the pre-dinner prayer is too long - but fortunately, before their bellies can be rudely called, the soup has been served, three soups, a clear soup, a sea fish soup, partridge soup, and then a two-flavor soup, quail and beef stewed together, then eggs, Vegetables and salt, sprinkled with precious spices such as cinnamon, pepper and cloves, and the consommé is a mushroom cream soup that, although it seems to be rich enough to be a soup today, is a consommé without the meat. But the king ordered the cooks to put a puff pastry hat on it, something that the French or elsewhere had not yet eaten, and they watched the king's movements carefully, learning from the king to tear the puff pastry and eat it in the soup.

The soup is followed by the main dishes, such as stewed lamb shank, steamed ham with honey, roasted deer tenderloin, pheasant stuffed with chestnuts, etc., one after the other, each with different tastes and exceptionally delicious, although in this kind of banquet, people are inevitably going to deal with the information they have, but from the beginning of the soup, few people can no longer speak, their tongues are almost occupied by these rare delicacies, and even the nobles who value their bodies are constantly asking for additional dishes.

After the main dish is the vegetables, the chrysanthemum lettuce, white asparagus, artichokes, parsnip (radish), Cabbage, Cyprus cauliflower, Italian shallots and thistles, some are fresh, some are pickled or otherwise treated, but they are all clean and refreshing, sweeping away the greasy from the main vegetables, and the vegetables are followed by fruits and boiled eggs, these are to ensure that some guests with big appetites fill in, but today even if a dragon comes, Louis believes that it has been fed, but when he sees those brightly colored fruits with water droplets, there are still some people who can't help but hold them in their hands and play with them.

Because of the season, the main fresh fruits are apples and some berries, and apples are divided into three types: spotted apples, purple apples, and small red-skinned apples, which are served on silver plates, cherry and peach pies, and various jams.

The wines on the table came from Champagne and Burgundy, all of which were presented to the King by the Duchess of Montpensier for the banquet.

The feast lasted three hours, and at last everyone was anxious to go out for a "walk", and a special servant took them to their secret rooms, after which they enjoyed a good view that they had never seen anywhere else.

From the bottom of his heart, Louis felt that it was most comfortable to walk alone or to read a book quietly in the study after dinner, but unfortunately not, and it was after the banquet that he longed to see the scene that he most longed to see - he invited Madame Christina to a terrace in the northeast corner of the Louvre, from which he could see a sparkling canal, beside the Red Child Market, to the right you could see Notre-Dame, and next to Notre-Dame Cathedral was the Place de la Bastille.

——

Standing on the bell tower of Notre-Dame, Vauban had been holding his binoculars nervously, and he had thrown a piece of stuffed bread by his side, which he had only bitten twice, and the tower was so cold in the autumn, but even then he did not dare to take a few sips of wine to keep out the cold—as soon as he saw the king appear on the terrace, surrounded by numerous ministers, he immediately ran over and drew his torch, and shook it vigorously at the people under the bell tower— Several horses galloped out from under the bell tower, street after street, and the riders had whistles in their mouths, and the shrill whistles swept over people's ears like the wind, so that the men who were waiting by the oil lamps immediately lit them, and hung them high on the lampposts.

These lampposts have long been seen, but at that time they were only used as flagpoles or for other purposes, until now, under the deep darkness of the sky, as if to seize the light of the stars in the sky, countless lights illuminate the streets of Paris, they clearly outline every street, the inhabitants are no longer confined in their houses, they go out of their homes, and look with joy at the light brought by the king.

Then they were pleasantly surprised to find that almost all the shops were open at night by order of the king and the bishop, and the candles in the glass windows illuminated the storefronts, and the shopkeepers were at first a little reluctant, but then they found that under the beautification of the warm yellow light, even the most inferior goods showed a different color or texture than in the daytime, and some customers, misled by their own vision, foolishly bought many goods that they disdained when the light was full, so they became very sincere when they shouted long live the king。

The cheers of one or two people certainly don't reach the towers of the Louvre, but the view below is perfectly visible to the people here, and in this era, only candles and grease lit people can only feel a different night on religious holidays – even in Paris, the night is still dangerous. Dull and boring, but now, like turning the clockwork of a toy box, all the people in it moved, and the dark night and the golden streets gave this ancient city a unique beauty, and everyone was conquered.

"It was only the first day," they heard the king say, "and it will be every day after that." ”

He turned around and proudly declared, "This will be a city that never sleeps!"

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One may wonder why Louis had such a grand banquet and such a huge undertaking at a time when the treasury was empty, and even needed to borrow money to keep the army and government running, but in the seventeenth century it was one of the most common ways for noble princes to show their power—endless, unbridled, and careless extravagance would make your friends happy, your enemies cringe, and greedy merchants scrambling to qualify you for a loan, no kidding, that's it— They would rather lend money to a lord who spent a thousand livres a day on his shoes than to lend a starving man who desperately needed ten riyads in exchange for a loaf of bread.

The king's efforts to hold this banquet were also painstaking, and the reason why the palace was decorated with so many flowers was because of the lack of velvet and gold leaf to decorate the walls, and some tableware was even borrowed from the bishop's palace and some merchants, and the curtains and tablecloths, candles and charcoal of the whole Louvre and half of the Tourry Palace were concentrated in the hall and a few rooms, and while the people sighed for the light of the streets, much of Paris was in fact still immersed in darkness.

It was also an oath of strength to France's allies and enemies, at least to the envoys of other nations, who would describe the feast in detail in their letters tonight, so that their kings might consider their attitude toward the young king of France.

And for the ministers and judges, at least for the moment, they were convinced by their king.

They could not even contain the excitement in their hearts, and whispered rudely before the king had even left, but this was exactly what Louis wanted to see, and as he left the hall, everyone bowed until he disappeared behind the door.

Only the king's trusted chamber keeper, Bontang, could see the king's fatigue, and Louis went to sleep after a simple wash, missing a visit from Theoderick, Prince of Van Dro.