There are few doubts about Louis XIV's decision, but there are still many people who are worried about France, even if with the large-scale use of muskets and artillery on the battlefield, the king in the rear has rarely been affected by the flames of war, but this time Louis XIV's enemies are the Ottoman Turks, for most Europaans, it is a group of devils who will spit fire in their mouths and smoke in their ears- And while Ottoman Turkey's expansion had slowed down under Suleiman I, it was still a vast empire, feared by a tiger and even more so by a giant elephant.

Some people even suggested that even if the king sent reinforcements, he did not need to go on a personal expedition, and only sent a few capable generals to perform his duties on his behalf.

"But here in the Habsburgs, it must be Leopold I himself in command, and if I don't show up, then he will be the commander of the coalition forces, and I don't think he will blaspheme God and make a deal with the devil, but he will definitely be partial to the Austrians and his allies. Louis said to the Duke of Orleans, and this time he wants to take away the Dauphin Louis Jr., then the Duke of Orleans and his son must stay in Versailles or Paris - this is the same reason as the last time he fought Holland and Flanders, and took the Duke of Orleans and left Louis Jr. for the same reason: "The Duke of Colonna has already been in the battle in person, and Louis Jr. is about to come of age......" Louis paused. Leopold I probably won't have the strength and heart to form an alliance against me until his eldest daughter marries King Carlos II of Spain, so the biggest battle in years is probably this time, and unlike my campaign against the Netherlands and Flanders," he said calmly, "this war will be more brutal. ”

"You're too little Louie. The Duke of Orleans said smugly, "He is normal, Brother Wang, you are not normal." ”

Such an impudent remark would have made others feel terrible, and even if it were impossible for the king to order at once the guards to expel the speaker, or even to imprison him in the Bastille, the Duke of Orleans said this, and Louis knew exactly what he meant: "No, no, no," he said, "I have no intention of reproaching him, on the contrary, I am pleased," said Louis. " You know I almost had a love, and until now, I don't know whether to regret or rejoice, and I'm going to stop before I'm completely down, and I'd love to see little Louie get the gift I lost. He thought for a moment: "He is different from me, he has a strong and dear father, and a loyal and generous uncle, he ...... There is the power of indulgence and failure. ”

After Louis said this, the room was silent for a long time - Louis lost his father at the age of five, although he repaid Louis XIII for his enemies, whether it was the wizard who cursed him, the mastermind behind it, or even the Church of Rome...... But it was not an indisputable fact that Louis XIII's impression in his mind was becoming more and more indifferent, and he was lucky, and the Duke of Orleans could hardly even remember his father's face now.

"I'm sorry, brother. The Duke of Orleans whispered that the Queen Mother and the Bishop of Mazarin had resolutely excluded him from government during the time of the Fronde riots, so that he would have to rearrange his memories a few years later, from the Grandess of Montpensier, the Grand Conde, the Viscount of Tyrrenne, and even the Marshal of Schaumberg.

But it is impossible to say that Louis felt the same way—if I had to give an example, the Duke of Gaston or the Prince of Condé would have ended no better than Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower of London (note 1).

To say that the Duke of Orleans did not complain about the partiality of the Bishop Mazaran and the Queen Mother is absolutely false, although when he became an adult, no matter what temptations and turmoil he encountered, he resolutely stood on the side of the royal brother, but his unintentional accusation shows that those dark things still left a trace in his heart after all.

"Nothing," said Louis calmly, "and, even if I do have something wrong, are you perfect?" he tugged at his brother's light blue scarf tied into a bow, "Philip, we all have shortcomings, but it's good that we don't let things change for the worst." ”

The Duke of Orleans wanted to laugh, but failed, he may still be the boy trapped in the little dress, and his royal brother has never been able to fully deliver his heart to another person, which is a good thing for the country, but for Louis himself, he is now beginning to envy the Dauphin Louis the Younger, he has a good father, and he has not lost him, so that this child can have such lovely troubles.

"I am now in favor of your idea," said the Duke of Orleans, "and bring him into battle, for if you see too many of those terrible Ottoman Turks, his troubles will surely disappear." ”

Louis laughed unabashedly: "Then it is decided, Philippe, you will guard Versailles, Paris and France for me." By the way," he touched his cane, "if possible, in these two or three years, you'd better be able to have a few more children with Henrietta, I don't want my youngest son to be too lonely." ”

"Haven't you named him yet?" asked the Duke of Orleans.

"I'll give him a name when I get back," said Louis with a blank face, and he now looked like a king again: "In the days of my absence, the Duke of Colonna and his wife are going back to Siena, where he is to contend and accept the loyalty of the remnants of Anjou— So the only thing left in the inner world is Madame Milady, who is a shrewd spy chief, but who is not in a position to deal with bigger things, so I will turn some of it to Madame de Montespan, and see how much she can earn for her son. ”

The Duke of Orleans wisely did not pursue this: "Do you still want the Duke of Colonna to be involved in Siena's affairs?" ”

"It is a pity that the two children, one of whom, though of the same age as the Duke of Colonna, had nothing to praise about it, not even the acumen and prudence of his father, and as for the youngest son, he was born frail and sickly, and some doctors said that he might not be able to bear children. ”

"If the wizards can heal Carlos II," said the Duke of Orleans, "then they will be able to heal the child." ”

"I'll tell you about this too," because the leaders of the agents are Lady Miladydi and Elarius, who are directly responsible to the king, so the Duke of Orleans doesn't know about this matter: "Those dark wizards...... The so-called treatment is likely to quench thirst by drinking. Louis recalled the Secret Scroll that Elelius had brought him: "In wizarding magic, any trade related to life force is unequal. ”

"But if it works, there will still be people who will follow. Said the Duke of Orleans.

"Maybe while the wizards are still in control of the world. "In ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, it was not uncommon for a large number of slaves to die at the same time, or one after the other, without interruption - when the shamans were still priests and shamans, they could do whatever they wanted, but now, it is impossible, and such spells will attract great backlash.

Even Elarius didn't know exactly what it was, but the current situation in Spain was like a pyramid built on a small ball that could completely collapse at any moment - that small ball was Carlos II, who had been subjected to black magic.

"So the Church of Rome stood by and watched, and here it was found out whether the Duke of Luxembourg had instructed the clergy to sell arsenic for the sake of a few hundred livres?"

"The Church of Rome knows very well who will be their enemy. Louis said, "And even if Carlos II dies, or if Duke Don Juan or the Queen Mother of Habsburg dies, will whoever rules Spain, the French, or the Austrians still be able to convert to Protestantism? He shook his head.

"Both?" asked the Duke of Orleans, the grandfather of Clement X and Madame d'Aubigne.

"Why not, they are quite unanimous in this regard," Louis picked up the two letters and sent them to Philip, "the former is mad, the latter is ambitious, but they are both more concerned about me marrying the Celestial Princess and the Grand Princesses to the Protestant King and Grand Duke." "Sweden has been converted to Protestantism as early as the time of Christina's father, Gustav II, and now most Swedish citizens are Protestants by birth, which is why as soon as Queen Christina had the intention of converting to Catholicism, the domestic Protestant church did not hesitate to stand on her cousin's side, after Princess Elizabeth married in Sweden- Of course, the Roman Church still wanted her to maintain her faith in Catholicism, but Louis XIV, who loved his daughter, thought that Elizabeth would do well to maintain the same faith as her husband and her subjects—Louis was a religious pragmatist, not that no one else was either, and there were many grievances due to religious conflicts.

Brandenburg-Prussia was a Protestant country (let's call it that), but when the new defender of Catholicism, Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, used him, he did not hesitate to ask Leopold I in what name he accepted the allegiance of a Protestant.

————

In France, and wherever Christ is believed, it is often said that the devil is there—the king and the Duke of Orleans mentioned the marriage of the Grand Duke, and the son of the Grand Duke of Brandenburg-Prussia came to Louis XIV, and the reason for his request was simple: his father, the Elector of Brandenburg, had to follow the will of Leopold I and lead an army to the aid of Vienna, so he had to return to Prussia as soon as possible to fulfill the duties of an heir.

Frederick looked at Louis XIV expectantly, although the Brandenburg envoys had repeatedly said that the king of France was likely to refuse to send troops, or that he would simply let his generals do the work for him...... His guess was correct, and the King of France nodded, "Maybe I'll meet your father in Hungary." ”

The little Monsieur William's eyes lit up at once, but it soon dimmed, for he remembered that he had to hold on to Prussia, and that it was impossible for him to fight against the heretics with his father, Louis XIV.

If Louis had heard Frederick's words, he would have told him that even if he went to battle, he would only wait for his generals to win in a castle some distance from the battlefield - a king, unless he was Alexander or Caesar, it was better not to run into trouble for his soldiers and generals.

Frederick retired with a secret regret, and Louis had a lot of work to do.

Although it has been decided to let the Duke of Orleans stay, it is also a question of choosing the general and the marshal to go to Hungary with the king, the viscount of Tirrenne is in the Netherlands, the Grand Condé is already Ludwig I, and the king has only the general Vauban at his side - Louis plans to recall the viscount of Tyrrenne, and the Grand Condé also has his eldest son back with the king and is at his disposal.

Field Marshal Schaumberg was an Austrian, and it was not Louis' style to make him torn between Leopold I and himself, but the king made it clear, and the Marshal Schomberg immediately ran to the king—the flash of his breast immediately caught the king's attention, and it was not the first reward that the king had given him—the large diamond pin.

It is said that at that time, Viscount Tirrenne was also planning to duel with this foreigner (Schaumberg had not yet obtained French nationality) to decide the ownership of the pin – not for its value, but for its meaning.

He had come to ask the king for help, and it was justified that Louis XIV had granted him French nationality twenty years earlier, and that he had made him a Frenchman," and," he said bluntly, "Your Majesty, you don't need me this time, what do you want others to think of me? They will surely say that there must be an unknown flaw in my loyalty, which is why Your Majesty is not willing to use me," he raised his eyebrows slightly: Besides, you won't let me go this time, because Leopold I may be the commander of the coalition, and then he may be an enemy of France in the near future, and will I have to be excluded at that time?"

Note 1: Edward V was the eldest son of Edward IV, who ascended to the throne as King of England after his father's death, but mysteriously disappeared in the Tower of London less than a year after his only brother, Richard, Duke of York. They were succeeded by their uncle, the regent Richard III, Duke of Gloucester