The Marquis de Craigie raised his hand to his chest, both to show his loyalty to the king and to contain his excitement, he did imagine it, but he was not very sure, the civil strife in France had passed for a few years, and the king's attention to internal affairs also meant that the money from the treasury was constantly flowing into the streets and estates— A look at the renovated Paris shows how much effort the king put into it, and Versailles, which gradually housed nearly 50,000 displaced people, had become a village, and as the king generously allowed them to use the resources of the marshes and forests, more and more people were willing to settle there, and even formed a small city and several villages around it.

He had also heard of His Majesty's intention to reform the military system, and of course, from the King's willingness to tolerate a foreigner, a Protestant to become his marshal, and his neat and easy sparing of the Prince of Condé and a group of his relatives and friends, showed how much His Majesty valued and valued talented people with military talents—he also intended to create new legions, and to give flags to the existing ones. Uniformly made and armed, the Marquis of Craqui knew that the money needed for these moves would flow like the waters of the Seine, and would never return.

But as a general, he was happy to see this, just as he was happy to see his king dare to face any enemy, whether it was the king of Spain or the pope, but he also had to think about the king's purse, after all, he was older than the king, and the young king was probably not so thoughtful, and the merchants and commoners who had to bear heavy taxes were not as docile as they were during the Thirty Years' War, and the two previous riots almost illustrated this problem, and the Marquis of Craqui bowed his head and considered it carefully, almost ignoring the king's problem。

"Mr. Craigie?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I'm sorry. ”

"It is not all that," said Louis, who could see that the Marquis de Craqui did not mean to be dismissive, but did not know what had come to mind: "The Prince of Condé had already led his army in the Haute-Pyrinhos, and now that Spain and France were at peace, and he asked me if he should come back, well, I think you should go there, and with my own letter, I want you to go to Perpignan, and I will send fifteen Calais. He smiled at Cracy, whose eyes widened, "You are waiting for my orders in Sardinia. ”

"You mean ......," Marquis Craigie asked tentatively.

"Well, we might fight against Italy, no, Rome. Louis said almost amiably: "Although the Pope may have his thoughts, I also want my country to be respected." ”

"But Your Majesty, Sardinia belongs to Spain. ”

"I trust that His Majesty Philip IV will be willing to give us this convenience. Louie said.

"I thought you would take some peaceful means first. ”

"Yes," said Louis, "but what does it have to do with me sending troops?" He could, of course, wait for the Pope to react and send troops, but firstly, during that time, the Pope would most likely try to sow discord with other countries to prevent him from sending troops against Rome, and secondly, the Pope would also take the opportunity to incite the Catholics and clergy in the country to make gestures against him, and more likely, the Pope would expel him from the Church—not the first time, nor the last.

If he knows what the enemy will do, then why should he be stupid and wait for the other party to deal his cards? Louis was young, his ministers, even in his old age, had to act resolutely, the Marquis de Craqui's accusations were brought to the High Court the next day, and the High Court became a puppet at the hands of the king when the king returned to Paris for the second time, and on the third day the verdict was handed down, and Pope Alexander VII, or rather, the popes after him, lost their French territory of Avignon because of their disrespect for the king of France.

Speaking of Avignon, of course, it is a shame for the Roman Church and the popes, because it was the French king Philip who plundered Avignon in France with the pope at that time because of taxes and other issues, and in the next hundred years, he manipulated the papal election, in those hundred years, the pope was always French, and the place where the pope was stationed changed from Rome to Avignon, although the subsequent pope finally moved the church back to Rome, but Avignon is still regarded as the second holy city - It can also be said that the only gain of the Church in a century of humiliation - in 1347, the Countess of Giovanna (Queen of Naples), the owner of Provence, the seat of Avignon, was hunted down by her brother-in-law for the murder of her husband, and she prayed for asylum from Pope Clement VI.

The price offered by Clement VI was Avignon, and the price of Avignon was 80,000 gold florins, which was similar to a great gift. Since then, the kings of France have tried their best to retake Avignon, but the Roman Church is not a fool, how could it easily give up this nail in the belly of France, the matter dragged on to this day, but unexpectedly it was resolved because of an ordinary dispute.

In addition, Mr. Craigie's fear that his recklessness would lead to the king's dissatisfaction with him was superfluous, and no one knew better than Louis that this battle with the Church of Rome had to be fought, not to mention that in the case of werewolves, he was the victim, but even in order to escape the revenge of the victims, the Church of Rome would do its best to make France a new king—and Louis also showed the heart of a ruler, like the sea when he was tolerant, like the eye of a needle when he was narrow, and now was the time for him to be narrow-minded. While the Roman Church was still perfunctory with the hanging of a Corsican and a thief, the French king's army had quietly crossed half of the Ligurian Sea and arrived in Sardinia, and by the time the Pope had connived at his brother to leave Rome and run back to their native Siena, the king's army was ready to land in Naples and penetrate the vital point of Rome when the carrier pigeon brought the king's order.

But when the Marquis of Craigie stood on the undulating deck of the Calais, looking out over the endless blue sea, he wondered if the king's movements were so rapid, whether he had expected it, or had been preparing for it for a long time, but all of this was left behind when he saw Naples—there were no credible admirals in the French army, and although a general had taken the path of his brother Philippe to propose himself to the king, the king rejected him— When the king was assassinated in Dunkirk and stayed in the world because he needed to lift the curse, many people were asking the royal brother Philip to participate in the Dunkirk talks in the name of the regent king, but Philip resolutely refused, so the king was willing to believe his brother, but he was unwilling to promote those flattering generals and courtiers who turned the rudder with the wind, he couldn't blame his mother and Bishop Mazarin, and couldn't treat those villains who flocked around the royal brother? After much consideration, he chose François Henri de Montmorencie-Bouteville, a close friend of Prince Condé, who fled to Spain and is still alive.

Speaking of which, it is normal for the former Count of Bouteville to be so close to the Prince of Condé, the day he was born his father was executed for killing the opponent of the duel, and when he was an infant, he was given to the mother of the Prince of Condé to raise him, the Prince of Condé was six years older than him, but they did get along like brothers when they got along, after the Prince of Condé was captured in the Battle of the Dunes, the Count of Bouteville also surrendered, and they returned to Paris together, although the Prince of Condé was forgiven by the king, but he was still deprived of a series of honors and duties from the head of the Royal Knights, and the same was true of Monsieur de CountBut just when they thought they were going to be so silent, Prince Condé was sent to the border between Spain and France to threaten Philip IV, and then he was appointed commander of the legions, to Naples, to Rome.

Such an appointment could not help but amaze him, and he even foolishly said in the presence of the envoy: "I am not a naval commander-in-chief!" This sentence made Kirbel, who was the king's envoy, laugh, "Alas," he said, "Mr. Duke, if you are going to command a fleet, I think there will be a chance in the future, but this time you will have to lead the infantry—spearmen, musketeers, and grenadiers, but by sea." François realized that he had made a fool, and quickly apologized to the sought-after minister, invited him to be a guest at his mansion, and inquired of the king's true intentions.

There is one more thing to mention here, that is, how this Monsister Count became Monsieur Duke, which in turn has to do with his marriage— When the Prince of Condé went into exile in Spain and fought for the Spaniards against France, the Spaniards canonized him as the Duke of Luxembourg, a title that made both the Bishop of Mazarin and the king very dissatisfied, and after Spain was defeated in the war with France, in the Peace of Billinius, Spain was forced to divide the southern part of Luxembourg to France, and under the plot of the Prince Condé, Mr. Count obtained the title of Duke of Luxembourg through marriage- Although the bride is old and ugly, and the groom is short and ugly, this marriage still aroused the jealousy of many people, some people thought that the king should not be so lenient with Prince Condé and his henchmen, but here the title of Duke of Luxembourg was confirmed, and the appointment of Prince Condé and François followed, so to speak, this was an opportunity for the king to prove that he had indeed served the king wholeheartedly with merit - It's the usual style of a young king, he rarely uses vile tactics or threats and intimidation to get people to submit, he just puts on conditions that you can't refuse.

Both Condé and François had to do their best for the king, otherwise if one of them was negligent, the other would inevitably be implicated.

This was the case with François, Duke of Luxembourg, whom Craigie saw as not at all like a high-profile general, with a short stature, a saddled back, frowning eyebrows, a wide gap between his eyes, small eyes, a nose that bent downward, and a small ugly chin.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" asked the Duke, noticing the Marquis' gaze on him.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency," said Marquis Craigie, "I'm just worried about the battle that will follow. ”

This sentence made the Duke of Luxembourg laugh, "Oh, how can you think so, do you think that the Pope of Rome can send an angel to fight for him?"

"If an angel had come down from the clouds, the first thing would have destroyed the second Babylon," said the Marquis of Craigie.

"Is Rome really so bad?"

"It's worse than you think," said Craigkey, "and although people say that a hundred years ago Rome was a hundred times worse than it is now, I can't imagine what that would have been, but even now Rome I feel like I've suddenly become a good and pious man." ”

"Okay, okay, I see, so do you think Rome has an army or a solid wall?"

"The pope has no army, but his king does. "And the faith in the hearts of the people is more difficult to break down than the walls." ”

"You are right," said the Duke of Luxembourg, "but do you know what His Majesty said to me?"

"If I'm lucky enough to listen," said Marquis Craqui, bowed, "please, I'd love to know." ”

"Your Majesty," said the Duke of Luxembourg, looking back at the sparkling harbor, "if the sword is sharp, then take hold of the hilt and turn it towards our enemies." ”

Seriously, the Marquis of Craci barely understood this sentence, but as soon as the army landed, he understood, for they had only rested for one night, and before dawn the whole army set out, and the port of Naples was not far from Rome, about fifty fats— All those who met them along the way, whether mercenaries, merchants, or civilians, were all detained, and if anyone resisted or tried to escape, they were killed, so that until they arrived at Hadrian's Palace, the city of Rome did not notice, and when the papal guard and the family mercenaries were in chaos, the banner of the French king's blue and gold lily was already in the sight of the Roman people.

This is not the first time that Rome has been surrounded by French troops, the last time the tragic Boniface VIII was captured, imprisoned and humiliated, and even if he finally escaped, he died a month later because of fear, and then the hundred-year-long humiliation of Avignon has haunted the Church to this day - and now seeing that the tragedy is about to repeat itself, Alexander VII, who fled all the way to Castel Sant'Angelo, is about to faint with nervousness, and he writes many letters in a row, asking for help from the kings of the Catholic countries, but these letters cannot be delivered.

Louis could have just intimidated and the Pope would still give in, but now that the army had already entered Naples, the loss of soldiers' money, provisions, equipment, transportation, etc., was no longer recoverable, and Louis did not intend to leave it at that...