Louis never doubted that women could be as ambitious as men, and Madame Milady proved that a lady can find pleasure in blood and wailing, but Madame de Montespan was even more so, as she said, she learned from her mother how to use her beauty and charms— Not long after she entered the court and became a royal lady, she won the approval of most people, the love of the Queen Mother, the approval of the Queen, not to mention the Duchess of Montpensier, she was originally the introducer of Madame de Montespan, and the nobles, although jealous, had to learn from her how to dress - This was something that neither the Duchess of Colonna nor Madame de Lavallière could do, and although the Duchess of Colonna, that is, Marie Mancini, was born beautiful, her beauty was always a little freewheeling, and the monotonous economy and closed environment of the island of Gayola made it difficult for her to be as accustomed to being coerced by fashion as a noblewoman, and it was Louis who asked her to do so for the first time when she dressed up with great pomp.

As for Madame Lavallière, it was not that she was reluctant to dress up, but that she preferred a neutral face, which made it difficult for her to find a balance between fat and lace, and let Louis say that she would be heroic if she could wear tight trousers and a shirt and waistcoat, but women were not allowed to do so in this era, unless she admitted that she was a servant of the devil - when Lady Joan of Arc was tried, she was charged with wearing men's clothes, and as a royal lady, she was absolutely not allowed to do this— Therefore, even in the court, she dresses and dresses very elegantly and even plainly, and some people say that she looks very pious.

But Madame de Lavallière, for example, is completely out of line with the imagination of a royal lady – Madame de Montespan is. Louis is the Sun King, the Venus of love and beauty, and she not only dresses up as a goddess for LeBron, the king's painter, to paint her portrait, but also constantly buys clothes, jewelry, and all kinds of exquisite utensils, ornaments, and furniture, and she will dress herself to perfection even when there are no balls and banquets.

She wore a delicate hairstyle, which changed from day to day, wore more jewelry than the queen and queen mother, held either a small fan or a satin sachet embroidered with flowers, her ribbons, shoes and garters matched her clothes, and sometimes she carried a parrot, a ferret, or a little monkey through the crowd with her head held high, and they were dressed in velvet or satin, with gold chains on their paws.

She was so extravagant, so arrogant, and so unsightly, that more and more people pursued and flattered her, especially after she did secure official positions for some people, and the people who were not allowed to enter were like sharks that smelled blood—Madame de Montspan soon received bribes that exceeded her annuity and the king's bounty, and she at last got all what she wanted, and accepted the envy and envy of the people in her indulgence.

"Is that all right?" asked the Duke of Orleans, who and Louis were standing in a hidden corridor, and through the slightly open door they could see the great hall brightly lit, and the people were dancing, gambling, or drinking, indulging themselves, and their centre was forever Madame de Montespan, who was lying on a couch, around which the Marquis and the Duke were scrambling to speak to her, and the Viscount and Baron kneeling at her feet, serving the goddess like servants.

"What do you mean?" asked Louie.

"The officials she recommended. "The Duke of Orleans was worried, for Madame de Montespan almost did not refuse to come—he knew how strict the royal brother was in his demands on officials, and whether those who were ready to go on a big fortune were really up to the post bestowed upon him by the king.

"Why not," said Louis, "I can appoint them or dismiss them," he nodded to his brother, and turned to leave the corridor, and the Duke of Orleans immediately followed: "The primary and secondary education in France can only be said to have just begun," Although Louis had been working on education for a long time, and he was even willing to put up with the Huguenots, education was never something that could be achieved overnight, especially for officials, who needed to have a certain ability to think, calculate, and write, and where else could there be more than the aristocratic families, and the merchants.

The largest number of people who visited Madame de Montespan were merchants, either for the personal gain of the power of the state, as the tax collectors, or for a change of place and a climb up the ranks, "and if I had appointed them, the ministers would have been in a great deal of discourse, either trying to persuade me to dispel them, or attacking the new officials, framing, implicating, or, more directly, murdering," Louis's cane and heels clicked rhythmically in the corridor, and in the silent corridor they were like the soundtrack of the opening of a play: "But Madame de Montespan would be more receptive to them if she were to be recommended by them, for in their perception a king should be like this, and they would ...... Madame de Montespan, not me, or the officials," Louis paused slightly, but the Duke of Orleans already knew what he would say.

Although the king of France has been committed to recovering the territory and unifying the royal power, this is almost equivalent to a tiger's mouth, and it is no easier to do than facing tens of thousands of enemies on the battlefield - as we all know, many of the current robed nobles are from the Inspector class, but after several generations, the robed nobles have almost become another threat, such as the Fouquet family.

The king now needs not only a large number of procurators to weaken and manage the domestic forces, but also some other people to monitor these procurators, but as said before, the people the king really hopes for are either still in school or fledgling, and it is a sheer waste to push them directly to those treacherous officials and ministers, and it will even arouse their alarm - then let the people recommended by Madame de Montespan go, their origins and needs doom them to conflict with those stubborn forces— What to do after that is the king's business.

Of course, if there are outstanding talents among them, the king will not be stingy with promotion.

There was one more thing that Louis did not say to the Duke of Orleans, and that was another thing that Madame de Montespan had failed to do with the Duchess of Colonna or Madame de Lavallière, though she could also have said that it was just in time, and that was to paralyze the princes from all corners with all sorts of extravagant, exciting, and unique forms of pleasure— The king could stoop down to bribe a Duke of Lorraine, but every time he did, he would lose the respect and awe of the people for him, and it was only fitting for the royal lady to do it, because in a way, many of her actions could be described as "favored by the king", and it didn't matter how presumptuous and erosive she was—no, it should be said, how could people swell like beeflies without such temptation, and then gradually indulge in sticky honey, unable to break free until they died?

Did Madame de Montespan realize this? Yes, but it was here that she was most proud, and she had learned from her two fathers how to consider anything from the king's side, big or small, and she danced on Louis's bottom line, but also had enough chips to ensure that she would not be utterly rejected by the king.

Louis did not express such thoughts to the Duke of Orleans because the Duke of Orleans was also one of his "spokesmen", and when many kings could not express their position directly, the Duke of Orleans was his mouthpiece, but he did not want his brother to be associated with Madame de Montespan, so he simply skimmed - "Are you going back to the Queen Mother?" or to your suite, or to deign to spend the night in my room?"

The Duke of Orleans was a little hesitant, the King's suite certainly had the largest number of rooms, and it was also prepared to have a side bed for the ministers to spend the night with those close to them after the all-night meeting, which was a privilege, although the Duke of Orleans often enjoyed it, "The Grand Marshire is still a little feverish, I want to go back and see." ”

Louis was taken aback: "When? Why don't you tell me that Varro Vesalius or Charles Lom have been there?"

"I've seen it, but I'm cold. The Duke of Orleans hurriedly said.

"Don't take it lightly. "If there is anything that scares Louis the most in this era, it is injury, not to mention that wizards have a quick-acting and highly effective potion, which has no instructions, and no one knows what the consequences of drinking it will be, but if there is a choice, wizards are undoubtedly more reliable than any doctor nowadays - especially children, even in Paris, in Versailles, the infant mortality rate is still a shocking number, Louis never thought that children in the court can be an exception.

"I'll go back tonight and tell you tomorrow morning. Said the Duke of Orleans.

"Well," said Louis, "don't forget." ”

————

In fact, the Duke of Orleans's suite was not far from the king, after all, he was the king's favorite brother.

When he walked into the big county lord's room, he rarely showed no smile, although the big county lord's condition was just a cold as he said, after the two imperial doctors took turns to see it, he only drank a bottle of potion, and it was much better—the big county lord's illness still came from her heart.

One might be puzzled that the Grand Princess, Elizabeth, was only a year younger than Princess Elizabeth, and was only ten years old this year, but even if she was only ten years old, because her precocious trait was common in children of the seventeenth century, especially in the court, she was in such a position that she thought no less than a minister or a noblewoman.

Ordinary gossip could not hit such a child, so there was only one thing that was most terrible for both the princess and the lord.

Marriage.

Even Louis's eldest princess Elizabeth accepted at an early age that her marriage would inevitably be the result of a peace treaty or a transaction, which was their obligation after accepting the support of their subjects, and the princess and the princess were of the same age, and they never imagined that they could have a husband who was satisfied, but only encouraged each other in private, telling each other that they must be strong, whether the husband is old, sick or married to a hostile country, they must persevere to the end, for themselves and for their own country.

When the marriage of the eldest princess was put on the agenda, but it was not yet decided, the lord of the princess was still worried about her, everyone knew that Louis XIV loved his children, but he loved France more, and for the sake of France, he would definitely weigh the marriage of the eldest princess - As a king rather than a father, Louis XIV was finally settled on King Carl XI of Sweden, who was not only a good man of his age, but also in good health, and although not as good as Louis XIV or the Duke of Orleans, he was also very manly.

The Grand Marshire once saw them walking arm in arm in the holly labyrinth of Versailles, and it was said that the king was very lacking in education, but he was not inferior or discouraged by this, he could not write poems or write articles to express his love, but he could choose gifts for his fiancée from the prey he hunted every time, and he was willing to accept the gifts of the eldest princess in reading and writing— Versailles had a well-stocked library, where the king set up comfortable tables and chairs, where the Dauphin, the Grand Princess and the Grand Marsal were frequent visitors, and now Karl XI is often there with the Grand Princess, reading a book side by side.

The Grand Princess, knowing that this was all intentional on the part of His Majesty, and although he chose Karl XI for the sake of his country, he must also have wanted his daughter to have love with her husband, not duty and conspiracy.

Of course, but the Grand Marsal also had a good father, and although the Duke of Orleans was seriously absent when she was growing up, since the Duke of Orleans returned to Paris and came to Versailles with her, her father's love wrapped her tightly like the winter sun, and filled her heart with happiness.

As if it were for the sake of this happiness, the great lord heard that the Spanish envoy Juan Patinho had returned to Versailles at the same time as he had returned to his own country, and that this time he had not come empty-handed, but with a large portrait, and what kind of negotiation would require a portrait?

At this time in Spain, the regent Don Juan José, who was born in 39, was already married, and even if he was not married, he was not qualified to marry the daughter of the Duke of Orleans, so there was only one candidate - King Carlos II of Spain.

When it comes to age, Carlos II was born in 61, and compared with Carl XI, he is even more collective, but long before the war against Flanders, there was a mention of Carlos II's marriage to Princess Elizabeth, but it was vetoed by Louis XIV - Carlos II was certainly the king of Spain, and he was close in age, but the bad consequences of the Habsburg marriage had precipitated in him to the extreme, and he had all the bad things you can think of - a crooked chin, buckteeth, Disability of both legs (he only learned to walk at the age of ten) epilepsy, dementia......

If Carl XI's shallowness of knowledge is man-made, then Carlos II suffered the most terrible curse, the punishment of God, and his situation will only get worse and worse, not better, and it is not to blame that the Spanish ministers and generals would rather obey the arrangement of an illegitimate child than serve such a king.

But others say that it would be a good choice – for the king of France.