Here we must first mention the Peace of Westphalia, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed on the premise that the Franco-Swiss Alliance defeated the armies of the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Smushausen and the Battle of Reims. Although France was the victorious side, and Alsace and Lorraine almost became the de facto occupation of France, since the death of Louis XIII, the successive riots and rebellions in France did affect the Bishop of Mazarin, and the real ruler of France now had the right to speak among the kings, so after several consultations, Philip IV of the Holy Roman Empire decided to sell Alsace to the French for three million livres, including his relationship that was already sick and dying.

"And it is unfortunate," said Mr. Bishop, "that Balthasar, the eldest son of Philip IV, left this world of sin eight years ago, and now he has only two daughters, and it is difficult to say whether his queen, your aunt Elizabeth, will be able to bear sons, and if so, he will need a large sum of money to ensure that his son can be elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and the electors have always had a great appetite, and a few hundred thousand miles of livr cannot satisfy them." ”

"What if not?"

"Even if he doesn't, he still needs money, your majesty, you know, although in the Holy Roman Empire, the princes fought each other in the name of Protestantism and Old Religion, in fact, just like you, their real purpose was only for more territory and power, which Philip IV could not have been unaware of, so he needed more soldiers, more equipment, and more provisions—to fight against the members of the alliance with evil intentions. ”

"The Protestant Union and the Catholic League," said Louis, "the Emperor is on the side of the Catholics, but it seems that his enemies are not of different faiths—and what do you mean by saying that he is the same as me?"

Mr. Bishop gave the king a smile of mutual understanding, and Louis gave him a glance back, wondering how this cardinal, who had married the wizards, could so justifiably accuse others of not being pious enough.

"All right," said Mr. Bishop, "now we have a problem, Your Majesty, we have been delaying for six years, and we may not be able to delay any longer, and our shortfall is about two million livres. ”

Two million livres, for Louis ten years later, would be as light as a feather, but for the current king, it was as heavy as a mountain, and he gathered the merchants who accompanied him, and used some later means to raise a hundred thousand livres worth of property, in exchange for the ownership of two thousand acres of land in the Versailles region, which was used to house more and more displaced people—and the cost of repairing roads, opening up new land, and installing all kinds of equipment, livestock, and building materials, and the king promised them the right to use the roads and some of the buildings here— For the next ten years, they could gallop along the roads of Versailles, or they could set up hotels or shops here. Fortunately, this was Versailles, a barren place full of swamps and dense forests, of little use other than hunting, and if it were Paris, the king's promises would never have been approved by the Queen Mother Anne and Bishop Mazarin.

But in addition to these 100,000 livres, the king is only afraid of more additional income for the time being, but it is absolutely impossible to say that it is impossible to give up Alsace, not to mention the military spending and lives of the French in Alsace and Lorraine, just because of the unique position of Alsace- It itself lies between France and the Holy Roman Empire, and if the Holy Roman Empire wants to do anything to France, it is the best outpost, and it is an indispensable stronghold to say what France wants to do to the Holy Roman Empire, and now Philip IV of the Holy Roman Empire is worried about the vague division within the empire, and it is difficult to say what will happen in the end if they do not fulfill their treaty agreements.

"How much do I have to earn now?"

It stands to reason that Louis's income must have been considerable now, after all, since the Capetian dynasty, the royal family has owned fourteen palaces, thirty-five castles, and thousand, four hundred and fifty estates, and the king is the lord of those places, and has the right to take their taxes and tribute, and there are twenty-six bishops of the regions, and sixty-seven royal abbeys to appoint them. Philip snatched it from the Roman Church, so if a nobleman wanted his children to become bishops, they had to pay a series of huge fees to the king, not the pope, and to ensure that their position was not shaken, the bishops were also to offer precious gifts, as well as a third or a quarter of the tithes.

And it is known that when it comes to wine and agricultural products, there is nothing better than the production of the monasteries, and these are also part of the king.

Moreover, the king also had the right to mint money, and if the trick between the gold louis, the silver Eju, and the bronze riyard was played well, what could be more profitable than this trade?

In addition, as with the priesthood, the office of the official could also be bought and sold, and in addition to the cost of purchasing the office, the official also had an annual tribute to the king, such as the annual pollekin that each magistrate was required to pay as mentioned earlier.

And the court in the king's hands, in many cases, also opened the way with money, and bribes were the result, and it is said that there is an annual income of nearly 100,000 livres.

Originally, the king of France, like the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was said to be the most noble ruler, but he was only one of the more powerful princes, and if they wanted to collect taxes, they had to go through the three councils (the first estate of the clergy, The second estate of the nobility and the third estate of the burghers), but in the Hundred Years' War, France was repeatedly in a precarious situation, so the French said that they must have a strong leader, but such a leader can not be obtained by talking about it, war swallows not only human life, the wealth created by human beings is the greatest consumption, so the Estates-General had to repeatedly make concessions to the king in matters of taxation, and by the time of Charles VII, such concessions became a complete compromise, and the king was able to collect taxes in peacetime, so as to ensure that France would always have a stable and credible standing army。

The problem is that such optimism is rare even in the time of Louis XIII, nominally the royal family should have 50 million livres a year, but in fact it would be nice to get 10 million livres, and with the decline of royal power, strife continues, this number is shrinking, and this 10 million livres does not belong to the king alone, the operation of the territory, the salaries of the army, and the salaries of officials almost all come from this.

Louie really wanted to pull his pants pocket and see if there was a gold Louie coming out of it- Of course, this is just a joke, the most difficult time is over, but the cost of ruling a country is too heavy and huge compared to one person, or even a family, so that Louis does not dare to think about it in detail, he now almost envy the monarch on the other side of the ocean, because they can confiscate the property of ministers or relatives as they please, but for France, and indeed for the whole Catholic world, a king who does this will only be attacked by his subjects, even if that courtier has committed an unpardonable sin- To reclaim the territory, it must also be traded and discussed, just like the former Duke of Sedan.

And such opportunities are rare. Especially for the members of the royal family, like the once rebellious Prince Conti, he is still His Royal Highness, and as far as Louis knew, the Bishop of Mazarin is still seeking his marriage to one of his nieces, the Prince of Condé fled to Spain, and Philip IV (who was also the king of Spain) made him his own general, and canonized Luxembourg to him, but his possessions and assets in France still belong to him, and even if he dies, this property will be inherited by his son, the current Duke of Anghien, and the king will receive an inheritance tax at most.

"I can raise half a million livres here. The cardinal took the initiative to say that Louis knew that the bishop's private property was much more than that, but he could understand that if the bishop gave a staggering figure, or if he directly made up for the deficit (although he also had a share of his merits), he would have received not gratitude but a deeper jealousy, "I will ask my mother to raise some of it on her behalf," said Louis, "of course, you and the Queen Mother's money will be recorded as a loan, and when the treasury is full, I will return it with a reasonable interest." ”

"I think the Queen Mother should be able to get that number as well. The cardinal said: "Then we are short of a million livres." ”

Louis remembered a person, "What about the Duchess of Montpensier?" The Duchess of Montpensier used up 200,000 livres to renovate a castle, and her annual income was about 500,000 livres, so it should not be difficult for her to come up with a year's income.

Ma Zaran frowned slightly, his thick eyebrows were particularly majestic when he made this action: "Then she will definitely ask to return to the court." ”

"If it's just that, I'm not worried at all. Although the Queen Mother hated the girl who had been raised by her own hands but had ruthlessly betrayed the King and her, the court could not tolerate a Duchess of Montpensier for them as political animals: "I think she will ask us to pardon her father." ”

"She really has a lot of affection for her father. ”

"It's a pity that it's not as good as Condé. ”

The sharp sarcasm made Mr. Bishop smile, "So what are you going to do?"

"I want a man to come to the Duchess of Montpensier, no, wait, maybe not one, but two. ”

"You're making me curious. ”

"A man who is very good at dealing with women, and a shrewd businessman. The king looked out the window at the sky, "Bontang, call me d'Artagnan and Colbert." ”