When the royal family was far away from Paris, the Duke of Orleans, who took the opportunity to steal the authority, not only strongly asked the judges of the Supreme Court to grant him the title of acting king, but also recruited about 5,000 soldiers as much as possible, almost all of whom were civilians in Paris or nearby. The bishop's or duke's soldiers, take up muskets or spears to serve them.

It was for this reason that the Duke of Orleans, who had declared himself acting king, was no different from a rebellious, and that he was not in a hurry to enter Paris, and that he preferred to be prepared for everything rather than to hurry back to Paris and be driven out again, or worse, he went to inspect the barracks, and the soldiers of General Schaumberg and Viscount Tyrrenne amounted to more than four thousand, and then, with the support of the king, they recruited two thousand more from among the exiles, and now there were six thousand soldiers in all, and there were muskets and artillery that Fouquet had managed to smuggle from Italy and Sicily, and a hundred horses that Colbert had obtained from not to be outdone, and these horses were either Frisian horses from the Netherlands, or the native French Serrama, with strong muscles, a high talent for jumping, a brave and bold character, and a high degree of obedience, that is, they were born to be war horses.

For the sake of these horses, Viscount Tyrrenne had a small dispute with General Schaumberg, because they both wanted to send the horses to their own warband, and the king had to reconcile them, and sat down at the table with them, and played cards for three hours, and at last Viscount Tyrrenne got twenty horses, General Schaumberg got fifteen, and sixty-five, and the king gave three to the Queen Mother, two to Bishop Mazarin in Liège, and the other sixty to the musketeers who had been following him.

The musketeers were grateful for this, for at this time, whether they were the Imperial Guard, or the musketeers, or the cavalrymen, their horses, equipment, and even uniforms had to be equipped at their own expense, so it was commonplace for d'Artagnan to borrow money from his lover (with no return, of course), and those noble ladies were accustomed to grabbing money from their husband's cupboard with their left hand and giving them to their young lover with their right hand— And among these configurations, the most expensive is the horse, after all, for these warriors, a good horse can not only make them more handsome, but also show their identity, and save their lives when necessary.

The price of a good horse is about three hundred to five hundred livres, and of course, if you meet a vain young man, or a lavish financier, it is much more than that, but with a horse from the king, these good lads can be equipped with a more beautiful saddle, a powder bag, a better bayonet, or a more loyal servant, so that they are now very loyal to the king, and are extremely eager to achieve greater success in the offensive and defensive battles of Paris.

But when it comes to the king, he is not at all in a hurry, he is at Versailles more relaxed than in Paris, with whom the bishop corresponds almost daily - Bishop Mazarin already has a very fine and elaborate network of information, which he inherited from Richelieu, which he later expanded and supplemented, and it has been said that in France even the piers and walls are the eyes and ears of the bishop, although exaggerated, but not without reason.

Louis was not in a hurry to build his own intelligence system - there was no need, Monsieur Bishop was not his enemy now, their position was the same, and after the endless stream of information was sifted, it would only be two or three days from the bishop's hands to his hands at the latest, and some people might be dissatisfied with this, but now Louis only needed the movements of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, and Prince Condé - to determine what he should do in the future.

From Mr. Bishop, Louis learned that not long ago, the fief of the Duke of Gaston, that is, the city of Orleans, asked the Duke of Gaston to return to Orleans from Paris, but the Duke of Gaston was not very willing, because first, he was already half the master of Paris, and secondly, the Council of the City of Orléans intended to force him to remain neutral, so that the city would not be attacked by the king's army- How could the Duke of Gaston agree, he is now only one step away from the throne, and it is absolutely impossible for a city to want him to back down, but he also does not want to give up Orleans, after all, it is his foundation and territory, so Louis's uncle came up with an unbelievable idea, that is, to let his eldest daughter, the Duchess of Montpensier, go to Orleans through France, which is full of wars and rebellions and mobs, to temporarily take charge and pacify the city on his behalf.

What was even more surprising was that the Duchess de Montpensier had agreed to this impudent and cruel request, and God forbid, she had brought her maids and guards to Orleans, but the people of Orleans were not willing to admit her at first, and they were loyal and expected of her father, not of a weak woman, who was turned away from the city and could not enter the city.

"And how did she do it?" asked the Queen Mother.

"You probably can't imagine it. The king said.

The Duchess of Montpensier did not give up easily after being rejected by Orleans, and when she was outside the city, she heard (perhaps after many inquiries and bribes) that the gate of the city of Orléans at the Raff quay (that is, the Loire) was made of wood and very fragile, but this gate was located more than a hundred feet above the city wall, and there was no place to set up a ladder below, so it was impossible to climb up— But a few of the fishermen said that they could take the duchess under the city gate in a boat, and then connect the two fishing boats together, lay planks on them, and build a ladder on the planks, and then the duchess only had to carry an axe, climb the ladder, stand on the ladder, and smash the gate with an axe.

Such an offer was sharply rejected by the duchess's maids, who not only refused, but also suggested that the duchess should hang the fishermen for attempting to murder the royal nobles, after all, it would have been inconceivable enough for a noble and fragile woman to carry an axe to climb a ladder, or on a boat, under which was the rushing Loire, and even a brave knight might not be able to do it—otherwise the gate would not have been made of wood, let alone their duchess.

But the Duchess of Montpensier surprised all the people, and she not only agreed to the plan, but acted quickly, wrapped her skirt around her waist, carried her axe on her back, took a boat under the city walls, and then, with the help of fishermen and attendants, climbed up the ladder, which was witnessed by countless Orleans, and she moved the people of Orleans to great touch— After all, this is the city that was once saved by Joan of Arc, so before the duchess could pull out the axe, the city gate was split open from the inside by the Orleans, and she was greeted with great pomp, and the people shouted "Long live the princess" and knelt down to kiss her hand.

The next day she was called the "Daughter of Orleans", a title that once belonged to Joan of Arc.

Hearing this, the Queen Mother's face became even more gloomy, and she almost let out a contemptuous laugh regardless of etiquette, and Louis could fully understand the mother, although the Duke of Orleans rebelled repeatedly, but Louis XIII and his wife did not have any bad regard for the Duchess of Montpensier, she grew up in the Durries Palace, the number of ordinary princesses (maids, maids, doctors, nannies, servants and guards) was two hundred, she was three hundred, her guardian was Madame Saint-Georgis, who was known for her gentleness and kindness, and her noble status, and even the Duchess of Montpensier herself admitted that she received a motherly love in this lady。

Not to mention, when her father, the Duke of Gaston, wanted to compete with her for the stewardship of Montpensier, Louis XIII and the Queen were also very firmly on her side.

It is a pity that their tolerance did not earn the Duchess of Montpensier gratitude, and there was much hatred.

Louis read the letter again, in which the bishop transcribed a sentence that the duchess had said before climbing the escalator, and she said: "Shut up......! I tell you, that very today, I will climb this wall, tear down this gate, and I will rule this city as they ask me!

The Bishop had written this sentence on purpose, apparently to instruct and remind Louis, who could understand what he meant, and they had all made the mistake of rashly mistaking the Duchess of Montpensier for an ordinary woman, like most young women, who had nothing but makeup and love in her mind—but it turned out that she was not, or rather, not exactly, she was hungry for power like a man.

"And where is she now?" asked the Queen Mother.

"She's back in Paris. The king said that, like a triumphant general, the Duke of Gaston had changed his attitude towards her, and had become so considerate and gentle that he had almost printed the words Good Father on his face.

"Ahh The Queen Mother said angrily: "Isn't it ashamed that a traitor's daughter has become a princess in a serious manner?"

The Queen Mother was furious, but Louis felt that maybe this was not a bad thing.

He sent a letter to Bishop Mazaran that night.