Everyone knew that the king had a bad relationship with his lover Marie Mancini before leaving for Dunkirk, and perhaps for Louis, sharing power was his greatest gift of love, and for Marie...... These things were not as good as the little rose that the king had put in her hair at Versailles.

But in any case, the king must go, and of course he can leave this matter to Bishop Mazarin, nay, of course he will not do it, a power which he has painstakingly taken away from Mr. Bishop and the Queen Mother for several years, and how can he give it up so easily.

Mary came running at the last moment, and the king's closeness to her in recent days was not useless, at least the king's musketeers and horsemen retreated as soon as they saw her, and she stretched out her hands and put those small hands on the gilded border of the window, her eyes full of tears and remorse: "Louie," she cried in a low voice, "Louie, you must come back! I will pray to God that he will bless you with your disgraceful return!"

Others may not think that praying to God would be such a great thing, but Mary was a witch, and the king could not repay such a warm emotion, so he quickly pulled down a ring on his finger and put it on Mary's thumb, "I will be back." He said hurriedly, and then watched as Marie stepped aside with the support of the Queen Mother's lady—the previous behavior had been quite rude—the Queen Mother stood there dignifiedly, giving her eldest son one last glimpse of worry and expectation, and the royal brother, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, rode by the king's carriage and sent him to Versailles before returning.

Louis collapsed on the soft saddle, pressed his forehead, and sighed.

——————

Bishop Mazaran and Viscount Tyrene were already waiting for the king in a town on the edge of Dunkirk, which had already belonged to the French, and whose inhabitants had been forced to relocate to ensure the king's safety, with only the king's most loyal soldiers and officers.

But because it was regarded as the king's residence in Dunkirk, Viscount Tyrenne, or more accurately, his captain Vauban rebuilt the village as an important military fortress, and before the king could see them, he first saw the ramparts, the fortifications, the parapet outside the trench, the ditch and the inner moat, and on the periphery of the village there was a new low wall, behind which there were sentries walking around, and as soon as they saw the king's chariot, a man stepped out and asked the chief officer for a command.

When he heard that it was the king's coming, the sentry immediately ran back, and a dazzling red banner and a flag of the king of France were raised, and a few minutes later the Viscount of Tirenne, Pegasus, arrived, and he himself opened the door for the king, helped him out of the carriage, and then bowed to the king, and said, "Your Majesty, allow me to go before you and show you the way." ”

"That's exactly what I expected. Louie said.

Then Viscount Tirene drew his sword, held it in front of him, and strode forward. By this time Louis had dismounted the guards and musketeers, their hands pressed on their muskets and swords, for the soldiers were coming out from behind their bunkers, all armed with their weapons—and in the next moment the king heard the beating of drums on both sides, and to the rhythmic beat of drums, a man in Spanish costume came out, holding a key in his hand.

"What a small key. The king couldn't help but say.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Viscount Tirrenne proudly, "because it is only for this town, and the keys to Dunkirk are much larger." But it will take some time. ”

"Hopefully I won't wait too long. The king said with a smile.

"There is no doubt about it, Your Majesty, and God bears witness for me. Viscount Tirene replied with considerable confidence.

The king took the symbolic key, and the soldiers blew their trumpets, and then the drums were beaten, and then the soldiers who had left the low wall raised their guns, and they saluted with their guns, and the Viscount of Tyrrenne bowed to the king again, and brought a horse for him, and after serving the king on his horse, he led the horse to the center of the town, where there was one of the best buildings in the place, and according to the king's preference, that is, there were toilets and toilets, and repaired - Bishop Mazaran greeted the king here, and he also stayed here because many things had to be consulted with the king.

Some of the soldiers had seen the king for the first time, and the king's convoy, which stretched a quarter of a fari long, made them curious and surprised, and they kept guessing what was in the carriages—the reason why they did not guess that the king's lover was sitting in them, because they were all completely enclosed, leaving no gaps.

But they soon learned, for the carriage had stopped in the town square, and every thing unloaded on it aroused the excitement of the soldiers—the supplies they needed most, from dried meat to flour, from salt and butter to sugar, and coffee and tobacco, and even the guns of the three wagons, and when the last ten open-top carriages were lifted from the felt cloths, the crowd of onlookers was even more joyful, for there was nothing else but ten disassembled and bundled cannons.

"We could have had twenty guns. The king said, "But I think the soldiers should be well armed in their bellies." ”

"You couldn't be more right," said Viscount Tyrrenne, with a smirk, "Your Majesty, we all know that soldiers who run out of gunpowder may only flee, but it is worse to run out of bread than gunpowder." ”

"But, Your Majesty," said Bishop Mazarin, after a moment's observation, "how much of this is yours?"

"All," said Louis, "my soldiers, my generals, my bishops." ”

"I mean your clothes, your accessories, your water bottle and commode...... "and your sheets and pillows, don't tell me you came to Dunkirk empty-handed?"

"The Queen Mother has indeed prepared many things for me," said Louis mildly, and in fact the carriages were prepared by the Queen Mother, and the venerable mother had brought his bed with her, and a group of attendants and maids, but he had thrown them all at Versailles, along with all the things that the King did not think necessary to carry with him, so to speak, less than they had brought with them when they first left Paris by riot, and they were probably about the same as any gentleman on a business trip, if I must describe them— He didn't flee because of the riot this time, there were trustworthy subordinates here, and the king didn't think he needed to bring those & you know, he thought it would be enough to bring enough underwear, even if Bontang was silent and angry all the way - don't ask Louis how he knew, he and Bontang would have spent more time with him than the Queen Mother.

Mr. Bishop sighed.

The king smiled, "Mr. Bishop," he said, "perhaps you would like to have dinner with me?"

What else could Mr. Bishop do, he could only bow slightly, "My honor, Your Majesty. ”

"Do not be disgleased," said the king, "and we found a whole nest of quails on our way. ”

"Today is Lent. Mr. Bishop snorted.

"But when I found them, they were swimming in the pond, and as is customary, Mr. Bishop, they are fish, and we can eat fish during Lent. ”

"Well, then it must be a quail raised by the devil," said Mr. Bishop, "and I have never seen a quail swimming in the water." ”

"In that case, we will all the more have to eat them," said the king, with a smile, "and let them suffer in our stomach hell." ”

Speaking of this, even the bishop was speechless, he slipped away under the pretext of praying, only when the Viscount of Tyrrenne and the king were in the study, the king took out a large stack of bills of exchange from Amsterdam, of course he preferred to support the French bankers, but these were for the six thousand British soldiers sent by Cromwell, the protector, because the bank of Amsterdam had more than six hundred florins to Amsterdam to exchange, and the king asked Fouquet to convert them all into less than six hundred florins, so as to avoid disputes between the British officers on the exchange, so there would be such a large stack。

When Viscount Tirena took them, his hands were trembling: "Your Majesty......"

"Don't thank me," said the king, "thank the ladies, for they are so brave." "This is the last batch of purple jasmine pollen and rose rouge in exchange for money, and knowing that this is the last bit of fat powder of the year, these cute little boxes and jars have fetched an astonishing price in Paris—for the first time the king has known that there has been such a profession as a purchasing agent since Paris in the seventeenth century—the ladies of Paris bought the fat powder and kept their share, and the rest were sold to the provinces at several times the price, and it is said that in more distant places, counterfeit king's fat powder appeared.

Of course, upon hearing this, the king sent his musketeers to verify the matter and confiscate all the ill-gotten gains.

"You said in your last letter to me...... Cromwell sent his ...... The New Model Army?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. "Please come to the window and you can see them training." ”