Manit had come in caravans, and the Bosnians, and the Gypsies elsewhere, or the Flamingers, or the Tsgans (as they were called in various nations), were thought to be thieves, swindlers, and wicked women, and their convoys were stopped a few miles from the hunting palace, and if they were not all witches, they would not have been able to enter Versailles— And since they came in with a swagger, they couldn't help but make the officers and generals a little jealous, although the inner world was still heavily veiled, but the people of this era recognized the existence of devils and demons - in addition, these people also insisted that they were hired by the king, and also reported the name of the king's imperial physician, Varo Vesalius, who would not appear in the royal council, but his name Lowas had also heard of.

"Oh, I know this," said the king, smiling at his ministers, "go and arrange for them," he thought for a moment, "and treat them as a special group of mercenaries, but not to restrain them, nor to let any one disturb them." ”

In the past, there were kings or generals who distributed women as trophies or consolation before or after the Great War, and the fact that the mighty "famous women" followed the army still happened often until the twentieth century, and Lovas was not surprised, but he didn't quite understand why the king chose a group of Bohemian women, yes, for many people, it was too much to let Bohemian women even do this kind of work - Not to the former, but then to the latter, but since the king said so, Lois had no intention of vetoing it.

The arrival of the witches of Bohemia in Versailles caused a small wave, they were much more flamboyant and young than the ordinary women, even the women who wandered the streets, and the bohemians had always been the representatives of indulgence - to be precise, they had their own laws and morals, which were not recognized by non-bohemians - The king heard a few days later that many soldiers had bohemian wives, and that this more akin marriage was as simple as a man and a woman who liked each other and declared that they were married, and that when they were to separate, they only had to say divorce.

The soldiers, of course, were attracted by these beautiful and enthusiastic girls, and these witches were also bewitched by these soldiers, who had lived in the depths of the dense forest or in a rare place like Confran, where life was needless to say, and the soldiers, even the newcomers to Versailles, had plenty of money because of the generosity of the king, and as we all know, Paris was not far from Versailles, and Paris had now become almost a palace of all nations, where you could see anything you could see elsewhere, and what you could not see anywhere elseFashions and ideas are constantly spreading from France to every country.

"Madame Milady. Lois bowed to the noblewoman with her beautiful red lips and eyes as bright as the lake in the middle of the night, an unrecognized "royal lady" who, though not entitled to the title and annuity of Madame Lavallière, was also a frequent haunt of the king's bedchambers, a woman who was said to be of a rather poor birth.

"Mr. Lowas," Miledi glanced at each other with a smile, they were not qualified to live in the king's hunting palace, so this was a farmhouse that Miledi rented from the residents of Versailles, said to be a farmhouse, and it was also a neat two-story building, Miledi did not wonder why the people here were so loyal to the king, more than ten years ago they were still homeless people, with nothing but their body and soul, she stood on the terrace, looking out, under the deep night was the faint white outline of the new palace- Even with the war looming, the work at Versailles continued, with countless craftsmen still busy on the vast construction site, and tens of thousands of torches made the high ground look like it was on fire. "Say it, sir. Milady said, "I know that you always go to the Three Jewels Hall for nothing. ”

Such straightforward words made Lois frown, "I'm here to ...... Those bohemian women. ”

"What's the matter," Miledi shook the fan in her hand gently, "Did they do you any harm?"

"What can they do to me?" said Lowas, "the problem is that they are marrying the king's soldiers. ”

"Everybody knows it," said Milady indifferently, "it's just a game." ”

"Some are, some don't. "Angry parents approached the officers and demanded that they expel these Bohemian women, because some soldiers were seriously considering that they wanted to baptize their lover and marry her into their homes, if they were still exiles, but the people of Versailles now hardly regard people outside of Paris, even if the guests are from Lyon or Provence, they will only call them provincials with contempt, how can they allow their beloved son to marry a Bohemian.

And with war imminent, he was also worried that these Bosnian women would affect the courage and loyalty of the soldiers.

"Don't worry," said Miledi, "these Bohemians are going to the battlefield too, but not with you. Her ears and eyes were much sharper than those of Roise, and when she heard that many witches were with the soldiers, she also thought about whether to stop it, but it took almost only a few minutes for her to decide not to interfere, why, because she remembered what the king had said to her, and the king said that in this world, the most wonderful is often the most ephemeral, and because the most ephemeral, it is also the most precious, and the most proof of this is love.

The witches of Bohemia were coerced by the king, but they did not want to change themselves, they still maintained the habits and traditions of the Bohemians, among them the bold and passionate pursuit of love, which the king once said that a love can only last for a maximum of ninety days, how interesting, and this is exactly how long the Battle of Flanders was expected to take......

Lovas was puzzled, but fortunately the army was about to be fully deployed today, and in that case, the parents who were deeply troubled would not be able to catch up, and as for what happened next, let's talk about it later.

He took his farewell to Madame de Milady, and went back to his lodgings, of course, he could not rest too early, and it was after leaving Paris that he was really busy— The king gave him and Colbert the military quartermasters, although it was said that there was still Colbert, but in fact, Colbert's energy was mainly invested at home and abroad, and the most important work was still the chauffeur of Louis, who was driving with him, and his father, who was now the Minister of War, mobilized all his resources and contacts for this purpose, and he cleverly marked the places where the king was going to pass into points, and then divided them into parts according to the length of the journey and the speed of the army's march, and the supplies and equipment needed for the army were not prepared together, and traveled thousands of miles from everywhere to Paris, and then followed the king to Flanders, but to the nearest predetermined supply point, which can reduce the loss of transportation and not drag down the army.

But in this way, there are many things to pay attention to, and all kinds of things can happen, heavy rain, fires, thefts and robberies, or the injustice of the magistrate or lord...... So Lovas had endless work to do every day, but he couldn't help but sigh as he turned his attention to the parchment—his father's hint was confirmed today, and he couldn't help but be annoyed, for it was the monsters that daunted a mortal more than muskets and swords.

I don't know when it began, it seems that there are more and more such things - witches, werewolves, and devils, although they used to appear occasionally, but most of them are still in people's mouths, and now they ...... Whether it's France, or elsewhere in Europa, people even look like they're not as apprehensive as they were a decade ago.

Loias did not know whether this trend was good or bad—Madame de Milady's answer made his heart palpitate, and if these bohemian women were the "extraordinary" soldiers that the king had prepared for this war, there were hundreds of them at a glance...... Could it be that the number of the King's company of dragon knights could be compared to that of the Flemish side, and that such an extraordinary number of people would be involved in this war?

——————

The king knew nothing about the troubles of Levas, and he paid more attention to the arrangement of the main route of the march and the warehouses and military stations on the border line than the affairs of the Bosnian witches, and as the king's army went all the way south, the soldiers and mercenaries of the provinces also joined in, and when they left Paris, they numbered about 30,000 men, and now there were about 50,000 men, and these 50,000 men, the king was divided into three parts, 8,000 men led by the Duke of Orleans, with Dunkirk as a stronghold, to attack Coudkel, and then let the Prince of Condé lead 12,000 men, let Prince Condé and his close friend the Duke of Luxembourg attack Luxembourg (a territory that was nominally owned by the Duke of Luxembourg but was still in the hands of the Spaniards), and then use Luxembourg as a base to attack Ellon, while he led the rest of his men and horses directly to Lille.

Compared with the old enemy England, and Spain, which is in-laws, but also like an enemy, or the Holy Roman Empire, which is destined to become an opponent, although Femish is nominally ruled by Spain, it is separated from Spain by a whole of France, and now Spain is simply unable to mobilize a large army to Flanders to garrison, and the situation there is not even as good as the French, and in the return of the secret agent, it is rarely mentioned that Flanders has any fortresses and walls that are difficult to destroy, so for Louis, Flanders was the best material for him to try his hand militarily.

And Louis didn't think he had any talent in military affairs, he kept Viscount Tyrrenne by his side, and he wouldn't cross Viscount Tyrrenne to interfere in the actions of the army, although it was said that he was a royal conquest, Louis knew very well that he was just a glorious banner, used to boost morale and deter the enemy, not really run to the battlefield to make his enemies happy and his subjects troubled.

In this way, like a shadow cast by heavy clouds on the ground, the arrows of the army slowly but steadily pointed to the first city, Charleroi.

Charleroi was still a small city at this time, and only to defend against a probable, nay, now definite enemy, the Spaniards had built a castle here, facing the Franco-Spanish border, on the banks of the Sable River, but the castle did not serve as well as the builders had hoped, and the mayor of Charleroi only climbed the city walls, and hastily glanced at the soldiers, as dense and numerous as the wheat in the fields, and fainted with a pale face, and when the people had finally awakened him with salt and wine, he made the decision that everyone expected- Surrender to the French.

As mentioned before, because in the fourteenth century, as a vassal, the Count of Flanders was extremely good at looting, and once the overwhelmed populace rioted, he hired or said to ask the French king to send troops to suppress it, so the people of Flanders did not welcome the French, the question is, now is not a matter of whether they want to welcome or not, the walls of Charleroi are low and ancient, and they cannot withstand the bombardment of artillery hundreds of years later, the mayor wisely took out the silver key representing the ownership of the city, put it in a velvet tray, opened the city gates, and presented the city to the king。

Because of the lessons of Dunkirk, even though Charleroi was a small town, Viscount Tyrrenne combed it with great care, and it could be seen that the people who had been driven from their homes to the squares and streets were even more angry, but the anger that could not be transformed into strength was as useless as the smoke of fire, and the people here bowed respectfully under the gaze of muskets and swords as the king's carriage ran over the stones of the streets.

The silver key, which was the symbol of the city, was not even touched by the king, he was collected by the viscount of Tirenne on his behalf, and then passed on to Bontang, and then the mayor presented him with precious gifts, such as silverware and jewels, which were also placed elsewhere and would not be seen by the king anyway.

Still, the king saw something strange, a portrait of a saint about a foot square, hanging above the hearth of the castle hall, three people above the ground, but neither the canvas nor the frame showed any traces of smoke and age, not even cobwebs and rat bites, brightly colored, unique and familiar - the same Bospie paintings that the Duke of Gaston had brought to France from Flanders.

At the king's insistence, the two monks took the painting down, and when they examined it, they shook their heads at the king, indicating that no curse had been applied to it.

"Jerónimis Bos. The king said that although there was no signature, no one could paint such an absurd picture—it looked like a saint, but the saint was surrounded by several naked devils, holding the chalice and a poisonous snake flowing from the chalice—and the portrait was small, but the devil was still vivid, as if he were about to jump out of the picture at any moment.

"I don't know, Your Majesty. The mayor said that the king's face was expressionless, and he did not know the mind of the noble man, so he could only be more careful: "This painting has been hanging here for a long time—about another two hundred years, because ...... Because of the high hanging, people did not think to take it off later. ”

The king did not speak, he threw the portrait to the ground, and then kicked it into the burning hearth.

————

The wizard stepped back, barely dodging the sudden burst of flames.

The firelight illuminated his face, a square face, his eyebrows and sideburns as black as coal, and a grayish complexion reminiscent of white tin or beeswax rather than anything else, and he stood up and heard a sneer: "Oh," said the man who came, "what makes our Mr. Jeronimis Boss so embarrassed?"

Bose didn't care about the other party's sarcasm: "I saw him. ”

"King of France, Louis XIV. ”