Frederick said as he lifted the curtain with the tip of his cane and looked out, and Paris was changing as quickly as a kaleidoscope of colours, not to mention Baras, who had been away for twenty years, and even the envoys who had been in Paris a year ago could not help but be amazed—wasn't it a narrow alley, but now it was a large clear canal? It was supposed to be a second-hand clothes shop, but now it is a beautiful and delicate little theater? This should have been a private house— His servants once lived here, and now it was a small square, where pigeons rose and fell, and their flying gray feathers made the envoys involuntarily shrug their noses.

"These pigeons?" Frederick gave the envoy a look, not to mention that this is Paris, even if it is the Louvre, if there are many more fat delicacies, there are also bold people to catch and eat, after all, this is not three hundred years after the abundance of materials, the pigeon is not only on the recipe of the poor, but also on the king's table, "this is the king's dove." The envoy smiled and said that he had specially asked the people around him for the first time.

In fact, this is no different from the nobles rearing peacocks in the courtyards, except that Louis XIV placed pigeons throughout Paris to demonstrate his authority to outsiders, and to show that the citizens of Paris were at least not forced by hunger to the point of breaking the law.

In addition to these, there are many laws and regulations that are difficult for people from other provinces to get used to, such as horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians must walk on the right, they must not dump excrement and garbage on the Seine and the streets, they must not damage trees and utilities (i.e. water canals, fire faucets, etc.), they must not make a lot of noise in public after 12 o'clock in the evening, dung pockets must be hung behind horses' buttocks, and dogs and other animals with owners must be restrained...... Wait, it would have been difficult to make such a huge city so well-behaved and neat, but Louis XIV did it, although the policemen who were disrespectfully called crows or black dogs (because they wore black uniforms) were indispensable.

"I think I'm going to have to learn about the law here. Frederick said.

"I'm afraid not," the envoy ruthlessly shattered his illusions, "there's no way you're going to stay here for long." ”

Frederick shrugged his shoulders helplessly, of course, he came to Paris, and the most important task was to meet the Grand County Lord of the Duke of Orleans, who might be his wife in the near future, but the negotiations for this marriage might not start too soon - the Elector of Brandenburg, the Grand Duke of Prussia, Frederick's father was to side with the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, because the King of France, no matter how powerful and rich he was, could not make Prussia a kingdom.

So the Elector of Brandenburg initially offered a princess, not his eldest son Frederick, but Louis XIV also clearly meant that he did not need a dispensable princess, and he also knew the ambitions of the Elector of Brandenburg - it was entirely possible for the Elector of Brandenburg to give up his daughter outright, as long as Leopold I was willing to recognize him as King of Prussia.

Therefore, the Elector of Brandenburg also hesitated to send his eldest son Frederick to Paris, his eldest son Frederick was already seventeen years old, and seemed to be suave and frivolous, but his ambition was no less than that of his father, and he admired and feared the Sun King Louis XIV - Not only on the real battlefield, but also in his political methods, no one expected that the king of France would be able to persuade the king of England to set a trap for him, detain William III, the descendant of Orange, so that one of his father's great advantages - his father was William III's uncle, disappeared, and after Charles II of England pushed William III out, another descendant of Orange, the Viscount of Tyrenne, as the governor of the Netherlands, this kind of courage and courage may not even be able to be shown by Leopold I—— William I of Orange went from being a vassier of the Holy Roman Empire to king (though only one step away), and it was not impossible for Viscount Tirrenne to go further because of the prestige of his uncle and teacher, Prince Maurice, among the Dutch people, and the power and wealth of the governor-general......

However, this king has always been bold in employing people, although it is said that on the battlefield, this king is only a spectator sitting in a special box, but on the one hand, he can control his competitive spirit and let the generals fight at his own pace, and on the other hand, he can maintain trust and understanding in them, and there are not many monarchs who provide sufficient protection for the army and suppress them, and even the former Viscount of Tyrrenne has failed because he had to obey the inexplicable orders of the old Prince Condé (the mother of the Grand Condé).

Louis XIV called himself the Sun King, and perhaps rightly, he not only shone himself, but also allowed the thousands of stars that surrounded him to shine, and Frederick knew that Leopold I could not do this, no, not that he could not do this, but because from the beginning, he had almost no conditions, he was not born emperor, his throne was planned by all means, how could he believe that others would not or could not share his power?

Even the Electors of Brandenburg, the surname Hohenzollern, although the Prussian Grand Dukes unanimously interpreted it as "noble", will never forget that the Saurons worked for the Hohenstaufens (the founders of the Holy Roman Empire) when they were only counts, and even Frederick's name came from the Holy Roman Emperor.

They have only been elected for more than 200 years.

But the kings of France did not have such troubles - Charlemagne of the Franks was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800 AD, which meant that the Western Roman Empire, which had been extinct for more than three centuries, was restored, and Charlemagne was recognized as the "heir of Augustus Caesar".

Bloodline, prestige, power, Louis XIV was the only monarch Frederick knew without flaws.

Therefore, compared to the great lord who had never been alive, Frederick's restlessness was better for the sake of Louis XIV, the Sun King, but everyone thought that this was the beginning of the love of a young man, or rather, he would rather others think so.

As he stepped on the steps leading to the Palace of Versailles, he was constantly painting Louis XIV's face, and there were many small statues of the Sun King circulating in Prussia, some of whom deliberately painted him ugly, while others painted him beautifully—it would be better for Frederick to be ugly, and if the latter was the kind of beautification, why would Louis XIV put a royal lady next to him and look at himself in the mirror.

When Louis XIV greeted King Karl XI of Sweden, he stood at the end of the staircase, in the rectangular square between the labyrinths of greenery, but Frederick was only the son of an archduke, so the king received his audience in the Hall of the Goddess of Victory.

Now there were two small halls on either side of the Grand Gallery, just so that people could take care of themselves a little before they met the king, and the attendants looked at the eldest son of the Grand Duke of Brandenburg quietly, and compared with the panting envoy, the young man was only a little more ruddy, and there was no unpleasant smell on his body, nor did he look like an embarrassed person who could not move, if not as good as Karl XI, not much worse.

The Duke of Orleans was rewarded at once, after all, these attendants, especially those assigned to the envoys and foreign nobles, were almost all his spies, and he now felt the mood of the royal brother, even if the attendants said that Frederick was superior to Karl XI in terms of appearance, he was a little unimpressed— Until he saw this young man, the Hohenzollerns had a different appearance from the Bourbons, the Bourbon family had a more beautiful face, Louis XIV could be said to be handsome, the Duke of Orleans could be called a beauty, and Frederick, with his hair and eyebrows extremely thick, with a pair of large bright eyes, a high and broad nose, thin and long lips, and a chin as wide and full as his forehead - a different style altogether.

Frederick was not a commoner, he was entitled to look directly at the king, and he could almost be said to be eager to see Louis XIV's expression, unlike the critically charged Duke of Orleans, Louis XIV's first impression of the son of the Grand Duke was not very bad - for Frederick, his impression of the king was probably only Leopold I, William III and his father, William III for the time being, only pity for Frederick, his father was always cold and serious, as for Leopold I...... Although the emperor was two years younger than Louis XIV, he was always indescribable, exhausted, and even more gloomy and eccentric than William III.

Frederick saw Louis XIV, sitting very casually in a velvet armchair, talking to the Duke of Orleans, who did not know if it was because neither he nor the Duke of Orleans had grown a beard, and he seemed younger than his real age, and he did not at all tell that he was a father of two adult children.

Although the French admired the beauty of the dress, the king wore only a gray-blue velvet jacket, white tight trousers, a row of diamond pins pinned under his shoulders, and he did not wear an exaggerated wig, although the wig had long been popular at the court, perhaps because there were no hunting activities today, and he only wore a pair of light sheepskin pumps.

Well, by Frederick's surprise, Louis XIV didn't look like a king at all.

This was a problem for the young Grand Duke's son, who tossed and turned at night and could not sleep, and fortunately the minister's room was not far from him, so he went and consulted the old minister sincerely, and the envoy did hesitate for a long time, after all—he still had a moment to look forward to becoming the Grand Duke of the King," he said, "but you may think for yourself, it is an answer that can be easily obtained." ”

Frederick had thought for a moment when he had returned, and a thought came into his head like thunder, alas, how could he be so stupid—Louis XIV did not need to be "like" a king at all, for he no longer needed anyone to admit that he was a "king," and he could certainly be lax and leisurely like an idle scholar, for before that he had destroyed all his enemies.

————

If Louis XIV had heard Frederick's comments and had jumped up to deny it, at least he had never felt that he could be at ease, and that there were wizards and Huguenots and the remnants of the Slings in France, and that the more a scholar comprehended, the more ignorant he became, the more territory a king conquered, the more enemies he had, and although he had obtained the Netherlands and Flanders, he had the same relationship with Spain, Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire became mortal enemies, England turned from friends back to enemies, and the Roman Church was eyeing each other...... The more prosperous and powerful France became, the sharper and stronger their malice became.

Of course, this is something that any kingdom or empire that is about to enter glory will have to face, unless France suddenly becomes a country of cowards and fools, and his neighbors, enemies and friends can be reassured and friendly, but forget it, Louis XIV would never allow this to happen.

So he was always trying to win over as many allies as possible, and although the Duke of Orleans thought that it would be difficult for the Archduke of Brandenburg-Prussia to be on their side, Louis did not need him to be on his side, he only needed to remain neutral - the Elector of Brandenburg did not even want to stand neutral at first, it was Louis who threatened him through Ludwig I of Poland - and there was still a part of Prussia in the hands of the Poles.

Louis certainly did not embarrass Condé-Ludwig I, but if the Archduke of Brandenburg had been stubborn, he would have supported Ludwig I in opening up the territory for Poland, and the Polish Schlachita would have been very grateful to him, and the Archduke of Brandenburg-Prussia would have thought of this issue before he would have given in to it – and he could even have used this to answer Leopold I's accountability – because according to tradition and law, a person who accepts the allegiance of his courtiers must be able to shelter those who offer him loyalty when necessary.

Leopold I was now unable to breathe under the oppression of the Ottoman Turks, let alone help the Archduke Brandenburg-Prussia regain his territory in Poland, and he even had to show favor to King Ludwig I of Poland to ensure that the Ottoman Turks would not directly enter Vienna.

So the Church of Rome was thus divided into two denominations - To Louis XIV of France, one was that of Clement X, who regarded Louis XIV as an enemy of Christ and the Church, and if possible, they would call him the second Nero, and the other was the head of the cardinals, who believed that the enemies of the Church were still the infidels, the Protestants and the Ottoman Turks, and that Louis XIV was worth redeeming as long as he did not openly establish a separate Church as Henry VIII did, and of course, the main thing was that they believed that there was no Catholic country in the present Europa that could be compared with France。

But Louis also knew that the marriage of the Grand Marshals and the Celestial Princess made the Roman Church worried, because a Sweden and a Brandenburg-Prussia were both Protestant countries, and if he really made the daughter of Brandenburg-Prussia the Crown Princess, he was afraid that he would have more opponents in the Church.

It seems that not only the crown prince, but also the son of the future Duke of Orleans can only choose a wife in a Catholic country.

At the mention of this, Louis remembered Carlos II of Spain, who is said to have not only miraculously regained his health, but also had a normal mind, and there were already people who regretted that they did not insist that the Grand Princesse marry to Spain.