Louis had some idea of why the Queen Mother Anne and Bishop Mazarin were so jealous of the Prince of Condé, and although he had not yet been formally involved in government, he was able to obtain enough information from some of his talkative attendants and maids-in-waiting—at least for him now.

As mentioned before, when Prince Condé was still the twenty-one-year-old Duke of Anghienne, the fiercest battle between Spain and France was fought in Rocroix, and the Spanish army of 26,000 soldiers, led by a veteran of the battlefield named Don Francisco de Merho, penetrated deep into France and came to Paris, at that time Louis XIII went to see God, Richelieu left this noisy world even a year before him, and only Mazarin, who was still unstable at that time, remained in Paris, Anne of Austria, the queen mother, and the young king Louis XIV, and the younger brother Philippe, and the Spaniards even thought that they could break through ParisThe idea of capturing the King of France was not considered fanciful - Paris was clearly inferior in force at that time, including the Royal Guards controlled by Gaston, Duke of Orleans, the Red Guards of the Cardinal Richelieu and the Royal Musketeers, the former two could not be trusted, the latter could not leave the palace, and the only general was the young Duke of Anghienne, who had no combat experience.

Just as any skilled craftsman always begins with an apprentice, it was believed that a credible general should also emerge from one battle after another - Louis was still very young at that time, but he also knew that the situation was critical, and when the Duke of Anghien came to bid him farewell, the Queen Mother's personal priest, Poitier, even performed a blessing ceremony for him, although everyone at the time knew that it was specially designed for fear that if he died on the battlefield, he would not have time to perform the sacrament of death.

Contrary to what people think, the Duke of Anghien knew that he was despised by the Spaniards, so he also took advantage of this contempt - the Spanish general at that time, Melho, deliberately led the French army into a trap, and Rocroix was surrounded by forests or swamps, and there was only a narrow road, which was difficult to get out of once entered, and for this reason, he even withdrew his soldiers and did not attack when the Duke of Enghien led his army into Rocroix.

The next day, the two sides first shelled, and the Spanish musketeers suffered considerable losses, and then on the same night, the Duke of Anghien attacked the first line of the Spaniards' left flank at night, and then routed the second line of troops, so that the Spanish cavalry fell into the pockets of the French army. It is a pity that the infantry unit that the Spaniards are most proud of did not suffer losses, and there are eighteen cannons in the infantry camp, neither the French infantry nor the cavalry can help them, after a whole day of mutual torture, the Spaniards proposed negotiations, if the negotiations can be successful, the Spaniards can at least surrender honorably (evacuate without disarming), but how could the Duke of Anghien be willing to easily let go of the low-hanging fruit, he used hypocritical words to perfunctory the Spanish messengers, while sending the main cavalry force slowly from the forest to the rear of the Spaniards, while waiting for the reinforcements (nearly 4,000 people) of infantry to arrive, and wait for everything to be rightHe rode to the negotiation site, but was fired at by the muskets of the Spanish infantry.

The victory of the mourning soldiers is not only applicable to the east, the soldiers of the Duke of Anghien suddenly fell into a rage, like a tide to pounce on the despicable enemy, at the same time the cavalry of the Duke of Anghien also attacked the Spaniards from the rear, the French artillery also made a roar that resounded through the world, the Spaniards encountered such a swift and ferocious blow when they were unprepared, and they were suddenly dizzy, and the trap set by the Spanish general Melio for the enemy also gave them a blow to the head- Dense forests and swamps slowed them down, and the Spanish officers had to pounce at the feet of General Anghien and beg for mercy before they were able to escape from the fierce French soldiers.

The Spaniards lost 8,000 dead and 6,000 captured, 24 artillery pieces, and the general Melio died, while the French lost 2,000 dead and nearly 6,000 wounded, and relieved the siege of Paris, which was a brilliant victory.

Of course, no one knows how the Duke of Anghien was keenly aware that someone was shooting at him, and how he avoided the shot unscathed. Although some people in the court continued to criticize him for his lack of grace and etiquette in this way, for France, which was becoming more and more vulnerable militarily, such a talented person with a talent for war was simply more amiable and lovely than an angel.

For a hundred years, there had been no such victory in France, François I was better at negotiation than war, Henry IV was too forgiving—the Edict of Nantes was the work of him, and the so-called victories of the French were too lazy to report even the most pompous tabloids during the reign of Louis XIII—not because they were lazy, but because these victories were followed by defeat.

Later, the Duke of Engian won the cities of Phillipsburg and Mainz for the French in the battle with the Germans, and conquered Dunkirk after the Duke of Orleans, Gaston, evacuated Flanders. From how he was able to sleep soundly on the battlefield and need to be woken up to prove how calm he was, to how he threw his marshal's scepter into the enemy's trenches, then drew his sword and commanded the army to attack, and retrieved the scepter to prove how bold and brave he was...... For a time, his name shone brightly, no one could match, no general could compare with him, and the bishop and the king were more like forgotten.

How beloved he was on the battlefield and how hated he was in the court.

Prince Condé also knew very well, but he was still a young man after all, a young man who had not yet received setbacks, and he brought the skin of a Serbian werewolf, and it is difficult to say whether he really wanted to be courteous to the king, or if he had a mischievous mentality, but he had been prevaricating, and he was unwilling to face the mob for the sake of the queen mother and the king, but it was an obvious fact.

Bishop Mazaran and Queen Mother Anne had to back down again and again, they made Prince Condé sit next to the king, and asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to change the clothes of Prince Condé in place of his servants, and so on, and to fulfill every request made by Prince Condé, as mentioned in the previous chapter, in order to replenish the armament, the Queen Mother took off the diamonds from her crown and dismissed many of her servants, and the princess of England, Henriette, fell ill with a fever and did not have a good enough doctor to treat her, so Louis had to order the servants to cool her with a towel soaked in river water.

The werewolf skin that Prince Condé had given to the king, the king placed under his seat, and everyone who came to see the king could see it, though most people did not know that it was not a wolf skin.

After several weeks of delay, Prince Condé had to go out with the eight hundred soldiers.

It is also ridiculous to say that although the High Court that started the riot has always boasted of being incorruptible and respectable, impartial in its affairs, and only the interests of the country are love, in the face of the royal army, they did not hesitate to extort a "forgiveness fee" of 150,000 livres each from the twenty judges appointed by the Bishop of Richelieu and seized the property of the royal family equivalent to 1,200,000 livres (one livr was equivalent to a pound of silver), recruited an army of 12,000 men, and ordered the wealthy men who could allow carriages to accompany each house (this army was called the chariot cavalry), and the private soldiers of the Archbishop of Collins, about 800 men, known as the Collins Regiment and requisitioned by the High Court.

Then there were the citizens of Paris, who were armed with crude muskets, knives, clubs, and forks taken from their homes, dressed in sashes issued to them by the High Court, and feathers in their hats, and cheerfully joined the army against the king, so that the Prince of Condé thought he was going to face a hundred thousand enemies.

But whether it was the soldiers recruited by the High Court, or the knights of the gates, or the Corinthian regiment, or the citizens of Paris, they had no desire to fight the Prince of Condé with a real army, and they walked every day from the city of Paris to the outskirts, and then turned back with a single trace of blood on their clothes except dust, and as the eight hundred soldiers of the Prince of Condé gradually approached Paris, in the last day or two, even this ceremonial expedition was gone.

The Prince of Condé took over Paris peacefully.