While Cosimo III was distressed by Spinoza, the Duke of Lorraine was in Siena, and in his room he pondered every word that Leopold I, Archduke of Austria and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, had given him before he left Vienna.

This Duke of Lorraine, not the Duke of Lorraine, who exchanged his fief of Lorraine for a large sum of income, has a mansion in Paris and a room in Versailles - here we have to recall a little, Lorraine was originally a grand duchy located between the Holy Roman Empire and France, whether it was the Holy Roman Empire or France, and there was no day when he did not want to take it into his pocket, in the "good man Henry" After his death, his younger brother succeeded him, and then Henry's two daughters married their two cousins, the two dukes of Lorraine, the elder brother Charles, and the younger brother Nikolai.

This younger brother is no better than Philip, Duke of Orleans, when Charles was out at war, a reckless soldier misreported his death, and Nikolai took the opportunity to usurp his dukedom, and when Charles led his army back violently, intending to regain the title and territory, he had no heirs, suffered from an incurable disease, and had only a few years of good life, so he simply sold Lorraine to Louis XIV - he stayed in Paris and did not return to Lorraine.

Louis XIV was no exception to Louis XIV, whose generals defeated Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and did not recognize his ownership of Lorraine, so the Duke of Lorraine had to go into exile in Austria, and his son became the second king of the lost land, and people could only call him Monsieur Lorraine.

This situation was broken after the death of the Duke of Lorraine in Paris, who, upon hearing of Nicholas's death, immediately declared that his title should be inherited by Monsieur Lorraine the Younger, and that it was worthless to leave aside whether Monsieur Lorraine the Younger would inherit his uncle's title for the time being, unless Leopold I, or some Elector, the king was willing to lend troops to the Duke of Lorraine the Younger (so for the time being) to retake Lorraine.

But with more than 150,000 standing troops in France and more than 30,000 garrisons in Lorraine, probably no one would make this loss-making deal, not even Leopold I was willing, and even less so after the Battle of Slovenia.

The little Duke of Lorraine was of course distressed and helpless, and perhaps in order to appease him, Leopold I gave him an important but not so important job, which was to travel to Florence as an emissary to the Elector of Bavaria, and to form an alliance and marriage with the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria and the eldest son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The Archduke of Bavaria became the Elector in 1623, this glory and power was the Archduke of Bavaria in exchange for his loyalty to the Habsburgs, he replaced the original Pastin, his success made the little Duke of Lorraine seem to see a glimmer of hope, so for this job, the little Duke of Lorraine did his best, bent on satisfying the Archduke of Bavaria and the emperor Leopold I behind him.

He also heard the news that Louis XIV was stationed in Florence, and poor Cosimo III sent an envoy saying that it was better not to let the French know about it until the covenant had been concluded, lest it be complicated, and the little Duke of Lorraine, though disdainful, but in order to avoid accidents, he agreed, and he temporarily stopped in Siena with the portrait - when he first saw Siena, he had exactly the same thoughts as the Dauphin of France— Siena was supposed to be a seductive and plump woman in his impression, but now she was an old woman with a shriveled chest.

Fortunately, Siena still retains a little touching color after all, that is, a moving celebrity, she is said to be from Genoa, her mother is a big palace maid - from Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, her father is the brother of the Sultan, because of the one-man inheritance law was killed by the current Sultan, her mother escaped with her, of course, there are few people who want to believe her, but most of the celebrities at this time will be crowned with such and such a name, so as to increase their value.

But the self-proclaimed Hafsa did have a special exotic touch, her hair was black, her skin was white, and the corners of her eyes and mouth were infinitely amorous, and she did not wear corsets and large skirts like the Italian women of today, but wore a long robe, a belt that hung down to her abdomen, shining slippers under her feet, and a round hat with a very large ostrich feather stuck in her hat.

She was bare-chested, but only a subtle triangle, completely different from the recently fashionable, increasingly larger square and curved openings, which pleased the little Duke of Lorraine, after all, he was fed up with seeing things from the French.

Hafsa walked into his room with a jar of wine, swinging at the waist, which, though without a corset, was not destined to be as delicate as the ladies of Versailles, but also had a special flavor - the main thing was that it could burst out of ecstatic power between the beds, and the little Duke of Lorraine took the jug by the hand, and "sat on my lap," and said, "My little robin, what news have you brought me?"

By the way, he spent a lot of money on this famous woman, but it was not all because of pleasure, most of the famous women were responsible for the duties of spies and brokers, and the information flowed out of the mouths of the men, gathered in them, and then they were divided into categories, looking at the needs of customers, and selling them one by one, but they rarely went to inquire about anything because of the customer's request - the customers occasionally lost their words, maybe they didn't remember it themselves, but to investigate, they must leave clues.

Havertha told him that the King of France might leave Florence and return to France on the third day after the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin.

This kind of news, as long as the attendants of the little Duke of Lorraine are careful, can also know, after all, a king's guard of honor, guards, and an army of servants are not arbitrary, they can go as they like, they need to set a route, prepare supplies, need possible support, and respond.

"I'll give you a ring, and the ruby in it is the size of your little finger," said the little Duke of Lorraine, "and then tell me the news worth the price." ”

Haftha glanced at him and stretched out her hand, which made it clear that she couldn't speak without seeing anything.

The little Duke of Lorraine took the ring out of his pocket and gave it to her. She leaned close to the ear of the little Duke of Lorraine, and with a hint of the sweetness of wine, she said: "Ferdinand, the eldest son of the Grand Duke, had a quarrel with the Grand Duke yesterday, and it was said that he intended to go to Paris to attend university, but the Grand Duke did not allow it. ”

"Of course not. The younger Duke of Lorraine said that he did not say what he said next, because as soon as his identity and mission were revealed, Haftha would sell him to others as soon as he turned around, "but this news is not worth this ring, which is worth five hundred livres." ”

"Then there's another piece of news that you might be interested in. Havershama carelessly put the rings on his fingers and found that each finger was bigger, and the ring should belong to a man. The little Duke of Lorraine tightened his grip on her waist in a warning manner, causing a scream of exasperation, and the woman leaned half-truthfully against him, her hand pressing against his Adam's apple.

Say. The little Duke of Lorraine pressed the desire in his body and grabbed Hafsha: "You should know something, tell me, or I will kill you." ”

"I'd rather die at your hands," Hafsa laughed, "what a strong warrior you are." ”

"How do you know I'm a warrior?" asked the little Duke of Lorraine, seemingly absent, holding Hafsha's waist and slender wrist but not letting go.

"You have glorious medals all over you," Haversha didn't seem to notice that the little Duke of Lorraine's body was already tense, although under her, there were many men who would have a tense body, but this tightness ...... Maybe it really will bring death, she lowered her head, and replaced her hand with her lips, "The way you walk, the way you speak, your firm gesture and gaze." How could I not see that? You must have seen blood in battle, sir, how many mercenaries are there in Italy, though you are like a lion and a tiger in a pack of wolves. ”

"I'm just an ordinary soldier. Little Lorraine said.

"He will be a great general in the future. Havertha felt that the body below her had become as soft as the other man's tone, and she leaned more boldly towards him, biting his hair and earlobes - it was a pity that the little Duke of Lorraine did not forget what had happened before: "Either tell me everything, ma'am, or give me back the ring." ”

"You are such a merciless lover. Haftha lamented: "But who makes me love you, well, I tell you that the king of France not long ago sent a messenger to ransom Cosimo III for a few Judahs, but Cosimo III refused. ”

"Why?" the little Duke of Lorraine immediately straightened up, so that Cosimo III could refuse the King of France, and those few Jews, was there any great secret in them?

"How do I know that I spent a lot of money to get this news. Havertha straightened up and withdrew her hand, the ring disappearing into her bodice at some point.

"What are you doing about this matter?" asked the little Duke of Lorraine curiously.

"All the Italian ladies are watching the King of France's every move," said Havertha, completely ignoring the sudden blackening of the little Duke's face: "The first royal lady of the Sun King was an Italian woman, and there is no reason why there could not be a second, even if there is no such possibility, it is said that His Majesty is also a good man rich and generous." ”

"Ahh The little Duke of Lorraine said angrily, "Is that all there is to it? Why did he ransom the Jews? Why didn't Cosimo III agree?"

"It seems to be about heresy or something, and I don't know much about what happened after that. Hafsa said lazily, playing with her fingers.

The little Duke of Lorraine looked down for a moment, then suddenly pushed Hafsa to the ground, stood up, and walked out of the room in a somewhat strange manner.

"Ahh

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Cosimo III's gout was much better after the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, perhaps blessed by the Virgin, but his toes and knees no longer hurt, and his head hurt again, because the emissary of the Elector of Bavaria had quietly arrived in Florence before the French had even left.

It was the first time for the Duke of Lorraine to enter the Palazzo Pitti, a grand and magnificent building, with black stone on the walls and masonry style, that is, huge stones made of building blocks to build the walls of the palace. To the left of the gate is a stone about thirty feet long, protruding very abruptly from the wall, which was built by the original owner of the building, Luca Pitti, when he built the palace, meaning that the Pitti family was far superior to any other family in Lorence, including the Medici, which was only one of many families at the time. He probably didn't expect that in less than a hundred years, the Medici family would "buy" the Pitti Palace from the descendants of Pitti, and the Medici did not move, and it was one day, the people of the Pitti family would be ridiculed for one day, and the power of the Medici family would be prominent for one day.

But the power of the Medici was limited to Tuscany or even Florence, the younger Duke of Lorraine thought.

They met again in the same room with Raphael's work, and Cosimo III had only spared the blood, his face pale, and he watched as the attendants of the little Duke of Lorraine carried the huge life-size portrait to him, "Let Ferdinand come to me." He said, looking at the window with a little unease, and at about three o'clock in the afternoon, there was a requiem mass in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Fiore, for the soldiers who had died in the previous battle, so the French, from the king to the Duke of Colonna, the Dauphin Louis the Younger, had all gone, and of course he had carefully arranged it - the long mass would probably last until nightfall, and then there would be a procession.

"Before His Highness Ferdinand came here," said the little Duke of Lorraine, who also stood at the window, looking at the Burberry Hill behind him, "I have something to ask you, concerning the King of France, and the Jews. ”

Cosimo III frowned subconsciously, he clutched his chest, gasped a few times, as if he would faint at any moment, but he still barely supported it: "It's just some Judahs, they have sinned - but by him, by ...... His Majesty saw, you know, that he was merciful by nature, and offered to pay the penalty for their sins...... But he didn't know what terrible devils they were, so he ...... I think that Your Majesty has changed his mind. ”

"I don't think so," said the little Duke of Lorraine coldly, "first of all, I don't think that His Majesty is merciful, and secondly, I don't think he will give up so easily. ”