28 June 1725, Palace of Versailles.

At a time when the outbreak of the Qi-Ying War immediately plunged the situation in Europe into turmoil, more than 30,000 officials, attendants and servants in the entire Palace of Versailles were busy with a grand royal wedding, and these "insignificant" matters were temporarily put aside.

Yes, King Louis XV of France, who is only fifteen years old this year, is about to marry his queen and work hard to produce a new heir to this powerful country, and thus transform into a real man.

Speaking of which, Louis XV's choice of queen was very controversial and almost caused a war between France and Spain. Because, as early as 1721, Louis XV was engaged to Mariana Victoria, daughter of King Philip V of Spain and his cousin. However, the eleven-year-old king has little interest in this three-year-old fiancée, and thinks that this "little Lori" who can only cry noisily is too boring.

It just so happened that Louis IV, Duke of Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, was also worried about the heir to the Kingdom of France. He feared that Louis XV, who was ill and sick, would die at any time, and that the position of king would fall to the Prince of Orleans, and that he might lose his hard-won position as prime minister. Princess Mariana Victoria of Spain is still a child after all, and it will be a monkey year for her to give birth to a child for the French royal family.

Moreover, the future queen's status as a Spanish princess and her cousin relationship with the king made the Duke of Bourbon feel that this marriage had too many hidden concerns for him and the royal family. The Duke of Bourbon hoped that Louis XV would immediately marry a full-grown princess who could give birth, and that the princess's maiden family would not be too powerful to affect the Duke of Bourbon's own status and France's foreign policy.

For the Duke of Bourbon, it is not easy to find a suitable queen for King Louis XV, first of all, the queen must be of childbearing age, because up to now, the position of the crown prince of France has been vacant for 10 years, and most French people are uneasy about the withering of the royal family.

Secondly, politically, the queen's maiden power has not been able to destroy the political environment inside and outside France, and in Europe, royal marriages are often accompanied by military alliances and diplomatic bargaining, and can also affect domestic partisan disputes. Religion must also be Catholic, because the King of France has always considered himself the most devout Catholic king in the world.

In the end, it is better for the queen to be unrelated to the French royal family, which is now withering due to the marriage of the great Sun King Louis XIV and his wife, Queen Maria Theresa.

Considering the above factors, the candidates in the Duke of Bourbon's mind were eliminated one by one. However, in February, the choice of queen suddenly took a turn for the better.

The mistress of the Duke of Bourbon proposed a surprise candidate to the troubled prime minister: Marie Leszzczka, daughter of the abdicated Polish king Stanisław I. Stanisław I had only two daughters, the eldest daughter had died, and the second daughter, Mary. Lychenshska was twenty-two years old at this time, and was in the best reproductive age. Both father and daughter were devout Catholics, not related to the French royal family, and most importantly, the abdicated king had no power in France, had little international influence, and only had the false title of king, in other words, the future queen and the prince were completely dependent on the French government.

When the Duke of Bourbon heard this, he immediately became acutely aware that he had found the best candidate for the queen.

So the prime minister decided to make a decision immediately, and the matter must be done quickly. First of all, the French government could not give birth to a child for the royal family in time, and Louis XV's original fiancée, the Spanish princess Marie, who had been living in the French court for several years. Anna. Victoria returned to her home country.

The Duke of Bourbon turned a deaf ear to the protests and dissatisfaction of the Spanish royal family. The French royal family then presented a dowry to Stanisław I, who was living in seclusion in Alsace, France, and proposed to King Louis XV to his daughter.

The king of no country was shocked and overwhelmed by the dowry when he received the dowry, and could not believe that the golden egg that had fallen from the sky - and a huge golden egg - could have happily fallen on his head. So, for the French royal family's proposal, he agreed at the first time.

Marie, who was the candidate for the Queen of France. Latchenshska couldn't believe her ears when her father told her about it. She and her father had been entertained by the French royal family and had met Louis XV, who in her eyes saw the young King of France as a wealthy, unattainable, and unreachable magnate.

The Duke of Bourbon promised Stanisław I that as soon as the marriage was finalized, the woman would receive a fortune of 250,000 livres, and as the ruler of the country, he would also receive an annuity of 20,000 livres plus an expensive estate. The Duke of Bourbon did not want to have a complicated affair, so he wanted to finalize the marriage as soon as possible.

Compared with the anxious Duke of Bourbon, Stanisław I was actually more anxious than him, and also hoped that this marriage could be realized immediately to complete the marriage with the Bourbon royal family.

Compared to the nominal king of Poland, who was only used by the Swedes as a puppet to rule Poland, how could there be more status than the old man who was the king of France! Well, maybe, one day in the future, with the support of his son-in-law, he will be able to return to Warsaw and reclaim the crown of the lost Polish king.

Therefore, this "happy love" marriage began to operate with a very fast process, starting from the French royal marriage proposal in February, in just a few months, the preparations for the wedding were completed, including the selection of venues, the invitation of guests, the preparation of dresses and jewelry, and the steps of the wedding ceremony, and finally the wedding date was determined to be September 5, officially holding this royal wedding that will affect the whole of Europe.

In order to demonstrate the strength of the French Kingdom and set off the extravagance of the royal family, this upcoming wedding will inevitably cost a lot of money, pushing the already extremely empty French finances into the endless abyss.

In the past few months, the Duke of Bourbon, in addition to being busy with the preparations for this wedding, his greatest energy has been racking his brains to raise funds. He and his financial adviser, Emiliano Ortiz DiVerne, are constantly creating new government jobs in the hope of selling them at a high price.

What, the great kingdom of France would commit such a despicable act as a traitor?

In fact, in absolute absolutist France, buying and selling official posts is nothing new. As early as the 16th century, the king of France converted many positions into some form of private property for sale in order to increase his income.

After paying a special tax, the purchaser can sell the position again or pass it on to his children and grandchildren. This type of position is called an optional position, and the person who buys it receives many benefits, such as prestige, legal privileges, modest interest income, and the legal right to lead a public business.

There are many types of jobs available, ranging from a judge, a mayor in a big city, to a tax collector job for sales taxes. Some positions give their owners the exclusive franchise to sell a particular product in certain towns or regions.

Whenever France's finances were in trouble, the king and his favourites would create hundreds of new jobs out of thin air, and the "secondary market" for buying and selling them would become extremely active. Middlemen used their political connections at the court to buy new positions and then sell them at a markup.

Although, in many cases, these new positions had no power in their own right, or were duplicated or decentralized, the system generated considerable revenues for the crown and the state treasury, and allowed the intermediaries to reap substantial benefits, creating a complex and large interest group in French society.

This is due to the fact that the material wealth, political privilege and social status of the holders of these positions depend on the permissibility of the permissible jobs and the acquiescence to the illicit market in which they are being sold again.

As a rough estimate, between 1688 and 1715, frequent wars caused a surge in French spending. During this period, nearly seven hundred new jobs were sold, with a total value of more than 83 million livels, but only 33 million livres went to the treasury.

In order to prepare for this expensive wedding, the Duke of Bourbon succeeded in convincing the young King Louis XV to abolish a large number of his old positions and then sell them at a higher price. Although this move brought more income to the royal family, it was also viciously cursed by the "people of society".

The Duke of Bourbon ignored the criticism of many nobles and officials, as long as he managed the wedding well, curried favor with the king, and increased the revenue of the treasury, even if he was scolded twice, it was nothing. It's okay to be loyal to the country and bear some infamy, and it won't let him lose a few taels of meat, right?

Economically, although the Duke of Bourbon continued the "reform and opening up" policy of the Prince of Orleans, he was relatively conservative, and he strengthened the management and control of the country. Despite its great economic development, the French economy is very unstable, opportunism is rife, resulting in a constant imbalance between supply and demand, and the depreciation of the currency causes prices to rise, increasing the pressure on the lives of ordinary urban residents.

The Duke of Bourbon cracked down on speculation, but it also discouraged private investment. His attempt to enforce the wages of workers and the basic price of goods through laws was a good idea, but the means were clumsy and completely unpopular. The Duke of Bourbon, who was born into a great aristocracy, did not understand economics, and as a result, it only caused a blockage of the French economy.

In order to increase revenue, the Duke of Bourbon decided to introduce a new tax system, not only for the commoners of the third estate, but also for the clergy of the first estate. This move was firmly opposed by the clergy and some of the great nobles who shared the same interests with the Church, and the new tax system soon became a major controversy in the French government, leaving the ambitious Duke of Bourbon anxious.

"Your Excellency Duke, this is a gift from the Qi Kingdom for Your Majesty." With a look of shock and surprise on his face, the financial advisor Duverne handed a gift slip from the Legation of Qi to the Duke of Bourbon, "Compared with other countries in Europe, the gifts given by the people of Qi can be called generous!" ”

"A pair of golden crowns and a queen crown, two exquisite swords, three luxurious carriages, six Indian diamonds, twelve Hanzhou pearls, sixty pairs of ivory products, one hundred pieces of oriental porcelain, two hundred pieces of fine silk, three hundred quintals of top-quality oriental tea, and royal gifts of the Qi Kingdom...... Four million livres (1 livr is about 4.5 grams of silver, that is, 1 tael of silver equals about 8.3 livre)! ”

The Duke of Bourbon's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at the list of gift items, especially the four million livres of the gift, which made him even more dumbfounded.

Four million livres, which would have to be obtained by selling about forty or so government jobs.

You must know that the budget for the royal wedding celebration planned in September is about three million to four million livres, and the people of Qi have a gift of four million at once, which can not only completely cover the entire wedding budget budget, but also have a surplus to give His Majesty the king some pocket money.

Not to mention, the gifts on the gift list are also worth a lot of money, and it is estimated that there are nearly a million livres.

The people of Qi are really generous, compared to the gifts given by those European monarchs, it is simply incomparable!

"Did Minister Qi say anything?" The Duke of Bourbon calmed down a little, placed the gift slip on the table, and asked softly.

"The envoys of the State of Qi did not talk about other affairs except to express their most sincere wishes to His Majesty on behalf of their emperor?"

"Did they mention that Qi goods were subject to a special tax?"

"Nope."

"And did they talk about war with England?"

"Not either." Duverne shook his head and said, "They seem to be very satisfied with the current policy of neutrality of our Kingdom of France in this war, and have no other luxury. ”

"Hehe......" the Duke of Bourbon laughed, "Compared with the calm and calm of the Qi people, the English people are full of panic and anxiety. For months, the Earl of Felling, from England, has tried in every possible way to meet His Majesty, hoping to persuade us that the Kingdom of France is on their side in this war. They even tried to lure us to fight against Qi and completely expel the Qi people from Europe. But the question is, what can the English give us? ”

The Duke of Bourbon, who had been pursuing great power diplomacy since he succeeded as prime minister, did not believe that France and Britain could cooperate for a long time, and the backstabbing and attack on France in the War of the Spanish Succession made him deeply jealous. Thus, estranged relations with Great Britain over the years.

As for the joint attack on Spain with England a few years ago, it was nothing more than to prevent the Bourbon relatives from gaining a large position in the Italian region and then threatening the security of France's southeastern frontier. At the same time, it was also a warning and deterrent to Philip V's covetion of the French throne, so that he could honestly continue to be his king of Spain.

Throughout the centuries-old history of France, England has stood on their opposite side several times, often uniting with some European partners to besiege it. Before his death, Louis XIV advised future generations to be careful of this isolated island country in the Atlantic, which would deal the most fatal blow to France when the Kingdom of France realized its "natural borders" and established European hegemony.

Now, the Qi country that dominates the Indian Ocean region wants to teach England a lesson, and France is naturally happy to see it, and it is best to deal the heaviest blow to this island country, so that it will be unable to threaten the northwest coastal region of France again, let alone jump out from time to time when France attacks Europe in the future, swing the sword in his hand, and stab France in the back.

In this war, the best choice for France is to remain neutral for the time being, wait and see the direction of the war between the two countries, and at the same time monitor the development of the situation in Europe and wait for the best opportunity to realize the best interests of France.

After the Duke of Bourbon, who was born in the military, came to the throne, he deliberately strengthened the French army. During the Regency period, due to the shrinking economy, the French army was reduced to 30,000 men, but later strengthened to 50,000 due to the conflict with Spain. When the Duke of Bourbon came to power, he multiplied it again and restored it to a standing army of 100,000, which in his opinion was in keeping with the status of the Kingdom of France.

If the situation in Europe changes drastically, France will not mind sending troops to solve the problem of the Duchy of Lorraine, which has been shelved more than ten years ago.

I heard that Austria was preparing to start a war against the Ottoman Empire, so could France also take advantage of the situation to enter the Italian region?

The Qi people are not only generous, but also a stirring stick thrown by God, stirring up the calm situation in Europe again, and perhaps creating an excellent opportunity for them France to re-establish European hegemony.

(End of chapter)