Cutting 1719

Chapter 675 China-France Friendship
The Palace of Versailles is not in the city of Paris, but in the town of Versailles outside Paris. As the place where the French ruling class has lived for a long time, this legendary palace has been caught in a deep political vortex from the very beginning. .

The Palace of Versailles was just a piece of wasteland back then. Later, the Sun King Louis XIV spent 100 livres to buy more than 26 acres of wasteland here, and built a red brick building with only two floors for hunting. The palace has only 2000 rooms - after years of construction, the Palace of Versailles now has more than [-] rooms.

When Ning Chengze and Ernst walked into the large garden in front of the main palace of the Palace of Versailles, they looked up and saw a man-made river shaped like a jade belt sparkling with sails and shadows, but it made people feel a kind of In the coolness of summer, there are lush forests on both sides of the river. In the green shade, you can faintly see the statues of goddesses standing in pavilions. Nearby are two pools of blue waves. The copper sculptures along the pools are colorful and beautiful.

While admiring the distant scenery, Ernst said softly: "The construction of the Palace of Versailles was itself a conspiracy of the Sun King. In the words of the Chinese people, it was a naked conspiracy."

Ning Chengze on the side didn't speak, but listened quietly to Ernst's introduction. These court secrets are not known to ordinary people, and the conspiracies and tricks inside may have been buried under the heavy history .

"Louis XIV was only five years old when he succeeded to the throne, but the situation he faced was very severe. The French nobles at that time took power, and they surrounded Prince Condé, Madame Chevreuse, and Madame Longueville as The core formed the Fronde, who launched two successive rebellions in Paris, which also caused the young Louis to escape from Paris twice during the riots."

"He will subconsciously think that Paris is not safe, and that the people of Paris do not support him. For this reason, he doesn't even trust anyone, and he will do everything by himself. He even announced that he will no longer appoint any prime minister - he needs to concentrate all the power in his own hands. "

Ernst said slowly: "The construction of the Palace of Versailles was a means of centralizing power by Louis XIV. He lifted the local power from the nobles, but let them all enter the court, and after Louis XIV moved into the Palace of Versailles Afterwards, he also specially stipulated that any nobles need to dress luxuriously when they enter the Palace of Versailles, and they need to stay in the palace from morning to night to participate in balls, banquets and other celebrations, and no one should be absent. They have no time to manage the place at all, making the nobles gradually lose their power to rule the place."

"In this way, Louis XIV is indeed a smart man. His father once said before that power does not come out of thin air, it comes from the control of the lower structure, and Louis XIV's method is similar to that of Japan. The worship and pilgrimage during the Bakufu period is somewhat similar, and the enemy will naturally be destroyed after a long time."

Ning Chengze smiled slightly, but brought up another topic, "I heard that Kangxi's portrait was still placed in the Palace of Versailles back then?"

King Louis XV of France, who had just turned 30, was standing in front of a picture, looking at the characters on the canvas with a haughty look, with a contemptuous arc of his mouth.

The painting depicts a young oriental man in casual clothes, holding a brush in his hand. The image is very vivid and lifelike, and this oriental man is Emperor Kangxi.

"Your Majesty, this is the Emperor Kangxi of the East."

The Prime Minister Fleury on the side smiled and introduced that he had no impression of this incident that happened more than 50 years ago, but he still knew about it all the time——the connection between France and China was actually very early. It started, but the country in the east was not called Dachu at that time, but Qing Dynasty.

As early as the age of great voyages, the French made limited overseas exploration attempts, but the French did not go well at that time. It was not until Henry IV came to power that France tried to send ocean-going merchant ships to the East for the first time. Trade, and this process It didn't go well.

After Louis XIV took power, he set his sights abroad. He was determined not to be outdone by others in overseas business, so he paid for the reorganization of the French East India Company and sent expeditions to the Americas and the Caribbean. Carried out early colonial activities with the East, and in 1685, the delegation of Louis XIV officially landed from Guangzhou.

The delegation sent to the East was basically Jesuit missionaries, and they received friendly hospitality from the Qing court, because the missionary at that time, Bai Pu, used the western medicine he carried with him, Cinchona Cream, to heal his dying life. Kangxi himself, so Emperor Kangxi at that time did not reject Westerners.

At that time, Kangxi not only began to study "Elements of Geometry" by himself, but also conducted research on Western learning such as astronomy, geography, and mechanical manufacturing. This process was basically completed by French missionaries. Later, Louis, who entered the diplomatic honeymoon period, Fourteen and Kangxi even exchanged portraits with each other through the sea pipeline, but the portrait of Louis XIV has been lost in China, while the portrait of Kangxi in the Palace of Versailles is still preserved.

Louis XV looked at the portrait for a moment, then waved his hand, and said casually: "Portraits of losers should not be left in the Palace of Versailles, it will only tarnish this palace full of glory."

"This"

Fleury was a little overwhelmed, he hesitated slightly, and then asked the servants to take the portrait away, and then said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the Eastern Chu Kingdom has sent its prince to France this time, and the first stop is Paris. , it seems a little too high-profile."

Louis XV smiled, turned his head to look at the extremely old prime minister, and said softly: "Dear Fleury, of course I know what they think, nothing more than using the French hand to hold the British so that they can They realize their ambitions. But thinking about it from another angle, why can't we use their hands to hold the British?"

"But Your Majesty, for France, it is more necessary to focus on itself now."

Fleury had an anxious expression on his face. He was most worried about the current Louis XV, with the impulsiveness and aggressiveness of a young man, but without the calmness of a king.

Louis XV was unmoved, and sarcastically said: "Fleury, if you follow your peace policy, it is impossible for us to successfully interfere with the Polish throne, and it is absolutely impossible for us to get the king of Lorraine from Francois III. Times have changed, and conservatism isn't getting us much."

"But conservatism won't let us lose too much. Your Majesty, now that we have reached the Treaty of Belgrade, it means that the Empire has successfully seized hegemony from the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. We have won too many fruits of victory. It’s really inappropriate to keep going on.”

For Fleury, there are some things he doesn't want to say like this, but he also knows that Louis XV, who is now inflated to the sky, can't listen to anyone's words, which is why the relationship between Britain and France is getting worse—— —Although the prime ministers of both sides hope to maintain peace, the kings of both sides can't wait to fight immediately.

Therefore, Louis XV was destined not to listen to Fleury's words. He just looked at the large territory on the map with greedy eyes, but he seemed to have forgotten that Louis XIV was on his deathbed. What he said.

: "My child, you will be a great king. Don't be obsessed with building and war like I am. Be at peace with your neighbors. Give God what you owe. Be good at your words. Try to keep your people free. Suffer, which I failed to do."

On May 1740, 5, melodious music sounded again in the Palace of Versailles. There were lamps hanging on the walls decorated with luxurious Baroque furnishings and decorations. The walls are dazzling, while the western-style oil paintings on the inner walls and palace domes seem to be telling the great military exploits of the former kings, and the myths and stories told in the oil paintings are vivid.

In the Hall of the Sun God in the Palace of Versailles, the layout is extremely luxurious and magnificent, with gold-plated carved bas-reliefs on the ceiling, deep red gold and silver velvet on the walls, and red Persian carpets on the floor, and a large number of maids shuttle in the corridor. Stop, they hold many gilded tableware in their hands.

"Let us share the meat that the king gives!"

In the shout of the king's steward, the clarinet decorated with golden lilies in the side band quickly played a few tones, announcing the official start of the dinner, but the scene in front of him surprised even Ning Chengze.

I saw a series of exquisite dishes quickly served on the table, such as butter soup with pheasant meat, shrimp soup with bisque sauce, and small pieces of roast meat, hot pies, buns, ham, sausages, salami, It was brought up like running water, and before Ning Chengze and the others could actually eat a few mouthfuls, they saw roasted beef, veal, and lamb appear on the table again.

Ning Chengze couldn't care less about eating a few more mouthfuls, so he put down his knife and fork and greeted Louis XV who was sitting on the throne: "Thank you His Majesty for your hospitality, this really opened our eyes."

Originally in Chinese, Ning Chengze's words were not clear whether they were commendatory or derogatory, but after the translator translated these words into French, Louis XV was very happy. He raised his glass and looked down at the A blush rose on the pale face of the young boy.

"My grandfather, the Sun King, also had exchanges with you Huaxia. At the turn of the old and new centuries, the Sun King held a grand new century ball in this palace, called 'King of China', that Although I was not born at that time, I can feel the grand occasion at that time, and now, we meet again in the Palace of Versailles, this is the will of God!"

It has to be said that when Louis XV uttered such passionate words, Ning Chengze and the others were stunned. It seems that it is not so common to express one's thoughts nakedly like this. The meaning behind it made Ning Chengze a little confused. He quickly gave Ernst a sneaky look while expressing his thanks.

Ernst had a slight smile on his face, as if he didn't see Ning Chengze's expression at all, but stood up and encouraged loudly: "This will be the beginning of a great friendship, from Da Chu and The friendship of France will definitely become the most precious gift in this world!"

(End of this chapter)