The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 198: Strengthen Louis XV

Louis XV was already very old, both mentally and physically.

Sixty years old is considered old not only in the East, but also in the West.

This king, once called Louis the Beloved by the French, had a childhood that anyone would find suffocating.

He originally had a happy big family. His great-grandfather Louis XIV was the famous Sun King who ruled France for seventy-two years, making him the longest-reigning monarch in the entire human history.

When he was one year old, Louis XV's grandfather, the Grand Dauphin Louis, was still alive. His father, the Duke of Burgundy, and his mother, Maria Adelaide of Savoy, were very much in love and were the living star of the Palace of Versailles.

Louis XV's third uncle, Charles, Duke of Berry, and his brother, Louis, Duke of Brittany, were also growing up healthily.

In addition to his second uncle Felipe who became the King of Spain, Louis XV had as many as five close relatives around him. Then, the god of fate played a joke on him.

Smallpox swept through the Bourbon royal family. First, Louis XV's mother, Maria Adelaide, died of the disease, and then his father, the Duke of Burgundy, also died from the pain of illness and the loss of his wife.

Then, his third uncle Charles, Duke of Berry, and his brother Louis, Duke of Brittany died of illness one after another.

When he was five years old, his great-grandfather Louis XIV died. Louis XV had lost all his relatives except King Philip of Spain who was far away in Madrid.

Five close relatives died within five years, especially four close relatives died within two years, with his parents and brother all passing away. This was a devastating blow to the young Louis XV.

The seeds of cowardice, escape, and insecurity were planted in his young heart.

After becoming king, the five-year-old Louis had no power at all. All power was in the hands of powerful ministers. They even used the reason that the air in Paris was poisonous to prevent Louis XV from staying in Paris.

These men in power, including Cardinal Fleury, on whom Louis XV once relied, used their influence to shape the king's character and make him into the person they imagined him to be.

Under the painful blow of losing his loved ones and the harsh training of powerful ministers, Louis XV soon suffered a split personality.

On the one hand, he can pretend to be a wise king in front of others to cover up his cowardice and retreat.

On the other hand, after taking full power, the desires that had been suppressed from childhood to adolescence burst out violently.

His decadent private life, his enjoyment of luxury, and his various bad habits were well-known in Europe, causing his reputation to decline.

Now, at the age of sixty, the king suffered a double collapse in body and mind due to the death of Louis's beloved and soul mate, Madame Pompadour, and the blow of the Seven Years' War.

Although he had a new love, Madame du Barry, who was a former prostitute, and the famous Deer Park also retained a large number of beautiful girls.

But none of them could replace Madame Pompadour's position in Louis XV's heart.

Of course, Madame du Barry was not as able to penetrate into Louis XV's soul as Madame Pompadour, but she could allow the old and frail Louis XV to penetrate into her body effortlessly.

The king's mistress, who was born a prostitute, possessed unparalleled and magical skills in bed, which made the old king unable to let go of her.

Madame du Barry read the report in the French Mercure and felt very itchy.

Generally speaking, women who are happy to practice their skills in bed and are very willing to cooperate with men are more or less sexually addicted.

This is what happened to Madame du Barry. Although she certainly did not dare to betray the old king, she still had the freedom to go and see the Eastern messenger who was reported in the newspaper and who was so magical that he could use magic to make young girls fall into a coma.

In particular, according to rumors, this messenger does not know any magic, but is extremely handsome, so handsome that it can make people feel suffocated.

Women also like handsome men, just like men like beautiful women. It is the most normal human reaction.

After hearing that the ambassador of the delegation was the son of the King of the East, his brother was the Elector Prince of Siam and the Crown Prince of the East, and that he himself was also a Marquis and had extraordinary artistic talent.

Madame du Barry, who came from a humble background, felt somewhat inferior and increasingly hoped to improve her status by successfully inviting the ambassador.

She could not, like those women chasing the wind and butterflies, seek an audience regardless of her status. Therefore, Madame du Barry was always lobbying Louis XV.

She wanted the king to invite the ambassador to the Palace of Versailles so that she could communicate with the envoy openly and take the credit for facilitating the invitation.

And today, when Madame du Barry began to persuade again, Louis XV's two daughters, Sophie and Louise, also came to see Louis XV.

Louis, who was in the shadow of the rapid death of his loved ones in his unfortunate childhood, attached great importance to his daughters. He was afraid that if they left his sight, they would die instantly like his parents.

Combined with some other factors, most of Louis XV's daughters remained unmarried throughout their lives.

These princesses who live a wealthy life are of course also fans of gossip.

But Louis XV had been somewhat moved, and now seeing his lover and daughters so eager to see a strange handsome man, Louis XV's fragile and sensitive heart was hurt, and he stubbornly rejected each pair of longing eyes.

The reason was legitimate. Louis XV was the king, and if he formally received the envoys, it would inevitably become a diplomatic incident with the mission. Therefore, even though the Eastern mission had been arriving for two weeks, Louis XV only sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs and then the Minister of State to receive them, but he himself never extended any invitations.

. . . .

Ou Zirong was completely unaware of everything that happened in the Palace of Versailles. He was now perfectly displaying his innate charm.

In Paris, where people love to play bed politics and aristocrats usually measure their charm by the quality of their lovers, Ou Zirong is like a fish in water.

For example, the Paris Mercure, a newspaper controlled by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was initially reluctant to publish the article drafted by Peter.

But Ou Zirong immediately took action, or... should have called out "stick".

He soon hooked up with the widowed daughter of the editor-in-chief of the Paris Mercure, and bewitched the 21-year-old widow to death.

Then, the editor-in-chief surrendered immediately.

Because he found out that while Ou Zirong abducted his daughter, he was also flirting with his wife.

Although his wife never made eye contact with this handsome and somewhat overly handsome oriental nobleman, her face often blushed with shyness like a young girl.

It's so painful. It's bad enough that my daughter was deceived, but what if...

If something like that happens, the editor-in-chief feels that he will be laughed at by the whole of France, no, by the whole of Europe.

So he no longer dared to stop it, and even ignored the implicit hints of the Foreign Minister, and still insisted on publishing the article written by François, the deputy envoy of the Eastern Mission, introducing the Seres Empire.

A shrill and piercing scream was heard. Lin Tong smiled and looked down from the window. Outside the mission's residence, the crazy women started their daily routine again - screaming for the handsome guy from the East.

Our Ou Zirong, the great romantic Ou is going out.

He was going to attend the painting salon of Angelica Kauffmann, a famous female painter and one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Arts of the United Kingdom.

This outstanding female painter at the time heard about Ou Zirong's handsomeness and his high attainments in mysterious oriental painting skills, so she crossed the sea from London to Paris.

The organizer of this grand painting salon was the famous French painter Claude Joseph Vernet. It is said that at least thirty famous artists would participate in this salon.

"I'm increasingly impressed by the prince's judgment. It seems that His Excellency the Marquis will be able to reach the highest echelons of the kingdom faster than we can.

I think it won’t be long before King Rama XV, under pressure from the women around him, formally invites us.”

Peter said this with emotion, nodding his head.

Lin Tong smiled faintly, "Those who can be summoned by God are certainly not ordinary people. Then, I think I have to speed up my progress.

I believe that when our work is done, the king will be under pressure from more than just the women around him."

What is Lin Tong doing?

He was doing one thing. He locked up all the members of the delegation, including military attachés like Wang Wubing, in a room provided for them by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then everyone started translating various French books together.

Mainly Rousseau's "On the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men", "The Social Contract" and "Economy and Politics".

Montesquieu's "The Spirit of the Laws", Voltaire's "Philosophical Correspondence", "The Age of Louis XIV", "The Orphan of China", etc.

As well as the works of the Physiocrats such as Marquis Mirabeau and Silhouette.

How can you show an outsider's love for your culture?
Answer: They do nothing but lock themselves in the house and work day and night to translate your vast cultural works.

If others do not like your culture and think your culture is valuable, will they do this? Definitely not.

Especially when these people come from China, the legendary pinnacle of civilization, the impact of this behavior becomes extremely huge.

Even Jean-Jacques Rousseau himself spoke out, expressing his willingness to learn Chinese from the people of the Eastern delegation so that he could better help them translate their works.

However, Lin Tong announced to the public that he would refuse any guests until the translation work was completed and the king summoned him.

This put all the pressure on King Louis XV, and soon all of France began to be dissatisfied with the king's failure to receive the Eastern delegation seriously.

There is even a legend that King George III of Britain intended to invite the Eastern delegation to cross the English Channel.

This was too much. All the French people were worried.

(End of this chapter)