I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 28 The Reluctant Rescue

There was an uproar. Louis immediately stretched out his hand and asked his younger brother Philip to hold it, and immediately returned to the Queen Mother Anne's side. What's interesting is that the ladies who would faint immediately whenever they encounter a little thing are actually None of them fell to the ground at this time. They were all around the Queen Mother in horror, holding silk handkerchiefs and smelling salts. The most courageous one was the Duchess of Montpensier, who kept holding the Queen Mother. She shouted and asked her to send some of the soldiers to follow her to the Rue de Tulbig, where the Prince of Condé was attacked.

   Queen Mother Anne is not willing, why should she be willing? Prince Condé gave her an embarrassment only a few minutes ago, and speaking of soldiers, these soldiers should first protect the king, and his younger brother and her return to Richelieu's house, and then it is possible to exterminate the thugs—in addition, Condé The prince has his legions alone, and he does not need the protection of the king.

   But these words cannot be put into words. She looked at the Duchess of Montpensier, and just as she was about to say something, the Duchess saw the clue.

"Well," cried the Duchess, standing up, "well, God testify, you are not willing to save him, although he did save you, no, Your Majesty, or did you want his life? She raised her hand and touched her neck, where the emerald necklace given to her by Prince Condé was hanging: "I shouldn't have come to beg you, he is your benefactor, but you are his enemy, It was my fault, Your Majesty, and now you are on your way, his servant is still lying on the steps of the theatre, his blood is on my skirt, and soon the prince's will be on my lips Bloody," she glared at everyone present, the intimidation evident in her words—if the closest relatives of the ancient Romans were innocently punished, their relatives would smear his blood on their mouths and swear their revenge for him.

   Such a scene should be very solemn, but unfortunately, a loud sneer made the whole scene a little funny - just like the previous small drama has not ended, and it has turned to this group of distinguished people.

   This sneer came from His Royal Highness Philip, "My dear cousin." He said sharply: "Clara Clemence, Madame de Prince Condé, is not dead yet."

His words were no less than a slap in the face of the Duchess of Montpensier, and some of the ladies hid their faces behind silk handkerchiefs and fans, and laughed softly—as we said before , A respectable lady can lose her mind for a lover outside of marriage, and people will even sympathize and pity him, but for an unmarried woman, this is a shame. But the one who laughed the loudest was Marie Mancini. Her teeth were all exposed. The Queen Mother Anne rarely reprimanded the little girl with stern eyes. She also smiled, of course, only smiling, contemptuous and cold. , "You're so rude, my niece," she said, "it's not something you can manage either," she said softly, "we should go back."

The Duchess of Montpensier was pale, she looked like she was going to fall at any moment, but she still stubbornly stood in the middle of the street and refused to leave, "If you don't want to go, give me soldiers," she said more bluntly, "or I will. Just tell everyone I see that the attack on Prince Kong Dai was your secret instigation."

When Queen Mother Anne heard this, she laughed angrily, "Okay." She shouted, "I would like to hear who is willing to listen to you." She had already made up her mind, and she would immediately put the mask on when she returned to Richelieu's house. The Duchess of Ponceier was locked up as a hostage should.

   "Wait," said the king.

"Queen Mother, please take Philip back to Richelieu's house first, and my musketeers and I will go to Rue de Tuulbig." Louis said that the Queen Mother Anne was still too indecisive, and she should have blocked Montpang from the beginning. The mouth of the Duchess of Sières, instead of letting her talk nonsense there, now that the Duchess has put this dirty hat on the royal family, if they still go back to Richelieu like nothing else, very It’s hard to say whether some people with intentions will contribute to this. He knows from Marie that there are already many people in Paris who are not equal to the fact that Prince Condé has not been able to get due rewards from the royal family. Although he has done almost nothing, the royal family lives in exile. It was indeed because of him that it ended. If Prince Condé was seriously injured or even killed in this assassination, people will only see how the royal family is "unloved" and "ungrateful", plus the Duke Gaston of Orleans who is always staring at the side. , the second riot is imminent.

  The Queen Mother Anne refused Louis's request almost without thinking. Louis sighed in his heart. The Queen Mother is not a political animal, this is his luck and his misfortune.

   "I must go," said Louis; "only if the king risked his life to save the life of the Prince of Condé, it would not have become a disgusting scandal."

The queen mother almost burst into tears, but the king couldn't wait any longer. He pushed Philip into the queen mother's arms, grabbed the horse brought by the Musketeers officer, and after jumping on the horse, he leaned over and said to the officer. "Give me the twelve most flexible and brave of your good boys, and the others will send my mother and brother back to Richelieu's house." He looked at Marie, who took a step forward, and Louis hesitated for a moment. , but still shook his head, the fact that Mary was a witch was a secret even if it was an open secret.

   "Where's Bishop Mazarin?" asked the Musketeer officer.

   "Give each of them a gold louis, as long as the Queen Mother and others are safe." Louis said: "Your boys can each get two, and those who go with me can get five."

"They're going to be so happy," said the captain, who knew that many of his lads often couldn't make ends meet. Weapons, horses, and clothes were a big expense, and they always had a lovely lover or two, and he There is also a good man who always misses. He was agonizing over how to outfit his good girl with a fine suit for St. Caderlin's Day (when every girl dresses up as St. Caderlin), and now the king's reward is for him solved this problem.

The team officer immediately went to the selection in high spirits. Wang's younger brother Philip took the Queen Mother's arm and glanced at Louis. How much he wanted to be with his brother, but he also knew that it was almost impossible. He had to return immediately. A safe place, just in case—France cannot live without a king, and he doesn't want that pesky Gaston to wear the crown that belongs to his brother and live in his palace.

The mayor of Paris was asked to lead the way - here is the location of the Red Babies Market, as we all know, the Louvre is located on the Seine River, and the Red Children's Market is in its upper left corner, Richet, where the King and the Queen Mother temporarily live The residence is above the Louvre, directly opposite, separated by a street. Below the Louvre and on the right is the City Hall, where the mob often gathers, so neither the Queen Mother nor the Prince of Condé will choose this place. It is the street of Turbig, which was passed by Prince Condé when he was attacked, and there are only a few steps between the street of Turbig and the Red Boys Market.

The king is not ready to swagger over there. There should be several small streets connecting the Rue de Turbig and the market. The problem is that the mayor "doesn't know" and his son "doesn't know", although Louis It was clear that they were only holding back because they were cowardly, but they were still a little disappointed, and at this moment, two worthy gentlemen ran over, panting, one of them was Sebatis, who had waved his hat at the king. Ann, and the other was his friend, and as soon as they heard that the king was going to bring someone to the rescue of Prince Condé, they rushed out to join the brave team.

   (end of this chapter)