I Am Louis XIV - Chapter 551

   Chapter 551 Red and White (Part 2)

“is that so.”

What frightened the Marquis of Lafayette was that when his dear mother heard this, she didn’t faint, she didn’t scream, and she didn’t become hysterical… Anyway, he didn’t have the reaction he thought, he thought Lafayette The Marquise de la Terre didn’t understand him, or deliberately didn’t understand it—a method that ladies often use to avoid embarrassment and facts they don’t want to accept.

   He waited in fear for a long time, only to realize that the calmness of the Marchioness was not pretentious or unresponsive.

   “Oh,” she said.

   “Don’t you… object?” asked the Marquis de Lafayette. You know, although both the British and the French have people who marry Indians – the French businessmen are more keen to match the two, and one side tells the Indians that if he marries your daughter, you don’t have to worry about them driving down the price ; One head said to the French, do you want to see the best furs being placed at the gate of the purchasing station at regular intervals, and marry the chief’s daughter!

   There are not a few marriage contracts reached in this way.

But these French and British are the most common civilians, or the soldiers at the bottom, or businessmen with no wealth. They don’t mind the skin color of their wives and daughters, they care about the quality of the gold coins, and the people above don’t care. What they want to do, sometimes deliberately facilitate.

   But for nobles like the Marquis de Lafayette, its meaning is quite different. In England and France, no, it should be said that in any monarchy of this era, there is a clear distinction between classes, and marriages that transcend class – unless the king’s charter, will not be recognized – or the king’s charter is only recognized at the legal level. , In their class, these illegitimate marriages are like skinned frogs, naked and with nothing to hide.

For example, the Duke of Mortmar insisted on marrying an unidentified woman. Even with the canonization of a king, the duchess still rarely appeared in public, and never even entered the Palace of Versailles, even if her daughter Montespan Madame became the king’s royal wife, and people would only refer to her by her husband’s surname and title, not by her nominal father, the Duke of Mortmar.

  The king’s favorite Marie Mancini didn’t even get the title and salary of the royal lady – although she and the king didn’t care.

   There is also the famous “Lady of the Commoners”, Eva, Countess of Ferné. She got this title because she had to accompany the lord of the county to marry far away in Prussia, and Ferdinand, the eldest son of Cosimo III, was able to openly pursue her after she obtained the title.

  Until now, even at the top of the pyramid, a king still cannot marry the daughter of a noble below the duke. Marriage is fine. Their children, like illegitimate children, have no right of inheritance.

Don’t say that the Indian lady’s father is the earl – at this point, the Marchioness probably guessed who the lady’s daughter is. After all, the two Indian earls shocked the whole Paris. Not only did she see them , and talked to them.

   But… class alone is enough to make a marriage turn a blind eye to everyone, not to mention different races, this is not a general difference, the reddish-brown skin of the Indians is an indisputable and confusing feature.

Madame    glanced at him contemptuously, “I thought it was a man.”

   “Why do you think so.” The undefeated Marquis de Lafayette retorted subconsciously, “I used to…”

“How was it before?” said the Marchioness, “it’s a blessing that you didn’t contract the Italian disease.” She clapped her hands: “But as soon as you arrived in Montreal, you suddenly settled down, and then I wondered if you had it. Beloved, but you haven’t mentioned it to me, so it must be someone who is not easy to say… that,” she said kindly: “I know Montreal was disproportionately male to female before the Irish started to migrate, and I think , you probably won’t like those… ladies.”

She had seen illustrations and descriptions in the newspapers—not to mention how bad Montreal was in the first few years. Under harsh living conditions, fragile little flowers quickly withered, leaving only strong bears. And the tigers—no intention to belittle those venerable mothers and wives, it’s just that when you see them, that’s the first thing that comes to your mind.

  Montreal’s travel girls are all good at setting up tents with their bare hands in a blizzard…

As for the Indians, the Marquise must admit that she did not expect that she is a person who likes to read and write, which means that she will not only focus on family and children like some women. After the Indian whirlwind in Paris, people She is also curious about the beliefs, ideas and traditions of another race, and my wife is no exception.

  Indians are distinguished by tribes, and young men and women often look for mates only within tribes – because there are often wars between tribes, and even if there is no war, tribes will migrate around with bison. When Indians choose their future wives and husbands, women should be healthy and industrious—this is beauty, and men should be brave, strong, and good at fighting and hunting.

In their nature, they maintain a kind of primitive loyalty. Except for a few tribes, a husband has only one wife. If one party unfortunately dies early, the other party often cuts his cheek and arm with a knife to express his grief until the wound heals. , the scars fall off, and their pain will be worn away by time, and they will start to look for a new mate.

  If the two parties have been married for a longer period of time and the relationship is stronger, the living party may even walk into the wilderness alone – which is almost equivalent to suicide.

Of course the Marquise de Lafayette loved her son, and with all her mothers thought he was lovely and beautiful, but in this day and place, the ministers would discuss the king’s bed as if they were discussing matters of state, A royal lady would be a full-fledged job position, with a salary and rank—she had no hope of any French male’s integrity.

   including her son.

In five years, she was almost certain that her son was looking at this girl sincerely, but the Marquis de Lafayette was someone who had been soaking in the big dye vat of Paris for nearly 20 years, and was a frequent visitor to the Boulogne woods before. , “You know that all Indian ladies can use knives…” she asked tentatively.

  Marquis de Lafayette black face helplessly, “What are you talking about…”

“I’m saying that the ladies of France look for happiness outside of marriage if they can’t be happy in their marriage, but I’ve heard that the ladies of the Indians have their own way of dealing with it, and it is said that They have to learn how to gelding from a very young age…”

“Mother!”

“I’m quite willing to believe you, son,” the Marquise de Lafayette finally put aside her joking, and she stared at her child, “you shouldn’t be like your father,” The wife separated from her husband very early. She stretched out her hands and held his face: “Tell me, what do you want to do.”

   “I want to marry Xiao Falcon, we will stay in the New World, you are with us.”

   “Where’s the territory?”

“Either give it back to your majesty, or leave it to your younger brother.” The marquis didn’t understand how his mother could show a trace of disappointment: “Is this not good? Mother, I believe that I will not be inferior to our ancestors, and I can do the same for mine. The descendants leave a vast territory, and the little falcon does not need to be laughed at.”

   “Oh…” The Marchioness said with nostalgia and sadness: “My good sir, have you asked the other person in this marriage about this matter?”

The marquis    hesitated for a moment, and his mother understood immediately: “Look back at the bookshelf behind you, the twelfth book on the right side of the fourth floor, take it out and take a look.”

   The Marquis did as he was ordered, and he opened the finely bound book, which turned out to be a play, the famous story of Lancelot and the Witch.

   (Note: That is – the greatest desire of a woman is to decide her own destiny.)

  ———

   “Yes, Your Majesty, I don’t think the same as Gilbert (Marquis de Lafayette).” Little Falcon said.

“Because your love doesn’t hurt anyone, it doesn’t violate ethics, it doesn’t damage morality, and it doesn’t come from a transaction of interests and political significance.” Louis said, smiling in the curious eyes of the girl, “I was young too. , longing for pure feelings, children, I understand you and respect you, the tribe of ‘horns’ follow the system of monogamy, men should be loyal to their wives, women should be loyal to their husbands, you are equal in marriage, far better than Other tribes, just for love, are far better than the French or the English.”

“But even I can’t do whatever I want, especially your marriage with the Marquis of Lafayette, which is the first… marriage between Indians and white people, there will be countless pairs of eyes staring at you, and your marriage may even be It will lead to one or two laws, which will become the reliance or shackles of later generations, and the influence may last for hundreds of years.”

   “Is there such a serious consequence?” Little Falcon asked: “Great Chief, your territory is so vast, yet your people have a narrow mind.”

   “It seems that you have more than eyes sharpness.” Louis said: “But the first thing we have to do is to go back to Versailles.”

Little Falcon is a beautiful Indian girl and a heroic Indian soldier. Obviously, not only his mother, but also his lover, did not agree with the actions of the Marquis de Lafayette, although the Indians did not agree with the so-called class. , social and all kinds of unspoken rules are not very interested, as the Marquis said, they can live in Montreal as long as they get married – but for the little falcon, this approach is simply like retreating without a fight, which is shameful.

   She was eager to try, ready for battle.

   But they, and the Marquise de Lafayette, were far less thoughtful on the subject than the king.

  The marriage between Little Falcon and the Marquis of Lafayette seems to be very small, but it directly brings up some of Louis XIV’s thoughts about America.

  France is destined to be a monarchical country, as are Poland and Spain, and Italy is a federal kingdom, so…what about America, which is ruled by the fifth Bourbon? What kind of behemoth will that vast and rich land create?

  Louis XIV never told anyone, not even Bontang, that Philip’s… In the future he expected, perhaps in a hundred or two hundred years, he hoped that the descendants of Bourbon would be transformed from a real monarch into a sublime symbol.

When he said “I am the country”, he was proclaiming his uniqueness to France, because at that time France was on the verge of division, riots were everywhere, all parties were fighting endlessly for power, faith and money, and the people were like living in hell, enduring torment but Can’t see the way forward, they need a strong leader, it doesn’t matter whether it is a king, or Caesar, or anything else, but for people in this era, the king is the most orthodox and persuasive.

But even if it is the sun, there is a moment when it will fall. In the future, Louis XV should be able to continue the policy of Louis XIV and implement his ideas, but Louis himself has to admit that little Louis is not the kind of decisive killing. A valiant monarch, he is a defender, and it may be a good thing for France. After all, in the time of Louis XIV, the French carriage has been running hard day and night, creating for Louis XIV that no one can surpass it. Merit, its vast territory and colonies have made some poets shout “the sun never sets”, because according to the area directly and indirectly controlled by France, if someone can walk on it, they can chase the sun to the end. .

  Louis XV’s conservatism can allow the carriage to wait for a chance to rest. The problem is that the body may rest, but the soul and mind will never stop.

  Louis remembers that he once joked with Bishop Mazarin that no one would want to rule over a group of chimpanzees, even if he could become a king. After he came to power, he started to popularize education and open up people’s wisdom, okay? Of course, everyone can see the huge role of education. The princes of Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, the United Kingdom and Portugal all rushed to open elementary and secondary schools after him, instead of thinking that stupid people are easy to rule.

   But a person who knows how to think and judge, how can he stop so easily?

While chatting with the king, Descartes talked about how the philosopher Zeno explained why the learned people always lamented that they were too ignorant – the people today are just like Zeno, before they received education, All they see is **** heaven, fields and workshops, but by the time they are educated, they will see much more of the world than their fathers and grandfathers—there’s no shortage of things the original rulers didn’t want them to see.

   But they will always see it.

Now Paris has many new ideas and political views, some of which are so radical that Parisians who love the king will rush into cafes and pubs to drag people out and beat them – because they actually say – the world doesn’t need a king such existence.

   “Yes, gentlemen,” said Louis in his heart to his ministers and generals, “the day will come when the people will find that they do not need a king.”

  ——————

   (end of this chapter)