Chapter 1552: Louis Has Sinned!

The Duchy of Lorraine, the Château de Metz.

Since the tenth of March, King Louis XIV of France had led his hundred thousand French troops across the Moselle River and encamped in and around the Château de Metz — by now more than twenty days had passed.

This great army had marched into Lorraine in the name of rescuing Vienna, yet after reaching Lorraine it had not advanced a single step in over twenty days. The hundred thousand troops, along with the favorites and mistresses who had arrived with Louis XIV, all had nothing to do. The French soldiers busied themselves harassing the local people of Lorraine, naturally raising utter chaos and boiling public resentment.

Louis XIV and his favorites and mistresses, meanwhile, lived even more comfortably, keeping endlessly busy with balls, banquets, and hunts. No one dared mention the relief of Vienna — whoever did would immediately fall from favor and land on the blacklist in the Sun King's pocket.

The reason was simple: the Sun King's warm face had, it seemed, been pressed against the cold backside of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

Especially after he learned that tens of thousands of Ottoman troops had recklessly pushed forward after leaving Belgrade and were bearing straight down on the fortress of Győr, he had very much wanted to take his hundred thousand troops to Vienna to join the excitement — but he was blocked by the Holy Roman Empire's army stationed along the Rhine. Ferdinand Maria, the Grand Duke of Bavaria, who commanded the forces on the Rhine, was quite courteous to the envoy Louis sent, saying that the entire Holy Roman Empire was deeply grateful that the Sun King could lead an army to its aid, but that the French could not be admitted for now, because permission from His Imperial Majesty had not yet been granted. So he asked His Majesty the Sun King to wait patiently!

What sort of talk was that? The King of France, to defend the Lord, had brought a hundred thousand troops to save Vienna, and he still needed the Holy Roman Emperor's approval? Who was the greatest in Europe — the Sun King or the Holy Roman Emperor?

Louis XIV's great nose was nearly bent crooked with rage. Had Catholic Europe not been facing a great enemy, he would have wanted to send troops to attack the Rhineland. But angry as he was, he could do nothing about Ferdinand Maria.

This Grand Duke of Bavaria was now commanding fifteen thousand troops holding a chain of bastion forts along the Rhine!

These bastion forts had all been built at enormous expense after the War of Devolution — extremely sturdy!

These damned Germans — actually using bastion forts to guard against the French Sun King who loved them! Bastion forts should be built in Hungary to guard against the Mohammedans! How could they be built in the Rhineland to guard against the Sun King?

This grieves one's friends and gladdens one's enemies!

But no matter how grieved Louis XIV was, it was useless. The Germans would not let him cross, so he could only lie low in Lorraine, and he was too embarrassed to return to Paris. When he had left Paris, he had talked big, saying he was going to be the savior of Vienna.

And now look — blocked so thoroughly he could not even get through the Holy Roman Empire's door. Sun King? Elder brother of Europe? All just self-amusement, wasn't it?

So Louis was now stuck in Lorraine, unable to advance and unable to retreat, with no choice but to eat, drink, and amuse himself here in Metz with a crowd of favorites and mistresses to pass the time.

As for news from the Holy Roman Empire, he did not want to hear it at all, yet he had no choice but to listen. He, the Sun King, still had to maintain the dignity of a great European monarch! Once Leopold had thrashed that rash, overextended band of Mohammedans, he would still have to send envoys to offer congratulations, still have to announce the good news to the army here in Lorraine, and still have to go to church to commemorate all the warriors who had died defending the Catholic faith.

He, the Sun King, even with his face slapped by Leopold, had to pretend to be brimming with face, and absolutely could not let the nobles and commoners of France look down on him.

Thinking of all this, the Sun King's mood was utterly foul.

Perhaps because of dwelling on it by day, he dreamed of it by night — last night he had actually dreamed of Leopold! And he had knelt to Leopold, kneeling and kissing Leopold's stinking feet. Heavens! How could there be such an absurd dream? He was the Sun King! The king of the strongest nation in Europe — no, in the world. How could he kneel to Leopold? And kiss his feet — did he even wash them?

Even if it was not real, he still should not have had such a dream!

What Louis XIV found even more unbearable was that in the dream he had begged Leopold's forgiveness. It was simply infuriating — why had he begged forgiveness from that bastard Leopold?

Because of this dream, Louis XIV was unhappy the entire day. He not only canceled a masquerade ball, but also scolded his mistresses, Madame de Montespan and the Countess of Soissons (Olympia Mancini), telling the two women to get out of his sight at once!

But once the two mistresses were gone, Louis's mood only worsened. He could not even eat lunch, and sat alone sulking in his bedchamber inside the Château de Metz.

Just then, the door was suddenly knocked upon, and from outside came the voice of a court attendant: "Your Majesty, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs urgently requests an audience!"

"No audience!" Louis roared. "Today I will see no one!"

"The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs says the audience concerns Leopold I!"

"Damnation," Louis muttered. "Come in!"

The door was pushed open, and a foreign minister whose face was full of sorrow walked in hurriedly and bowed to Louis XIV.

Seeing the expression on Hugues de Lionne's face, Louis XIV's heart gave a thump. Nothing good, for certain!

"Your Majesty, Father Marco d'Aviano has arrived in Lorraine!" Hugues de Lionne said. "He has brought us terrible news!"

This priest was the leader of the Congregation of the Mission under the Franciscan Order, and also an important adviser to Leopold I, chiefly responsible for foreign affairs and internal administration.

What was this fellow doing running off to Lorraine?

"Terrible?" Louis XIV asked with a frown. "What news?"

"Your Majesty —" Hugues de Lionne's voice was trembling. "Leopold I has become a saint!"

What? Become a saint?

Louis XIV was stunned again and again. "Hugues, if I remember correctly, Christian saints can only be people who have already died and are now in heaven with Jesus Christ! Could it be that Leopold has —"

"Your Majesty, he died in battle at Győr," Hugues de Lionne said. "His army was defeated by the Mohammedans, and he himself was shot dead by a Mohammedan sharpshooter using a rifled musket!"

Leopold I had indeed become a saint. A man of his station, dying in battle in a war to defend Christianity, was of course going to be canonized!

"What? He was — Leopold was shot dead by a rifled musket? Oh God —" Louis thought to himself: the rifled musket that killed Leopold couldn't be one I sold to the Ottoman Empire, could it? The rifled musket I sold to the Mohammedans killed Saint Leopold — that sin seems rather enormous!

Would he go to hell after death?

In the audience hall of the Château de Metz, the atmosphere had already become incomparably heavy. Louis XIV's face was ashen, the Prince de Condé looked as though his parents had died, Hugues de Lionne's face was full of sorrow, Marshal Turenne sighed ceaselessly, and Colbert wore an expression of remorse — they were all sinners who had sold guns to the Ottoman Empire!

Now Leopold had become a saint, standing at the side of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, watching these sinners...

An elderly, somewhat bald, thin-looking priest was tearfully recounting the scene of the great Leopold I's ascent to heaven.

"... Though he was struck by six bullets and blood poured from him like a stream, he still bravely charged the Mohammedans. Before his blood ran dry, he killed seven fully armed Mohammedan warriors, repelled one enemy assault, and covered the retreat of the remnant forces led by Charles of Lorraine across the Danube!"

As he spoke, the priest tremblingly produced a cloth bundle and handed it with both hands to Louis XIV, who was already weeping. "Your Majesty, this is the bullet that struck His Imperial Majesty — a most vicious bullet. Those who manufacture and sell it will surely go to hell!"

Surely it could not be that serious?

Louis XIV thought to himself: guns and bullets do not kill people; people kill people!

But when he opened the cloth bundle and saw the deformed wooden-plug rifled musket ball inside, he was taken aback. What sort of bullet was this? It did not seem to be of French manufacture!

(End of Chapter)