October 22, 1700 AD. Paris, Palace of Versailles.
At dusk, Louis the Great was taking his second wife, Madame Maintenon, for a walk in the beautiful, quiet, and refreshing large garden in front of the Palace of Versailles.
The emperor seemed to be in a good mood, because the war between the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire had actually won a complete victory before it really started!
The Ottomans turned out to be nothing more than paper tigers with their teeth and claws... Before the Roman Empire's legions took action, they were beaten to a pulp by Archduke Henry's Austrian army, and they lost at least seven soldiers in the Battle of Lakeside-Danube. Thousands of people. The remaining troops also abandoned their artillery and baggage and fled south. I don't know how many of them can return to Belgrade alive?
Why return to Belgrade? That's because both Upper Hungary and Lower Hungary have rebelled, and it is impossible for the defeated Ottoman troops to find a foothold there.
In addition, Bohemia has also become one, and the Ottoman army can no longer leave Prague!
Up and down Hungary plus Bohemia... I guess Croatia will be able to eat it right away too! The Roman Empire really won this battle without a fight!
If it weren't for the fact that Rome still needs the Ottoman Empire as an enemy, it would be possible to consider recovering Constantinople this time...
However, when the war reaches this point, there are still hidden worries. It’s just that Archduke Henry’s army performed so well! He was actually able to organize an Austrian army of up to 100,000 people in a short period of time! How many people are there in total in his Grand Duchy? 1.5 million? Or 1.6 million?
With such a small population, it was possible to organize an army of up to 100,000 people in such a short period of time, and it was quite capable of fighting. If the whole of Hungary is digested in the future, it will be even more difficult to deal with!
I still underestimated Henry... No, I should have underestimated the women of the Mancini family! Marie Mancini gave birth to Archduke Henry, Olympia Mancini gave birth to Count Eugen, and Laura Mancini gave birth to Duke Vendôme - he is now the general whom Emperor Louis relies on!
It seems that "selecting a concubine through examination" makes sense!
But even though it makes sense, it is still very difficult to implement it, because there are too many royal families in Europe that the Roman emperor needs to use various methods to appease, including marriage.
Therefore, the Crown Prince Louis and the Duke of Burgundy, Louis "son of France", both married well-matched princesses...
Louis sighed softly, and Mrs. Maintenon on the side seemed to see what Louis was thinking, and said softly: "Dear Augustus (after Louis became the emperor of Rome, he liked to have people close to him call him Augustus), are you worried about how to deal with the aftermath? This is completely unnecessary...because we have already won, and this is the most important thing!"
Louis smiled bitterly: "Yes! I won...I won without even fighting! It's incredible!"
"Win is win..." Mrs. Maintenon said with a smile, "Didn't Mr. Sun from the East say in his book on the art of war that winning without fighting is the best? We can do without fighting this time. And winning is of course the biggest winner!”
"That's right..." Louis nodded, "It's always good to win!"
Winning is the most important thing. The current Roman Empire has not been truly screwed together yet!
So the war with the Ottoman Empire was, in a sense, the midwife of the Roman Empire!
And Rome must win! So much so that it doesn’t matter how you win...
Louis and Louis were walking while talking, and at this time they had reached the marble courtyard, where the dressed-up Duchess of La Valliere appeared there without knowing when, with a proud smile on her face.
This woman was very beautiful when she was young and served as Louis' chief mistress for a period of time. Louis XIV had many mistresses, but only the chief mistress and his children could have legal status. The Duchess of La Valliere gave birth to three sons and one daughter for Louis. The two eldest sons died in infancy, leaving one son and one daughter. The son is Louis de Bourbon, Count of Vermandois, and the daughter is Marie-Anne de Bourbon-Mancini, the wife of Archduke Henry.
However, the Duchess of La Valliere had long since fallen out of favor, and her relationship with Louis had ceased to exist in name only in 1667. And she is 56 years old this year. Although she still has the noble status of a duchess, she has long been a figure that Louis the Great despises.
Emperor Louis smiled politely and asked, "Louise, which gust of wind brought you here?"
"Your Majesty, I bring you good news!" The Duchess of La Valliere curtsied, and then nodded politely to Madame Maintenon.
"What's the good news?" Louis asked.
"Your Majesty," Duchess La Valliere smiled, "our daughter, Mary Anne, has just been elected as the Holy Apostle Queen of the Kingdom of Hungary!"
"What?" Emperor Louis was stunned, "What did you say?"
The Duchess of La Valliere showed a winner's smile: "Your Majesty, our daughter Mary Anne is now the Apostle of Hungary! And she also sent troops into Brno in Bohemia... And I hope our son Louis will become King of Bohemia!”
"How could she do this!" Louis was already a little angry.
This Mary Anne is really messing around! It was already too much to become the Queen of Hungary without approval, but she even arranged for her half-brother to be the King of Bohemia!
By the way, her husband is still the Archduke of Austria...Is she going to resurrect the Habsburg dynasty?
When the Duchess of La Valliere saw Emperor Louis the Great angry, she actually felt a sense of pleasure in her heart. She had been neglected by this man for thirty-three years... and now she was finally proud for once!
"Your Majesty," the Duchess of La Valliere said to Louis with a smile, "Mary Anne is our daughter! When she became Queen of Hungary, didn't she create a Bourbon dynasty in Hungary? Louis is also our son! If he can become king in Bohemia, he will create another Bourbon dynasty! Isn't this a great thing? Do you want to oppose such a good thing?"
Opposition was impossible... Hungary and Bohemia were notoriously difficult to deal with, and there was no way Louis could turn them into Roman provinces—at least not in one step.
Since it can't be achieved in one step, there is nothing wrong with temporarily arranging two Bourbons to be kings.
But it must be canonized by the Roman emperor, not snatched by oneself!
Mary Anne didn't even have the title of princess, and now she actually wants to "proclaim herself king", and she also wants to arrange the throne for her younger brother. Isn’t this a sign of trouble within the Bourbon dynasty? In the future, if Bohemia, Hungary, and Austria unite together, will they be able to create an Eastern Rome?
Will there be a civil war in the Roman Empire by then? Will a civil war cause the finally "unified" Rome to split again?
"Your Majesty," the Duchess of La Valliere looked at the gloomy Emperor Louis and said with a smile, "Henry and Marie Anne won this war for you... shouldn't they? Did you get a reward? And our sons and daughters are both Bourbons! You gained two branches of the Bourbon dynasty for no reason. Aren’t you the biggest winner?
Although Mary made her own decision without consulting us, shouldn't such things be commonplace in a large empire? Many of the vassal states of the Eastern Ming Empire were obtained by the princes' adventures. Didn't Emperor Zhu tolerate their existence? Is it difficult for our Roman Empire to return them? Do you still want to go to war with your daughter for the throne of Hungary? "
Louis fell silent. It was impossible for him to start a war with Henry and Mary Anne. Because the main enemy at present is still the Ottoman Empire!
It seems that acquiescing and sending someone to canonize is the only option...
