Chapter 762 760 [Buy the official system to revitalize France]
Chapter 762 760 [Buying officialdom to revitalize France]
Early morning, on the big bed.
Pan Wei was woken up by a burst of movement. He opened his eyes in confusion and saw that Dayang Ma was getting dressed.
"My dear, it's time for me to go back to my room." Marquis Elizabeth Turpin smiled at Pan Wei while getting dressed.
Pan Wei originally planned to sit up, but suddenly felt a soreness in his waist, so he simply lay down again. Riding such a big ocean horse was hard and hurtful.
European aristocrats have a very ambivalent attitude towards marriage.
They attach great importance to virginity, because the eldest son must inherit the family business, so he must be their own biological child. But after the eldest son is born, the couple has fulfilled their family obligations, and then they can basically play their own things.
Of course there are cases of jealousy, and there are quite a lot of them. Killing an adulterer in a duel, or being killed by an adulterer, happens more than once or twice.
But judging from literary works, extramarital affairs are always praised and considered to be beautiful love. Jealous husbands and men who lose their minds due to jealousy are ridiculed villains in literature.
Pan Wei stayed in the guest room of the Marquis' house as a distinguished guest.
She still had to save face, after all, the Marquis was at home. The Marquise came over at night and returned to her room in the morning, pretending that nothing had happened.
Only when ladies get together, the Marquise will show off and talk to her girlfriends about Chinese men's performance in bed. It's similar to how a group of scumbags would get together a few hundred years later and brag about which girl they picked up.
"Dong dong dong!"
"Come in."
After sleeping for a long time, Pan Wei was awakened by a knock on the door.
The maid pushed open the door and said, "Sir, the master and his wife would like to treat you to a meal."
"knew."
Pan Wei got up and got dressed, and the maid hurriedly served him. Unfortunately, he was not familiar with Chinese clothing, so the maid's service only made things more confusing.
"I will do it myself."
Now that he is a private person, Pan Wei is not wearing official uniform. He is wearing a gorgeous silk robe, tightly tied with a belt, a jade pendant hanging on his waist, and a small crown on his bun, which is fixed with a gold hairpin.
This guy comes from a wealthy family, and after a little tidying up, he becomes a handsome young master, and makes the Marquise confused.
Arriving at the living room, the Marquis Letelier, the Marquise Elizabeth, and the Marquis' fourteen-year-old son Loire were already sitting neatly on the dining table.
Letelier, France's first minister of war.
His son Loire would become France's second Minister of War.
This father and son were the founders of the French professional army and the foundation for Louis XIV to become the Sun King.
Prior to this, the French Army had only companies, and local lords refused to integrate into regiments. The royal family had no control over the army. The biggest achievement of the iron-fisted Prime Minister Richelieu was to establish the Minister of War, forcibly integrate the army, and start the professionalization of the French Army.
Prince Condai launched a rebellion, and local nobles responded one after another, which was actually the outbreak of long-term conflicts. The most important reason was the continued military reform, and the royal family was continuously strengthening its control over the military.
Pan Wei was ordered to sleep with Yangma, and he didn't sleep randomly. He specifically chose a specific target.
Seeing Pan Wei come to the dining room, Letelier nodded and smiled, not minding his wife's cheating at all. On the contrary, Pan Wei felt guilty for being an adulterer.
"Please take a seat." Elizabeth smiled.
Pan Wei cupped his hand and returned the gift: "Thank you for the hospitality."
Pan Wei is a top student from Jinling University. She started learning Latin before going to sea. She did not miss any homework during the voyage and can now converse easily in Latin.
The family murmured over breakfast, thanking the Lord for giving them food.
Pan Wei followed the local customs when he came to his hometown, and also recited in Chinese. He seemed to be very pious, but in fact he was saying: "I really want to go back to Nanjing. Foreign food is so delicious. It's good to try something new, but it's really boring to eat it every day."
Everyone finished breakfast quietly, and the table manners were quite particular.
After filling his stomach, Letelier suddenly stood up, pointed at the gold medal around his waist, twisted his body back and forth and said, "Pan, does my brand look good?"
Pan Wei couldn't laugh or cry.
Most of the Chinese envoys wore jade pendants, which looked very fashionable. So the French nobles also followed suit, but they felt that jade was boring and only gold could reflect status.
The piece hanging around Letelier's waist was made by craftsmen. It was made entirely of gold and inlaid with various gemstones. The pattern was actually a pine and crane. Pan Wei felt awkward no matter how he looked at it.
"Very noble, excellent work of art." Pan Wei smiled and praised.
Letelier said proudly: "This is made by the best jewelry craftsman in Paris. The jewelry master first made the gold medal for the Queen Mother, and the second one was for me. Even the king and the prime minister have to line up behind me."
Prime Minister Mazarin was just the Queen Mother's lackey.
And the Minister of War, Letelier, is the real power man. He doesn't even need to look at the Prime Minister's face!
Richelieu's military reforms have gone a bit out of shape. The original intention was to allow civilians to control the army through logistics and finance, but now it has resulted in the Minister of War having military power.
Therefore, after Louis XIV took office, the relationship with Letelier was very tense.
The story of the Man in the Iron Mask in the Bastille has spawned many literary, film and television works. It is even rumored that the Man in the Iron Mask is the twin brother of Louis XIV. This rumor was spread by Letelier, obviously to give Louis XIV some shame.
look.
Louis XIV still had no choice but to put his son in charge when he continued to reform the army.
Showing off the gold medal around his waist, Letelier felt that the small crown was very handsome. He also wanted to comb his hair in a Chinese style bun and then tie it up with a small crown. Unfortunately, the shabby amount of hair on the top of his head did not support such a difficult operation.
After chatting for a while, we finally started talking about business.
As French Minister of War, Letelier wanted to understand China's military system, and Pan Wei also wanted to understand the situation of the French army.
The two hit it off immediately, and the fourteen-year-old Louva listened carefully.
Loire, the young master of the Marquis family, is already working in the French Ministry of War. He becomes an adult at the age of fourteen in Europe.
According to the standards set by the church, a man reaches adulthood at fourteen and a woman reaches adulthood at twelve. Women under the age of fifteen are in principle prohibited from getting married, but after the age of twelve, exceptions can be made as long as their parents consent.
When it comes to marriage, the Roman Church is actually quite advanced.
You can get engaged at the age of seven. If you are still under age, you are allowed to regret the marriage.
Slaves marry free people, Christians marry pagans, and Christians marry heretics. These marriages are all considered valid by the church. If pursued, the consequences will be disastrous, and both husband and wife will harm each other. To put it bluntly, I respect your freedom of marriage.
, but you have to pay the price for a free marriage.
In addition, the church also stipulates that marriage between blood relatives within the fourth generation is prohibited.
Obviously this rule is useless, the nobles are too lazy to pay attention to it, and the common people don't even know about it.
"The highest command of China's military belongs to the emperor. Under the emperor is a cabinet, which is responsible for the operation of the government. Under the cabinet, there is the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office. The Ministry of War is responsible for logistics and the appointment and dismissal of senior generals, and is responsible for formulating military strategies. The Governor's Office is responsible for
Recruiting soldiers, formulating specific combat plans, deploying troops and generals, appointing and removing mid-level and low-level officers..." Pan Wei told the situation without reservation, and France would not be able to learn it anyway.
The more Letelier listened, the more frightened he became, because the Chinese emperor was so powerful and had absolute control over the army.
After Pan Wei finished speaking, he began to ask about the French military system.
Letelier said with a proud tone: "Before I became Minister of War, France had no real professional soldiers. I merged infantry companies from different regions into infantry regiments under unified command. Each regiment appointed a commander.
.Regimental commanders, then take orders from the infantry commander. This method has been used before, but it is not systematic because the army's logistics is in the hands of the nobles..."
"In previous exchanges, you seemed to look down on France's system of buying offices. But this is the essence of reform!"
"Rich civilians and middle-level nobles rose to power by buying officials. Civilian officials among them were then allowed to control various departments of the government, bypassing the power control of the big nobles. After the civilian class took power, senior officials in charge of the military would serve as generals during wartime.
Sent to the army to serve as military supervisors. Below the military supervisors, there are many civilian specialists who are responsible for the payment of military pay, logistics storage and other matters..."
"I can defeat Prince Kong Dai once, and I can defeat him ten times. Give him a hundred chances, and his rebellion is doomed to fail. Because I have established a warehouse system (army warehouse) and standardized military purchase contracts, I can always guarantee
The logistics of the army. The professional soldiers after my reform, their military honors have exceeded their origins. More brave young men, perhaps from civilians, perhaps from small nobles, who are honored and willing to fight for the king, they are
Under unified command."
"And those aristocratic rebels have chaotic command, poor logistics, and soldiers who lack a sense of honor. How can they win? Even if they can win once or twice, long-term operations will collapse."
Pan Wei was almost dumbfounded. It turned out that buying and selling officials could be so high-sounding, and actually helped the king to gain power.
In terms of effect, France's system of purchasing officials is very similar to the imperial examination system.
The imperial examination system broke the clan rule in China. The official buying system also broke the aristocratic rule in France.
A large number of emerging bourgeoisie and petty nobles transcended traditional class restrictions by buying officials. And through these people, the king got rid of the constraints of the big nobles.
The more offices sold, the richer the treasury would be, and the more successful the deprivation of power from the great nobles would be.
However, there are also serious consequences. The emerging official class has caused the bourgeoisie to begin to take power. At first, there were only middle and low-level positions, but gradually senior officials appeared. When the development reaches a certain level, a bourgeois revolution will break out.
The French king indeed took over power from the traditional nobles, but then transferred power to the emerging bourgeoisie.
If it continues to develop, the king of France can still be happy for two or three generations, and in a hundred years it will be the world of the bourgeoisie.
Pan Wei didn't think that deeply, but he subconsciously felt that something was wrong.
Since all official positions are bought, doesn't it mean that whoever has money will be awesome?
Rich people fill the court, and everything they do depends on profit. Can the people tolerate it? After the rich take control of the court, will they feel that the king is too intrusive?
It is true that Pan Wei came from a wealthy family, and it is true that he wanted to destroy Zhao Han's land system. But he also has the bottom line of a traditional scholar. Imperial power must be maintained, and benevolent government must be implemented. Even if it is just benevolent government in words, it must be righteous.
Keep on playing with strict words. All the princes in the court must be gentlemen, and they must not be businessmen full of copper odor.
