The sun is dazzling, the sea water is blue, and the red-mouthed white feathered seabirds swept across the towering masts of the ship.

This is Nantes, and the name is memorable because Louis XIV's grandfather Henry III signed the famous Nantes Cathedral, but it was called the Peace Decree at that time.

At that time, there were many Huguenots in the city, but now they migrated more to Nemes, Montauban and La Rochelle, and they would be gathered in Orleans in the future. Of course, this made the Huguenots in France both fear and pain, one because they were forced to abandon their homeland, and the other because they were worried that the massacre of St. Bartholomew would repeat, but being able to allow them to continue to survive in France was the greatest manifestation of the king's kindness. Although Huguenots suffered hundreds of years of suffering, the crimes they committed against the Bourbon royal family could not be forgiven by any ruler. If they could do what Louis XIV asked, they might have a chance to breathe. If not... the Catholics gathered around Huguenots were like firewood by the fireplace, and they would burn violently with a little teasing.

Louis XIV did not have to ask these black sheep with horns on their heads. He did not want to ignite the flames of religious war in his own country. The victory of religious war was of no use to him, but it was quite beneficial to the expansion of the power of the Roman Church. Now the relationship between France and the Roman Church... is really not very good.

There are few Huguenots in Nantes now, but not without them. First of all, there is one, only one in the king's shipyard. After all, this sensitive place really does not allow any rebellious person. He is here because he is indispensable.

"When Dennis Papan comes to meet," Louis said while tidying up the sleeves for the eldest princess, "You must remember not to use the name Huguenot."

"Why?" asked the Grand Princess, because there would be no Huguenots in the French court, and of course she did not understand. "Because the name Huguenot has the meaning of contempt," Louis explained patiently. He first read the word in French and pronounced it in Swiss German: "Here is the meaning of swearing to join the alliance, and then gradually evolved into an outsider and a rebel. In the period of François II, there was a dangerous rebel named Zangsong. Hugue. Catholics intentionally linked this name with the name Huguenot, intending to make this name dirty."

"Just say that," said the Duke of Orleans bluntly: "You call a Huguenot a Huguenot, and it's like yelling, hey! Here is a gangster, an alien spy, a wanderer wandering the streets, a slut...and so on, that's probably it."

The king glared at him, he just didn't want to say these swear words to the children - forget it, he turned to the eldest princess: "Anyway, when facing a Huguenot, if you want to mention his faith, just call him a Protestant."

The child said yes neatly, and the Duke of Anggian hit the plate with a spoon. There will be a ritual officer reminder in Versailles, but here there are only the king, the king and their children. From Bontang down, the maids and servants ignored them and turned a blind eye. The king was wearing only loose shirts and tights. The Duke of Orleans put his arms on the back of the chair. A very rare, relaxed and comfortable atmosphere for the royal family lingers in this Romanesque restaurant, which makes people unable to break.

Perhaps some people remember that since the help of a wizard, the ambitious Louis XIV began to put the improvement and use of the steam engine on the agenda. In fact, the original steam engine can be traced back to the first century AD. The ancient Greek scholar Herohiro connected a closed pot with a metal ball with two hollow tubes. When the water in the pot boiled after heating, the steam overflowed from both sides of the metal ball, pushing the ball to rotate. This thing was regarded as a toy at that time and a thousand years later. During the Renaissance, it was copied and dedicated to the nobles of Daguan to have fun. Louis's toy room had this, but what attracted the attention of the king was a manuscript by Da Vinci. On the manuscript, this advanced artist and scientist designed a steam cannon...

Steam cannons are impossible, but steam-driven machinery is possible. Louis's spies searched everywhere to find scientists who might have talent and interest in this area. What Louis did not expect was that the scholar was found in Blois, which was right in front of him, and he was not a scientist or a mathematician, but a doctor. When the spies found him with manuscripts, he was packing up his luggage and preparing to run from France to England or the Netherlands - because unfortunately he was a Huguenot and had a keen sense of smell. In his diary, he said: "Since this king (referring to Louis XIV) only allowed only one voice in the court and the army, he probably wouldn't allow two voices in the church."

Fortunately, the detective was brave and careful. He knocked the Huguenots out of his big suitcase for his clothes, put him in it, and then rented a carriage as a traveler, and sent him to Paris overnight (the king was still in the Louvre at that time). After confirming that the gentleman did have outstanding ideas about steam engines and had made a simple model, the king sent him along with the wizards and craftsmen to Pito Island.

Pito Island is located on the Seine River, behind the Boulogne forest, a narrow and long Hanoi island. It is just a matter of studying the strange noises and smoke of steam engines that can be hidden by the Boulogne forest. Because of the particularity of Boulogne forests, it is not strange that there are often carriages to travel - but to study steam engines, of course, you can do it on this small island, and it is necessary to actually put it into the test in huge lakes or even bays.

There were not many choices in front of Louis. Originally, the closest to Paris was the Bay of Seine, which was the mouth of the Seine River, but it was only separated from Britain by an English Channel. The movement inside was difficult to hide from the British, so we could only change the location, that is, the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Bascay in the Atlantic Ocean was not good. It was also occupied by Spain. Louis moved the location upwards and finally landed in Nantes.

Nantes is an ancient and huge city. The best thing is that there are three rivers, the Loire River, the Seifer River and the Edel River meet here, about twelve Faris from the estuary of the sea. The widest part of the river is about 150 feet, and there are many striped lakes. Building ships here is not Louis's whim.

After nearly ten years of construction, the port of St. Nazere, located at the mouth of the Loire River, has already reached a certain scale with the shipyard. It is just that because this port is military and does not allow merchant ships to dock, it is not as prosperous and lively as other ports. In contrast, the animals visited here are far more than humans, because whether it is the workers of the shipyard, the soldiers on the ship, or the residents of the town, they live a prosperous life with the generosity of the king. They do not need to hunt or fish to survive. However, many pieces of food discarded at a fixed time have become seabirds and fish.

But this was destined to be a special observance. First, the king was not indoors, but met Mr. Papan in an open Roman-style restaurant. Mr. Papan neither presented jewelry to the king nor weapons to the king. He... brought a pot...

Although the king and the king and the children were indeed eating, the pot was indeed beyond everyone's expectations. It was so big that it could stuff half of the little Angjian Duke. The little Angjian Duke opened his mouth wide and looked at the gorgeously dressed Mr. Papan in a daze, covering it tightly as if holding a plate of precious and fragile glassware. There was no way to see what the pot inside was placed ten feet away from them.

After putting the pot, Mr. Papan took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead. He took a pair of tongs from his servant and slowly unscrewed a knob on the lid of the pot. As the knob gradually loosened, a white steam rushed into the air. It was small and slender before. After a few seconds, it expanded in a sharp whistling sound, pounced on the people around him with a mist on his face, "It smells so good." Prince Louis murmured. It was indeed very fragrant, and it was the fragrance of sea fish and shells. They were not wrong, because after the steam gradually dissipated,

Mr. Papan opened the lid of the pot, and a stronger aroma came out. He brought a plate larger than the pot and began to scoop fish, meat and shells into it.

Because they were cut into pieces, they couldn't tell what fish they were all about for a while, but they could eat them that there were halibut, cod, thorfish, and large moray eels, lamb and beef, and shells were familiar oysters. These may be eaten in Versailles, but no matter how ice is used to keep them fresh, they cannot be compared with the fresh products that were still alive a few hours ago. And I don't know how long these were stewed, whether they were fish or lamb, they melted in their mouths.

Looking at the children who were eating happily, Louis couldn't help but smile: "Sir," he said: "I don't know that you have become a doctor, an inventor and a craftsman, and a chef."

"It's just a small gift," Mr. Papan wiped his face again, "but no one can clearly understand the concept and function of steam."

"You need to explain in detail," Louis realized that it was because he brought the children, so Mr. Papan would attract the interest of these little nobles in this way of preempting the people. This trick was still within the tolerance of the king. Mr. Papan was indeed a talented man. After the prince and the eldest princess and the others enjoyed the perfect taste, he lifted the lid and let them see the rubber seal, exhaust valve and most important safety valve inside.

"Why is this the most important thing?" asked the prince.

"Because the power of steam is no less than gunpowder," said Mr. Papan, who deliberately created a minor accident, and the sealed pot. After estimated that the pressure inside should have reached a reading, Mr. Papan threw it directly off the cliff. When it touched the ground, an explosion occurred. The servants picked up the twisted metal pot and the crushed stone.

The eldest princess exclaimed, and Papan did not look at the young visitors with a noticeable sensation, and found disappointed that, whether it was the prince, the princess, or the Duke of Cologne, the eldest son of Earl Suisson, did not show any cringe, but instead showed a eager look. He heard that the king had brought his children around him, rather than simply throwing them to the queen or their mother. It seemed that this was true.

As a Huguenot, Papan certainly would not want to see a tough and decisive king, but he was destined to regret that even if something happened to Louis XIV, his children would implement his will to the end. Papan hid his mind and introduced these noble guests to the shipyard. According to the king's wishes, he deliberately used the kinetic energy generated by steam directly on the warship, but after the steam machinery was manufactured, it was first used on the armor, impact angles and other metal fixtures needed by the warship.

Amidst the deafening sound of impact, the rising smell of coal smoke and the off-white steam, pieces of armor plates that raised slightly downward quickly formed between the heavy upper mold and the lower mold. The stamping and forging methods were found very early, but at that time, craftsmen used livestock and water to create armor for the men. The thickness and width of the armor could not be compared with the armor plates of warships. There were also raised nails around the upper mold, which left riveted holes for the armor plates.

The Marquis Senere raised an armor plate to show the king, his height was similar to that of the king, so he bent his knees a little so that the king would not have to look up—the head of St. Nazel was indeed as cautious and subtle as his father, Colbert.

The king reached out and touched the armor plate, which was like fish scales, and then it would cover both sides of the warship's side like scales to fight against the increasingly powerful and dangerous artillery. Then he also asked the children to touch it, and the personal experience would always be deeper than hearing, and the children's eyes were shining, especially Eugen.

In addition to the steam press, there are steam boring machines, grinders and punches, drilling machines, etc., which ordinary people may not understand, but even the big princess can understand the gun barrel drilled from the boring machine. Little Eugen couldn't help but stretch out his hand, and then was scalded the next moment... "It's great," he looked around, as if he had come to a paradise that belonged only to him, and he was drunk and fainted: "How many cannons will be here, Your Majesty."

"It's not a cannon here," Louis said kindly: "at least it's not just that."

They walked forward along the dark corridor, with thick guide rails and machines on both sides, and small cars loaded with parts and ingredients parked in place - if it were normal, they would run around happily under the push of workers, and now they were quietly staying in place, as if they were bowing to the king.

After passing through the corridor, the strong sea breeze hit us, and the scorching light stood side by side with the deep black shadow. It took a while before the children realized that a huge ship was standing in front of them.
Chapter completed!