novelAbuy Chapter 115 The Character of Enlightenment Thinkers
Chapter 115 The Character of Enlightenment Thinkers
Chapter 115 The Character of Enlightenment Thinkers
France, a powerful nation in Europe, was actually ruled by a syphilis patient!
When Chen Wenbin learned that Louis XV had contracted syphilis three years ago, he was completely stunned—this old guy was really fearless; he was over fifty years old and still had such a wild time.
In the study on the first floor, Louis XV, having removed his wig to reveal his thinning scalp, sat in a chair and sighed to Chen Wenbin, "Dr. Robin, you must keep this a secret. The French must never know that their king has syphilis!"
What could Doctor Chen say? He immediately raised his right hand and solemnly swore, "Your Majesty, I swear in the name of God that I will never reveal any information about the patient!"
"----very good!"
The old king nodded, then said to Marquis Lafarrière, "I would like to appoint Robin as a special court advisor to the royal family and bestow upon him the title of knight. Is that alright?"
The old marquis bowed and said, "Of course! Your Majesty, I will prepare the documents for Dr. Robin shortly."
Before Chen Wenbin could speak, Louis XV raised his hand to comfort him, "Don't worry, Doctor. I know you are a baron-eligible in England and cannot easily accept a title in France. I will write to George."
Then, he earnestly proposed, "If you can cure me and are willing to become a French citizen, I can grant you the title of baron and a hereditary estate in France!"
When were the hereditary French nobles?
Isn't this just handing yourself over to the guillotine?
Chen Wenbin quickly shook his head in refusal, "Your Majesty, everything I have is in North America and England, and I cannot easily give it up—I am willing to do everything I can to treat you, but please forgive me for refusing your kind offer!"
"----All right!"
Louis XV looked regretful and shook his head, saying, "This is no longer the era of the Hundred Years' War; transnational nobles have become outdated—"
But I can still offer you the honorary title of Baron for Life, and a mansion in the Saint-Honoré district, as a token of my gratitude. Would that be acceptable to you?
Chen Wenbin thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "If that's the case, then I think there's no problem. Thank you for your generosity, Your Majesty!"
In Europe, hereditary nobles who owned land meant they were deeply tied to the country and could only be granted titles after becoming citizens. Non-hereditary life nobles, on the other hand, had only honorary titles that could be awarded to either natives or foreigners. Foreign title holders were usually not obligated to be loyal to the king.
Louis XV laughed and said, "Ha! I would actually be more generous, and the French people would also like to see a great doctor and inventor become a French nobleman—"
He didn't continue, because Chen Wenbin's wife was a British noblewoman with close ties to King George III of England, making it virtually impossible for her to abandon everything and side with France.
Giving Chen Wenbin a lifetime baronial title would serve both as a reward and to silence him.
Next, Chen Wenbin devised a treatment plan and diet for Louis XV, and then performed a skin test on him to confirm that he had no allergic reaction. After that, he gave him two small packets of homemade penicillin powder and instructed him to take it on an empty stomach.
This was made using a traditional penicillin extract, and its effectiveness has been verified. Although the oral efficacy is somewhat inferior, it is easy to store, and the therapeutic effect can be achieved by increasing the dosage.
That evening, Chen Wenbin and Catherine, who was acting as a nurse, stayed at the Petit Trianon Palace to observe the condition of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
For the next week, apart from taking a short trip to downtown Paris with Franklin, Chen Wenbin served as the French court physician at the Palace of Versailles.
Only after Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV's conditions improved did they leave some medicine behind, depart from Versailles, and move into a royal residence in the Saint-Honoré district.
The Louvre, home to the French Academy of Sciences, was right next to this mansion, making it easier for him and Franklin to befriend French scientists and Enlightenment thinkers.
However, to his surprise, when he found Charles Condamin, the rotating president of the French Academy of Sciences, the other party's attitude was businesslike and even somewhat cold, completely lacking the enthusiasm he had shown in the previous letter.
Although Chen Wenbin successfully became a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences on the recommendation of Louis XV, he did not receive the acclaim he had expected from the Parisian scientific community and intellectuals.
This strange situation naturally aroused Chen Wenbin's vigilance. He sent James Holly, who could speak basic French, to the streets of Paris to find out what was going on, while he asked Franklin to look for the reason in the circles of scientists in Paris.
The answer was quickly revealed, but it was quite absurd.
First of all, the citizens and intellectuals of Paris are now very dissatisfied with Louis XV for defeating the Seven Years' War, and they hate Madame de Pompadour, who instigated Louis XV to declare war on England!
Now that Chen Wenbin has saved the latter, it's roughly equivalent to saving Su Daji (a character from Journey to the West). Therefore, Parisians and intellectuals, by extension, also dislike Dr. Robin Chen, who is "unbiased and pandering to the royal family."
In the living room on the first floor of the mansion, James Holly reported to Chen Wenbin: "Sir! The ordinary citizens of Paris actually have a good impression of you. They are grateful for your discovery of allicin, which cured their dysentery. The women also like the spinning and sewing machines you invented. Only the tailors in Paris are dissatisfied with you, feeling that you have ruined their livelihoods."
Furthermore—they generally refer to Madame de Pompadour as a whore, saying she ruined France's business in the New World, and therefore do not wish for you to save her.”
Chen Wenbin smiled dismissively. Ordinary people certainly don't care much about national affairs; most of them only care about their own livelihood and personal interests—when they have free time, they might dare to curse women, but they wouldn't dare to directly target Louis XV, who made the decision to wage war.
But the news Franklin brought back was not good.
"—Robin, do you know what those French scientists and rationalists said about you at the most recent salon at Baron Holbach's mansion?"
"—What did they say about me?"
Chen Wenbin knew he wasn't up to anything, but he was still a little curious.
The old fat man chuckled, stood up, cleared his throat, and said in an elegant tone, "As Mr. Jean d'Alembert, one of the authors of the Encyclopedia, said..."
Of all the professions where one cannot lose one's conscience, the one that is most unacceptable is a doctor losing their conscience!
Meanwhile, the doctor we invited from England was selling incredibly expensive medicines to the king and nobles—one pill cost five gold louis!
He has been blinded by greed and has forgotten that a doctor's mission is not to get rich, but to save patients!
"How about that, Robin? That's already quite mild. There's more that'll get much worse. Do you want to hear it?"
"never mind!"
Chen Wenbin waved his hand, not angry, but just feeling a bit of a headache.
He couldn't possibly give up the profits from the pharmaceutical industry just because the French said a few words. This had become his most important source of cash flow. And were those Parisian intellectuals and Enlightenment thinkers really concerned about their medical ethics?
Obviously not. They were simply unhappy that they had saved Madame de Pompadour's life and thus received the noble title of Baron for life.
In fact, people like Voltaire, Diderot, and d'Alembert should have been grateful to Madame Pompadour.
Because she had spoken favorably of Louis XV and tried her best to protect these Enlightenment intellectuals over the years, they were able to compile the Encyclopedia and constantly test and challenge the absolute monarchy of France.
In fact, they did do this until 1761, when France began to show signs of defeat in the war.
Voltaire said that Madame de Pompadour was his close friend and his "guardian angel".
Diderot describes Madame de Pompadour in the book with almost obsequious praise.
D'Alembert did much the same to please the king's mistress.
The most adorable one was Rousseau. In his early years, he was favored by Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour because of his opera "The Village Judge". Madame de Pompadour gave him a reward of 50 gold louis (equivalent to 57 pounds).
As a result, Rousseau stated directly in his 1761 work *Julie, or the New Heloise* that "the wife of a charcoal burner is more worthy of respect than the mistress of a king," openly despising and humiliating Madame de Pompadour—essentially taking money and then cursing it, and unsurprisingly, he was expelled from the country.
Following the defeat in the Seven Years' War, Voltaire, Diderot, and d'Alembert immediately distanced themselves from Madame de Pompadour, accusing her of bewitching the king, bringing disaster to the country, and causing France to lose the New World and India.
After learning about this, Chen Wenbin's last bit of romanticized view of these French Enlightenment thinkers vanished.
Their ideas are indeed progressive, but their character—well, they're just average people, some perhaps even worse than average.
This also diminished his desire to befriend these people; after all, he already knew all those Enlightenment ideas, and they weren't necessities for him.
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