Three versions Who is the original author of this sentence? There are different opinions, some say Louis XIV, some say Louis XV, some say Louis XVI. In the book "China Can Still Say No", the author, who is famous for his anger, also said vividly: "(This) is reminiscent of Louis XIV's famous saying: 'After I die, never mind the damn floods.' "It seems that he heard this sentence personally from Louis last month. However, most opinions still concluded that Louis XV said it. After checking the specific source, I found that the original French text of the sentence "After me, the flood will not matter" is "Après moi, le déluge" (English: After me, the flood), but it means "After I die, the flood will come to the sky." "There will be huge floods" is very different from the well-known "After I die, there will be huge floods." This is one of the strange things. At the same time, I also found another original French version - "Après nous, le déluge" (English: After us, The flood), which means "After we die, there will be a flood." This version is also very popular and even authoritative, but there is something fishy about it. Who is "we"? Who is "we"? After further investigation, I found that this sentence was not actually said by Louis XV, but was said to him by his mistress Madame de Pompadour. I have read various historical biographies about the two of them, and I feel that this sentence is more like the beginning of a long story, a whisper between two people with a close relationship. The atmosphere of the whole story is frightening and sad. Which of the above two French versions is closer to the historical truth? The 1997 edition of "Random House Dictionary" believes that Louis XV's "Après moi, le déluge" is actually adapted from Madame de Pompadour's "Après nous, le déluge" to Louis XV. Madame Pompadour A true original creator. I did some research and thought this inference was more logical. There is also a third opinion that the king's version (or the mistress' version) is an old French proverb about spendthrifts, the origin of which is unknown. But "After we (we) die, there will be floods" does not look like a proverb. It is just a statement or speculation. Combined with the history of France, this is a very accurate prediction. ——After the deaths of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, Louis XVI was at a loss as to what to do with his reforms, and the flood of the French Revolution arrived as scheduled. Madame de Pompadour During the period of Louis XV (1710-1774), France's financial situation had been ups and downs. Louis XV was indecisive in his administration, and Versailles was dominated by an atmosphere of glitz and emptiness. Outside the Palace of Versailles, the power of bourgeois citizens continued to rise. The growth of the private economy and the ideological enlightenment paved the way for the political revolution of 1789. "After we die, there will be a flood." As the mistress and political advisor of Louis XV, why did Madame de Pompadour have such ominous and accurate premonitions? Madame de Pompadour was a famous contradiction of her time. On the one hand, her extravagant spending aroused the indignation of the people; on the other hand, she was keen on associating with the thinkers of the Enlightenment, providing them with blessings and funding, and was regarded by the latter as "one of ours." Precisely because she was deeply immersed in the Enlightenment, Madame de Pompadour not only enjoyed the fashionable and adventurous fun of being a member of the "ideological pioneer", but also deeply felt the fear and threat (this was her ignorant What the lover king could not understand), after all, she belonged to the powerful class that the Enlightenment wanted to overthrow. The Louis XV period was an unprecedentedly active period of the Enlightenment. Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau, the "Four Kings," led the ideological trend. Absolute royal power was questioned, and the concepts of freedom, equality, and fraternity were widely spread. . Before the emergence of the political Republic of China in the future, the outline of an ideological Republic of China had already emerged, and this ideological Republic of China made no secret of its intention to deprive the king of his autocratic power. Madame de Pompadour, regarded by Enlightenment thinkers as "one of our people", was probably the woman with the highest level of intellectual accomplishment and the largest amount of social information in France at that time. She knew too much and understood too much. The fear of "like a building falling down" lingered in her smart mind. In addition, the topic of "after we die" is also related to Madame de Pompadour's long-term physical illness and physical and mental exhaustion due to her efforts to serve the king. In November 1757, the Franco-Austrian coalition suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle against the Prussian army. Madame de Pompadour witnessed internal and external troubles, and she also had a certain decision-making responsibility for France's defeat. Therefore, she was frustrated and helpless and told Louis XV. The following is a famous prophecy: "After we die, there will be floods".