Flowers, Swords and France

People, the whole street was full of people.

"Long live the new mountain party!" "Long live the constitution!" "Long live the Roman Republic!"

Under the shining sun, a large group of people came to the square, shouting such slogans, responding to the call of the leaders, and started today's demonstration.

The demonstrators shouted and roared, as if the country had fallen into a restless state again. On the morning of June 13, 1849, the air was once again filled with strange noises.

"Charles, this time we have made a big mess." On the balcony of a residential house, Joseph Bonaparte, who was dressed in casual clothes, turned his head and glanced at Charles, "They really made trouble..."

Although it seemed to be very serious, his expression was very relaxed, and he obviously didn't care much about this drama.

"After all, they are a minority." Charles replied with a smile, "The majority of the parliament is still on your side, and the Order Party supports you."

On May 13, 1849, France held a new parliamentary election. Under various means, 3.3 million of the 6.6 million voters who participated in the election voted for the Order Party, 2 million voted for the New Mountain Party composed of petty bourgeois democrats and petty bourgeois socialists, and the Republicans only got 800,000 votes. Therefore, of the 750 seats in the parliament, the Order Party won 450 seats, an absolute majority, the New Mountain Party won 180 seats, and the Republicans only got 80 seats. Even if these two factions united, they could not shake the Order Party's dominant position in the parliament.

And the decision to send troops to Rome was made jointly by Louis-Bonaparte and the Order Party cabinet.

At the legislative meeting on June 1, the New Mountain Party member Ledru-Roland spoke in the parliament and strongly accused President Bonaparte and the Order Party cabinet of sending troops to Rome. It seriously violated the Constitution of the Republic, because Article 5 of the Constitution of the French Republic prohibits the use of republican troops to infringe on the freedom of people of other countries.

As a weak group, his speech in parliament was doomed to be ineffective, so this group of people decided to protest by marching on the streets.

Looking at the demonstrators walking around in the streets, Joseph Bonaparte shook his head slightly. "Ah, what a group of pitiful people!"

As if to add a comment to his words, as soon as he finished speaking. A team of soldiers rushed over from the other end of the street. After shouting a few words, they fired directly into the air and finally drove away the parade.

Looking at this scene. Joseph Bonaparte was not surprised at all. He just frowned slightly. This is certainly not because the army suppressed the people, but because it was not them who excluded this team of soldiers to suppress.

But soon, he suppressed this displeasure and just said it calmly. "General Changarnier mobilized the troops really quickly. The soldiers came just after they got up."

"What did they decide to do?" Charles asked.

"According to Mr. Thiers and Mr. Barrot, they want to take this opportunity to drive Ledru-Rolland and a bunch of other troublemakers out of parliament and crush all opposition parties." Joseph Bonaparte answered in a low voice.

"Don't they even want to keep the opposition that is just a decoration? It's really cruel." Charles sighed. "They are not afraid of being attacked by the crowd!"

"If they were afraid, they would not have instigated the army to enter the city for a bloodbath." Joseph Bonaparte replied coldly, "Isn't this the way the world is? The bolder and more ruthless people are, the higher they can climb. Besides, the people are tired of bloodshed and struggle. No one is interested in going to the streets for a few members of parliament. Besides..." Joseph Bonaparte shrugged as if jokingly, "Who really cares about the lives of Italians?"

"I'm only surprised about one thing." Charles replied slowly, "At this time, there are still people who take the Constitution of the Republic seriously..."

"Puff" The two laughed at the same time, and then drank a glass to each other.

"However, after removing this last obstacle, there will be no common enemy between us and the Order Party - there are no republicans in the parliament of the Republic." After drinking a glass of wine, Joseph Bonaparte spoke again, "Therefore, from today on, our two factions can only be enemies of each other."

"Besides, we have absolutely no chance of winning the parliamentary struggle with them. Fortunately, we have never thought of fighting with them in parliament." Charles added.

"That's right, as long as we get the army into our hands." Joseph Bonaparte also nodded, "As long as we have bayonets, what does parliament mean? Charles, Louis has said before that we must not only wipe out the Order Party in parliament, but also deprive them of their economic foundation and take all the property of the Orleans family into our hands."

"That's great." Charles smiled slightly.

Louis Bonaparte's words are definitely not just general talk. He will fulfill his promise with his endless patience and ruthlessness when the time comes.

On January 22, 1852, Louis Bonaparte, who had already succeeded in the coup, issued a decree declaring the confiscation of all properties left by the former Orleans royal family in France. All cash, bonds and even manors left by this royal family in France were confiscated. Returned to the public (when the Republic was first established, these properties were retained untouched), most of these confiscated properties went into his own private pocket, and part of them was awarded to his close associates as a reward for following him for many years. . As one of his close servants, Ciel can naturally expect to get a share of the profits.

The two drank another glass of wine and then returned to the table. They gathered in secret today, of course, not just to watch the parade.

After a moment of silence, Joseph Bonaparte raised his head and looked at Charles, his expression much warmer than before.

"Charles, Baron de Beauvain has transferred all the money, and you have successfully completed the task. You have lived up to our expectations of you, thank you."

What he said was of course the fact that the Bonaparte family had participated in financial trends to make profits.

"This is what I should do." Charles replied rather respectfully. "And. The person who played the most important role in it was not me."

"You don't have to be so modest in front of me. We are all young people..." Joseph Bonaparte smiled, with an unexplained look flashing in his eyes, "Can't we be completely frank and honest between us?"

Ciel also smiled. "Thank you for taking care of me."

"As long as we join hands and cooperate, there is nothing in this world that we cannot accomplish..." Joseph Bonaparte breathed a heavy sigh of relief, as if he was very satisfied with Charles's attitude. "Now, we can only give you a secretary. But in the future, directors, councilors, ministers, as long as you want to do it, we can repay you, don't worry. The time and opportunities for us to work together in the future are still very long... …”

It's indeed quite long.

After Napoleon III reestablished the empire. Joseph Bonaparte also rose through the ranks, becoming a member of the Senate and colonial minister, and inherited the title of prince after his father, Prince Jerome, died in 1860. However, at this time, of course, it is impossible for him to know his future "glorious history".

"This is also my honor." Charles replied, but at the same time he was a little confused. What did he mean by being so attentive to me today?

but. He has a lot of patience and can wait for the other party to reveal his true intentions.

"Charles." After sighing for a while, Joseph Bonaparte emphasized his tone again, "Although I am a little embarrassed, we still have some things that we have to entrust to you."

Sure enough, here comes the point.

"You are now the secretary of the Ministry of Railways. You can help with many things, so... I have to ask you to do something." Joseph Bonaparte looked at the wine glass and said slowly, "Baron Beauvain We didn't want the money that was paid to us to sit on our books waiting to die, so we decided to start a railroad company and make it a A steady stream of profits." Then he glanced at Charles again, "You also know that in our position, we cannot run the business openly, so we will let others be in charge of running it. You need to take care of this business so that it gets as much building and operating rights as possible, do you understand?”

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

Ciel was a little stunned.

He understood that the Bonaparte family wanted to use white gloves to make money.

But he didn't quite understand why they were so eager to do this - by then the whole country would be theirs, so would there be any need to make money in this way?

His doubts did not last long, and he suddenly realized in Joseph Bonaparte's seemingly calm but anxious eyes.

Because he was a time traveler, he always regarded "Louis Bonaparte becoming president, and later launching a coup, rebuilding the empire and becoming emperor" as something that was bound to happen. However, in the eyes of people at the time - even in In Louis Bonaparte's own eyes, all this was certainly not inevitable. In his eyes at this time, the future must be full of both bright and hidden dangers. God knows how many risks and how many chances it contains!

At least for now, the Bonaparte family is not sure that they will succeed in seizing the throne.

According to the current constitution of the Second French Republic, Louis Bonaparte's presidential term was only four years, that is to say, his term could only last until the end of 1852. Although he can theoretically be re-elected, only God knows whether he will be elected at that time. Not to mention, the Party of Order, who have taken control of the parliament, may also use their absolute dominance in the parliament to force the passage of laws and shorten the term of the president.

Therefore, all the ups and downs of the Bonapartes can only be accomplished as soon as possible within these four years.

Although they are ambitious and complacent at this time, qualified politicians never only consider "what will happen if I win". They often also consider "what will happen if I fail."

What would they think if they really failed and failed to usurp the throne in four years?

Of course, they will think about using their power to make money during these four years in order to lay the economic foundation for a comeback in the future. At least they can go home and enjoy a wealthy life.

No wonder they are so eager to make money, no wonder they tried every means to put me, their confidant, in this position! Charles sighed in his heart.

Now that he thought of this, Charles knew how to deal with it - although his tone was humble, what Joseph Bonaparte said was not a request, but an order, and it was a secret order that must not be passed on.

"I understand," he nodded immediately, "Just tell me when the time comes, I will find a way to help this company, as much as I can."

"That's good." Joseph Bonaparte breathed a sigh of relief, as if relieved, and then he gave another instruction. "This is a secret between us, and no one can tell it. In addition, we will try to simplify the flow of funds, and only through trustworthy people, not through any bank, and we must keep it confidential!"

"I know." Charles agreed.

In a flash of inspiration, he felt that this was a great opportunity for him, an opportunity to make great efforts with the help of the Bonaparte family - the Bonaparte family needs to worry about failure before victory, but he doesn't need to worry about it, just go all out.

"Very good." Joseph Bonaparte smiled again, and then stretched out his hand, "I know you have never let us down, Charles." (To be continued...)

ps: Thank you for the reward from the Son of Heaven, Auntie Yi is still washing the railway~~~

Now it seems that only you come to reward, crying