Flowers, Swords and France

Regardless of whether former Prime Minister and Duke of Dalmatia Nicholas Soult's confession that "if you want to rule this country and do great things, you must implement absolute dictatorship" is a sincere view but a deliberate attempt. It was a compliment, but it must have satisfied Louis Bonaparte, because this was exactly what Louis Bonaparte wanted to do.

Although the expression on his face was still indifferent and he just narrowed his eyes slightly, Charles could feel the joy in his heart at this time. Yes, everyone would feel extremely happy to be praised by a great politician as "the only person who can hold up the country."

"I will take your opinion into consideration." After a moment of silence, Louis Bonaparte spoke again. But I don't know if it was Charles's misunderstanding, but he always felt that Louis Bonaparte's attitude was much more cordial at this time than before. "I dare to take all responsibilities for the future of this country."

"Yes, this country needs you to stand up and take responsibility now. Apart from you, there is no longer the appeal to rebuild an empire..." The Duke blinked, as if he was tired, and the servant next to him quickly He was helped up. The marshal, who had returned to a sitting position, seemed to have regained some energy. He glanced at the two people, and his gaze became sharp again.

"If you want to achieve absolute rule over this country, you need to hold firmly to two pillars, one is the military and the other is the bureaucracy. You have to make sure that these two groups support you. I guess you see it this way, right? No Few words"

"Yes, it is true." Louis Bonaparte nodded. "That's why we need your help. The empire must be supported by the army. The monarch is absolutely responsible, and then the officials implement the monarch's policy and carry it out unswervingly from top to bottom. Only then can we really do something thing."

"Okay, I'm glad that you can see the essential problem." The Duke smiled reluctantly, "Then, I sincerely hope that you can get what you want. Save this country. Don't worry, I will fulfill your request. If it is fully implemented, I will send a letter to those people, although I don’t know how useful it will be..."

"As long as you're willing to help, that's enough," the president replied.

"To take financial power back from the hands of parliament, you cannot give them the power to question and review the government budget, otherwise you will not be able to achieve absolute rule." The Duke continued to make suggestions. "At the same time. We must try to disperse the power of the members and weaken the influence of the parliament. It is best to let them become mere decorations." "I will keep your instructions in mind."

"In order to subdue the Parliament, the Emperor led his soldiers to surround the House of Five Hundred. I hope you will not fall behind him. At least you have to fire a few more shots at the Parliament... Count me in!" The Duke's face suddenly changed. A rather malicious smile flashed across his face, as if he wanted to vent the anger he had accumulated when he was the Prime Minister, "There must be blood! Only in this way can we scare the chattering thinkers in this country..."

"……OK."

While Louis Bonaparte was still listening to the Duke's advice, there was a sudden knock on the bedroom door. Charles quickly ran to open the door, and then found a presidential entourage looking at him anxiously.

Generally speaking, the entourage would never dare to disturb the president's meeting. Since they dared to do this, they must have received some important breaking news. Because of this thought, he quickly got out of the way and let his entourage go in.

The attendant looked very nervous. He ran to Louis Bonaparte and whispered in his ear. Louis Bonaparte listened to his narrative expressionlessly, and then stood up slowly.

"Sorry, Duke, I have something to take care of now."…

"Please do as you please." The Duke nodded slightly.

"Charles, please speak to the Duke." Louis Bonaparte quickly left the room.

Now that he had received the Duke's promise, he didn't care much about the subsequent bargaining.

Charles, who was left behind, didn't know what to say to the dying former prime minister for a while. In his mind, he was wondering what unexpected situation had just occurred that could have caused Louis Bonaparte and his entourage to leave. They are so out of sorts.

After a moment of silence, when Charles was about to say something polite, the Duke suddenly spoke first.

"Monsieur de Treville, I have heard about you and read what you said in the newspaper. I must say that although it is a bit reckless, it is to my liking."

"It's a great honor for me." Ciel quickly thanked him.

"It's very good. It's not easy to stay in a high position at this age. At your age, I still have to carry a gun. I don't know when I will be shot. I never thought that I would be able to one day. Become a marshal, and wait quietly for death of old age in the castle he bought..." The Duke asked the servant to slowly turn around on the couch, and then looked out the window. Yuan Ye, "But even if you are so lucky, you can still be so calm and humble, which is even more extraordinary. In my opinion, there are only two types of people who can still not take anything seriously after receiving such great happiness. One is stupid. One is too arrogant to realize how lucky he is; the other is so arrogant that he thinks he is far from being so lucky. Which one are you?"

"If that's what you're saying, I personally think it's better to be arrogant than stupid." Charles replied with a smile.

"Haha, young people are always so energetic, so enviable." The Duke smiled, "Very good, young people should be like this, never satisfied."

Charles still smiled.

"I first met your grandfather in 1808, a rare year of peace in the empire after more than ten years of war. We met in Paris and drank. At that time, I was already a marshal, and he was already a general. We talked happily and drank a lot of wine...Haha, as a result, forty years have passed in a flash. Time is really amazing."

"My grandfather also talked about you."

"Really? Maybe, but it must be a curse." The Duke still laughed, "I think I should have been better than him in the previous twenty years."

Charles smiled but did not answer.

"But he should be happy now. I have been forced to retire, but he is so successful that he has become the commander of the expeditionary army!" The Duke turned to look at Charles, "I read the description in the newspaper. He fought well. Congratulations on his success."

"I will convey it to him." Charles replied quickly, "I believe he will feel very happy."

"Indeed, he will be happy. He finally surpassed me on the last leg of the journey..." The Duke was still smiling, and then suddenly changed the subject, "Young man, what do you think of the emperor?"

The sudden question caught Charles off guard. He thought for a moment before answering. "A great man."

"A great man! Yes, he is indeed a great man. You who have never seen him cannot imagine what kind of great man he is!" The Duke sighed for a long time, and then his high-pitched voice slowly became calm again, "But people always forget one fact, that great men are just people. I stood by and witnessed with my own eyes that this great man built an empire that no one could have imagined before, and then destroyed it with his own hands..."

Then he looked at Charles again, "Do you know what I was thinking at the time?".

Regret? Hate? Happy?

"I don't know." Charles answered honestly.

"I regret it." Without letting Charles wait any longer, the Duke gave the answer directly.

"Regret?"

The original text is available at Six # 9 @Books/Bar!

Charles was a little strange. Was he regretting that he did not help the emperor turn the tide?

"Yes, I regret it too much." The Duke continued coldly, "I observed this great man, and I watched him go from glory to destruction. I found that I was only one step away from being a great man, just that last step! I regretted why I didn't become such a great man, I had a chance! Until the end, I finally found where this line was, and then I despaired, because I couldn't get over this line at all."

Charles suddenly felt a tightness in his heart.

"Why do you think he was so successful?" Without giving him a chance to breathe, the Duke continued to ask.

"Opportunity plus ability, probably." Charles answered reluctantly.

"A person who has some talent but is not above the world, from almost nothing to the emperor of the empire, making the whole of Europe tremble, just relying on opportunity and ability?". The Duke shook his head gently, "Some of the same people became kings, some became marshals, and some died directly on the battlefield. Only that one became an extraordinary great man."

"Then what do you think the answer should be?" Charles asked in a low voice.

"What do you think of the new generation of leaders of the House of Bonaparte?" The Duke did not answer his question.

"He is the only savior of this country at present," Charles replied cunningly, avoiding direct comments on his boss. "Just as you said."

"Rather than saying he can do this, it's better to say he can make many people, enough people believe it." The Duke replied coldly, "Everyone says that the two Bonapartes are completely different, but in fact, they are very similar in the most important point. They can both make themselves believe that they are above the world, and finally convince the world to believe it. Because of this, I really believe that Louis-Bonaparte can reach the position of his uncle."

"Mr. Treville, you don't understand what I said now, that's normal, I'm just chatting." The Duke looked out the window again, "But I have to advise you."

"What?"

"Try to avoid my lessons, don't let yourself be easily abandoned. Think about it, I have experienced three dynasties in my life, served as a marshal and a prime minister, but in the end I still had to fall from... You don't like to say goodbye to power, do you? Not many words"

Of course not, Charles said in his heart.

"Then find a way." The Duke grinned. "There is still a lot of time left for you."

He was very happy that he had once again cast a crack in the Bonaparte family.

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