Flowers, Swords and France

With a hint of uneasiness, Charles left the club, found a cab, and hurried back to the War Department. "≤Ding"≤Dian"≤Xiao"≤ said that although on the way back to his office, Charles' expression was very calm and he kept saying hello to the officials and staff he met on the way, his mood at the moment was different. Some mixed feelings.

Mary's sudden confession and subsequent self-sacrifice were completely unexpected, and he had not made any preparations in advance.

Therefore, he really had a lot of thoughts on how to deal with this matter.

Keeping her around might cause trouble.

But it would be too much to just throw Mary aside like this. She has expressed her love so much without any regrets and does not ask for anything in return. She should not be treated like this.

Besides, Mary has always been his right-hand assistant and has given him a lot of help in many things. It would obviously not be cost-effective to throw a right-hand assistant aside because of such things... …

Perhaps because he subconsciously didn't want to leave Mary behind, Charles quickly found various reasons for himself to convince himself that he should keep Mary by his side. Men can always find enough reasons for themselves in this situation.

When he walked to the office, Charles had already made up his mind. Although such an unexpected situation occurred, he should continue to let his close assistant serve him. As for other issues, he had no choice but to put them aside.

………………

As soon as he sat down in the office, the secretary came directly to report that the minister wanted to summon him. So Charles had no choice but to leave his office again and go directly to the Minister.

As soon as I opened the office door. Seeing the minister's beaming look, Charles knew that there must be good news waiting for him.

"You seem to have won the battle." Charles walked to the minister's desk. Then he looked at General Saint-Arnaud with a smile.

Because they are important comrades, and General Saint-Arnault has deliberately courted Charles, a personal relationship has been established between the two, so the conversation between them has become much more casual.

"That's right, a big victory, Charles!" The general laughed, and then punched hard, "I convinced the old guy, and he has promised me that he will resign honestly within two days!"

then. Before Charles could speak to him, he continued talking happily, "You don't know, this old guy had a really tough temper at the beginning. Hey, as soon as I told him to resign immediately, he He yelled at me and said that I had no right to do this! I continued to persuade him calmly, but he refused to let me go. In the end, I got annoyed and slapped the table. Tell him he must get out, I just gave him a decent way to leave. If he wants to play tricks, we will wait and see! We don't eat sand for free in Africa, and this old guy wants to scare me. ? Ha. I spent more than ten minutes scolding him until he finally understood the situation and agreed to retire with double pension and medals..."

This old guy refers to General Willow, who serves as the director of the personnel department in the ministry. This old official, who held great power but was unwilling to agree with Charles and others, finally could not withstand the pressure from the president and ministers and decided to retire early. And his position is destined to be transferred to the new collaborators found by Charles and others.

"Are you sure you want that Louis Castle to take over?" Charles looked at the general and asked cautiously, "Are you sure you can control this person?"

"It's okay. I just met this guy once and I figured him out. He doesn't dare to disobey us. He knows that there are a lot of people in the ministry who want power and position and are willing to cooperate with us. He just Just got a head start. Since we can lift him up, we can naturally throw him down. He is a smart person and won't be able to understand this." At this point, General Saint-Arnault couldn't help but smile. He gave a sneer and said, "Let's talk about it again." , the people here have been submissive and flattering their superiors for decades, and they only want to keep their heads down and climb up. How can they suddenly become boneless? As long as I forcefully suppress them, I am not afraid that they will not obey! Humph, change the company! It's just the beginning. I plan to spend two weeks to see if there are any disobedient thorns in the Human Resources Department. Then I will allocate them together! I want to see how many people there can carry on! Go against me!"

In the general's sarcastic smile, the frontline officers' disdain for the civilian staff in the rear was evident, but of course it didn't matter to Charles. As long as he could achieve his goal, it didn't matter to him even if the minister scolded the officials in the ministry every day.

What's more, it would be more beneficial for the minister to have a tense relationship with the officials.

"Okay, great!" Charles couldn't help but laugh because of the excitement of the news, "Now we are finally going to take the power into our hands!"

That's right, only by gaining personnel power can they support their own people and exclude dissidents in the army. How can they not make people smile after completing this most critical step?

"The good news is yet to come, sir." General Saint-Arnaud said calmly, "We should now think about how to deal with those disobedient people."

"Well, I have been paying close attention to the military parade during this period to see who cooperates actively and who opposes us. I will make a list at that time. Those who obey us must find a way to transfer to Paris. Come on, as for those opposition elements..." Charles nodded, then grinned, "I'll leave it to you, Your Excellency."

This plan, initiated by Charles and personally participated in the formulation and approval of Louis Bonaparte, was very gradual.

Now that they have taken over the personnel power, they must find a way to also take the leadership of the local army - at least in Paris - into their hands.

"Well, no problem, there are plenty of ways to deal with them." The minister also sneered, "But you should also tell the president and ask him to let the news out first, so that we can do things easier. As long as there is news, we can turn around. We can make a big difference as soon as we change people!”

"Don't worry, if nothing else happens, in a few days, the president will issue an announcement to inform the people that he will continue to seek to expand France's interests in Africa, and he will pay all costs for this." Charles immediately agreed. "The people will be satisfied with the president's strong attitude for the national interest."

Although the expansion of colonies was the goal that Louis Bonaparte would pursue tirelessly in the future, and he also rebuilt a colonial empire during the Second Empire, at this moment, vigorously developing the colonies in North Africa was just a matter of exclusion for him and his colleagues. It's just a method used by dissidents - they want to use this as an excuse to expand their troops in Africa in the short term, and then pack up all the dissidents in the army and throw them to Africa, so that they can no longer stop the Bonapartists. The conspiracy in Paris achieved the effect of cleaning up the army in a curve.

At the same time, the president who vowed to expand national interests in Africa was able to gain a reputation as tough and courageous among the people. Of course Louis Bonaparte was very happy to do such a thing that killed two birds with one stone.

"With the president, everything will be easier to handle. No one can disobey the orders of the supreme leader, otherwise they should bear all the consequences themselves." Perhaps to show his loyalty in front of Charles, the minister's expression became impassioned Stand up and say, "As the winner of the national election, the president represents the people. Anyone who goes against the president is going against France. We must not be lenient!"

"However, if the president just says something, I'm afraid it's not enough..." Charles frowned, his eyes flickering, "We still have to think of ways to add fuel to the fire..."

The minister looked at Ciel with some confusion.

"I thought about it, didn't you serve in North Africa before? There must be many trustworthy people among your subordinates...?" Charles's voice became even lower, "Can you think of a way to let them , um... cause something to happen there? This will give us even more excuses to increase our troops..."

Privately let people provoke local provocations and create crises?

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

After hearing what Charles said, the minister was surprised at first, and then he quickly understood.

This was not Shire's intention, but the President's directive.

Precisely because this kind of thing cannot be seen in the light, it can only be passed down by word of mouth.

After understanding this, the minister quickly made a decision.

No, it should be said that since taking this position, he has no other choice.

"The president is worthy of being an outstanding representative of the country. He is working hard for the future of the country, and we should use our own efforts to complete the tasks assigned by him, right?" General Saint-Arnaud looked at Charles jokingly, "If not Anyone who is willing to obey orders is going against the interests of the country..."

Well, that should be the answer. Charles nodded secretly. It seemed that the other party had understood what he meant and had tactfully agreed.

"Well, you understand. Remember to find someone you can trust. Don't let this kind of thing spread. As long as they complete their mission, we will transfer them to Paris...just to replace those we have dismissed. "

"What if someone disobeys under various excuses?" The minister looked at Ciel tentatively.

"This kind of black sheep who is lawless and disobeys orders should be eliminated from the army." Ciel shrugged. "We don't need a thoughtful sword, that would dull it."

"I understand, sir." The minister nodded, "I will do it right away, of course, not through letters."

"It's good if you understand." Charles smiled, then stood up to say goodbye.

When Charles left the minister's office in a good mood, he suddenly became worried about Mary who was still resting. How was her rest now?

Wait and see her and go home together, he thought to himself. (To be continued...)