Flowers, Swords and France

In the gloomy clouds, Charles, wearing a heavy black coat, walked into the office building of the Ministry of War against the cold wind.

Unlike the unfamiliarity of the people and places when he first arrived, he had already seen many people along the way - many people in military uniforms - making way for him and saluted him. Charles nodded to them one by one and walked quickly to his office.

As he got closer to the office, his heart became more and more stable. The troubles that had troubled him before seemed to be thrown out of the sky. The whole person became energetic and full of energy.

I don’t know if it is the commonality of every ambitious careerist. As soon as Charles came to the office, he could forget all the unpleasant personal affairs, cheer up his depressed spirit, and prepare for his official activities in high spirits.

His secretary had been waiting here for a long time. When he saw him coming, he immediately handed him all the documents he had prepared. An important department meeting was to be held this morning, so he had to prepare everything he should have first.

Charles carefully reviewed the documents, added his own comments in many places, and then sorted them out and walked to the meeting room.

The meeting room was full of people at this time. When he walked into the office, he became the focus of most people's attention in an instant, but no one made a noise.

Charles just nodded to everyone and sat down directly in his seat.

Because the minister had not arrived yet, the meeting had not started. However, unlike usual, the meeting room today was not full of whispers. Instead, no one spoke. They all looked solemn, as if they had a lot on their minds.

It seems that they were all frightened by General Saint-Arno. Charles sneered in his heart.

That's right, they were all frightened by the reinforcements that Charles brought in.

Since General Saint-Arno took office as Minister of the Army, he has established his authority in the ministry in a short period of time with his strong personal style and vigorous and resolute style, and with the support and acquiescence of the President and the Prime Minister.

And this kind of authority finally reached its peak after he forced General Villot, the director of the department, to the point that it created a panic atmosphere in the department where everyone was in danger. This is easy to understand. If even an official with the highest position could be forced to retire in this way, then how could other lower-ranking officials be taken seriously by the minister?

After General Villot retired, the minister ignored the doubts of others and forcibly chose Mr. Louis-Casrel, the director of the Investigation Department, as the successor to the director, which further aggravated this panic.

Because of General Villot's previous experience, under the strong pressure exerted by the minister, no one in the department dared to say anything about his instructions, let alone deliberately slack off.

At this moment, the door of the conference room was suddenly opened again, and General Saint-Arnaud, dressed in military uniform and with a serious expression, appeared at the door. Everyone stood up and kept quiet. Even Charles was no exception.

The minister waved his hand, motioning everyone to sit down, then walked to his main seat and sat down, with his hands on the table.

"Okay. Let's start the meeting." He glanced coldly at the officials around him.

Everyone remained silent, waiting for the minister's speech.

After intimidating everyone, the minister warned them first.

"I don't like to say useless words. So I always speak very briefly. Please listen carefully to my words. Because I don't intend to repeat myself."

After hearing the minister's words, everyone became more nervous. The atmosphere was so solemn that it seemed to be frozen.

Seeing that everyone had perked up, the minister stopped talking and got straight to the point.

"I met with the President yesterday and reported to him about our recent work. Overall, the President is quite satisfied with our recent work, but..." He changed the subject and his tone became stiff again, "On a certain issue, the President has reservations about my report."

Without waiting for others to ask questions, he continued immediately, "He asked me about the recent situation of the troops stationed in Africa. Because I served in Africa before, I gave him a key report based on my inherent impression, and the result..."

The minister paused, then emphasized, "The President asked me why I didn't report the latest situation, because he received reliable information that our troops stationed in Algeria have encountered trouble recently. There have been several incidents of conflict between the troops stationed and local residents, and from the current signs... there may be a risk of developing into large-scale riots."

As the minister narrated, his voice became lower and lower, and finally stopped completely.

Then, he suddenly slapped the table heavily.

There was a loud bang, which made a large group of people shudder.

"As the Secretary of the Army, I learned about the situation of the African troops even later than the President, and I didn't get an accurate report before! Is this normal? Is it acceptable?" Looking at the officials at the conference table, the minister shouted, "Because of my dereliction of duty, the President is disappointed in me. Now, gentlemen, I want to tell you that because of your dereliction of duty, I am also disappointed in you!"

A feeling of panic quickly spread in the conference room, and many people looked at each other briefly in panic, fearing that the minister wanted to use this as an excuse to make another major personnel change in the department.

At this time, Ciel finally spoke.

"Mr. Minister, I fully understand your anger. This is indeed a dereliction of duty on our part." Charles' tone was very gentle, seeming to be persuading the general. "However, I believe that this is not an intentional oversight. It is just because of the distance in North Africa. It’s just a delay caused by being too far away.”

This is of course not because of any delay, but because many of the riots are simply caused by the president and ministers secretly instructing them.

"Then why does the president know?"

"I'm afraid the Governor's report was submitted to the President before the garrison's report." Charles explained warmly, "After all, the Governor is responsible to the President, and his submission will definitely receive the greatest attention from the President, so... I think it won’t be long before you receive an official report from the garrison.”

"Is that so?" The minister still frowned, but his tone had softened a bit, "Okay, I can accept this explanation. But if I still can't receive the report tomorrow, then I will be extremely disappointed!"

The two of them sang together and finally frightened the officials, and then comforted them again.

"However, the most important thing for us now is not the report, but how to remedy it so that the president will not continue to be disappointed." Charles suddenly said.

"Of course," the minister nodded. "The president clearly told me that stabilizing and further expanding the colonies is crucial to our country's interests. As for the colonies in Algeria and North Africa, our country has spent a huge amount of money and blood. The important areas of interest that have been developed will absolutely not allow any mistakes..."

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Yes, we must calm the situation as soon as possible!" Charles immediately agreed tacitly.

"As an agency of the government that manages the military, our greatest obligation is to implement the will and orders of His Excellency the President."

The Minister nodded, "So, I think that in order to suppress the possible commotion as soon as possible, we must send more troops there from the mainland."

It wasn't until they heard what the minister said that everyone understood what he really meant.

Regardless of whether they agree or not, there will be no change in what Ciel and the minister have discussed.

"I called you here today just to tell you the decision of the president and me." The minister's eyes turned back to the officials, "We must increase our troops to North Africa in a large number of times in the next period of time to replace some of the incompetent troops. Or troops who have been serving for a long time and are mentally slack, so that you can make arrangements as soon as possible to calm the situation as soon as possible.”

"Yes!" After hearing the minister's order, the others quickly responded loudly.

"But!" the minister suddenly shouted again. The room immediately became quiet again.

"This time the matter is urgent and of great importance, so what we need is the most capable, capable and fighting-spirited troops. We cannot randomly select a troop and send it to North Africa. That approach will not only deepen the existing difficulties, but will do nothing." No meaning." The minister's tone was very serious and calm, but it seemed to contain a very deep meaning. "So, we need to screen it carefully."

Charles sneered in his heart, waiting for the final verdict.

"After discussions between Mr. President and me, we finally decided that Mr. de Treville will be responsible for this screening work..." The minister's cold voice drifted into his ears, "He will be responsible for the military parade in the near future. The best opportunity is to closely observe the fighting will and spirit of each unit and its commander. He will be responsible for the inspection, which will allow us to select as many combat-effective units as possible for deployment to Africa..."

Yes, that's it.

In the name of selecting 'the troops with the most fighting will', all the opponents will be dispatched to Africa. This is what Charles and his colleagues have decided on, but the opponents have nothing to say yet.

Ciel sneered inwardly.

Of course others can see this plot, but they don't care.

Neither Charles nor the general was afraid that this matter would be spread - they even felt that it would be a good thing to spread Louis Bonaparte's determination further through the channels of these people.

"Does anyone have any other opinions?" the minister asked loudly.

"I am at your disposal, Your Excellency Minister." In the silence, he replied with a sneer. (To be continued...)