Flowers, Swords and France

With a mood that he didn't know whether it was ridicule or joy, Charles ignored the constant abuse behind him and slowly walked out of Victor Hugo's room.

"This kind of person really thinks that he is so great just because he has written a few books. What a shame!" Perhaps because he felt that Charles was angry, the officer next to him shouted angrily in order to please him, "Sir, Don’t worry, we will entertain him well later..."

Ciel stopped and looked sideways at the other person.

His sudden behavior shocked the officer. He quickly lowered his head and did not dare to say anything more. He was wondering why he had suddenly offended this important man.

Mr. de Treville's attitude soon softened, however.

"No, no need, this is normal - the loser always comforts himself with weak words. I don't care about this. You don't have to go out of your way to entertain him. He will be exiled soon anyway." Ciel said, While smiling, he patted the other party's shoulder, "But thank you very much, Second Lieutenant. I will keep your hard work in mind."

No matter what the reason is, no matter how much they don't like this kind of proposal, others are deliberately trying to please themselves. In any case, there was no need for him to dampen this enthusiasm.

After receiving such comfort from Charles, the officer's original uneasy mood was quickly replaced by excitement and joy.

"Thank you, sir!" He bowed to Charles repeatedly, "In order to carry out the president's and your orders, I am willing to take any risks. This is my responsibility and obligation..."

"Okay, please take me to meet someone first..." Charles patted his shoulder again. "We will reward you appropriately for your loyalty."

………………

When Charles entered the room where Mr. Adolphe Thiers was being held. He had just taken a nap and woke up from his sleep.

After seeing Ciel. He was slightly surprised, but quickly regained his composure, and then nodded towards Ciel in a friendly manner.

"Mr. de Treville, I really didn't expect that you would still have the heart to come over to see me... I thought you would be celebrating with your comrades by popping champagne."

His tone was gentle and calm, as if he was just entertaining a guest who had just arrived at his home.

Ciel really admired this person for being able to sleep peacefully and calmly under such circumstances.

What surprised Charles even more was that despite experiencing such a big change, he was still neatly dressed. It could be seen that he had arranged himself carefully on the way to be escorted here.

Although he has to look up to Ciel because he is shorter. But his calm face and neat clothes still made him look extraordinary.

"According to the planned plan, we do have a champagne celebration," Ciel nodded friendly towards him, and then walked up to him step by step, "but not now."

"Oh, yes... not now." Thiers nodded, and then his face suddenly turned a little pale, as if he was sighing something. Sighing slightly, "It was an accident!" Thiers sighed, and then smiled bitterly, "This is a perfect blow! Mr. Treville. Congratulations, you knocked us all down with one punch. "

"This blow did not come suddenly. It was the result of many days of hard work." As if to show off something. Ciel raised his head slightly reservedly, "You may think this is a simple plan. But you don't know how much effort it took us to calculate and plan carefully... And I. I am one of the main makers of this plan. ”

"Yes! Plan! Plan! You have a plan, but we don't, so... so we are completely defeated, and now we are all prisoners!" Thiers sighed again, "take it step by step from beginning to end. Who are you to ask for better results?”

"This plan took us a lot of time." Charles looked at the other party calmly, "Fortunately, God has not let down our hard work."

"How could God let you down? We couldn't do anything to you when we had the upper hand, not to mention that now the army is at your command!" Thiers was still smiling bitterly and continued to sigh, "We have fallen into this kind of situation. The situation is not because there are no smart people here, but precisely because there are too many smart people here! Everyone thinks about themselves, but they don’t. One person thought about uniting at least temporarily for the sake of victory... Believe it or not, I have already had a premonition of your coup, but what can I do? No one is willing to listen to me, they are not willing. Just like you, risking your life for the highest power, you just want to stand on the seat and stretch your hands, waiting for power to come to you automatically! "

"I do believe what you say...but how can you be united? No one will shed tears for a dead dynasty, whether it is Bourbon or Orleans." Charles suddenly smiled with a hint of irony, "Everyone only thinks about protecting their own power, and the end result is like a headless fly - isn't this the destined result?"

"It is indeed a destined result." Thiers nodded in agreement, as if he was holding a review meeting with Charles, "Especially those nobles, they can't even say anything! Tell me, are they Have you really worn out your brain by staying in the countryside for decades?”

"They just don't want to die for their principles. As a noble, I know them very well." Charles replied in a low voice, "What's more, a large number of people regard the Orléans as regicides."

"You nobles are really weird for their stupid insistence without any reason! Having a king is enough. Does your last name matter?" Thiers frowned and shook his head, "I haven't understood them yet. The idea...maybe I will never understand it, a bunch of stupid elm lumps!"

He cursed like this, but Ciel remained unmoved, as if he didn't even feel that he was included in it.

"Now, it seems it's too late for you to say these things." He looked at the other party with slight pity. "You've failed miserably."

However, after hearing his words. Thiers just smiled slightly, not looking downcast at all.

"If possible. I would like to ask, what will your Excellency, the President, do with me? Will I be exiled abroad?"

"According to His Excellency the President, he does not want to exile you abroad, but to keep you in custody at home." Charles answered the other party truthfully, "It is another group of people who will be exiled."

Thiers did not fear that he would die, and Louis Bonaparte certainly had no intention of killing him.

Ever since the horrors of the Great Revolution, France has experienced successive changes of governments and dynasties, and it has become an unspoken rule among high-level officials not to harm human lives, and no one will go out of their way to make exceptions.

Neither Napoleon nor any of his relatives were killed. The Bourbon royal family was only exiled, and even the recent Orleans royal family was only expelled - although there is no admonition of 'the initiator has no consequences', but everyone in power understands this truth, and they are all afraid of killing Come and kill and eventually kill yourself and your family.

In this capricious country, who can be sure to stay until the end?

However, in Louis Bonaparte's view, a man like Victor Hugo could be exiled - he wouldn't be able to do anything great anyway. But people like Thiers must not be allowed to escape from control.

"Oh, your Excellency the President is so considerate and touching," Thiers' smile deepened. "That's great! I'm more than happy to accept the president's punishment."

His reaction made Ciel slightly strange.

"Don't you feel that you have completely failed?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, I admit that I am a complete failure now. However... that is only now." Thiers shook his head, "In the distant future. Who can tell clearly? Just like a few years ago, No one can tell as clearly as you."

"Huh? Do you think that in the face of this current situation, do you still have a chance to turn the tables?" Charles looked at the other party curiously. "If this is the case, I will condemn your naivety."

"No. I don't have a chance now, but that doesn't mean I won't have one in the future!" Thiers replied resolutely.

At this moment, what reflected in his eyes was not the helplessness and anger after a setback in reality, but the infinite energy and ambition of a politician, so much so that Charles seemed to be infected.

"Actually, after getting rid of those 'allies' who gave me trouble all day long, I have fewer allies, but I have become stronger, right?" Thiers raised his head excitedly Looking at Ciel, his face became gentle due to excitement, "Wouldn't those vacillating idiots either change their families now? Or should I go back and live in seclusion in fear? As a result, I will become a real leader! As long as I continue to persist, the only people who want to stand against you will come to me, right? I can rely on this to realize my dream in the future, just like you today!”

Ciel didn't answer and waited quietly for him to continue explaining.

"Yes, you have won now, and you can create a new government, or even a new empire, but you will eventually fail - sixty years of history have proven that no French government can last more than two generations. , no matter how powerful it seemed at the time... and you can't escape this time, I I firmly believe so." The politician continued with a malicious sneer, "And at that time, I will eventually be able to serve as a new successor and reach the position you are in now. , This will take a long time, maybe ten years? Maybe twenty years? It doesn’t matter, I can afford it!”

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

Ciel lowered his gaze slightly, still not answering him.

What he said was indeed correct, absolutely correct.

In the original history, since the establishment of the Second Empire, he has always served as the core figure of the imperial opposition, and he did take advantage of the collapse of the Second Empire after the failure of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to become the Third French Republic. President, ascended to the highest seat of power in France - and with amazing efforts, paid five billion francs in war reparations to the Prussians within three years.

"Maybe this doesn't sound good, but isn't it the reality? Could it be that you can walk better on the road that Napoleon, Charles X and His Majesty King Louis-Philippe have walked? Don't be naive, young man... This The country is unruly, and no matter how perfect the ruler is, she will get tired of it and abandon it, so just enjoy the present, at least now this country is still in your hands, and I... I am also willing to spend my whole life chasing her. Even if the end result is just a moment of joy with her!”

As he spoke, Thiers' eyes also showed a fanatical light, as if he was not trapped in a prison, but was being surrounded by the last seat of power in the country.

Ciel listened to his declaration quietly, and he still didn't speak until he fell silent.

The long silence made everything seem to have lost its meaning.

"What Mr. President means is that if you are willing to surrender to him, then he can give you a sufficient reward..." After a long time, Charles finally spoke, his tone slightly drawn out, "Maybe being a minister is not impossible. "

"Oh, minister! Thank you to His Majesty the Emperor for your generosity!" Thiers laughed, "Under the rule of Louis-Philippe, I was also the Prime Minister!"

"The president is not the emperor yet." Charles replied calmly, "Besides, he does not plan to establish a prime minister later - he has decided to exercise absolute rule over this country in his own name, and one person to control both God and the people. Responsible."

"Oh? That's quite interesting!" Thiers blinked curiously, "I really want to see what he can do..."

"So……"

"No, I still reject his proposal." Thiers interrupted Charles directly, "This will not change."

Next, as if he felt something, he suddenly stood up and looked at Ciel.

"Mr. Treville, do you remember the first time we met? I recruited you, and then you rejected me unceremoniously and told me that the terms I gave you were simply meaningless. And at that time I I just thought, this young man is really awesome, who can satisfy his ambition?

And now... the situation is reversed, but the answer still won't change. That's right... we are the same person, so you can understand me. "

Ciel was silent again.

"Okay, I understand you."

"That's right!" Thiers nodded with a smile, and then sighed softly, "Mr. Treville, I really appreciate you, and I am really sorry that I can't work with you."

"I'm very sorry too."

Ciel put his hand into his arms.

Then, the smile on Thiers' face solidified.

Because what Charles took out from his pocket was not a pocket watch, but...

"Wait! What do you want to do!" he shouted angrily. "Did you..."

However, he could no longer finish his words.

"Bang!" (To be continued...)

ps: Can I ask for a reward or something in the middle of the night...