Flowers, Swords and France

Although there was absolutely no tolerance or friendliness in this kind of laughter, in the midst of Duke Wellington's laughter, Charles suddenly felt the gap that originally stood between the two people.

"I originally thought you had a deeper prejudice against us." Charles breathed a sigh of relief, and then bowed to him again.

"I have no prejudice against anyone. Anyway, it happened a long time ago, so long ago that everyone has almost forgotten it." The Duke gently waved his right hand, which was already full of wrinkles, "Besides, "If Britain needs to be prejudiced against its former enemies, we will have no friends in the world."

Perhaps it was a sigh from the heart, which seemed to make him look older, and also weakened the arrogant and fierce aura. The Duke looked at the void in front of him, as if sighing that he would become a part of history.

Yes, he himself knew that he was about to become the last sign of an era - and not many people might feel regretful and lost for this.

"Even if it takes another hundred years, or even two hundred years, your achievements will never be forgotten." Charles complimented again from the bottom of his heart, "Even the French think you are a great man in Britain. "

"I'm afraid not many French people think so." The Duke's melancholy quickly disappeared, and the sarcastic expression once again made him look energetic, as if he wanted to show off his energy in this way. , "As far as I know, most French people think that I am just lucky. If God had opened my eyes a little, my head would have been trampled into dregs by the Old Guard..."

Under the Duke's ridicule, Ciel couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Because he told the truth. In France, many people were indeed unconvinced by the failure of the Battle of Waterloo. Many historians and writers believe that Wellington only defeated the emperor by luck. This is not just the common belief.

Thiers said so in his historical works. In "Les Misérables" Hugo even ignored the historical facts of the war and exaggerated the extent of the British army's losses and collapse.

From the perspective of nationalistic self-esteem, this unconvinced mentality is very normal and even worthy of encouragement. However, Charles did not share this kind of nationalistic self-esteem with them, so although he was a more "red and professional" Bonapartist than them, he could express his respect for the Duke without any care and in a matter-of-fact manner. Praising the other party's achievements - of course, he would not behave like this in front of Louis Bonaparte.

"There are indeed some people in France who think so. I think you can also understand their motives. However, I think this performance is unnecessary. Ignoring reality is even more terrible than failure." Charles, in order to avoid being neither like It was derogatory to the French, but it also showed full respect for the Duke, so it seemed that every word was carefully chosen, "You have shown extraordinary wit. and composure, your soldiers displayed amazing courage and perseverance, so you won. Without these things, God's favor never came. I am a Bonapartist. , I respect the Emperor, but I acknowledge France’s irreparable defeat at Waterloo and am willing to work hard for her to stand up again.”

When Charles expressed this, the Duke kept looking at him, as if judging the sincerity of the young man.

Until the end. He finally nodded slightly as a token of his appreciation.

"No matter what, at least you have the grace that an upper class person should have, and you can also understand things. Today's little guys, even those who can do the above two points are pitiful. It seems... I can do it after all. I have some expectations for Europe in the future." Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, the Duke frowned slightly, "Are you planning to go back today?"

"If possible, I would like to learn more from you." Charles replied with a smile.

"If you spend half a day traveling and only get one or two hours of charity, it would seem that I am too unkind..." The Duke smiled coldly, "Now that you have got my Then you will get a decent reception at my place, little one. As it happens, I have another guest coming to visit in the evening. You can leave until tomorrow, of course, if you have other arrangements. If..."

"I will completely follow your schedule." Charles replied quickly.

"I don't think you will be disappointed by this." Under the dim light in the room, the Duke's smile looked a little strange, as if he was expecting something, which made Charles feel slightly curious.

"Since you are from France, I have something to ask you." Before Charles could start to ask, the Duke suddenly changed the subject.

"Oh, feel free to ask." Charles nodded.

"How is Soult doing now?" A strange smile suddenly appeared on the Duke's majestic and wrinkled face, "I heard that he seems to be seriously ill recently?"

"Yes, you are right. His health has indeed not been good recently." Charles nodded and honestly admitted the other party's question - there was no need for him to lie to the Duke for such a thing. "The doctors said he probably wouldn't survive the winter... It's really a little sad."

"Hahahaha, he has been beaten by me all his life, and in the end he can't even survive me!"

After hearing what Charles said, the Duke did not look sad or melancholy. Instead, his smile grew thicker. That iconic, extremely sharp sarcastic sneer even made Charles feel for Soult. Some are aggrieved.

For an old man, he would probably behave like this when he heard that an old rival would die before him.

During the Spanish Peninsular War, he led the Anglo-Portuguese allied forces, often defeating the French army despite being at a disadvantage in terms of equipment and strength. Several famous French generals, including Junod, Marshal Massena and Soult, They all became defeated by his men.

That was the most glorious achievement in his life, apart from the pinnacle of Waterloo.

However, in history. Although Soult died in 1851, before the Duke of Wellington. But the Duke only lived for one more year - next year, the old man in front of Charles will also be called by God. Returning to the loess with his life legend, achievements, honors and even history itself.

However, of course, Charles would not talk to this old man about such a disappointing thing.

As if he saw Ciel's embarrassment, the old man laughed mischievously for a long time, until finally he stopped slightly out of breath. "However, to be honest, Sirte is a very good person. Although we have been at odds with each other in the past, it was just because of our positions. The result is disappointing. Time will erase us together, and finally let you guys Guys come to dominate two great countries."

After the Napoleonic Wars, the two commanders and dukes, the most powerful military politicians after Napoleon, did not disappear from the stage of history, but continued to strongly influence the entire Europe. In the 1930s, the two of them each came to power in Britain and France. As a result, it was one of the best periods for British-French relations.

The two of them had nothing but contempt and hatred for each other. After all, deep down in my heart, I'm afraid there is some sympathy for each other.

Even if the heroes are gone, we will still work hard to protect their cause. Charles replied respectfully, "Marshal Soult approves of reconciliation between England and France." He also hopes that we will continue to work to preserve this reconciliation - and, no doubt, we naturally want to maintain it. "

"Yes. Reconciliation, that's all we want." The Duke nodded. Then he sighed, "There has been enough blood between Britain and France. It would be a good thing if we could stop fighting each other - as long as you can understand the value of reconciliation, then we will too Also in return for reconciliation. As for what you think, Britain doesn't care. In fact, I don't care. By the way, have they talked about war with you? "

"War?" Charles hesitated, not knowing whether to reveal his conversation with the Prime Minister.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

As one of Britain's previous decision-makers, he must not have known anything about Britain's decision to use the last resort to prevent the Russians from expanding their power.

"Forget it, needless to say, what else could it be? You all like war because you don't have to go to the battlefield. No matter it's here or there, if no one stops you, you even want to give up the entire horizon. Burn." Before Charles could answer, the Duke sneered, as if he could see something from Charles's expression. "What else can war be in the eyes of you little guys?"

"Of course we don't like war, but if we have to fight, of course we can only muster the courage to fight." Ciel bowed and replied calmly. "If Britain and France join hands, I believe that at this moment, no force on earth can compete with it - whether in Europe or elsewhere. Therefore, in a war, we will naturally Glory can be pursued.”

and, the power to dominate other people and other countries.

"Oh, glory! Dream! Of course you can talk so wildly! You have never seen the dripping blood all over the ground, so thick that it can dye the earth red; you have never seen broken arms and limbs, and the injured are in extreme pain. Wailing, but can only walk helplessly towards the arms of death; you are even less able to I have seen the horror of corpses strewn across the fields. There are dead people everywhere you look, and you can’t tell who is British and who is French... You little guys, you have never seen anything. Of course you can sing a high note, anyway, you Just watch others die!" The Duke suddenly sneered, as if thinking of it. As if he had something to say, his eyes shone with some indescribable brilliance, "Listen, my military career is older than many of your comrades. I am older than anyone in the world now." I am qualified to say that in war, people can find neither dreams nor glory - that is all lies Children's stuff... Over there, I can only see endless death, and I can only see the servants of death singing in the midst of miserable cries! Sir, as an old man, I hope you can listen to this sentence. People who easily plunge their country into war are extremely irresponsible people.”

Duke Wellington's sudden exclamation made Charles a little confused.

Did he want to hint that I should not go around fanning the flames and causing trouble just because I have some support from the British? Or does he feel that directly using force to intervene in Eastern Europe or the Near East and repel Russia is not the best option in the near future?

Charles was confused about what he meant, but he knew in his heart that he should not discuss this matter too deeply with the retired Duke, otherwise the British government would definitely not be happy.

Who likes the elders to point fingers at them all day long?

"You... your insights are very profound." In the end, he decided to deal with the Duke's words with a polite remark. "I will carefully refer to your suggestions, just like the British government. Please rest assured that I am not keen on war, just like the President. We like peace and are willing to do our best to help any peace-loving power maintain peace in Europe..."

"Humph, hahahaha, it seems that you still don't take it to heart..." The Duke sneered again, then shook his head slightly, "I can see that you are not humble at all, let alone gentle... You look down on people, but you are just patiently dealing with fools... It doesn't matter, as a senior, I can understand your thoughts. Wasn't I the same when I was young? Isn't the tragedy of the strong that they must take into account the thoughts of fools? But you don't need to behave like this in front of me. It's just an insult to me and yourself-the upper class should have their own way of communicating, right?"

Charles frowned slightly. "I am willing to listen to all your teachings."

"Listen, what I want to say is very simple." The Duke glanced at Charles coldly, as if he was not moved by his humility at all. "Since you think the reconciliation between Britain and France is so important, then in the future, no matter at any time, don't be smart and start a war between the two great nations.

We are all too brave and too strong, so we will only be exhausted when the blood is about to run out - and not even then! In Waterloo, I watched nearly 100,000 people die in front of me in a day or two. What about the next war? What about the next war? How many people will die? Hundreds of thousands or millions? I only know one thing..."

The Duke stared at Charles and let out a long breath, "That is, no one will get any benefit from it. When all this is over, the empire that you spent a few hours to rob and the empire that I spent a few hours to save will all be lost in a few hours. In that kind of war, defeat is not much more tragic than victory, and everything will be wiped out...including you!" (To be continued...)