Flowers, Swords and France

Charles did not just casually agree to Andrei Bezukhov's request and then forget about it. When he came to the office the next day, he directly summoned his secretary to his office.

"I want to clarify one thing."

"Sir, I have sorted out the official business. You can deal with it according to the urgency." The secretary thought he was lazy, so he suggested to him, "Here, the ambassadors' reports are the most important. You can review those reports first, and I can handle other official documents for you."

"Thank you, but it doesn't matter. When I was in the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of the Army, I dealt with more things every day. This is nothing." Charles waved his hand, "I want to ask you another official question."

"Please ask." The secretary blinked, obviously a little surprised.

"We can issue passports to our citizens, right?" Charles lowered his voice intentionally, "Then do I have the power to issue it?"

"Of course you do." The secretary looked at Charles with a puzzled look, "Our subordinate departments can issue passports to our countrymen who need to go abroad, and you, as their boss, of course have more power to do so."

"Oh, I see." Charles nodded, and then lowered his voice, "Then, can I issue French passports to foreign citizens?"

Because this was really scary, the secretary couldn't help but open his eyes wide. "Sir, you...how can you issue French passports to foreigners?"

"Can't I?" Charles didn't seem to be intimidated by his opposition, "Then is it theoretically impossible, or practically impossible?"

"Sir...Sir..." Perhaps because he didn't know how to persuade Charles, the secretary hesitated a little, "Sir...don't do this, it will cause diplomatic disputes, and it won't benefit anyone."

"In other words, I can actually do it, but it may cause controversy?" Charles seemed to understand.

"Yes... that's true, sir." The secretary hesitated for a moment. Finally, he nodded dejectedly, "This will cause you trouble, so, in order to avoid trouble. You... don't do this kind of thing."

As Charles thought, in this era, countries do not have household registration files that cover every place, nor do they have a powerful computer system that can store information about every citizen, and they don't even have photography technology. Therefore, it is not difficult for him to issue French passports to people from other countries. It can even be said that it is very simple. As long as the person holding the passport does not take the initiative to report it, then he can play the role of a Frenchman with peace of mind.

As long as he holds a French passport, this foreigner can use his new identity to travel freely in his country, and then leave his country to go to other places-such as France.

In other words, Count Bezukhov has taken Charles's line, and basically he can use this method to send anyone he wants to rescue out of Russia. Without taking much risk.

"I understand. Thank you for your reminder." Charles has figured out these things. "Make arrangements this afternoon and call the relevant person in charge to come to me. I may need him to help me issue a few passports."

"Issuing passports? To whom?" The secretary was shocked.

"If nothing goes wrong, it will probably be to a few Russians." Charles answered gently, as if he didn't think there was anything wrong. "But when the passports are in their hands, they will probably be French."

"Sir!" The secretary's face was a little anxious. "I suggest you don't do this kind of thing... This kind of thing is harmful to you and the country."

Amid his anxious persuasion, Charles's face slowly changed.

"You mean, I need you to explain to me what is good for the country?"

"No... Sir. That's not what I mean..." The secretary was a little panicked.

After all, a higher-ranking official can crush a person, and he didn't have much room to argue with Charles.

"I don't think you have either." Charles sneered. "I can now define what is national interest. So, now, I ask you to follow my orders. If you feel that you cannot execute them, then you can choose to refuse, and I can find someone who is willing to execute them."

Yes, he did intend to do a favor for Count Bezukhov, whom he had not yet met. This was not only because he could get a bribe from him, but more importantly, according to Andre, his father wanted to shelter several people who opposed the Russian government - from the actual situation, it should be true, otherwise he would not have offered such a high price.

Since he has decided to deal with the Russians, it is not a bad thing to have more "like-minded" friends.

He was not afraid of the matter being exposed. Anyway, such things could be denied flatly. If it didn't work, he could just push it off as "work mistakes of relevant departments". Anyway, the Russians had no way to run to Paris to do anything to him.

Seeing that Charles's reprimand was so severe, the secretary's spirit instantly relaxed. As a government employee, he really did not have the courage to confront Mr. Treville.

"Sir, I think... I think you are right. You can define national interests and act in accordance with national interests." His tone softened quickly. "However, I require that in this matter, when I and others follow orders, I need to record it in the files of the Ministry, so that we can have evidence in the future."

"Okay." Charles understood that this was the secretary's last resort to protect himself. He was afraid that if the incident came to light, Charles would put all the blame on them.

"Okay, sir, I'll do it for you in the afternoon." The secretary calmed down and finally regained his composure. "By the way, sir, your Excellency the Minister's secretary notified me this morning and asked you to take time to see him in the morning."

Ciel was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses immediately. He probably knew why the other party called him.

"Okay, I understand, go down."

After the secretary left, Charles flipped through the official documents sent to him by the ambassadors from various places, then got up and left the office, heading to the minister's office.

"Oh, Charles, please sit down!" The old foreign minister, Marquis Turgot, smiled and nodded after seeing Charles.

After Charles sat down, he slowly and leisurely lit a cigar for himself. "Char, you have given me a difficult problem recently."

"I'm extremely ashamed. But may I ask where I have made things difficult for you?" Charles looked at the other party in confusion, "Please tell me, and I will try my best to correct it."

"You recently received the Russian ambassador at your home, right?" The minister looked at him seriously, "I heard that you had a quarrel with him and made him angry?"

"We do have differences on some issues, sir." Charles replied very cautiously, "It is indeed a pity."

"Charle, in the diplomatic community, you can have disagreements with others. This is common." The minister took a deep breath on his cigar. "But even if you have disagreements, you should talk and laugh with others instead of quarreling. You can't do that. , This will hinder your reputation in the diplomatic community, and will further set back France’s diplomatic career.”

Charles frowned slightly. The minister's appearance of an old man lecturing a young man made him slightly displeased - although from a certain point of view, this was true.

"As far as I know, the Russians only fear strength and don't care about etiquette. If we want their respect, then we have to be tough and show that we deserve their respect. If we want to deal with the Russians, then we must be even more I couldn’t show weakness. So, I treated the Russian ambassador according to Russian rules. I thought this would not harm France’s diplomatic career.”

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Because Ciel's answer was not polite, and could even be said to be a bit arrogant, the minister frowned slightly in displeasure. But he didn't want to express his displeasure, so he reached out and stroked his graying mustache. In this way, he secretly vented his anger.

"You have just come up. Falling out with a big country is not a good thing for your job." He sighed softly, "Char, I understand your thoughts. But diplomatic work is a The door has been an art for centuries and it has its own rules and regulations."

"I admit that etiquette and rules are good things, but we also have to use them according to the occasion. We can't always say soft words to others. This will make people underestimate France's strength and determination," Charles first expressed his position. Then he smiled slightly and took the initiative to give in a little, "However, I think you are more senior than me after all and are more familiar with foreign affairs than I am. I will listen to your opinion and I will be more polite to the Russians in the future." ”

"That's right, Charles." Because he got a step up, the minister's face finally looked better. "After all, you have lived so many decades less than me, and there are always things you need to learn. I am happy to teach you everything I know. You just need to be patient. Ambassadors everywhere now think that we The two had a dispute, so they don't obey orders now. This is not a good phenomenon, Ciel."

Indeed it is.

Charles had already guessed that the Marquis of Turgot was very dissatisfied with Charles's behavior of contacting the ambassadors privately and setting up a separate mountain to do his own thing. He felt that Charles was infringing on his rights by doing so, so he deliberately wanted to use this method this time. The incident of the Russian ambassador came to knock Charles, and then extended it to the issue of Charles taking matters into his own hands. Little did he know that Ciel would reply to him so forcefully, so when he accuses him now, it seems a bit weak and not like an attack.

"Your Excellency, I am very happy to learn from your experience, and I have absolutely no dispute with you, and I have no idea of ​​​​acting on my own without going behind your back." Charles looked at the other party suddenly, "I don't know why you said ambassadors This misunderstanding has occurred, which is completely unreasonable. There are some accusations that I only interact with the ambassadors to know more about France's diplomatic career. If I know nothing about the actual situation in European countries, then I am afraid that the chance of making mistakes will be higher, and it will also be harmful to France. The diplomatic career will be more harmed, don’t you think?”

Such a neat refusal made Marquis Turgo really angry. His face suddenly became ecstatic, and the hand holding the cigar became tighter.

However, after all, he had been a diplomat for many years, so he endured it. "This is indeed an unfortunate misunderstanding, but there are indeed rumors secretly that you have to go your own way and take a radical route. I am not saying that you are radical, Charles. Conservative methods have conservative benefits, and radical methods also have radical advantages. The good thing is that sometimes being brave can work wonders. But Ciel... a country can only have one diplomatic line, otherwise they will get confused and nothing can be done. I hope you can listen to this advice."

"Thank you for your criticism, Mr. Minister." Seeing that the other party was no longer hiding, Charles also became serious, "I said that I don't intend to interfere with your diplomatic route. I am just implementing some of my own diplomatic ideas. It is a supplement to your route, not a conflict, and as far as the current situation is concerned, I think I am doing very well now."

"Causing the outside world to whisper and the Russian ambassador to be furious is not a supplement. On the contrary, it requires me to spend some energy to make up for it." The Marquis threw the cigar into the ashtray, "Besides, if you do it on your own, God knows what other countries think? I don't think they will be happy."

"Coincidentally, I think I have something that can prove what other countries think..." Charles deliberately pondered for a while, and then took out a letter from his pocket. "I received this thing today, and I would like to ask you to take a look."

"What?" Marquis Turgot took the letter from him with a puzzled look, and then was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a while, and even his face trembled slightly.

This is the diplomatic report sent by Count de-Ellomon, the French ambassador to Austria.

This report shows that Emperor Franz Joseph is going to invite the de Trevilles to visit Austria, and the formal invitation will soon arrive in Paris.

After a moment, the Marquis looked at Charles in disbelief, as if he didn't understand what he had done.

"Yes, this is really embarrassing. I just came back from England and was ordered around by the Austrians. This makes me a little tired." Charles smiled bitterly, "But I think this means that I am more popular in European countries, right? Although the Russian envoy doesn't like me very much, it seems that the British and Austrians still have a good impression of me."

Under the urging of the Trevilles, the ambassador to Austria quickly got the invitation.

However, Emperor Franz Joseph did this not only for the sake of Count de Elomon. He should have also received the information that Charles had deliberately revealed from the ambassador to the UK, so he wanted to use this to test the bottom of the French and British.

In any case, this invitation has completely refuted the Marquis's accusation that he is "unwelcome in European countries".

At least now, he is powerless to knock Charles.

"Okay, Charles." The Marquis was stunned for a moment, and finally waved his hand dejectedly, "Do it according to your idea." (~^~)