Flowers, Swords and France

It was another bright morning. The current Prime Minister of the Kingdom of France, the Duke of Dalmatia, came to the Tuileries Palace at the summons of His Majesty the King, waiting for His Majesty the King's summons.

It was rare to receive an active summons from His Majesty the King, but the old Prime Minister did not feel happy. On the contrary, he even felt a little uneasy.

The current situation cannot but make him worried.

In parliament, his opponents are almost united and are working intensively to push for a vote of no confidence in the cabinet. Unfavorable rumors about him abound inside and outside the government, and they are devouring his little remaining reputation every moment. There is no doubt that his position is in tatters.

Why does this happen?

The old prime minister himself also conducted deep reflection. In the final analysis, France is currently in too much chaos, with constant natural disasters and lackluster domestic and foreign affairs. The Prime Minister himself is stuck for various reasons and has no good way to solve the problem. As a result, everyone is now distracted and wants some big changes.

Therefore, even this old marshal, who has experienced many battles, now feels that it will be difficult to survive this difficulty.

But it doesn't matter, at least he can hold on a little longer until he falls with that person, he secretly made up his mind. At this moment, the hatred he felt for all other enemies of the dynasty combined was not as strong as this former colleague and subordinate.

"Are you okay? Mr. Prime Minister." The middle-aged man who asked the question was wearing a palace dress. He was elegant and courteous. His smile was very kind and kind. His hair was even powdered, and he looked like a standard courtier. "Your Majesty is waiting for you to come in."

The son of Count Dillion, his Lord Privy Seal, it was this Viscount who came over to inform the Prime Minister that day, and then the Prime Minister learned that his Foreign Secretary was planning to oust him. For this reason, the Prime Minister nodded kindly to him, and then asked in a low voice. "How is your Majesty feeling today?"

The other party still had that formulaic friendly smile. "Your Majesty is in a good mood today."

Then, the two people walked slowly towards the king's study.

"Remember what I told you last time?" In the deserted corridor, the Prime Minister following the Viscount suddenly asked.

When little Dilion came to visit last time, the Prime Minister promised him a lot of benefits, hoping to let him win over his father. As a result, it had been a long time, but there was still no response from the other party, so the Prime Minister wanted to Ask about progress.

"What did you say?" The voice was still so gentle, without any fluctuation.

"Have you...did you forget?" The Prime Minister was a little surprised by his attitude.

"What did you say?" The Viscount turned his head slightly, the smile on his face still so perfect. The demeanor of the Louis XIV era seemed to be completely revived in this middle-aged man.

In an instant, the Prime Minister understood that his plan had failed, and the family had become the opposite of him.

"Very good." He nodded slightly, then continued walking behind him without speaking again.

There was no doubt or even anger in his heart at this moment, only a kind of calm. Since an old fox like old Dilion dares to stand aside now, it means that there is no room for recovery. That is to say...

He slowly raised his head and stared at the door at the end of the corridor.

This is probably the last scene. I really hope to see what kind of performance it is. He suddenly sneered in his heart.

The door opened.

The person opposite happened to cast his gaze over, and when his eyes met the Prime Minister's, His Majesty the King's face showed a calm expression.

Little guy, just pretend! A trace of disdain flashed in his heart. However, on the surface, he still saluted calmly as usual.

"His Majesty."

"My dear Duke, I summoned you here today to ask you something." There was no expression on the king's face. "Can you answer me truthfully?"

For a king to use such a term of endearment speaks only of alienation rather than respect.

"Of course, this is my obligation." The Prime Minister's words were very respectful, but the slight sneer in conjunction with them seemed to be mocking.

His Majesty the King did not dwell on the Prime Minister's attitude. "There's been a lot of accusations against you lately."

"Yes, but those are basically untrue," the Prime Minister replied casually. "There are many people who hope to undermine the political ax and your prestige by slandering me."

He didn't expect to change the outcome, he just wanted to see how the other party performed the play well.

"Is it just slander?" A sneer appeared on the king's face, and then he picked up the materials in his hand. "Your accusation of embezzling public funds is not just slander, right? At least, in my opinion, the Ministry of Finance's investigation of the flow of funds is very rigorous..."

The Prime Minister also sneered.

"But does it matter? What if I vehemently deny the accusations?"

The king frowned slightly, obviously very dissatisfied with the Prime Minister's attitude. "Of course you can deny it, and you have the right to do so. But...if it is true, you should take responsibility, right?"

The Prime Minister still stood indifferently, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

"What do you have to say about the death of the Duchess of Praslan?" His Majesty the King continued to ask, "Duchart told me that you had accepted a bribe from the Duke to conceal the murder of his wife. "

The Prime Minister was taken aback when he heard the name. He actually stood over there?

"I am doing this to make a deal with him and ask him to reveal his accomplices."

"But you still accepted the bribe and then hid it for him, didn't you?" The king lowered his gaze. "This was a fault regardless."

"How big a mistake?" The Prime Minister said with a hint of provocation in his tone.

"A fault that will discredit you." The king replied coldly. "I can tell you that M. Guizot has told me that he has found witnesses and evidence..."

"That is to say, if I don't give up the throne to him, he will use this weapon to discredit me, right?" The Prime Minister sneered, "Even if the purpose of doing this is to maintain your dynasty? Even if I do this to protect your dynasty? Did I put in so much effort to maintain your dynasty before?"

"I don't want that to happen," the king replied. "I really, really don't want it. This is not a good thing for everyone's reputation, so..."

His subtext is obvious - I hope you quietly resign and step down. As long as you do this, everything can be treated as if it didn't happen, including corruption and anything else.

"You know better than anyone else, don't you? These are nothing, everyone would do this, right? You just want me to leave here!" The Prime Minister's voice became stern. "You hate me, you're afraid of me."

The king was silent.

"Not only these problems," the king looked away, "you privately sent someone to monitor your colleagues. Isn't this also an extremely inappropriate behavior? The person you appointed has confessed everything to his superior..."

The blood on the Prime Minister's old face became even less coloured, and he felt a little dizzy.

Even he betrayed and turned against himself.

Really...well done.

That young face flashed through his mind, with a serious expression and full of ambition, much like himself at that time.

Well done, well done, neat betrayal.

The king said no more, leaving the prime minister to stand silently.

The study fell silent again.

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

I don’t know how long it took before the Prime Minister’s voice sounded again.

"You don't dare look at me, do you?"

There was no answer, and the Prime Minister did not wait for one.

"You are afraid of me, you hate me, but you have been trying to hide it for many years. Just like you were afraid of the third estate, but you tried your best to dress yourself up as the third estate! Ridiculous, extremely ridiculous!" The Prime Minister suddenly laughed. stand up. "You are just a dabbler, both you and your father. You want to play the role of a revolutionary but you don't have the courage, you want to play the role of a [***] but you don't have the cruelty! You are a mediocre person who likes to talk. But I have very few talents, I am so ambitious but I have no courage! Danton praised you, but you turned around and fled France; Bourbon tolerated you, but you turned around and destroyed it! You are such a person, but you try your best to play a great big shot in front of me, pretending to be like Napoleon! Like...hahahaha!"

[Louis-Philippe followed his father in speculating on the revolution in the early stages of the French Revolution. He became an active "revolutionary" and was encouraged and commended by Danton, one of the revolutionary leaders. But at the most horrific and bloody stage, he fled France in 1793, and a few months later his father was guillotined by the revolutionary government. 】

Ha ha ha ha!

As the Prime Minister laughed, the King's face became increasingly ugly.

"That's enough..." He slapped the table, "That's enough!"

The Supreme Being stood up and glared at the Prime Minister. "I knew you had been despising me... What I hate most about you is this. I can't stand you anymore, and I don't want to fall out with you, but I can at least make you leave!"

"It's not just you that I despise," the Prime Minister still smiled, "but all of you who only know how to talk."

"So please leave!" the king almost shouted.

This was probably the first such heart-to-heart conversation between the two, and it would certainly be the last.

"Of course I will leave," the Prime Minister replied coldly. "I just don't know how much longer you can sit here."

After saying that, he turned around and prepared to leave.

"By the way, I also want to thank you. This may be the first time I have the opportunity to tell you what's in my heart." He suddenly thanked you softly.

Then he ignored the somewhat angry king and strode away.

……………………

Looking at the stumbling old man, Viscount Dilion gracefully stretched out his hand to help, but was thrown away by him.

"Keep this hand, sir. One day you will need it to grab a lifeline." He pointed out something, but seemed to say nothing. "Now, I am a republican, and you..." His sneer made the Viscount shudder. "You will soon become a republican, yes, very soon."

Then he continued walking forward.

In this way, he walked forward slowly, his demeanor still as upright as when he came. He did not seem to be a prime minister who was about to submit his resignation to the king soon.

He turned a blind eye to the exquisite architecture and sculptures of the palace. He just looked ahead. Everything came into view, but nothing was seen.

Louis XVI issued an edict here, declaring himself a constitutional monarch; Napoleon issued an edict here, announcing his abdication; the Bourbons issued an edict here, giving up the throne to Louis Philippe, and he was aware of all the changes. Have experienced it, witnessed it, participated in it.

Now, he will witness the history of this palace for the last time.

"In the world, among all the farewells, there is no more painful thing than saying goodbye to power."

[This was said by Prince Talleyrand, the greatest political speculator in France, who died in 1838. He enjoyed great honor during his lifetime and survived several dynasties. 】

This sentence echoed in his mind again.

Then the Prime Minister couldn't help laughing again.

You are right, it's a pity that you died too early.

And I...

The Prime Minister finally turned back and looked at the gorgeous palaces behind him.

I will witness the demise of this court with my own eyes, just like those dynasties that come and go.

He turned back again and left the palace, and he never entered it again.

This is the end of an era. The great and passionate generation who participated in the Great Revolution in person eventually followed his footsteps and left the highest stage of France.

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