Flowers, Swords and France

As the royal palace of the Restoration and July Monarchy, the Tuileries Palace had been carefully maintained by successive kings for decades and was very luxurious. Since it became the imperial palace, in order to show the empire's generosity, the palace has been renovated in a short period of time, making it even more magnificent and luxurious.

Today, the important officials of the empire came to the palace to attend the banquet hosted by His Majesty the Emperor himself. This kind of banquet is not only an opportunity for the high-ranking officials of the empire to flatter the royal family, but also an opportunity for them to show off their status and wealth to others, so they all dressed up carefully, fearing that they would not be conspicuous.

"Mr. Minister Treville, congratulations on getting this medal! Look, what a handsome young man!"

In the magnificent hall, Charles Morny, the Minister of the Interior of the Empire and the half-brother of the Emperor of the Empire, looked at the Knight of the Bath medal on Charles' chest with envy.

The emperors of the Bonaparte family have always had a hobby of nepotism and favoring their family members. As the emperor's younger brother and confidant, he is no exception. Because he had made contributions in the previous coup, he was immediately appointed as the Minister of the Interior by His Majesty after the establishment of the empire.

This is both a reward and a security measure - the Minister of the Interior is in charge of the national police and secret agencies. Today, when the National Assembly has greatly restricted its powers, the Minister of the Interior has amazing power. Louis-Bonaparte naturally does not feel at ease that such power will fall into the hands of others.

The lesson that Fouché left for the Bonaparte family is so profound that Louis-Bonaparte can never forget it.

However, even though he is in a high position, Morny is still a little jealous of Charles, especially after this colleague gained fame throughout Europe and was awarded a medal by Her Majesty the Queen herself.

On the one hand, this is the instinctive jealousy of bureaucrats towards their colleagues, and on the other hand, of course, it comes from the instinctive jealousy of a middle-aged person towards young people.

That's right, almost every high-ranking official in the empire envied Charles de Treville, because he was so young that these middle-aged people could only face the impact of youth.

However, this jealousy did not make Morny lose his mind. He still regarded this young man as his important friend.

So he just greeted Charles with a slightly jealous and teasing tone.

"This medal is just a tool used by the British to bribe us. It is not necessarily valuable." Although Charles seemed humble on the surface, his pride was beyond words. "It's just that I happened to have a diplomatic mission at the time and left an impression on Her Majesty the Queen, so I got such an opportunity. In essence, as long as they can win us over, the British are even willing to give the devil a medal."

"So you are comparing yourself to the devil?" Morny pretended not to understand his ridicule, but laughed, "In fact, this metaphor is very appropriate."

This joke made both of them laugh, and then they walked casually to the sofa in the corner of the hall and sat down.

When the two ministers sat down and talked and laughed, although no imperial official or court attendant tried to approach them, there were already countless eyes watching their every move, guessing what the two imperial ministers were talking about secretly.

"Charles, how did you talk with the British in Calais a few days ago?" Morny asked casually after sitting down.

This middle-aged man has a slightly bald head, but because of his high position and power, he has some dignity, and he is wearing a loose

This is a diplomatic issue, which seems to have nothing to do with him, the Minister of the Interior, but Morny has always regarded himself as the chief minister of the empire, so it is natural for him to try to control information beyond his authority.

"The British have reaffirmed their determination to us." Charles did not pretend, but told the other party what should have been reported to His Majesty the Emperor. "They told me that the change of the British government will never affect Britain's established policies. They will still act according to the tacit understanding between the two countries before-"

"These British are really cunning." Morny was not surprised, but nodded calmly, "I said, they can't do without us now, they need our guns, we really should be tougher with them."

As one of the core figures of the Bonaparte dynasty, Morny has a lot of weight in the emperor's heart, and therefore has a great influence on national policies. Compared with the emperor and most of his colleagues, although he does not oppose the empire's approach to Britain, he also attaches importance to reflecting France's subjectivity-that is, he hopes to maintain France's flexibility while getting closer to Britain, or force the British to increase their bid.

His opinion was not unreasonable, so it had some influence on others. However, in the eyes of Emperor Napoleon III, the foundation of the empire was unstable at the moment, so for the stability of the domestic and foreign situation in France, the goodwill of the British was necessary, so he was more inclined to continue to promote relations with the British. The Anglo-French coal trade agreement implemented by Charles was part of his efforts.

It must be said that this trend of thought was indeed quite popular in France - in this era, the French had always been suspicious and even hateful of Britain. After all, Britain had been an enemy of France for two hundred years and was the culprit that suppressed France from dominating Europe.

"We are part of the European continent. Because of this, we must be careful in our words and deeds. There is no way to make enemies with every country at the same time." Charles shrugged, and then said carefully, "Since we have decided to make enemies with one of them, , then we have to make friends with others for the time being."

"Although you have left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you are quite the diplomat, Charles." Morny still smiled, "You can speak so convolutedly in a sentence. If you are not smart enough, you may not be able to hear it." Holy book? Okay, but I admit that you are right. Since we are going to war with the Russians, the friendship of the British is crucial. Although this friendship is not happy, it is at least comfortable. of."

Ciel looked around slightly uneasily, and after making sure that no one could hear what the two of them said, he felt relieved. Although everyone present today were officials from the empire, this kind of news could not be said out loud.

"Don't be so panicked, Charles, I know what's appropriate." Seeing Charles' slightly nervous look, Morny smiled even more. "There are some things that we just talk about in private, and no one will tell others." of people.”

Ciel heard that the other party seemed to have something to say, so he looked at the other party with some confusion, waiting for him to reveal the answer to the mystery.

"After I became the Minister of the Interior, a lot of things came to my attention. It was really overwhelming. I didn't know what to do first." Morny poured himself a sip of wine nonchalantly, "Okay. Our secret police worked well enough, and they eventually uncovered some Russian spies.”

"Russian spy?" Charles was a little surprised.

He was not surprised that the Russians deployed spies in France. This incident was not unexpected. Every country would do this to other countries. What he was surprised about was why Morny took the initiative to investigate those spies and why he would Tell yourself some news.

"Yes, we followed the clues and found out many Russian spies. The list is still on my desk." Morny replied calmly, "But of course I will not arrest them all on a whim. Just let people create a little surprise, and then try to arrest one or two people without leaving any trace, and then interrogate them personally. "

At this point, he suddenly laughed with interest, "The people who interrogated them were experts from the ministry, real experts. Their skills were very good. I never thought there were such powerful people in the police department." Experts. After seeing their skills, I feel that a dead person has to speak in front of them - if I want a confession."

This slightly cruel joke did not resonate with Ciel. He just shrugged his shoulders to express regret, and then looked at the other party with great interest. To be honest, he was also a little curious about what Morny got.

"From their mouths, we learned that the Russians are very nervous about us now. They are trying every means to collect intelligence about our country, especially about military mobilization and our personal information." Molny enjoyed this very much. The younger generation's eyes said, "Charles, of course you are also on the list that they are quite concerned about. I think the Russian government and the Tsar may already have a few inches of material on you, and many people are judging you."

"I'm honored." Charles was not surprised by this. On the contrary, he felt that this was what he should be doing, and he should enjoy this kind of treatment now.

"In addition, judging from the current attitude of the Russians, they... they may have been preparing for the worst, but they still seem to have some kind of luck." Molny still sneered, "They have no hope for us. , believe that we are hostile to them, but they don’t seem to believe that the British will directly confront them, let alone that anyone will want to travel across the ocean to fight them, so they still think they have room for action. "

"This kind of confidence is common among Russians, although I don't know where it comes from..." Charles shrugged again, "But I think it is good for us."

"Obviously it's good for us." Molny also nodded. "I will make a copy of these lists and give them to you. If you need to do something with them, then just do it directly and give it to me afterwards. Just report it.”

"Give it to me?" Charles was even more surprised, "Shouldn't it be given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"The people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are too flamboyant and high-profile. I don't like them, and they can't keep secrets." Morny shook his head, and then continued, "Besides, the current foreign minister will not last long, God knows. What will that gentleman think when he takes power?"

After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and pointed to the field.

Charles followed his line of sight and looked over, and immediately saw a middle-aged man who was chatting and laughing. This middle-aged man was dressed in very bright and gorgeous clothes, and his appearance was personable. He had a full diplomat style, but from the outline of his face, You can also see some traces from his father.

Charles knew that his name was Alexander Corona Valeves, or that he was the illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon left in Poland, a cousin that His Majesty the current Emperor could not directly recognize.

He was born in 810 in the Castle of Walewis, the son of the emperor's favorite mistress, Marie Walewska. At that time, the emperor was worshipped as a god by the Poles for helping Poland to restore its independence, so they were also respectful to this child. Although Napoleon was not convenient to publicly recognize his identity, he still gave this illegitimate son the title of Count of the Empire, and two years later he gave him a huge fortune.

But the good times did not last long. When he was still a toddler, the emperor who was originally in his prime fell under the siege of various countries. But even so, he still lived an aristocratic life.

During the Polish Revolution in 1830, he came to France, but the July Monarchy did not particularly like the son of the former emperor, so they were quite cold to him. He later joined the French army and served in Algeria for a period of time. But in 1837 he resigned from the military and finally entered the diplomatic world. The government wanted to send him away, so it first sent him to Egypt and later sent him to Argentina as an ambassador.

However, after his cousin gained the supreme power in France, his luck turned. He was soon recalled to the European continent by the French government and then appointed as an envoy to Florence. Charles also met him at that time.

Everyone knew that he would definitely be of great use in the future, so Charles was quite polite to him and made a friend.

"Do you mean that he will be in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the future?" After the initial confusion, Charles quickly calmed down.

This was not a very unexpected news for him.

"Even if it is not now, it will be so one day." Morny nodded simply, "My friend, I will tell you, His Majesty the Emperor will let him be the ambassador to London soon, and he will come back to take charge of the power after a transition."

"I understand..." Charles nodded.

"So you should understand why we have to cooperate? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot be responsible for all diplomatic affairs, especially in the hands of a pro-Russian faction." Morny explained to him with a smile.

"Pro-Russian faction? Isn't he a Pole?" Charles asked again.

"It is precisely because of his Polish ancestry that he needs to be more pro-Russian after becoming the foreign minister of the empire, because if we are not pro-Russian, no one will blame us."

That's right, aren't Chinese the most anti-China after becoming American officials? With their embarrassing identities, they must behave in a way that is blameless. Charles figured it out as soon as he thought about it.

But he also knew that Morny did this not only out of pro-Russian and anti-Russian considerations, but also to establish his position in the family-style regime of the empire - he would not allow another illegitimate child to replace his position.

"The Emperor and the Empress have arrived!" At this moment, there was another commotion outside the hall. Charles and Morny stopped talking immediately, then stood up and headed towards the door, waiting for the arrival of the couple who were at the top of the empire. (~^~)