Flowers, Swords and France

In the oppressive atmosphere of roaring clouds, the Russian Empire's Foreign Minister, Count Neserrodie, although he was very shocked by this sudden ultimatum, he still refused without hesitation any of the conditions put forward by the French ambassador and rejected this issued an ultimatum and required the ambassador and embassy staff to immediately obtain diplomatic passports and leave the Russian border. This is a common diplomatic principle. Once the two countries enter a state of war, the other party's diplomats cannot be detained.

The French have French reasons, and the Russians have Russian morals. Then, the situation is very clear. The two countries can only decide who is right and who is wrong by fighting with swords and guns.

When he was sternly rejected by the count, the French ambassador did not appear surprised. He politely said goodbye to the minister and left. The old count also stood up straight and watched the ambassador leave his official residence.

After the initial anger passed, he had regained his usual composure. Although he said nothing, he gave people a fearless feeling, showing the demeanor of an old-school diplomat.

As he said, he had seen with his own eyes Napoleon Wellington and other superstars of that generation, so he would not be afraid of any storms coming.

After the ambassador left, silence returned to the official residence. The ambassador walked back to his office, silently re-cleaned the official documents on the table, then raised his head and looked at the night scene outside the window. At this time, night has fallen, and Petersburg is still peaceful at night. The lights have begun to light up outside, reflecting in the quietly flowing Neva River, showing the charm of this city.

God, please let this peace remain in Russia. The minister thought silently, then he rang the bell on the table and called his secretary in.

"Prepare the carriage. I want to enter the palace to meet His Majesty." He said in a tone that could not hear any fluctuations. "Go and inform the ministers who are still in Petersburg and ask them to enter the palace as soon as possible to attend important meetings."

"Yes." Although His Excellency the Minister's request was strange, and it definitely indicated that something big had happened, years of good training allowed the secretary to immediately nod in agreement without even raising a question, and then left the room.

The minister turned around again, walked slowly to the window, and looked at the night scene outside the window, as if he wanted to imprint this scene in his heart.

He knew that he was destined to have no sleep tonight, and that tomorrow, the whole of Petersburg would know that Russia would face a battle that was destined to be difficult.

And it must be won.

The sudden panic in Petersburg had not yet reached Paris. The city was still immersed in the lazy and cool dusk of summer.

In the residence of His Excellency Minister Charles de Treville, His Majesty the Emperor of the Austrian Empire was still lingering there, discussing national affairs with Charles. When Charles told him that France would submit an ultimatum to Russia, His Majesty the Emperor was very angry. However, after the initial shock, he had forgotten his original anger at least on the surface, and adopted a calm and pragmatic attitude. The French minister continued to talk about future cooperation.

For the emperor, what has happened is irreversible, and it is more important to face the future.

While His Majesty the Emperor was discussing with Charles, his fiancée was not idle either. At this time, she was following the hostess Charlotte, teasing the other party's two children.

The two children are both boys. The older one is nearly two years old and can already say some phrases in a baby voice, while the younger one is only a few months old and can only accept the crowd's attention as a baby.

These two children, one with blond hair and blue eyes, the other with black hair and purple eyes, looked very different in appearance, but they were both very cute, so the princess immediately fell in love with them as soon as they met and kept teasing them. Can't put it down.

"Your Highness!" Under Charlotte's guidance, Clovis called out to the princess in a clear childish voice.

"Don't call him Your Highness, it's really uncomfortable. Just call me Auntie." The princess smiled and wiped his smooth face, "It's a pity that I didn't bring you a gift today..."

"You are still so young, it is too inappropriate to call you aunt." Charlotte answered with a smile, "You are almost like his sister."

"This is really embarrassing..." The princess blushed slightly, "I'm already getting married, so I'm still young."

Embarrassed, she looked to the side, and suddenly realized that someone seemed to be observing her.

After noticing her gaze, the other party immediately retracted his gaze, and then teased the purple-eyed child next to him.

Her Royal Highness the Princess was stunned for a moment. She knew that this person was the sister of the minister, but she was very confused. It was obviously the first time that the two met, why the other party seemed a little cold to her and was secretly observing her.

However, there happened to be something I could ask her to do.

Just at this time, Lady Charlotte left the children and seemed to supervise the servants in preparing dinner, and Her Royal Highness the Princess also took the opportunity to get close to Fran without leaving a trace.

Fran also felt the princess approaching, and she quickly looked at her again, "Your Highness?"

"Ms. de Treville, hello." The princess greeted her politely, and then asked a little nervously, "Excuse me, do you...do you have any opinion about me? Did I do something to embarrass you? Since I came here just now, I felt that you seemed to be really observing me, and...and you didn't seem particularly happy. Did I cause you any trouble unintentionally? If so, I think I need to apologize to you, please tell me..."

"You...you are really perceptive." Fran was a little surprised. She didn't expect the other party to be so sensitive.

Her Royal Highness's attitude was very polite, but there was also some toughness hidden in it, and Fran could certainly hear it.

"I have no ill will towards you, Your Highness. Today is the first time we meet, and you couldn't have done anything to harm me before." She continued as modestly as possible, "I'm just a little curious about you..."

"Curious?" The princess was even more puzzled, "What am I curious about?"

"You are the future queen of the Austrian Empire. Just because of this, I am very curious about you, because the social circles have talked a lot about you, and most of them are praising you..." Fran replied in a low voice, "So it's not strange that I'm a little curious about you, right? What's more, let's forget about other people, even my brother praised you after seeing you in Austria. I know him, he is definitely not the kind of person who likes to brag, so this has increased my curiosity."

"So... So that's it." The princess sighed.

It seems that talking about her everywhere has aroused her jealousy? That's right, these noble ladies with superior family backgrounds are all arrogant. Seeing how beautiful she is, she must be praised by everyone, so after hearing the rumors about herself, she will feel dissatisfied and hostile. The princess thought.

This kind of "hostility" really made her feel a little absurd. Because she never expected to be the focus of others' attention.

"So now you see it, right? The rumors against me are all exaggerated. The person standing in front of you is just an ordinary person who is confused and shy." She smiled bitterly, "She really doesn't deserve too much attention from others. She just wants to live a quiet life."

"If a person can get such a status as you and still think like this, then she is definitely not an ordinary person." Fran shook her head and complimented the other party instead, "Your sobriety proves that you deserve the title of queen. What's more, you have such beauty..."

However, although she complimented the other party, she was still a little dissatisfied in her heart. She felt that her appearance would never lose to the other party. Considering that her brother prefers blondes and blue eyes, she should be even better-if Her Royal Highness knew that she actually had such thoughts in her heart, I'm afraid she would be even more amused.

"I am ashamed of your compliments. Please don't say such things to me again. Whether in Austria or in France, such compliments have enveloped me and made me breathless. I hope you can treat me like a normal friend." Her Royal Highness became serious again, "By the way, I have another thing to ask you, a personal matter."

Personal matters to ask me? Fran was a little surprised, but she agreed immediately.

"Please go ahead."

Under her gaze, Her Royal Highness rummaged around in her body, and then took out a small purse from her body. Then, she looked at the surrounding scene, and after making sure that no one was looking at her, she took something out of the purse.

The golden light immediately pierced Fran's eyes.

This is a pocket watch.

After a moment of confusion, Fran immediately understood-isn't this the pocket watch that her brother used to use?

This is...

"This is a gift your brother gave me when he was in Austria." The princess whispered, "Although I am grateful for his gift, I think... with my status, it is best not to accept gifts from others in private, especially a gift from a foreign minister."

When Charles was about to say goodbye to Austria, he finally found an opportunity to meet the princess privately for a few minutes in Schönbrunn Palace. After expressing his enthusiasm, Charles gave her his pocket watch as a gift and said that it was a token of trust. If the princess needs help in the future, just tell him.

And this gift has always been a source of uneasiness for Her Royal Highness. She instinctively knew that she should not accept such a gift, so after arriving in Paris, she wanted to return the gift.

Considering the reputation of the minister and herself, she could neither send it back in a public manner nor send it back in a private meeting between the two of them, so now, Miss de Treville is probably the best candidate.

"So... I want to ask you to do me a favor and return this pocket watch to him, and tell him that I am very grateful for his kindness, but I really can't accept this kindness. I just want to ask him to continue to work on the friendly exchanges between the two countries in the future. This is the greatest help to me." Taking this opportunity, the princess finished this sentence at a very fast speed, and then handed the pocket watch to Fran.

Has it come to this? You are amazing!

Fran was very surprised, and a little annoyed.

Although her brother had said several times that he admired the princess, she had never thought that he would be so bold.

She was so angry that she didn't know what to say.

"Miss?" the princess asked curiously.

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

Under her gaze, Fran finally came to her senses.

Now was not the time to be angry.

"You'd better not do this." She shook her hand and rejected the princess's request. "Since he said this to you, it means that he may have other intentions. You'd better keep it. I can't be the middleman. If you insist on returning it, you can return it directly to him."

"This... this is embarrassing." The princess hesitated.

Under the current situation, she certainly couldn't meet the young minister privately, and she instinctively felt that it would be even worse if she went through the other party's wife.

While she was still hesitating, footsteps were heard in the corridor. She looked up and saw that her fiancé and the minister were walking towards her. She had no choice but to put the pocket watch back immediately.

Just after she put it back, His Majesty Franz-Joseph came over.

Her Royal Highness found that the emperor had a serious face, as if he had encountered something serious.

"What's wrong?" She walked to the emperor and asked in a low voice.

"We have to prepare to go back as soon as possible." The emperor replied coldly, as if he was still angry, "As fast as possible."

"Why? Isn't this in line with etiquette?" The princess was very surprised.

The emperor had a gloomy face and whispered a few words in his fiancée's ear.

"Oh my God." Her Royal Highness opened her eyes wide, and then looked at Charles with a complicated expression.

Is it this group of people who started a war while talking and laughing? Do they really understand what the consequences will be? Or do they really care?

Charles was calm at this time. He smiled and nodded to the princess, as if he had returned to Schönbrunn Palace.

"Let's have dinner first, Your Majesty. The road ahead is long, and we should replenish our energy at any time so that we can face various crises, right?"

……………………

In the early morning of the next day, the atmosphere of Paris, which was originally jubilant because of Queen Karona's birthday celebration, suddenly changed. As soon as the citizens took to the streets, they found that there were soldiers patrolling everywhere on the streets, and the air seemed to be full of gunpowder.

Was there a new coup? People were all in doubt.

However, no one was in the mood to answer their questions.

At this time, His Majesty Emperor Napoleon III, with his trusted ministers, came to the Bourbon Palace, and here, the emergency meeting of the Imperial Legislative Group had been held.

These parliamentarians who were directly summoned were still confused at this time, and some were even sleepy, obviously still not recovered from the recent enjoyment.

The predecessor of the Legislative Corps was the National Assembly of the Republic, but after the coup, the Bonaparte family rebuilt the empire, and the first move of His Majesty the Emperor to centralize power was to attack the parliament.

He rebuilt the Senate, placed a large group of cronies in it, and used the Senate to divide the power of the National Assembly. Then he stipulated that the Legislative Corps had no right to review the government's budget item by item, and could only pass or oppose it as a whole - in fact, it had no right to oppose.

At the same time, he stipulated that the positions of members of the Legislative Corps were unpaid - engaging in politics is actually a very expensive profession. No salary means that these members of the Legislative Corps must rely on the government, otherwise there will be no government support and allowances. In other words, he turned the Legislative Corps into his royal tool.

Under his series of efforts, the originally unruly National Assembly - that is, the current Legislative Corps - has become the royal tool of His Majesty the Emperor. As long as the imperial government puts forward a budget request, it will basically be passed.

Of course, even if it is a royal tool, it must put on the facade of the parliament. The imperial government needs this rubber stamp to endorse its adventurous actions.

Under the watchful eyes of the public, the emperor walked up to the podium of the parliament, and then faced his puppet parliamentarians with an arrogant attitude.

"Members of the empire!" He directly stated his purpose, "Today there is a special government bill, I hope you can pass it as soon as possible, that is... emergency funding for the Russian war."

"Oh?!" After hearing the words of His Majesty the Emperor, the parliamentarians were surprised.

Although the relationship between the empire and Russia is very bad, there seems to be a sign of improvement recently. They did not expect that they would go to war so quickly.

"At this moment, the Russians are marching towards Europe. With their grim determination, they are carrying out their eternal evil ambitions, attempting to gradually devour the whole of Europe." His Majesty the Emperor continued, "After painful consideration, I realized that we cannot make these people give in with rational declarations of peace, nor can we use moral persuasion to make them give up their endless ambitions, so... In desperation, we can only use the last resort to stop this boundless evil. Yes, we love peace, but when danger comes, we will never retreat! I firmly believe that our country's military traditions and brave officers and soldiers We will definitely be able to defend France and the whole of Europe. As long as we can show the old spirit and pick up our swords again, no one can stop us. "

He raised his head, looked at all the parliamentarians, and then shouted loudly, "Now, our country is facing the most critical moment. I need every citizen to stand up and fulfill their obligations to defend the motherland. Today I don’t know any Bonapartists or orthodox people. I only know French people! Please tell me, are you willing to contribute everything for France? ! "

The parliamentarians who have woken up, of course, understand that this is the unquestionable decision of His Majesty the Emperor.

The venue suddenly became jubilant, and some parliamentarians who were originally very supportive of the empire immediately raised their hands, as if they were old soldiers who saw Emperor Napoleon.

"Long live France! Long live the empire! Long live the emperor!"