His Excellency the Count of Grandet

Leaving this disturbing continuation of the descendant relatives in the hands of Dad, Charles went to the living room to entertain his guests.Although the scale of the banquet was not large, all the people who came were big and famous. Just now, he saw that Viscount Blanche had no way to talk to these people, so he found such a reason to politely refuse.

The Grandet father and son walked away for a few minutes, and Victor had already noticed it.Seeing Charles appear at this moment, he shook his wine glass slightly, seeing that Charles and the neighboring Duke of Orleans, Ferdinand and others finished their greetings before approaching: "What's wrong?"

Charles took the glass of wine he handed over, lowered his voice, and quickly told about the unexpected visitor.

Victor immediately snorted. "Thanks he dared to come!" Don't say that Blanche is just a viscount, even if he is a duke or even a prince, he still despises him!

"Just let him try our newly developed distilled spirits." Charles smiled. "That thing has a lot of stamina, and when he wakes up, he won't know where it is today!"

"The tone of your words made me think that you kept the wine at home just for this day." Victor also hooked the corners of his mouth, and didn't ask any more questions.He believed that Shire could deal with such a superb relative, just as he believed that he could deal with Michelle who dared to threaten him.

Thinking of this, Victor's smile became sharper, but the arc was too small to be noticed.He moved slightly closer to Shire, and whispered in the closest distance in public social situations: "Go to the next door in an hour, someone is waiting for us."

Charles was distracted by what he said, nodded slightly, and then glanced at the grandfather clock in the living room.When he looked back, he glanced at some royalists present - representatives sent by the Earl of Artois.

When this is done, they won't have to bear it anymore!

This method of communication is quite like an underground party that secretly connects, but fortunately it is still effective.The Duke of Orléans left early, as was his custom, and then Ferdinand; the Duke de Caze and Victor left with the other guests.After sending everyone away, Charles went back to his room, changed his clothes, and slipped out through the back door in the dark.

The Grandet mansion is located on a relatively bustling street in Paris, and the back door is connected to the gardens of each family.In fact, the neighbor next door was bought by Victor a long time ago, but he has never done anything leaky, so he specially found an old lady to live in.No one would have thought that it was his industry, and one of the purposes was for the concealment of things like this today.

Through the concealed iron railing door, Charles easily reached the next door.The windows looked dark from the outside, but were actually hung with several layers of heavy curtains.

On a summer night in the airtight room, with only one white candle lit on the round table, it was undoubtedly stuffy, but no one complained.A row of documents were neatly spread out on the desktop, apparently to be signed later.

"Before the first ray of dawn, it's always the darkest time!" Seeing Charles enter, someone spoke. "The last person has arrived, can we start now? Hurry up and don't be discovered by those people!"

All the people in this room are gathered for a common purpose; so it is obvious that the so-called "those people" are their common opponents, the royalists.

Charles sat down in the chair closest to him, only then did he notice that the speaker was a man of about forty or fifty, whom he had never seen before.

Because he was sitting, he could only see that the man was wearing a military uniform with a high collar, obviously a soldier.But in fact, one can judge the occupation without looking at the clothes, because even the wrinkles on the man's face appear regular and resolute, which can only be seen from years of military life at first glance.

This scrutiny is only for a moment.Because Charles drew a reasonable inference about the identity of this person in less than half a second——

Marshal Gouvion-Saint-Cyr!

If the titles of Marquis and Marquis can’t describe the status of His Majesty the Marquis, let’s go to the data—Marquis Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr started his career during the Napoleonic Wars, and after the war, he served as the chief of the 20 French army!

But because he is a liberal, and the situation was not good the year before, he chose to retire on the surface, and at the same time resigned from the position of Minister of War, and went to the small town of Hyères in southeastern France to retire.

This seems to be far away from the power struggle center like Paris, but in fact, he still controls one of the most powerful armies on the European continent!

To be able to do this kind of thing secretly requires a fast and effective message chain and real power, and of course it is inseparable from a large amount of financial support——

That's right, the financial support mentioned here is Victor; or a more precise description, Laffittes.

And in the same way, it was precisely because Victor finally got the support of the army behind the Marquis, they were able to take the lead in fighting without any scruples!

"That's for sure." Victor answered, casting a quick glance at Charles. "In fact, all the previous details have been discussed, and this is the final confirmation." He pointed at a document in front of him with his finger, "This is the final version that has been revised repeatedly based on everyone's opinions, and everyone has it."

Almost everyone looked at him for a moment, and then the Duke of Orleans beside him.Because to be honest, the republic will not be achieved for a while; as the next king to be elected, the attitude of the Duke of Orleans is naturally crucial.

But the duke still maintained his virtue of silence being golden, and his only reaction was to open the document.

This seemed to be the default, and everyone's hearts fell into their stomachs.

They looked at Victor first, naturally because Victor planned to supervise this matter from beginning to end.Logically speaking, if it succeeds, Victor is the one with the most credit, but at the same time, he is also the one with the greatest risk.However, if it really succeeds, the one who can benefit the most is undoubtedly not him, but the Duke of Orleans——

The Philip family was originally a branch of the Bourbon dynasty.According to the recognized ranking of heirs, he has to wait for two more kings to step down before he can sit on the throne of the king.It cannot be said that it is impossible for this to happen, but what Victor has done has undoubtedly brought this possibility forward by many years.

But it is naturally impossible for pies to fall from the sky.If the Duke of Orleans came to power relying on their joint efforts, then the political situation in France would definitely develop towards a constitutional system similar to that of England, that is, the king would have less and less real power.

Therefore, it is not incomprehensible if the Duke of Orleans stood up and walked away at this time.Anything can happen before it's officially signed.

But the room was silent.No one spoke, only the slight rustle of pages being turned.

The entire contract was drafted and transcribed by Victor, and no one knew him better than him.So at this moment, he didn't look at the documents, but paid attention to everyone's reactions.After he was sure that everyone had read it, he continued: "If you have any questions, please raise them now."

Everyone sat in different postures, but still no one made a sound.In that document, except for the necessary secrecy and oath, the focus is on the contingency plan and the division of interests after success.Leaving aside the contingency plan for the time being, the division of interests is what everyone cares most about.And the most important thing is the new ownership of power——

The President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Cabinet, the Duke of Decazes; the Minister of War, the Minister of the Navy, is undoubtedly the Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr; the line of Philip will be the legitimate royal family of the Bourbon dynasty; etc...

"If there is no problem after reading it, just sign your name on your copy and pass it to the person on the right." Victor said.He's happy with the situation, because no opposition is the best situation.

"Having said that, I have a question."

Everyone turned their heads in unison, and found that the first person who had an opinion was the always gentle Duke Decaz.

"No, I'm not dissatisfied with my share!" Duke Decaz immediately understood the gazes of others, and quickly explained, "I just want to ask, where is Charles?"

Charles raised his pen-holding hand and was about to fall when he was called by his name.He blinked in confusion: "Huh? I'm just a businessman, and I really don't need a government position or anything." He's only responsible for paying the money, isn't that a good arrangement?

"I'm not satisfied with this either." Before Duke Decaz could say anything, another person refuted again.

This time, without turning their heads, everyone knew who it was—the person who they were worried about going back on their words just now, but now they object because there is no place for Charles in the cabinet?

"This is different from what we said before, dear Victor." The Duke of Orleans didn't care about other people's eyes at all, and only continued what he wanted to say. "This is the most basic agreement!"

Victor broke out a big smile for the first time.

Think he forgot Shire?How is that possible?You know, as long as he has something, he will not hesitate to give it to Shire; even if he doesn't have it, he will try his best to find it for Shire!

"Of course I wouldn't make such a mistake." He said reservedly, straightening his body even more. "Charles is not there because our current king, His Majesty, can't wait to accept his order."

A trace of understanding flashed across the face of the Duke of Orleans, and he was instantly relieved.It seems that Louis XVIII had exactly the same idea... Their treasury needs someone like Charles to supervise and fill it!

The answer was so obvious that not only the Duke of Orleans, but others also guessed it in an instant.Nobody doubted that, because they couldn't think of a better choice than Shire—

"Minister of the Exchequer, my dear Charles, do you accept the appointment?"