From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"well"

As soon as he walked out of the door of the suite, the financial manager couldn't help but let out a long sigh. This sigh was long and heavy, mixed with countless helplessness and sadness.

The press secretary who came out with him couldn't help but patted his colleague on the shoulder. Both of them were officials of the royal family, so they naturally understood each other's mood and situation, and comforted him in a low voice:

"Relax, Your Majesty, His Majesty the King is not angry, His Majesty just wants to show his respect for Madame Du Barry in front of her."

"Thank you, sir, but what I'm worried about is not His Majesty's side." The financial director shook his head with a wry smile and said:

"If the hole in the relief fund is filled, the people of Paris will be..."

Although the press secretary was also a little worried about the situation of the people at the bottom of Paris, he still optimistically comforted:

"You are such a noble man, I believe there will be a solution."

In the opinion of this secretary, the royal family's wealth was almost endless, and it was only an easy matter to divert millions of livres to provide relief to the victims.

However, only the manager who actually manages the royal family's wealth knows that this is not as easy as outsiders think.

"Please forgive me for being pessimistic, sir, but it's really hard to get the chance to fill this vacancy."

The financial director did not feel better from the other party's comfort. He sighed and explained:

"According to past experience, the temperature in Paris will plummet from mid-January, and the annual winter subsidies will be distributed before then. But this year... alas, the current liquidity has been allocated to Madame Du Barry To purchase jewelry, I can’t persuade His Majesty the King to sell off some fixed assets to raise the funds, not to mention that it’s too late.”

The two walked side by side, and the financial manager continued to express his helplessness:

"I also went to the First Chancellor of Finance and asked him to allocate funds from the government budget, but as you know, the fiscal deficit, especially at the end of the year, the Chancellor of Finance does not have extra cash flow. , Unless we wait until the first batch of taxes is collected in the spring, by then we don’t know how many people will freeze to death and starve to death in Paris.”

The press secretary glanced at his colleague with deep sympathy, thought for a while and then suggested:

"By the way, I heard that the royal family still has equity in the National Silver Company. If it can be liquidated, it can completely make up for this hole."

"You mean Corsica National Silver Company?" The financial director's eyes lit up at first, but after careful consideration, he still shook his head worriedly:

"It's still very difficult. That's a stock worth millions of livres. It's not a small amount. It will take some time to realize it all. And His Excellency Bonaparte will not agree to the royal family selling off the shares of the National Silver Company at will. , That will only undermine investor confidence.”

"Perhaps you can talk to Monsignor Bonaparte?" the press secretary suggested seriously:

"I heard he's a very nice guy, maybe he'll agree."

"Okay, I will find time to visit him and try my luck." The financial manager nodded after hesitating for a moment, but he didn't seem to have much hope:

"Well, if this year's subsidies really cannot be paid, it would be a small matter if thousands of people starve and freeze to death, but it would be a big deal if it triggers a popular uprising."

About half an hour later

Madame du Barry, flushed and disheveled, walked out of the king's suite, holding on to the handle.

It can be seen that His Majesty the King not only enjoyed the snowy scenery of Paris with Madame Du Barry, but also enjoyed the great spring scenery of the next season.

After saying goodbye to Louis XV, Madame Du Barry did not return to her room. Instead, she left the Tuileries Palace with the support of her maid and stepped into a luxuriously decorated and golden car in front of the palace. Four carriages.

The coat of arms painted on the wall of the carriage is the classic inverted triangle on a white background - the coat of arms of the Richelieu family.

Of course, the Duke of Richelieu, who was under house arrest in Versailles, naturally did not come to Paris with Louis XV. The owner of this carriage was his nephew and successor, the number two figure in the Richelieu faction, the Duke of Aiguillon.

In the historical year of 1771, the Duke of Aiguillon had already begun to enjoy the fruits of the victory of the Duke of Choiseul with Chancellor Maupp, and was appointed as the Foreign Minister of France immediately after Maupp was appointed as the Chief Minister.

At this moment, although the Duke of Choiseul is still in the ascendant and shows no sign of his downfall, the Duke of Aiguillon is still famous for his noble status and outstanding political influence.

The Duke of Aiguillon smiled and pulled Madame Du Barry into the carriage:

"You are late, ma'am. I'm afraid some of our old friends are impatient with the wait."

Since Madame Du Barry rarely comes to Paris, Duke Aiguillon also wants to take this opportunity to take her to attend several salons and banquets to enhance the relationship among the faction members.

"Let them wait, huh, His Majesty the King suddenly summoned me, there is nothing I can do."

When in front of outsiders, Madame Du Barry was not at all as delicate and charming as she was around Louis XV, and her tone was extremely arrogant:

"But it's really strange today. Why did the king suddenly ask me about buying jewelry?"

"Oh? That should mean that His Majesty also learned about what happened in Paris two weeks ago." The Duke of Aiguillon was not surprised and said with an undiminished smile:

"This is not a trivial matter. After all, Paris has not had such a protest rally for many years."

"Protest rally? What happened?" Madame Du Barry was stunned for a moment and asked quickly.

She had never cared about political affairs. In the past few days, she had spent all her thoughts on how to show off the set of jewelry she just got. Naturally, like the king, she had no idea what happened some time ago. A protest rally in Paris that was quickly suppressed.

"Don't you have the habit of reading newspapers, ma'am?"

The Duke of Aiguillon was also stunned, then smiled helplessly, groped for a while in a small wooden box in the carriage, and handed a few newspaper clippings to Madame Du Barry.

The first newspaper clipping is the front page of the Observer that attacked Madame Du Barry that day. The following are subsequent interviews and reports from other newspapers on the protesters.

"I never read those rubbish tabloids." Madame Du Barry took the clipping with disgust and glanced at it casually.

However, as the words on the newspaper clipping came into her eyes line by line, Madame Du Barry soon froze in place.

Although her mind went blank, the black ink dots still stabbed into Madame Du Barry's eyes like sharp swords.

Immediately, her fingers holding the newspaper clipping trembled with anger, and she let out a siren-like scream in her throat:

"This! Who wrote this! How dare you! The money to buy jewelry was given to me by His Majesty the King. What does it have to do with the people in the slums freezing to death?! How dare they say that I care about human life and that I am cruel? Vicious, this is simply the most vicious slander and slander! My reputation, my reputation!”

Duke Aiguillon shrugged and helplessly stopped him:

"Okay, okay, madam, your voice needs to be louder so that His Majesty the King in the palace can hear you."

And Madame Du Barry’s screams showed no sign of stopping:

"Which newspaper is this! From the Observer, I want to arrest everyone in this newspaper! Emmanuel Armand, did you hear that! Everyone, I want to see everyone in this newspaper appear. In jail!"

The corners of Duke Aiguillon's mouth twitched, and he quickly spread his hands to dissuade:

"Calm down, madam. The last time we used the network of the Paris police force, we were blocked by Bonaparte. We need to calm down for at least a while."

"I don't care about this. I want everyone in this newspaper to never step out of the prison cell for the rest of their lives!"

Madame Du Barry clutched her long golden hair tightly, stared directly at the Duke of Aiguillon and screamed:

"Emmanuel Armand! If you can't even do this, don't expect me to cooperate with you anymore, and don't expect me to say good things to you people or excuse you in front of the king! "

"Okay, let me give it a try."

The Duke of Aiguillon nodded helplessly. Although Madame Du Barry had never been interested in political affairs, this woman was undoubtedly a core figure of the entire faction.

With Madame Du Barry's pillow talk in the king's ear, the members of the entire faction are equivalent to having an extra gold medal to avoid death.

Including the previous time when Count Falcone got mad and sent people to attack Lawrence's convoy, the reason why Louis XV has not received a real investigation report so far is because Lawrence deliberately wanted to keep this handle, and on the other hand On the other hand, it was also because of Madame Du Barry's obstruction that Count Falcone was able to save his life.

Between offending the Paris police force and offending Madame Du Barry, the Duke of Aiguillon wisely chose the former.

After receiving Duke Aiguillon's promise, Madame Du Barry gradually calmed down, but her violently rising and falling chest still showed her irritation and anger at the moment.

"Please calm down, ma'am."

The smile returned to Duke Aiguillon's face and he said slowly: "At least the news we got is not all bad."

Madame Du Barry leaned in the carriage as if exhausted, holding her forehead and complaining: "You'd better say some really good news."

"I will, what a wonderful news, madam." The Duke of Aiguillon smiled in a mysterious manner, and it was not until Madame Du Barry showed a hint of impatience that he continued:

"I got the news from the Louvre that Laurence Bonaparte has submitted his academic paper for defense to the French Academy of Sciences for a preliminary review by the review members. You may not know that this preliminary review before the defense It basically determines the final assessment result.”

"Then what?" Madame Du Barry asked with a frown: "What happened to the paper submitted by Bonaparte?"

"Hahahahaha, please forgive me and let me laugh for a while."

The Duke of Aiguillon laughed regardless of Madame Du Barry's disgusted expression, and after a while he continued:

"According to the committee member who revealed the information, the paper was written in a complete mess and made no sense. It is not consistent with the previous theories at all."

"really?!"

Madame Du Barry immediately turned from anger to laughter, and after a brief distraction, she also laughed along with the Duke of Aiguillon, even louder than the Duke:

"I know it, I know it! I told you earlier that Bonaparte was just bluffing. His little Corsican brain can be called a genius if he can figure out addition and subtraction. And he still wants to enter the French Academy of Sciences? "

The Duke of Aiguillon agreed with deep understanding:

"I should like to know what Laurence Bonaparte would have looked like when he hesitated and said nothing before the King."

"No matter what the expression was, I will always remember that moment."

Madame Du Barry smiled proudly. If she had been a little worried about the bet before, but now after receiving the information provided by Duke Aiguillon, she already had a 100% chance of winning the bet.

At the same time, No. 10, Champs Elysées

"Welcome, General Philip."

In the living room of the mansion, Lawrence smiled and asked Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe, who was visiting, to sit down and greeted him cordially:

"You are finally going to Lorraine? Come to say goodbye to me?"

Jacques Philippe couldn't help rolling his eyes and said angrily:

"Originally, I was planning to leave after the New Year, but after seeing the trouble you caused, I'd better stay in Paris for as long as possible."

"Trouble? I have been staying here these days to prepare for my defense the day after tomorrow. General, please don't blame me wrongly." Lawrence was still smiling, looking innocent.

"Come on, Your Excellency Bonaparte, the Daily Observer, this newspaper has nothing to do with you, right?" Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe said sharply:

"Thanks to you, the Paris city defense forces have also been under martial law for the past two weeks."

Although the relationship between Lawrence and the Daily Observer has not been made public so far, a figure with the status of Jacques Philippe can naturally infer that Lawrence is the patron of this newspaper. After all, under normal circumstances, a small newspaper does not have the courage or channels. Obtain and disclose this top secret information.

Lawrence smiled, acquiescing that the protest rally a few days ago was the result of his own actions:

"Your troops also imposed martial law? I thought only the police force was dispatched."

Lieutenant General Philip also sighed helplessly:

"After all, His Majesty the King is coming, and those guys in the city hall don't dare to make any mistakes at this juncture. I heard that the mayor of Paris almost lost his legs when he learned about the large-scale protest rally; Although we do not obey the orders of the city hall, we just give them a face, and if there is a riot in Paris, the city defense forces will intervene immediately. "

"That's right." Lawrence nodded thoughtfully.

"Let's not talk about the city defense force. Anyway, someone else will take over this mess soon."

Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe waved his hand and looked up at Lawrence:

"How is the bet between you and Madame Du Barry? The defense will be held the day after tomorrow. You should know that the official position of the Crown Prince's First Attendant must not be handed over to anyone else."

Lawrence said confidently:

"Everything goes well. My assistant, Academician Lavoisier, is debugging the final instruments in the basement."

"Academician Lavoisier? Assistant? I think you will be his assistant." Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe sighed with a black line on his face. In his opinion, he can only place his hope on the man named Lavoisier. On the body of a famous scholar of tin.

"Whatever you say, General, please believe me." Lawrence calmly took a sip of hot tea.

"I really want to believe you, but I got some bad news from the Louvre."

Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe put his chin on his hands and said in a deep voice:

"The academic paper you submitted was not favored by the Academy of Sciences committee at all. One committee member even said that your writing was a complete mess and made no sense. It is not consistent with the previous theories at all."

"I really don't know who made such a harsh comment." Lawrence shrugged and said indifferently:

"But I think I will change his mind in my defense the day after tomorrow."

Jacques Philippe focused his eyes on Lawrence's cheek. At this moment, even he couldn't figure out what the young man was thinking.

"Your Majesty Bonaparte!" Lieutenant General Philip's voice was very heavy:

"You should know that my brother needs a mediator to mediate the tense relationship between him and His Majesty the King, and you are undoubtedly the most suitable person at present, so we are willing to entrust our full trust and responsibility to you; but , if you lose this bet, and then lose your position before the throne, with all due respect, you will lose everything you have."

After the words fell, Lawrence's expression remained unchanged, and he responded with a relaxed smile:

"We'll see, General, you and your brother will both receive a perfect New Year's gift."