From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

In the splendid main theater, as Lawrence and Duke Aiguillon entered, the attention of all the guests instantly focused on these two people.

Although almost none of the wealthy businessmen present had the pleasure of seeing the Duke of Aiguillon in person, the clothes and family crest on the Duke made these keen guests immediately aware of his distinguished status:

"That Duke. The coat of arms is a red inverted triangle on a white background. Is he from the Richelieu family?"

"A Duke of the Richelieu family in his prime, you can't go wrong, he must be the Duke of Aiguillon."

"He actually came to this auction. His Excellency Bonaparte is really full of energy."

"Hey, that's not right. Don't His Excellency Bonaparte have a lot of trouble with the Duke of Richelieu? As the heir of the family, Count Falcone was beaten into an eunuch by him. Why would the Duke of Aiguillon come to join His Excellency Bonaparte?" auctions."

"That's right. Could it be that the Duke of Aiguillon came here to cause trouble? But in that case, why would Monsignor Bonaparte let him enter?"

"I can't figure it out, I really can't figure it out."

Groups of whispers instantly echoed throughout the Paris Comedy Theater. The guests carefully observed the uninvited guest, the Duke of Aiguillon. Judging from his unkind and ferocious face, almost no one believed that the Duke was here. Kudos to Lawrence.

What made the guests even more curious and worried was how could His Excellency Bonaparte allow this sworn enemy to blatantly participate in his auction.

Lawrence, who was attracting the most attention, seemed not to hear these discussions, and took Duke Aiguillon directly to a seat near the front row, and pointed to an empty seat for him:

"Please take your seat quickly, Your Excellency, the auction will begin soon."

The Duke of Aiguillon frowned and glanced at the sofa chair with great disgust. Ignoring the frightened expressions of the surrounding guests, he said in a cold voice:

"Monsieur Bonaparte, are you humiliating me? You want me to sit with these putrid smelling moles?"

In this pampered Duke's understanding, only those lowly citizens would sit in the theater seats. No matter which theater he entered in France, he should have his own box. Sitting with these untouchables was simply the same. Such a shame and humiliation.

Several guests around heard this straightforward insult, but they dared not speak out in anger. They could only lower their heads timidly, for fear that the Duke would vent his anger on them.

Lawrence shrugged, pointed to the only box above the theater covered with a crimson curtain and said:

"I'm sorry, there are no free private rooms, please feel a little aggrieved."

"No more? Huh, here comes someone!" Duke Aiguillon curled his lips, waved to call one of his personal attendants, pointed to the box upstairs and ordered:

"Tell them that Duke Aiguillon of the Richelieu family is going to borrow their box and let them pack their things and get out within a minute."

"yes!"

The attendant responded without hesitation. This was not the first time he had done this.

But Lawrence had no intention of stopping him, he just crossed his hands on his chest and smiled as he watched the attendant climb up to the second floor with ease.

The Duke of Aiguillon looked at his subordinate with pride, watching him swaggeringly lift the curtain and burst into the box, just like a commanding tax official inspecting his tax area.

In his past experience, the middle class or small nobles in the box would quickly roll out humbly and respectfully invite themselves into the box. Some of the brighter ones would even take the opportunity to say a few words. As a flattery, it was their greatest honor to have the great Duke Aiguillon use their box.

The guests in the theater couldn't help but look at the arrogant attendant with complicated expressions, and they all sighed that he was indeed a distinguished Duke. Not everyone can have such privileges and power.

The Duke of Aiguillon couldn't help but have a proud smile on his lips as he listened to the guests' comments mixed with envy and fear.

However, in the next second, the smile on Duke Aiguillon's face completely froze.

Less than twenty seconds after the attendant entered, he was pushed and beaten out by the people inside, without even leaving any sympathy.

And because the attendant was running away in such a hurry, his feet were unstable and he rolled all the way from the second floor to the first floor. After he got up, he was still swaying, like a drunkard who couldn't even tell the difference between east, west and north. Cleared.

Seeing the embarrassment of the attendant and the dumbfounded expression of Duke Aiguillon, I don't know which guest was the first to not hold back and couldn't help but laugh twice.

This joy soon spread to the entire theater. For a time, the whole theater was filled with a happy atmosphere. Those who didn't know it thought that an improvisational comedy was being staged here:

"Hahaha, I really didn't expect to see that expression on a duke's face. Have you seen it? The speed of the face change, hahaha!"

"I really wish there was a painter here, it would be great if I could record that scene."

"But who is in the box upstairs? There will probably be no good consequences for offending the Duke of Aiguillon like this."

"Who knows, it's probably the richest bankers. I don't know how they had the confidence to throw out the Duke of Aiguillon's attendants."

Being treated as amusement, Duke Aiguillon immediately felt a surge of anger in his heart. He stepped forward in two steps, grabbed the attendant's ears and roared:

"You loser! Didn't I ask you to give me my name?"

The sharp pain in his ears immediately made the attendant grin, and he could only respond without tears:

"My lord, the Duke, I said, I will tell them when I go in, my lord the Duke of Aiguillon asks them to get out immediately, and then..."

"What did you say?!"

The Duke of Aiguillon laughed angrily, let go of the attendant, and looked at the box upstairs with a ferocious expression:

"Okay, I really admire those people who dared me to accept this shame and humiliation. I think they were blinded by just a few silver coins in their pockets, thinking that they could run rampant in France if they had money? I would give it to them. Take a lesson.”

Having said that, the Duke of Aiguillon was ready to go upstairs in person, so that the wealthy businessmen in the box, who did not know the heights of the world, would have a good experience, and let them kneel in front of their boots and cry for mercy.

"That's all, Your Excellency the Duke." Lawrence then took action to hold Duke Aiguillon's shoulders, shook his head and said:

"You'd better sit quietly. As the organizer of this auction, I don't want to see anyone making trouble here."

The Duke of Aiguillon let out a sharp breath and shook off Lawrence's hand. Then, he looked at Lawrence, then glared ferociously at the box upstairs, and said fiercely:

"I'm just treating you as a favor, Laurence Bonaparte. Well, after the auction is over, it won't be too late to deal with those rebellious idiots."

As the Duke of Aiguillon took his seat, the thick dark curtains on both sides of the theater were slowly pulled up, and the crystal lights on the stage also lit up simultaneously under the control of the mechanical ignition device.

The guests also focused their attention on the glamorous stage again, watching Lawrence walk out from behind the curtain again and stand solemnly in front of everyone.

"Good evening, kind-hearted gentlemen and ladies."

Lawrence bowed slightly and spoke skillfully:

"I am extremely honored to welcome you to the Paris Comédie tonight to participate in this charity auction held for our compatriots in need; I am happy to see that even in this cold winter day, Paris is never lacking Warm and beating hearts.”

The Duke of Aiguillon, who was sitting at the table, was obviously disgusted by this hypocritical cliché. He wished he could go up and expose the true face of this brat who was just trying to gain fame.

However, the Duke of Aiguillon's reason told him that he had a better way to turn this auction into a disaster for the Corsican boy.

After a burst of thunderous applause, Lawrence officially announced the start of the auction and signaled the theater assistant to bring the first lot to the stage.

Soon, a beautiful woman with a voluptuous figure walked up with a beautiful officer's sword held in red silk. Then she raised the sword high and placed it under the light so that the guests could clearly see it. Detail of a dagger with a gold sheath.

"This is the sword used by Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe in the Seven Years' War." Lawrence also explained in a loud voice:

"According to the general himself, this long sword accompanied him on his military journey on the Eastern Front for several years. The general also personally used this sword to slit the throats of twelve British guys; regardless of its commemorative significance, , this sword itself is also an extremely excellent sword, made by the most outstanding swordsmith in Vienna. It has no shortcomings except that the pure gold scabbard is slightly heavy, but I think it has a powerful new sword. The owner certainly won’t care about this little flaw.”

The guests in the audience were immediately attracted. It must be said that an officer's sword from the former Austrian marshal and current French lieutenant general is undoubtedly an excellent collection and accessory for the men present, especially It’s those hot-blooded young men:

"General Jacques Philippe's sword? It's really nice. I kind of want to bid on it."

"Well, the sword itself is worth a thousand livres, not to mention the sword used by General Philip."

"It's worth about five thousand livres. As long as it's less than this, I will definitely buy it."

Guests enthusiastically estimated the value of the lot and their wallets, ready to bid for such a rare collection.

After waiting for a moment, Lawrence announced:

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, there is no starting price for General Philip's sword. Let's start bidding now."

And just as Lawrence finished speaking, while all the guests were still hesitating about the price, a powerful but somewhat joking voice resounded throughout the theater:

"I'll pay you a hundred livres."

"One hundred? It's better not to scream, who is this?"

"That's right, one hundred livres can't even buy a sword hilt."

"Wait a minute. The person calling the price seems to be...!"

The guests subconsciously looked at the speaker and suddenly discovered that this was the Duke of Aiguillon who had just arrived at the auction.

The Duke of Aiguillon sat on his seat with his legs crossed, glared at Lawrence as if provoking, and then scanned the other guests in the theater with his frightening eyes.

The guests who were planning to bid just now were stunned for a moment.

Go raise the price with Duke Aiguillon? The reputation of this Duke is not very good. If he is thought to be deliberately against him,

At this time, a visitor who didn't seem to understand the situation saw that no one accepted the price, so he casually said:

"I'll pay five hundred."

However, his words were not finished yet.

The Duke of Aiguillon unabashedly turned his head and stared at the bidder, just like a wolf staring at a weak and fat rabbit.

Although the Duke hadn't said anything yet, his fierce eyes had already made it clear what he meant - anyone who dared to raise the price with him would have to be careful after walking out of the Paris Comedy.

The atmosphere instantly dropped to below freezing point. The slow bidder finally came to his senses and was so anxious that he was sweating all over his body. He shouted at Lawrence:

"I'm sorry, Monsignor Bonaparte! I haven't decided yet!"

Lawrence didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.

Upon seeing this, the guests became even more silent, for fear of making any noise that would offend the notorious Duke. Small businessmen like them could not withstand the revenge of a Duke of the Richelieu family.

For a moment, the Paris Comedy Theater was completely silent. People could only hear the whistling wind outside and their own heartbeats.

At this moment, in addition to fear and worry, the guests' hearts were also filled with endless doubts:

Why did Monsignor Bonaparte bring this notorious Duke to the theater? Did Monsignor Bonaparte not know that he would ruin the entire auction?

"Fifty thousand livres!"

At this moment, a melodious and loud bidding sound suddenly came from the second floor of the theater, instantly breaking the silence.

People looked at the box on the second floor covered with a crimson curtain in shock. It was an attendant outside the box who shouted out the high price of 50,000 livres on behalf of his master:

"Fifty thousand? This sword is worth at most five thousand, right?"

"Could it be that that person is really here for charity?"

"The key point is that he accepted the price offered by Duke Aiguillon. He is really brave."

"Who on earth dares to treat Duke Aiguillon with such contempt?"

"This! Damn it!"

The Duke of Aiguillon was stunned for a moment, and then punched the armrest with rage.

The Duke knew very well that the value of the sword was only a few thousand livres. He did not expect that the owner of the box would dare to accept his price, and even shouted out the worth of 50,000 livres. Provocative high price.

"You are so brave. You dare to provoke me like this. I really want to see how you are going to walk out of the Paris Comedy tonight."

The Duke waved his sleeves, gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down. At the same time, he vowed to show this ignorant guy the power of the Richelieu family tonight.

Soon, after Lawrence symbolically confirmed twice that no one would raise the price, the bidding for the first lot came to an end.

What was brought to the stage next was a women's bracelet made of gold wire. It came from the collection of a count and is a cultural relic with a history of hundreds of years.

Although the ladies on the court were all fascinated by this gorgeous jewelry, no one of them dared to speak out first this time. They all remained silent and stared closely at the Duke of Aiguillon in the front row.

Sure enough, as soon as Lawrence's introduction ended, Duke Aiguillon immediately quoted the same extremely low price as last time: one hundred livres.

The owner of the box on the second floor seemed to be in conflict with the Duke of Aiguillon, and still quoted an obviously inflated price of 50,000 livres.

This time, Duke Aiguillon said nothing more, but his purple face and clenched fists showed that the Duke's anger was still rising.

For those who were invited to the auction, this was definitely the most bizarre bidding event they had ever participated in.

Whenever a new competing item is brought to the stage, the Duke of Aiguillon will shout out a very low price, and the upstairs box will also shout out a very high price to directly win the lot. .

They, the guests, had no chance to intervene in the price increase, or in other words, they did not have the courage to increase the price.

This repetitive process lasted nearly twenty times before it came to an end.

By this time, the auction has come to an end and is about to usher in its grand finale.

"Ladies and gentlemen, everyone must have known about the last treasure that will be on display in advance."

Although the guests present had no sense of participation in the auction, Lawrence introduced enthusiastically:

"A tassel necklace inlaid with twenty-two diamonds. It is said that it took craftsmen three years to collect the materials. The entire necklace took seven years of polishing and processing before it appeared in the possession of Countess Du Barry. On the chest, I dare say that the brilliance of this necklace is enough to make it worthy of any princess. "

As the final product was carried to the stage in a crystal box, the tired guests regained their energy.

It can be said that most of the people present came here for this diamond necklace. After all, such treasures rarely come to the public, let alone appear at an auction.

For these shrewd profit-seeking businessmen, if they can buy this necklace at a suitable price, even if they lose everything, as long as they can find a buyer willing to take over, whether it is a princess in Austria or someone in Italy. Queen, this can make them a lot of money.

In front of this auction, even if the Duke of Aiguillon still bids, they don't care anymore. When naked interests are in front of them, these bourgeoisie can even regard the guillotine as nothing.

As for Duke Aiguillon, who was now numb with anger, his eyes were also fixed on the diamond necklace.

He knew how much that crazy woman Madame Du Barry cared about this necklace. If she couldn't bring this necklace back intact, she might become crazy again in the future.

This time, the Duke of Aiguillon was even willing to pay for the necklace. Anyway, in the end, Madame Du Barry would not hesitate to pay for the necklace again. After all, she only needed to get the money from the royal family. Just a few strokes on the financial accounts.

Moreover, in the Duke's original plan, he only had to lower the sales of the remaining items and deliberately default on the payment for one or two years after buying the necklace, which was enough to make Lawrence's attempt to gain fame through the auction fall short.

Duke Aiguillon took a deep breath, glanced at the box on the second floor unconsciously, and mocked in a low voice:

"Idiot, you almost spent a million livres on the garbage in front of you. Do you still want to fight with me about this necklace?"

After Lawrence on the stage finished praising the necklace, he officially announced the start of bidding:

"I'll pay half a million livres!"

"Don't be embarrassed and conspicuous, I have 750,000!"

"Another fifty thousand, eight hundred thousand livres!"

"One million, one million livres!"

In just the blink of an eye, the price of this diamond necklace was raised to one million livres, which was still far from its estimated value of two million livres.

The Duke of Aiguillon couldn't help but feel irritated when he heard the noisy bidding sound like a vegetable market. He yelled directly and reported his psychological threshold:

"Two million livres!"

Following Duke Aiguillon's roar, the theater suddenly fell silent.

People were surprised that the Duke of Aiguillon actually joined the bidding this time, and they were also surprised that this was a duke who actually quoted a high price of two million livres at once.

Enjoying people's surprised and admiring gazes, Duke Aiguillon suddenly felt much better.

Although the plan to reduce the auction turnover failed, the Duke of Aiguillon felt that being able to bring the necklace back to Madame Du Barry was already a good gain.

In the view of the Duke of Aiguillon, as long as Louis XV has a grudge against Lawrence under Madame Du Barry's persuasion, it will still be of no use to the Corsican even if he gets the support of the people.

In the theater, as the Duke of Aiguillon reported two million livres, the voices of competing bids immediately disappeared without a trace.

Firstly, this is because the Duke Aiguillon's quotation is already very close to the true price of this diamond necklace. Secondly, it is also because continuing to increase the price is likely to really offend the Duke. After all, this Duke is already bidding seriously. , which shows that he is also determined to get this necklace.

"Two million livres, then, from the gentleman in the front row."

Lawrence smiled and raised the gavel in his hand:

"Two million livres once. Two million livres twice."

The Duke of Aiguillon smiled confidently, waiting for the gavel to make a crisp and pleasant sound when it hit the table.

At this moment, a loud price increase sound came from the box on the second floor again:

"Five million livres!"

As soon as this voice came out, the entire theater seemed to be immersed in a state of shock.

Five million livres? For this diamond necklace?

The guests covered their mouths in shock and raised their heads to look at the box on the second floor. If it weren't for the determined expression of the attendant, people would have thought that a fool who didn't understand the auction was shouting and playing there.

"What a joke!"

Duke Aiguillon's face was filled with dullness. Even for him, the five million livres were a huge amount of money. No matter who was in the box, it was absolutely impossible for him to spend five million livres to buy it. Such a diamond necklace.

Before Lawrence could confirm, the Duke of Aiguillon stood up directly, pointed at the attendant outside the box who was calling the price and scolded:

"Ask your master! Does he really have five million livres to buy this necklace?!"

The attendant glanced at the Duke of Aiguillon unhurriedly. He seemed not to be afraid of the Duke's reputation at all, but he still nodded, leaned into the box to confirm a few words, and then announced loudly:

"I'm sorry, Monsignor Bonaparte, our offer is not five million livres."

The Duke of Aiguillon breathed a long sigh of relief and cursed: "What an idiot. He has nothing to do with such a joke."

The attendant then said: "...It's six million livres."

As soon as these words came out, let alone all the guests, even Duke Aiguillon was speechless for a long time and couldn't say a word.

This was the first time they saw someone bidding against them at an auction.

Could it be that the owner of that box really had too much money and no place to put it and needed to spread some of it into the slums of Paris?

But after all, who has the financial resources to spend 6 million livres to buy a necklace at once, let alone that he spent 1 million livres to take pictures of a bunch of second-rate collections.

Almost all the guests present were thinking about this question. There were not many people in Paris who could afford this amount of wealth. Who was the owner of that box?

And just as everyone was thinking hard, they heard a loud roar suddenly coming from in front of the seats.

"I understand, Laurence Bonaparte!"

The stunned Duke Aiguillon suddenly came to his senses, his face full of rage, and he pointed directly at Lawrence's nose and shouted:

"What kind of charity auction? This is just a show you directed and acted! You hypocrite!"

The people sitting at the table were even more shocked. They did not expect that this auction would be so twists and turns, and the Duke actually confronted Monsieur Bonaparte in person again.

Lawrence smiled without changing his expression and asked unhurriedly:

"I don't understand what you are saying, Your Excellency."

"Don't pretend to be stupid. I've already understood what you mean by donating all the sales to the citizens of Paris. I'm afraid you have no plan at all!"

Duke Aiguillon sneered, as if he had seen through everything, he pointed to the box on the second floor and said:

"That box is actually yours, right? You deliberately directed and acted to inflate the transaction volume of this auction, so that you can spread the news that you donated a huge sum of money to the poor, and the so-called donation of diamonds When the necklace is put up for auction, it’s just a matter of left hand and right hand!”

Listening to Duke Aiguillon's angry accusations, the faces of everyone present also became serious.

After careful consideration, everyone discovered that Duke Aiguillon's words actually made some sense. There were only a handful of wealthy businessmen in Paris who could spend millions of livres to participate in such a charity auction. .

And those people don't seem to have anything to do with Mr. Bonaparte. Even Mr. Montmartre, who is closest to Lawrence, his assets are not enough for him to spend such a huge sum of money on a charity auction. At the meeting.

Thinking about it this way, it is possible that the guests in that box were not the guests invited to the auction at all, but Lawrence himself. Only in this way can we explain why the owner of the box did not give Duke Aiguillon any dignity at all.

After clarifying this set of logic, the guests looked at Lawrence with a slightly more complicated look. They were already 50% sure that this auction was a complete show.

However, Lawrence, who was at the center of the storm of opinions, still looked calm and asked with a smile:

"Your Majesty the Duke, I really don't know what gave you that unrealistic idea."

"Huh, unrealistic? It couldn't be easier to verify my statement." Duke Aiguillon looked like he was sure of victory. He stood directly on the stage confidently and confronted Lawrence face to face:

"Please invite the owner of the box on the second floor to come out. I don't think I have even heard the name of someone who has the financial resources to spend six million livres on a diamond necklace."

Lawrence shook his head secretly, thinking that the Duke of Aiguillon was worthy of being the leader of the Richelieu faction, and he had already figured out his intentions in such a short period of time.

However, the limit of what he could figure out was this.

Lawrence spread his hands and explained helplessly:

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency, the owner of the box is not willing to show up today."

"Hahahaha what did I say? You don't dare to let the people inside show up. In this case, I will help you!"

Upon hearing these words that hit his mark, the Duke of Aiguillon immediately laughed heartily. At this time, he was 99% sure that Lawrence was pretending to be a ghost. Then his face darkened and he loudly ordered:

"Here comes someone!"

As the Duke of Aiguillon's order was issued, a dozen guards waiting outside the door quickly rushed into the theater, respectfully waiting for the Duke's order.

"Go and throw everyone out of the box on the second floor! Do you hear me? Throw them away!" Duke Aiguillon obviously had not forgotten the humiliation his attendants had suffered just now, and specifically ordered:

"A bunch of clowns, let's see how I deal with you today."

"I advise you not to be so impulsive. The owner of the box will be very unhappy." Lawrence sighed, and watched with hundreds of guests as the dozen or so Duke's personal guards with swords stormed upstairs in a menacing manner. .

The smile on Duke Aiguillon's face simply couldn't stop. He walked up to Lawrence, patted Lawrence's cheek contemptuously, and said sarcastically:

"Do you still want to pretend to the end at this time? Your Excellency Bonaparte, little Lawrence? Huh? Okay, I will let you give up and the Guards will obey the order! Get all the bastard things in the box and bring them to the stage. Everyone look at it!”

"yes!"

More than a dozen personal guards responded loudly, and then filed into the spacious box.

However, in less than half a minute, these dozen bodyguards, who were as strong as cattle, rolled out of the box one after another. Everyone's face was filled with extreme fear and shock, as if they were at noon. It's as frightening as encountering a ghost on the street.

The Duke of Aiguillon was stunned for a moment, and hundreds of guests were also stunned for a moment. They didn't understand why these dozen sword soldiers retreated from the box in such horror.

Before Duke Aiguillon could ask the question, the owner of the box finally spoke for the first time tonight. His voice was a little childish, but at the moment it was full of anger:

"Emmanuel Armand, do you want to do something to me?"

The Duke of Aiguillon's mind went blank. This voice seemed familiar, as if he had heard it often in a place filled with the aroma of champagne and cologne, accompanied by dazzling fireworks, singing and dancing.

By the way, the Duke of Aiguillon remembered that he often heard this sound in Versailles.

As for the owner of this voice, it is...

Under the spotlight, a white and slightly thick arm opened the dark red curtain of the box on the second floor, and a very young couple walked out.

Everyone couldn't help but open their mouths. Few of them knew this couple, but the blue-and-gold fleur-de-lis emblem on their shawls could already explain everything.

Duke Aiguillon staggered back two steps and almost fell to the ground. The wanton smile on his face disappeared without a trace in an instant, replaced by a bloodless paleness.

After a long while, the Duke managed to squeeze out a sentence through his teeth:

"Please forgive me, Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the Crown Princess"