From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

Two hours later, the Throne Hall of the Palace of Versailles - the most dazzling and gorgeous hall in the entire palace, the Apollo Hall.

Hundreds of ministers of state were led to their corresponding positions by the ceremony officials and waited solemnly for the meeting to begin.

Although this is just an ordinary routine meeting, and His Majesty the King will not come to the throne in person, everyone does not dare to slack off at all.

After all, no one can be sure whether the unattractive servant standing in the throne room is His Majesty the King's spy in the palace.

In history, Louis XV used his absolute autocratic power in his prime to form a secret police to monitor and control the nobles and ministers.

Although the power of this secret police force has been greatly weakened after the Duke of Choiseul came to power, there is no doubt that any rumors inside the Palace of Versailles will not escape the ears of His Majesty the King.

Even Louis XV is now old and dying.

The participants quickly gathered in the Apollo Hall in an orderly manner. Lawrence's position was much further forward than last time, and he was already second only to the Dukes, Marshals and Cabinet Ministers in the front row.

I don’t know if this was a special arrangement by His Majesty the King, or a timely adjustment made by the well-informed palace officials based on Prime Minister Bonaparte’s current political status.

Compared with the general participants who were trembling and walking on thin ice, the dignitaries at the forefront still seemed much more relaxed. They were still chatting with each other in low voices about palace gossip and gossip. After all, they were all frequent visitors to the Palace of Versailles.

Foreign Minister Cesare Gabriel was also a focus among these negotiators. As Choiseul's cousin, after Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe left Paris, he naturally assumed the position of acting leader of the faction.

Even though this was only a temporary power, Caesar Gabriel still enjoyed the compliments and praises of the surrounding nobles very much, and the proud smile on his lips almost never faded.

"Ah, Monsignor Bonaparte."

Caesar Gabriel seemed to suddenly notice Lawrence standing behind him, so he interrupted the conversation with the others, came forward and asked in a low voice:

"It's been a long time. I really want to ask you how you are doing at the Paris Military Academy, but there is another question that concerns me a lot."

"But it doesn't matter." Lawrence smiled and nodded, already knowing what the other party wanted to ask.

As the temporary leader of the Choiseul faction and France's foreign minister, Caesar Gabriel undoubtedly knew more about the Golden Iris faction.

Even if he didn't fully understand this faction, he could at least guess what His Majesty the King's intention was in establishing this faction at this point in time.

"I heard that you have been entrusted with another important task recently. This is a good thing, and I am sincerely happy for you."

Caesar Gabriel raised his head slightly, looked down at Lawrence condescendingly, narrowed his eyes and asked:

"But I have to confirm that that work will not affect your cooperation with us, right?"

Lawrence looked at the condescending Gabriel expressionlessly, shook his head slightly and said:

"I will discuss these matters in detail with your brother, so I won't bother you to worry about them."

If Choiseul was standing in front of him, Lawrence might still be polite to him.

However, for Caesar Gabriel, a mediocre minister, Lawrence did not want to talk too much with him, not to mention that the other party had already been sentenced to political death by Lawrence in advance.

"you!"

Gabriel's expression changed instantly, and the proud smile at the corner of his mouth disappeared in the blink of an eye.

He couldn't accept Lawrence's contemptuous attitude at all, especially since he now led the entire party and held the political lifeline of half of the entire kingdom in his hands.

Gabriel believed that his current status was not inferior to that of his brother. The compliments from ministers and nobles seemed to prove this at all times. However, he did not expect that the Corsican in front of him was supported by his own faction. How dare you speak rudely to the leader of the Choiseul faction.

Unlike the Duke of Choiseul who attached great importance to Laurence Bonaparte, in the eyes of Caesar Gabriel, the so-called Monsignor Bonaparte in front of him was nothing more than a hawk supported by the Choiseul faction.

Even if the royal family offered more generous terms, Laurence Bonaparte should not hesitate to stand on his side. Caesar Gabriel almost never thought that Lawrence would waver at this time. .

"No need to go into details, I just need your commitment now."

Gabriel suppressed the depression and dissatisfaction in his heart, turned his head and glared at the participants who were interested in eavesdropping on the conversation, then looked at Lawrence and threatened in a low voice:

"Your Majesty Bonaparte, please don't forget how you came to Versailles from the wild island of Corsica, and don't forget how Madame Du Barry died a few months ago; and also remind you that in my life I hate ungrateful people the most, and I don’t mind being cruel to such people, including all their relatives and subordinates.”

"Are you threatening me?" Lawrence asked calmly.

Despite his anger, Caesar Gabriel lowered his voice so that only each other could hear:

"It doesn't matter how you understand it. I'm just a kind reminder. If you really break up with us in the end, even if the Choiseul family falls in the future changes, before that, we can still do it easily. Let Corsica get a new owner. And this process will most likely involve a lot of bloodshed.”

Lawrence scratched his ears absentmindedly. He would not have completely offended Duke Choiseul as his mortal enemy, but he was too lazy to continue talking nonsense with him:

"I have received your reminder. I will have a good talk with your brother later. The Duke of Orleans has come to power. Let's talk about it after the meeting."

Gabriel glanced at the Duke of Orleans, who was dressed up and slowly walked up to the throne, and finally said coldly:

"I'm not being alarmist, Your Excellency Bonaparte. If I don't care about the cost, I can even make what I say happen tomorrow. You should believe that I have such power."

"Tomorrow?" Lawrence shook his head with a half-smile:

"I still don't believe it."

Gabriel's pupils trembled, and a surge of anger suddenly rushed into his heart. He couldn't help but clenched his fists, said a harsh word and turned around:

"We'll wait and see."

In the Apollo Hall, because Caesar Gabriel deliberately lowered his voice and kept his distance from others, the surrounding participants were not sure what the two recent focal figures were talking about.

But what puzzled them was that the two ministers, who were supposed to be close allies, seemed to have a bad fight, especially the foreign minister. His whole face was red with anger and he was still mumbling. Cursing loudly.

And as the Duke of Orleans, the regent, stepped onto the throne, people had no time to talk to each other, so they had to suppress these questions deep in their hearts.

The few months he has served as regent have also made the Duke of Orleans undergo quite a change.

The kind and friendly smile on his lips gradually disappeared, and his temperament was no longer as cheerful and cheerful as before. It was replaced by the majesty of a superior person born from the heart. This may be the silent expression of power on a person. The infiltration and transformation of people.

The Duke of Orleans is not wearing a wig, and a few strands of white hair appear very abrupt among the thick black hair. It seems that the Duke has spent a lot of effort to stabilize the political situation in the past few months, just sitting in the Bishop's Palace every day It may not be an easy task to receive officials and nobles from various factions here.

After stepping onto the throne, the Duke of Orleans first saluted the empty silver throne with his scepter in hand, using a simple and solemn ceremony to show that he was acting on behalf of His Majesty the King.

Then he sat in a marble armchair in front of the right side of the throne and announced the beginning of the imperial meeting.

As in previous meetings, the Duke of Orleans first made a brief speech on the current situation of the kingdom.

Although the Duke's eloquence was truly eloquent, the content of his speech was very lackluster. They were just some gorgeous, orthodox but empty clichés.

Subsequently, the core ministers in the cabinet also took turns reporting on the areas they were in charge of to the attendees.

There was also no useful information in the reports of these ministers. The only thing that concerned Lawrence was that Caesar Gabriel specifically mentioned the situation in southern Italy during his report.

According to him, the famine in the Kingdom of Naples still shows no sign of ending, food prices remain high, and the land full of hungry people is now naturally full of turmoil and unrest.

The situation within the Kingdom of Naples seemed to be unstable, and the dissatisfaction of the southern farmers, especially the people of Sicily, with the royal family and the government had reached its peak.

The people complained all day long that the stupid king was able to manage Sicily, the granary of the Roman Empire, and left it starved and devastated.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kingdom of Naples has already shown signs of civil war, and considering the movements of the British and the North Italian states in the Mediterranean, if a civil war does break out in the end, it will never be resolved by the Neapolitans themselves. state of affairs.

The Duke of Orleans was also very concerned about this and proposed on the spot that all ministers discuss an aid plan for the Kingdom of Naples.

However, Caesar Gabriel said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had discussed assistance with the Naples ambassador very early, and the other party rejected France's request for assistance without hesitation, and the reason given was that he did not want to be interfered by the French.

What makes people even more confused is that during the famine that lasted for more than a year, the Kingdom of Naples even refused assistance from its own sovereign country, Spain, insisting on handling this natural disaster independently.

King Carlos III of Spain, considering his promise to guarantee the autonomous rights of the people of Naples, did not interfere too much in this disaster and left it to his son, King Ferdinando IV of Naples. deal with.

In addition to the refusal of the Naples ambassador, the other ministers also expressed their opposition to the aid plan, especially the finance minister, who directly stated that at a time when the fiscal deficit is such a severe one, they simply cannot spend any extra financial resources to assist southern Italy.

Several marshals and generals in the front row also opposed intervening in the situation in southern Italy. They were worried that paying too much attention to the Kingdom of Naples would risk dragging France into the quagmire of war. After all, they already had clear intelligence confirming that the British had already begun to invade the Mediterranean. Layout.

These meritorious generals are naturally different from warmongers like the Duke of Choiseul. They do not want to give up their current comfortable and comfortable life and once again rush to a Mediterranean war that does not know when it will see the light of day.

Seeing that the generals and ministers were strongly opposed to intervening in the Kingdom of Naples, the Duke of Orleans had no choice but to give up and temporarily seal the proposal.

Lawrence also silently kept in mind the information disclosed by Caesar Gabriel. Once the situation in the Western Mediterranean changes, Corsica, which is in the center of this sea, will not be able to survive alone.

And from the analysis of the intelligence collected by all parties, Lawrence can almost conclude that this new storm in the Western Mediterranean is imminent.

In the Apollo Hall, the Duke of Orleans continued to preside over the meeting and began a public discussion of the bill proposals submitted by the ministers of state in advance.

Lawrence had little interest in this part of the debate. Although a royal council would conduct preliminary discussions on dozens of proposals, except for a few proposals that could be approved and rejected by the king or regent on the spot, few could be brought to the cabinet for further debate. Only about one-tenth.

Even if the cabinet unanimously passes a certain bill, it will eventually be submitted to the High Court for registration debate, and it is quite common for the High Court, which has the power to dissent, to refuse to pass government bills.

Especially those proposals that involve attacks on the privileged class are completely impossible to be passed by the High Court. Historically, Louis XV even visited the High Court several times for this purpose, trying to personally force the judges to pass those reform bills, but they were all failed. Failure without exception.

This is why it is undoubtedly difficult to achieve moderate fiscal reforms in France, and why both Chancellor Maupe and Louis XV made reducing the power of the High Court their top priority.

But despite this, the debate in the Throne Hall was still quite intense. After all, it was only during this session that the fringe ministers standing in the back row of the hall had the opportunity to speak in front of the Throne.

"cough"

The Duke of Orleans pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the tip of his nose, sealed the last proposal, and breathed a sigh of relief with a tired look:

"This concludes the last discussion today, gentlemen, if you have no other proposals."

The ministers in the throne room also breathed a sigh of relief and were ready to leave. They did not think that any reckless person would propose a proposal on the fly on the day of the imperial meeting.

Caesar Gabriel turned his head and glared at Lawrence, also preparing to leave the Apollo Hall directly.

The Duke of Orleans put the documents away, took off his glasses, stood up, glanced at the ministers, and announced loudly:

"Then, today's meeting will be"

"Please wait a moment, Your Excellency the Duke."

Very suddenly, a warm and deep voice suddenly came from among the ministers, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

I saw the Austrian Ambassador to France, Prince Neo, walking out of the crowd with a smile and standing in front of the Duke of Orleans:

"I have a request, can I make it here?"

The Duke of Orleans frowned slightly. Like other participants, he had no idea why the Austrian ambassador suddenly stood up. However, out of etiquette, he nodded politely and extended his hand:

"Of course, Your Highness, this is your right."

In the eighteenth century, it was not unusual for foreign ambassadors to attend major conferences in their own countries. Many ambassadors would argue their case at meetings of other countries to safeguard the interests of their home country.

For example, Count Vergenin, when he served as the special envoy of King George II, his task was to safeguard the interests of France in the British Parliament.

Therefore, Prince Neo naturally has the right to speak and propose proposals, not to mention that he is also a royal family member of the ally Austria, and the Duke of Orleans is also very cautious about him.

Prince Neo bowed unhurriedly, gracefully and gracefully, and then glanced at Lawrence in the crowd with slightly squinted eyes.

However, Lawrence didn't look at him, he just closed his eyes and meditated as if it didn't matter to him.

"I regret that what I brought today is not a proposal to enhance the friendship between the two countries, but I must still make this request with the most solemn attitude."

Prince Neo's words suddenly became sonorous and powerful, as if a monarch was reprimanding his ministers with righteous words:

"I, Neo Joseph-Diane, in the name of the Austrian Ambassador Plenipotentiary to France, lodge a solemn protest against the treasonous behavior of your Minister of Foreign Affairs, Caesar Gabriel!"