"The troops under General de Treville have won a decisive victory, and victory in the city of Rome is in sight."

By the time Charles got the news, it had been almost two days since his grandfather, the Marquis de Treville, had won a triumph, a pace that had given him a sense of foresight before the vast majority of the French.

When he was done, he placed the note on his desk and shook the bell on it.

The door opened.

A young man walked in briskly, his footsteps were muffled, and then looked at Charles with a look of extreme humility, oblivious to the fact that the man across from him was his own age.

"Do you have any commands? Mr? ”

His name was Clement Leczynski, and he was Charles' full-time secretary. Although Charles himself is theoretically the secretary of the ministry, he can indeed have his own secretary.

"Clément, old rule, help me get this to the French Presse!" Charles looked at the young man rather kindly, and then handed him the note, "I'll have to trouble you again, sorry......"

"Okay, sir, I'll go over later." The young man respectfully took the note, and then carefully received it in his pocket, as if he did not know that Lu Dao Charles was faking public affairs, "Do you have any other orders?" ”

This young man had short gray hair of bright color, and his facial features were quite delicate, and he wore a long black coat and a white tie, and his closed lips were serious and serious. His figure was not so much thin as thin, like a college student recovering from a long illness. His expression was somewhere between the listlessness of a strolling man and the thoughtfulness of a busy man. It seems that there is some worry, and there is that kind of meticulousness and rigidity that is almost harsh, which really makes people think of him as an Englishman.

But his father was not from the West, but from the East – a Polish exile who came to France in the '20s. The father married a French girl and finally gave the child a French nationality.

His father didn't just bring him into the world, he was also prescient. Although he had not earned him any property, he was wise enough not to involve himself and his children in the kind of fighting that Polish exiles were accustomed to. Instead, he was sent to secondary school and university, where he received a good education. After the child finally graduated, he asked people everywhere for relationships, and finally sent his son to the government. And survived the dangerous probationary period. He then became one of the tens of thousands of civil servants in the central department of the nation's capital.

[Since the Napoleonic Wars, Poland has completely fallen into the hands of Imperial Russia, and the Poles have always wanted to regain their independence. In 1830, inspired by the July Revolution in France, the Poles also launched an uprising, which was brutally suppressed by Tsar Nicholas I. Under the White Terror of Imperial Russia, a large number of Poles who opposed Tsarist rule fled Poland and settled in France.

These Polish exiles were divided into two factions according to their political views: one was the republican faction that advocated a republic, led by Professor Lelevell; On the one hand, there is the aristocratic faction that advocates the continuation of the old system. With Prince Chartolisky as the leader, the two factions were often at loggerheads. Sometimes there is a big fight. 】

However, for this young man, the shadow from his father can only end there. The young Monsieur Clément-Leczynski had to live alone in this world of flattery, jealousy, hatred, and slander, and this young man used all his talents and strength to keep him from falling behind. After a year or two of speculative drilling, he finally established himself in his old department.

But what is this achievement for a young man? Slowly boiling up the seniority, rising little by little, and finally becoming a petty official who is only waiting to retire, such a route is not suitable for a young person's appetite. After being polished at the beginning of his accession to the WTO, Clement-Leczynski's greatest ideal in this life was to become a full-time secretary to a certain minister, a certain big man, and a big man in a certain ministry, and he was willing to do everything for this.

Of course, we would like to point out here that in today's French political system, for a minister, the secretary assigned to him by the government or political party, whether it is a political secretary or a permanent secretary, is not a real secretary, but his political ally, or even an opponent. Only his full-time secretary is a real secretary, a staff officer, and a disciple. A full-time secretary is to the minister like a disciple and a disciple, under the protection of the minister and in solidarity with his protector. If the minister is favored by the king or the emperor, or is very powerful in parliament, he will bring this full-time secretary with him in his promotion and transfer, and let him participate in all his political schemes and intrigues, even in his transgressions. Otherwise, like a shepherd, he would put them in the fat of a certain unit in the office, such as the accounting department, to eat well.

In order to realize this rather lofty ideal, the young man kept his eyes open and kept looking for opportunities to climb up. The chaotic year of 1848 did not dampen the young man's ambitions, and he finally found a glimmer of hope for his way out after the election of President Louis Bonaparte at the end of the year.

At that time, the new government decided to set up a Ministry of Railways in charge of railway affairs, and this new department was in urgent need of a large number of personnel from other departments to enrich its own department. And because of the newly established relationship, many old officials were quite suspicious of this and did not want to go, but Clément felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he used all his connections to squeeze into this ministry desperately, and in the end, after much effort, he finally achieved this wish.

What made him even more excited was that as soon as he entered this department, he was lucky to be taken by one of the heads of the ministry, Mr. Charles de Treville, the secretary of state, and was selected by him as his full-time secretary. This is a good thing that he never dreamed of, and I don't know how many people in the Daoist Department envy his good luck!

In his excitement, he had privately speculated that the Monsieur de Treville might have chosen himself because he was the youngest and the most unrooted, but that he did not detract from his respect and gratitude for the young man, for his future now actually depended on his care.

Yes, Charles de Treville is not yet a minister, but so what? Ascended to the world at such a young age and became a big man in the ministry, what else can't be done? His surname is de Treville, he is a shrewd man, he has a very good relationship with ministers, and it is said that he has been appreciated by Mr. President! If a person has so many things, will he be afraid that he will not be able to rise to prominence in the future?! Everyone said he had a great future, and Clement thought so.

In short, the young man had seen him as the foundation of his future development, the protector of his future, and to some extent even an irreversible master, who was willing to be ready to carry out all his orders, whether justified or not. This kind of thing seems unbelievable, but in fact it has happened repeatedly in ancient and modern Chinese and foreign governments - who called the most popular cliques and personal allegiances in government?

"There are no other orders yet." Charles still looked at his secretary very gently, "But when you've been chatting with the rest of your staff lately, have you heard anything?" ”

Like other departments, the newly established Ministry of Railways, the staff and handymen of the ministry quickly formed their own work culture and a place for private communication, they would have afternoon tea in a hall downstairs every day at noon, and then exchange gossip from the department, or the lace scandals of their superiors, in order to get a rough grasp of the mood of the people in the ministry, Charles also often let his subordinates spy on the news.

"Not yet, sir." Clement replied respectfully. "Your Excellency the Minister is going to the parliament tomorrow to defend himself, so his people have been preparing materials all day today, and they are all very busy."

After hearing his answer, Charles unhurriedly picked up the coffee on his desk and took a sip gently, "What about Monsieur Jean-Calvert?" ”

This Jean Calvert was the director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce who had been in charge of Charles at the time, and he was now another big man in the ministry in the position of permanent secretary. When Charles first learned the news, Charles was almost furious, and it took a while for him to calm down.

However, although he was very dissatisfied with this man, Charles could not do anything about this man for the time being—the reason why he was able to unexpectedly secure this sought-after position seemed to be due to his good relationship with a relative of Prime Minister Barrow, and in the presence of such a backer, the Bonapartist who was not ready to turn against the cabinet of the Order Party would certainly not have any confrontation with him head-on.

Clement's face became more serious when he heard the surname, and although he did not know what his boss had to do with the Calvert, since he was Monsieur de Treville's enemy, he was his enemy. So he has also been secretly paying attention to information about each other.

"It seems that they are planning to revise the salary subsidy regulations of the ministry now...... "Clement lowered his voice, "it seems that they are going to give the people in the ministry a raise, and the ministry has been rumored for a while, and everyone is happy." ”

"Want to buy people's hearts?" Hearing the news, Charles raised an eyebrow.

Then, without saying anything, he waved his hand lightly.

Clement understood, and walked out of the city with the note Charles had given him.

After Clement had left, Charles sat in his seat and pondered for a moment, then got up and walked out of the office, heading straight for the office of the minister, Viscount Delion. (To be continued......)