As the gloomy sky regained its pale glow, the Toulon military port ushered in its busy day during the war. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Although it was already early in the morning, the white frost and fog had been ignorant at the junction between the sky and the sea, making it impossible to distinguish the boundary between the sea and the sky.

The sea breeze has been blowing on the magnificent sea, and it is already the midwinter season at this time, even in the Mediterranean region with a pleasant climate, it is already a winter wind howling at this time, blowing people's hearts cold, but fortunately it is a relatively warm zone here after all, so it is not like Russia at this time into the ice and snow.

The sea rolled violently with the sea breeze, making a rattling sound, bringing more water vapor into the frost and mist of the sky, and the ships with huge sails were in the mist, along the not spacious harbor into the vast Mediterranean.

Those who are in the midst of it will probably never be able to appreciate what a luxury a port that never freezes, and that is not held hostage by the narrow isthmus, is such a luxury to a country that a country as powerful as Russia has struggled for centuries and cannot be reached.

In order to seize the window to the West, Russia under the leadership of the great Tsar Peter I, after 20 years of struggle, finally captured St. Petersburg from Sweden, and in order to seize Constantinople and seize the window to the world, successive tsars have made every effort to attack the Turks who occupied there again and again.

They seem to be very close to success, but each time they can only come to an abrupt end in the face of victory, forced to daunt by stronger resistance, and a large part of these sailing ships are also carrying out this task.

Since the war between Britain and France against Russia, it has become one of the main supply ports for the French expeditionary force, from which large quantities of supplies and reinforcements were continuously transported by merchant ships to the front line in Crimea, replenishing the losses of the front line and allowing the war aimed at limiting Russia to continue.

Today, in addition to the usual busy fleets of convoys and warships, there is a different group of people on the pier in the port of Toulon, who are clustered around a young man in civilian clothes, either in military or civilian clothes, or even a woman.

This young man was naturally the Charles who was preparing to inspect the front line in place of His Majesty the Emperor, and since he accepted this task, he naturally did not dare to slack off, and soon began to go on patrol. After spending some time handing over the business to his assistants, he was finally able to find time to leave his homeland and head to the peninsula, which was still soaked in blood.

And in order to cooperate with this high-ranking minister, the navy, of course, did not dare to slack off, and arranged a trip for him early. At the end of the trestle, a group of warships were waiting, ready to escort His Excellency and his attaché along the way, and Charles himself was one of the ships he had been assigned to sit on.

Compared to the Napoleon, which was requisitioned by the French commander-in-chief, Marshal Treville, as a ship, this battleship named the Glory does not seem to be very distinctive, but because it is the latest warship, it still looks majestic, and the tall hull is covered by the sea, like a boundary monument to another world.

It wasn't the first time Charles had been here - just as the war was raging and the first fleets of the French Expeditionary Force were leaving the mainland, Charles was here, watching the expeditionary force and his grandfather leave in the fleet.

Compared to that time, the turbulent sea in winter seemed a little more harsh and gloomy, and the charr was less energetic than it was at that time, but more calm.

"Sir......" At this moment, Mary, who had come to see him off, took his hand and seemed to say goodbye, if only I could go with you...... It's a pity that it's inconvenient now. ”

Compared to her usual slender appearance, she was very different at this time, and there was already a suspicious bulge between her belly, which was only disguised by a thick winter coat, so it didn't look so abnormal.

A few months had passed since she learned that she was pregnant, and now her body was difficult to hide, so she began to live in seclusion and never appear in front of people again.

"It's not like I'm taking you there, is it?" Charles patted her cheek.

"If Fran can go, why can't I? Although my brain is not as good as hers, I still have the patience to ask myself. Mary looked a little unconvinced, "She's about to become a hero right now, and to be honest, I'm a little unconvinced." ”

As the war progressed, Crimea became the focus of public opinion in European countries, and Madame de Treville's feat spread to the streets and alleys, and for a time became a beautiful conversation, and people talked about her feat and admired her kindness and courage.

From this point of view, her purpose has been achieved, she has become a person worthy of admiration in the eyes of the people, and her reputation is excellent, but this does not help Charles's reputation much, and most people only say that "the kindness of the Tréville family has all fallen to the woman" - of course, Charles does not care about this, and he does not care about other people's opinions anyway.

"What's there to be discouraged from? You have also made a very important contribution to us. Charles smiled and replied, "You can stay here and recuperate, and wait for us to come back together." ”

After leaving France, Marie can be said to have lost her biggest protector, if others are okay to say, after all, Charles's position is still there, no one dares to make a mistake, but Charlotte is not very easy to say, so Charles decided to put Marie in Marseille far from Paris to recuperate, waiting to give birth to two children, and at the same time let his relative Henri de La Tourche-Treville be responsible for her safety.

After Henry was ordered, of course, he understood, and he didn't dare to slack off, so he directly assured Charles that it would be secret and safe at this time.

"Well, I'll wait, I wish you all the best!" Mary also knew that she could be considered coquettish if she was playing with her temper now, and it would not be good to really make her husband angry, so she just stopped and hugged Charles directly. "Please help me bring a message, she's really worked hard."

"I'll bring it over, and I'll thank you for her first." Charles looked at his watch, it was almost time. "Well, goodbye."

"Don't you want a goodbye commemoration?" Mary suddenly looked at Charles with a little red.

She kept blinking her eyes, and the meaning was obvious.

Charles hesitated, after all, there are many people here, although they are all trustworthy people, but no matter how big it is, it is still public, and it is not appropriate to be so close to his mistress.

However, considering that Mary was now pregnant for him, he had to make a little concession.

He leaned down and steadied Mary's bright red lips, and the others looked away as if they hadn't seen it.

Mary closed her eyes slightly, enjoying what was under her eyes.

Of course, this is not just because Charles accommodated her, but also because of the actions that Charles had shown before.

And she also knew in her heart that Charles and Charlotte had a bit of a stalemate recently because of Philip's marriage, Charles was forcibly pushing Philip to get engaged to a banker's daughter, Charlotte was furious about this, and did not attend the engagement banquet of the two people, but Charles was not concerned about himself, and he must achieve his goal.

And after the engagement ended, the feud between the couple was still not over, and Charlotte seemed to be still angry, so much so that when Charles left France, she did not come to see him off, which is admittedly a bit criticized.

However, with Charlotte's personality, it is quite normal for her to do this.

It was not clear why Charles had to push Philippe for such a marriage, and it was speculated that he was trying to curry favor with Count de Beauvan, but she knew what Charles was really doing and was all the more grateful, for it was more for the sake of their children.

After so many years in Vanity Fair, she has seen too much hypocrisy, and she will not take it seriously, and after seeing that Charles will not hesitate to achieve her goal for her, she finally has a sense of satisfaction that her efforts and hard work are worth the money after all, and therefore she is even more convinced of the correctness of the path she has taken.

"Thank you, sir......," said Mary with a hint of excitement and reverent respect, after the lips parted, "I will continue to give everything I have for you!" ”

Charles just smiled, then nodded, then turned and left.

As he walked to the gangway, warm applause rang out behind him, and the people welcomed His Excellency the Chancellor's departure with the enthusiasm he deserved.

And Mary remained in place, watching as Mister walked up to the battleship step by step.

The ship's salute rang out, and soon the coastal defense guns on the shore also roared, and the whole military port greeted His Excellency the Minister who had gone to the front on behalf of His Majesty with great courtesy.

In the midst of the noise, Charles leaned on the side of the ship and looked out at the shore with a nonchalant smile on his face, as if everything was already under control.

The ship had slowly moved forward, and gradually the figures on the shore became more and more blurred, and Mary, who was already pregnant, felt more and more physically lacking in energy, but even so, she still stood on the shore, and from time to time she waved enthusiastically to the distant battleship.

The fact that the two of them were so close in public just now gave her an almost Madame Treville-like feeling, wasn't that what she was obsessed with?

Even if she knew in her heart that this intimacy had the factor of Mr. and Mrs. being angry, she was enough to comfort herself.

…………………………

As the silhouette on the shore became more and more indistinct, Charles finally withdrew his gaze and walked back to the inside of the deck.

The rocking of the ship made him slightly uneasy, not because he was afraid that the ship would not be safe—he was on the most advanced warship of his time, and there were no torpedoes to threaten him—but because he had never traveled by boat for a long time, either in his previous life or in this life, and at most he had rowed with Charlotte as a child.

For those who had no experience in boating, a long boat trip was an unbearable ordeal, and Charles's greatest fear was that he would get seasick on the way, so that he would lose his demeanor as a minister in front of the attachés.

However, considering the hardships suffered by the officers and soldiers on the front line at this time, including the hardships suffered by his grandfather and his sister, Charles felt that this pain was nothing, no matter how uncomfortable his body was, he had to force himself to adapt to all this.

"Your Excellency!" While he was pondering, the young Duke of Gaston de Choiseul Plasland, a close assistant he had developed, came to his side.

At this time, the duke's face was smooth and fair, his hair was combed neatly, he was wearing a delicate blue coat, and he was also carefully pinned with a tie, and his face also radiated a proud light because of his participation in such a heavy task, and he was obviously complacent about his success.

After greeting Charles, he bowed slightly, then lowered his voice.

"The people from the Austrian embassy have already arrived on the ship, and they will follow you to the Crimea."