As the royal palace of the Restoration and the July Dynasty, the Tuileries Palace has been carefully maintained by successive kings for decades, and it is very luxurious, and since it became the royal palace of the Empire, in order to show the grandeur of the Empire, the palace has been renovated in a short period of time, and it looks even more magnificent and luxurious. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Today, the important ministers of the empire have come to the palace to attend the banquet hosted by His Majesty the Emperor himself. This kind of banquet was not only an opportunity for the high-ranking officials of the empire to curry favor with the royal family, but also an opportunity for them to show off their status and wealth to others, so they all dressed up carefully lest they would not be conspicuous.

"Your Excellency Chancellor Tréville, congratulations on receiving this medal! Look, what a handsome young man! ”

In the golden hall, Charles Morny, the half-brother of the Imperial Interior Minister and the Emperor, looked with envy at the Knight of the Order of the Bath on his chest.

The emperors of the Bonaparte family have always had a penchant for cronyism and a penchant for supporting their families, and as the emperor's younger brother and confidant, he was no exception, because he was instrumental in the previous coups, so immediately after the establishment of the empire, he was appointed by His Majesty the Emperor as Minister of the Interior.

This was both a reward and a security measure - Louis Bonaparte was not at ease with the power of the Home Secretary, who was in charge of the police and the spy apparatus throughout the country, at a time when the powers of the National Assembly were greatly restricted, and Louis Bonaparte was not at ease with such power falling into the hands of someone else.

The lessons Fouché left to the Bonaparte family were too profound for Louis Bonaparte to forget.

Still, despite his high position, Morney was a little jealous of Charles, especially after his colleague gained popularity throughout Europe and was awarded a medal by Her Majesty the Queen herself.

On the one hand, this is the instinctive jealousy of the bureaucracy towards their colleagues, and on the other hand, of course, it comes from the instinctive jealousy of a middle-aged person towards a young person.

True, almost every high-ranking official of the empire was envious of Charles de Treville, because he was so young that these middle-aged people had to face the onslaught of youth.

However, this jealousy did not overwhelm Morni, who still regarded the young man as his important friend.

So he just greeted Charles in a slightly jealous teasing tone.

"This medal is just a tool used by the British to buy us, and it is not necessarily valuable." Charles may be modest on the surface, but his pride is palpable. "It's just that I happened to be on a diplomatic mission at the time, which made an impression on Her Majesty, so I got such an opportunity, and in essence, as long as I can win us over, the British are even willing to give the devil a medal."

"So you're comparing yourself to a devil?" Molney pretended not to understand his ridicule, but laughed instead, "Actually, this analogy is also very apt. ”

The joke made both of them laugh, and then they casually walked to the couch in the corner of the hall and sat down.

While the two ministers were seated and chatting and laughing, although none of the imperial officials or court attendants tried to approach them on the surface, there were already many pairs of eyes secretly watching their every move, guessing what the two imperial ministers were secretly talking about.

"Charles, how did you talk to the British in Calais the other day?" As soon as he sat down, Morney asked seemingly nonchalantly.

This middle-aged man has been slightly defeated, but because he is now in a high position, he has some majesty, and he is dressed in a wide dress

This was a diplomatic issue, and it didn't seem to have much to do with him as the interior minister, but Morni had always prided himself as the chief minister of the Empire, so it was only natural that he would want to try to control information outside of his purview.

"The British continue to reaffirm their resolve to us." Charles did not hesitate, but told the other party about this matter, which should have only been reported to His Majesty the Emperor, "They told me that the change of British government will in no way affect the established policy of Britain, and they will still act according to the tacit understanding between the two countries—"

"These Englishmen are really cunning." Morni was not surprised, but nodded indifferently, "I'll just say, they can't do without us now, they need our guns, we should really be tougher with them." ”

As one of the central figures of the Bonaparte dynasty, Morny had a lot of influence in the emperor's heart, and thus had a great influence on national policy. In contrast to the Emperor and most of his colleagues, he was not opposed to the Empire's proximity to Britain, but he did value French subjectivity—that is, he wanted to be able to move closer to Britain while maintaining French flexibility, or to force the British to raise their bids.

His opinion could not be said to be unreasonable, so it had some influence on others, but in the eyes of His Majesty Emperor Napoleon III, the foundation of the empire was unstable at present, so for the stability of the situation in France and abroad, the favor of the British was necessary, so he was more inclined to continue to promote relations with the British, and the Anglo-French coal trade agreement implemented by Charles was part of his efforts.

It has to be said that this trend of thought is indeed quite popular in France -- in this era, the French have always been suspicious and even hateful of Britain, after all, Britain has been an enemy of France for two hundred years, and is the main culprit that suppressed France and was unable to dominate Europe.

"We are part of the European continent, and because of this, we must be careful in what we say and do, and we can't be at the same time against every country." Charles shrugged his shoulders and said carefully, "Since we've decided to befriend one of them, we'll have to befriend the others for the time being." ”

"You've left the Foreign Office, but you're a diplomat, Charles." Morni was still smiling, "You can say a word so crookedly, if you don't have enough intelligence, I'm afraid you will have to listen to heaven's books, right?" Well, but I admit that you have a point, since we are going to war with the Russians, the friendship of the British is of paramount importance, not pleasant, but at least pleasant. ”

Charles looked around with a slight uneasiness, making sure that no one could hear the two of them, and he was slightly relieved - although all the officials present today were Imperial officials, this kind of news could not be spoken.

"Don't be so alarmed, Charles, I know how to do it." Seeing Charles' slightly nervous appearance, Morney smiled even more, "There are some things that we just talk about in private, and no one will tell anyone else." ”

Charles heard that the other seemed to mean something, so he looked at the other party with some confusion, waiting for him to uncover the mystery.

"When I became Home Secretary, I had a lot of things on my hands, and it was so frustrating that I didn't know what to prioritize." Morney casually poured himself a sip of wine, "Fortunately, our secret police are still good enough, and they still found some Russian spies after all." ”

"Spies for the Russians?" Charles was a little surprised.

He was not surprised that the Russians had placed spies in France, which was not surprising, every country would do this to others, but he was surprised why Morny took the initiative to investigate the spies and why he would tell him the news.

"Yes, we have found a lot of Russian spies, and the list is still on my desk." Morni replied calmly, "But, of course, I don't arrest them all on a whim, I just let people cause a little surprise, and then try to catch one or two people without a trace, and then interrogate them myself." ”

Speaking of this, he suddenly laughed with interest, "The experts who interrogated them were real experts in the ministry, and their skills were very good, I really didn't expect that there were such powerful experts in the police department before." After looking at their techniques, I felt that the dead would have to speak before them if I wanted a confession. ”

The slightly cruel joke didn't resonate with Charles, who just shrugged his shoulders in regret and looked at the other with great interest, and to be honest, he was a little curious about what Morny had gotten.

"From their mouths, we know that the Russians are very nervous about us right now, and they are trying to gather information about us in the country, especially about military movements, and about us personally." Morni enjoyed the look in his junior very much, "Charles, of course you are also on their list of concerns, I think there may already be a few inches of material in the Russian government and the Tsar, and many people are judging you. ”

"I'm honored." Charles was not surprised by this, on the contrary, he felt that it was deserved, and that he deserved it now.

"Also, judging by the attitude of the Russians now, they ...... They may already be preparing for the worst, but they seem to be holding on to some kind of luck. "They don't have hope in us, and they think we're hostile to them, but they don't seem to believe that the British will fight them directly, and they don't believe that anyone would want to cross the ocean to fight them, so they still think they have freedom to act." ”

"This kind of self-confidence is common among Russians, although I don't know where it comes from." Charles shrugged his shoulders again, "But I think it's good for us." ”

"It's obviously good for us." Morni also nodded, "I'll copy a copy of these lists and give them to you, if you need to do something to them, then just do it, and report it to me afterwards." ”

"Give it to me?" Charles was even more surprised, "Shouldn't it be given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" ”

"I don't like the people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who are too pompous and high-profile, and they are difficult to keep secrets." Morny shook his head, then continued, "Besides, the current foreign secretary won't be in office for long, and God knows what that gentleman will think when he takes power?" ”

After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and pointed blankly at the middle of the field.

Charles followed his line of sight, and immediately saw a middle-aged man who was talking and laughing, this middle-aged man was very brightly dressed, and his appearance was also personable, full of diplomat demeanor, but from the contours of his face, some traces from his father could be seen.

Charles knew that his name was Alexander Kolona Valleffs, or rather, that illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon left in Poland, a cousin whom His Majesty the Emperor today could not directly recognize.

He was born in 810 at Vallevis Castle, the child of Marie Valewska, the Mistress of the Emperor, who was revered by the Poles for his aid in the restoration of Poland. Although it was inconvenient for Napoleon to publicly admit his identity, he nevertheless bestowed upon the bastard empire the title of count, and two years later granted him a large fortune.

But the good times didn't last long, and while he was still babbling, the emperor who was in full swing fell under the siege of various countries. But even so, he lived an aristocratic life.

During the Polish Revolution of 1830, he came to France, but the July Dynasty did not particularly like the son of the former emperor, so he was also quite cold. He later joined the French army and served for a time in Algeria. But in 1837 he resigned from the military and eventually entered the diplomatic service. The government wanted to send him away from afar, so it sent him first as an envoy to Egypt and later as an ambassador to Argentina.

However, after his cousin had assumed supreme power in France, he was soon recalled to the continent by the French government, and then appointed envoy to Florence, with whom Charles had met.

Everyone knew that he would definitely be of great use in the future, so Charles was also quite polite to him, and he made a friend.

"You mean he's going to be at the helm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the future?" After the initial confusion, Charles quickly calmed down.

This was not very surprising news for him.

"Even if it's not now, it will be the case one day." Morni nodded dryly, "My friend, I'll tell you, His Majesty the Emperor will let him be the ambassador to London, and he will come back to take charge after a transition." ”

"I see......" Charles nodded.

"So you should understand why we're working together, right? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not in charge of all foreign affairs, especially in the hands of a pro-Russian faction. Morney explained to him with a smile.

"Russophiles? Isn't he a Pole? Charles asked again.

"Because of his Polish ancestry, he needs to be pro-Russian even more when he becomes the foreign minister of the empire, because if we are not pro-Russian, no one will accuse us,"

That's right, aren't the Chinese the most anti-China after becoming officials in the United States? With their embarrassing status, they must behave beyond reproach. Charles figured it out as soon as he thought about it.

But he also knew that Morni was doing this not only out of pro-Russian and anti-Russian considerations, but also to establish his position in the family regime of the empire - he would not allow another illegitimate child to take his place.

"His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress have arrived!" At that moment, there was another commotion outside the hall, and Charles and Morny immediately stopped, then stood up and headed in the direction of the door, waiting for the arrival of the couple at the top of the Empire. (To be continued.) )