The first update

Prime Minister Gladstone was in a big headache because the ideas he had prepared were now completely frustrated.

Originally, the day before yesterday, the newspapers should have published the news that Napoleon was killed in the street by Bonaparte extremists, but it has remained silent. Prime Minister Gladstone speculated that the assassination plan that Eugénie had told Queen Victoria had not yet carried out.

Moreover, the Bonaparte assassins have been missing for a long time, and there is only one possibility.

They fell into the hands of the National Gendarmerie.

However, there was no news from the Bonapartist side, and the whereabouts of the assassination were finally inquired through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The day before yesterday, Napoleon led the National Gendarmerie to storm the Palais Bourbon, and it was time to arrest the President of Parliament?"

Gladstone took a deep breath with the telegram in hand, and although it was ostensibly because of the dismissal investigation into the alleged involvement of Speaker Grevy in the resale of his seats, he knew very well that the matter was not so simple.

Because the time of Grevy's arrest coincided with the loss of contact with the Bonapartist party. And Eugenie must have known the news earlier than herself.

Napoleon was probably now secretly acting in the dark, ready to wipe out the damned traitors.

Only the stupid regent is still thinking about the dream of recovering the Bonapartas.

Prime Minister Gladstone, who had never expected the return of those who had fallen into the hands of the National Gendarmerie, came back intact, and he had dismissed them as meaningless outcasts, and had declared the failure of his plan to Queen Victoria.

It is his duty to stop this guy from continuing to bewitch Queen Victoria.

He went to Buckingham Palace to clean up the mess of this farce. From the very beginning, Gladstone should not have believed the nonsense that the Bonapartes were in power, and when her husband and son were dead, what could one Eugenie do? The Queen of France?

Gladstone pursed his lips disdainfully, and it was Queen Victoria who would agree to such an absurd plan out of regret for Napoleon IV, and a woman's heart was really unpredictable.

When Gladstone arrives in the parlor and is told that the queen is meeting with Eugenie, he frowns dissatisfiedly, wondering why the woman is still stalking. The plan had failed, and she should die.

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Gladstone ignored the obstruction of others and walked directly into the waiting room, at this time Queen Victoria was talking to Eugenie, and saw the Prime Minister rushing in without etiquette, and her heart was a little dissatisfied.

Before the Prime Minister could speak, Queen Victoria spoke directly and said sarcastically, "What's wrong?" My Prime Minister? Shouldn't you be dealing with foreign affairs in Downing Street right now? Rushing in to listen to the small talk of the two women, I'm afraid it's a little unpleasant, right? ”

Gladstone glanced at Eugenie and said bluntly, "Don't think about it, I received information today, the Bonaparte Party has been arrested, including your member of parliament, Empress Eugenie, what hole cards do you have in your hand now?" There is no one to support you anymore. ”

"Prime Minister Gladstone, that's not what you said before."

Eugénie asked him in a calm voice, "You said that you were willing to support the restoration of the Bonaparte Party and support us in carrying out the assassination plan. Now you are the opposite, are you preparing to cross the river and tear down the bridge? ”

The impeccable rebuttal caused Prime Minister Gladstone to pause, and Eugénie was true in what he had said, and he had agreed to her request because of his adventurism.

"I don't care what happened in the past, now the situation has changed. It is impossible for me to involve the interests of Great Britain in your personal affairs! ”

"But you Great Britain would love Napoleon dead, wouldn't you? Otherwise, how can the Franco-German alliance be undermined, and how can your conflict in the Transvaal be resolved? You're still coveting the gold mines! ”

Eugenie punctured the other party's selfishness, and Gladstone looked away in embarrassment, only to see Queen Victoria's inexplicable eyes.

She looked at the other party with disdain, and said with a sneer, "I was right." When the Bonapartians are needed, you are more diligent than anyone else. Now I'm afraid that the British government will be ready to kick us away? Prime Minister Gladstone, no wonder you are derided by your political opponent, Benjamin Disraeli, as a 'hypocritical Liverpudlian' and a 'cowardly little Englishman'. ”

In his previous campaign for prime minister, he dressed himself as an ardent protector of a weak people, and took advantage of every opportunity such as mass meetings, demonstrations, or speeches in parliament to denounce the atrocities of the Turkish rulers and the reactionary policies of Disraeli, thus gaining a reputation as a friend of the Balkansslavs.

Now that he has become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gladstone has become as active in supporting foreign expansion as his old rivals, such as the Egyptian issue, which is now intensifying. Britain was fully prepared to wage war, not only to wrest 44 percent of the shares from the French, but also to vigorously suppress the colonies.

The Egyptian question was the last bit of friendship between Britain and France, and Gladstone wanted to take the last bit of political advantage from it.

"Empress Eugenie, you're talking a little too much."

Gladstone squeezed out a smile and said in a steady tone, "I think the most important concern right now is your own safety, Napoleon is not a man who will give up." Sooner or later, oh no, maybe he'll already know by now that you're behind it. When the time comes, wherever you hide, the shadow of death will follow you. ”

"This is Great Britain!"

Eugenie stared coldly at Gladstone and asked, "Does he dare to do this?" ”

Gladstone had no intention of continuing with her, and in fact Eugenie had not yet figured out her situation. After several rounds of confrontation with France, he realized even more that Napoleon would not rest on his laurels, and those who dared to assassinate him would be punished a hundredfold.

After saying this, Prime Minister Gladstone turned and left.

When he returned to Downing Street, he immediately began to prepare a letter to Napoleon in private. He wanted to distance himself from Britain in this case and avoid escalating his personal feud into a political confrontation between the two countries. This is not a good choice.

In the same way, he was afraid of death.

So betraying Eugenie is the best option.

A few days later, Paris received a secret letter from 10 Downing Street.

This came as a surprise to him, after all, because the two sides had torn their faces after the Transvaal incident, and the British Prime Minister would write to him personally, which was almost an impossible event.

When he unwrapped the fire paint, took out the letter paper from it, and hurriedly glanced at it a few times, he showed a look of sudden realization. He didn't expect the British government to make such a big move in order to dissociate itself from relations.

Prime Minister Gladstone sent a small report to the Tuileries Palace, secretly revealing everything that Empress Eugenie had done, and that the Bonaparte extremists who were preparing to assassinate the French president were sent by her, and that all the plots were the idea of Empress Eugenie alone, and that he and Queen Victoria tried to dissuade the vengeful Queen, but she did not listen.

Napoleon summoned Foreign Minister Dekaz to his office, locked the door, and handed him a secret letter from the British Prime Minister.

After reading the letter, Dekaz took a deep breath of cold air and said meaningfully, "I really didn't expect that even the British royal family would be involved." ”

"There are many more things I didn't expect. The old fox is now busy dissociating himself from this issue, which is nothing more than dissociating himself from the previous possible involvement in the assassination. ”

Napoleon never believed in the British, and from the 19th century they regarded the rising power of France as the biggest problem in continental Europe, until Paris, under Napoleon's leadership, had the possibility of re-expanding into the European empire, and gradually changed its attitude from a sympathizer during the Franco-Prussian War to a rival.

Of course, in the eyes of the arrogant British Empire, Germany was no more than an ambitious nouveau riche from the beginning.

"Don't let Gladstone's overtures fool you."

Napoleon reminded Foreign Minister De Kaz, "The British are still eyeing the Suez Canal in Egypt, and they have grown impatient since we preemptively acquired the operating rights." ”

If you are familiar with history, you will know that in 1882, the Anglo-Egyptian war broke out, and the Motherland Party tried to resist the "European Cabinet" and formed an army to suppress the Anglo-French coalition, but this time the British may not have a partner to cooperate with, after all, Britain and France also had problems with the Egyptian joint trusteeship due to the worsening of the Boer problem in South Africa.

"The British had a simple idea, to maintain a large and functioning war machine. Their budget is now gradually rising, from £23 million announced by Parliament last year to £32 million after 1889. As for the Navy, hehehe. ”

The navy's budget now stands at £11 million, quadrupling by the time of the Second World War. Germany's naval spending during the same period grew even faster: from 90 million marks a year to almost 400 million.

Napoleon was not the only one who saw the coexistence of heavy industry and war, Nobel and Carnegie knew very well what made them capitalists of dynamite and steel tycoons, and Engels reminded everyone that when war became a part of big industry, big industry gradually became a political necessity.

"If we take a long-term view, we will realize that Egypt is becoming precarious. The British had encouraged Turkey to depose Ismail and appointed his son Dufik as the new governor. As a result, Dufik was at the mercy of the British, formed a puppet government, dissolved Parliament, and arrested the Fatherlanders. This led directly to the Arabic army uprising last month, besieging the royal palace, gaining the support of the masses and forcing Dufik to convene a parliament. We should all know very well that they are challenging the patience of the European countries, and that Gladstone is now showing weakness in order to confuse Paris, and then secretly attack the Egyptian question that follows. ”

Napoleon tore the letter from Gladstone to shreds, then turned to Foreign Minister Dekaz and said, "I need you to be prepared for the British problem, and I will deal with Empress Eugenie myself." ”

When Foreign Minister Dekaz heard that he had handled it personally, his heart sank.

It seems that the emperor is ready to move seriously.