The second more

Originally, Ambassador Gabriac thought that his unauthorized actions would bring him a lot of trouble when he returned home, and although he would not be sent to prison, his political career was terminated. He simply resigned, saving him all other troubles and the opportunity to let the Tuileries Palace fall behind, but when he submitted his resignation to return to himself, he received an invitation from Napoleon very unexpectedly.

Faced with Napoleon's invitation, Ambassador Gabriac felt very strange. He has already resigned as ambassador to Berlin, so why is the Tuileries still coming to him?

However, when he returned to Paris, he was surprised to find that he was greeted with unprecedented pomp. On both sides of the road were crowds waving flowers to greet them, no one organized, they spontaneously greeted Gabriak. He seems to be a hero who has returned victorious, not an unlucky man who has violated the principles of diplomacy and confronted other heads of state.

What Gabriac did not know was that in the days since he returned to Paris from Berlin, the incident of rebutting King Wilhelm on the spot had spread widely in the capital, although the public did not know that the Tuileries Palace was behind the affair. The ambassador in Berlin angrily denounced the German emperor's diplomatic turmoil as pushing Gabriac to the center of public opinion as a French national hero, and he almost did not let him pass under the Arc de Triomphe.

In contrast to the silent government, Gabriac is a great French hero.

But only Ambassador Gabriac knows that such a momentum is certainly not a spontaneous act of the people, and it is not possible that the Tuileries Palace is behind it.

Gabriac took the flowers from a teenager and smiled and waved at them, while looking at the end of the street, which was also the direction of the Tuileries Palace, with a heavy heart.

He always had a hunch that something else was waiting for him.

When the carriage stopped at the door, Gabriac walked through the corridor and came directly to the door of Napoleon's office, knowing that the other party was waiting for him, and Gabriac owed His Excellency the President an explanation.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, only to find that His Excellency the President was not the only one inside, but even Foreign Minister Dekaz was standing inside, waiting for him.

Napoleon motioned for him to sit down, and only after Gabriac sat down nervously did he speak, "Although I cannot comment much on your performance in public, not only have you violated the laws of diplomacy, but even openly clashed with King William, even if you do not resign, I will directly find someone to replace you, and then transfer you to an Asian country as an ambassador." ”

Gabriak's heart sank, and he felt that his life was over. It is a taboo for every diplomatic ambassador to make his own assertion almost cause the failure of French diplomacy.

"But."

Napoleon changed his tone and said calmly, "I think you are right, and in the end the negotiation achieved its goal." Now that German troops have withdrawn from the Alsatian border area, the crisis of war has been lifted, and Europe has returned to its former calm. I still have to say a word to you in my private name, well done. ”

Gabriac breathed a sigh of relief and felt his whole body relax. At least the emperor did not challenge him, which is the greatest mercy.

Napoleon flipped through Gabriac's biography and said, "One more thing, now you can no longer be ambassador to Berlin, I have found another job for you." Counsellor of the Ambassador of France to Belgium, how? ”

Gabriac paused for a moment, not quite understanding what Napoleon meant.

Napoleon nodded to Dekaz beside him, and the other man left his room very consciously and closed the door. Only two people, the president and Gabriak, were left to have a secret conversation.

"I'll put the nasty words first, and what I'm going to say next is only known to the two of us, and if a word is leaked, you know what the result will be."

Gabriac nodded with difficulty, in fact he wanted to choose to refuse, but seeing Napoleon's smiling expression, the words came to his lips and swallowed again.

"Do you know why I transferred you to Belgium?"

"I don't know."

Gabriac shook his head, and this time he finally spoke, "But I know that every transfer of His Excellency President Napoleon has a corresponding motive. ”

"Do you know King Leopold II of Belgium?"

Napoleon laughed and said, "He was an ambitious colonial imperialist." ”

He knew exactly what the king of colonialism had in mind. Soon Leopold III would organize the International African Association to occupy a large area of Congo in his own name in the name of exploring and developing Africa, and call it the Congo Free State. Later, the Belgian parliament officially awarded him the title of monarch of the Congo Free State.

His brutal exploitation, oppression and massacre of the local population was condemned by world public opinion.

Napoleon, on the other hand, kicked out the small Belgian country after completing the exploration work in the name of joint development, and France swallowed the entire rich Congo region alone.

Leopold II's ambitions for Africa have a long history. The idea of opening up a colony almost fascinated him, and he hardly dared to speak of it. But, in reality, he waited for all the moments.

At his behest, Emil Banning, an archivist at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, advocated that "the opening of Central Africa would bring commercial and industrial benefits", and submitted a report to the colonization of Central Africa, asking him to "establish a colonial stronghold" in Africa under the banner of "science" and connect them with lines of communication.

Gabriac understood that he had heard that the other side wanted to develop Africa, but he did not have the support of others. It seems that Napoleon was also aware of the importance of expanding into central Africa, so he transferred his atonement to Belgium.

"The King of Belgium has been exploring Africa lately, and His Majesty Napoleon is saying, "Shall we work with Belgium?"

Leopold II was very cunning, he knew that Belgium could not match the strength of France and others, and the goal of openly sending an expeditionary force to central Africa was too obvious. Therefore, under the guise of "humanitarianism" such as "scientific investigation" and "abolition of slavery", he extended the claws of aggression to the heart of Africa.

Napoleon knew that if he didn't act, Portugal and Belgium would take the lead, so he hoped that Gabriac would talk to King Leopold II about the feasibility of joint action with France.

What he cares most about is that Congo has 50 percent of the world's uranium mines. From now on, he is strategically preparing France for the next nearly a century.

"If Belgium is willing to cooperate, we can develop it together. And France also needs to test the newly developed weapons on the indigenous blacks in the colonial war, so as to ensure that there is nothing bad about them in the event of a possible future war. ”

Under the banner of a scientific expedition team, they are actually fully armed colonial soldiers.

Then he changed his mind and said in a cold voice, "Also, if Leopold II is not willing to cooperate, tell him that France will guarantee that Belgium will not get a colony." ”

"If he dares to pull other countries into the joint expedition team, then he can guarantee that the Belgian expedition sent by Leopold II will be no different from the Africans."