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The nervousness describes the mood of the royalists at this time, who originally wanted to see the good show, but did not expect to witness a wonderful accident. Napoleon's solution to the problem was not dragged in the slightest, so cruel that even the Hugo parliamentarians sitting on the stage frowned slightly.

He admired Napoleon's simple and brutal style, and Paris did need a tough leader to put an end to the chaos, if he favored a republican form of government, but that did not mean that everyone could do whatever he wanted. Freedom is built on an institutional framework, and any careerist who tries to usurp the fruits of the victory of the revolution and change the political system should be suppressed by autocracy.

If you look up, you see the person you least want to see diagonally opposite, an old friend who has been cut off for many years, Mérimée.

The other party also seemed to notice Hugo's gaze, and turned his gaze here, looking at him with a complicated expression, as if looking at a close friend he hadn't seen for many years. However, at this time, they are no longer the friends who could sit at the same table and eat macaroni.

Because Mérimée's lifelong friend Countess Montijo's daughter, that is, Eugénie Montijo, became the empress of Napoleon III, Mérimée successfully became a member of the House of Lords, and often went to the Tuileries Palace, Fontainebleau and other places, and had dinner with the emperor and empress. Become a loyal Bonamanian. This made Hugo, who had believed in the republic all his life, puzzled and angry, and finally after going into exile in Belgium, the two sides broke off their friendship and stopped contacting.

And Hugo also noticed that the person sitting next to Mérimée, although the headscarf covered her face, recognized it as the expelled Empress Eugenie, and as the largest leader of the royalists, she sat here with a deeper meaning.

Hugo frowned, he wanted to go to Napoleon's place after his speech, and Empress Eugenie's appearance at the opera house was definitely not improvised.

The people left in awe, and Napoleon surprised everyone today. Hugo discovered that Eugenie did not disperse with the others, but went behind the scenes of the Paris Opera House, accompanied by Mérimée.

Hugo realized something was wrong, stood up and followed.

"Your Excellency Napoleon."

Mérimée and Eugenie intercept him at the opera house.

Napoleon stopped, turned and saw Empress Eugenie standing behind him, followed by an old man on crutches.

Women and old people stood in front of the long corridor, step by step towards Napoleon.

However, I got a cold answer.

"I said we have nothing to talk about, Empress Eugenie."

"Wait......"

Eugenie wanted to say something, but was stopped by the old man next to him, and he said respectfully, "I am here to discuss a business with His Excellency Napoleon, and I don't care about Empress Eugenie's affairs." “

"Who are you? Do you have more power than a regent? ”

Napoleon frowned, he had not seen this face in his memory.

The balding old man replied respectfully, "I am Mérimée Councillor of Napoleon's Second Empire. ”

Mérimée.

Napoleon understood the other party's origin in an instant, the author of "Carmen", the royal literati of Napoleon's court. Loyal to the court of the Second Empire, he historically interceded on behalf of Empress Eugenie, and did not leave Paris for Cannes until September 8, when he died of illness two weeks later.

A diehard who doesn't live for a few days.

"What do you want to say?"

"I want to talk to you about the future of the Bonapartist faction, and the future of France."

Mérimée swore a vow, while Napoleon had no feelings.

"Future?"

Napoleon sneered and said, "You are already a bunch of street rats, is there a future?" ”

Mérimée stepped forward and sneered, "But don't forget, you're Bonaparte Napoleon, as long as you have this identity." The Republicans see you as an enemy, and the Loyalists and Orleans, who hold two-thirds of the power in Congress, will use the Constitution to hollow you out of power and push their respective proxies to power. What can you do after that, besides being able to call the wind and rain now? When this war subsides and the parliamentary elections resume, you will only be excluded from power without any power. Roll down from the position of provisional president with your Governor of Trochu. ”

Mérimée was swearing, believing that his words would impress the other party.

"But if you are willing to cooperate with the Bonapartists, with your influence and the roots of the Bonaparte family in France, we will be able to match the royalists and the republicans, and in exchange you will be in a stronger political position, and in exchange I would like you to allow Eugène Napoleon to return to Paris instead of going into exile."

The candle flame in the hallway flickered, and the grim face flickered in the flickering light of the fire.

Mérimée tried to make a deal with the future of the crown prince, believing that Napoleon would accept the Bonapartist terms, and although the Trochu controlled the entire French army, it was only temporarily lent to them by the Diet and the Banque de France, and that the Reichstag would have to take back military power from the Prussian army after the expulsion of the Prussian army.

Without the loan support of the Banque de France, even Napoleon could not guarantee that hundreds of thousands of people would remain loyal to him.

Mérimée's wishful thinking played well, but there was one thing missing.

The person who negotiated with him was Napoleon, and the other party didn't care about the little bargaining chip in Mérimée's hand at all, and he didn't want to get along with any faction from the beginning.

"As I said, the Bonaparte party has withdrawn from the stage of history, and your allegiance is to the Bonaparte family or the Second Empire. I don't even care. Do you still want to prop Eugène Bonaparte to power as the new Emperor of France? Then give it a try. The gun in my hand, and the hundreds of thousands of French troops behind me, will never agree. ”

Napoleon was so calm and calm that even Eugenie, who did not speak the whole time, felt that she was communicating with a cold-blooded snake.

"You can't fight the people in Congress."

Seeing that the other party turned to leave, Mérimée was anxious, did not care about his physical condition, staggered forward with a cane, and said hatefully, "They will squeeze you out of Paris, even if you can lead the French army against the Prussian invaders?" Your final end is nothing more than being forced out of power by a group of nobles! This is Paris, and even if you have a lot of power, in their eyes, you are just a countryman. ”

"Okay, then they'll try."

Napoleon stepped forward and looked directly into Mérimée's eyes, and the other party's subconscious eyes dodged, dodging the sharp edge.

"When I have gathered up the Prussian army, I would like to see whether the Reichstag has the power to remove the provisional president, or whether I have the power to dissolve the entire Reichstag and arrest all those who oppose the republican form of government."