Two hours later, the throne room of the Palace of Versailles, the most splendid and splendid room in the entire palace, was the Apollo Room.

Hundreds of ministers of state were ushered in by the officials to their respective positions, and solemnly waited for the meeting to begin.

Although this was just an ordinary meeting, and His Majesty would not be present at the throne, the people did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

After all, no one can be sure whether the unsightly servant standing in the throne hall is the eyeliner that His Majesty has planted in the court.

Historically, Louis XV used his absolute power to form a secret police in his prime of life, which was used to monitor and control the nobles and ministers.

Although the power of the secret police force has been greatly weakened since the Duke of Choiseul came to power, there is no doubt that any rumors within the Palace of Versailles will not escape the ears of His Majesty.

Even Louis XV is now a dying old man.

The attendees quickly gathered in the Apollo Room in a staggered manner, and Lawrence was much more advanced than the previous time, second only to the Duke Marshal and the Cabinet Ministers in the front row.

It is not known whether this was a deliberate arrangement by His Majesty the King, or a timely adjustment by well-informed court officials in accordance with Prime Minister Bonaparte's current political position.

Compared with the trembling and walking on thin ice of the ordinary attendees, the elites at the forefront still seemed much more relaxed, and they were still whispering to each other about court gossip and lace news, after all, they were also frequent visitors to the Palace of Versailles.

Foreign Secretary Caesar Gabriel was also a focal point among these speakers, and as Choiseul's cousin, he naturally assumed the position of faction leader after Lieutenant General Jacques Philippe left Paris.

Even though it was only a temporary power, Caesar Gabriel enjoyed the compliments and praise of the nobles around him, and the smug smile on his lips barely faded.

"Ah, Lord Bonaparte."

Caesar Gabriel seemed to suddenly notice Lawrence standing behind him, so he interrupted the conversation with the others, and leaned forward to ask in a low voice:

"It's been a long time, and I'd love to ask how you're doing at the Paris Military Academy, but there's another question that concerns me a lot..."

"But it doesn't hurt to say it." Lawrence smiled and nodded, already knowing what the other man was looking for.

As the temporary leader of the Choiseul faction, and the foreign minister of France, Caesar Gabriel undoubtedly knew more about the Golden Iristes.

Even if he did not fully understand this faction, he could at least guess what His Majesty's intentions were in setting up this faction at this point in time.

"I've heard that you've recently been entrusted with another important task, which is a good thing, and I'm very happy for you."

Caesar Gabriel tilted his head slightly, looked down at Lawrence condescendingly, and squinted and asked:

"But I have to make sure that that work doesn't affect the cooperation between you and us, right?"

Lawrence looked at the condescending Gabriel with an expressionless face, shook his head lightly, and said:

"I'll talk to your brother about these things in detail, so I won't worry about you."

If it was Schwasel standing in front of him, Lawrence might have been able to deal with him politely.

However, for Caesar Gabriel, a mediocre minister, Lawrence did not want to talk too much nonsense with him, not to mention that the other party had already been sentenced to political death by Lawrence in advance.

"You...!"

Gabriel's face changed instantly, and the smug smile on the corner of his mouth disappeared in the blink of an eye.

He couldn't accept Lawrence's contemptuous attitude, especially now that he was leading an entire party and holding half of the kingdom's political lifeline.

Gabriel thought that his current status was not inferior to that of his brother, and the compliments of those ministers and nobles seemed to prove this at all times, but he did not expect it

This Corsican, who had been raised by his own faction, dared to speak out against the leader of the Choiseul faction.

Unlike the Duke of Choiseul, who attached great importance to Lawrence Bonaparte, in the eyes of Caesar Gabriel, the so-called Lord Bonaparte in front of him was nothing more than an eagle dog supported by the Choiseul faction.

Even if the royal family offered generous conditions, Lawrence Bonaparte should not hesitate to take his side, Caesar Gabriel almost never imagined that Lawrence would waver at such a time.

"I don't need to talk about it, I need your commitment right now."

Gabriel suppressed the depression and unhappiness in his heart, turned his head to glare at the participants who were interested in listening to the conversation, and then looked at Lawrence and threatened in a low voice:

"Don't forget, Lord Bonaparte, how you came from that wild island of Corsica to Versailles, and how Madame du Barry died a few months ago; And I would like to remind you that I hate ungrateful people most in my life, and I don't mind being ruthless at all with such people, including all his relatives and subordinates."

"You're threatening me?" Lawrence asked calmly.

Despite his anger, Caesar Gabriel kept her voice low enough that only they could hear each other:

"As you may understand, I'm just a kind reminder that if you do end up tearing up with us, even if the Schoiseul family falls in the midst of that future change, we can easily give Corsica a new owner... And there is a high probability that there will be a lot of blood shed in this re-election process."

Lawrence scratched his ears absentmindedly, he would not have completely offended Duke Choiseul as a mortal enemy, but he didn't bother to continue talking nonsense with the other party:

"I've received your reminder, and I'll talk to your brother about it later... Oh, the Duke of Orleans has come to power, let's talk about it after the meeting."

Gabriel glanced at the Duke of Orleans, who was dressed up and slowly walked up to the throne, and finally said coldly:

"I am not alarmist, Sir Bonaparte, if it were not at all costs, I could even make what I say happen tomorrow, you should believe that I have such power."

"Tomorrow—" Lawrence shook his head with a smirk:

"I do not believe it."

Gabriel's pupils shook, and a wave of anger suddenly rushed to his heart, he couldn't help but clench his fists, and after putting down a cruel word, he turned away:

"Let's wait and see."

...

In the Apollo Room, Caesar Gabriel kept his voice down and kept his distance from others, and the surrounding attendees were unsure of what the two recent focal points were talking about.

However, to their confusion, the two ministers, who were supposed to be close allies, seemed to be at odds with each other, especially the foreign secretary, whose whole face was red with anger, and his mouth was still whispering curses.

And as the regent Duke of Orleans stepped onto the throne, people didn't have time to talk to each other, so they had to suppress these questions in the depths of their hearts.

The few months he spent as regent also brought about a lot of changes for the Duke of Orleans.

The kind and friendly smile on his lips gradually disappeared, and his temperament was no longer as cheerful as before, but was replaced by a majesty born from the heart, which may be the infiltration and transformation of a person by power in silence.

The Duke of Orleans did not wear a wig, and a few strands of white hair in his thick black hair were very abrupt, and it seemed that the Duke had spent a lot of effort to stabilize the political situation for several months, and it was probably not easy to receive and deal with the officials and nobles of various factions in the Bishop's Palace every day.

After stepping onto the throne, the Duke of Orleans first saluted the empty silver throne with his scepter in his hand, and showed himself in a simple and solemn ceremony that he was acting in the power of His Majesty.

He then sat down in a marble armchair in front of the throne to the right, and announced the beginning of the Imperial Council

。

As in previous sessions, the Duke of Orleans began with a brief speech on the state of affairs in the Kingdom.

Although the duke's eloquence is really worthy of a lotus-tongued lotus, the content of the speech is very lackluster, and it is just some ornate orthodox and extremely empty clichés.

Subsequently, the core ministers of the Cabinet also took turns to report to the participants on their own areas.

Again, there was no useful information in the reports of these ministers, except that Caesar Gabriel made a point of mentioning the situation in southern Italy in his reports.

According to him, the famine in the Kingdom of Naples shows no end in sight, food prices remain high, and the starving land is now rightfully full of turmoil and unrest.

The situation within the Kingdom of Naples seems to be unstable, and the dissatisfaction of the peasants of the south, especially the population of Sicily, with the royal family and the government has reached its peak.

The populace complained all day long that the stupid king had managed to put Sicily, the granary of the Roman Empire, under control, was starving and devastated.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there were already signs of civil war in the Kingdom of Naples, and given the movements of the British and the northern Italian states in the Mediterranean, if a civil war did break out in the end, it would not be a situation that the Neapolitans themselves could solve.

The Duke of Orleans was also very concerned about this, and proposed on the spot that the ministers discuss the aid plan for the Kingdom of Naples.

However, Caesar Gabriel said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had discussed assistance with the ambassador of Naples for a long time, and that the other party did not hesitate to reject France's request for assistance, citing the reason that it did not want to be interfered with by the French.

What is even more puzzling is that during the famine that lasted for more than a year, the Kingdom of Naples refused even the aid of its own suzerain, Spain, and insisted on dealing with the natural disaster on its own.

And King Carlos III of Spain, taking into account the promise he had promised, the self-government of the Neapolitan people, did not interfere too much in this catastrophe, and left it to his son, King Ferdinando IV of Naples.

In addition to the refusal of the ambassador of Naples, the ministers of the other ministries also expressed their opposition to the aid plan, especially the chancellor of the exchequer, who directly stated that they simply could not spare the financial resources to aid southern Italy at a time when the fiscal deficit was so severe.

Several marshals and generals in the front row were also opposed to interfering in southern Italy, fearing that too much attention to the Kingdom of Naples would risk dragging France into the quagmire of war, after all, they already had clear information confirming that the British had already begun to lay out in the Mediterranean.

These decorated generals, of course, were not like warmongers like the Duke of Choiseul, and they did not want to give up their present comfortable life and go to a war in the Mediterranean that would never see the light of day.

Seeing that the generals and ministers were strongly opposed to interfering in the Kingdom of Naples, the Duke of Orleans had no choice but to give up for the time being and put the proposal on hold for the time being.

Lawrence also silently remembered the information revealed by Caesar Gabriel that Corsica, in the heart of the sea, would not be immune to any change in the situation in the western Mediterranean.

And judging from the intelligence gathered from all sides, Lawrence can almost conclude that this new storm in the western Mediterranean is imminent.

In the Apollo Room, the Duke of Orleans continued to preside over the meeting, and began a public discussion of the proposed bill submitted in advance by the Ministers of State.

Lawrence had little interest in this part of the debate, and although a royal council would have preliminary discussions on dozens of proposals, only about a tenth of them could be brought to the cabinet for further debate, except for a few that could be approved and rejected on the spot by the king or regent.

Even if a bill is unanimously passed by the Cabinet, it will eventually have to be referred to the High Court for registration debate, and it is not uncommon for the High Court, which has the power of admonition, to refuse to pass a government bill.

In particular, proposals involving the targeting of the privileged class are completely unlikely to be found by the High Court

Historically, Louis XV even went to the High Court several times to try to force the judges to pass the reform bills, but they all failed without exception.

That's why it's so hard to get a modest fiscal reform in France, and why both Justice Möpp and Louis XV made the reduction of the powers of the High Court a top priority.

But despite this, the debate in the throne hall was still quite intense, after all, it was only at this stage that the marginal ministers standing in the back row of the hall had the opportunity to speak in front of the throne.

"Ahem..."

The Duke of Orleans pushed down the gold-rimmed glasses on the tip of his nose, stamped and sealed the last proposal, and breathed a sigh of relief with a little tiredness:

"This concludes the last discussion of the day, gentlemen, if you have no other proposals..."

The ministers in the throne hall were also relieved and ready to leave, and they didn't think that any daredevils would make a proposal on the day of the Imperial Council.

Caesar Gabriel turned his head and glared at Lawrence, also preparing to leave the Apollo Hall directly.

The Duke of Orleans put away the papers, took off his glasses, got up and glanced at the ministers, and announced aloud:

"So, today's meeting is..."

"Wait a minute, Your Excellency."

Very suddenly, a warm and heavy voice suddenly came from among the ministers, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

I saw the Austrian Ambassador Plenipotentiary to France, Prince Neo, smiling and walking out of the crowd and standing in front of the Duke of Orleans:

"I have a request, I wonder if I can make it here?"

The Duke of Orleans frowned slightly, and like the rest of the attendees, he had no idea why the Austrian ambassador had suddenly come forward, but out of courtesy, he nodded politely and stretched out his hand:

"Of course, Your Highness, this is your right."

In the eighteenth century, it was not uncommon for foreign ambassadors to attend major meetings in their own countries, and many ambassadors would argue with each other in order to defend their own interests.

For example, the Earl of Vergeg, when he was the envoy of King George II, his mission was to defend the interests of France in the British Parliament.

Therefore, Prince Neo naturally also has the right to speak and propose, not to mention that he is also a royal relative of the ally Austria, and the Duke of Orleans is also very cautious about it.

Prince Neo bowed unhurriedly, graceful and graceful, and then squinted slightly at Lawrence in the crowd.

Lawrence, however, did not look at him, but closed his eyes as if it were nothing to do with himself.

"I regret that what I am bringing today is not a proposal to enhance the friendship between our two countries, but I must make this request with the utmost solemnity..."

Prince Neo's words suddenly became sonorous and powerful, as if a monarch were reprimanding his courtiers:

"I, Neo Joseph-Diane, in my capacity as Austrian Ambassador Plenipotentiary to France, lodge a solemn protest against the treason of your Foreign Secretary, Caesar Gabriel!"