Eagle’s Glory

Under the leadership and personal guarantee of Prince Talleyrand, Aiglon and the Duke of Orleans reached a secret agreement that "as long as the Duke of Orleans gives up his pursuit of the throne and voluntarily goes into exile, it will not embarrass himself and his family."

According to this agreement, the Duke prepared his luggage and collected various belongings for his exile; at the same time, he dismissed his supporters.

Originally, there were some supporters who were unwilling to lay down their weapons because they were afraid of being liquidated, and even wanted to coerce the Duke to continue fighting against the King of Rome. However, under the guarantee of Aiglon and Talleyrand to "let bygones be bygones and never liquidate," these people also made trouble. No matter what the weather, under the general trend, I can only bow my head obediently.

In this way, the turmoil that was almost out of control gradually subsided. In the turmoil of several months, Paris vented all the passion it had accumulated for more than ten years. Now it is an era of peace again.

Just after the Duke of Orleans chose to give up, the originally sensational assassination case gradually fell out of people's sight. Because the King of Rome could not provide any more evidence to prove that the Duke was indeed responsible for the incident, it could only be concluded that "Felix Gaudin is the mastermind behind the scenes" as the conclusion.

Although the vast majority of people with basic intelligence know that this cannot be controlled and directed by Gao Dan alone, since the "sufferer" himself will no longer pursue the case, everyone is happy that the storm has subsided.

For ordinary people, the crime and unemployment caused by long-term unrest are unbearable pains. They hope that this disgusting unrest will end as soon as possible and return to their old lives as soon as possible.

They don't like the Duke of Orleans, they don't like Talleyrand, and maybe they don't like the King of Rome. It doesn't matter to them who sits on the throne, as long as the damn chaos can be ended as soon as possible.

Now, the two pretenders to the throne have decided the winner, and the crisis of civil war has disappeared. For ordinary people, it is natural to breathe a big sigh of relief.

After all the resistance disappeared, Prince Talleyrand, who was "highly respected" and had rich experience in cleaning up the mess, came out in public and announced the formation of a provisional government. This was also after the protracted disputes and turmoil, France finally had a man who was reluctantly forced by the people. recognized legitimate government.

After being invited to serve as the head of the provisional government, Prince Talleyrand quickly formed a cabinet according to the list he had already prepared. In this cabinet, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Interior, controlled the police power, and held the position of Minister of War. It was handed over to the respected Marshal Soult.

Marshal Sirte did not mince words. The day after he took over as minister, he issued extremely stern instructions to the troops stationed in various places, announcing that from now on, the army must get rid of chaos and a wait-and-see attitude and assist the government in restoring order. Any officer who hesitates, or disobeys the orders of the government and himself,

All will be dismissed immediately and court-martialed.

If the previous King Charles X or any other minister had issued such an instruction, it would have been regarded as a joke or ignored, but when the person who said this was Marshal Soult, the situation was completely different. .

Under the marshal's power, the atmosphere of hesitation and wait-and-see in the army suddenly changed. All the officers who received the instructions responded by supporting the provisional government. Previously, they were all afraid of what would happen if they rashly stood in the wrong team. Being liquidated, they would rather do nothing, but now they all know that everything has fallen into place, and they are no longer allowed to be at odds with each other.

When the army reorganized and began to suppress the turmoil in various places, order was easily restored. The chaos of the previous months seemed to have disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

In a short period of time, the provisional government stabilized its position and restored order everywhere.

Although Prince Talleyrand and Marshal Soult were not loved by the people, when they came out again to restore order, they still made the people of the country breathe a sigh of relief and began to look forward to the stable days to come.

Of course, Prince Talleyrand has publicly announced many times that he has no interest in making this provisional government with weak legitimacy permanent. It is just because of the chaotic situation that he has to rely on the short-term authorization of Parliament to maintain national order.

Moreover, Prince Talleyrand emphasized that since the Bourbon dynasty no longer exists, the previous Parliament has naturally lost its legitimacy. In addition, he had announced the dissolution of Parliament before the fall of King Charles X, so the current Parliament "Legitimacy" is equally weak, so the first priority after the provisional government is established is to hold a broadly representative popular election in France as soon as possible to pave the way for a real nationally mandated government.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Talleyrand has never been a fan of constitutionalism, and he is even more dismissive of the so-called public opinion. Naturally, the reason why he shouted so hoarsely about the so-called "popular mandate" was because he had other intentions.

Recalling that there was once a man who ascended to the throne relying on the "popular mandate", then the true intention of Prince Talleyrand is self-evident - he was using the authority of the provisional government to serve the King of Rome. Paving the way, when the so-called "popular mandate" is realized, it will be the time when the Provisional Government is dissolved and the Empire is restored.

In fact, even if the provisional government does not play such tricks, it has already become the default fact in everyone's mind that the King of Rome once again ascends the throne that should belong to him - after all, there are only two contestants competing for the throne of the monarch, and one voluntarily withdraws After that, who else will be the winner?

Moreover, not many people dislike this fact - after all, compared to the protracted chaos and the shadow of civil war, there seems to be nothing unacceptable for the Roman king to ascend the throne.

The political consciousness of the French people today is not as clear as it was a century later. Most people are still dissatisfied with the short-lived republic and the bloody chaos that followed. The republicans are still in an absolute minority. Since November 1804, The Empire of 1991 and the Bourbon Restoration Dynasty in the following fifteen years made "monarchy" the default state system for most people. It is just controversial how many constitutional elements should be mixed into the monarchy.

Since the King of Rome was now the only choice and had legitimate legitimacy, the vast majority of people acquiesced in his victory, even if this young man spent most of his life outside the country's borders.

Just after the provisional government was established, Prince Talleyrand issued a special notice stating that out of the French people's "special feelings" for the former Emperor Napoleon I, the state-owned Fontainebleau Palace was reclassified as the property of the Bonaparte family. , the King of Rome, as the emperor's only heir, would enjoy ownership of this property, and this move with strong political implications was tantamount to a public announcement that he was prepared to put the King of Rome on the throne.

In addition to using various means to restore domestic order, the interim government also began to extend its tentacles beyond the national borders.

For Prince Talleyrand, the most important agreement between him and the King of Rome was that he would remove foreign obstacles for the King of Rome so that Aigron could ascend the throne without any hindrance.

For the sullen and sophisticated Prince Talleyrand, the task, while tricky, was not that difficult.

He had discussed this issue with Aiglon before, and the two of them had almost the same views - the most important thing was the British government's views. As long as the British could choose neutrality or acquiesce, there would be almost no risk.

As long as the British don't move, neither Prussia nor Russia will be interested in an expedition just to fight a war just for the surname Bonaparte, and Austria will even less take action.

Therefore, the top priority now is to restore diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom. After the previous turmoil in Paris, ambassadors from various countries chose to leave the country for refuge, leaving only some low-level diplomatic officials to maintain the most basic operations of the embassy. French ambassadors to other countries naturally have to be replaced after a change of dynasty.

Therefore, after completing the most crucial things, as the head of the provisional government and minister of foreign affairs, Prince Talleyrand sincerely sent an envoy to Britain to announce the establishment of the provisional government and sincerely invited the British ambassador to return to Paris.

The person he selected as the envoy was quite surprising, and he turned out to be the young Count Alexander Vanevsky.

After hearing the news, even Count Walevsky was a little surprised. He quickly ran to Prince Talleyrand and asked the prince's real intention.

During this period of time, Count Walevsky came to consult with Prince Talleyrand many times because he wanted to become a diplomat. After the provisional government was established, he usually stayed in the Talleyrand as a representative of Aiglon. By Prince Lieland's side, he paid close attention to and learned from the various methods of this famous diplomat.

However, even though he was ambitious and very confident in his abilities, he was not confident enough that he could shoulder such an important mission, so he couldn't help but feel a little unbelievable about Prince Talleyrand's move.

"Your Highness, why did you choose me as your envoy to England?" After seeing Prince Talleyrand, he asked respectfully.

"My friend, we have just taken power now, our manpower is scarce, and there are even fewer people who are trustworthy... For such an important task, I can only entrust it to one person who both I and Your Majesty absolutely trust, so it is you. ." Talleyrand replied kindly.

This answer certainly satisfied the young Alexander's self-esteem a little, but of course he would not forget about it because of this kind of ecstasy soup, and he was still a little worried. "I am very happy to serve your Majesty and you. It is an honor for me to be able to take on important responsibilities. However, after all, I am too young and have limited knowledge. I am afraid that I will not be able to handle things well and affect His Majesty's great cause..."

"Why, your brother, who is one year younger than you, is about to become emperor, and has killed countless people with his own hands, but as an elder brother, are you afraid of even meeting a few British elders?" Prince Talleyrand glared. glanced at Alexander.

Being robbed by the prince, the young earl immediately blushed, feeling embarrassed and ashamed. "I...of course I don't dare to compare with His Majesty. He is not my brother, but a born emperor. I am just a mortal."

"Even mortals can stand up to great men, as long as they do the right thing at the right time." Prince Talleyrand waved his hand, "When I first participated in the Vienna Peace Conference, France was still a defeated country, not as good as it is now. How many times have you been embarrassed? But so what? I still chatted and laughed with the princes and nobles who dominated Europe! They were also coaxed by me, and the British and Austrians were ready to go with me to deal with the Tsar... You are a mortal, but why are they not mortals? As long as we take the right medicine, there is no one we can't deal with!"

Having said this, he patted Alexander on the shoulder again to express his expectations for him, "If you want to do great things and inherit my position, you must not only be smart, but also courageous. Have confidence. Remember, there are always few opportunities in life. If you think 'I can't do it' when facing big things and think 'what if I fail', then how can you be trusted and trusted by others again? What about reuse?!”

Talleyrand's words were both a steal and an incentive, easily inspiring young people who wanted to do something big.

Alexander's originally pale face gradually turned red, and then he loudly responded to the prince, "Okay... I understand, Your Highness, I will carry out this important task and try my best to do it well, then you What do you think I should do? I mean, the British must also know my identity. If they are because I am the late emperor's son, will they resist me because of their dislike of the Bonaparte family?"

"This is really the reason why I chose you." Prince Talleyrand smiled slyly, "You are not an official member of the Bonaparte family. Strictly speaking, you are just my employee. Even if they are out of ordinary diplomatic courtesy, You will not be shut out, and you are an extraordinary representative and can say a lot for His Majesty. They are now very interested in hearing the ideas of the new French government."

In Prince Talleyrand's view, the identity of Alexander's illegitimate son is embarrassing, but it unexpectedly has some "flexibility". If it is true, he is the blood of Napoleon and the blood of the man-eating monster; but according to legal principles According to the ancient feudal tradition, he is the child of an old Polish nobleman and a temporary government employee employed by Prince Talleyrand. He is used to test the British attitude and convey the British sentiments to Aiglon. The message is, of course, justifiable.

Although Alexander is very young, only twenty years old now, this is not a fatal weakness. He will naturally leave advisors around Alexander to help him negotiate with the British. Alexander himself is also alert and smart enough to complete his task.

"Remember, never appear to be asking for something, even if you really are asking for something. In front of the British, pleading and intimidation will not work. You have to convince them that the Bonaparte family has no intention of destroying the current order. , and it will only benefit them."