Eagle’s Glory

"I need you."

These words, which were almost a confession, made Agnes blush slightly.

But she didn't make any rebuttal, just nodded silently, "I will try my best."

After she finished speaking, she leaned closely on Aigron's shoulder to express her determination to share weal and woe with him.

At the beginning of this journey, she was still ashamed of her status as a mistress, and it was even more difficult for her to devote herself wholeheartedly to various activities to build momentum for Aigron; however, now, the intimate coexistence between the two in private has made She has adapted perfectly to her current role.

And even if she doesn't say that she really loves this majesty, even if she is based on the working-class spirit of "taking advantage of others," she has gotten so many things from him that others dream of. She should repay him wholeheartedly, both emotionally and rationally.

While the two people were communicating, the parade with the eagle flag marched into the city of Rouen.

As before, the local officials who had learned the news early lined up at the intersection of the city waiting to greet them. After the convoy was now within their sight, the salutes that had been prepared began to roar, and the churches in the city also Ring the bell to welcome His Majesty.

At this time, the city of Rouen does not have many elements that are familiar to modern people. It is more like staying in the Middle Ages. Its religious atmosphere is much stronger than the cities that Aiglon has passed through before - there are several famous monuments in the city. And there are quite grand churches, these churches have standard bell towers and spires, and low stone houses are scattered next to these churches, like loyal retinues around the knights.

Even the ancient courthouse is a beautiful Gothic building as tall as a church.

Although Rouen cannot be compared with Paris in terms of status and scale now, in terms of history, Rouen is indeed not inferior to Paris. It was already an important regional hub city as early as the Roman Empire, and its name was Roteau at that time. ROTOMAGUS, because it was located on the edge of the English Channel and controlled the estuary of the Seine River, was regarded by the Romans as an important stronghold in the remote British province and an important logistics center in the surrounding provinces.

However, thousands of years later, no trace of the Romans remained, and only the towering buildings of the Middle Ages silently told the glory of the city.

In front of the people who were picking up the driver, Aigron's motorcade slowly stopped. Then Aigron took Agnes out of the carriage and accepted the highest-level welcome ceremony in the area.

Amidst the constant sound of salutes and bells, a group of officials cautiously came forward to greet them.

Then he saluted His Majesty.

The leader is naturally Baron Collot, a high-ranking official in the province. He is a rather fat middle-aged man with a "Mediterranean" hairstyle, his forehead is shiny, and his movements are quite slow and clumsy. He is walking towards Aigron. When he moves, he looks like a swinging penguin.

He was already clumsy in his movements, and he was also very nervous, which made him appear even more reserved. After saluting, he carefully addressed Aiglon.

"Your Majesty, on behalf of the officials, monks and people of this province, I would like to extend my most sincere greetings to you! Your visit will surely become a cherished memory for the people of this province..."

Although he said this, there was not much enthusiasm in him.

But this is not surprising. As a Norman who prides himself on being "loyal to the king", his entire political career has nothing to do with the Bonaparte family. He even served as a political opponent of the Republic and the Empire. The situation forced him to bow his head to the heir to the Bonaparte family, but naturally he was not happy either.

What is even more unpleasant is that he knows that his relationship with the future Emperor is too alienated. Even if he tries his best to please, he may not be able to keep his position. Besides, with the current local public opinion, he feels that he is caught between His Majesty and the people. The two sides are not happy with each other, so they are even more uneasy about their political future.

Just because he knows that he has little future ahead, he doesn't dare to hope for anything now. He just wants to spend the days of driving safely and then "take the initiative" to retire.

Although Eggron didn't know the Baron's specific thoughts, he could guess a bit from the other person's expression and body movements. However, he didn't mind the other person's lack of enthusiasm. Anyway, he didn't intend to please anyone from the beginning.

Now that his foundation is still shallow, he can tolerate officials with insufficient loyalty as long as they are willing to cooperate passively. Anyway, he still has plenty of time. As long as he is patient, sooner or later he can replace all local dignitaries with his party members.

Because of his calm attitude, he shook hands with senior officials in a happy mood.

"You run a very beautiful city, sir, and I like everything here very much. You don't have to worry that I will make things difficult for you, and you don't have to spend too much time trying to please me, because I don't want to be hurt because of me." I am wasting my time and money, and my current tour is just to visit the land that I am destined to rule, to witness with my own eyes the customs and customs of each place, and to get close to my people."

Aigron's beautiful words made the senior official's expression even more embarrassing.

He hesitated for a moment, then plucked up the courage to whisper his realistic worries to Aiglon.

"Your Majesty, of course we understand your painstaking efforts. We have been reading reports about you in newspapers for a while. We are very happy that you can enter the state so quickly and be so close to the people. Seeing what you have achieved We cheer loudly and we are grateful that the country can finally settle down again.”

After saying these good words to pave the way, he changed the subject again, "However, the local area is not like those provinces in the east and north. The people here are much more conservative. They have always been proud of their religious piety, and they are also quite Support the royal family; I undoubtedly believe that you can definitely change this with your personal charm, but it is still too early and people's ideas will not be changed so easily... In this case, please allow me to summon the courage to give you I would like to make a suggestion, you'd better not participate too much in mass activities, as this will bring you many unnecessary risks. You can end your tour here in the celebration we have carefully prepared."

After hearing the senior official's remarks, Aigron's face suddenly darkened.

Aigron did not think that the senior official's words were threatening him. He believed that the other party did not have the courage. The senior official should be worried that something unexpected would happen to him in a place where the royalist party still has a certain "mass base", which would also bring disaster to him. .

"What? Are the people of Normandy so disgusted with me?" he asked seemingly relaxedly.

Aigron did not lose his temper, but his gloomy expression and low tone made the senior official even more nervous. He hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead, and then hurriedly explained to Aigron.

"Your Majesty, of course not! The people are not disgusted with you. Many people still expect you to make the country look new. Even those who do not support you will not risk their personal lives to do stupid things; but , after all, this place used to be the territory of the royalists. Now that the Bourbon royal family has just left and is still in power, there is no guarantee that some evil villains will not want to commit such heinous crimes... You are very important to the country. It’s important to not make any mistakes, so I think it’s best not to take risks.”

Aiglon did not answer immediately, but looked around, at the warm welcome scene, the crowd of spectators, and the soldiers lined up on both sides as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Don't be nervous, sir. I understand your difficulties and your concern for my life. However, if I were afraid of swords and guns, I would not start this cruise. Now that I am standing here, I will not be afraid of any assassination from the open or the dark, whether it is a dagger, a poisonous arrow or a musket, it will never waver me. Maybe Normandy does not like me that much, but I will not neglect it because of this. Not only do I not will change my itinerary, and I will continue to try my best to be with the people and let them know that God will not only favor the Capet family! The Count of Artois was a deserter at the beginning, and after becoming the king, he was still a deserter. He's a coward, he deserves what he's getting, but I won't, never do that!"

After saying this, Aigron made a gesture, indicating that senior officials did not need to talk about this issue any more and just arrange their schedule according to normal conditions.

Of course Aigron is not as brave as he said, and of course he is afraid of death - especially now that he already has so many things, he has more reason to cherish his life than anyone else.

But he still cherishes his life, and he also has the awareness of an actor - naturally he has stood on this stage, and he must play his role well.

A king can be regarded as cruel, but he can never be regarded as weak, especially in a capricious country like France. The citizens have been trained to be "courageous" by the Great Revolution and do not respect the king so much. In this case, if he is regarded as a coward by others, he will only gain ridicule, and his rule will never last long.

Risking the throne was worth it and necessary, he had always known that.

While he was talking to senior officials, Agnes also came to Agron's side.

No one else could hear the conversation between the two, but because they stood close, Agnes got a general idea. The senior official's words also made her a little worried, but Agron's response made her deeply agree, so she silently Showed support through actions.

No matter what, she would never allow anyone to cause trouble to her beloved in front of her.

The appearance of Agnes also eased the atmosphere between Agron and senior officials.

"Let me introduce, this is Miss Agnes. I believe you have heard of her name?" Aigron smiled and then took the initiative to introduce.

Seeing that his remonstrance had no effect, the senior official deliberately changed the subject, so he turned his eyes and looked at Agnes, and then bowed and saluted Agnes, "Miss Agnes, we have always said in the newspaper I read the news about you, so I am full of curiosity about you. When I saw you today, you are indeed so charming... On behalf of the people of the whole province, I would like to welcome you."

In this era, there were no photos in newspapers, and people could only be depicted with crude stick figures, and the characters were often completely distorted when published and reprinted. Therefore, pens could only use various adjectives to report beautiful women, and Readers can only rely on their own imagination to "restore", so exaggeration is common.

When people saw those reports, they were naturally full of expectations, but at the same time they were afraid that these were just exaggerated claims in the newspapers. But after meeting Agnes herself, this worry disappeared.

Although she is still a little embarrassed about her current "famousness", Agnes has become familiar with this kind of scene along the way, so she also dealt with the other party smoothly and naturally.

She curtsied gently and paid tribute to the senior official, "Thank you for taking so much trouble to receive us, sir. As your Majesty said, this is a beautiful city, especially it is the place where Joan of Arc's last soul ascended to heaven... so I I have been looking forward to today for a long time. I don’t know what people here think of me, but if I can make people happy with my little power, then I will try my best to do it.”

After saying these polite words, her attitude became much more serious, "In addition, you just said that you were worried about His Majesty's safety. From your standpoint, saying such a thing will not do you any good. It can be seen that you are completely out of touch. Seriously, you are afraid of another turmoil in the country, so I thank you for your loyalty to your majesty and to the country. However, I am your majesty's escort. I have more reasons than you to protect your majesty, and I can also do my duty well. .So just do what you should do and don’t worry. Your Majesty and I both love the people here. It would be too ridiculous to isolate yourself from the people because of fear. I also believe that , the people here will also love His Majesty, even if there are sporadic miscreants among them, they will never get support. Now we are all working hard for the future prosperity of the country, Your Majesty can do all this! Only he Only then can we do it. ”

Agnes's words did not convince the senior officials.

He didn't really believe that Agnes was as capable as she said.

After all, this is a remote province, and senior officials don’t have much connection with the capital. He has never heard of Agnes’ other reputation before. Although newspapers were very keen on reporting Agnes during this period, they were mainly about her knight parade. , and the tidbits about her and Aiglon, so he could only believe it with suspicion.

It's said to be an escort, but where exactly are you accompanying me?

However, now that both of them have talked about it, what else can he say?

"I understand, Your Majesty." He could only nod. "Your Majesty, I will carefully arrange your next activities. I also sincerely hope that you will pay attention to your own safety. May the merciful God bless us. Everyone.”