Eagle’s Glory

Aiglon was naturally very happy to see that his finance minister, Baron Montbell, had completed the tasks assigned to him so quickly and properly.

He did this not on a whim, but because he had to do it for his own benefit and practical needs.

Since returning to France, Aiglon has always regarded himself as the "elected emperor" and believed that the legitimacy of the empire was entirely based on the recognition and authorization of the people.

Now that he admits that, he must keep his promise to respect civil rights and the Constitution—and he is willing to do so.

Since he must maintain the appearance of a constitutional government, respect the will of the people, and allow them to legally elect their representatives, then every major change of parliament will inevitably bring about changes in the government cabinet, and these changes will definitely There will be times that Aigron doesn't want to see, but as a constitutional monarch, he must accept these.

The previous King Louis XVIII once lamented, "Our Parliament is like an inn, always bringing us unexpected or overwhelming guests." This is also something Aiglon must face.

But on the other hand, Aiglon has never thought about, nor can he accept that he is a virtual king with only symbolic significance. He hopes to hold power and hopes to implement this power unswervingly.

Under this premise, he must have an institutional power directly belonging to him outside of parliament and government, that is, the palace itself. Only in this case, Aigron does not need to look at the cabinet's face, and does not need to worry about subsequent prime ministers or ministers threatening him.

This also means that in his governance, there will be a dual system of "palace" and "government". The revolving door changes of government ministers will not affect Aigron's implementation of his own will and plans.

In a sense, the system of the Second German Empire in the original timeline was close to his idea.

Of course, if you want to realize this "dual system", it is impossible to rely solely on the so-called "king's authority". You must have huge resources in your hands, and these resources need to be separated from the government and belong directly to Aiglon. And the royal hand - and this is the ultimate purpose of Aeglon doing all this.

He is now at an excellent point in time: Politically speaking, because the government has just changed, his supporters have an overwhelming advantage in both the parliament and the government. He can calmly use this time window to achieve "Top-level design"; From an economic point of view, France and the entire Western Europe have just reached the threshold of the industrialization wave, and social wealth is about to experience an unprecedented rapid expansion. As long as he plays a little tricks, he can accumulate wealth for the royal family and the court. Unimaginable wealth.

obviously,

In the coming time, the Aigron couple will turn the imperial royal family into the leader and investor of the empire's industrialization. The emperor and his wife can support those capable industrialists to develop all industrial industries and earn excess returns from them.

The Bourbon family would lose their lives over debts of billions of francs, but Aigron would not.

After the finance minister ended his audience and resigned happily, Agron and Teresa remained in the room.

Theresa took the property report and legislative draft that the minister had just submitted, and carefully reviewed it. She even circled and wrote her own comments on the items that she felt were important.

As a pillow person, Theresa also knew these ideas best, and she fully supported them.

She herself comes from the Habsburg family. Although she has been a bit liberal since she was a child, she still recognizes the political principle of "the king wields great power" deep down. And in her view, in order to control a violent and fickle nation like France, the royal family must have sufficient resources to defend itself.

So the couple easily reached a tacit understanding.

Naturally, Agron decided to hand over the specific operation of these royal assets and funds to Theresa.

After all, as an emperor, he has a lot of things that consume his energy, whether it is politics, military affairs or important personnel matters. How can he have time to take care of specific accounts and investment progress? Leaving the family property to the "mistress" to take care of it is also in line with the division of labor between the husband and wife, and is more in line with the tradition of the Bonaparte family.

At the same time, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Guards, Aiglon also signed a decree. When she went out on inspections, expeditions, or was "unable to attend to matters for some reason," Queen Theresa also mobilized the Guards to maintain the stability of the palace and Paris. power.

With so much power concentrated in one body, Theresa was almost considered a "deputy emperor" compared to the queens who did not hold real power in the courts of various European countries.

Although this seems a bit shocking, it is also in line with the "tradition" of the Bonaparte family.

After all, during the era of Emperor Napoleon, when he went to Russia, he made Queen Louisa the imperial regent.

There is nothing that can be done about it. The royal family's direct lineage is weak, the crown prince is young, and the princes of the Bonaparte family are ambitious, and there are various forces outside that are ready to move... Emperor Napoleon can only choose to believe in his wife .

When it comes to Aigron, the situation is the same. The princes around him are all ambitious, as well as the senior ministers who can be called "house slaves of three surnames". Looking around, besides Theresa, he can also Who do you trust more?

At least Teresa was the crown prince's mother, and there was no way she would let her son lose his power no matter what.

Besides, Teresa's constant following and companionship have already proven her loyalty and ability, and Aigron has no reason to distrust her.

However, Teresa is also a mortal after all. Aigron does not have the energy to handle everything, and Theresa cannot do it either. Therefore, after receiving Aigron's "authorization", she will inevitably form and expand the palace circle around her. In order to implement all plans and investments, this also means that Theresa will have her own interest group - of course, for Aigron, this does not matter, it is even a good thing, after all, the interests of the two people overlap too much .

After carefully checking these documents, Theresa felt that there was no problem, so she raised her head from the documents and looked at Aigron with a smile, "Your Highness, it is really shocking to know that you have so much money in your hands all of a sudden. It’s hard to adapt... The kings of France have been rich and powerful for thousands of years, and they are indeed not comparable to the kings of other countries."

This is true. Since the early Middle Ages, the wealth of the French royal family has been the envy of other countries. Now it is just the Louvre, Tuileries Palace, Fontainebleau Palace, Versailles Palace and other famous palaces and the works of art collected in them. , which is an incalculable wealth that even the Habsburg family cannot compare with.

But now, all this belongs to the couple, and they will have to fight for the rest of their lives to protect this family property.

"A big family has a big business, but it also consumes a lot of money. In order to maintain these assets and meet the palace's personnel consumption, we have to spend an astronomical amount of money every year." Aigron replied with a smile, "If we don't protect our property carefully, Sooner or later we will end up in the situation of Louis XVI..."

"That's true." Theresa was convinced.

She knew very well that no matter how much money she had, she could not withstand endless squandering, and the bloody lesson of the last beheaded queen made her know that she could not act recklessly and squander the blood and sweat of the French people.

So after taking charge of the palace's financial power, the first thing she had to do was to strictly control the palace's expenditures.

"Strictly controlling expenditures" does not mean that everyone must live a hard and simple life. In order to maintain the dignity of the royal family, the money must be spent, such as those luxurious palace dresses, those world-renowned jewelry, and There are various celebrations every year, which are obligations that the court must bear, and Teresa must also make the court of the French Empire continue to shine.

However, in addition to "necessary expenditures", she must use the ruthless methods she has always used to strictly control. In particular, she must resolutely eliminate corruption and vicious waste within the palace, such as wanton squandering, gambling and waste like those in the old dynasty. Unrestrained spending was something she abhorred and would firmly prohibit.

She is also absolutely unkind to other members of the royal family. Anyway, she has never had any friendship with the princes, and she is not afraid of offending them.

As long as the corruption within the palace and the vicious squandering of other members of the royal family are restrained, the palace expenditure can actually be controlled within an acceptable range.

Only by achieving "reduction in expenditure" can we be qualified to talk about "open source".

After the couple continued to discuss for a while, they finally stopped and asked the attendant to call Chanel to them.

Chanel had been serving the two of them before, taking care of the Crown Prince Francois. After Princess Funina was born, she had been taking care of the little princess. She spent more time with the child than the two parents. People are still growing.

Although she was very busy, Chanel was extremely happy to see His Majesty's family gradually blossoming.

For her, after completing her life goal of revenge, all she has left is to see that the Bonaparte family to which her family is loyal can everything go smoothly and continue to rule the country.

To this end, she is also willing to dedicate her life.

After arriving in front of the Aiglon couple, Chanel bowed his waist respectfully, waiting for the instructions of the two majesties.

"Chanel, you've been working really hard taking care of the children recently." Aigron started with a thank you.

However, in his heart, he always regarded Chanel as a family member, so there were not so many polite words between the monarch and his ministers, and he quickly got to the point. "However, children have to grow up, and you can't hang around children all the time... I think this is too unfair to you."

"Your Majesty, what do you want me to do?" Chanel looked at her master with enthusiasm and expectation as usual.

"Yes, I have a job for you." Aigron nodded, "To be specific, I hope you can participate in the management of the Royal Investment Fund."

"Royal investment fund? Management?" The smile on Chanel's face suddenly froze. It was obvious that this exceeded her expectations.

After being stunned for a moment, she immediately shook her head in an attempt to get Aigron to take back his life. "Your Majesty, you really think highly of me. How can I make any investment... If you ask me to take care of people, then I am an expert. If you ask me to do this, I really can't do it. Your Majesty..."

"Don't underestimate yourself so much, Chanel." Aiglon shook his head, "Although you have always been my personal maid and have taken good care of me, your talents are by no means just that! You are Fontaine As a member of the White Dew Knights, you will also be the Marquise of the Empire in the future. You should occupy a more important and prominent position in the Empire, and you should also make more contributions to me, right?"

Faced with Aigron's rhetorical question, Shanel was speechless. After all, she could not truly reject Aigron's will.

So, she forcibly cheered up and asked Aigron carefully.

"Then, Your Majesty, what do you want me to do specifically?"

"In fact, it's not that difficult. You don't need to be responsible for deciding what to invest and how to invest. You only need to help Theresa monitor the accounts and the flow of funds. This is not much different from what you did with us in the past. It's just that The scale is just many times larger... Since you have satisfied us so much in the past, I believe that you will also satisfy me in the future, Chanel, accept it."

Aigron made his words categorical and did not allow Chanel to refuse.

After all, in his opinion, the royal family's investment funds are a very huge asset, and they will expand like a snowball in the future. In the face of such astronomical amounts of money, most people may have a little "I" Just take a little” idea.

Because of this, the person who monitors finances must be the most trustworthy person. Loyalty, hard work and selflessness are more important than any skill, and after weighing it, Aigron decided to let Chanel be responsible for this.

On the one hand, Chanel's loyalty has been proven countless times, and she will stay with him in the future, so there is not much motivation to build a personal treasury from His Majesty.

On the other hand, just because Chanel has always been so loyal and devoted his life to Aiglon, Aiglon also wants to reward her and let her have a "decent" second half of her life - and this confidential position , enough to bring Chanel extremely considerable legal income, so that she no longer has to worry about money in her life. Only in this way can Aiglon's "reward" be reflected.

Of course, beneath the surface of the water, Aigron also hid a secret intention of his own.

Although he left everything to Teresa to run, given Aigron's character, he didn't want to rely on just one person, even when it came to his most trusted wife. Therefore, he must allow himself to have sufficient information channels and cannot be controlled by others.

In the final analysis, Chanel is only loyal to her, so she is such a key pawn. Aigron can get accurate information from her whenever he needs it - and only detailed and reliable information can provide him with a "security".

That's all he wanted.

"Chanel, I have said what needs to be said. If you have any questions, just ask Theresa. I will leave it to you from now on! I hope you can assist Theresa so that our family business can last forever... …please."