Make France Great Again

January 7, 1849, 10:50 am.

The Prime Minister of the French Republic, Odilon Barrot, led the newly formed cabinet team to the conference hall of the Elysee Palace under the leadership of the Secretary-General of the Elysee Palace, Pessini, to wait for the arrival of Jerome Bonaparte.

"Gentlemen, please wait a moment! Mr. President will be here soon!" Pessini, who retreated to the entrance of the conference hall, bowed politely and slightly.

After more than ten days of running-in, Odilon Barrot, who has long been used to the work and rest of President Jérôme Bonaparte, of course understands that Mr. President should still be asleep at this time, he nodded slightly with a smile on his face.

Pessini turned and left the conference hall, carefully closing the door.

Odilon Barro, who watched Persini leave, stretched out his hand and made a gesture of asking to sit down, and said, "My colleagues, don't be too cautious! I think Mr. President should come over soon!"

At the invitation of Odilon Barro, the ministers of various departments present sat on the left and right sides of the sofa, and sat in different positions according to their closeness to Odilon Barro.

The ones sitting closest to Odilon Barro are the Minister of Foreign Affairs Derouan de Ruis and the Minister of the Interior Leon Foch, followed by the Minister of War Liulier and the Minister of Finance Passy... as non- Odilon Barrow's Minister of Justice, Eugène Roue, and Minister of Public Works Morni, who were personally appointed by Odilon Barrow, were far away from Odilon Barrow's position.

However, the most unexpected person was the Minister of Public Education, Earl Falloux. He should have sat next to Odilon Barro, but he consciously sat with Odilon Barro and Eugene Ruby and others.

Odilon Barro showed a look of displeasure. If he hadn't been concerned about the dual identities of Fallo's orthodox and Catholic rightists, Odilon Barro, as a left-wing member of the former dynasty, would never have appointed this guy.

"Okay! Gentlemen, from now on our seats will be in the current position!" Odilon Barro finalized the final position, and then he turned his eyes on his "money bag" Minister of Finance Passi and said: "Mr Passy, ​​what is the current financial situation of the Republic?"

Passy shook his head, got up and handed Odilon Barrot a few documents filled with dense French, which he carefully organized after he became a minister.

Odilon Barro flipped through the documents that Passy organized page by page. As he got to know more, Odilon Barro’s expression became more serious. After reading the data provided by Passy, ​​he threw the data in the walnut production On the desk, he raised his head and said solemnly: "President Passi, I want to hear your opinion!"

"Mr. Prime Minister, our republic is facing a huge fiscal deficit! The political turmoil of the previous year has hit our market hard. If we don't think about a solution, our government will face a situation where the interest on the national debt cannot be paid!" Finance Minister Passy said exaggeratedly.

"Then do you have any solution?" Odilon Barro continued to ask, although he knew that the so-called inability to pay the interest on the national debt was just an exaggeration of Passy, ​​but the fiscal deficit is really not a good phenomenon.

"Since the Constituent Assembly abolished some taxes such as progressive income tax, I suggest that we should restore some previously abolished taxes! For example: restore the salt tax!" Passi put forward his suggestion to Odilon Barro.

As soon as the proposal to restore the salt tax came out, Eugene Rouay felt an inexplicable malice.

Regardless of whether Passy's proposal to "restore the salt tax" is sincere or to take the opportunity to make trouble, Eugène Roue only knows that once the proposal to "restore the salt tax" is passed by the National Assembly, Mr. President will face the evil intentions of the fundamentals.

If one were to rank all taxes in France, the salt tax would undoubtedly rank first, because it represents the crazy exploitation of small farmers by the old system. As the tax that small farmers hate most, it will affect the basic perception of the president.

This tax is simply digging into the foundations of the Bonapartists.

But now that Mr. President has not arrived yet, as the Minister of Justice, Eugène Rouet can't get over the issue of interfering with the Ministry of Finance on behalf of Zuo.

Morni, who was sitting on the side, also looked at Passy in amazement. He didn't understand what the Minister of Finance was thinking.

"Then you..."

When Odilon Barro was about to ask Passy to prepare a proposal on "restoring the salt tax", the door of the cabinet meeting hall suddenly opened.

Everyone subconsciously looked in the direction of the door, and fell into a brief trance as they watched the "guest" Odilon Barro appear at the door.

"Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Ministers, hello!" President Jerome Bonaparte, wearing the military uniform and trousers of Emperor Napoleon, wearing a triangular cap and a medal of the Legion of Glory on his chest, greeted warmly .

Everyone except Eugène Rouet was shocked by Jerome Bonaparte's attire. Jerome Bonaparte under this attire looked more like a small emperor.

In a trance, Odilon Barro even "saw" the emperor's soul hovering behind the president. He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes. The emperor disappeared and was replaced by a poor imitator.

This outfit looks like a human being!

"Mr. President, hello!" Odilon Barro and the ministers stood up to greet him.

President Jerome Bonaparte shook hands with the Prime Minister and ministers in turn. When his hand held Eugene Rouet's hand, he patted Rouet's shoulder and said: "Do it well!"

"Yes!" Eugene Rouay responded firmly.

Under the strong invitation of Odilon Barro, President Jerome Bonaparte replaced Odilon Barro as the core figure of the cabinet meeting.

"Minister Passy, ​​report the financial plan you just proposed to the President!" Odilon Barro gave an order to Passy.

Explaining the necessity of "restoring the salt tax" to the "peasant" president is an act of death no matter from which point of view, and it may become the fastest dismissal of a minister in French history.

Passy was silent for a moment about Odilon Barrot's blatant "selling teammates", but he still clarified the importance of "restoring the salt tax" to President Jerome Bonaparte.

Jerome Bonaparte listened carefully to Passy's proposal, nodding in affirmation from time to time.

After Passy finished his statement, Jerome Bonaparte said, "You can discuss this issue with Prime Minister Barrow! If there is no problem, you can directly submit it to the National Assembly!"

Amidst the surprised expressions of Barrow and Eugene Rouet, Passy said with a trembling voice: "Yes!"

"If there is anything else that needs to be reported, please report it!"