"Your Majesty probably hasn’t retired for the night yet!"
Minister De Luyis, who quickly stepped down from the carriage, asked Mokal upon eting him in the Tuileries Palace hall.
"Not yet! His Majesty is still working in the study." Mokal shook his head and replied to De Luyis, then deliberately lowered his voice to ask, "Lord De Luyis, did sothing happen for you to co here so late? If it’s bad news, could you report it tomorrow? His Majesty hasn’t had a good night’s sleep for several days!"
"Rest assured, I’m here to bring good news to His Majesty!" Minister De Luyis first assured Mokal that he wasn’t here to ruin the Emperor’s mood, then, in an excited tone, said, "The Imperial Army has engaged with the Russian Empire near the Silistra Fortress!"
"How is the situation? Did our forces win?" Mokal impatiently asked De Luyis.
"The Russian Imperial Army retreated to the north bank of the Danube River on the sa night after a day’s battle with our forces!" De Luyis reported to Mokal.
"This is indeed good news!" Mokal imdiately realized the significance of De Luyis’s news for the economically troubled Empire.
The Empire’s victory implies that short-term bonds’ prices may experience an upward trend, as the market would be filled with confidence in a victorious Empire.
"Quickly! Co with ! I’ll take you to see His Majesty!" An excited Mokal grabbed De Luyis’s shoulder and together they ascended the stairs, eager to report the news to Jero Bonaparte.
Mokal and De Luyis arrived at the study door, where Mokal gently knocked.
After a mont, Jero Bonaparte’s weary voice ca from inside the room, "Who is it?"
"Your Majesty, it’s Mokal!" Mokal said, pressing close to the door.
"The door’s not locked; co in!" Jero Bonaparte said to Mokal (De Luyis) outside the door.
The study door was pushed open by Mokal, revealing the figures of De Luyis and Mokal to Jero Bonaparte.
Seeing De Luyis visiting so late at night, Jero Bonaparte was first startled, then solemnly asked De Luyis, "Has there been good news from the Near East?"
De Luyis looked at Jero Bonaparte in surprise; he couldn’t understand how Jero Bonaparte knew he was going to report good news from the Near East.
Could it be that there really is foresight in this world?
Seeing De Luyis’s astonished expression, Jero Bonaparte smiled and pointed at the clock in the corner, saying teasingly, "At this hour, soone who passes Mokal’s ’test’ to report news in the study likely brings no bad news. And since you mainly handle affairs in the Near East, your visit must be related to that region. Am I right, Minister De Luyis?"
"You’re absolutely right!" De Luyis said admiringly to Jero Bonaparte, "I ca late at night just to report on the situation in the Near East to Your Majesty."
"Quick! Let see the telegraph!" Jero Bonaparte said, getting up and addressing De Luyis.
De Luyis handed the telegraph to Jero Bonaparte, who then instructed Mokal, "Mokal, quickly bring a kerosene lamp here! The lighting here is sowhat dim!"
"Yes!" Mokal hurriedly left the study to go to the storage room.
Jero Bonaparte first piled all the docunts on the desk onto the sofa, then retrieved a Near East map from a drawer.
Once Jero Bonaparte had completely spread out the Near East map, Mokal returned to the study carrying a lit kerosene lamp.
The kerosene lamp’s orange-yellow glow brightly illuminated the entire map, as Jero Bonaparte, standing beside it with a pencil, read the battle report from the telegraph and marked all the information on the map.
After repeatedly checking the consistency between the telegraph’s content and the map annotations, Jero Bonaparte put down the telegraph, looked at the map’s marked arrow symbols, and said "good" several tis.
From the telegraph’s content, Jero Bonaparte learned about the battle scale near the Silistra Fortress and the deploynt positions of Russian Empire’s forces on the Danube.
"Poor Nicolai, he probably doesn’t realize yet! After he ordered the retreat to the north bank of the Danube, what kind of outco will he face! (Jero Bonaparte didn’t know that this retreat was decided by Prince Paskevich without Nicholas I’s consent!)" Jero Bonaparte said gloatingly to himself, then drew an ’×’ on the symbol representing the Russian Empire’s main forces in the Danube River region.
"Your Majesty, should we inform the Austrian Empire about the Imperial Army’s victory on the Danube River? This way, they can make the right choice sooner!" Minister De Luy asked Jero Bonaparte.
"There’s no need to deliberately inform them! That would make it seem as if we’re begging them to join our camp!" Jero Bonaparte lightly tapped his desk with his index finger and said, "We need to announce this victory with great fanfare so that everyone knows the French Empire has achieved a significant victory! At the sa ti, we will declare that France will conduct a goodwill visit to the Kingdom of Sardinia at the end of March. Only in this way will the Austrian Empire feel the pressure and be compelled to submit to us."
"If we put too much pressure on the Austrian Empire, I fear it may backfire!" Minister De Luy was sowhat concerned that the Austrian Empire would lean toward the Russian Empire.
"I believe the Austrian Empire is a nation that understands the situation! They will see clearly who truly dominates Europe!" Jero Bonaparte said with an air of pride, "Speaking of pressure, the wounds my uncle inflicted on the Austrian Empire were far greater than what I’m doing now. Yet the Austrian Empire only dared to rebel when the Russian Imperial Army arrived. The Austrian Empire is more aware of the tis than we thought!"
Jero Bonaparte could responsibly say that no one in this world understood Joseph Franz, the "coward," better than he did. As long as he applied so hard-line asures, the Austrian Empire would naturally lean toward him.
In Europe, no country was as "forgetful" as the Austrian Empire; they could forget past enmities for their own interests.
If it weren’t for encountering a staunch anti-Austrian figure (historically Napoleon III), the flexible diplomacy of Austria might not have ended in the Austro-Prussian War (perhaps).
De Luy, who considered himself pro-Austrian, clearly did not understand Austria as well as Jero Bonaparte did. Although he didn’t wholly agree with Jero Bonaparte’s pressure on the Austrian Empire, out of respect for the Emperor’s authority, he was still willing to follow the Emperor’s orders.
"Mokar!" Jero Bonaparte turned his gaze to Mokar and issued a command, "Go to the press imdiately and have the editors rush to write and print overnight! This news must appear on today’s front page!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Mokar respectfully received the telegraph from Jero Bonaparte and turned to leave the study.
"Minister De Luy!" Jero Bonaparte addressed De Luy.
"Your Majesty!" De Luy bowed and responded.
"I wonder if you would be interested in having a drink with ?" Jero Bonaparte invited De Luy.
"It would be an honor to enjoy fine wine with Your Majesty!" De Luy replied to Jero Bonaparte.
"Then let’s go!"
Jero Bonaparte and De Luy, one after the other, left the study, walked through the quiet corridor, descended the stairs, and reached the dining room on the first floor.
After a while, a small cart pushed all the dishes in front of Jero Bonaparte and De Luy, with each person served three dishes (foie gras, snails, and caviar with baguette).
Wine from the Bordeaux Region was poured into glasses, and Jero Bonaparte and De Luy clinked their glasses.
After taking a sip of red wine, Jero Bonaparte asked, "Minister De Luy, what do you think of Vienna?"
De Luy put down his glass and cautiously responded, "Your Majesty, do you an the scenery of Vienna or the Vienna governnt?"
"Both," Jero Bonaparte replied to De Luy.
"Although I haven’t been to Vienna personally, I hope to visit there one day. As for the Vienna governnt, my understanding is limited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," De Luy responded carefully to Jero Bonaparte.
"If... I an, if..." Jero Bonaparte emphasized a bit, "If you were appointed as the French Ambassador to Austria, would you be willing to go to Austria?"
De Luy looked blankly at Jero Bonaparte, knowing that the "if" spoken by Jero Bonaparte was likely to beco a reality.
Thinking about the possibility of leaving his ministerial position, De Luy showed a bitter smile and asked, "Your Majesty, can you tell who will replace ?"
Jero Bonaparte was silent for a while, then said, "I want Valerovsky to serve as the Minister of Foreign Affairs!"
"I believe Mr. Valerovsky will beco a more excellent minister than I am!" Sohow, after saying this, De Luy felt an inexplicable sense of loss.
"Minister De Luy, when you leave this position, I will grant you the honors and titles you deserve!" Jero Bonaparte assured De Luy, "Moreover, your tenure as ambassador won’t be too long!"
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