"Long ti no see! Commander Lagren!" Jero Bonaparte smiled as he looked at Marshal Lagren, "Perhaps I should address you as Marshal Lagren now!"
"Your Majesty, you can call whatever you like!" Marshal Lagren stood up straight and responded to Jero Bonaparte without arrogance.
"It’s better to call you Marshal Lagren then!" Jero Bonaparte extended his hand inviting Lagren to sit down, "Marshal Lagren, please have a seat!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Marshal Lagren saluted Jero Bonaparte and sat to his left.
Subsequently, Jero Bonaparte also invited Sardinian Minister of War Marshal La Malamor and Ottoman Pasha Omar to sit on the other side.
After everyone was seated, Jero Bonaparte candidly asked Marshal Lagren, "Marshal Lagren, I guess your purpose for coming is not just to visit , right!"
Marshal Lagren was surprised by Jero Bonaparte’s straightforwardness.
However, since His Majesty the Emperor had already said this, Lagren did not want to beat around the bush like those ministers in the British Cabinet.
Marshal Lagren nodded slightly and told Jero Bonaparte that besides conveying greetings and blessings from the British troops, he also ca to subtly inquire when Jero Bonaparte would leave the Cria Peninsula.
"My purpose here, besides bestowing honors on the heroes of the Cria Peninsula, is also to provide moral encouragent to the front-line soldiers!" Jero Bonaparte said, "So in the short term, I will not leave the Cria Peninsula!"
"Then I wish Your Majesty a pleasant journey in Cria!" Marshal Lagren said to Jero Bonaparte, with a hint of complaint in his words.
Then, after chatting for a long ti with Marshal Lagren, Marshal La Malamor, and Pasha Omar, Lagren and others bid farewell to Jero Bonaparte.
Watching Marshal Lagren’s departing figure, Jero Bonaparte’s expression revealed a trace of a sneer, and he murmured to himself, "It seems so people don’t want to stay here!"
As soon as Marshal Lagren returned to the British camp from the French Expeditionary Army camp, he was surrounded by the Duke of Cambridge and others, inquiring about when Emperor Jero Bonaparte would leave the Cria Peninsula.
"Emperor Jero told he would not leave here anyti soon!" Marshal Lagren said helplessly to the military commanders present.
With these words, the military commanders imdiately realized the seriousness of the situation.
Due to the excellent performance of the French Army in Alma and Sevastopol, the entire Allied Forces had gradually shifted from a dual-command structure to a single-command centered around the French Army.
This had the advantage of reducing internal friction between the armies, allowing the loose Allied Forces to form a cohesive unit.
However, the downside was that the influence of the British Army within the Allied Forces was diminishing. Before the Sevastopol war, Ottoman Pasha Omar was more inclined to follow Marshal Lagren’s command. After the Sevastopol war, Omar’s position leaned towards the French Army.
If it weren’t for Commander Lagren being promoted to Marshal and Pellissier not yet being promoted to Marshal, the Kingdom of Britain would only be able to command its own troops.
Now that Emperor Jero Bonaparte, the highest commander of France, had arrived in Sevastopol, the entire British Army had to face the question of whether they should obey the commands of the French Army.
Because in terms of rank and power within the Allied Forces, Jero Bonaparte clearly far surpassed Commander Lagren.
Unless Commander Lagren also brought Queen Victoria to the Cria Peninsula, the entire Allied Forces would have to unconditionally obey her commands.
If Jero Bonaparte could lead them to victory like Emperor Napoleon did back then, that would be acceptable!
The key issue was that Jero Bonaparte could not show any convincing military achievents, just like the Duke of Cambridge back then, hence the British Army had grounds to question Jero Bonaparte’s military competence.
This also caused internal divisions within the British side: if the highest command of the French Army truly shifted from Pellissier to Jero Bonaparte, should they follow the orders of the Allied Command?
This prompted Marshal Lagren to go to the French Command to inquire whether Jero Bonaparte intended to stay long-term in the Cria Peninsula.
"Why don’t we report this news to London! Let London negotiate with France, perhaps then His Majesty Jero Bonaparte would leave!" one officer proposed.
"I’m afraid London wouldn’t be able to persuade him either!" another officer dampened the previous suggestion, "You don’t understand what France is like right now? The entire Empire revolves around the Emperor of France, who is intent on emulating his uncle! How could those left in Paris possibly persuade him!"
"So should we still follow the recomndations of the French Command now?"
"My opinion is to listen, but execute according to the situation! We are Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s troops, not His Majesty Emperor Jero Bonaparte’s troops!"
...
British officers gathered around Marshal Lagren, chattering incessantly, and gradually, impatience showed on Marshal Lagren’s face.
"Silence!" Marshal Lagren raised his voice and shouted to everyone present.
All the officers stopped speaking and turned their attention back to Marshal Lagren.
"Are you having a discussion or a quarrel?" Marshal Lagren reprimanded loudly, then asked the Duke of Cambridge, "What do you think?"
"Your Excellency Marshal, I believe one of our colleagues just made a good point," the Duke of Cambridge said confidently, "We can listen to the suggestions of the French Imperial Army, but only if those suggestions benefit our army! If the French Empire seriously intends to lead us to death, we can act according to our own will!
After all, the French Army and the British Army are rely allies; France hasn’t annexed Britain! Everyone present still maintains control over their troops!"
"That is indeed a solution!" Marshal Lagren nodded.
Honestly, he also did not want to strain relations with the French Empire, as the entire Cria Peninsula currently relied on the high-intensity support of the French Army.
If relations with France were to beco strained, it would only benefit the Russian Empire.
However, Commander Lagren feared that Jero Bonaparte was the kind of monarch who lacked discernnt yet liked to show off.
As the saying goes, an incompetent general exhausts the army.
A king who is both inexperienced and playful is an epic disaster for the army.
Forget it, let’s observe for a while longer!
Marshal Lagren thought to himself.
...
After Jero Bonaparte settled in Sevastopol, two telegrams arrived there.
One was from Empress Augusta, and the other from Princess Mathilde.
Regarding Empress Augusta’s telegram, she expressed understanding of Jero Bonaparte’s expedition to the Cria Peninsula and hoped that he would do his best to protect his own life. If there was anything he needed, he should imdiately send a telegram to Paris, and Augusta would promptly arrange everything in Paris.
At the end of the letter, Augusta told Jero Bonaparte that his life did not belong to him alone but also to all of France.
She intended to tell their child, once born, that his or her father was fighting for all of France.
In contrast, Princess Mathilde’s telegram was clearly less approving, calling Jero Bonaparte’s decision to go to the Cria Peninsula irresponsible and childish.
Of course, at the end of the letter, Princess Mathilde reminded Jero Bonaparte to ensure his safety, as she would not want her soon-to-be-born niece or nephew to grow up without a father.
After reading both telegrams, Jero Bonaparte called upon a military journalist from the French Army’s accompanying newspaper, the Bonaparte Newspaper, and showed him Empress Augusta’s telegram.
"Mr. Journalist, I believe you should pay more attention to your surroundings! Military news isn’t just about how many enemies were defeated or victories won. It’s the trivial details that can evoke a profound emotional connection!" Jero Bonaparte suggested to the accompanying journalist.
He suggested writing an article focusing on the attitudes of soldiers’ wives towards the war.
Moreover, the article should emphasize the positive image of soldiers’ wives during warti.
The accompanying journalist, enlightened by Jero Bonaparte’s suggestion, promptly left the command post and went to the military camp, where he found several French officers and asked about their wives’ attitudes towards their participation in the war.
The officers cooperatively shared the letters their wives had written to them. After reading them, the accompanying journalist worked through the night to write an article titled "The Wives Who Married the Army."
The article used the wives of several officers selected by him as typical examples, praising the French Army’s righteousness in resisting the Russian Imperial Army on the Cria Peninsula.
At the end of the article, the accompanying journalist also specifically ntioned that Empress Augusta wrote a letter for His Majesty the Emperor as well.
The article imdiately sparked widespread discussion upon its release, and many Parisian residents shed tears of emotion after reading the piece.
Many were also very interested in the content of the telegram Empress Augusta sent to His Majesty the Emperor.
Thus, on the third day after the article was published, Jero Bonaparte ordered the disclosure of the telegram Augusta had written to him.
Through the telegram, the Parisians saw an educated and courteous empress whose love for France was no less than any true French person’s.
A large number of Parisian residents began to spontaneously send blessings to Empress Augusta, and the prestige of Empress Augusta and Jero Bonaparte was further elevated.
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