Harry Potter Morning Light

Chapter 1454 "Celebrating the New Year"

In the Tarngaronne department in southeastern France, there is a city called Saint-Antonin.This small town is located on the edge of the Cavese Mountains, where the limestone basin forms a steep canyon under the erosion of two rivers.

The city was once prosperous, and it was one of the important cities of the Champagne Fair in the 13th century. The calves raised in St. Antonin and its surrounding suburbs are still hot sellers at the fair, and it is also Paper production, wool weaving, printing and dyeing and tanneries are all vestiges of its once glorious past.

However, with Nantes' pardon to waste paper, this Protestant stronghold was hit hard. The people in the city began to be self-sufficient, and replaced money with barter, and lived a peaceful life. Life.

The miller gets a commission from the wheat sent by the customer, and the blacksmith makes an ax in exchange for the customer working in the grape field for a day. Poultry, vegetables, and fruits are also produced locally, and walnuts can be used for oil extraction. The city is so difficult to defend that it is called "the city that never surrenders" in Tarn Garonne.

The countryside and roads around St. Antonin are very scarce, and people who travel often encounter difficulties and accidents on the way. Therefore, for centuries, the bells of the monastery have been ringing every day to attract the attention of lost people.

But the city is rich in jute and pigment crops, especially woad, whose price has soared due to the sanctions, and is almost as expensive as silver of equal weight.This was a big temptation for some robbers, so a group of robbers disguised themselves as merchants delivering food and entered the city.

There are 7 bakeries in the city, and only 800 customers come to buy bread. The wheat they use comes from nearby villages.

The people who usually come to deliver flour to the bakery know the bakery guys. Faced with these sudden strangers, the bakery guys closed the shop instead of welcoming them, but it was too late.

Beggars and refugees hiding outside the city began to attack the city. The guards wanted to close the city gate, but they were stopped by the "grain merchants" who sneaked into the city in advance.

After carrying out the looting, these robbers did not occupy this easy-to-defend and difficult-to-assault city and occupy the mountains as kings, but disappeared into thousands of nearby villages, and the residents of St. Antonin closed the city. The door seemed to have entered a wartime state.

Napoleon's political-religious agreement supplemented the "Organizational Articles", which stated that the interests of 70 Protestants and 5.5 Jews in the country should be protected, and "handling" the city became a topic that Napoleon handed over to the generals for discussion.

"I'd rather go to that damn place than Antwerp," said General Laner. "I don't know anything about the navy, and I don't want to give a statue to Bonaparte. Who wants to see him naked?"

Georgiana looked at Mrs. Laner, who was smiling politely at Georgiana.

The new "Palace Regulations" do not prohibit the female relatives who have an audience without bringing their husbands.

In her hand was a letter from the mayor of Brussels, in which he mentioned that the former mayor of Antwerp was dismissed for smuggling, and he was sorry for his condoning of smuggling, but he hoped to send a mayor who understands maritime and civil affairs. Long, for which he also gave Georgiana an oil painting, and a purple rose called Bishop Richelieu.

The painting he sent was by Jan Stern, and it was about the celebration of the birth of a new baby, and it looked like it couldn't be more proper, and everyone in the painting was fully clothed.

But the content of this painting is obviously very vulgar. In the painting, the old man with white beard and hair and receiving congratulations from others is not the father of the child. He is holding the baby stiffly. What should women know? With an ambiguous smile, the young man who was standing at the door and was about to leave raised two fingers and compared it to the child's head.This is not the meaning of "rabbit ears", but antlers. The meaning is very clear, and he is the father of the child.

She didn't know if the mayor of Brussels intended to humiliate her, or if he didn't understand oil painting, anyway, she didn't plan to keep this painting, and she didn't plan to intercede for Lana. Antwerp is a military port, and Napoleon would not let untrustworthy people guard it. She even felt that the reason why Lana came back in such a hurry was to see his wife.

Bonaparte was right, if a person is too honest with her, it is not a good thing to tell her the truth.

Later, she asked Matilda to invite Canova, the sculptor on the first floor, to come upstairs to help General Lana design the statue of Apollo in Antwerp port. After Matilda came downstairs, Mrs. Lana asked Michel to Where is it, Georgiana told her, something had happened to the girl at home and she was on vacation now, and General Laner spoke again.

"Is it because of Santo Domingo? I heard little Rochambeau went too."

Georgiana nodded.

"During the War of Independence, the French general whom the British respected most was his father, Rochambeau the Elder." Lannes said, "even though he was not a kind man to the prisoners."

Georgiana froze for a moment.

"The Continental Army only wiped out a British convoy in the Battle of Yorktown. The main force was the King's Guard commanded by the old Rochambeau. I heard that they used Indian equipment and instructors."

Georgiana's eyes widened.

"You don't believe it, right?" Lana sneered. "Indians are considered barbaric and backward in the eyes of many people. How could they become French instructors?"

"It's really hard to accept." Georgiana murmured, "No wonder little Rochambeau is so good at jungle warfare."

"In New York, a company of the King's Guard once blocked a regiment in the Scottish Highlands by itself. On average, a soldier faced 100 British troops, but the winner is still us." Lana said firmly, "I don't agree with withdrawal. If we withdraw It was the second expedition that failed."

"I wish there was some humanity left," Georgiana said firmly. "I heard what they did in Santo Domingo."

Lana didn't speak.

"I heard Talleyrand say that the general signed the Pact because he had a second blister on his shoulder," Laner said after a long time. "He's also planning to withdraw this time because of a ringworm on his chest."

"You think this is superstition?"

"No one worships a benevolent loser. A man is born to enjoy life in all its splendor. He should ride his chariot and triumph as a victor."

"You have to pay attention to public opinion."

Lana didn't care.

"You called me, ma'am?" Kanova appeared at the door at this time.

Georgiana looks at the rebellious Lana and thinks he'd better not have anything to do with the artist from Rome.

"How's my sculpture going?" Georgiana asked with a smile.

"It is now in the sculpture room of the Louvre." Canova said politely.

After the Easter Mass, Georgiana "lost the value of use", moved out of the Louvre, and returned to the town of Sevres.

But Napoleon's confidants like Lana still came to her, so Bonaparte's purpose would not be achieved.

People can't live with their true faces, they have to wear a carefully crafted mask, so that people will be pleasing, just like the boots on men's feet, even if they wear silk stockings inside, as long as they don't show it, they won't arouse the common people's disgust up.

As for the old nobles who participated in the etiquette of the old dynasty, even if they knew that Bonaparte almost copied the etiquette of Versailles, they lost the right to speak, and even if they teased and satirized the people, they would not listen to them.

"Thank you, you can go to work." Georgiana smiled at Canova and said to Canova. After the "modern Michelangelo" left, Georgiana immediately looked at Lana with a different face.

"Does Napoleon need a tragic victory!" She patted the armrest of the chair in hatred.

Lana stared at her.

"Whenever a good thing happens, someone will smear it because of jealousy, let alone this kind of thing." She went to the next door, found a letter from the desk, and then returned to the meeting room, "This is written to me by a patrol envoy." , he is now in Avignon, and the lady who saved her father with a glass of blood wine lives there now, and many people want to visit her."

Lana took the letter and began to read it.

"Your generals can cope with the ever-changing changes on the battlefield, but they can't do anything about rumors. You were in Italy before, not only with the sword in your hand, but also with propaganda and public opinion."

Georgiana was a little bit emotional, that's not what was written in American history textbooks.

Louis XVI sent troops to help the Americans win the War of Independence. What did the French gain from it?
Some people say that if a marriage does not have a grand beginning, it is destined to have a bleak end. For this reason, people never save on weddings, and people buy even the most expensive blue wedding dresses.

Wedding dresses are a "necessity" for weddings, just like food, and it is precisely because they are necessary that they are sold at a high price, without worrying that they will suddenly plummet like tulips in the Netherlands.

Unless Napoleon lifts the sanctions against the United States.

Britain definitely hopes that the sanctions will continue, so that British tobacco merchants can monopolize the price of tobacco leaves. Invisibly, France has provoked the relationship between Britain and the United States, although her original goal was India.

Spain also had tobacco companies, but their merchant ships could not go to the colonies to bring tobacco back to Europe.

In Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", Britain allowed the colonies to produce pig iron and iron bars on the one hand, and on the other hand absolutely prohibited the establishment of steel factories and iron factories. In order to encourage this "manufacturing" in America, Britain allowed iron bars and iron bars Pig iron was imported without duty, as Napoleon now permits.

Why doesn't Piedmont follow Uvral's ship and bring some raw silk when transporting grain, so that it can be exempted from customs duties.

"I heard from my father that the First Consulate and the Second Consulate tried to legislate to unify weights and measures across the country." Perhaps because it was too quiet, Mrs. Laner said, "Can you tell me what the purpose of this is?"

Georgiana didn't want to say it, but she liked Mrs. Lanner very much.

"This is for the convenience of provincial grain trade in the future." Georgiana said, "The national capacity unit Setier has 10 benchmark quantities. What is the Belgian capacity unit?"

Lana, who was reading the letter, shifted her gaze to Georgiana.

"You have a lot to do in Antwerp, or do you want to be an ambassador to Portugal?"

"And what news from Portugal?" Madame Laner asked.

"I don't know about this. All I know is that none of the British newspapers have published the Santo Domingo battle. It may have something to do with Tobago."

The two beautiful newcomers looked at her in bewilderment.

"Go back and think about it slowly, the next guest is coming." Georgiana said wearily, "Pay attention to public opinion, and don't patronize victory."

Lana and his wife looked at each other, put down the letter in their hands, and left the waiting room after saluting.

"Do you understand what I just said?" Georgiana asked Matilda.

"I don't understand." Matilda shook her head, "Where is Tobago?"

Georgiana didn't explain it to her.

With the steel trade, Portugal, which was abandoned by Britain, became important again. They could import iron ore from South America, process it into iron bars in Portugal, and then import it to Britain without tax, and of course important silver.

"Go and invite the next guest," said Georgiana to Matilda, who wished to see what news this time little William Pitt's teacher had brought her.

(End of this chapter)