From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Huh huh~ OK, I can finally rest for a while."

To the west of the gate of the Palace of Versailles, there is a large flat open space. The coachman Pim hummed a tune cheerfully, and drove the carriage to this open space easily and stopped, and then he relaxed and stretched.

He was wearing a brand-new black dress. If you get closer, you can still smell the smell of burnt fur from the iron. Although the top hat on his head looks very inappropriate, it is three hat sizes smaller than his head, but if you don't pay close attention to it, That's pretty decent.

Although this kind of dress would be laughed at in any lady's salon, for a coachman, this is undoubtedly a quite luxurious uniform.

Although Pim didn't like the feeling of the suit tightening around his neck, he still enjoyed driving a carriage through the streets of Paris wearing this uniform.

Because this shows that he is the coachman of Duke Richelieu. In Pim's view, not just anyone can become the coachman of the Duke.

After stopping the carriage in the open space, Pim took out his pipe and started puffing away.

For him, the day's work was half done; the four horses driving the car had been fed before setting off, and he had nothing else to do. He just wanted to sleep here for half a day and then go to the Palace of Versailles. Just wait at the door for Duke Richelieu to leave the banquet.

Pim lay half-ly on the driver's seat, adjusted himself to the most comfortable position, and then closed his eyes to prepare for a comfortable sleep.

However, just after Pim closed his eyes and squinted for more than ten minutes, he suddenly felt a violent shaking in the carriage, which almost shook him out, followed closely by the sound of a horse screaming and neighing. .

He quickly woke up from his sleep, sat up, opened his eyes and looked forward. He saw a black horse on the far right that had gone crazy for some reason and was raising its hoof to kick a young gentleman next to him.

The young gentleman looked startled and was running away from the horse's hooves in panic.

"Oh my God!"

Pim stared, jumped out of the carriage in a panic, grabbed the black horse's cage with all his strength, and shouted at the young gentleman:

"Sir! Get away quickly, this beast has gone crazy for some reason."

After that, Pim pulled the black horse harder, and at the same time reached out and took off the riding crop from the seat, whipped it on the horse's back without hesitation, and shouted curses in his mouth.

It was not until a while later that the horse was finally subdued by Pim and walked back quietly to stand with the other three horses.

"Hoo, ho, this beast deserves to die."

Pim spat on the ground and cursed. At the same time, he wiped cold sweat with lingering fear. He looked at the young gentleman who was almost kicked just now with great uneasiness and asked with a trembling voice:

"Dear sir, are you okay? I'm really sorry."

Although Pim was just a stable boy who pulled carts and raised horses, he knew that those who could walk near the Palace of Versailles were all nobles and celebrities without exception.

Especially the other party's outfit. Although Pim couldn't explain it, he felt that it looked like the clothes of a big shot.

Although the other party did not seem to be injured, he must have been frightened by the black horse just now. Thinking of this, Pim became even more uneasy and thought with extreme anxiety:

"My God, if the Duke knew about this, wouldn't it be my job? God, then I would definitely move to the slums."

The gentleman frowned, glanced at the horse just now, snorted dissatisfiedly, and said:

"Hmph, luckily I reacted in time. Are you such a bad herdsman that you can't even take care of your own horses?"

Having said that, the gentleman turned to look at the coat of arms on the carriage, and added with a surprised expression:

"Oh? Are you still Duke Richelieu's coachman? Tsk tsk, Duke Richelieu would hire such a coachman. I really want to talk to him when I see him in the Palace of Versailles later."

Pim's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he even felt his heartbeat stopped for a moment. He quickly said with a pale face:

"My dear sir, I really don't know what's going on. These horses are usually well-behaved. Look, how quiet they are now. Even if they are whipped with a whip, it will be fine. I have no idea what happened."

After hearing this, the gentleman's face became even more gloomy, and he said displeasedly:

"What do you mean? You want to say that I provoked this horse myself?"

"No, no, of course not, I didn't mean it."

Pim's face turned even paler, and he waved his hands repeatedly.

"snort"

The young gentleman frowned and looked at Pim, then glanced at the coat of arms of the Richelieu family on the carriage, and said slowly:

"I still don't believe that someone like you could be the stable boy of the Duke of Richelieu. Are you a horse thief?"

After saying that, the young gentleman immediately looked around, as if he was ready to call the guards to deal with it.

"I-I'm not a horse thief! Please don't call the guards!"

Pim screamed and knelt down in front of the gentleman, wiping his uncontrollable tears and said:

"I really didn't lie to you. Please don't call the guards. Duke Richelieu will definitely drive me away if he finds out about this. I still have a wife and daughter to support. They all count on my salary. I"

"Okay, okay, get up quickly."

The gentleman raised his chin impatiently, motioning for Pim to stand up, then spread his hands and said:

"Well, it's okay not to let the guards handle it. Then I'll ask you a few questions about Duke Richelieu. If you can't answer these, then I won't believe your lies. Let me tell you first, I and I Our friendship with Duke Richelieu is not very shallow, so don’t try to get away with it.”

"Oh of course, of course, you ask, I am definitely not a thief."

Pim stood up quickly, bowed several times to the young gentleman with tears of gratitude, and spoke incoherently.

The young gentleman touched his chin, pondered for a moment, looked at Pim, the coachman in front of him, and then asked loudly:

"You should know who the Duke of Richelieu came to Versailles with in the morning, right?"

"I know, I know, it's with an Englishman, he seems to be some kind of baron, but I don't know him, and the Duke only met him recently."

Pim said excitedly. In order to gain the other party's trust, he wanted to tell everything he knew, both relevant and irrelevant.

"Well, in fact, that's Baron Bertula. Well, you're right." The young gentleman nodded thoughtfully, and then asked:

"Then you should know where the Duke of Richelieu picked up Baron Bertula this morning, right?"

"Where did you pick up Baron Bertula?"

Pim muttered strangely, scratched his head anxiously, looked around helplessly, and then whispered:

"But Baron Bertula has been staying at the Duke's residence these days. They set off together in the morning, and I personally helped them get into the car."

"Oh? This is somewhat different from what I know." The young gentleman pretended to be calm and said:

"Forget it, let's just pretend that I remember it wrong. Let's ask the last question. Has the Duke of Richelieu spent more time in Versailles or Paris recently?"

Pim blinked, and after a little calculation, he replied confidently:

"The Duke is basically in Paris. He came to Versailles this time just for the banquet. My planned itinerary is to return to Paris tomorrow."

"oh"

The young gentleman nodded slightly, then shrugged and looked at Pim and said:

"Although I have some doubts about your ability to work, it seems that you are indeed the coachman of the Duke of Richelieu. Take care of your horse and don't hurt others. By the way, what is your name?"

Pim swallowed and said with fear:

"My name is Pim Dudley"

"Okay, Pim, I won't pursue you this time, but there will be no next time. Duke Richelieu and I will still have to deal with each other, and maybe I will see you again."

The young gentleman waved his hand at Pim and said, then turned and walked directly towards the gate of Versailles Palace.

When Pim saw the gentleman turn around and leave, he breathed a sigh of relief as if he had been reborn after a disaster. He quickly took off his hat and bowed to the kind gentleman's back.

It wasn't until the gentleman walked away that Pim wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, staggered to the side of the black horse that had just kicked someone, and murmured in a low voice while checking its body:

"My old friend, you almost killed me. What's going on with you today? Wait, this is..."

Pim, who was caressing the horse's belly, suddenly touched something, and then he went down and looked at the black horse's belly. He saw that there was a blood hole the size of a fingernail, and blood was still oozing out in small streams.

"Hiss" Pim took a breath looking at the wound, stroked the horse's back and shook his head and said:

"So he was injured? No wonder he became so irritable. Oh, what a bad luck. I don't know where he was injured."

On the other side, the young gentleman threw the steel nails stained with horse blood in his pockets into the grass on the roadside, and walked into the Palace of Versailles under the respectful gaze of the guards.

boom!

In the billiards room of the Venus Hall in the Palace of Versailles, Duke Choiseul gracefully leaned over the billiard table, concentrating on aiming at the black ball in front of him.

The peach wood club on the back of his hand was stretching and contracting, as if he was considering the strength and position of the hit.

Several nobles around the table also looked at Duke Choiseul with bated breath, ready to offer the quickest compliments after the Duke scored a goal.

A figure like the Duke of Choiseul, who is at the top of the political arena, has naturally become the target of the nobles. Even in such a table tennis game, everyone present subconsciously regarded the Duke of Choiseul as the most central figure. character, listening and watching his every move.

Duke Choiseul took a deep breath and was about to push the cue in his hand to start hitting the ball when he saw the door of the billiard room being pushed open unceremoniously.

After the nobles in the room noticed that Duke Choiseul was interrupted by the sudden noise, they all looked at the young man who pushed the door indignantly, frowned and scolded:

"Hey! Young man, you are so uneducated."

"Didn't you see that the Duke of Choiseul was hitting the ball? What a bummer."

"Really, how did you sneak into the Palace of Versailles?"

However, the Duke of Choiseul, who was interrupted from hitting the ball, looked up at the visitor, but he was not angry at all. Instead, he threw the club directly on the table, walked up and patted the young man on the shoulder and said:

"You are back, Governor Bonaparte. Let me introduce to you, this is the Governor of Corsica, Laurence Bonaparte."

Lawrence bowed to the nobles in the room expressionlessly and said calmly:

"Good afternoon, gentlemen, I'm sorry to bother you."

The few people who had just scolded them felt as if they had eaten flies. They really wanted to slap themselves twice and hated themselves for not remembering that a Corsican who was highly regarded by the Duke of Choiseul was following him recently.

Upon seeing this, these people quickly stood up, came up to them without any embarrassment, and said with full approval:

"It turns out to be Governor Bonaparte. He is such a young talent. He can even open the door with so much energy."

"We have all heard about you, and I have to say, we are really impressed."

"Would you like to play a game of billiards?" The man who was playing against Duke Choiseul took the initiative to hand the cue to Lawrence and asked.

Duke Choiseul took the initiative to stand up for Lawrence and said:

"Thank you for your kindness. I think Governor Bonaparte has received it. However, Governor Bonaparte and I have something to do, so I have to excuse myself first."

Having said that, Duke Choiseul led Lawrence directly out of the billiard room, leaving the nobles in the room looking at Lawrence's back with admiration and sigh. How they hoped that someone so valued by Duke Choiseul could Be yourself.

Duke Choiseul led Lawrence to the back garden and found a long, secluded table to sit down.

After confirming that there was no one else around, Duke Choiseul asked in a deep voice:

"So, how's your quest going?"

"It's quite rewarding."

Lawrence nodded and said:

"It has been confirmed that Richelieu and Baron Bertula did not meet by chance today. Baron Bertula has been a guest at Richelieu's mansion for several days, and Duke Richelieu has not been in Versailles during this time, spending most of his time there. Paris, so it is very possible that he had contact with Baron Bertula when he was in Paris.”

"Well, it is indeed possible. The king prefers big nobles like us to stay in Versailles instead of Paris. He just wants us to put everything under his nose."

Duke Choiseul said with deep understanding:

"The Duke of Richelieu, who attaches great importance to his relationship with the king, cannot possibly not know this, but he still chooses to stay in Paris. It should be because there is something that needs him to deal with."

When Louis XIV was in power, in order to consolidate the royal power and prevent the great nobles from starting rebellions in their fiefs, he forced the great nobles to leave their local fiefs and live in Versailles.

At first, the nobles were very resistant to this, but as Versailles and the Palace of Versailles became larger and larger, more and more nobles used living in Versailles as a symbol of fashion and glory, and the king was naturally happy to see this. .

"Anyway, let's make a conclusion after communicating with the English envoy. I have already arranged for people to wait at the entrance of the theater. They will invite him over after they finish the play."

Duke Choiseul said very tactfully:

"By the way, who did you get this information from?"

"The Duke of Richelieu's coachman."

Lawrence said easily:

"With some tricks, the coachman didn't notice my identity, and I think he can become an excellent chess piece against Richelieu."

"Coachman?" Duke Choiseul looked at Lawrence in surprise, frowned and said:

"I don't think these people can be of any use. Such chess pieces are too small."

"Maybe, but I do think he would be a small but useful pawn."

Lawrence still insisted on his opinion and said that he already had some plans for the coachman named Pim.