From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

The next day, the early morning of January 13th

Paris, Tuileries Palace

Breakfast time had just passed, and His Majesty the King and Madame Du Barry enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast as usual: smoked salmon, Omlet omelette, freshly baked croissants, and a small bottle of Metternich Blanc Sling champagne.

However, Louis XV obviously had a poor appetite today. When the servants entered the king's suite and began to remove the plates, almost all of the food on the silver plate in front of the king was untouched.

Only the closest attendants around Louis XV knew that the reason for His Majesty's loss of appetite, in addition to his own old age and frailty, was because of Laurence Bonaparte from Corsica.

Ever since Madame Du Barry said those words to Louis XV last night, His Majesty the King had hardly had a good night's sleep.

Louis XV was very confused. How could Lawrence, who was outstanding and wise in his eyes, make such a low-level mistake? Didn't he know that holding a charity auction at this time was a naked slap in the face of the royal family and the government? ?

In the king's opinion, Lawrence was either so stupid that he was not aware of this relationship at all, or he was so ruthless that he knowingly committed the crime.

But no matter what kind of truth it was, Louis XV felt that the image of this loyal and intelligent minister in his heart had somewhat collapsed.

"Did I really see the wrong person? Lawrence is either loyal but not smart, or smart but not loyal. How could he be such a person?"

Even at breakfast time today, Louis XV was still confused by this entanglement, and even the sumptuous feast on the table was completely ignored by him.

In contrast, Madame Du Barry on the side looked extremely happy.

Looking at the sad expression on the king's face, Madame Du Barry knew in her heart that Louis XV had begun to be suspicious of that damn Corsican boy.

Next, all she had to do was wait for Louis XV to summon Laurence Bonaparte to the Tuileries Palace to question him face to face, and then fan the flames a little from the sidelines. Madame Du Barry believed that the name Laurence Bonaparte would be used for a long time. Louis XV would not be happy for a while.

Although Madame Du Barry could not wait to see Laurence Bonaparte in embarrassment, she still patiently said insinuating:

"Your Majesty, breakfast is over. It's a bit boring to stay in the suite all the time. Why don't we go to the garden and play a few games of chess?"

It took Louis XV a few seconds to come to his senses, and he shook his head seriously and said in denial:

"No, Jeanne, there are more important things today. I must talk to Laurence Bonaparte."

After saying that, Louis XV held his chin and thought for a while, then slowly sat up from the gold silk armchair, called an envoy and said in a deep voice:

"Come here, summon Laurence Bonaparte to come into the palace immediately. I want to see him now."

Looking at the serious and cold look of Louis XV, Madame Du Barry finally couldn't suppress the ecstasy in her heart, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously raised an obvious arc.

Less than an hour later, a palace attendant respectfully and solemnly entered the king's suite and reported:

"Your Majesty, Laurence Bonaparte has arrived at the Tuileries Palace. In addition, your press secretary has also requested your audience, saying that he has important matters to report."

Louis XV waved his hand slightly impatiently and ordered:

"Press Secretary? Let him wait. Let Laurence Bonaparte come in first."

"yes!"

After a while, Lawrence was led by a royal envoy to the top floor of the main hall of the Tuileries Palace. The King's Suite here was also the palace or bedroom of several generations of French kings, overlooking most of Paris. .

Louis XV was sitting in a sandalwood armchair by the balcony window. He watched Lawrence enter the door. Before Lawrence could salute, he greeted him in a deep voice:

"Here you are, Lawrence. Take a seat wherever you like."

Madame Du Barry stood beside the king. Although she said nothing, her gloating eyes were fixed on Lawrence's face full of teasing.

Lawrence silently glanced at the king's expression. Even though Louis XV told him to sit down wherever he pleased, Lawrence still bowed respectfully and said:

"Good morning, your wise Majesty, I wonder why you summoned your ministers?"

Louis XV glanced at Lawrence who was kneeling on one knee, but did not let him get up. He said directly with a bit of displeasure:

"Lawrence, I thought you were a thoughtful and loyal minister, but I didn't expect that what you did this time made me so worried."

"Your Majesty is willing to take all the blame, but I would like to ask you to point out your sins." Lawrence glanced at Madame Du Barry secretly and pretended to know nothing.

"M. Bonaparte, I do not believe that you are really unaware."

Madame Du Barry said smoothly, her sarcasm already evident:

"You should have held a charity auction last night, right?"

"I did organize an auction, madam, to raise funds for the poor around Paris." Lawrence responded coldly.

"Humph, are you really wholeheartedly serving the poor?" Madame Du Barry revealed mercilessly:

"I think you did this to promote your own reputation, right? Your Majesty, I think Mr. Bonaparte did it intentionally. He just wanted to tell the people of Paris that Laurence Bonaparte is the only good person in France. Saint, the rest of the nobles and ministers are all bastards who care about human life."

"Okay, Jeanne, there's no need to say it so harshly."

Louis XV looked at Lawrence on the ground, then sighed, and said in a serious and somewhat disappointed tone:

"Lawrence, I know you want to improve your reputation in Paris, but you don't need to be so anxious. What you do is quite damaging the reputation of the royal family to enhance your reputation. This is not what a loyal minister should do. ”

"Your Majesty!" Lawrence suddenly raised his head and looked at Louis XV with real eyes:

"I, Laurence Bonaparte, have a clear conscience and have absolutely no intention of being disloyal to you. If I really have unconscionable thoughts of that kind, it must be the devil who has manipulated my mind. I am willing to do it myself." Go to the stake."

Louis XV and Lawrence looked at each other. After hesitating for a moment, they shook their heads and said in punishment:

"Oh, it's useless to say this now. Lawrence, you have made a mistake. I must punish you to show justice."

Madame Du Barry was waiting for these words. She bit her lip excitedly, looking down at Lawrence who was kneeling on one knee like a victorious conqueror, looking forward to King Louis hitting the ax of judgment on this Corsica. on the person's neck.

"Please wait a moment, Your Majesty." Lawrence finally put on a righteous expression and said firmly:

"I am willing to accept all the punishment you give me, but I implore you to make a decision after investigating all these incidents; I swear that I will never use this auction to damage any of your reputation. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can vouch for me. , he participated in the entire auction.”

"No, I have to make a decision now. Wait?" Louis XV just wanted to show his decisive side, but suddenly frowned and asked:

"You mean the crown prince? August also attended that auction?"

Madame Du Barry was also stunned. Since it was nearly ten o'clock when the auction ended yesterday, and she had been staying with the king, the Duke of Aiguillon had no chance to send someone to inform her of everything that happened during the auction.

However, when she learned that Prince Louis also attended the auction, Madame Du Barry's brows became even more joyful. She pointed directly at Lawrence and reprimanded him righteously:

"Oh my god, Mr. Bonaparte, you actually asked the Crown Prince to attend a civilian auction? This is simply trampling on the noble status of the royal family. I think you may take the Crown Prince to a pig pen in the future. Go away! Your Majesty, how can you allow such a person to continue to serve as the attendant of His Highness the Crown Prince?"

Louis XV's face became even more ugly. He also felt that the Corsican and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had done too many things that were not in line with the royal status.

King Louis even felt that he had to consider whether Lawrence, the crown prince's first attendant, was competent or not.

Lawrence, on the other hand, ignored Madame Du Barry's sarcasm and looked directly at Louis XV and said:

"Your Majesty, don't you still know the whole process of that auction?"

"The whole process?" Louis XV frowned and repeated. He didn't think a charity auction could have any surprising process or ending. It was just an auction of some second-rate or third-rate art collections.

At this moment, a valet in the suite hurried forward and added in Louis XV's ear:

"Your Majesty, the press secretary was anxious to see you just now. It seems that he wanted to report about this auction."

"Is this what he reported?"

Louis XV then looked at Lawrence suspiciously, nodded and ordered:

"Call the press secretary in immediately."

Just two minutes later, Louis XV's trusted personal press officer trotted into the king's suite in a hurry, holding a large leather briefcase under his arm.

But when he saw Lawrence kneeling on the ground and Louis XV with a serious face, the press secretary was still shocked.

"Don't worry about him. I heard that you want to report about the auction at the Paris Comedy?" Louis XV looked at the press secretary and motioned for him to go on.

The press secretary quickly looked away from Lawrence, cleared his throat and said loudly:

"Yes, Your Majesty! Yesterday's auction, I bet it will definitely become the most watched event in Paris during this period."

"Stop being so pretentious and just tell me what happened." Louis XV interrupted displeasedly.

The press secretary exclaimed solemnly and exaggeratedly as if he were singing a praise of virtue:

"Yes, yes, your Majesty, just last night, a mysterious buyer spent a total of seven million livres to buy all the competing items in that auction. This was beyond everyone's expectations."

"Seven million livres?" Madame Du Barry couldn't help but exclaimed:

"Except for my necklace, the auction was full of low-grade junk collectibles. What idiot would spend so much money to buy them all?"

"Uh, madam, I beg you to take back this sentence, because the person who bought the entire collection is not an idiot." The press secretary looked at Madame Du Barry with an embarrassed look, and then continued:

"And it was our great Crown Prince who spent a total of seven million livres on this charity auction!"

Madame Du Barry opened her mouth in confusion, but she was too speechless to say anything.

Louis XV was also shocked for a while before he came to his senses and murmured to himself:

"Auguste? He spent seven million livres at the auction? Where did he get so much money?!"

After saying that, Louis XV suddenly realized something, and looked down in shock at Lawrence, who was still kneeling on one knee.

In the suite, the press secretary was still talking loudly about the wonderful auction:

“Citizens soon realized that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had deliberately bought these collections at high prices in order to donate more funds to the poor, but no one could believe that His Highness the Crown Prince actually spent seven million livres. After they believed this fact, the entire Paris Comedy Theater was said to be filled with sincere praise from the citizens. They bowed neatly to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, praising him for being a kind and great monarch in the future. "

Louis XV was startled for a moment, then subconsciously asked with joy:

"You mean Augustus? People bowed to him and said he was going to be a great king?"

"Absolutely, Your Majesty!" The press secretary opened his briefcase, took out several newspapers that were just printed this morning and still smelled of ink, and reported excitedly:

"In fact, all the newspapers this morning regarded this as the front page news - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince spent seven million for the poor people of Paris; I walked around the city this morning, and almost everyone mentioned this news On the lips, almost everyone's mouth is full of praises for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince; kindness, enlightenment, sacred heart, loving the people like a son, I dare say that I will never see so many compliments anywhere else except in the dictionary. Words.”

"Oh my God! Give me the newspaper, I want to see it for myself!"

As Louis XV listened to the press secretary's narration, and listened to his beloved grandson being praised by the citizens, a surge of ecstasy suddenly surged in the heart of the old king, reaching his heavenly cap:

"Auguste, my good grandson, the heir of France, so well done! I dare say I have never received such support in my life, but Auguste, he did it so easily, it's really A gift from God!”

Louis XV voraciously read the praises of His Royal Highness in the newspapers. Whenever he saw a word of praise, the joy in his heart was like adding a handful of firewood and it burned even more vigorously. This was even more intense than before. Even more happy to see praise for himself.

After all, for this old king who is about to run out of oil and is already in his sixties, what he cares about most is the future heir. He values ​​Prince Louis even more than himself.

Seeing that his grandson had become a saint among the people, Louis XV's excited heart simply had nowhere to rest.

"correct!"

Halfway through reading, Louis XV suddenly remembered something. He quickly threw away the newspaper in his hand, stood up suddenly and rushed to Lawrence who was kneeling on the ground. He helped him up with an apologetic face and said guiltily:

"Lawrence, my dear Lawrence, I want to apologize to you, the most sincere apology! Please accept it, otherwise my conscience will be condemned by God!"

By this time, Louis XV also completely understood.

The main purpose of Lawrence holding this charity auction was not for his own reputation at all, but for the public opinion of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

In this way, there is no reason to say that this charity auction has made the royal family and the government incompetent and corrupt. On the contrary, it has enabled Crown Prince Louis to gain a large wave of public support and support.

Moreover, Louis XV also knew very well that whether it was the auction at the Paris Comedy or the seven million livres, it must have been prepared by Lawrence himself. Crown Prince Louis himself did not have these abilities.

In other words, the Corsican kneeling on the ground is the hero behind all this.

When he thought that he was still treating him coldly and even thinking of depriving him of his position as punishment, Louis XV instantly felt a sense of guilt floating in the blood vessels of his body, torturing his conscience like burning phosphorus fire. .