Eagle's Glory

So, everyone revolved around his decision, whether they were following the attack or staying and defending, they all clarified their responsibilities.

Because of the initial victory, his advance stopped at Nafpaktos. After a period of rest, the army gradually became slack, and after Egron waved his whip again, it had to start again. Pick up your spirits and meet the new action with the nervousness you had before.

Everyone performed their duties, and during the intense action, one person was accidentally forgotten and had nothing to do—of course it was Mr. Edgar de Treville.

Although he was driven by his father to follow His Majesty, after being put under His Majesty's command, he was not reused, and was only assigned a very insignificant errand, but he personally had no complaints about it, and was even happy to be idle.

However, after Aigron decided to take the next step, he couldn't sit still.

So, after Egron had finished his conference with the officers, he asked to see his lord.

Although Aigron was already busy, he still took time to meet this member of the Treville family.

"Your Majesty!" Edgar first bowed gracefully upon seeing Aigron, "I haven't seen you for a few days, but you are still in high spirits."

"You look good too." Aigron just nodded very flatly, and then asked, "May I ask what you want to see me for?"

"Recently, I've been conceiving a painting for you. I was inspired yesterday and finished the painting. I would like to ask you to take a look at it—" Edgar replied respectfully.

Upon hearing this, Aigron also became interested, so he nodded again. "Then let me see."

So, Edgar took out the canvas rolled up behind him, then stood in front of Aigron, and spread the canvas on the table.

As the canvas slowly unfolded, Aigron also saw the picture on it clearly.

The tone of the painting is colder, and it depicts the scene of marching - the sky at this time seems to be at dawn, only the eastern sky shows a little light, a group of soldiers in black military uniforms are moving forward, the golden light is falling in mid-air, and In the center of the canvas, a young man also wearing a black military uniform, standing on a rock, is looking into the distance with imposing eyes, as if waiting for a desperate fight.

I have to admit that Edgar's painting skills are really good. He paints the young people in the painting majesticly, and the rising sun is just in line with Aigron's intention - the expressive power is even a bit beyond Aigron's own expectations.

"Very good." Aigron immediately gave corresponding compliments, and then looked up at Edgar, "Edgar, you have created a masterpiece...I will keep it forever."

"It is my greatest honor to receive your praise, and my efforts have not been in vain." Edgar replied with a smile, "Also, if you don't mind, I will make a few copies of this painting and send it to you. sent back to France, and I believe my father would have loved to see it spread."

Naturally, this is also Aigron's idea - he has always wanted to use painting to promote himself, and Edgar's talent can also serve his goal.

Due to reality, it is impossible for him to return to France right now, but he needs to let the French people gradually get to know himself, the prince who has been away from the country for more than ten years and grew up in a strange court.

"Of course—" Aigron nodded, "tell your father, these paintings can be distributed widely, I think the French people will admire you as much as I do, don't worry, although I can't make the creation of the paintings The name of the author will be published, but one day, your talents will be applauded accordingly."

To the young man, Edgar just smiled lightly. Although he loves his paintings quite a lot, for him, this kind of Wei Guangzheng’s paintings full of political propaganda means that his creation is greatly limited, which is far less than what he did for himself. He is proud of the private paintings drawn by the ladies and ladies.

But of course he didn't dare to say these words.

Taking advantage of Aigron's good mood, Edgar changed the subject again.

"By the way, Your Majesty, I heard that you are preparing for the next move?" He asked in a low voice.

Aigron didn't wonder why he knew - after all, although Edgar was not taken seriously, he had a very good relationship with many of his subordinates, and it was normal to have channels to inquire about news.

"Yes, we are going to start a new battle next." Aigron didn't intend to hide it, and told him directly.

He roughly talked about his strategic deployment, and then reminded Edgar, "Edgar, I know you don't plan to charge forward, so I can give you a choice after dividing the troops. You can choose to continue to follow me, or you can choose to follow me." Choose to stay here."

Of course it's safer to stay by your side... Edgar thought to himself.

"What are you talking about? There is no choice for me." He pretended to be impassioned on the surface, and then responded loudly to the young man, "The task my father entrusted to me is to follow you to the death. As your servant's natural obligation, I cannot violate it, and I must record your heroic appearance, so that your reputation and bravery will be passed down to the world through my hands! So, Your Majesty, please let me follow you!"

Although he knew that Edgar was speaking politely, Aigron was still delighted to hear it.

This guy is really too good at people-pleasing... Aggron thought.

Unknowingly, his original dissatisfaction with Edgar dissipated.

Even if he can't be a civil servant or military general, it would be nice to let him be a jester.

"Okay, that's as you wish." Aigron nodded slightly, and then looked at him kindly, "But let me remind you, this time we are also very tight on time, and we don't have so many in pursuit of fast maneuvering." Baggage, you'd better exercise yourself and keep up with us, otherwise you will only cause trouble for everyone—"

"I will definitely be able to do it, please believe me." Edgar immediately made a promise.

Then, he suddenly changed the subject, "By the way, Your Majesty, I have one more thing to ask you..."

"What's the matter?" Seeing his mysterious appearance, Eggron was a little surprised, so he asked back.

Edgar hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked him.

"Have you accepted a group of Austrians to keep around? Veterans who have served before."

This sudden question shocked Aegron. He originally planned to keep this matter a secret for the time being, but for some reason, Edgar saw the clue so quickly.

For a moment he wondered if someone around him had leaked the secret to Edgar.

Could it be Agnes, or André Davout?

"Don't get me wrong, no one told me this in secret!" Seeing Egron's reaction, Edgar knew he had guessed right, so he quickly explained to the young man, "Although I am not by your side, But after all, I live not far from you. When I was with Andre before, I almost remembered the faces of the guards around you. Today, there are suddenly a few unfamiliar faces around you, so I can't help paying attention. After a while, sure enough, they used German when they were whispering to each other, and I happened to have learned German, so I understood a little bit what they were saying..."

Listening to his narration, although Aigron let go of his doubts, he was still a little shocked. He never thought that Edgar had such observation skills.

"You can think of it as a painter's sensitivity... In order to paint, we must always pay attention to the subtle changes in the surrounding environment." Edgar said with a little pride. "Even the smallest details are enough to affect the overall beauty."

"You're right, Edgar." Seeing that it was impossible to hide it anymore, Aigron spread his hands, "It is true that several Austrian soldiers have recently joined my command. I hope you don't ask any more questions. Just arrive."

Aegron's answer like this is tantamount to hinting at their origins.

Edgar's original doubts were instantly confirmed - it seems that they are the rescuers moved by Princess Teresa from her natal family.

If it was Prince Charles, he might be even more jealous, but he doesn't care. After all, it doesn't matter to him whether the Bonapartists or the Austrians are dominant around His Majesty.

However, on the surface, he still put on a dignified appearance.

"Your Majesty, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on receiving assistance. You ordered me not to pursue this matter, and I can completely obey it, but I still have a few words from my heart that I want to tell you."

Aigron was a little impatient, but nodded, "Let's talk."

"You just said that you want to establish your image in the hearts of the French people, so starting from this goal, you should conform to their wishes to a certain extent." Edgar continued in a sincere tone, "Nothing Undoubtedly, the French people are happy to see a vigorous and magnificent young man lead them into a new era of glory, but they hope to see this young man deeply connected with the rich and beautiful land of France in thought and emotion. Together, his endeavors, his victories, and his life should bear the indelible stamp of France..."

"What are you referring to...?" Aigron asked.

"What I'm trying to say is simple - although you have always been your Majesty among us, to most of the people of France you are a prince raised in a faraway country with a full Austrian education, and And married an Austrian." Edgar continued unhurriedly, "No doubt, I dare not question your personal choice, but you should also think about how to present your French appearance to them, You should try to make people downplay the Austrian color... After all, you don't want to be said to have achieved great success with the Austrians, do you?"

As soon as Edgar said this, Aigron was furious immediately, and it was hard for him not to be furious.

Although he used interrogative sentences, for Aigron, as his subordinate, just thinking of this idea is already disrespectful.

For a moment, he wanted to scold Edgar, but when the words came to his lips, he immediately suppressed his anger.

Because he knew that Edgar was definitely not a person with a particularly strong backbone. On the contrary, he was good at flattering others, and he would never quarrel with others easily—let alone himself.

So when he said these words, there must be his following, so Aigron just looked at him with a slight frown, and motioned him to continue.

Edgar was a little nervous now. Although the young man in front of him was a few years younger than him, he clearly felt a terrible pressure, and he seemed to be easily torn apart by the other party.

Your Majesty's swordsmanship is superb, if you really want to offend him, let alone the guards outside, he alone can make himself irreparable...

But even though he was nervous, he still had the courage to continue talking.

"I'm not asking you to sever ties with the Austrians, I just ask you to carefully consider the hearts of the French people... They have resentment against Austria, and you can even say hostility. Maybe they can tolerate the matter of Her Majesty Teresa, after all It is normal for kings to marry, but if you are too close to the Austrians in other aspects, then you have to arouse their doubts, so I suggest you..."

Having said that, he deliberately paused.

"Suggest me what?" Aegron asked coldly.

"Get closer to the French." Edgar boldly finished his last few words, "Although King Henry IV married Catherine de Medici of Italy as queen, he never Let the Italians take charge of the court—instead, he and the Duchess of Beaufort repaired the country's wounds of decades of civil war, and together created a new era of French glory..."　　

155, on the road

"On the contrary, he and the Duchess of Bertford made up for the pain caused by the civil war for decades, and jointly created a new era of glory for France..."

Although Edgar was flustered, he pretended to be calm on the surface, and then looked at Aigron enthusiastically, "Your Majesty, you also know that I hate risks the most, and I never want to be hated by you, so it stands to reason that I I should choose to be silent and agree with all your decisions... But if I do this, I really feel bad for my conscience. Our Treville family is your loyal supporter, so we should know everything about you, and we are even more obliged to give you suggestions If you think it makes sense, you can listen to it; if you think I'm just talking nonsense, then you can pretend that you didn't hear it, and it doesn't even matter if you punish me!"

Listening to Edgar's impassioned words, Aegron's original anger also gradually extinguished.

He just looked at Edgar coldly, "What you said just now, I don't want to see you say it to anyone else. Since Teresa came to us, her enthusiasm has been poured into us How disappointed she must be to hear that she has never considered herself an Austrian in her career!"

"I have absolutely never doubted Her Majesty Teresa's sincerity towards you. If she is a vulgar person, then she can just stay at home and enjoy the happiness quietly. Why come here to suffer? I have only respect for her." , absolutely don’t want to hurt her feelings.” Edgar quickly made a promise, “But Your Majesty, the French people are different from me, they have no chance to contact you and Your Highness Teresa, and they have no way to witness what you have done , they can only make the simplest judgments based on stereotypes and historical prejudices... What can we do? The hostility to the Austrians is deeply rooted in our history."

Aigron was speechless for a moment.

Although he knew that Edgar said these words definitely had ulterior motives, but he also knew that there was some truth in these words.

"Even so, so what? I'm going to marry Teresa, not the people. They can think whatever they want." After a moment of silence, he replied impatiently. "As long as I can ascend to the throne, Teresa will become the queen. At that time, she will have plenty of time and opportunity to exert favor on the people. She can make the people forget her origin—at least in my opinion, this is by no means an obstacle. .”

"Having said that, if you don't conform to the public opinion to a certain extent, how can you convince them to support you as emperor?" Edgar asked, "With all due respect, if you were the crown prince back then, It is only natural that you want to inherit the Roman king of the empire, so no matter what you do, the people will cheer for you-but you are not now, you are a throne pretender who was forcibly taken away from your homeland, and you are walking a road full of thorns , the people will not naturally support you, so in this case, it is very, very necessary to accommodate the public opinion, do you think I am right?"

These rhetoric were all made up by Edgar after hard thinking and meditation in the past few days. It can be said that they are well-rounded and comprehensive. Coupled with his serious expression management, even Egron couldn't help agreeing after hearing it.

Because, he is indeed on the side of reason - it's just that he will take advantage of the "reason" and mix some personal things when people are not prepared.

Aigron has always been a calm and pragmatic realist, so even though he was furious just now, after careful consideration, he had to nod slightly.

"It's true to say that. I will consider how to win people's hearts. However, there are enough troubles around us now, and it is not too late to talk about this later."

Seeing Aigron nodding, Edgar was also elated.

In his opinion, this young man's advantage of never being impulsive is really admirable. If he is a mediocre person, it is useless for him to say anything.

And now that a breakthrough has been opened, it will be easy to do next, he said leisurely, "I can talk about everything else later, but this matter is actually your top priority-you are now leading a group of French, Greeks, It is of course very good and glorious that the Austrians have done a great thing, and the French people will be thrilled by it, but you have to make them see something beyond the glory, to see that you are more like It is the side of mortals—although it is contradictory to say so, but the French really worship the glory and like to dust the glory. In order to belittle the great people among themselves, they even spread rumors and slander, as if seeing a great man lose face, they can share a few It’s so noble, life can add a bit of brilliance..."

Having said that, he looked at Aigron again, "In this case, instead of waiting to be made up by them, you should demean yourself in order to get close to their poor intelligence and let them know that you are indeed one of them— — even if you never are, you can make them feel like you are.”

Edgar's sneering and long-winded speech sounded inexplicably reasonable, so that Aigron was a little stunned at once—he didn't expect such insightful words to come from a playboy like Edgar. from.

It seems that he was born in the Treville family after all, no matter how frivolous he is, he still has some vision and eloquence.

"I didn't expect you to have the talent of an orator besides painting." He couldn't help but praised Edgar, "Edgar, if one day we also have our Brumaire coup, maybe you will consider taking me to the parliament in the future The podium, just like that of Prince Lucien?"

"You're joking, Your Majesty... In your eyes, I'm afraid I'm just a rascal who indulges in eating, drinking, and merrymaking, and I admit that you are right. I am indeed such an insignificant person, and I never dream that I can What a great big man to be..."

Edgar laughed self-deprecatingly as he spoke. "But even so, I am my father's only son after all. I have an obligation to serve my father and our family. My father would never want to see our family decline after his generation. Even if my ability is limited, I have to do my best—now it is very obvious that the life and death of our family depends on For you alone, your success is our success, so I will do my best to add luster to you and advise you. Your Majesty, you can doubt my ability, but please never doubt my heart! Because every word I say is based on your interests!"

Edgar spoke forcefully, and his eyes were full of fanaticism—the reason why his performance can reach this level is mainly because most of it is indeed true.

He fears and loves his father, and his father is the only person in the world he really thinks about, not even his wife and children have this place in his heart; and at present, the hope of revival of the Treville family really lies in this young man.

Otherwise, why would he go out of his way to please this young man?

Because of his true feelings, Aigron couldn't help being infected by him.

He nodded movedly, "I will always keep your loyalty in mind."

"So, Your Majesty, please think carefully. You need to get closer to the French people and let them know that you are not an Austrian prince far away in the sky, but a real Frenchman, a flamboyant and magnificent French king. , you will be the same as the previous kings, let people talk about every anecdote about you..."

"How?" Aegron asked subconsciously.

Hehe... It seems that this young His Majesty is not so unshakable...

Edgar chuckled inwardly, he knew it was time for him to see each other.

"Agnes is very suitable for you. She is the pride of our country and is loved and respected by everyone... If you can have some anecdotes with her, the people will be both envious and appreciative, right? A slight smile finally appeared on his always serious face, "Similarly, if you get her heart, you can also get the approval of a large group of people in an instant. After all, you have proved with your actual actions that you will never Enemy against the French aristocracy..."

Aigron's eyes widened. He didn't expect Edgar to gossip about a lot, and finally turned the topic back here.

"Edgar, why do you want me to be close to Agnes so persistently? Don't forget that she is your wife and sister. Don't you feel ashamed?"

"Of course I don't feel good about treating Agnes like this, but for the sake of the nation, for the sake of the empire... it is my duty to sacrifice my conscience." Edgar was also prepared for this question, so he immediately answered without shame , "Your Majesty, I am always thinking of you—no matter from the practical considerations or personal considerations, Agnes is worthy of your best candidate, her family background, her beauty, and her Wai Ming, everything can provide you with real benefits, and isn't she a pleasure to be with? I think if it can be realized, everyone will love to talk about the little things between you and her- hey, The French people don't know much about moral teaching, a hundred sermons in a church can't compare to this, and their superficial eyes can only see the stupid things in the bed curtain!"

This rhetoric made Aigron's face extremely strange, both annoyed and a little bit uncontrollable.

Whether it makes sense or not, Edgar's words sound reasonable, but whether he obeys them is another matter.

He is definitely not an idealist or a moral paranoid, and he will do it if necessary, no matter how unreasonable it is.

It's just... Teresa is still thinking about herself in the rear, and the rescuers she invited are also by her side. Is it really okay to do this by yourself?

His doubts were quickly observed by the keen Edgar.

"Your Majesty, these words of mine are just suggestions, not that you do it right away... To be honest, with Agnes' temper, if you act rashly before her heart is moved, then she won't care about your status, and I'm afraid she will directly treat you Let’s do it... It’s too ugly to spread it.”

Seeing that he had coaxed the young man onto the road, Edgar continued to push behind him attentively, "I'm afraid I can't be your advisor in other matters, but I'm more than enough to be your teacher in this matter ——With me by your side, you don’t have to do much, and I will help you. Besides, even if everything fails, it will be of great help to you just to be friends with her. A silly child like Agnes is a Genjin, if she decides to work for you, she will stay with you to the end..."

Aegron believed this too.

He lowered his head slightly and considered for a moment, then finally made a decision.

"As I said before, I have more important things to do now, and we don't want to mention any nonsense, but I also admit that your words are partly true, Edgar, and I will make those objections Our most favorable decision does not require you to worry for me..."

Although his words sounded ambiguous, they were meaningful enough to Edgar.

"Then wish Your Majesty all the best." He replied with a smile on his face. "I want to stay by your side and witness your heroic deeds. Even a person like Agnes might admire you—"

"Edgar, you are really a smart person, but it's a pity...you are too unprogressive." Aegron couldn't help shaking his head when he said this, "Everyone has his own ambitions, and I don't want to force you Do what you like to have fun with, that's your freedom...but, if you want, you can make your name clearer in the history books."

"My grandparents have left a clear enough name, so don't let this hard work fall on my generation... I am not that material, Your Majesty. If my children and grandchildren are willing to bear it, then I I was even more relieved." Edgar shrugged freely, "Fame and fortune don't bring me much happiness, but I would rather let myself go and record those thrilling beauties with a brush."

After a pause, he added, "Of course, I owe my father too much in my life, so within the scope of my ability, I want to honor my father. For this reason, I am willing to do anything—even I'm also very happy with any inhuman things."

When he said these words, his attitude was extremely serious, and perhaps this was also the truest confession in his life.

Why doesn't the pressure his father put on him make him distressed...