After a moment of contemplation, Jerome Bonaparte had a mature idea come to mind. He cleared his throat and instructed de Luys.

"I hope your Ministry of Foreign Affairs can issue an announcement on behalf of the French Navy!"

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs? On behalf of the French Navy?"

De Luys thought repeatedly about Jerome Bonaparte’s arrangement, showing a slightly astonished expression on his face. He was having trouble keeping up with the Emperor’s thinking at this moment.

"Exactly!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded in reply to de Luys, "To test whether the combat power of the French Navy is sufficient to handle emergencies, I have decided to conduct a large-scale military exercise near Corsica Island.

All naval forces deployed in the Mediterranean region must participate in this exercise. Since this exercise involves live ammunition, the seas surrounding Corsica Island will be designated as a prohibited sea area during the exercise!

Any ships entering the prohibited sea area will become targets of the French Navy. Should any be found approaching, the French Navy has the right to sink them!"

After speaking, Jerome Bonaparte stood up and found the map of the Mediterranean Seas from a confidential drawer, and took a pencil from the pen holder.

Then, in front of de Luys, he drew circles around Corsica Island on the sea map.

The area that Jerome Bonaparte outlined with his pencil on the sea map made de Luys realize that the Emperor seemed to want to use the military exercise as a warning to the Sardinian Kingdom.

Because the Emperor’s military exercise area not only included Corsica and Sardinia but extended all the way to the coast of the Apennine Peninsula.

Should the French Navy begin military exercises within this range, any ships wishing to travel from Sardinia to Naples would have no choice but to take a detour.

"Your Majesty, the scope of the prohibited sea area is indeed too large!" De Luys replied to Jerome Bonaparte with a trace of unease, "This might lead to protests from some countries!"

"If protests worked, then why bother with battleships and cannons?" Jerome Bonaparte replied forcefully to de Luys, "If the French Empire gives up because of certain countries’ dissatisfaction, then I would indeed be a very incompetent Emperor!"

De Luys remained silent. He knew the Emperor’s mind was made up, and persuasion would be of no use.

Just as de Luys was concerned that this might lead to conflict between Britain and France, Jerome Bonaparte changed the subject and continued, "Of course, your Ministry of Foreign Affairs only needs to inform those countries with a stake that the French Empire is establishing a prohibited sea area!

And tell them that if any countries feel their rights are infringed upon, they can send representatives to negotiate with us!

The French Empire is not unreasonable. We are very willing to have a fair exchange with them!"

Now de Luys finally understood Jerome Bonaparte’s true intention. He was not simply warning the Sardinian Kingdom or showcasing the French Navy’s might in the Mediterranean to Britain.

Instead, he was using the military exercise as a means to force the Sardinian Kingdom to confess its actions to the French Empire.

After all, nominally, the French Empire was still the "father" of the Sardinian Kingdom.

Faced with "the son" being in collusion with outsiders, the French, as "the father," had to teach "the son" a lesson.

"Your Majesty, isn’t this price too high?" De Luys whispered to Jerome Bonaparte.

"High?" Jerome Bonaparte countered, "I don’t think it’s high at all!"

Thereafter, de Luys proposed his own plan, "I believe we could simply disclose to the Sardinian Kingdom in private that we are aware of their actions, and demand an explanation for Cavour’s behavior!

This way, there would be no need for such large scale military exercises!"

"Minister de Luys!" Jerome Bonaparte responded nonchalantly to de Luys, "Forcing Sardinia to confess is just one goal of the military exercise; I have more than one purpose for choosing this timing to conduct military exercises!"

"Your Majesty, what else do you intend to do?" De Luys instinctively asked Jerome Bonaparte.

Jerome Bonaparte raised his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture, then said mysteriously, "That... is classified!

Minister de Luys, you just need to efficiently complete the tasks I have assigned to you!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" De Luys replied to Jerome Bonaparte.

Subsequently, Jerome Bonaparte and de Luys chatted for a little longer, and de Luys left Jerome Bonaparte’s study.

As de Luys left, Bashirio entered Jerome Bonaparte’s room again.

"Your Majesty!" Bashirio respectfully greeted Jerome Bonaparte.

"Mr. Bashirio, do you have anything else?" Jerome Bonaparte asked, recognizing that Bashirio entering at this time surely had something to convey.

"That’s it!" Bashirio began speaking to Jerome Bonaparte, "I just followed your order to invite Minister de Luys to the Tuileries Palace!"

"Hmm!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded in response.

"When I entered Minister de Luys’ office, I discovered that Minister de Luys was in a work exchange with Mr. Louis Decaz!

From de Luys’ protection of Mr. Louis Decaz, it seems that Mr. Decaz is quite a trusted subordinate of Minister de Luys!" Bashirio relayed the events at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Louis Decaz... Decaz..." Jerome Bonaparte repeatedly mumbled this name, seemingly recalling hearing it somewhere before, but couldn’t immediately remember where.

"Your Majesty!" Bashirio kindly reminded, "Mr. Louis Decaz is the nephew of Duke Eli Decaz!"

When Bashirio mentioned "Duke Eli Decaz", Jerome Bonaparte immediately thought of the Royalist Party during the coup.

At the same time, Jerome Bonaparte also recalled some important information he’d forgotten in the corner of his mind.

"So he’s Duke Eli Decaz’s nephew!" Jerome Bonaparte showed a look of sudden realization.

"Indeed!" Bashirio seemed a bit perplexed by Jerome Bonaparte’s response, cautiously asking, "Your Majesty, should we impose some surveillance on Louis Decaz?"

"Why should we surveil him?" Jerome Bonaparte questioned.

Bashirio was taken aback for a few seconds, unsure how to respond to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Your Majesty, his uncle is a key member of the Royalist Party, so Louis Decaz might be a potential Royalist himself!" Bashirio provided a relatively reasonable surveillance reason. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"A nephew is a nephew, and an uncle is an uncle! We cannot arbitrarily assume that if the uncle is a Royalist, the nephew must also be a Royalist!" Jerome Bonaparte immediately retorted to Bashirio, "As of now, Louis Decaz has not done anything to harm the French Empire!

On the contrary, he has been diligently working under Minister de Luys!

We cannot fault a distinguished individual who has been working earnestly for France!"

Bashirio hurriedly apologized to Jerome Bonaparte, explaining that he was merely concerned about Louis Decaz possibly doing something detrimental to the empire’s interests.

"Rest assured! I trust Mr. Decaz’s character!" Jerome Bonaparte confidently responded to Bashirio and then instructed him to go to the Ministry of the Navy to bring Minister Dico to him.

After all, such a major task as mobilizing the navy for military exercises couldn’t be approved with just Jerome Bonaparte’s decision; it required Dico’s military input.

Bashirio followed Jerome Bonaparte’s order and went to invite Dico, leaving Jerome Bonaparte alone in the room once again.

At that moment, Jerome Bonaparte was entirely preoccupied with Louis Decaz’s "past deeds."

Indeed, this Mr. Decaz was a renowned historical figure.

Historically, it was thanks to Decaz’s intellect that the Third Republic could quickly extricate itself from its isolated position in Europe.

During Louis Decaz’s tenure as Foreign Minister of the Third Republic, he single-handedly thwarted Bismarck’s attempt to instigate a second Franco-Prussian War, and sowed seeds of distrust among the Three Emperors’ Alliance.

In terms of ability, Louis Decaz was undoubtedly an excellent politician.

The only slight imperfection was that although Louis Decaz was not a staunch Royalist, he was not a member of the Bonaparte Faction either; he was an advocate of moderate Republicanism.

Of course, this minor flaw was inconsequential to Jerome Bonaparte; as long as Louis Decaz did not openly oppose his rule and sincerely worked for him, Jerome Bonaparte was more than willing to entrust him with significant responsibilities.

Nowadays, De Luys’s age was approaching his sixties.

In a few years, his energy would no longer be able to support the heavy diplomatic workload,

and by that time, Decaz would replace de Luys as the empire’s new Foreign Minister.

Decaz’s ability and his political stance would, to some extent, win favor for Jerome Bonaparte from the "center-left."

...

After a while, Minister Dico appeared before Jerome Bonaparte.

At that moment, Dico’s face was full of exhaustion, clearly showing signs of sleepless nights.

As soon as he sat down, he immediately asked Jerome Bonaparte what instructions he had.