Make France Great Again-Chapter 125: A New Conspiracy

Early morning of June 8, 1849.

An envelope from Rome "crossed the sea" into France, and then traveled by train via Marseille and Lyon to the Military Affairs Office of the Elysee Palace.

Receiving a letter from Rome early in the morning, Percy hurried to the bedroom door of Jerome Bonaparte. Now, hesitating for a moment at the door, Percy knocked on Jerome Bonaparte’s room.

As Percy’s knocking grew louder, Jerome Bonaparte in the bedroom finally opened his sleepy eyes and lazily inquired of Percy outside the door, "What’s the matter?"

"Your Majesty, there is a letter from Rome!" Percy said calmly outside the door.

"Rome?" Jerome Bonaparte muttered in a half-awake state, then quickly came to his senses. He lightly patted his cheeks, changed into the clothes he prepared the night before, opened the door, and eagerly extended his hand toward Percy, saying, "The letter!"

"Here it is, Your Majesty!" Percy respectfully handed over the letter from Rome to Jerome Bonaparte.

The unremarkable brown envelope had the conspicuous phrase "To the President" written in French, with the signature "Commander-in-Chief of the Roman Expeditionary Army, René de Saint-Jean Jérôme" on the bottom right corner.

Jerome Bonaparte quickly tore open the envelope, and the white stationery lay quietly inside. He pulled out the letter and placed the empty envelope on the walnut bedside table, then sat on the bed to read the contents of the stationery.

Unfolding the paper, Jerome Bonaparte was able to see the entire letter.

The contents of the letter were as follows:

"Dear Mr. President, under your wise decision-making and leadership! Our army strategically succeeded in completely capturing the city of Rome on the night of June 3.

During this battle, we annihilated more than 40,000 men of the Roman Republic (exaggerated), and captured over 5,000 stubborn resisters!

The members of the pseudo-government, led by Mazzini, have also been captured by our army. The only regret is that we did not capture the military commander of the pseudo-government, Garibaldi. This cunning fellow escaped our pursuit, bewildering us.

This battle is the best we’ve fought since the Empire, all thanks to..."

The following words were all a heap of sycophantic flattery, such as: "Without the President’s wise decisions, we couldn’t have defeated Rome!" "The army’s soldiers are devoted to serving Mr. President," and so on.

After reading the letter from beginning to end, Jerome Bonaparte refolded the letter and placed it on the bed. He could be certain this letter was definitely not personally written by General Reniau; it’s very likely Major Edgar Ney was ghostwriting on behalf of General Reniau.

However, Jerome Bonaparte was not opposed to this kind of flattery.

"Your Majesty, about Rome..." Percy cautiously inquired, standing beside Jerome Bonaparte.

"Hmm? Didn’t you read it?" Jerome Bonaparte looked at Percy, puzzled.

Percy shook his head and firmly replied, "This letter was written to you from Rome, how could I dare to overstep my bounds!"

"Then you have a look!" Jerome Bonaparte handed the letter on the bed to Percy.

Percy respectfully took the letter with both hands and began to quickly read it.

About two minutes later, Percy refolded the letter and placed it on the bedside, showing a joyful expression on his face, "Your Majesty, Rome has won!"

"That’s right! Rome has won!" Jerome Bonaparte exhaled a deep breath, nodded with a smile in response.

Reniau was personally appointed by me to go to Rome to "suppress the rebellion," so one could say Reniau represents the will and prestige of Jerome Bonaparte.

If Reniau made a mistake in Rome, it would inevitably lead to a loss of prestige for Jerome Bonaparte.

Especially in the ten days after May 17, Jerome Bonaparte often thought of the historical event where General Udino’s first attack ended in failure. He hoped that General Reniau could avoid failure and proceed directly to victory.

After receiving the letter, Jerome Bonaparte was relieved.

Next, he had to think about how to turn this war into his advantage.

"Percy!" Jerome Bonaparte commanded Percy, "You must quickly go to the residences of Prime Minister Audion Barrot and Minister Liulei to call them here!"

"Yes!" Percy replied and then turned to leave.

Before Percy could step out of the bedroom, Jerome Bonaparte’s voice resounded again from behind Percy, "Wait a minute!"

Percy turned back again, puzzled, and focused on Jerome Bonaparte.

"What do you think about setting up a telegraph line to Rome?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Percy, looking up.

"That would be more than excellent!" Percy immediately replied, "It could save a lot of time!"

"Not just Rome, the Near East also needs a telegraph line! So, bring the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce along! The work of setting up the telegraph has always been their responsibility in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce!" After giving all the instructions, Jerome Bonaparte waved his hand.

Percy turned and left Jerome Bonaparte’s bedroom.

Jerome Bonaparte got up, put the letter paper back into the envelope, and then put it into his pocket.

After washing up with the help of the butler and maid, he ate a "simple" breakfast worth 500 francs and then returned alone to the study to wait for the arrival of his "guests."

At 9:10 a.m., Percy returned to the Elysee Palace to inform Jerome Bonaparte about the situation of two ministers and a prime minister.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Audion Barrot and Minister Liu Eri will be here shortly! Minister Bifei is currently conducting an investigation in a nearby village of Paris and is expected to return in the afternoon!"

"It seems that Minister Bifei, the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, is quite competent!" Jerome Bonaparte half-jokingly remarked.

"Your Majesty, I once heard someone say that Minister Bifei owns large tracts of land in the Seine Province!" Percy responded to Jerome Bonaparte.

Goodness, he took advantage of his position to inspect his land!

Jerome Bonaparte couldn’t help but find it amusing; his ministers didn’t seem like proper bureaucrats at all but rather like shrewd merchants.

This is very much in line with capitalism! Right, I can...

"Has Minister Bifei engaged in any illegal land acquisition?" Jerome Bonaparte casually asked.

Percy remained silent for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, should I ask someone from the Police Department to investigate?"

"No need for now!" Jerome Bonaparte rejected Percy’s suggestion: "We need to first figure out Bifei’s attitude! If he’s unwilling to cooperate with us, then we execute the next plan."

"Understood!" Percy responded to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Mr. President!" Audion Barrot’s voice came from outside the door. Jerome Bonaparte signaled to Percy with his eyes, and Percy quickly moved away and sat on a sofa to the side.

"Come in!" Jerome Bonaparte responded to the door.

Audion Barrot entered the study, followed closely by Minister Liu Eri.

"Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Minister, please have a seat!" Jerome Bonaparte invited Barrot and Liulei to sit down.

Percy quickly stood up to give seats to Barrot and Liu Eri, then smiled and nodded as he left the study.

Jerome Bonaparte got up and approached Barrot and Liu Eri, saying to them, "I received a letter from Rome, and Generals Reniao and Major Edgar Ney have already led the army to occupy Rome!"

Audion Barrot and Liu Eri showed varying degrees of surprise; they hadn’t expected the Roman Republic to be so weak, defeated in less than half a month.

"All thanks to your leadership, Mr. President!" Liu Eri immediately flattered Jerome Bonaparte.

A hint of displeasure flashed in Audion Barrot’s eyes. It was clearly he who promoted him to this position, yet Liu Eri wasn’t grateful and was quick to switch allegiances.

Currently, still "cooperating happily" with Jerome Bonaparte, Barrot nodded, seemingly agreeing with Liu Eri’s words.

Jerome Bonaparte humbly waved his hand and said, "This is all due to the joint efforts of Mr. Prime Minister and my colleagues from the Order Party. I merely followed the trend!"

Jerome Bonaparte’s modest attitude satisfied Audion Barrot.

A president who is modest and does not overly interfere with the Cabinet’s operations is undoubtedly beloved by any power-hungry prime minister.

[PS: In Barrot’s view, the occasional whimsical interference with the military by Jerome Bonaparte hardly counts as interfering with the Cabinet’s operations! According to the Second Republic’s constitution, the Prime Minister does not have the power to command the military. To Barrot, the Ministry of War is a hidden department.]

"Mr. Barrot, what should we do next? Those guys in Parliament will definitely not ignore such big news! They might very well use this as a weapon against us, and that guy Lederer Roland can’t wait for us to make a mistake!" Jerome Bonaparte said with feigned concern.

"You needn’t worry!" Audion Barrot said confidently, clearly having already devised a strategy: "Those guys from the Mountain Party won’t be happy for long; when they attack us again, it will be the time to expel them from Parliament. General Changarnier is already prepared!"

Changarnier, again with Changarnier! Such a haunting spirit!

Jerome Bonaparte quietly cursed the aging Changarnier to meet God sooner.

Despite his curses, Jerome Bonaparte maintained a comforting smile on his face and said, "If General Changarnier is willing to take action, that’s all the better!"

"Our plan is..."

Audion Barrot discussed incessantly; however, Liu Eri, sitting beside Barrot, looked somewhat disgruntled. As the Minister of War and a member of the Order Party, he, like the President, had no knowledge of Barrot’s conspiracy.

Even General Changarnier, who was supposed to be a subordinate, showed no respect for him, his nominal superior. What does this position as Minister of War even mean?

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