Make France Great Again

Just one and a half hours after Jerome Bonaparte and Valves boarded the train to Paris, Minister Dico and Toulon Mayor Jacob arrived at Jerome Bonaparte’s residence.

Led into the living room by the servants inside the residence, Dico and Jacob discovered that the living room was completely empty.

Looking at the empty living room, Jacob nervously said to the minister beside him, "Sir Dico, have we come too early? His Majesty and Minister Valves seem not to have gotten up yet!"

"That shouldn’t be the case!" Minister Dico furrowed his brows and mumbled softly, then turned to Jacob and replied, "Let’s just wait a while in the living room then!"

"Is this really okay?" Jacob still felt a bit uneasy.

"What are you afraid of!" Minister Dico patted Jacob on the shoulder to reassure him, "His Majesty has decided not to pursue the matter of the Maritime Transport Commission!"

"I..." Even though Minister Dico said so, Jacob still swallowed hard.

The Emperor said he wouldn’t hold Minister Dico accountable, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t hold them accountable.

"Rest assured!" Minister Dico again responded to Jacob, "Your return this time is to present the solution to His Majesty, he will be too pleased to blame you!"

"Hopefully!" Jacob forced a smile. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

To help Minister Dico’s subordinates at the Maritime Transport Commission clean up the "mess," the City Hall might have to bleed profusely this time.

There was no other way, especially after Minister Dico came to his home last night for a "friendly" negotiation.

This favor, he had to help.

Minister Dico and Mayor Jacob waited on the sofa for a long time until the clock struck exactly 9 o’clock, a servant appeared before Minister Dico and Mayor Jacob.

"Ministers, Mayor, please don’t wait any longer! His Majesty and the minister have already departed!" The servant bowed and reported to Minister Dico and Mayor Jacob.

"Departed!" Dico and Jacob looked at each other in astonishment, then asked in unison, "Where has His Majesty gone? Why didn’t he tell us?"

"His Majesty has already departed for Paris, and before he left, he instructed us not to tell anyone before 9 o’clock!" The servant continued to respond to Dico and Jacob.

"Minister, is His Majesty angry?" Jacob asked Minister Dico, flustered and without direction.

Now he was very scared, afraid that he might lose his just-won mayor’s position.

"Probably not!" Minister Dico was also a bit uncertain.

The way His Majesty Emperor Jerome Bonaparte thought was always so inscrutable.

"So... what should we do now?" Jacob asked Minister Dico once more.

"What else can we do!" Minister Dico replied with helplessness, "Let’s go!"

Minister Dico and Mayor Jacob left Jerome Bonaparte’s temporary residence.

On the other hand, Jerome Bonaparte, disguised as a couple, and Valves, disguised as a servant, were currently sitting on the train, having a pleasant conversation with the old man sitting opposite them.

"Young man, why must you squeeze into a third-class carriage?" The old man gazed at the young man across from him with his worldly-wise eyes (actually already in his 30s).

"Apart from not having money, there doesn’t seem to be any other reason!" Jerome Bonaparte shrugged with resignation and said.

"How can someone like you not have money!" The old man shook his head and said to Jerome Bonaparte, "Though I am old, my eyes aren’t failing!"

"Oh!" Jerome Bonaparte had an intrigued smile on his face, "You think I’m wealthy, old man?"

"No!" The old man shook his head again, replying earnestly to Jerome Bonaparte, "A typical nouveau riche wouldn’t possess your kind of demeanor!"

"What then?" Jerome Bonaparte curiously asked.

The old man scrutinized for a moment and then answered Jerome Bonaparte with an unsure tone, "You must be a noble, right?"

"You could say that!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded, "Unfortunately, the family has fallen, so I have to save whenever possible! And you, old man?"

"I’m just an ordinary old man!" The old man replied plainly.

"Ordinary old men don’t have your kind of knowledge!" Jerome Bonaparte countered.

"Knowledge?" The old man smiled sardonically, "It’s just youthful folly! It’s only useful as a topic of conversation, of no practical value!"

"Isn’t that the nature of knowledge!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded sympathetically, "If it cannot be sold to the royal family, it merely serves as material for boasting!"

"Sold to the royal family!" The old man paused for a few seconds, then laughed twice and nodded, "You’re quite right! If knowledge isn’t appreciated by a monarch, it’s of no damn use.

Migne, for instance, is just like that!"

"Migne?" Jerome Bonaparte paused for a few seconds, initially thinking of the inventor of the Minie rifle, before realizing it was the other Migne: "You mean François Auguste Marie Migne?"

"You actually know him?" The old man looked at Jerome Bonaparte with a face full of surprise.

"I’ve read a little of his famous work, ’History of the French Revolution’!" Jerome Bonaparte responded to the old man.

"What do you think of this book?" The old man asked Jerome Bonaparte.

"Very well!" Jerome Bonaparte praised, then half-jokingly said to the old man: "This book created a prime minister of the July Monarchy (referring to Adolphe Thiers, for whom the ’History of the French Revolution’ he co-authored with Migne served as a stepping stone into high society)."

"Indeed!" The old man also sighed, "A book has made a prime minister of the dynasty!"

"However, unfortunately, the prime minister wasn’t Migne himself, but Adolphe Thiers!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to the old man.

From Jerome Bonaparte’s words, the old man sensed his dissatisfaction with Adolphe Thiers, and curiously asked, "Why do you seem to dislike him?"

"I really don’t like opportunistic people like Thiers!" Admitted Jerome Bonaparte, who personally deposed Thiers.

"You don’t have to be the only one, how many people in the political sphere of the July Monarchy liked him back then? The Romantic School saw him as a traitor, the Speculation School (mainly Guizot) wanted to topple him, and even Philip the Equal’s son found it difficult to accept..." The old man’s face was filled with nostalgia.

"Old man, from what you say, you seem to have experienced those things yourself!" Jerome Bonaparte said with interest to the old man.

"It’s all in the past!" The old man replied to Jerome Bonaparte with a bitter smile and a shake of his head, "The once renowned political chameleon Thiers, in the end, became a cold corpse due to a momentary misstep.

Everyone loves power, yet everyone fears it!"

"Indeed! Every ambitious person is scheming to get closer to the center of power!" Jerome Bonaparte responded to the old man.

"From the beginning of the century to now, our country has gone through three dynasties and a brief republic! Who knows how much more hardship we have to endure!" The old man sighed and said to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Why, are you dissatisfied with the current times?" Jerome Bonaparte looked at the old man with curiosity?

"If you’re only referring to the times, then I can tell you that this is a progressive France poised to lead all of Europe!" The old man replied to Jerome Bonaparte.

Then, the old man continued: "If you want to ask my opinion about the one above, I suspect you’re trying to get me into trouble!"

"Surely not!" Jerome Bonaparte smiled awkwardly.

"Not?!" The old man snorted, "Do you know how many political prisoners have been arrested just recently?"

Jerome Bonaparte shook his head. Having been away from France for almost half a year, he couldn’t keep track of everything.

"In this period alone, over 500 people have been expelled!" The old man said to Jerome Bonaparte, "In this country, you can’t be critical of anything! Any criticism means..."

Before the old man could finish speaking, Valves chipped in: "Sir... Your Excellency, you should eat something!"

He was afraid that if the old man continued speaking, Jerome Bonaparte would indeed get into big trouble when he returned.

However, the old man before him seemed somewhat familiar.

"Vasily, I’m not hungry!" Jerome Bonaparte glared at Valves fiercely, then said to the old man, "Please continue!"

"Let’s just leave it at that!" The old man shook his head and replied to Jerome Bonaparte.

Subsequently, Jerome Bonaparte asked the old man’s opinion on the Crimean War.

The old man told Jerome Bonaparte that this war was one of the few highlights since the establishment of the Second Empire.

However, the accomplishments of the Second Empire wouldn’t be possible without the help of the rebel forces in St. Petersburg.

Otherwise, even if the Second Empire defeated its opponents in the Crimean Peninsula, the Russian Empire would not have chosen to surrender.

France would inevitably be drawn into a protracted war, and by then, the Parisians pressured by rising prices would force Jerome Bonaparte to negotiate with the Russian Empire.

"But in the end, it was a victory, wasn’t it?" Jerome Bonaparte replied to the old man, pretending to be relaxed.

"Victory?" The old man shook his head and replied to Jerome Bonaparte: "Our Emperor still has a long way to go before he can truly claim victory. He must absorb all the negative impacts brought by the war while the people are still immersed in the joy of victory. Otherwise, France will face not only widespread unemployment but also a reverse trend of small banknotes issued by the Bank of France.

If France’s credit system collapses, then no amount of victories will prevent the empire from becoming a mirage!

If I were a competitor of the empire, I would seize this opportunity to massively counterfeit small banknotes on the market, thereby disrupting the entire market.

Then the Bank of France would face the dilemma they encountered in 1848.

An upheaval would emerge!!"

At this point, the old man clearly sensed the dangerous aura emanating from the person sitting across from him.

Although this feeling was fleeting, the old man sharply caught it.

Young man, who exactly are you?