Make France Great Again-Chapter 760 - 751 Pre-Meeting Warm-Up—World Expo
April 11, 1855, 7:00 AM.
When the gentle sunlight streamed through the light blue curtains into the room and stretched across Augusta’s face, the completely naked Augusta lying on the bed slowly opened her sleepy eyes and pushed Jerome Bonaparte beside her.
Jerome Bonaparte, sleeping next to Empress Augusta, did not wake up at all. After being gently pushed twice by Augusta, he showed a frustrated expression on his face and then gently brushed Augusta’s arm aside with his hand.
After all, after a busy late night just the evening before, no one can be expected to get up in high spirits the next day.
It’s said that a cow can be exhausted, but a field will never be overworked.
Seeing that Jerome Bonaparte was still not awake, Augusta had no choice but to change clothes herself. After she had fully dressed in attire fit for the Century Exposition, she returned to Jerome Bonaparte’s side.
This time, Augusta directly grabbed the quilt covering Jerome Bonaparte with both hands and yanked it with force.
The white velvet quilt fell to the floor, and only then did Jerome Bonaparte wake up without the covering.
Newly awake, Jerome Bonaparte looked at Augusta with a dazed expression and then slowly asked, "Augusta, what time is it!"
Augusta fetched the pocket watch from Jerome Bonaparte’s pocket, glanced at the time, and replied, "Your Majesty, it’s already 7:40, leaving only an hour and twenty minutes until the opening ceremony!"
"What!" Upon hearing the time, Jerome Bonaparte was suddenly fully awake. He quickly sprung up from the bed and hurriedly searched for his clothes for the exhibition, complaining, "Why didn’t you wake me up earlier!"
Empress Augusta pouted and replied to Jerome Bonaparte with a slightly sarcastic tone, "I did try to wake someone up, but he didn’t want to get up! What else could I do? I couldn’t very well kick you!"
"My fault! My fault!" Acknowledging his wrongdoing, Jerome Bonaparte continuously apologized to Empress Augusta while asking about the location of his coat.
Empress Augusta looked at Jerome Bonaparte helplessly. She walked over to the nearby clothes rack and tossed Lev’s Formal Suit hanging there to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Thank you!" Jerome Bonaparte quickly put on Lev’s Formal Suit and then, taking Empress Augusta by the arm, left the bedroom.
Walking through the hallway, guided by servants, they quickly reached the dining room.
After a simple breakfast, Jerome Bonaparte and Empress Augusta stood in the Tuileries Palace Hall around 8:30.
"Mokar, is it time to leave?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Mokar.
"Your Majesty, everything is ready, we can depart at any moment!" Mokar respectfully replied to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Good! Let’s go!" Jerome Bonaparte immediately gave the command to depart.
Mokar led Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta to a splendid carriage and then opened the door.
Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta entered the carriage one after the other, and once the door was completely shut, Jerome Bonaparte drew the curtains, blocking the outside world from seeing inside.
"Let’s go!" Mokar shouted, and the carriage slowly started moving.
As the carriage traveled through the Tuileries Palace Garden, the Dragoon Regiment awaiting in the garden, under the command of Major Jerome Paterson, impeccably guarded Jerome Bonaparte from all sides, leaving no opportunity for any would-be assassins.
The carriage carrying Jerome Bonaparte traveled westward along the Seine River, soon reaching Saint-Cloud in the Near Paris area, the place where Jerome Bonaparte and Fuld had chosen as the site of the Century Exposition.
At 8:53, the carriage slowly stopped about 100 meters away from the grand palace, in front of which lay a "sea" of people.
"Your Majesties, we have arrived!" The coachman sitting at the driver’s seat shouted to Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta inside the carriage.
The door slowly opened, and Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta stepped off the carriage.
"The emperor has arrived!"
"The emperor has arrived!"
The rear row of tourists, upon seeing Jerome Bonaparte, shouted loudly, and the sound quickly passed from the back to the front.
Tourists from around the world, standing outside the Century Exposition Palace, looked back; they too wanted to catch a glimpse of Jerome Bonaparte.
"Hello, everyone!" Jerome Bonaparte waved a hand at the gathered visitors and said.
The "mood group" planted among the crowd quickly shouted "Long live Bonaparte, long live the Empire!" after seeing this gesture.
Under the guidance of the mood group, everyone began chanting the slogan "Long live Bonaparte, long live the Empire!"
This sound, like a surging wave, resounded outside the palace of the Century Exposition and penetrated the palace’s walls into the interior.
In the exhibition area, Eugène Schneider, upon hearing the shouting from outside, instinctively leaned towards Bashirio, the head of the French exhibition group beside him, and whispered, "Mr. Bashirio, His Majesty has arrived!"
"I heard it!" Bashirio nodded, then instinctively glanced at the exhibits. These were all the items that their Northern Industrial Group could showcase (aluminum products, purple dresses, Bordeaux wine, saxophone, converter steelmaking technology, Mao Qi’s rifle not involved in the exhibition). He believed that with these, they should be able to bring glory to the Emperor.
Then he inquired of Eugène Schneider: "Mr. Schneider, can you now defeat the steam hammer in Krupp’s hands?"
"Mr. Bashirio, please rest assured!" Schneider proudly responded to Bashirio, "The steam hammer in Alfred Krupp’s hands can’t compare to what we have, and our Schneider Company is not just exhibiting steam hammers this time!
This time I will surely let everyone know that Schneider Company is a more excellent company than Krupp!"
"Mr. Schneider, I am very much looking forward to it!!" Bashirio replied to Eugène Schneider,
...
On the other hand, amidst the cheers of numerous tourists, Jerome Bonaparte and Empress Augusta slowly passed through the "true pedestrian passage" formed by soldiers and police, arriving at the viewing platform to the right of the main entrance of the Century Exposition.
Watching the imperial ministers and foreign envoys lined up under the viewing platform, Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta each shook hands with them.
While shaking hands with Baron Haussman, Jerome Bonaparte patted Baron Haussman on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work!"
Baron Haussman humbly replied to Jerome Bonaparte, "This is what I should do!"
After Jerome Bonaparte finished shaking hands with everyone, he especially brought Fuad and Cavour in front of him and told them that they too would have to give a speech shortly.
Fuad and Cavour both showed expressions of surprise but nodded to indicate their understanding.
Under the spotlight, Jerome Bonaparte and Empress Augusta took the stage.
"I am honored to represent France in attending this opening ceremony of the Century Exposition... Although this exposition is hosted by France, it does not belong solely to France; it is an exposition for the entire world... The significance of this exposition is to showcase diversity to the world..." Jerome Bonaparte spoke eloquently about the existence of the World Exposition and then gradually steered the topic to why he decided to open in advance.
He told the tourists present that his purpose for opening early was to let the world know the preciousness of peace (purely self-praising).
After all, with the fires of Crimea just extinguished, the world was in need of peace. He hoped to use this Century Exposition to dissipate the lingering smoke of Crimea. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"I hope this war will be the last in all of Europe. Let us join hands in defending peace! Guided by Enlightenment thought and the brilliance of reason, we should not slaughter each other like beasts. We should learn from the United States of America and strive to construct a new European idea. We who live in Europe should be a community, not isolated individuals."
After the speech, Jerome Bonaparte bowed to everyone present as usual.
Immediately, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience, and then Jerome Bonaparte directed the topic to Fuad and Cavour, inviting them to step forward and say a few words.
Therefore, Fuad and Cavour each gave opening remarks for the Paris Exposition.
After their speeches, Jerome Bonaparte nodded to Baron Haussman offstage, who ordered his men to open the doors to the World Exposition.
The crowd surged into the Century Exposition, while Jerome Bonaparte and Empress Augusta left under the escort of soldiers.
Having had enough of crowded tourist attractions in his past life, Jerome Bonaparte was unwilling to tour in such a congested environment.
Sitting in the carriage, Jerome Bonaparte began silently calculating the profit and loss of the Century Exposition. After careful calculations, Jerome Bonaparte suddenly realized that this Century Exposition might face a fate of financial loss.
After all, each ticket was priced at only 2 francs, while France had spent nearly ten million francs on the exposition preparations.
Approximately 5 million visitors were needed to break even, and the exposition was only 180–200 days long, equivalent to needing at least 25,000 visitors per day.
Such a number was not even achieved by the previous New York exposition; only Albert’s 1851 World Exposition reached that number.
Who could make the entire France love free admissions, with the 2-franc price already at their limit?
