I don’t know when the salute appeared in the open space outside Topkapi Palace, lined up in a line waiting to be fired at any time.
The officer in charge of directing the salute first glanced at the salute, and then looked behind him at the gate of Topkapi Palace.
After a while, a general also wearing military uniform walked out of Topkapi Palace. He came to his salute commander with a serious face and said to him: "I am here on the orders of His Majesty the Great Sultan to pay homage to you.
You convey His Majesty the Sultan’s order, please light the salute immediately!”
"Yes!" the officer nodded and replied, then strode to the salute and gave the order: "Everyone is in position, ready!"
The artilleryman who heard the officer's order quickly stuffed the special shells into the barrel. After all the shells were loaded, the officer gave the order again: "Let go!"
The artillery fired the fuse, the roar of the salute sounded, and the salute shells flew out of the gun barrel and exploded in mid-air, forming one short but gorgeous scene after another.
The residents of Constantinople standing by the window raised their heads and looked at the fireworks blooming in the sky, and their faces also showed a happy mood.
There have been no fireworks in the Ottoman Empire for a long time. The last time was a few years ago, when Abdulmecid I ordered his soldiers to set off fireworks to celebrate after receiving the thanks from the Irish.
Of course, some people are happy about the appearance of fireworks, and naturally some people are angry about the appearance of fireworks.
And these angry people were the extremist imams of the Ottoman Empire.
With a combination of nationalism and scriptures in their minds, they interpreted this move of Abdel-Meguid I as Abdul-Meguid's attempt to please Jérôme Bonaparte by setting off fireworks.
They clamored that Allah would definitely punish Abdul Meguid, the "traitor".
However, Abdulmecid I, who was called a "traitor" by the extremist imam, was enjoying dinner with Jerome Bonaparte at the moment.
The two monarchs sat side by side, and around them were either Ottoman ministers or members of the French embassy.
Since Jérôme Bonaparte and Abdülmecid I had already confessed to each other before the dinner started, the two of them never spoke again during the entire banquet except for each of them saying the opening speech of the banquet.
Any other unnecessary words.
Since neither monarch spoke, no one spoke during the entire banquet. Everyone in the banquet quietly destroyed the food in front of them.
After the dinner, Jérôme Bonaparte declined the offer of Abdulmecid I to stay, and left Topkapi Palace in a carriage with Valewski, Klein and others.
Richard Metternich, who had been traveling together before, took a carriage alone to the Austrian Imperial Embassy.
…
Jérôme Bonaparte, who was sitting in the carriage, looked at the dark environment outside the carriage window, and then turned to look at Klein.
Constantine Klein, who was "targeted" by Jerome Bonaparte, curled his neck back slightly, and his eyes involuntarily avoided Jerome Bonaparte's sight.
"Your name is Constantin Klein, right!" Jerome Bonaparte's voice reached Klein's ears.
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Klein replied to Jerome Bonaparte in French.
"I heard Valewski say that you are a rare talent! I am a little curious, what are your abilities?" Jerome Bonaparte asked lightly.
Klein, who upheld the humble wisdom of the East, immediately shook his head and complimented Jérôme Bonaparte: "Your Majesty, actually I don't have much wisdom! Everything I have comes from you and Ambassador Valewski.
, if it weren’t for your help, now I would be nothing more than a gangster on the streets of Constantinople!”
"Klein!" Jerome Bonaparte's face revealed an interesting smile, and he said slowly: "Excessive humility will be considered arrogance, and it will make you lose opportunities! Let me ask you again,
What exactly was your job under Valewski?
"Your Majesty, the jobs I hold include..." Klein told Jérôme Bonaparte. Under Valewski, in addition to serving as secretary of his own job, he was also responsible for liaising with the Syrian Province (currently the Ottoman Empire)
Territory, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, and Kuwait were all classified as part of the Syrian Province of the Ottoman Empire) careerists, providing them with the help they can. In addition to weapons and ammunition, this help also includes food.
"Walewski, is what he said true?" Jérôme Bonaparte turned to ask Walewski.
"Your Majesty, what Secretary Klein said is completely true!" Walewski hurriedly responded to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Klein!"
Jerome Bonaparte's expression was unusually serious, and Klein knew that the real test had just begun.
"You are indeed a rare talent! I would like to ask you some opinions about Syria and the Holy Land. I wonder if you can answer it for me!" Jerome Massage Bar asked Klein.
"This is my honor, Your Majesty!" Klein nodded and responded to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Do you think the empire can take over the province of Syria in the near future?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Klein the first question.
"Your Majesty, this may be difficult!" Klein responded carefully to Jerome Bonaparte: "The province of Syria is different from Egypt and Tunisia. The Ottoman Empire's control over them is second only to Constantinople.
.
Although the interior of the Syrian province is still divided among tribes, the vast majority of them still remain loyal to the Sudan. And our army is limited to the vicinity of the Holy Land, and there is only one regiment!"
"You mean that the empire must station a large number of troops in the Holy Land to separate the province of Syria from the land of the Ottoman Empire?" Jerome Bonaparte continued to follow.
Klein continued to shake his head and replied to Jérôme Bonaparte: "Your Majesty, breaking the Syrian Province out of the control of the Ottoman Empire is definitely not something that can be accomplished overnight! The careerists in the Syrian Province today are simply not like Mohammed.
Like Ali, he completely eliminated the power of the Ottoman Empire..."
Klein told Jerome Bonaparte that what the French Empire should do most now is to infiltrate steadily and provoke conflicts between tribes, especially between two large tribes. In this way, the already barely united tribes can be united.
The tribe has completely become enemies of life and death.
As long as the pasha responsible for managing the province of Syria is a mediocre person, the conflicts among the various tribes in the province will inevitably become deeper and deeper.
Until a bloody massacre broke out between the two tribes.
The Ottoman Empire will inevitably intervene by then. If the Ottoman Empire itself is an efficient government, then the vendettas between tribes can be easily resolved.
However, the Ottoman Empire was an inefficient and corrupt government. More importantly, they could not focus all their attention on the Syrian province. The Balkans were also a focus of attention.
An empire that is inefficient and unable to exert its efforts in one place will inevitably use weak mediation methods.
At that time, the tribes will focus their resentment on the Ottoman Empire, and their desire for independence will become even stronger.
"What if the Ottoman Empire is unwilling to intervene?" Jérôme Bonaparte asked rhetorically.
"If the Ottoman Empire is unwilling to intervene, we can spread rumors everywhere and send some people loyal to the empire to attack two hostile tribes respectively..." Klein responded to Jerome Bonaparte: "Your Majesty, the whole
The province of Syria is a large powder keg artificially pinched together by the Ottoman Empire. It only takes a little spark to ignite the entire powder keg!"
"That's right!" Jerome Bonaparte was very satisfied with Klein's answer, and then said to Klein: "But don't forget, the purpose of the empire is not to destroy for the sake of destruction! It is easy to destroy something,
But it’s very difficult to build it again!”
"I understand, Your Majesty!" Klein seemed to understand Jerome Bonaparte and nodded.
Jerome Bonaparte saw that Klein did not know enough about this issue, and he decided to find a "mentor" for Klein.
With this purpose in mind, Jérôme Bonaparte immediately asked Valewski what his different views were.
"Your Majesty, as you just said, construction is more difficult than destruction. Klein's strategy may indeed make the Syrian Province independent from the soil of the Ottoman Empire, but this may lead to the destruction of our interests in the Syrian Province.
So I think there should be a certain amount of moderation in provoking conflicts! Don't let this fire burn on ourselves!" Walewski replied to Jérôme Bonaparte in a neutral manner.
"It was my fault!" Klein suddenly realized, and he quickly apologized to Jerome Bonaparte.
"This is normal! When I was your age, I was not as good as you!" Jerome Bonaparte responded with a smile, and then continued to ask: "There is one point you just said, and I agree! Now
The Syrian province is the product of the Ottomans forcibly kneading it together. If one day we take over, then we will continue to completely divide them and strive for each ethnic group to be assigned a territory to help them build a country!"
Thanks to his previous colonial experience, Jérôme Bonaparte understood the "hidden dangers" brought about by merging colonies.
If the British Empire did not completely merge the entire British India into a whole, but was divided like India and Pakistan, then British India would most likely not break away from British control.
Of course, the reason why Britain merged with British India was also to make its rule more convenient.
However, they did not expect that one day in the future, the colonies would become independent one by one and suffer backlash.
