While the Austrian court was quietly making preparations for Sophie's resurgence, Aiglon, who was far away in Paris, was also quietly executing his own plan.
After the grand funeral of Emperor Napoleon, he stayed in Paris for a few more days, commemorating the late emperor with representatives from all walks of life, and then returned to the Palace of Fontainebleau.
Soon after, his cousin Prince Charles also quietly came to Fontainebleau to have an audience.
As soon as he saw his smart and capable cousin, Aigron showed a friendly smile on his face. He walked up to him and gently patted him on the shoulder.
"Thank you, my cousin, for healing our family's deepest wounds."
It was Prince Charles who received the order from Aiglon not long ago. As a representative of the royal family, he took a French navy warship and followed a British warship to St. Helena Island to receive the emperor's remains.
Not only was Aigron full of praise for the successful completion of his mission, but even the outside world also praised the prince's mission.
When Aiglon returned to seize power, Prince Charles also immediately followed in his footsteps and set foot on French soil. Then he used his identity as a prince to participate in public activities everywhere and worked hard to create a society of "good kings" for himself.
image.
He is indeed very good at making social connections. He treats people kindly and generously without losing the dignity that a prince should have. He can get along very harmoniously with everyone from nobles and officials to poor people, so he can easily win the prize.
Won the favor of many people.
After the mission of "returning the emperor's remains" was successfully completed, in public opinion, he seemed to have become the most capable prince among the "clan" of Aigron's peers. Some even claimed that he was more powerful than Tallie.
Most of the ministers in Prince Lang's cabinet are capable - of course, this kind of public opinion must also have elements of his own secret fueling.
Aigron was not surprised at all by his cousin's performance.
Because history has proven that his cousin was indeed an outstanding national leader. His tragic end in 1870 could not conceal his role in defeating Russia and Austria in the Crimean War and the Franco-Austrian War.
The glorious victories of the great powers cannot obscure the achievements of the booming industrialization of the Second French Empire during his reign.
For such a person, "raising hopes" or forming cliques is just a basic skill, so it would be strange that he doesn't do it.
Because he was familiar with his "power", Aigron had always admired but also been a little afraid of his cousin.
He has always been unwilling to let his cousin participate in his core affairs, and has alienated him intentionally or unintentionally.
Of course, the prince also felt this sense of rejection, but he did not give up on himself, but tried every means to bring the two people closer. Not only did he build a good relationship with the people around Aigron, he even indirectly appealed to Aigron through his mother, hoping to
To contribute more to the family.
It just so happens that now, as his rule becomes more and more stable, Aigron is gradually preparing to change his attitude towards his cousin and other clan members.
Aigron knew that now that he was so young and his son was very young, the direct lineage of the royal family was very weak. If he rejected the side branches of the family at this time, wouldn't he really become a loner?
Although the cousins are all ambitious and not economical, at least for now, everyone has the same interests, and he is not afraid that they will not work hard. He always needs family members to help him control the empire.
Therefore, after some careful thinking, Aigron began to change his strategy and began to use clan relatives "conditionally". Prince Charlie, who was recognized as the most capable among the cousins and the most praised by the outside world, became the third
one.
As for how to use him, Aigron already has a good idea.
After the cordial and brief greetings between the cousins, Aigron quickly got to the point.
"My cousin, I read the report you wrote, and I have to say that I am very satisfied with your opinion. It seems that you really put your heart into it..."
"Really?" Faced with Aiglon's sudden compliment, Prince Charlie was surprised and delighted, "Your Majesty, it would be great if I could satisfy you!"
While going to honor the remains of the late emperor, Aigron also gave his cousin another task, which was to try his best to contact the British during this trip, secretly observe their navy and the naval bases along the way, and learn from them French
The Navy can learn from experience and improve.
The prince indeed fulfilled this task seriously. He used his status as a prince to make friends with the naval officers on the British warships, had fun drinking with them, chatted and laughed with them, and visited the British warships several times.
The British did not keep it a secret from him and allowed him to visit - anyway, from the British point of view, this did not matter at all, and Britain's maritime supremacy was unshakable.
After returning home, while participating in the funeral activities, the prince also condensed his carefully written diaries and reports into several memos and presented them to Aiglon.
After Aigron carefully read the other party's report, he specifically called his cousin in front of him.
"In your memorandum, apart from the details observed along the way, I am very interested in your idea of building a future navy. My cousin, do you really think that we can develop a navy more powerful than the British in the short term?"
A good fleet? That sounds a little too good to be true."
"Your Majesty, if it were under the original conditions, then this must be a boring delusion. It is impossible for us to create a fleet more powerful than the British in the short term. But now, with the advancement of technology, the situation is greatly different.
It's different." After receiving Aigron's praise, the prince was flattered. He didn't want to waste this good luck, so he seized the opportunity to talk in front of Aigron. "As long as we invest resources and leave it to capable people to take care of it,
Management, I think we definitely have a chance to be on par with the British—"
Since modern times, with Britain's foreign victories one after another and the destruction of the Spanish, Dutch and French fleets one after another, "Britain rules the seas" is not only a lyric, but also an unshakable objective fact.
By this point in 1830, Britain's naval superiority had almost reached an unassailable level.
This is not only that they have the "stock" advantage of the fleet, but they also have the absolute advantage of the "potential" and "increment" of shipbuilding.
Large warships require extremely high-quality wood, especially oak that is over 100 years old. Nelson's flagship Victory was made from thousands of oak trees that are 100 to 120 years old. After being harvested, these oak trees must be kept in a dry and ventilated environment.
It needs to be left for more than ten years before it can be used to build warships.
Therefore, at that time, "a century-old navy" was really not an exaggeration.
In the fight against each other in modern times, various countries have frantically expanded their navies, and European shipbuilding technology has also advanced by leaps and bounds. However, precisely because of hundreds of years of competing for hegemony, European countries have found that all their best oak forests have been cut down.
If you want to replant it, you will have to wait hundreds of years for it to mature.
However, the British rely on their huge overseas colonies and have huge oak forests as reserves in Canada. In other words, its shipbuilding potential is far higher than that of all other European powers.
This hopeless gap is determined by mathematics and objective laws and seems insurmountable.
The French navy in the Napoleonic era faced such a desperate gap.
On the one hand, due to the impact of the Great Revolution, a large number of aristocratic officers within the French Navy fled or were expelled, and the original combat effectiveness of the Navy greatly declined; on the other hand, the loss of colonies and domestic chaos meant that the Navy could not get enough
Due to the limited supply of materials, warships built in a hurry (even some were temporarily built), their combat performance was naturally greatly reduced.
Various disadvantages were added up, and in the end, the French navy could only face the epic defeat of Trafalgar.
After the fall of the empire, due to the damage to its national power caused by the war that lasted for many years, France no longer had the ambition to compete with Britain at sea, and the same was true for other great powers.
However, with the advancement of technology, the foundation of the seemingly indestructible Royal Navy seemed to be shaken slightly. People of insight from various countries gradually saw a window of opportunity to break the monopoly of the British Navy.
If the navy is one step ahead of Britain when it enters the "steam power era", it will be possible to use the surging power of steam engines to build warships that don't have to worry about the wind direction at all and even use steel as the outer shell, thus erasing the British warship advantage in one fell swoop.
According to another alternative term, it is "overtaking on a curve".
As a member of the "people of insight", Aigron's cousin is an enthusiastic advocate of this idea.
After careful observation, he believed that although the British were indeed too powerful to match, their previous glorious victories also gave rise to pride, complacency and extreme conservatism within them. Both the army and the navy had been complacent and refused to innovate over the years.
Technical and tactical phenomena.
So, this is an opportunity to get a head start.
Aigron listened carefully to his cousin's comments and didn't say a word.
He knew that his cousin was right.
He also knew that in history, Emperor Napoleon III was also an emperor who was enthusiastic about naval construction. He built a huge steam fleet, and his number of cutting-edge warships even caught up with the British.
And such a cousin can be used by him right now.
"I understand, my cousin... I think your suggestion is very reasonable -" After listening, Aigron nodded lightly, and then asked another question, "So, I want to ask
Are you willing to devote yourself to the empire's naval construction?"
Huh? Is there such a good thing?
The prince was stunned for a moment, how could he not be willing? He was so willing.
Only by doing things can you gain power, of course he knows this.
He would rather be a hardworking servant than an idle prince waiting to die.
"I am willing... Your Majesty!" He immediately agreed loudly without any consideration. "But, in what capacity do you want me to participate?"
"You have no qualifications now and it's difficult to convince the public. I can't hand over the navy to you in a hurry." Aigron had already thought about it, so he continued confidently, "I decided to let you enter the Navy Department as a prince first.
, responsible for supervising the construction of military ports and warships. You can take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with the navy's generals and specific technical details - when the time is right in a few years, and you are convinced enough, I will ask the Prime Minister to appoint you as the Minister of the Navy.
……how do you feel?"
Putting his talented and ambitious cousin into the navy was indeed the conclusion that Aigron came to after weighing the two.
By letting his cousin sit idle all this time, he will inevitably be seen by outsiders as treating his family members harshly, and also wasting one of the "top talents of the era". However, by placing the navy in a relatively independent position far away from the core of Paris politics, his ambitions can also be suppressed.
Restricted within a certain range.
After all, Paris and the Palace of Fontainebleau are far inland, so there is no need to worry about the Marines storming in one day.
Appointing his cousin as the Minister of the Navy not only reflects his benevolent attitude in reusing his clan members, but also avoids wasting his talents that have been proven by history, and does not worry about him interfering in politics or even threatening the royal family. It is indeed true.
The best of both worlds.
For the prince, this was a windfall. He never thought that he could get such a big piece of cake.
Being able to jump from a fringe figure to the core of the government and become one of the future leaders of the navy, what more could he ask for?
"Your Majesty! Thank you for your trust in me! I promise you that I will do my best to serve you and the empire... I will devote all my talents and all my energy to the navy. I will
The most powerful fleet in the world is dedicated to you!"
"I'm not that arrogant...My cousin, I just want to remind you something -"
Aiglon suddenly interrupted his cousin's wild thoughts with a serious tone.
"A powerful navy is a necessity for the empire. Whether it is to develop foreign trade or conquer colonies, we need the navy to protect us - but, my cousin, never forget that the mainland is our family
We can survive even if we are completely defeated at sea, but once we are crushed by a powerful country on land, we will no longer have a place to stay." Aigron solemnly responded to his cousin, "The emperor lost.
If you lose the Battle of Trafalgar, you can still stay on the throne even though the price is heavy, but if you lose Leipzig and Waterloo, you will be doomed... and the same goes for us."
Aiglon's reminder made the prince, who was originally in high spirits, startled for a moment. In the end, he could only sigh and agreed with his cousin's judgment.
"Your Majesty, you are right. I completely agree. We can only consider the land first and then the sea."
This is not only a dilemma for France, but also a dilemma faced by all European powers.
After all, their lands are all on the mainland, and they are adjacent to powerful neighboring countries, which has created strong military pressure on each other. Moreover, the history of fighting each other for hundreds of years has made them dare not trust each other at all, and eventually they
This leads to an inevitable result - every country is desperately investing huge sums of money to maintain a huge standing army, and for this reason, they are not willing to hesitate to pile up debts.
At this point in time, France, a country with a population of 30 million, has a standing army of more than 300,000 people (even reaching 800,000 before World War I), accounting for nearly 1% of the total population, and they are well-equipped and well-trained
, this is already a very exaggerated situation in the agricultural era when social wealth is scarce and productivity is backward.
Not only the great powers, but even second-rate states with weak financial strength like Bavaria had a standing army of 70,000 to 80,000 people.
The larger the country's military, the greater the pressure its surrounding neighbors will feel, so they also need to expand their army. Then, the country will feel greater pressure and feel that its armaments are insufficient and continue to expand. This is a typical "arms race."
Because of this, it is impossible for the European powers to consciously control the size of the army to a very small range during peacetime and allocate most resources to the navy, like the United Kingdom.
As a smart man with a very clear mind, Prince Charlie certainly understands this truth. He knows that although his cousin is interested in the navy and is willing to invest resources, it is impossible to give him too much support because this is not a matter of life and death.
"s things.
"Your mission is to, under the current conditions, let me see a navy with strong morale and brand-new equipment as soon as possible. It does not have to be too large, but at least it can give us hope for the future... Do you understand?
?" Aiglon once again pointed it out to the other party. "If you think there will be a new type of warship that will sweep all current warships into the garbage heap, then let me see it!"
"Understood...Your Majesty." The prince nodded heavily.