In the small room, this shrill laughter kept echoing, making people feel a little creepy.
Even Aigron couldn't help but feel a little scared.
However, he quickly regained his composure.
He did not ask the question immediately, but asked a question for the other party first.
"Before asking you, I think you must be very curious as to why I found you? Logically speaking, I should be ignorant of all this. Even if I ran out of Austria, I should not notice your existence.
.”
Samuel Russo did not answer, but looked at the young man with a dead expression, but his heart was naturally full of curiosity.
At that time, although Napoleon relied on people like them to plunder wealth everywhere to support his army, he also knew that once these things were exposed, they would affect his reputation and ruin his political ambitions, so he
Strict confidentiality measures have been adopted to keep everything confidential, not allowing others to interfere in the matter, and will never even mention their existence in public documents.
In other words, as long as His Majesty the Emperor is gone, no one will notice them.
After the destruction of the empire, everything became more convenient. All the administrative agencies of the empire changed owners, and the heirs of the empire were also brought to Austria. Everything was at ease, and nothing could restrain them anymore.
So, they did just that.
They have not been implicated in any way for so many years, but can live happily everywhere with the divided property, which further proves their judgment.
He originally thought that this wealthy life could last until he died of old age, but he did not expect that after more than ten years, all hopes would come to an abrupt end.
He knew that he could never escape death, but he wanted to die with some understanding.
Aigron saw what the other party was thinking, and he didn't stop talking, but continued.
"You are indeed hiding very deep. I have almost never noticed your existence, let alone asked you for money. However, you have forgotten that you are dependent on the empire for survival after all. What you do,
Also relying on the empire's protection, you can't hide it from all the empire's top officials, especially the governor in Italy..."
"Prince Eugene!" The middle-aged man understood, and then let out a painful sigh, "He has obviously passed away!"
"Yes, he passed away, but he did not take away the secrets he knew." Aigron sneered, "Before he died, he left me a document written by himself, recording your existence, and that
I knew then that there were still people in this land who owed me a large debt. Unfortunately, sir, you fell at the last step and I will never forgive you."
The middle-aged man closed his eyes slightly, and for a moment it seemed as if he was dead. However, the blood streaks constantly spilling from the corners of his mouth and rolling up and down his throat as he kept swallowing, proved that he would continue to live and endure the pain.
This is the effect that Aiglon wants to have. He moved out Prince Eugene in order to finally attack the opponent's remaining psychological defense line, allowing him to face the doomsday that he had brought on himself in despair, and also to let him die...
Aiglon was silent for a moment, allowing the other party time to digest the mental shock, and then he leisurely asked him his first question.
"Where is your leader, Baron Narosh, now? And in what capacity does he show off to the public?"
"Killed by us in 1815." Samuel Russo replied weakly without blinking an eyelid.
Then, as if he had given up on himself, he simply endured the pain and spoke to Aigron in one breath. "Since 1799, we have been doing this job for the emperor. We are active everywhere in Italy.
Searching for the ancestral properties of the wealthy nobles, sometimes robbing, sometimes stealing, and even digging graves, we did everything we could. We were quite successful and continued to seize a large amount of property from this poor place, but our
My hands are also stained with blood debt... Let me tell you, there are dozens of famous paintings that have been sent to Paris through my hands, and there are even works by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael! I know you
I have no interest in knowing how we robbed, but King of Rome, the blood on our hands is the blood on the hands of you, father and son, and you cannot escape... All the blood debts are caused by you!"
Perhaps because of his excitement, he coughed violently, and then vomited out a large amount of blood foam, so he paused to relieve the pain in his mouth.
Then, he spoke again, "We worked like this in silence for more than ten years. Gradually, I got tired. I wanted to retire, take a sum of money and leave, and live in the sun from now on. And among us.
I was not the only one who thought this way. We tested each other carefully, and then we reached a consensus. So we went to the guy Narosh to submit the application results, and he scolded us! He told us that since we have already
Once you do this job, you will never have the freedom to quit. Unless someone above orders us to leave, we must stay and work under him and serve the empire.
So, we all understood that we had absolutely no chance to withdraw freely... because we had done too many bad things, and even more because we knew too much. His Majesty the Emperor's reputation cannot be tarnished because of us, we must always
Under the control of the empire, even if we can retire one day in the future, I am afraid that we will live under surveillance for the rest of our lives, and may even be directly silenced. This fear makes us more united, but none of us dare to raise similar questions again.
Request, we are just waiting silently, waiting for the day when we can escape alive..."
Then, he smiled, and because of the twitching of the corners of his mouth, his smile became a little distorted, "You are very lucky, but of course it is very unfortunate for you. Starting from 1812, the emperor's life passed the peak and began to have bad luck.
The repeated defeats made his empire crumbling. He began to ignore us, and we were no longer so afraid of the empire's blade, so we began to look for opportunities to escape. Finally in 1814, Napoleon abdicated and was
We were exiled to Elba, and the empire was destroyed! You may not believe it, but when we received this news, many of us shed tears, because it meant that our lifelong work was in vain and meaningless!
But while we are crying, we are also rejoicing, because nothing can stop us from escaping...
So this time we went to Baron Narosh again. We thought he would have no reason to contradict us this time, right? We advised him that since we had lost our allegiance, we might as well just go our own way and forget it.
The remaining belongings then dispersed and never interacted with each other again. In order to reassure him, we also swore together that we would never reveal any secrets to outsiders. We meant it sincerely, because it would not do us any good. We
I just want to live the life of a rich person in the second half of my life.”
"So he didn't listen to your advice?" Aigron asked.
"He didn't listen." The middle-aged man replied in a hissing voice. "He told us that everything was only temporary. Although His Majesty the Emperor was exiled, he did not lose his ambition, nor did he lose his prestige in the hearts of the people. As long as it lasts a little longer,
After a while, he will make a comeback! And when he returns to France, he will definitely need our funds urgently, so we can't break up.
We heard that we were furious. Over the years, we have served the empire conscientiously. Although we have never received any commendation, our achievements are comparable to that of a general. As a result, even now, we still cannot get rid of it, and we have to continue to wait for him to come back.
How could there be such a truth in the world on that day? Those marshals and generals took the large rewards and titles he gave them, betrayed him without any guilt, and continued to enjoy high officials and generous salaries in front of the Bourbon master; and what about us?
?We have always turned over the spoils we got, and we have never dared to slack off or default! In the past ten years, we have contributed more than 90% of the harvest to the empire. At the last moment, we took the rest
Is it unreasonable for 10% of the people to break up and leave? We are much cleaner than those adults, right?"
As if he still wasn't relieved, he stared at Aigron again, and then asked again, "Is there anything unreasonable!?"
"Under the circumstances at that time, if you honestly explain the situation to me, I wouldn't mind paying you a severance package." Aigron replied coldly, "But you disbanded yourself without permission and even killed people.
Kill your boss... This is an unforgivable act of rebellion, so you have to bear the punishment today."
"The empire no longer existed at that time, who did we rebel against?" the middle-aged man asked in a hissing voice, "The emperor has abdicated, you are in Austria, and you are still an ignorant child, who should we be loyal to? Besides, just,
Even soldiers can retire, why can't we leave? Do we have to die for him?"
"Why?" Aigron seemed to have heard some very funny question, "There are so many whys in the world. Now that you have stood there, you no longer belong to yourself. When you killed people and set fires, did you do anything for the victims?
Have you ever considered why? You keep saying that you are an accomplice, so every time you swing a knife, someone pushes your hand to swing it down? No, that is what you did yourself, don't make any excuses!
Without you, Napoleon would be alone. Could he conquer enemy countries single-handedly? It was thousands of you who pushed Napoleon to the throne, and then surrounded him, swarming towards each country with greedy eyes.
Go, tear open a bloody path, and then suck up all the sweet juice inside! If his hands are stained with blood, then the same is true for you. You shout long live the emperor, relying on his protection, wantonly in this area
He kills people and sets fires on the land, but in the end he feels that he has no way out. It's ridiculous! It was you who pushed him to that position. After you do this, you have to bear all the consequences. He can't collect your debt.
, of course I am here...your souls had already belonged to him back then, and you will never be able to escape!"
Then, Aiglon was too lazy to argue with the other party, "So, you killed Baron Narosh at this time?"
Perhaps because of being snatched away by Aigron, the middle-aged man's originally excited spirit instantly dissipated, and he weakly shook his head.
"No... even at this time, although we were extremely dissatisfied, we did not dare to take action because he has always been very prestigious in our hearts for so many years. Moreover, none of us are sure what other people will think. We are afraid
If we act erratically, we will become the target of public criticism. Therefore, the matter dragged on. We temporarily stopped our actions, and then tried to establish contact with Elba Island to see what we should do next.
Not long after, one day Baron Narosh told us that there was news from Elba Island, asking us to take all the remaining things to that island because he was planning a big operation... Well, although we didn't
We knew the details, but not long after, we all understood that after he abdicated, he did not give up and wanted to gamble again, and as a result, tens of thousands of lives were wasted for no reason..."
Then, he sneered again, "At this time, we can no longer bear it, because at this time none of us have confidence in the empire, and we also know that we can no longer expect to get anything from Napoleon, so this is
The remaining wealth is our last guarantee for the rest of our lives, but that bastard Narosh still has to work hard for him. Even if he wants to work hard for himself, he still wants us to spend the rest of our lives! At this time, even the most obedient person
The person who spoke was already desperate, so we finally stopped hesitating and decided to take action. When he collected his belongings and prepared to transport them away, we worked together to kill him and several of his die-hard men, and then we ourselves
If we divide these belongings equally, everything is as simple as that."
Then, he sneered again, "A few months later, Napoleon did run back to France. We were terrified, fearing that he would succeed... As a result, fate seemed so wonderful. He was finished, just like that again! In my opinion,
It seems that this is God's will. He brought devastation to the earth, and then he withdrew. When he withdrew, he did not let the territory of France increase by half, and vomited it all out! But we completed our mission, we
We have left a precious treasure for France! Hahahaha, there is no medal or reward, but the Louvre will always remember our achievements! Hahahaha..."
Amid the maniacal laughter, Aigron had no interest in arguing about this, because it was exactly the case.
It is impossible to estimate exactly how much property and art treasures France plundered from Italy during the Revolution, but the Louvre and other luxurious mansions built by generals were filled with treasures from this place, and these treasures were brought to
After France, there was no hope of returning the property to its original owner.
By the way, none of the large amounts of money and cultural relics that Napoleon's army looted from Spain were returned.
Although the Bourbon family hoped to erase all traces of the imperial era after the Restoration, they were still happy to accept the spoils of the empire.
Of course, to be fair, if Aigron ascends to the throne one day, he has no interest in returning it.