"Then we should leave it to the parliament and the people to judge for themselves."
Prince Talleyrand's words were clear enough for anyone present to understand, but on the other hand, they confused everyone present.
It would be understandable if a staunch republican or revolutionary said such words, but... this is Talleyrand, a conspirator who has participated in almost all major political changes in the past few decades.
To say something like this so confidently? It’s simply unbelievable.
Obviously, he will only support the so-called "public opinion" when he is sure that the result will be beneficial to him.
The Duke of Orleans wanted to laugh, but he could not laugh.
He was not a stupid person. Although Talleyrand did not say it clearly, he could clearly feel from Talleyrand's attitude that the other party did not support him - otherwise, there would be no need to talk about such a bunch of things.
Did Talleyrand really become a republican, believing that only the people themselves can determine the future of the country? I would not believe it even if I killed him.
So there is only one reason for the other party to say this - he has fallen to the Bonaparte family and that hateful kid.
A wave of anger suddenly surged into his heart.
Why? Why did he encounter so much trouble when he reached the last step and was blocked at every turn? Why? Between a kid and himself, this old fox actually favored a kid more?
This anger soon broke through his reason, so he didn't bother to be angry with Prince Talleyrand anymore. He directly slammed the table. "Then just tell me how much that brat gave you."
money?!"
With this loud noise and his loud questioning, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became extremely tense.
However, the Duke's question did not arouse doubts among others. After all, everyone present could clearly see that Talleyrand was playing tricks - and by playing tricks at this time, he was supporting the Bonaparte family in disguise.
Everyone knows that Talleyrand regarded wealth as his life. When he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, he tried every means to make money for himself, even at the risk of betraying national interests. It is not surprising that he now turned around and took money from the Bonaparte family.
Even though he was treated so coldly, Talleyrand did not lose his usual composure. On the contrary, he looked at the Duke leisurely and said, "Sir, there is no doubt that you are in control of Paris at this time, but even so, you should not treat him with this attitude.
When you treat me, don't forget that I worked with your father back then." Qiang
"If you make a wise decision, then of course I will respect you, just like Barras, Napoleon, and Louis XVIII before me." The Duke of Orleans responded tit-for-tat, "But if you are not wise and instead stand on your side,
My opposite, so what’s the point of me respecting you? There are two ways I treat my friends and I treat my enemies, and you are free to choose one."
Faced with such a straightforward threat, Talleyrand remained calm and asked the Duke of Orleans, "I just hope that the new political system will be authorized by the people. Isn't this good? If you are confident that you can get the people's authorization,
Support, then why do you have to worry?"
This rhetorical question made the Duke of Orleans very angry.
It was precisely because he was not confident of getting the support of the people that he was so disgusted with Talleyrand's proposal.
Originally, he had a bad reputation because of his father. The Revolutionary Party felt that the family was opportunists and betrayed the revolution; the Royalists scolded his father for voting in favor of Louis XVI's death sentence.
Moreover, he opened fire on the king's rebellion not long ago, and even tore off the last mask. He had already severely offended the groups that supported the king - that is, the royalist nobles, priests and farmers loyal to the king. If the people of the country could only
If he chooses between "complete chaos" and "supporting the Duke of Orleans", then he is still sure to get the so-called popular mandate.
But in the current situation, how can he compete with the Bonaparte family with clean hands? That kid was not stained with blood, and after arriving in France, he wisely stayed outside Paris, so all this chaos and killing him
They can all claim that they were not involved——
Moreover, according to the information obtained by the Duke of Orleans, he did not even carry out liquidation on the way to Paris from abroad. Those who had had great enmity with the Bonaparte family did not suffer severe revenge. Even the captured Marr
Marshal Meng is still alive and well.
So, in this case, how could I compete with him for support?
Talleyrand must have known this better than anyone else, so by proposing such a motion, he was tantamount to saying "I support the Bonaparte family."
At this point in time, engaging in the so-called "popular mandate" will definitely be beneficial to the Bonaparte family.
But this old cunning man spoke so grandly and did not say directly who I supported. He just used all kinds of beautiful words to package his evil intentions and blocked his mouth with things that he could not refute.
In his rage, he almost decided to fall out with this old guy, but his final rationality allowed him to hold back his anger for the time being, and finally threatened the other person.
"Prince Talleyrand, you are a smart man. We all know this very well. Over the years, you have become a superb performing artist, and you have not let the audience boo for decades... But even so, I advise you not to go too far.
I'm arrogant, because I'm not stupid, I know you are playing tricks! The so-called 'universal mandate' is just a trick on your part to hide the fact that you are supporting the Bonaparte family in this way!" Qiang
"If you insist on thinking so, then I have no choice." Talleyrand spread his hands to express his innocence, "However, for the future of the country and for the sake of a long-lasting and stable political system, I firmly believe that
, this turmoil must be ended with a popular mandate. The French, not a few people in Paris, should decide who should lead this country into a new era!"
After hearing these words, the Duke of Orleans couldn't help but stroke his forehead gently. It was obvious that Talleyrand had completely taken sides.
Now that it comes to this, there is no point in having any verbal disputes anymore. The old guy opposite is now his enemy. Either he can be completely eliminated by himself, or he can be eliminated by him. There is no middle option.
Well, since you rejected the olive branch I extended, from now on, I will face you with swords and guns!
However, at this moment, he couldn't help but be a little curious - Talleyrand chose to be his enemy and spoke so categorically, wasn't he afraid that he would fall out?
What gave him the confidence? He didn't really think that holding an edict from the deposed king was of any use, right?
Not to mention the edict of deposing the king, even if he deposed the king himself, hadn’t he used force to force him to step down?
Talleyrand was by no means an idiot. Since he had such courage, he must have some confidence to ensure that he could not kill him. So what confidence did he have?
Did he get some other guarantee of force, so he dared to ensure that he would not attack him?
Precisely because of such concerns, the Duke of Orleans has always been undecided and simply used force to get rid of this annoying old thing.
Perhaps because he had seen through the Duke's mind, Talleyrand simply revealed his trump card to the other party.
"Perhaps I should remind you, Your Excellency. I am not the only one who believes that the future of the country depends on the approval of the whole people. In fact, many people agree with this. We cannot go back to the situation where we were forced to change the country because of a riot.
It’s time for government!
Marshal Sirte very much agrees with my initiative, and he is willing to join me in being loyal to the new political system that is recognized by the whole people, and he believes that anyone who opposes this initiative can be regarded as an enemy who is disrupting the country."
Talleyrand deliberately spoke slowly, on the one hand to reflect his calm persona, and on the other hand because he was afraid that the Duke would be confused for a moment and lose his life in vain, so he needed to make everything clear.
"Marshal Soult...!" Upon hearing this name, the Duke of Orleans took a breath of cold air.
With the fall of His Majesty the King, the marshals loyal to the Bourbon dynasty naturally lost most of their influence, as evidenced by the capture of Marmont and the flight of Bourbon; correspondingly, those marshals who were outside the dynasty
As the tide rose, all boats rose, and among these marshals, the one who naturally enjoyed the highest voice was Marshal Soult.
At this moment when military morale is fluctuating, if the marshal stands up and raises his voice, he will surely win the followers of many people.
No wonder Talleyrand was so confident. It turned out that he even enlisted Marshal Soult as his ally... At this time, the Duke of Orleans finally understood the source of his opponent's "confidence".
After understanding the other party's confidence, he did retreat as Prince Talleyrand expected.
At this time, he already had a huge headache when facing the enemy of the Bonaparte family. He really didn't want to completely offend Soult just to fight with an old man, and then let the originally ambiguous army decide to side with that kid - if
If this is the result, then it is impossible for him to win.
"You don't have to be upset that you can't kill me. None of the previous revolutionary leaders and kings did it. It's no shame that you didn't." Looking at the angry and helpless expression of the Duke of Orleans, Talleyrand said
Comforting the other person softly - but in this comfort, there is really some elation that cannot be concealed.
In this case, his comfort will only make the Duke more angry. However, at this moment, he is facing too many unexpected situations. He cannot act on impulse and can only try his best to find a solution in the increasingly unfavorable situation.
path of.
"Are you really not thinking about it anymore?" After a long time, he looked at the other party with eyes that were almost pleading, "If you hope to benefit from it, I can also give you more..."
The pleading look in his eyes was completely different from the threatening one just now. However, Talleyrand was not intimidated by his coercive and tempting look before, and his begging now will not have any impact on him.
It's too late, it's too late.
"You are overconfident, sir. At the beginning, I did not feel how much respect you had for me. Your years of careful planning have made you overconfident. You have not considered that there are people who are as qualified as you to compete for the throne...
…So you treated me with a contemptuous attitude. You thought that I could only ask for help from you and rely on your great mercy to get some scraps. From the moment you adopted this attitude, we can no longer trust each other.
Because I am not sure at all that any promise you made to me will be fully fulfilled - in this case, of course I have to consider other options."
Talleyrand's words, like a judge, deeply hurt the Duke of Orleans.
For a moment, he was both embarrassed and annoyed. It was difficult for him to accept that after more than ten years of rising, his destiny suddenly took a turn for the worse at the last moment. After making a bad move due to an accident, he was restrained at every step, so that the tailwind turned into a bad move.
There is a big headwind, and I don’t know how to solve it.
Could it be that the long-cherished wishes of generations are just like a mirror in the mirror?
The annoyance and pain gave him another kind of anger that refused to admit defeat.
At least he hasn't lost yet. Even if Talleyrand and others are not on his side, he still hopes that he can ascend to the throne - after paying such a high price for this, this has become an obsession that he cannot give up.
.
"Then let's give it a try... I believe that God will take care of me eventually." Finally, he raised his pale face and looked at Talleyrand proudly, "Prince, don't worry, I won't be stupid now.
I will not do anything to endanger your life, but if I finally get my wish and sit on the throne, then there will no longer be a place for you in this country!"
The Duke's fighting spirit made Prince Talleyrand slightly moved.
But in his opinion, there is nothing to worry about.
Now he is sure that his vision can be turned into reality. No matter how hard the Duke struggles, it is just from a political death sentence to a reprieve, and it is impossible to change the outcome.
Over the years, too many people have tried to defeat their own destiny, and in the end they have only created more victims.
However, Talleyrand had no interest in persuading a stubborn person. After all, it was impossible to succeed. He just nodded slightly and then made a sign of seeing off guests. "You have your own freedom of action. You can go and talk to your
A fight of fate, sir. But there is one thing I want to remind you, you still need to clarify your innocence..."
"Clarify your innocence?" The Duke of Orleans was a little confused.
"I just received a message that the King of Rome seemed to believe that you had sent an assassin to kill him before, so he is very angry now and is already interrogating the assassin severely. I am also very interested in this incident." Tallie.
Lang smiled and explained to him, "If this is not what you did, then I hope you can defend yourself and clarify; if this is what you did, then you will pay the price for it."
Because he was unprepared, the Duke of Orleans was shocked again.
But at last he had some wit. He immediately widened his eyes and looked extremely angry, "Slander! This is a vicious and shameless slander! I have never done anything like this. This kid can't even think of using it like this."
Way to confuse the public! I will make him pay the price!"
After finishing speaking, he gave Talleyrand a fierce look, and then walked away with his entourage.