His Excellency the Count of Grandet

After Christmas, Charles thanked the guests behind closed doors, announced to the public that he was slightly ill, and locked himself at home for nearly a month.

the reason is simple.

Victor has already started to prepare to overthrow the royalist faction, which is a job with no way out.Although he firmly believes that their side is bound to win and the wheel of history is running towards their goal, this does not mean that the process will be easy.

There is always blood and sacrifice, as the Revolution has proved.

If anything, what Victor helped Thiers do was the most dangerous.Because from a dictatorial point of view, they certainly don't want the people to know too much - the more they know, the more they think; whether it is good or bad, it is very detrimental to the status of the ruler.

Because this means that the ruler must either do everything for the best and take into account the interests of all (which is almost impossible), or face the threat of being overthrown.

All in all, it is much easier to manage a group of stupid people than a group of smart people, and no king wants to add extra workload to himself.

Religion has become a very useful tool at this time.From the perspective of the greatest malice, belief is undoubtedly a brainwashing process, a means of consolidating ruling power.

From this point of view, although the Earl of Artois's religious fanaticism seems narrow and full of prejudice, it is also a kind of self-knowledge-he knows that he cannot secure the throne of the king in a chaotic era like the Great Revolution , of course, can only hope that things return to the simple appearance before.

If everyone believed in the divine right of kings as he did, wouldn't there be nothing left?

It's a pity, the idea is plump, but the reality is skinny.

Charles thought so.

For him, things are simple.The Earl of Artois wanted to obtain far more benefits from him than normal, but he was not willing at all; there was nothing to talk about, they were not on the same path at all, and they would never get together.

Then there is only the opposite way to go, and there is no way back.Either they completely suppressed the royalists, or they were overthrown by the royalists.If it is the latter possibility, the lightest consequence is exile in a foreign country, and the heaviest consequence is of course death.

There is no doubt that at this time, we can only move forward and use our greatest efforts to extinguish the possibility of an ultra-conservative monarch coming to power——

Just kidding, if they don't make a move, they will be killed by others first!

As the lead, Victor has already laid out the sharpest, most front-end parts.This is just one part of a huge plan, and other links are in charge of each other.

For example, Mr. Van Leburg, he was worried about earning bloody money during the Great Revolution, so he has given up his hands in recent years.It is very common in this era to do bad things when you are young, and want to be a gentleman after earning enough money. He chooses to help Victor secretly, which has become more enlightened than similar people.

In addition to people in the business world, there are naturally supporters from the political world, or the aristocracy.The obvious ones, such as the king, have basically expressed their intention of leaning toward a constitutional monarchy; while those in the dark, such as the Duke of Orleans, who is good at hiding his thoughts, have loosened their attitude.

With such a two-pronged approach, what else could he, Charles, do to help?

The easiest and most important thing for him to do is definitely to make money.Funding is needed for everything, and even more so when it comes to politics.When the Grandet family was an ordinary middle class in Paris, there was basically no need to consider the issue of standing.But today is different, as they earn more money, they have to take on greater responsibilities, or greater risks, such as uprisings or wars.

To be honest, if there was a real fight, Charles firmly believed that they were in the upper hand.But no matter how you say it, bleeding from a knife is not a good thing, and it should be avoided as much as possible.

It is good to want peace, but this is more of a test of ability than fighting hard.

That's why Ciel closed the door and thought about countermeasures.He originally only wanted to make money, but now the situation is not waiting for others, it is impossible to be alone.That being the case, there is no choice but to pull out all the stops!

Guillaume, as his father, naturally saw this behavior of Charles.After knowing the news that Charles brought back, he only felt in a dilemma——

On the one hand, his inherent thinking told him that he should not offend powerful nobles like the Earl of Artois; —Let alone the younger brother of the king, not even the king!Then again, even the king didn't speak so loudly!

"What are you going to do?" Guillaume thought over and over again, and could only ask this question.He didn't realize it himself. A few years ago, he wanted to arrange the details of Charles' first trip to Saumur, but now he naturally asked Charles for his opinion and hoped that his son would come up with an idea that gave the best of both worlds.

Charles wanted to answer cold salad, but this kind of cold humor obviously didn't suit his father. "Nothing to do," he said, with a disapproving tone, "They don't intend to make it easy for us, why should we save face for them?"

Although this answer was expected, Guillaume still let out a short exclamation due to certain deep-rooted concepts.Immediately he calmed down, and said again: "This is not easy...have you figured out a solution?" Anyway, the aristocracy has a history of hundreds of years in France, and the royalists are definitely not something that can be flattened and rounded at will Bar?

"Don't worry, of course I won't charge up to one of the opponents by myself, hold a sword or pistol and ask for a one-on-one fair duel, betting the entire reputation of the Grandet family." Charles laughed. "I will find a group of people to go up with!"

But that reassurance doesn't seem to be enough.Because Guillaume's smile only lasted for a moment, and it disappeared before it took shape. "It still feels dangerous," he said, worried.

This is absolutely true.From ancient times to the present, political strife has been beyond the reach of ordinary people.Don't talk about profiting from it, it's considered a good mind to get out of it unscathed.

"You don't need to worry too much about it until it really happens." Charles continued. "If you think about it, this matter is the same as when we started-there is no way out, only to move forward!"

Guillaume heard that Charles was talking about the special supplier of wine for the army at the beginning.It is true that they racked their brains for the funds that could not be turned over at that time, but the worst result was just a few million francs in debt?If one fails this time, my life will not be guaranteed!

But this is too inauspicious.Even if he just thought about it, Guillaume wished that this idea had never occurred to him-just kidding!He is also in his sixties, and he can be regarded as the end of his life when he dies; but his most beloved son is only under 25, how can something happen!

"Otherwise, shall I go out and do it?" He finally made such a suggestion.Although it's not 100% insurance, if the failure is liquidated, the chances of Charles surviving will be higher...

"Things really haven't reached this level yet." Charles pulled his face down and emphasized "really not yet".

Because he had already heard the implication in Guillaume's words-Guillaume wanted to take the responsibility as much as possible on himself-but how was that possible?Just like he would rather throw gold into the water than give it to Count Artois, he can't do something like let others take the blame for him-not to mention that Guillaume is his father!

Guillaume wanted to say something more, but this time Charles resolutely got ahead of him. "You needn't say any more, father. I will not budge in this matter. And I will boldly assure you that I am not risking my life; shall I be willing to die of my own accord?"

Guillaume could not refute.

Before, he also thought that it was a great risk for Shire to take over a business that exceeded the capital turnover of the Grandet family, but Shire succeeded in the end; he also thought that Shire’s expansion of transactions in the United Kingdom and the United States was also a risk, But Shire succeeded; so, this time?

Although these are all risks in his eyes, he can't afford to lose this time!

"Sometimes, it's not what we want to avoid, so bad things won't happen." Charles could see that Guillaume was wavering, so he continued to add fuel to the fire, "With the current scale of our family's business, do you think we Are there other options?"

Guillaume retreated completely. "Okay," he said compromised, inevitably a little discouraged, "No matter what, you must remember what you said today!"

"Of course, father; I pledge my character and my pistol," said Charles. "If anyone wants to harm me, I'll kill him first, okay?"

Looking at his son's young but determined face, Guillaume smiled thoughtfully.

There was turmoil in Paris, but not in most of the provinces.For example, Saumur, Charles received a regular letter from Eugenie, saying that she had gone to Eperna again to thank him for letting Alfons take care of him; The news of the completion of the railway came, and it will be officially opened to traffic in a few days.

The opportunity is coming!

Charles formally submitted an application for an audience to the Tuileries Palace, and then successfully persuaded Louis XVIII to attend the opening ceremony of the Paris-Bordeaux railway—Bordeaux is a holy place for wine, and foreign ambassadors love to go there.

The most important person is settled, and the next step is to invite celebrities from all walks of life.Naturally, Charles would go to the door to invite someone of high status.But in fact, among these many people, his goal is only one——

Ferdinand or Duke of Orleans; or more accurately, the next king!