I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 408 Queen Marie and the "Dauphin"

In the small theater of the Petit Trianon Palace, Joseph unbuttoned his bulky costume, pointed to the actors reciting their lines on the stage, and said to Talleyrand:

"Sorry, please speak louder. It's too noisy here. I can't hear you clearly."

"Oh, okay, Your Highness." The Foreign Minister raised his voice hurriedly, "The British have two main demands.

"One is that our country will no longer provide any support to Mysore, including recalling Marquis Lafayette.

"Second, our country issued a statement to clarify that Britain had no involvement in the export of revolution by the Southern Netherlands."

"As expected." Joseph nodded, "What did we gain?"

Talleyrand seemed excited, took out his notes and read aloud:

"First, Britain must not provide support to North African countries, including Morocco, and publicly condemn the aggression of Algiers, Morocco and Tripoli against Tunisia.

"Second, Britain will recognize Tunisia, Tripoli and Annada in Algiers as the French sphere of influence."

"Annada?" Joseph looked at the archbishop with some surprise, which was not originally on his "list".

Talleyrand raised his chin with some pride:

"I used some Southern Netherlands spies in exchange, and the British quickly agreed. "

"You did a very good job. "Joseph nodded in praise. Anada Province is the only passage for Algiers to enter Tunisia - if the road in the southern desert is not counted - if it can be controlled here, the security of western Tunisia will be greatly improved.

In addition, from Tunisia, this is also a bridgehead to Algiers. The Algiers Guards provoked France twice, and this account must not be let go.

And the area of ​​this place is not small, almost the same as the French Montpellier Province, and there is a good port. Although there is some overlap with the Port of Bizerte, it is better than nothing. In the future, the freight of grain sold from Algiers to France can be reduced.

"This is what I should do." Talleyrand bowed and gestured, and then read his "war results", "Third, Carnatic will remain neutral forever, and Britain will not seek an alliance with it. ”

With the strength of Britain, the Indian princely states and their so-called alliance actually recognized Britain as their father. This means that Britain will have a gap in power in the southeast of India, leaving an opportunity for France to re-enter the Indian peninsula in the future. Pondicherry, the only foothold of France in India, is adjacent to Carnatic.

"Fourth, Britain will use its influence to urge Russia not to intervene in the Silesia war."

This was Joseph's request, and Wellesley agreed almost without thinking - Russia is currently at war with Sweden and has no intention of intervening in Silesia at all.

But Joseph knew that Catherine II had never stopped coveting Poland.

If she wanted to defeat Poland at the lowest cost, she had to win over Prussia and Austria to attack Poland at the same time, so she had to mediate the war between the two countries first.

And the mediation mode used by the Russians is - you two don't fight, otherwise I will send troops.

Talleyrand closed the notebook:

"Fifth, and the last one, Britain will reveal Oscar Paoli's whereabouts to us, but he must not die in Britain. ”

This is also Joseph's request. Oscar Paoli, the top leader of Corsican Restorationism, must be dealt with as soon as possible.

Not to mention that the Emperor has always regarded him as a spiritual mentor. If he wants the Emperor to truly return to France, he is the biggest obstacle. For the stability of the Corsica region, getting rid of him is also a top priority - those Restorationists fight for power in the Corsican Parliament under his command all day long, slander the French government everywhere, and incite Corsicans to resist national policies, making Corsica unable to develop normally.

Historically, it was only after the Emperor used force to deal with the Corsican Restorationists that the island gradually prospered. But that was after the Emperor became the first consul and ruled France - the butt determines the head. Joseph can't give it now If he had won the position of the first consul, he could only deal with Paulie.

But the British request was a bit troublesome - Paulie could not be killed in Britain.

This was understandable. Unlike the female swindler in the diamond necklace case, the British government handed her over to the French without hesitation. For a person with huge political influence like Paulie, the British must take into account the impact. If he died in Britain, who would dare to go to Britain to set up an exile government in the future? Being able to reveal his whereabouts was already a very big concession by the British.

Joseph couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Perhaps, for such a politician, social death can destroy him more than physical death...

As he was thinking, the foreman of the court troupe came over carefully and bowed to him:

"Your Highness, your Anne is here."

Seeing Joseph stunned for a moment, the foreman hurriedly explained:

"Oh, it's the heroine in your play."

Joseph smiled awkwardly. He had forgotten that he had renamed the heroine in "Breaking the Sky" as Anne Xuner Xiao.

"I know, I'll come right over. "

"Okay, Your Highness."

Talleyrand quickly told the prince some details about the treaty, then said goodbye and left.

Joseph came to the stage of the theater, and saw the troupe leader pushed aside the crowd and brought a little guy who was not even as tall as Joseph's chest to him, and said respectfully:

"Your Highness, this is Alexandra Pavlovna who plays Anne..."

Joseph looked at the chubby little face and the gentle big eyes in front of him, nodded and smiled:

"Hello, we meet again."

Alexandra immediately lifted her skirt and knelt to him: "It's nice to meet you, your Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"I'm glad to meet you too, Grand Duchess."

A shy smile flashed across Alexandra's mouth, and she took a step closer and whispered:

"Your Highness, your amusement park is simply the greatest invention in the world!"

"I'm glad you like it." Joseph hurriedly said politely, and then looked at the troupe leader suspiciously, "You mean, the Grand Duchess plays Anne?"

"Ah, yes, Your Highness." The latter said with a stiff face, "Grand Duchess Alexandra is the most suitable candidate for this role."

He secretly complained in his heart. This role was clearly arranged by Her Majesty the Queen herself, but Her Majesty ordered him not to tell others, so he could only take it on himself.

Well, this is the brilliant idea that Queen Marie came up with for her son's love - let all the nobles in the Palace of Versailles see with their own eyes that the Crown Prince and Alexandra perform as lovers on the stage!

In this more indirect way, the nobles gradually accepted the fact that they would have a Russian Crown Princess. Queen Marie thought she was a little genius for coming up with this idea.