Chapter 191 The Rose of Versailles

On the second floor of the Palace of Versailles, Joseph is planning what he will do in the next few days - there are many royal families and dignitaries from various countries coming to congratulate Louis XVI on his birthday this time. It is clearly a grand event of European politics and diplomacy, so we must seize it. Opportunities abound to create a favorable international political situation for France.

He just welcomed the Spanish Crown Prince Carlos Antonio this morning, who would later become Carlos IV. According to the schedule, the Crown Prince of Russia, the Crown Prince of Sardinia and the Prince of Poland will also arrive tomorrow.

Almost all European countries sent royal members or envoys. Countries with good relations with France naturally come to congratulate them, while countries with bad relations want to see if there are any opportunities for France after the disaster.

Joseph was thinking seriously when he heard the cheers of "Mrs. Garland" coming from the marble courtyard.

He looked at Emang with some confusion:

"May I ask why this Mrs. Garland is so popular?"

The attendant was also puzzled. Seeing this, the maid next to him came over and whispered a few words in his ear.

Eman nodded suddenly and said to Joseph:

"Your Highness, there is a singing and dancing competition being held outside, and Mrs. Garland is recognized as the most likely to win the championship. Ariel said that she once studied with Mr. Haydn."

"Haydn?"

"That's Mr. Franz Joseph Haydn."

Joseph inquired carefully and found out that this man was a very famous music master, especially that he had two very powerful students-Mozart and Beethoven.

If Mrs. Garland were Mozart's junior sister, she would be almost certain to win the championship.

Thinking of this, Joseph hurriedly asked Emang to go to the chamberlain to inquire about the peripheral betting situation of this song and dance competition. The King's Birthday Preparatory Committee has opened a "prize betting" for both competitions. Anyone can buy the winner. You can get double returns.

Not long after, Emang returned and reported:

"Your Highness, it seems that more than half of the people bought Mrs. Garland to win the championship."

Oops! Fixed odds should not be used! No wonder those nobles were so excited. Joseph couldn't help but rub his forehead. He was so careless. It seemed that the singing and dancing competition would probably lose money. I can only make a little money from sword fighting competitions, otherwise I won't even be able to cover the cost of the birthday celebration.

At this moment, a pretty figure wearing a pink and purple tutu with her hair in a bird-like bun knocked on the door and bowed to Joseph with a smile:

"Cousin, the sword fighting competition has begun. Please take me to watch the sword fighting."

Joseph smiled and said, "Aren't you going to watch the singing and dancing? I heard that Mrs. Garland is a very good singer."

Clementine pouted and said in a soft voice:

"I'm tired of seeing singing and dancing in the palace all day long. Sword fighting is so interesting. I want to see sword fighting."

The little girl usually stays with Queen Mary, but today the Queen has to do the judging, so she has no choice but to pester her cousin.

Joseph was so troubled by her that he lost his temper and had no choice but to comply with her wishes.

As soon as they left the main entrance of the Palace of Versailles, they saw Spanish Crown Prince Antonio, who looked very similar to Louis XVI, walking towards them.

Although Antonio is nearly forty years old, his expression has the purity and frankness of a young man.

He also saw Joseph, hurriedly stopped and performed a standard breast-stroking ceremony, and said a little shyly:

"Nice to meet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

The lady next to him, with a round face and yellow teeth, also picked up her skirt and bowed on her knees.

Joseph hurriedly returned the favor to the two of them. His eyes swept across the woman's face, and his mind immediately recalled some deeds about the Spanish Crown Princess.

Maria Luisa is a romantic person and wears countless environmentally friendly hats for her husband.

Including the servants and guards around her, Spanish officials, and even the French ambassador to Spain were all guests in her bed.

The most famous among them is Manuel de Godoy, who started as a bodyguard and was eventually promoted by her to the chief minister of Spain.

After Antonio succeeded to the throne, because he liked hunting and making machinery, the Spanish government was firmly controlled by Maria Luisa and her mistress Godoy. These two men were running the country indiscriminately, using all kinds of death-defying decrees to try to kill Spain.

In the end, they succeeded in exhausting Spain's national and military power, which directly led to the emperor deposing the Spanish Bourbon royal family.

Joseph looked behind Louisa, and sure enough there was a red-skinned guard following her with his head lowered.

In fact, civilians are only allowed to participate in the celebrations in the Palace of Versailles Square these days, and no guards are required in the area near the Palace of Versailles. Therefore, this person is most likely Godoy.

Clementini still acted like a social cow, stepped forward to salute the Spanish Crown Prince and his wife, and then warmly invited:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, my cousin and I are going to watch a sword fight. You should come too, it will definitely be very interesting!"

Antonio looked at his wife nervously, saw the latter nodded slightly, and then said to Joseph and the other:

"Thank you for the invitation, then let's go watch the sword competition."

Louisa smiled apologetically:

"Your Highness, I still want to go see singing and dancing, so you should go with the Crown Prince."

Joseph nodded quietly: "Follow your wishes."

Joseph and Louisa parted ways, which was actually in line with his expectations.

Although the current King Carlos III of Spain is a very capable monarch, his physical condition is already very bad. Joseph couldn't remember exactly what year he died, but it was probably soon.

After that, it was Antonio beside him who became King Carlos IV of Spain.

Since Spain and France come from the same Bourbon lineage, and Spain has many conflicts of interest with Britain in America, France and Spain can be said to be natural allies.

Especially now, Spain still has the afterglow of its former empire. It not only has a large number of colonies in the Americas and rich gold and silver income, but also maintains a powerful fleet - about 30% of the strength of the British Navy.

If France wants to develop, it must break away from the British naval blockade in the future, and uniting with the Spanish fleet is the best strategy. Historically, France did exactly this. The combat effectiveness of the French-Spanish combined fleet even equaled that of the British. Unfortunately, they met Nelson, the British genius fleet commander, and had bad luck. In the end, they were defeated in Trafal Defeated by the British in the Battle of Canada.

And in this life, Joseph will never let such a tragedy happen again.

So first of all, we must help Spain get rid of the scourge of Godoy, so that Spain can avoid detours, continue to strengthen its national strength, and thus provide more help to France.

Joseph glanced back and said to Antonio:

"That guard of yours is very energetic."

The latter seemed a little afraid of society and whispered:

"Oh, no, Your Highness, he is Louisa's bodyguard. His name is Godoy."

Sure enough, it was this guy. Joseph nodded and asked, "Is he an 'ordinary' guard?"

"He's pretty ordinary, I guess."

After saying that, there was a moment of silence.

Joseph shook his head secretly, thinking that it was really difficult to communicate with the community... He had to try to get acquainted with him, otherwise it would be difficult to help him.

After walking for a while, Joseph and others came to the open space between the Palace of Versailles and the Little Trianon.

This is where the sword competition takes place.

This place is much larger than the venue for singing and dancing competitions. There is even a temporary three-story auditorium built with wood around the ring, with seven or eight hundred seats.

At this time, the auditorium was full of people, and there were a large number of civilians watching from the outside. Fortunately, the arena is also very high, and the situation above can be seen from across the auditorium.

Two crown princes and a princess naturally have the best positions.

The three of them sat down in a temporary cubicle on the third floor on the west side. Two muscular young nobles stepped onto the ring, each picked up a sword with its tip wrapped in wood, and politely struck each other with the sword blade. The competition started at the referee's signal.

Both of them had obviously practiced, their steps were flexible, their swords were moving freely, and their moves were skillful. For a moment, the sword light flashed in the arena, and the figures flew around, making the fight extremely exciting.

Joseph watched with great interest, and was about to chat with Antonio about the sword show, but turned around to see him staring at the scoreboard that was as high as four people, with a gleam in his eyes.

A nobleman on the court made an accidental move and was hit by his opponent. Someone pulled hard under the scoreboard, and the flywheel above rotated, causing the huge wooden piece on the scoreboard to roll back, revealing the number 1 below - 1 :0.

Antonio said happily: "It is indeed automatic, I knew it!" As he said, he looked at Joseph, "Who designed this? It's so clever. It uses the flywheel to accumulate power and automatically changes the score! Otherwise, that person would still have to It’s only possible to climb on such a high wooden frame.”

Joseph touched his nose and said with a smile: "This is the masterpiece of His Majesty the King."

"He is so powerful." Antonio said, "I must go to see His Majesty."

Joseph suddenly remembered that the crown prince seemed to like machinery, but he had a lot in common with his father.

Now that we have found a breakthrough, it will be easier to handle later. Joseph then found some mechanical topics to talk about, from machine tools to steam engines, from carriage shock absorbers to automatic tractors - the most primitive trains.

After chatting for nearly an hour, the Spanish Crown Prince’s eyes were wide-eyed, he was dancing and excited, and he felt that it was too late to meet Joseph.

The Crown Prince of France is his lifelong confidant!

After the two of them got acquainted, Joseph tentatively asked:

"Antonio, don't you think there's something wrong with that Godoy?"

"Is there something wrong with him? Oh, it seems that the vision in his left eye is not very good." The Spanish Crown Prince was no longer so fearful at this time, waving his hands and saying, "Why mention him? Let's talk about the curved rod you just mentioned. How is the transmission achieved?”

Joseph couldn't help but smiled bitterly and shook his head. It seemed that this cousin really didn't notice that there was a little color on his head.

You have to try to remind him! Otherwise, it will not be so easy to get rid of Godoy once he begins to take power.

Joseph narrowed his eyes slightly, it seemed that he wanted to create some opportunities for the adulterer and adulteress first.

While he was thinking about it, the two people on the ring had already finished their competition and left. The palace official in charge of presiding over signaled the servants to clean up the "battlefield", and then said loudly:

"Next, the two warriors No. 631 and No. 112 will compete. They are welcome to play!"

For the sake of fairness, all matches are randomly drawn. Before the lottery is drawn, no one knows who the number corresponds to.

The two figures were about to walk up the curved stairs. At this moment, an official ran over and whispered something to the referee. The latter immediately stood up and announced:

"No. 631, you cannot compete! Please leave here."

"That's not fair!" Sorel's dissatisfied voice came from the side of the ring. She raised the registration voucher in her hand and said with wide eyes, "I have already registered, I can participate!"

"But you are a young lady." Seeing that the audience was already laughing, the referee immediately said more severely, "This is against the rules!"

"I think whoever has the best swordsmanship should stand in the ring." Sorel waved the swift sword in her hand and looked at her opponent, "Do you think so?"

She looked at the audience again and shouted: "They shouldn't drive the champion away!"

The young aristocratic boy was a little embarrassed, so he could only look away and remained silent.

The referee was a famous duke. He was a little angry at this time. He turned to the servant and said, "Have someone take her away!"

"Yes, sir."

Joseph frowned when he saw this, remembering that he was able to successfully obtain the British automatic loom, which also had a share of the credit of the middle school girl next to the ring.

So he stood up and signaled to the referee: "Duke Saint-Simon, maybe we can ignore her gender.

"A sharp blade doesn't care whether the person holding it is a man or a woman. As long as that person can let it stab his opponent, he is a good swordsman."

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!" Sorel used a man's posture, touched his chest with the hilt of his sword, raised his hat and saluted Joseph.

"But……"

Joseph then said: "Let her compete. I have seen her skills. She is very agile."

The Duke of Saint-Simon was not able to refute the crown prince's face. After hesitating for a moment, he finally turned around and sat back in his chair, pretending that he had not seen anything.

Sorel jumped up to the stands and bowed to Joseph: "Thank you again. But you did make the right decision, Your Highness, you retained the championship of the game."

She whispered again: "You can bet on me to win, and you are guaranteed to get the bonus."

When Joseph saw her looking at him confidently, he immediately thought of an ancient cartoon - "The Rose of Versailles". Is this middle-class beauty really like the heroine Oscar, whose swordsmanship is the best in France?

He motioned to the palace official not far away who was registering bets. When the latter came over respectfully, he raised his hand and made a five sign.

Upon seeing this, Sorel turned around and entered the ring with satisfaction.

The official in charge of placing the bet hesitated and said, "Your Highness, do you want to bet 500 livres on Miss Sorel to win?"

"What are you thinking about?" Joseph immediately shook his head, "It's 5 livres."

"Your Highness, I'm so sorry, the minimum is 10 livres."

"Oh," Joseph scratched his cheek, "then 10 livres."

Sorel walked up the curved steps to the ring, looked at Joseph's position, and whispered to himself:

"Your Highness, your bet of 500 livres is a bit small. But I will definitely let you get the bonus of 1,000 livres."