Chapter 191 The Rose of Versailles

On the second floor of the Palace of Versailles, Joseph was planning what he was going to do in the next few days. There were many royal families and politicians from various countries who came to celebrate Louis XVI's birthday. It was a grand event of European politics and diplomacy, so he had to seize the opportunity to maneuver and seek a favorable international political situation for France.

He had just welcomed the Spanish Crown Prince Carlos Antonio, who would later become Carlos IV, this morning. According to the schedule, the Russian Crown Prince, the Sardinian Crown Prince, the Polish Prince and others will also arrive tomorrow.

Almost all European countries sent royal family members or special envoys to come. Countries with good relations with France naturally came to congratulate, while those with bad relations wanted to see if France had any opportunities after the disaster.

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

He looked at Eman with some doubts:

"Excuse me, why is this Mrs. Garland so popular?"

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

Emand nodded suddenly and said to Joseph:

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

"Haydn?"

"That is Mr. Franz Joseph Haydn."

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

If Mrs. Garland was Mozart's junior sister, then winning the championship was almost a sure thing.

Thinking of this, Joseph hurriedly asked Emand to ask the inner court steward about the situation of the external betting of this singing and dancing competition-the King's Birthday Preparatory Committee opened a "prize guessing" for both competitions. Anyone can buy the ownership of the championship, and the winning can get double return.

Not long after, Emand returned and reported:

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

Oh no! Fixed odds should not be used! No wonder those nobles were so excited. Joseph couldn't help rubbing his forehead. He was so careless. It seemed that the singing and dancing competition would lose money. He could only make a little money from the sword fighting competition, otherwise he would not be able to cover the cost of the birthday celebration.

At this moment, a charming figure wearing a pink and purple puffy skirt and a bun combed into a flying bird knocked on the door and bowed to Joseph with a smile:

"Cousin, the sword fighting competition has started. Take me to see the sword fighting."

Joseph smiled and said, "Don't you want 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 watching singing and dancing in the palace all day long. Sword fighting is so interesting. I want to watch sword fighting."

The little girl usually follows Queen Mary, and today the queen is going to be a judge, so she can only come to pester her cousin.

Joseph was pestered by her and had no temper, so he had to follow her wishes.

As soon as the two of them left the main gate of the Palace of Versailles, they saw Antonio, the Spanish Crown Prince, who looked a bit like Louis XVI, coming towards them.

Although Antonio was nearly 40 years old, his expression was pure and straightforward like a young man.

He also saw Joseph, and hurriedly stopped and performed a standard chest-touching salute, and said shyly:

"It's nice to meet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

The lady next to him with a slightly round face and yellow teeth also lifted her skirt and knelt down to salute.

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

Maria Luisa, a woman with a romantic nature, gave her husband countless environmental protection hats.

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

The most famous among them was Manuel de Godoy, who was born as a guard and was eventually promoted to the Chief Minister of Spain by her.

After Antonio ascended the throne, because he liked hunting and mechanical manufacturing, the Spanish government was firmly controlled by Maria Luisa and her lover Godoy. The two of them governed the country recklessly and used various suicidal decrees to harm Spain.

In the end, they successfully exhausted Spain's national strength and military power, which directly led to the emperor deposing the Spanish Bourbon royal family.

Joseph looked behind Luisa and saw a red-skinned guard following him with his head down.

In fact, civilians were only allowed to participate in the celebrations in the Versailles Square these days, and they did not need to bring guards to the area near the Versailles Palace. So, this person was most likely Godoy.

Clementine still had the demeanor of a community bull. She stepped forward to salute the Spanish Crown Prince and his wife, and then warmly invited them:

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

Antonio looked at his wife hesitantly, and when she nodded slightly, he said to Joseph and the others:

"Thank you for your invitation, then we will go to watch the sword fighting competition."

Luisa smiled apologetically on the side:

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

Joseph nodded calmly: "As you wish."

Joseph and the other two parted ways with Luisa, which was actually in line with his expectations.

Although the current King of Spain, Carlos III, is a very capable monarch, his health condition is very bad. Joseph doesn't remember the exact year he died, but it should be soon.

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

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

Especially now that Spain still has the afterglow of the former empire, it not only has a large number of colonies and rich gold and silver income in America, but also has a strong fleet - about 30% of the strength of the British Navy.

If France wants to develop, it must break free from the British maritime blockade in the future, and the joint Spanish fleet is the best strategy. Historically, France did just that. The combat effectiveness of the Franco-Spanish joint fleet even once caught up with Britain. It was a pity that it met the British genius fleet commander Nelson, and its luck was not very good, and it was eventually defeated by the British in the Battle of Trafalgar.

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

Then first of all, we must help Spain get rid of Godoy, the scourge, 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:

"Your guard is very energetic."

The latter seemed to be a little socially anxious, and whispered:

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

It was indeed this guy. Joseph nodded and asked again: "Is it an 'ordinary' guard?"

"He is quite ordinary, I think."

After that, there was a silence.

Joseph shook his head secretly, thinking that it was really difficult to communicate with socially anxious people... He had to try to get familiar 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 Petit Trianon Palace.

This is the place for the swordsmanship competition.

This place is much larger than the venue for the singing and dancing competition. There is even a temporary three-story audience stand made of wood around the ring, with as many as seven or eight hundred seats.

At this time, the audience seats were full, and there were a large number of civilians watching from the outside. Fortunately, the ring was also very high, and the situation above could be seen from the audience seats.

The two princes and a princess naturally had the best seats.

The three of them sat down in the temporary compartment on the third floor on the west side. Two strong young nobles walked onto the ring, each of them picked up a sword with a wooden tip, politely hit each other with the sword body, and then began the competition at the signal of the referee.

Both of them had obviously practiced, with flexible steps, free sword movement, and skillful moves. For a while, the ring was full of flashing swords, and figures were flying, and the fight was extremely exciting.

Joseph watched with great interest. Just when he wanted to chat with Antonio about the sword fight, he turned around and saw that he was staring at the scoreboard that was more than four people high, with a light in his eyes.

A noble on the field was hit by his opponent. Someone pulled hard under the scoreboard, and the flywheel on it rotated, causing the huge wooden piece on the scoreboard to roll back, revealing the number 1 below - 1:0.

Antonio said happily: "It is automatic, I knew it!" As he said, he looked at Joseph, "May I ask who designed this? It is so clever, using the flywheel to store power and automatically modify the score! Otherwise, that person would have to climb such a high wooden frame to do it."

Joseph touched his nose and smiled: "This is the masterpiece of His Majesty the King."

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

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

Now that a breakthrough has been found, it will be easy to deal with it later. Joseph found some mechanical topics to talk about, from machine tools to steam engines, from carriage shock absorbers to automatic tractors - that is, the most primitive trains.

After nearly an hour of chatting, the Spanish Crown Prince's eyes widened, he danced with joy, and was so excited that he felt that he had met Joseph too late.

The French Crown Prince is his lifelong confidant!

After the two became familiar with each other, Joseph asked tentatively:

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

"Is there something wrong with him? Oh, it seems that his left eye is not very good." The Spanish Crown Prince was no longer so socially anxious at this time, and waved his hand and said, "Why do you mention him? Or how is the crankshaft transmission you just mentioned realized?"

Joseph couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head. It seems that this cousin really didn't realize that there was something wrong with his head.

He had to try to remind him! Otherwise, when Godoy starts to take power, it will not be so easy to overthrow him.

Joseph narrowed his eyes slightly. It seems that he has to create some opportunities for the adulterer and the adulteress first.

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

"Next, the two warriors No. 631 and No. 112 will compete, welcome them to the stage!"

In order to be fair, all the matchups are decided by random draws. Before the draw, no one knows who the number corresponds to.

The two figures were about to walk up the curved stairs, and at this moment, an official ran over and whispered something to the referee, who 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 make 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."