Thereafter, Eman presented the report sent by the officials from Marseille.
Joseph unfolded the report and after reading just a few lines, his eyebrows involuntarily raised.
The report said that the King of Spain had sent a total of 1.8 million livres’ worth of grain, and its quality was quite good.
You should know that although the drought had a smaller impact on Spain, it still had an effect. That Charles III squeezed out such a large quantity of grain to give as a gift showed tremendous sincerity!
Two days later, a special envoy of Charles III arrived in Paris, first visiting Louis XVI and the Queen, and then hurriedly sought out Joseph.
After the exchange of routine formalities, the envoy requested Joseph to send the others away before taking out a personal letter from Charles III, which he handed over with great respect.
“Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, His Majesty the King sincerely thanks you on his behalf,” said the envoy, his expression somewhat awkward. “You have helped the Royal Family maintain the purity of its bloodline, and… ah, you have kept the secret for His Highness Antonio.”
“His Majesty the King learned of the hail disaster that France had recently suffered, so he sent some grain to express his condolences.”
Joseph nodded to himself, thinking that Charles III was indeed one of Spain’s enlightened monarchs, handling interpersonal courtesies quite perfectly. It was a pity that the old gentleman was already a fading light, unable to hold on much longer; otherwise, Spain could have offered France even more support.
The envoy continued, “As for the Crown Princess, His Majesty the King has already sent people to keep an eye on her, please be at ease.”
As Joseph had predicted, upon learning that Louisa had engaged in an affair with his son and the Crown Prince of France right before their eyes, Charles III immediately exploded with fury. He ordered the Crown Princess to not step outside the palace and arranged for a lady-in-waiting to follow her 24/7.
If it were not for the fact that Spain was a devout Catholic nation and divorce was not taken lightly, the old gentleman would have definitely had his son divorce her.
Although the Spanish nobility did not know what exactly had transpired with Louisa, it was obvious that the King held her in disregard, and as a result, they all began to distance themselves from her, especially important high-ranking officials.
Originally, since Charles III’s health was failing, many state affairs had already been handed over to Antonio to handle. However, the latter, immersed in machinery and hunting, had delegated these tasks to Louisa.
Now, Spanish officials would rather bring their documents to Antonio’s workshop and force him to deal with them than allow Louisa to be involved once more.
Of course, given Antonio’s “ear-pulling” character, once Charles III passed away and met with the Creator, the restrictions imposed on Louisa would gradually diminish, but this incident had severely reduced her political standing and the chances of her solely wielding Spain’s power in the future had likely diminished significantly.
…
A “gemstone”-shaped carriage with a brand-new design sped past Mirabeau, kicking up dust that covered his face.
Mirabeau frowned as he took the handkerchief handed to him by a servant, wiping off the dust from his face and body, and couldn’t help but shake his head.
There were already many tram services in Paris, with five intersecting lines that could reach every corner of the city, but many nobles, feeling it beneath their dignity to share a carriage with commoners, still chose to travel by horse-drawn carriage instead.
In reality, these tram cars, even when carrying more than twenty people, were faster than the average carriage.
Capitalist Nobility like him—the term proposed by the Crown Prince was now widely accepted—dismissed such attitudes with contempt.
He grumbled to himself: Nobility is derived from their wealth, capabilities, and efforts, not from whom they share a carriage with. All citizens should be equal; an incompetent or morally deficient noble is no match for those intelligent and industrious commoners. On what basis do they believe themselves to be inherently superior?
Although many of Rousseau’s views were nonsensical, he was quite correct on the subject of equality. Those people should really read his book…
Mirabeau shook his head again at the thought and dismissed it; Rousseau’s ideas were too dangerous, and most nobles, unlike himself, did not possess discernment—no telling what adverse effect it might have on them after reading it.
The ringing of a bell sounded, and Mirabeau collected his thoughts, straightened his collar, and stepped onto the tram that looked like an oversized cigar.
The commoners on the tram, recognizing his attire, conscientiously stood up to offer him a seat and maintained a certain distance.
Mirabeau, without being courteous, sat in the most satisfactory seat and took the “Paris Commercial News” from his servant.
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Just as the carriage had not gone far, Mirabeau smelled a foul stench through the window.
He frowned and looked out, only to see several blackened, highly decomposed corpses hanging from the street lamp on the roadside—the suffocating smell was emanating from there.
Without needing to ask, he knew these were the bodies of Barbary pirates who had been hanged recently, as well as Bouvarandere, who had murdered Necker.
Mirabeau signaled his servant to close the window, shook his head, and muttered softly, “Although he deserved to die, hanging a former banker alongside pirates is still somewhat inappropriate…”
He then buried his head in his newspaper; the headline of the front-page news made his eyelids twitch—”Marquis of Ludo, Second Chairman of the Banking Guild, Assassinated, Gravely Wounded, Assailant Captured on the Spot.”
He read the news detail eagerly, turning out that someone named Elonc had sneaked into Marquis of Ludo’s villa in the middle of the night and shot the Marquis in the thigh with a pistol.