Fox of France

At noon on Sunday, just after lunch, Amon took Joseph to a cafe near the bishop's palace. The Bishop's Palace is the private domain of the Duke of Orleans, a great nobleman. The eldest son of the old Duke, His Royal Highness Duke Charles, who also has "Joseph" in his name, transformed the promenade of the Bishop's Palace into various shops and cafes. Because these places are the private territories of the great nobles, the Kingdom police have no right to enforce the law here, so this place has become an "extrajudicial place" where ordinary civilians can come and go freely.

As a result, this place has become the center of "illegal activities" in Paris, and there is no one. All kinds of smuggling, trading of prohibited items, and gatherings of organizations that conspire against the church and the king are often held here. This is an important meeting place of the later famous Jacobins.

And the Duke of Charles who provided all this (later he inherited his father's title and became the new Duke of Orleans) himself, although he is a relative of the king and one of the largest feudal lords in France, is a staunch liberal. - A true follower of Jacques Rousseau. He firmly believed in the Enlightenment, and advocated the establishment of a democratic constitutional monarchy in France that separated church and state. He also believed that feudal fiefdoms and slavery should be abolished, and he was good friends with many "conspirators".

Amon took Joseph and sat down on a seat near the window in the cafe. At this time, the afternoon sun was shining through the window and fell on a bright red rose in the center of the table.

"It seems that we came a little earlier than Mr. Thenardier." Amon laughed.

A maid came forward and said, "What do you want, gentlemen?"

"Two cups of coffee, thank you." Amon said.

The maid stepped back, and after a while, she came over with a tray and placed two cups of coffee in front of them.

"Six sous," said the maid.

The rent that Duke Charles rents out the shops is quite low, but he also has his own requirements, that is, the prices of the things in these shops must be relatively cheap. Sometimes the duke himself puts on trousers and wanders around these cafés, bars and other shops pretending to be an ordinary person.

Amon put the eight sous coin into the maid's tray. The maid thanked her and turned to leave.

"Joseph, you can't stay in your own room all the time, you have to come here often when you have time, where you can meet all kinds of people and learn more things." Amon took a sip of coffee road.

Joseph was about to answer, but saw the door of the cafe was pushed open, and a man in his forties, wearing a gray duffel jacket, walked in. As soon as the man came in, he stretched his neck and looked around.

Amon raised an arm and waved it at him. Then he said to Joseph: "This is Captain Thenardier. He is blinder than the brown bears in the Ardennes forest. He can't see clearly if he is a little further away."

Thenardier had obviously seen them, so he walked over with big strides, pulled a chair over by himself, sat down beside the two of them and said with a smile, "Amon, I am indeed as blind as a brown bear, but My ears and nose are as sensitive as a brown bear. I heard everything you said to me. Haha... Well, this is Mr. Bonaparte, right? I am Thenardier, the head of the Dragon and Rose Troupe. Henry Thenardier. You can just call me Henry."

While speaking, Dana first stretched out his hand to Joseph.

Joseph stretched out his hand, held his hand and said, "Joseph Bonaparte. I am Amon's classmate..."

"Best friend." Amon added on the side.

"You can also call me Joseph directly." Joseph said.

"Ah, Joseph, Amon should have told you about my reason for coming." Thenardier said, "Actually, our troupe has been in need of a really well-educated screenwriter for a long time. It was Amon's idea. But Aman is a lazy guy with a lot of things to do, so if you ask him for a favor, you will always have to wait for a long time.

The idea you gave us last time was really great, especially at the curtain call, the audience's applause almost knocked off the roof. In addition, I have read some of your translated scripts, plus Amon's recommendation, Joseph, I think you can completely replace Amon's role. I just wonder if you are interested in coming to my small troupe as a part-time screenwriter. "

While several people were discussing the way of cooperation, the door of the cafe was pushed open again. This is also a common thing. The cafe is a place where people come and go. It is the most common thing for someone to come in and someone to go out. Everyone doesn't even bother to look there.

A middle-aged man in trousers, in his thirties with green eyes and a reddish beard, wearing a black hat, walked in. He looked around, and immediately saw Aman and the others, and walked over directly and said, "Aman, I didn't expect to meet you here."

"Ah...Mr. Philip." Amon's words obviously paused after seeing this Mr. Philip.

"Why, it's not like I introduce these two friends of yours." asked Mr. Philip.

"Ah...Mr. Philip," Amon seemed a little flustered. He hurriedly stood up and introduced the other two to Mr. Philip. "This is my classmate Joseph, Joseph Bonaparte. This is... this is the Dragon and Rose Troupe Monsieur Thenardier, master of the regiment..."

Seeing Amon's performance, Joseph and Thenardier knew that this Mr. Philip must be an unusual person, so they all stood up and greeted Mr. Philip.

"You don't have to be so polite. Everyone sit down." Mr. Philip said, "Let me introduce myself. I am a friend of Amon's uncle, Mr. Lavoisier, so I know Amon. I'm fine today. Come here for a while. I happened to see Amon, so I came over to have a look. Well, what are you guys talking about?"

"Mr. Thenardier is the head of the Dragon and Rose Troupe and also my friend. He needs to find a screenwriter with high artistic appreciation. And my classmate Joseph meets his requirements, so I will introduce them Come here and meet." Amon quickly replied.

"Dragon and Rose Troupe?" Philip laughed. "Ah, that's the one who performed "The Governor of the Island", right? Well, the performance was good, I went to see it. Especially at the final curtain call, that Sancho of yours suddenly stood up. To be honest, it’s really interesting that he is the tallest actor among the actors. But the best thing is your conception, a noble person may not be smart and upright, but a humble person can be noble. The script is good! Who wrote this script?”

Although Thenardier didn't know who this Mr. Philippe was, he also judged from Amon's attitude and Philip's claim to be a friend of Amon's uncle Lavoisier that this Mr. Philippe was not like his clothes. so ordinary. He is probably a person of great status, even... a guess suddenly popped up in Thenardier's mind.

So he replied respectfully: "Mr. Philip, I made the draft of this script by myself. Later, Amon helped me revise it, and it was completely different. As for the tall man playing Sancho in the end, it was this The brainchild of Monsieur Bonaparte."

"Ah, Amon, I'm so glad to hear that you have done something truly meaningful." Philip smiled, "Mr. Thenardier, um, Joseph, you are Amon's classmate, so I will call you Joseph as well." Right. Drama is a great art that can influence and educate many people. I hope to see more of your good works in the future."

Having said that, he stood up, raised his hat slightly and said, "I saw a friend of mine coming. I'm sorry."

After saying this, he left their table and walked to the other side.

Seeing Philip walking away, Thenardier lowered his voice and said, "Amon, this Mr. Philip..."

Amon also lowered his voice and said: "He is the owner of this place, His Royal Highness Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke Charles. I really didn't expect to meet him here."

"This is His Royal Highness Duke Charles?" Joseph was also taken aback, "It doesn't look like a great nobleman at all."

"His Royal Highness the Duke is a unique nobleman, and he and the queen are exactly two extremes." Amon whispered.

Joseph did not study history in his previous life. He only knew some rough things about the Great Revolution not long after, and he did not know the key role played by the Duke who was later called "Philip the Equal" in the Great Revolution. . The characters he can remember are the so-called "Jacobin Big Three" Robespierre, Marat, and Danton.

However, Joseph did not want to have too deep connections with these people at this time. For a period of time after the start of the Great Revolution, the situation was too chaotic. Today John beheaded Luke, and tomorrow Matthew beheaded John. Anyone who is too close is dangerous and may be guillotined. Joseph even planned to find an excuse to hide back in Corsica before the Great Revolution began.

The three of them continued to discuss the method of cooperation and the remuneration, and then they bid farewell to each other.

When I returned to the residence, I saw Father Jean Jacques walking over with a letter and said, "Ah, Joseph, you are back? Well, your brother sent you a letter."

Joseph quickly took the letter, thanked Father Jean Jacques, and went back to his room. He sat down at the table by his small window, picked up the small knife on the table, cut open the envelope, took out the letter and read it.

The content of the letter was actually something that Joseph had known for a long time. Napoleon successfully got the recommendation, and in about a month, that is, around November 20, he could leave for Paris.