I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 249

Became a Genius of the French Royal Family Episode 249: This Place Is Our Home Now (249/355)

This Place Is Our Home Now

Having achieved satisfactory results in their negotiations with France, Myeongnyang and Janglin returned triumphantly, like conquering heroes.

“Hahaha, so those French bastards believed everything you said?”

“Yes. Even with their superior military strength, they’re still just barbarians. I made up a few stories to buy us some time, and they fell for it immediately.”

“Good. Now we just need to wait for those who went to negotiate with the English in Uyghur [a region in Northwest China] to return.”

Emperor Jiaqing breathed a sigh of relief, having bought at least some time.

He knew that making such a proposal without any intention of negotiating would be criticized by later generations, but who cared?

What mattered was the present; future evaluations were worth less than a grain of rice now.

“I hope those English bastards listen obediently…”

“They’re just barbarians strong in force. If we can deceive them with words like we did with the French, we can control them as we wish.”

Encouraged by their recent success, Janglin volunteered to handle the negotiations with England if they fell through.

He felt like Zhuge Liang [a famous strategist] from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms [a historical novel], manipulating heroes with his wisdom and eloquence.

If he continued to contribute to driving out the Westerners, who would become the center of the imperial court?

Even if the current Crown Prince ascended to the throne, he could never ignore Janglin.

A blessing in disguise.

Perhaps the previous incidents were merely stepping stones for future glory.

Looking at the legends of heroes, they always experienced frustration and adversity before obtaining the wish-fulfilling jewel and ascending to heaven.

However.

Janglin’s delusion, filled with rosy visions of the future, did not last long.

Just two days later.

News arrived at the Forbidden City [the Chinese imperial palace] that the garrison in Shandong [a coastal province in China] had been annihilated by the French army.

Emperor Jiaqing, who had been relieved that the negotiations had gone well, naturally collapsed in shock, while Janglin and Myeongnyang scurried about to assess the situation.

“They agreed to take some time, so how could this happen!”

“I… I don’t know. We clearly agreed to that… This is a clear violation of the agreement!”

“Then don’t just stand there babbling! Go down to Shandong Province immediately and demand an explanation from those French bastards! Why did they start a war!”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty! I’ll leave right away!”

Janglin and Myeongnyang rushed out of the Forbidden City and mounted their horses.

How could this have happened?

Did the French eat something wrong?

The fact that the news of the annihilation was delivered just two days after they arrived in Beijing meant that the French had started the war as soon as the negotiations ended.

To violate the agreement before the ink had even dried… could such a thing even happen?

Could it be that incorrect information had been delivered?

Thinking calmly, that seemed like the most likely possibility.

Yes. There must be some kind of misunderstanding.

But the heavens were mercilessly not on his side.

When Janglin arrived in Shandong Province, he saw a garrison that had suffered near-total destruction and local officials packing their belongings to flee.

“…What on earth happened here?”

“I don’t know! The French bastards suddenly attacked us, claiming we violated the agreement… I want to ask you instead! What did you do!”

“No, what did you do… I want to ask you that. If they attacked based on a violation of the agreement, that means we gave them a pretext!”

“Pretext or not, the moment you returned to Beijing, they attacked! What pretext could we have given them!”

Faced with this absurd situation, Janglin was overwhelmed more by bewilderment than by the fear of incurring the Emperor’s wrath.

Now that things had come to this, he had to meet the French commander and determine the truth.

He immediately sent a messenger to the French army to demand an explanation, and surprisingly, he quickly received a reply agreeing to a meeting.

Could there really have been some kind of misunderstanding?

Or were these guys at least feeling some pangs of conscience?

Rushing to the French army’s camp, Janglin immediately demanded an explanation from Napoleon.

“Explain yourself! What on earth is going on?”

“What are you talking about?”

Janglin was momentarily speechless at Napoleon’s nonchalant question.

This was not the reaction he had expected.

He had expected Napoleon to feign ignorance or make some kind of excuse.

But Napoleon frowned as if annoyed and clicked his tongue.

“It’s bewildering to see this attitude from the side that broke the agreement first. There’s a saying in the East that the thief wields the club [a Chinese idiom meaning the guilty party is the first to accuse others], and it seems like that’s exactly the case here.”

“So, what agreement did we break!”

“We clearly told you to withdraw your troops from the border between our territories. But when we sent scouts, your troops hadn’t moved at all. So we judged that you had no intention of fulfilling our demands and resumed our attack. Is there a problem with that?”

“Are you out of your mind…!”

Myeongnyang, who had been watching silently, finally exploded in anger.

This time, Janglin did not stop him.

He was just as dumbfounded.

“Withdrawing troops isn’t child’s play! How can you withdraw them in a single day?”

“We can do it in half a day if we want to. So, isn’t it a matter of will?”

“You were planning to trap us from the start! How can you do such a thing! It’s outrageous…!”

“Then is it okay for your country to secretly try to bring in neighboring countries while pretending to negotiate?”

Janglin was momentarily speechless at Napoleon’s suddenly cold question.

Could he have known?

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“You asked Vietnam and Joseon [ancient Korean kingdom] to dispatch reinforcements, but they refused you outright, didn’t they?”

“I… I don’t know anything about that…”

“It’s fortunate for you that they refused. If Joseon had landed in Shandong and Vietnam had attacked Hong Kong, you would have been in big trouble. Not that we would have lost, but it would have been a lot of trouble.”

Where did the information leak from?

It didn’t seem like Joseon would have done it; could Vietnam have been the one to betray them?

If he knew that much detail, there was no point in denying it further.

“It seems there was a slight misunderstanding…”

“You were the ones who tried to stab us in the back while pretending to negotiate. You were the ones who had no intention of negotiating seriously. So, it’s not right for you to criticize us for resuming our attack.”

Janglin wanted to strangle his past self, who had thought that the Westerners were foolish and easily deceived.

These guys were even wiser and more cunning than they were, truly like snakes.

As he realized his fundamental lack of understanding of the West, Napoleon’s chilling words struck him.

“Go and tell the Emperor in the Forbidden City. I will be visiting him soon, so tell him to wait.”

This was not a simple threat or bluff.

These guys would really do it if they said they would.

Janglin and Myeongnyang, now realizing who they were fighting, felt a cold sweat run down their backs.

※※※

Exactly one month and fifteen days after the French re-invasion.

Napoleon, a man of his word, faithfully kept his promise.

“Is this the Old Summer Palace [a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing]? It’s a beautiful place, befitting the imperial gardens.”

The French army, having easily crushed all resistance in their path, easily entered Beijing.

“I would have liked to see the face of this Emperor, if possible.”

Emperor Jiaqing, upon hearing the news that the French army had broken through the Hebei [a province in China] border, immediately abandoned Beijing and fled north to the Rehe Palace [a summer palace in Chengde, China].

Napoleon considered chasing after him to capture the Emperor, but decided it wouldn’t be very effective.

After all, the dignity of the Emperor of the Central Plains [China] was already shattered beyond repair.

It wasn’t just because he abandoned the palace and ran away.

Napoleon had landed in Guangdong [a province in China] from Hong Kong, as if daring them to stop him, and marched straight to Beijing.

The distance from Guangdong to Beijing was only slightly shorter than from Paris to Moscow.

Of course, the difficulty of the march was on a different level, as supplies were constantly coming in from the sea and the weather was pleasant.

But the important thing was not just the distance, but the fact that the enemy’s forces, having landed in the southernmost part of the country, were not even pretending to stop them as they crossed the entire country to Beijing.

The ambitious forces they had gathered were crushed in every battle, and not only the army but also the navy was destroyed.

The Qing Dynasty [the last imperial dynasty of China], which had not expected France to be so strong in naval power, was completely helpless.

Almost all major port cities were either blockaded or surrendered.

In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that the entire eastern coastline was now French territory.

And these results were being reported in real-time throughout Asia by the Dutch.

So now the Emperor had no choice.

Whether Napoleon would loosen the grip on his throat or tighten it further was entirely up to Napoleon’s choice.

As he admired the beautiful garden spanning 4 square kilometers, Davout, who had approached unnoticed, sat down next to him and spoke.

“You seem to like this place too? I prefer it to the Summer Palace.”

“This garden is called Yuanmingyuan, which means the Garden of Gardens. In other words, it’s the most prized garden of the imperial family.”

“It’s certainly pretty. There are buildings that blend Eastern and our architectural styles, and it has a mysterious feel.”

“At this point, I’m curious about the feelings of those imperial officials who abandoned such places and ran away with their tails between their legs.”

Originally, when a capital was captured by the enemy, looting cultural assets and arson were basic occurrences.

The Qing Dynasty seemed to have thought so too, as traces of hastily packing treasures inside the Forbidden City were discovered.

They probably didn’t want to hand over valuable items to them, so they packed them up and ran away.

“What should we do? Some people suggest burning down the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace as an example to them.”

“Absolutely reject that. The Prime Minister has strictly forbidden it.”

Based on what he had seen so far, Prime Minister Christian was a person who disliked, even hated, damaging cultural assets of other countries.

He believed that valuable cultural assets should be protected in all cases and actually acted on it.

If there was a serious problem with the state of preservation, he considered bringing them back, but otherwise, he was careful even about looting them.

This was the case in Egypt, and it was the same in Greece.

Thanks to this, it was possible to clearly differentiate himself from the British, who greedily swept up any cultural assets or treasures they could get their hands on.

How could he, who knew his lord’s heart better than anyone else, make such a foolish choice?

Napoleon had also strictly forbidden acts such as looting civilians or burning cultural assets during this war.

Then what would he use to reward the soldiers?

Well, he could just squeeze out a generous amount of compensation and distribute it.

Now that he had occupied Beijing, he had more than half of the ownership of the Central Plains.

The time had come to realize the grand vision he had been harboring.

“Now that the Qing Dynasty can’t avoid negotiations, ask the Governor-General to prepare a proclamation to be delivered to the European countries fighting in the west.”

“I will. What should I prepare?”

“Tell them to take care of the diplomatic rhetoric, and the content can be summarized as follows.”

Napoleon revealed his true intentions to Davout, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression, with a light smile.

“Tell them all to get out.”

This Place Is Our Home Now – END