I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 323

After meticulous preparation and prior coordination, the world’s first modern music competition was set to be held.

The distinction of being the world’s first is something that mostly remains in history books.

To have this significant opportunity snatched away by my son was undoubtedly my mistake.

I can’t deny that I was too focused on sports and technology, becoming complacent in other areas.

It’s an undeniable error that I didn’t properly leverage the advantage of having a cheat code like Mozart at my disposal.

Since it was my son who accomplished this, I could honestly praise him as a father, but that’s merely a paternal perspective.

As a leader of this era, where even a small involvement in such an opportunity affects the nation’s prestige, it’s difficult to simply let it pass.

It has to be a win-win situation.

The Holy Roman Empire began preparations much faster, making it impossible to accomplish anything in Paris at this point.

But that didn’t mean we couldn’t still have a piece of the action.

Above all, we had the god of music, who had recently begun to be regarded as surpassing even Bach and Handel.

“Your Majesty, we have arrived.”

And the result is this:
The Mozart International Music Competition, co-hosted by France and the Holy Roman Empire.

“How does it feel returning to your hometown after so long? Ah, you didn’t really like your hometown, did you?”

“It’s a place I desperately wanted to leave when I was young, but it feels new to return at this age.”

Mozart, now at an age where gray hair was noticeable, was looking at the city entrance with complicated emotions.

-The living god of music. Congratulations on Mozart’s return.

-We live in the age of Mozart.

-Music greater than music. There is emotion in Mozart’s music.

Everywhere from the entrance to the city center was covered with banners full of praise, almost too embarrassing to read aloud.

The welcoming party from the Holy Roman Empire, who came out to greet our visit, was also waving flags with similar phrases written on them.

If Mozart had lived a long life, to what extent would he be evaluated in the world of music? This hypothetical question was a frequent topic whenever the classical music world was bored.

And the answer was right before my eyes.

“I’m overwhelmed that His Majesty Christian came here in person.”

The representative of the welcoming party from the Holy Roman Empire bowed deeply, and Joseph III, who was behind him, approached happily.

“Welcome. Thanks to His Majesty Christian’s attendance, this event will be a great success.”

“It was a project that was almost guaranteed to succeed, so it’s only natural. Hahaha.”

Joseph III, glancing at my face as I laughed heartily, suddenly whispered in my ear.

“Geez, did you have to get involved in this just to feel better? Why didn’t you just hand it all over to me?”

“These things will be recorded in history books later; why would I be crazy enough to give it all away?”

“Haa… I thought I was going to do something right for once.”

What I chose, after judging that I couldn’t stop the first event from being held in the Holy Roman Empire, was to include Mozart.

The Holy Roman Empire, even if they didn’t show it, regarded losing Mozart to France as a form of PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a psychological response to a deeply disturbing or traumatic experience].

To understand Mozart’s current status, it’s like combining Michael Jackson at his peak with Queen and adding BTS [a popular South Korean boy band] to finish it off in modern terms.

They gave such an artist to another country with their eyes wide open, so they wouldn’t be human if they weren’t angry.

I heard that even the list of patrons who didn’t give Mozart a position after seeing his performance was circulating.

They were all punished with the stigma of being ignorant of music for generations.

In this situation, there’s no way they wouldn’t react when we decided to make Mozart the theme of the competition jointly with France and the Holy Roman Empire.

In particular, Salzburg, where Mozart’s birthplace is located, saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to promote the region and rushed in very actively.

As a result of the story unfolding like that, the world’s first modern music competition was held in this form.

“Come to think of it, Beethoven decided to write a dedication song this time, right? You’ve made a name for yourself. You didn’t force him to write it, did you?”

“Of course… not. Hahaha… I would never do such a tasteless thing.”

“If you have power, you should be more careful in wielding it. Even a word you throw out as a joke can’t be a joke to the other person.”

“…I will keep that in mind.”

Looking at his reaction, it was obvious that he asked for a song.

Is there anyone in the world who can say ‘No, I don’t want to’ when the emperor, of all people, says, ‘Hey~ write a song about me?’

You still have a long way to go, son.

I sighed inwardly and left with Mozart, saying I would look around the venue in advance.

Again, it was a divine move not to let the Holy Roman Empire swallow Prussia.

It’s questionable whether Prussia will continue to stick with the Nordic Federation, but whatever happens, it’s better than joining the Roman Federation.

It’s not a matter of national power, but because their actions are unstable.

Honestly, I just hope that after I die, there won’t be an ending where countries other than France fight like dogs.

To do that, we need to activate exchanges between countries and form close economic relationships.

If the economic damage is so great that you can’t even think of using an abacus [a manual calculator], people won’t easily draw their swords.

Besides, it won’t just be a problem for those who are fighting the war.

There will be global economic repercussions, so other countries won’t stand by.

Is there any crazy country that would be condemned by the world, blockaded, and have its economy ruined, but still fight with its neighbor?

※※※

Of course, events attended by the top leaders of each country are bound to take on a political color in themselves.

It’s not much different even if it’s a place for culture and art.

Even if they don’t show it on the surface, they all have their own agendas going on behind the scenes.

Rather, there are topics that can only be discussed in such official-like but not official places.

For example, the Asian issue, where siblings are fighting fiercely right now.

“So, isn’t it difficult for you, sister, to trade with Asia? Don’t spoil the soup that’s already made.”

“Huh? No? We can do it if we want to, too?”

“Oh~ so you’re going to go around the north and trade through Russia?”

“No. Prussia has joined our federation, so it’s possible enough if you cooperate?”

“We have no reason to do that.”

These friendly siblings seem to be on even worse terms than when they were in Paris last time.

Especially today, it was a family gathering with only three people, including me, so it seemed like even more sparks were flying.

“No~ don’t be so greedy and eat it all alone, let’s do it together? Don’t you know how to live in symbiosis [a mutually beneficial relationship]?”

“That’s why we turned a blind eye to Prussia’s joining the federation. You must know that that area was originally what we were aiming for.”

“Prussia would never go there. You know that 99% of the reason we stuck with you is because we didn’t want to be eaten by you, right?”

“…Tsk, never mind. Then let’s just go in parallel like this in the future.”

“Oh my, look at that resentment. The heart of our great Roman emperor is so narrow that it can’t even pass through the Bosphorus Strait [a narrow, natural strait connecting Europe and Asia].”

I’ve been listening all along, but if it goes on any longer, it seems like it will really develop into an emotional fight.

For the permanent peace of Europe, these two have to get along the best, but I’m at a loss as to how to coordinate this.

“Stop fighting among family members who haven’t seen each other in a long time. If you keep doing this, you’ll be bickering even at the official event in a few days. I believe you know how the media will react if that happens.”

“Yes… well, that’s…”

“Don’t worry, Dad. We’re experts in this kind of thing. At official events, we’re siblings who get along so well that you can’t help but smile.”

Beatrice put her hand on Joseph III’s shoulder and gave him a lovely smile.

I wonder if it was my imagination that a scary emotion flashed in my son’s eyes for a moment when he saw that face.

“As I said before, the peace of Europe will be determined by how well you two countries and Russia get along. Keep in mind that if you don’t get any meaningful results in your generation, I will have no choice but to intervene.”

France is firmly in place in Western Europe, so even if a fight breaks out, it can’t grow beyond a certain size.

But Northern and Eastern Europe are all attached to countries that are all huge, so I can’t predict what will happen.

Russia is now in a semi-foolish situation, but it may grow back in size in a few decades or a hundred years.

I believe that this has already been emphasized to the two of them several times and they fully understand.

The children are so smart that they have extraordinary brains, so I’m not worried about their understanding, but now that I see it, the biggest problem is their personality.

“Don’t worry. Europe is already turning into a structure where it’s harder to go to war, right?”

“That’s right. Everyone will be ruined if they go to war; who would be crazy enough to pull the trigger first.”

That was the opinion during World War I and World War II.

Even during World War II, most people were convinced that there would never be a war because they had the experience of World War I.

Everyone believed that humans were not that stupid, but humans were more stupid than they thought.

Of course, at that time, Europe was not united as one like it is now, and it was not building a mutually cooperative economic system.

“Still, complacency is forbidden, so both of you must do your best. In particular, the fight for the suzerainty [the right to rule] of Germanic culture surrounding Prussia must be constantly taken care of.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to keep an eye on that part, too.”

As this topic seemed to be coming to an end, Joseph III immediately changed the subject as if he had been waiting.

“By the way, have you both heard the story? In Qing China… ah, it’s not Qing China anymore. It seems like something quite interesting is happening in the former Qing territory.”

“Guangdong France has the most accurate information, so Dad already knows it in detail, right?”

“Is that what you heard? You’re definitely paying attention to the intelligence side, aren’t you?”

It wasn’t certain information yet, but reports were coming in one after another that unusual movements were taking place in Northeast Asia, which had been torn apart.

In fact, it wasn’t unexpected.

It was divided as much as possible so that they couldn’t mix with each other, but that’s why their national power wasn’t completely equal.

After all, the countries in the central plains, where the Han Chinese make up the absolute majority, have a large population and relatively strong power that they have accumulated since the Qing Dynasty.

The Manchurian state, located just north of Joseon [an ancient Korean kingdom], also had a high level of intelligence because a large number of high-ranking officials from the Qing Dynasty had immigrated there.

Rather, it should be said that it has been holding out for a long time that there have been no major problems so far.

“I thought there wouldn’t be a big problem because Guangdong France was in place, but it seems that conflict suppression isn’t possible with that.”

“Guangdong is in the southernmost part. And it’s already divided separately from the countries in the central plains, so they don’t interfere with each other.”

“If so…”

“Yes. There will be a war soon.”

I wanted to delay it as much as possible, but it’s an accident that will inevitably happen once anyway.

It was more important to manage the situation well than the occurrence itself.

As long as Guangdong France is still standing, the situation where the Qing Dynasty returns will not happen, but I can’t just leave it alone.

“Come to think of it, my father used to say that when the world in the East is divided for a long time, it must be united. It was an impressive saying, so I still remember it.”

“Really? But it seems like you don’t remember the rest of it.”

In fact, that’s the most important part.

I told my son, who was wondering, the full version of Luo Guanzhong’s famous saying.

“When discussing the trends of the world, if there is a long period of division, there must be a union, and if there is a long period of unity, there must be a division.”

Of course, the most important thing is that it hasn’t been divided long enough to discuss unification yet.

Who’s going to let them unite?