Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1490 - 1396: Turmoil in the Royal Hunting Ground
Chapter 1490: Chapter 1396: Turmoil in the Royal Hunting Ground
Joseph endured the stench, standing amidst the tall grass for over half an hour with seven wild boars that had been hunted, until he finally heard the heavenly voice of the first painter, “I’m ready here, Your Highness.”
Joseph nodded to him, then promptly mounted his horse to “escape.”
The other painters shook their heads in remorse.
The servants behind began to gather the prey, and Charles spurred his horse to catch up with his brother. After hesitating several times, he finally summoned the courage to say, “Brother, look, I’m not young anymore.”
Joseph reined in his horse, turned his head, revealing a look of understanding: “You must have fallen for some lady, right? I can talk to Mother for you.”
Charles widened his eyes, almost thinking his brother had already known about “Louise,” but then quickly realized his brother was referring to a “lady” rather than “madam.”
He quickly shook his head: “No, you’ve got it wrong.
“Actually, I want to serve as Governor of Essen…”
Joseph looked at Charles in surprise: “Why do you want to go there?”
Essen is a small region located northeast of Holland, adjacent to Hanover.
Previously, Lefevre launched an attack from Holland, occupying Emden. After the war ended, Joseph divided the western part of Emden to Holland, the southern part to Oldenburg, while France retained less than 180 square kilometers of colony stretching from Dornum to Essen.
Mainly because the surrounding German states feared Britain might land in Emden to retake Hanover, unanimously requesting France to station troops here. Essen was essentially a French military camp.
Later, funded by Holland, the French General Staff built two bastions here and stationed a thousand soldiers.
The entire colony has less than 4,000 residents, including the military. Those appointed governor here usually go with a sense of being exiled.
Yet Charles actively requested to go to this godforsaken place?
Charles looked somewhat guilty, bowing his head and saying, “I want to leave Paris, this safe haven, to toughen up a bit outside.
“Yes, to toughen up! Look, Essen needs to train the army, deploy naval defenses, and conduct diplomacy with the surrounding Holland, Oldenburg, and Denmark.”
Of course, only he knows the real reason is that from Essen, he can see his Louise in just a day and a half’s time.
“To toughen up?” Joseph nodded slightly. It was indeed good for Charles to have such ambition; only the place, Essen, wasn’t quite ideal.
“Perhaps you could become Grand Duke of Piedmont. The nobles there are in need of a king.”
After the Sardinian Royal Family was driven back to Sardinia by the Mediterranean Security Organization, four-and-a-half provinces centered around Turin in Northwest Italy formed the Piedmont Duchy.
Only the main families there have been openly and covertly fighting, resulting in no king being elected.
Joseph had even considered implementing a parliamentary system in Piedmont, now suddenly realizing that sending Charles there might be a good choice.
The nobles of Piedmont certainly dare not put on airs before a French prince—not even needing the Palace of Versailles to speak, neighboring Parma of the same Bourbon lineage could press them down.
Charles suddenly became anxious, breaking out in a sweat.
Turin was over a thousand kilometers from his Louise! And this requires passing through Austria, and if bypassing Bavaria and Switzerland, another 200 kilometers more.
He hastily said, “This, I can’t manage such a big country…”
“It’s not bigger than Milan.”
“No, no, let me start as governor instead.”
Seeing he seemed genuinely nervous, Joseph thought he was putting too much pressure on him. After a moment’s thought, he nodded: “Alright, then you will serve as Governor of Ravenna.
“There are more troops there and excellent commanders to guide you. As for diplomacy, there’s no need to worry; it’s practically the center of the various Italian countries in Northern Italy.”
Since the Battle of Mantua, France has stationed a large number of troops from Mantua to Ravenna. To facilitate management, the Ravenna Governorate was established here at the beginning of last year.
“I…”
Charles was almost in tears. He simply couldn’t find a reason to refuse—Ravenna was more suitable than Essen in every aspect. He even wanted to say he liked watching the sea, but north of Ravenna was Venice Bay…
Joseph raised his whip to encourage his brother: “It’s settled then. You’ll depart next month, first spend six months handing over with Marquis Sedric, now there shouldn’t be much going on over there.
“I believe you will do excellently!”
“But, that…”
Charles was just about to find an excuse to refuse when he saw his father coming head-on, holding the telescope in his hand: “Jesus bears witness, you are definitely the most skilled hunters I’ve ever seen!
“Especially that big old boar, if it had hit, it might have been worse than being struck by a twelve-pounder.
“But you took it down with a single shot! Oh, and the other wild boars, how many did you hit in total?”
Joseph immediately rode over, smiled and said: “A total of seven, Father. Today’s hunting rifles aren’t too difficult to deal with them.”
Louis XVI glanced behind, seeing Queen Mary hasn’t caught up, muttering softly: “I want to hunt like this too. Next time, not bringing your mother, then we’ll go together…”
The voice of Queen Mary interrupted him: “Look, our Apollo is back. It was so amazing just now…”
In Greek mythology, Apollo and Artemis are both gods of hunting.
Joseph was about to greet his mother but noticed her face was somewhat pale, and the latter half of her sentence was almost a gasp.
Joseph quickly came forward and supported her hand, concern in his voice: “Are you alright? Is there anywhere you feel unwell?”
Queen Mary wiped her sweat with a handkerchief, waved her hand, and said: “It’s alright. I have been in the hunting ground without drinking much water; I’m just a bit tired.”
Alexandra also followed, first saluting the King and Queen, then enthusiastically pointed to the distant carriage: “I heard Colonel Ksoede say, there’s going to be a barbecue, is it?”
Queen Mary weakly smiled and nodded: “Yes, dear, I’ve asked Mr. Boneva to prepare at the rest area. There’s roast wild boar, pigeon soup, along with the desserts I brought.”
“Oh, it sounds wonderful!” Alexandra also noticed the Queen’s anomaly, leaned in and said, “Your complexion seems not very good.”
“Probably because it’s been a long time since I last came hunting, just need a rest.”
Queen Mary rambled on with her son and daughter-in-law, seeing they’ve arrived beside the rest area, she suddenly fell backward.
Joseph was quick to react, dragging her back just in time.
The people nearby were startled, immediately gathered around, helping the Queen down from the horse.
“What happened to you?” Joseph called loudly, but saw the Queen merely had her eyes closed, non-responsive.
