Inside the London Metropolitan Police detention center.
Jerome Bonaparte, who had been detained for nearly a week by the chubby sheriff on charges of disturbing public order, was lazily half-reclining on the small bed in the detention center, flipping through a book titled "Eradicating Poverty," with other articles such as "Bonaparte Thought" placed beside him.
These books and articles became the spiritual nourishment for Jerome Bonaparte. During his week of detention, Jerome Bonaparte frequently browsed through these books that integrated all his cousin Louis Napoleon’s thoughts, and with each reading, Jerome Bonaparte gained further insight into his cousin’s "wisdom."
As a member of an arrogant 19th-century aristocracy, his cousin was among the first to realize the close connection between the throne of France and the living quality of the French people. In his books, Jerome Bonaparte saw the Keynesian ghost of driving the economy through administrative directives, the idea of leveraging universal suffrage to coerce the French populace, and a reverence for the Prussian military service system.
It’s just unknown why historically Louis Napoleon didn’t implement a military service system like that of Prussia’s three-tier system.
If his cousin were to act as described in his book, leveraging a population of 35 million, France could easily mobilize nearly 1.5 million troops, crushing Prussia would be no problem.
Jerome found it difficult to imagine how his cousin came up with these ideas in prison.
Perhaps only the word "genius" is the best evaluation for this cousin of his.
After browsing for a long time, Jerome rubbed his dry eyes, only to hear the sound of the detention center’s door opening from outside. Jerome lifted his head to look at the cell door, and Percy, clad in a Flak Suit jacket, appeared in the detention room, accompanied by a prison guard in a black uniform.
The prison guard nodded and bowed to Percy, indicating he could be called anytime if needed!
Percy nodded slightly and pulled out a gold coin from his pocket to hand to the prison guard, who left the detention cell grinning from ear to ear after accepting the coin.
The sparse cell now only had Jerome Bonaparte and Percy.
"Your Highness, where is that friend of yours?" Percy asked, pointing to the vacant small bed opposite Jerome Bonaparte.
"Mr. McGrath has already been bailed out! He’s probably resting at home now!" Jerome Bonaparte flicked the dust from his hands and calmly responded to Percy.
"Your Highness, then why are you still here? Aren’t you supposed to return to France?" Percy looked at Jerome Bonaparte, puzzled, unable to comprehend the implications of Jerome Bonaparte’s self-imposed incarceration.
"Percy, let me ask you this—what’s the situation outside now?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Percy while doing push-ups on the ground.
"Those left-wing newspapers are attacking the United Kingdom Government like mad, they are even going so far as to use His Majesty’s name to attack the government!" Percy candidly replied to Jerome Bonaparte’s inquiry.
"Then our goal has been achieved!" Jerome Bonaparte snapped his fingers and asked again, "Percy, let me ask you one more question: what is the view in France, especially in Paris, towards the Anglo-Saxons?"
"What kind of view could it be? Of course, it’s hostility!" Percy responded without hesitation.
If any people in Europe hate the Anglo-Saxon race the most, it would be the Gauls at the top of the list.
From the Hundred Years’ War to aiding America in the Revolutionary War, and then to the Napoleonic Wars, the blood feud between the Anglo-Saxons and Gauls cannot be quantified by occurrences; it’s a hatred spanning time, etched into the genes of both peoples.
Not to mention that the industrial revolution only stirred more animosity as United Kingdom products impacted French mainland industries, intensifying the French industrial bourgeoisie’s resentment towards the Anglo-Saxon race.
From the upper echelons to the lower tiers, practically all French people silently curse this country across the Channel.
"You think if the news of a Bonaparte heir being detained by the Anglo-Saxons reached France, would it not evoke French sympathy towards the Bonaparte Clan?" Jerome Bonaparte mused, stroking his chin with a light tone: "Of course, we still need a few ’enthusiastic’ journalists in France to report, highlighting instances like: the righteous Mr. Jerome Bonaparte could not stand the United Kingdom’s brutish police oppressing gentlemen, hence he intervened, eventually ending up detained! And then spread some rumors on the streets of Paris stating: Mr. Jerome Bonaparte intervened because he righteously defended workers!"
"This..." Percy was surprised by Jerome Bonaparte’s manipulation of public opinion. He was still worried, though: "Won’t this get discovered? What if someone questions it..."
"Question?" Jerome Bonaparte etched the Chinese words "truth" on the wall with his fingernail and said, "Percy, does the so-called truth truly matter? The public only believes what they wish to believe, as for whether it’s true or not, they couldn’t care less! They only trust what they speculate to be the truth!"
Jerome Bonaparte, who had witnessed numerous incidents in a future information society where rumors spread easily yet debunking them was a struggle.
To the populace, the truth and falsehood of information really aren’t matters worth delving into; a ruling class adept at steering public opinion is the competent ruling class.
"Also, publish this letter in The Times!" Jerome Bonaparte handed Percy a pre-written letter.
"This is..." Percy received the letter from Jerome Bonaparte, the content of which was: "On behalf of myself and the Bonaparte Clan, I hereby propose to sue newspapers like ’Polar Star,’ ’London Times,’... whose recent content has distorted Bonaparte Thought and Emperor’s ideology. The Bonaparte Clan reserves the right to file legal requests to this newspaper..."
The core idea of the letter is to prohibit the left-wing newspapers from using the name "Bonaparte" to attack the government and simultaneously apologize to the Bonaparte Clan.
"Oh, and diplomatically express an apology to McGrath in my private name! But only after this article is published. If McGrath inquires, make sure to say nothing!" Jerome Bonaparte once again reminded Percy.
"I understand!" Percy immediately grasped Jerome Bonaparte’s intention, that it was to curry favor with the United Kingdom while simultaneously appeasing the left-wing press to avoid becoming a target.
"After this farce ends, we can depart for France!" Jerome Bonaparte sat down again and said, "Is there any news from France?"
"Messages from France indicate that the Bonaparte Faction within France has persuaded Lamartine. Lamartine will send an envoy to discuss the matter of Your Majesty’s return with you!"