The soirée hosted by Baron Achille Fuld officially began after the arrival of two heavyweight guests, Jerome Bonaparte and Mathilde.
All those "upper-class" invitees by Achille Fuld gathered in threes and twos in the drawing room, forming one relatively independent small circle after another. Of course, the personnel in each small circle didn’t remain constant. Some of them, if they grew bored with one circle, would take a wine glass from the tray of a servant in the hall and move from one small circle to another, using various slogans (such as "Long live the Republic" or "Long live Napoleon") to urge people in another circle to also raise their glasses and drain their wine, thus seamlessly blending into the circle amidst the clinking of glasses.
Jerome Bonaparte and Mathilde, under the guidance of Achille Fuld, approached General Oppel.
"Your Highness, this is General Oppel, who once served as the Commander of Paris Defense, and now he’s serving as a deputy in the National Assembly of France!" Achille Fuld enthusiastically introduced General Oppel to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Your Highness!" General Oppel gazed at Jerome Bonaparte with a slight tension and reached out his hand respectfully.
Jerome Bonaparte extended his hand to shake General Oppel’s while scrutinizing him.
From General Oppel’s corpulent stature and hardly standard posture, Jerome Bonaparte could ascertain that this so-called general probably hadn’t commanded a battle at the frontline for a long time. Looking at his smooth expression and an overly standard professional smile, he thought what stood before him might have once been an outstanding general, who had now purely transformed into a politician.
Despite feeling some inner disappointment, Jerome Bonaparte maintained a smile as he looked at General Oppel.
"Your Highness, I once served as an officer under the Emperor, joining the Battle of Leipzig under His Majesty’s command..." Eager to showcase himself, Oppel rambled on about his numerous glorious achievements under the banner of his uncle, Emperor Napoleon, and how on the brink of the Empire’s fall, he became a Major in the Bonaparte Guard Army.
Of course, he did not mention a word about how he later pledged allegiance to the Bourbon Dynasty or how he rose to become a general, and Jerome Bonaparte, likewise, had no interest in inquiring about Oppel’s subsequent promotions.
In present-day France, among leaders of general rank, more than half are associated with the First Empire of France, having, to varying degrees, betrayed the Empire prior to its collapse.
Jerome Bonaparte didn’t intend to admonish them for their faults because he knew that if he were to begin, the entire upper echelons of the French Army, in particular, could all be characterized as betraying the Emperor.
If an individual betrayed, Jerome Bonaparte cast them aside like trash.
However, if a class betrayed, Jerome Bonaparte could only negotiate with subtlety, endeavoring to gain their support.
After listening to Oppel’s earnest boasting, Jerome Bonaparte donned a regretful look, spread his hands, and said, "It seems wasteful for someone like the General not to continue serving the Republic but instead to be trapped by the National Assembly. If it were up to me, I would certainly invite you, General, to serve as France’s Minister of War!"
General Oppel exhibited an excited expression and said to Jerome Bonaparte: "If Your Highness ever needs me, I would go through fire and water without hesitation!"
"I look forward to our cooperation," Jerome Bonaparte slightly bowed to General Oppel before him.
Achille Fuld, standing beside Jerome Bonaparte, gestured to the servants standing behind a pillar in the drawing room. Two servants carrying trays appeared before Achille Fuld.
Achille Fuld handed out a few glasses of wine from the two trays to those in the circle and raised his glass, saying, "I propose, for the Empire, that we drink a toast."
"Long live the Empire!" Raising his glass, General Oppel finally displayed the gallant demeanor befitting a soldier, taking the Bordeaux wine in his glass in one gulp.
"Long live the Empire!" Jerome Bonaparte likewise drank the wine in his glass completely.
"General Oppel, I will accompany Your Highness to take a walk elsewhere! I hope you enjoy yourself!" Achille Fuld said to General Oppel.
"I wish Your Highness an enjoyable time!" General Oppel once again expressed his blessings to Jerome Bonaparte, deliberately ignoring Achille Fuld, the initiator of the soirée.
Achille Fuld, accustomed to handling matters calmly, maintained his smile.
Under his guidance, Jerome Bonaparte again integrated into dozens of small circles.
Most of these small circles comprised members of the press and some industrial factory owners, with only a few featuring bankers and writers with modest fame in Paris.
No matter the circle, Jerome Bonaparte always faced them with a smiling demeanor.
Jerome Bonaparte’s attitude successfully engendered pleasant feelings from all the people within these small circles, with a few journalists turning red in the face and promising unequivocally to promote Jerome Bonaparte thoroughly.
Seeing their flushed faces, Jerome Bonaparte suspected their promises were nothing but tipsy ramblings.
However, he found solace in securing interest-free loan permissions from a few bankers.
Compared to those eloquent editors, bankers who valued their reputation had more appeal to Jerome Bonaparte.
The soirée didn’t conclude until 2 a.m., lasting nearly two to three hours with the clinking of glasses without Jerome Bonaparte faltering, the stimulation of alcohol instead making his mind even sharper.
With "escort" from Achille Fuld and General Oppel, Jerome Bonaparte and Mathilde once more boarded the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Jerome Bonaparte and Mathilde revisited the topic of General Oppel just moments before.
"What do you think of that guy, Oppel?" Mathilde asked Jerome Bonaparte.
"A poor general trying to become a high-level politician!" Jerome Bonaparte responded without hesitation.
"Does that mean he doesn’t hold value to be courted?" Mathilde inquired again.
"Whether someone is worth courting depends on whether they can create value for us at the right time!" Jerome Bonaparte explained: "I just said Oppel is a poor general trying to be a high-level politician, not that he has no value! Such a politician-general can only serve as a transitional figure temporarily! If after I become President, there’s no candidate for the Minister of War, Oppel makes a great military mascot! From this aspect, Oppel’s role outweighs today’s everyone else!"