Chapter 196: J's Death Knell

Chapter 197: The Death Knell of Mr. J

Although Louis XVI's birthday has passed, the dress code is still temporarily cancelled in the Square of the Palace of Versailles these days, so many Parisians still come here to sing and dance, or watch free dramas.

Small vendors also gather here, hoping to seize the last opportunity to sell more.

People chat about what they have seen and heard in the past few days, and the lively laughter makes the afterglow of the celebrations unabated.

The royal families and dignitaries of various countries are freed from the previous cumbersome ceremonial activities, and finally have the leisure time to have a good time in Paris. The Garden of Eden Amusement Park and other places have once again welcomed a peak of tourists.

At 8:40 p.m., Mrs. Garland came to her concert hall with a relaxed and happy look on her face, ready to start today's music salon.

Using the influence brought by the king's birthday, she has become a hot music master in the Palace of Versailles. Her salon is even more a music "holy land" that aristocrats and celebrities are vying for. Without some strength, you can't enter the door of this music room.

Although Godoy was of humble status, he had joined the salon relatively early and had a solid musical foundation. In addition, Luisa took out hundreds of livres to help him, so he had a place in the salon.

Several servants in charge of placing musical instruments saw the Spanish Crown Princess and her guards enter the hall, nodded to each other secretly, turned back to confirm the location of the balcony, and slightly adjusted the guitarist's half-high chair.

Godoy followed Luisa and saluted respectfully to Mrs. Galan, said some compliments, and then walked to his seat, which was the position of the performer, under the guidance of a male servant. Luisa was taken to the VIP seat on the opposite high ground.

Because there were too many nobles attending the music salon, Mrs. Galan often borrowed servants from other places to help, so she didn't pay much attention to those unfamiliar faces.

At 9 o'clock, the salon officially began.

Mrs. Garland, as the hostess, went against the norm and gave a long speech on music theory after welcoming the guests, which won the admiration of the crowd.

Then, several music masters from the Palace of Versailles talked about music theory, and then entered the routine performance session.

The soothing music sounded, which was "Floating Hairband" by Francois Couperin, but after Mrs. Garland's re-arrangement, the overall style seemed more lively.

The performers melted themselves into the instruments, and the audience closed their eyes and enjoyed it in ecstasy.

Just as the music gradually reached a climax, a double bass placed on a chair and no one was using it suddenly fell to the side as if its center of gravity was unstable.

And Godoy happened to be right under the head of the violin.

The double bass is a giant among musical instruments, more than one person tall and weighing nearly 180 pounds. Godoy was startled and hurriedly dodged backwards to avoid being hit, but his chair legs seemed to have hit something and did not move backwards, but instead overturned under his push.

Godoy immediately fell backwards.

He was already at the edge of the balcony, and his body hit the balcony railing heavily at this time, but he heard a "crack" sound, and the wooden fence, which was thicker than an adult's arm, was smashed into several pieces like paper by him.

The Spanish Crown Princess was watching her lover playing handsomely with an intoxicated look on her face, and she was shocked to see the cello fall down, and then Godoy broke the balcony railing and fell downstairs.

Then a faint "crash" sound came from downstairs.

The sudden change made everyone freeze on the spot until Luisa screamed: "Godoy——"

The nearest musicians hurriedly stood up and carefully poked their heads out from the broken balcony fence. They could only vaguely see the guitarist lying on the ground motionless in the night, and a male servant next to him retreated in fear.

Luisa also hurried to the balcony and found that she could not see the situation below clearly. She turned pale and ran downstairs with the help of the maid. The nobles who attended the salon also immediately went downstairs to check the situation.

At this time, two palace guards who happened to pass by downstairs saw someone falling from the building, and hurriedly came to Godoy and squatted down, calling anxiously: "Sir! Sir, what happened to you?"

They saw that Godoy was obviously fainted. One of them looked up at the people on the balcony on the second floor. In the dim night, only a vague figure could be seen. He immediately took out a knife and quickly slashed it across Godoy's face.

The other person happened to see the golden cross pendant Godoy was wearing, so he pulled it out, smeared some blood on it, and placed it neatly on his chest.

When Luisa ran downstairs like crazy, she saw Godoy lying on the ground with the help of the torch in the servant's hand. There were many glass fragments around him, like a smashed goblet.

Two guards were trying to wake him up anxiously, and another servant was standing trembling beside him.

Luisa approached carefully and saw more clearly that there were two wounds on Godoy's face, which should have been cut by broken glass. One of them extended from the corner of his eye to the corner of his mouth, revealing white fat, which looked extremely horrifying.

And his cross pendant was lying on his chest. Against the white background of his shirt, it was clear that Jesus on the pendant was soaked in blood, as if foreshadowing something.

A nobleman who came from the salon saw this and made the sign of the cross while muttering:

"God bless! God bless!"

The sound reached Louisa's ears, but she was struck by lightning, and a thought suddenly emerged from her heart: This is punishment, God's punishment for being unfaithful to me!

She also hurriedly crossed herself and said in a trembling voice:

"Lord, please forgive me for my sins. I was wrong. Forgive me..."

"He's still alive!" A nobleman stepped forward to test Godoy's carotid artery and shouted back.

More than ten minutes later, the palace doctor arrived and asked his servants to carefully lift Godoy onto a stretcher and move him back into the house for rescue.

It was almost early in the morning, and the palace steward of the Palace of Versailles came to the residence of the Spanish Crown Prince. He knocked on the door and entered, but saw that the Crown Prince was not here, so he had to salute Luisa and said:

"Your Highness, the doctor said that your guard's life is not in danger, but he broke his right hand and also had some scratches."

Louisa didn't look at him at all, she just looked nervous and muttered something to herself.

The chamberlain continued:

"It's a pity that such an accident happened. I have sent people to conduct a detailed investigation. The balcony fence of the concert hall was hollowed out by termites. Because the hole was so hidden, it was not discovered... You know, the Palace of Versailles was built a long time ago Yeah, those little bugs are always destroying wood everywhere.

"Mr. Godoy hit the termite-eaten wooden fence and fell down. At that time, there was a valet downstairs who was delivering wine to the fountain. Mr. Godoy hit his tray. so……

"Um, do you want to go see him?"

Seeing that Louisa didn't respond, he could only sigh, bowed and exited the room: "Please don't worry too much, Your Highness."

…

The Spanish Crown Prince drank too much wine the night before, so he didn't learn about Godoy's fall until the next morning.

He was still lying on the sofa with his eyes dazed as he listened to the last word spoken by the palace official. Suddenly, as if he had found his soul, he jumped up suddenly, grabbed the visitor's shoulders and said excitedly:

"Are you talking about the Crown Princess's bodyguard Godoy? He broke his arm? His face was scratched?!"

"Yes, yes, Your Highness, please don't be too sad."

"Sad?" Antonio felt that the uncomfortable feeling of hangover disappeared without a trace in an instant, and his whole body felt as if he could fly. "Thank you for reminding me, I must not be sad! Haha!"

The palace official looked at him worriedly, and when he was hesitating whether to call a doctor, Joseph appeared in time and motioned for him to exit first.

Antonio stepped forward and grabbed him, as happy as a 150-pound child:

"Dear cousin, do you know that Versailles must be a place blessed by God! My wish has really become a reality!

"I love it here so much, I love France so much!"

Joseph made a sign of the cross on his chest in cooperation:

"God bless you, my cousin."

Antonio grabbed half the glass of wine next to him and poured it into his mouth, picked up Joseph and walked out the door:

"Let's go see that damn bastard! Oh, by the way, where is he now?"

Joseph turned to Eman and said, "Please take the Crown Prince to Mr. Godoy's place."

"Yes, Your Highness."

In the corridor, Antonio kept shouting selflessly:

"I love Versailles! I love it here! I'm going to stay here for a while!"

Joseph waited until he calmed down a little, then leaned over and whispered:

"My dear cousin, you must return to Madrid as soon as possible."

"Ah? Why?" Antonio grinned.

"While Godoy's injury is not healed, you set off immediately and leave him in France." Joseph said, "After returning to Madrid, report the recent events to His Majesty the King."

Joseph knew that although he had helped Spain get rid of one of the "disaster duo", it would be difficult for the other Luisa to be suppressed by Antonio alone.

At the moment, the only thing that can be done is to rely on Carlos III to still be there and let him try to suppress Luisa. I believe that this most powerful king in Spain in the past century has a way to deal with this woman.

Antonio was in a good mood at this time, and his mind became sharper. He nodded immediately after hearing this:

"You are right, I will go back right now!"

He looked at Godoy, who was lying on the bed moaning, and finally left with satisfaction.

After seeing the horrific wounds on Godoy's face last night, Louisa no longer wanted to look at him anymore. She later personally confirmed that the whole thing was indeed an accident - the broken wooden fence and the fence around the place where Godoy fell had been eaten away by termites and would break with the slightest touch. And before he fell last night, absolutely no one around him touched him.

She just wanted to leave the hellish place of Versailles as soon as possible, so after Antonio proposed returning to the country, she agreed without thinking.

At noon that day, the carriage of the Spanish Crown Prince was ready to set off.

Before leaving, Antonio hugged Joseph tightly and said sincerely:

"I really want to continue talking about machinery with you in the royal workshop, Joseph, you will always be my best brother!"

Yes, in his mind, if it weren't for his cousin, he might not have discovered his wife's debauchery and filthiness. He was full of gratitude to Joseph at this time.

"Yes, we are the best brothers!" Joseph nodded and patted him hard.

Antonio whispered in his ear again:

"Dear cousin, I have left someone behind in Paris. Please send that guy Godoy to Paris at your convenience."

Although he is afraid of his wife and obsessed with machinery, he is still the crown prince of a country with great power. When he calms down, how can he let go of the "mistress" who has fallen out of favor?

Joseph pretended to be a little shocked and said: "You want... I'm afraid..."

"Please do me this favor!"

Joseph reluctantly said: "Well, okay, I'll try my best..."

After the Spanish crown prince left, Joseph immediately wrote a letter to Carlos III, bitterly complaining about his cousin being raped in his bedroom, and promised that he would keep it secret.

He handed the letter to the messenger and told him to wait for Antonio to arrive in Madrid one day before handing it over to the King of Spain.

In this way, the family scandal became a national scandal, and I don't believe Carlos III would not be furious.

...

The heat of Louis XVI's birthday celebration did not completely disappear until September.

Joseph, wearing a brand new white custom-made military uniform, came to the Paris Police Academy in a carriage to attend the entrance ceremony of the second-term students of the police academy.

Today, in addition to the admission of the second-term students, it is also the departure internship ceremony of the first-term students.

Yes, although the first batch of students of the police academy has been enrolled for only ten months, Joseph decided to let them participate in the military operations in North Africa based on their training.

These students have trained very hard and have good military qualities. If they are mixed in Berthier's Prince Guards, they should be able to fight with the North African army.

Only after being soaked in the smoke and blood of the battlefield can they become a truly strong army!

According to Joseph's plan, the first batch of students of the police academy will have 1,000 regular soldiers, plus 400 "combat police", and Berthier's two regiments of 3,000 people, a total of nearly three regiments of 4,400 people, transported to North Africa by the French Navy to participate in the war.

This team is absolutely obedient to him, and there is no obstacle to mobilization.

If the fighting in North Africa is more intense, then consider mobilizing Duke Villars's Moulin Corps, which is the army that Andre is responsible for training, a total of three regiments.

Although the combat effectiveness of this army is not as good as the Prince's Guards, which was reorganized from the French Guards, their loyalty is guaranteed and there will be no big problem in mobilizing them.

If the combat effectiveness of the Moulin Corps is satisfactory, Joseph will also consider equipping them with better weapons and equipment, and it is not impossible to develop them into his own direct line.

As for the possibility that a force of nearly 9,000 people will still fail to take North Africa in accordance with Joseph's strategic deployment, it should be very small.