Chapter 295: Chapter 292: The Death of Thiers (Part 1)
When Valerovsky arrived at Pulvati Street, Pulvati had already been tightly surrounded.
The Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Battalion of the Second Regiment of the Third Brigade, responsible for garrisoning the area, quickly saluted Valerovsky upon his arrival.
Valerovsky also dismounted to return the salute to the Lieutenant Colonel, then inquired, "Where is Senator Thiers now?"
The Lieutenant Colonel pointed towards Adolphe Thiers’ Mansion and replied, "Adolphe Thiers is now detained in the mansion, awaiting your decision!"
"Hmm!" Valerovsky nodded to the Lieutenant Colonel in affirmation.
The Lieutenant Colonel’s face showed a smile after receiving Valerovsky’s acknowledgment.
"Did the detainee exhibit any excessive resistance during custody?" Valerovsky inquired of the Lieutenant Colonel again.
The Lieutenant Colonel recalled for a moment and then replied, "No, not really! The detainee was far calmer than we imagined, as if he had anticipated all of this!"
No wonder it’s Thiers!
Valerovsky couldn’t help but admire Adolphe Thiers’ mindset, and subconsciously elevated the level of threat Thiers posed in his mind.
"Give me your handgun!" Tasked with a mission, Valerovsky extended his hand and ordered the Lieutenant Colonel.
The Lieutenant Colonel was taken aback for a moment, then quickly handed over his revolver to Valerovsky.
"You stay here and await orders!" Valerovsky hid the revolver in his pocket and issued the command to the Lieutenant Colonel.
"Mr. Secretary, I should have two people accompany you for protection!" The Lieutenant Colonel, concerned for Valerovsky’s safety, suggested.
"No need!" Valerovsky refused the Colonel’s request, "Since the detainee already knows his command, there will certainly be no violent resistance! I can go alone!"
The Lieutenant Colonel obeyed Valerovsky, staying at the mansion’s entrance while waiting for Valerovsky.
Valerovsky pushed open the mansion’s doors alone and saw Adolphe Thiers lying on the sofa in the living room.
Thiers had just taken a nap at this moment, and Valerovsky’s arrival quickly woke him up.
"It’s you!" Adolphe Thiers looked at Valerovsky with astonishment, seemingly surprised by his arrival.
"What? Surprised?" Valerovsky sat on the sofa, picked up the Bordeaux wine placed on the table, glanced at it, and then put it back lightly, speaking in a frivolous tone, "At such a critical moment, Senator Thiers still has the mood to drink! Your mindset is quite good!"
Adolphe Thiers didn’t take Valerovsky’s slightly mocking words to heart. His tone was calm, like greeting an old friend reunited after a long time, "Shouldn’t you be with Jerome Bonaparte, enjoying the joy of victory? Didn’t expect you’d still have the mind to see me, the loser!"
"Loser?" Valerovsky’s lips curled into a playful smile, "I fear, in your heart, you don’t see yourself as a loser, do you!"
"That’s right!" Thiers nodded, admitting Valerovsky’s words. He also picked up the Bordeaux wine, poured himself a glass, and raised it toward Valerovsky, "Care for a glass?"
"Of course!" Valerovsky nodded in response to Thiers.
Thiers stood up, took a new glass from the cabinet, placed it in front of Valerovsky, and poured him a glass of wine.
"Cheers!" Valerovsky said with a smile.
"Cheers!" Thiers also smiled and said.
The wine glasses clinked together with a crisp and pleasant sound, and Valerovsky and Thiers downed the wine in their glasses.
After finishing the entire glass of wine, Thiers’ face carried a slight, intoxicated blush, and his eyes seemed a bit blurred, "Valerovsky, you won! You won beautifully!" Thiers sighed softly, lamenting, "When we all thought you would only initiate the coup next year at the earliest, you chose the end of this year!"
Thiers paused, then, with a bitter smile, said, "I must admit, it was a perfect strike! Mr. Valleski, with one blow, you defeated us completely!"
"Senator Thiers, can I take this as your praise for us?" Valerovsky replied to Thiers.
"It’s praise!" Thiers nodded calmly and said, "The victor should indeed receive praise and flowers!"
"Mr. Thiers, just now you said you were not a loser!" Valerovsky seized Adolphe Thiers’ flaw and said.
"Who says that where there is a victor, there must be a loser?" Adolphe Thiers smiled at Valerovsky and said, "I admit you have won, but can you guarantee you’ll keep winning?"
Thiers’ words sounded an alarm in Valerovsky’s heart.
Indeed! They had won the victory, and the next step was to preserve it to the greatest extent possible!
"The Bourbons also won with foreign aid, yet their victory lasted just 15 years! The Bourbons fell, Orléans rose, and it lasted only 18 years! Do you really believe that after such a revolution an eternal kingdom can be built?" Thiers asked, "Even a genius like the Emperor faced defeat! The Parisians gave him two chances..."
Valerovsky remained silent, reasoning that he too didn’t believe the Second Bonaparte Dynasty could last forever.
"Alright! I shouldn’t say such disheartened words when you’ve just won!" Thiers shifted his tone, pouring another glass of wine for Valerovsky as well as for himself: "The first glass was to celebrate your victory, this one is to celebrate my riddance of my foolish party!"
Valerovsky and Adolphe Thiers clinked glasses once more, downing the second glass of wine.
After the drinks, Adolphe Thiers became even more loquacious: "You know? I’ve had enough of those foolish and cunning colleagues of mine; every single one has their own agendas! They never understand unity, nor are they willing to risk for the highest power; they only want to wait quietly for that power to fall into their hands, which is impossible! I anticipated your military coup..."
Adolphe Thiers poured out his grievances to Valerovsky, revealing the hardships he endured within the Order Party over the past two years. Adolphe Thiers was assured Jerome Bonaparte wouldn’t kill him; it was an unwritten rule established post-Great Revolution.
No one can be a perpetual victor; hasty executions would only trigger a "man killing man" cycle.
However, Thiers would never have guessed that while Jerome Bonaparte would not eliminate everyone, Thiers had already appeared on his assassination list.
"They even argue endlessly over which king should come to power, my God! Any king will do!" Thiers exclaimed in "despair": "The worst are those aristocrats, hard-headed as logs! It’s as if the decades spent in the countryside have left their minds as mere decorations!"
"They are indeed somewhat out of touch!" Valerovsky replied quietly, "Some still see you as king slayers and usurpers!"
"If that were all, it would be tolerable!" Adolphe Thiers’ face twisted with frustration, as if lamenting the inability to mold iron into steel: "But their king, that damn Count of Chambord, what on earth is his problem! If it weren’t for his damn statements, our party wouldn’t have disintegrated! Once the throne is secured, the rest can be done as one pleases!"
The utilitarian Adolphe Thiers could never comprehend the nobles’ pride in bloodline; to him, they were all outdated relics.
"It’s too late for these arguments now!" Valerovsky coolly said, "You have already failed!"
"Alright! Mr. Valerovsky, since you say I have failed, I indeed admit my failure!" Adolphe Thiers no longer quibbled over defeat and success, and continued following Valerovsky’s lead, "So, how does Mr. President plan to deal with me? Exile abroad?"
"Mr. President will not exile you abroad!" Valerovsky replied to Adolphe Thiers.
Exiling someone like Victor Hugo, lacking political cunning, would cause no harm, but exiling people like Adolphe Thiers abroad would cause more damage than ten Victor Hugos.
"I knew it!" Adolphe Thiers sighed in relief, "Someone like me, how could the President dare let us go so easily! Does the President require us to withdraw from politics?"
"More or less!" Valerovsky also answered ambiguously, having personally felt the "intimidation" of Adolphe Thiers in their conversation.
This was an enemy who would never compromise and continued to fight with all his might!
"That’s really great!" Adolphe Thiers smiled, showing no concern towards Valerovsky, "I’ll forever wait as the opposition, for your downfall! Be it ten years, twenty years, believe me, no government lasts over twenty years! Parisians are always fickle!"
"The President hopes you can join us and become a minister in some department!" Valerovsky made a final offer.
"Minister?" Thiers responded disdainfully, "Under Louis Philippe’s regime, I was already the Cabinet Prime Minister!"
"If that’s so!" Valerovsky sighed, slowly pulling a gun from his pocket under Adolphe Thiers’ gaze.
"Damn it! What are you doing!" Thiers looked at Valerovsky in horror, this was not what he had anticipated!
"Farewell!" Valerovsky said to Adolphe Thiers and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"