On the morning when the fleet arrived in Le Havre, Charles got up and took a shower before going to have breakfast.
Then he went back to his room again and took a shower in his own private bathroom.
Thinking about seeing his parents again soon, Ciel felt a little excited.
I imagined the various situations I might encounter after I went out, and I felt a little uneasy.
He has to face a large number of French nobles and officials, and there should be a grand banquet later.
Then there is the activity of visiting the fleet, and then returning to Paris after the activity.
When he returns to Paris, he will take part in an operation to arrest the restless nobles and businessmen headed by the Duke of Orleans.
The task on my shoulders is very important...
Ciel rubbed his cheeks to cheer himself up as much as possible.
Wash your body step by step, dry your body and apply antiperspirant, dry your hair and then get dressed.
Coming to the large wardrobe in the room, Ciel hesitated for a moment.
Ciel subconsciously wanted to wear the clothes he had adapted to in New Tianfu and Canada.
But what I have to face today is no longer a stranger, nor a close friend who understands and supports my preferences.
Including close but sensitive family members, less familiar but very important officials and nobles.
However, the hesitation and entangled emotions had just begun to brew, and the words of his best friend appeared in Ciel's mind:
“The first impression you can make on strangers can be made in one simple and direct step.
"But to change the perceptions of people you know well, it's best to use a step-by-step approach."
So Ciel quickly made up his mind and chose a relatively compromise set.
Well, a compromise between Lolita and uniform...
After finishing cleaning up, Ciel left the room and asked the guards around him to gather his own guards and go to the deck together.
Talleyrand was already on the deck and came over to say hello immediately after seeing Charles.
Talleyrand was slightly relieved when he saw Charles's image, but he looked complicated when he saw the hundreds of guards around him.
Talleyrand didn't quite understand why Charles wanted to recruit a group of guards in Canada.
And he took it directly back to France without leaving.
Does Charles still need to worry about his own safety in France?
Talleyrand could not imagine what Charles was going to do.
The passenger ship was stable on the dock. After the special gangway was lowered, Charles, as the crown prince, was the first to disembark.
When Ciel appeared on the gangway, there were cheers all around.
Due to his cooperation with Dashi Clothing Company, Charles became very popular among French nobles.
Especially among the younger generation, Charles, who can be called the most cutting-edge representative of fashion in Paris and even Europe, is particularly popular.
And Ciel's outfit today also caught their attention again.
Ciel was wearing a dark red coat that was somewhere between a short windbreaker and a dress, with a normal white shirt and tie underneath.
The hem of the windbreaker or the skirt of the dress is just as long as the knees, with a relatively soft and small pannier inside.
Pure white pantyhose without embroidery patterns, thick soles and shallow leather shoes with thick heels without complicated decorations.
Pure white silk gloves, a decorative hat, and the cane given by Zhu Jingyuan.
The male nobles and officials present basically wore simple neo-Ming style formal attire.
Most of the female nobles and ladies wear complicated traditional Thai and Western women's clothing.
Charr is now a completely new style that is significantly different from both.
Many people have begun to wonder whether this will be the next popular style.
Charles waved to the crowd below with a smile on his face, walked down the gangway unhurriedly, and went to see his parents first.
Louis XVI and his wife were very happy and hugged their only child vigorously.
After hugging and saying hello, Queen Marie Antoinette took her son's hand and looked at him up and down:
"It seems that the weather in Xintianfu is very good, and you have gone out for some activities, and you seem to be a little tanned.
"Well, the clothes for the emperor's identity are also very unique. Is this the new design of His Highness Prince Dashi?"
When Charles heard his mother ask about clothes, he immediately introduced him quite proudly:
“It is indeed the latest design of my best friend, a completely different style from the past, a brand new series.
"This is just one of the outfits I have on me. I brought back a whole box of clothes and I will show them to you later."
Queen Mary smiled and nodded and said:
"It seems that Prince Dashi has a really good relationship with you, and you have become the embodiment of Western fashion because of him just now.
"It's a pity that His Highness the Prince's designs do not include women's clothing. Mom can only envy you..."
After hearing this, Charles immediately shook his head and said:
“I used to think the same thing as my mother, but now I know we were both wrong.
“After I met my best friend again this time and discussed it with him, I realized that things were not what we thought at all.
"A piece of clothing itself has no male or female attributes, and the classification of men's and women's clothing is artificially imposed.
"My best friend also designs clothes like this. His clothes can be worn by both men and women."
Queen Mary, Louis XVI, and the surrounding nobles were all a little stunned when they heard this subversive logic.
Louis XVI and his wife did not want to refute their son immediately, but planned to have a good talk with him after going back.
But the Duke of Orleans retorted quite bluntly at this time:
"Your Highness Charles, of course clothes are divided into men's and women's clothing, just like pants are men's clothing and dresses are women's clothing."
Charles attaches great importance to the Duke of Orleans and has regarded him as an enemy that must be dealt with.
But Ciel remembered his best friend's advice to keep his city in front of outsiders, especially enemies.
You cannot let the other party see your inner thoughts, and you cannot let the other party know that you are going to deal with him.
If it is really difficult to control your emotional expression, you can deliberately find excuses for things that don't matter.
Let the other party think that you have conflicts with the other party because of these insignificant issues.
And then ignore the real actual planning that may exist.
So Charles deliberately kept a straight face and pointed at the Duke of Orleans' leg:
“In the Ming Dynasty, both adults, men, and children wear pants.
“It’s just that nobles would wear their trousers under their skirts, while commoners wearing short clothes would wear their trousers directly outside.
"At the same time, the robes worn by the Ming emperor, nobles and officials can all be regarded as dresses in the eyes of us Thais.
"Do you think that the Ming Emperor and the nobles all wore women's clothes?"
Charles refuted and questioned the Duke of Orleans face to face.
The Duke of Orleans was a little confused, and then instinctively retorted:
"How can the robes worn by nobles and officials of the Ming Dynasty be considered dresses? His Highness Charles really knows how to joke.
"Their clothes all open from the side. In fact, they should be regarded as windbreakers."
Ciel pretended to argue with the other party to the end:
“Not to mention whether a trench coat is a dress or not, even the trench coat itself cannot be considered men’s clothing!
"Many of the skirts worn by women in the Ming Dynasty opened directly on the side. Are they also windbreakers?
“In the Ming Dynasty, windbreakers and dresses were essentially the same thing, and they were both things that had nothing to do with men and women.
“So, dresses are not women’s clothing, pants are not men’s clothing, and the styles of clothing are inherently unisex.
"The Thai people's forced division of it just reflects your ignorance and old-fashionedness."
The Duke of Orleans, a traditional aristocrat, had no research on this kind of thing, so he was immediately speechless.
But he had no good impression of Charles, Louis XVI and even the royal family.
He relies on his royal blood relationship and title to do whatever he wants, and he also has a character that relies on his old age.
In addition, the relationship between the Thai and Western nobles and the royal family is very different from the relationship between the nobles and the royal family of the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, the Duke of Orleans said in a sly manner:
"No matter what His Highness says, I will not regard dresses as men's clothing, nor will I regard pants as women's clothing."
Charles immediately followed closely and said:
"There is an old saying in the Ming Dynasty: 'If you know your mistakes, you can correct them, but there is no greater good.'
"You who know your mistakes but don't correct them should be the so-called 'stubborn'.
"Such a stubborn person is really not worthy of being a French noble."
Having said this, Charles turned to his father Louis XVI:
“Father, someone as stubborn as the Duke of Orleans is simply a disgrace to our French nobility and royal family.
"I propose that the Duke of Orleans be expelled from his title and exiled to New Brunswick, Canada."
The Duke of Orleans was immediately stunned when he heard this, and immediately looked at Louis XVI here:
"Your Majesty, His Highness and I were only arguing about clothes. This did not violate any laws at all!"
Louis XVI was also helpless and felt that Charles was making trouble unreasonably:
"Char, okay, don't argue about this issue..."
Ciel also gave up when things got better, and it was just right to have such a verbal argument.
If you pursue him directly because of this matter, you may arouse the other party's vigilance.
Ciel continued to greet the other nobles.
Then he greeted the main officials of the French cabinet headed by the Duke of Richelieu.
Then everyone gathered around Louis XVI, his wife and Charles, and returned to the city to start the banquet.
At the banquet, Charles once again took the initiative to find the Duke of Orleans, seemingly trying to persuade the Duke of Orleans.
Let him accept and admit that pants are not men's clothing and dresses are not women's clothing.
The Duke of Orleans was quite speechless about this, and did not expect that Charles would be entangled in this issue.
The old man became very stubborn as he got older, and he felt that Charles could not do anything to him, a member of the royal family.
So I kept holding my neck and not bowing my head, insisting that pants are men's clothing and dresses are women's clothing.
A similar situation happened again, and the incident began to spread to a small extent within the aristocratic circle.
After the banquet, Ciel stayed with his parents in the city.
The next morning, French nobles and officials once again followed Louis XVI, his wife, and Charles to visit the Ming Dynasty's warships.
Yesterday morning, most people just looked at it from a distance and could only roughly see the outline of the battleship.
After boarding the ship today, the nobles and officials headed by Louis XVI were able to observe the details directly and closely, and then personally experienced the hugeness and uniqueness of the ship.
From the triple-mounted main gun to the turret-shaped secondary gun, as well as a large number of small and medium-caliber artillery, they are all completely new designs.
Louis XVI and many nobles once again had the idea of building one of their own.
But they all began to feel guilty about this idea, and began to worry about whether their country could be built.
At noon, a small banquet was held on the battleship.
Charles once again took time to find the Duke of Orleans and continued to try to get him to accept the idea of men's clothing and women's clothing.
Although the Duke of Orleans was annoyed, he still kept his words and refused to bow his head.
The spread of this incident expanded again, and more and more nobles knew that Prince Charles and the Duke of Orleans had certain conflicts in their understanding of "fashion."
The nobles usually have a lot of leisure, and all kinds of gossip and secrets are their favorite.
The logic of Charles's claims quickly spread among the French aristocratic circles as these gossips spread.
Many nobles thought the logic was very reasonable, but many others thought it was too strange and thought the Duke of Orleans was right.
Due to differences in cognition and acceptance, French nobles had different views on this matter.
French nobles and officials headed by Louis XVI and his wife stayed in Le Havre for seven days.
Three days were spent visiting warships from the Ming Dynasty, and the remaining time was spent holding banquets and entertainment activities.
Prince Charles would go to the Duke of Orleans at every banquet and try to persuade the Duke of Orleans, but to no avail.
The dispute between the Prince of Charles and the Duke of Orleans, and the content of the dispute, became a hot topic in aristocratic circles.
Then there are little aristocratic men with flamboyant personalities who put on women's skirts and come out to impress the public.
Finally, at a dinner seven days later, Louis XVI and his wife announced that they would lead the nobles back to Paris tomorrow.
The Duke of Orleans breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling that he could finally be freed.
When I return to Paris, I have to plan carefully how to teach this annoying crown prince a little lesson.
After the banquet, the Duke and Duchess of Orleans left the manor in the city and prepared to take the car back to their residence to rest.
As a result, as soon as Minato left the house, he was surrounded by dozens of soldiers.
Dozens of black guns were aimed at the Duke of Orleans, his son and several of their servants.
The Duke of Orleans was startled, and immediately instinctively revealed his identity:
"I am the Duke of Orleans in France. Which army are you from? What are you doing?"
When the Duke of Orleans announced his identity, a small officer took out a piece of paper and announced loudly to the Duke of Orleans and his son:
"His Royal Highness Louis Charles, Dauphin of France, orders:
"Louis-Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, and his son allowed rebels to organize activities in their palace with the intention of subverting the rule of His Majesty King Louis XVI.
“He has repeatedly colluded with British speculators, betrayed France’s national interests, evaded taxes for a long time, provided convenience for smugglers, and obtained unfair benefits.
“All the evidence is conclusive, arrest him on the spot now and transport him to the Supreme Court for trial.
"His Royal Highness Charles proposes to remove his title, confiscate all assets, and exile him to New Brunswick, Canada."
After the reading was completed, a dozen soldiers immediately swarmed forward and controlled the Duke of Orleans, his son and the servants.
The Duke of Orleans was blinded, struggling and howling loudly:
"Char is crazy! I just don't agree with your point of view, but you actually kidnapped me!
"This is against the rules! I want to see His Majesty..."
A soldier took a cloth ball and stuffed it into the mouths of the Duke of Orleans and his son.
They tied their hands and feet and threw them into a big car.
At the same time, nearly a hundred other nobles and wealthy businessmen were successively surrounded, arrested and controlled.
Charles basically arrested people in public. The banquet had just ended when he arrested people, and most of the people had not yet arrived home.
So the news of Charles' arrest spread quickly.
Talleyrand was stunned after receiving the news:
"Could it be that His Highness Charles... is trying to seduce the emperor! No wonder he wants to recruit guards from Canada!"
Talleyrand subconsciously wanted to run to find Louis XVI, but he controlled his impulse before he left the house.
“If His Highness Charles succeeds, will he immediately become the new king?
"If I go to see His Majesty at this time, will I be targeted by His Highness Charles in the future?"
(End of chapter)
