"Joan of Arc?"
Upon hearing this name, Aigron's eyes lit up.
Theoretically, Joan of Arc is not yet a saint because the Roman Church did not canonize her until 1920.
However, because of her achievements, she has been worshiped and admired by the French people for hundreds of years. Everyone has already regarded her as a saint, so there is no problem in calling her "saint".
However, although the legend of Joan of Arc has been circulated among the people, since the end of the Hundred Years' War, French officials have not had many commemorative activities for her, although King Charles VII had already convicted her of being a "witch" shortly after she was burned to death. Rehabilitated, but in the following hundreds of years, she was only mentioned as a historical figure by the royal family, and not many grand honors were bestowed upon her - although she was fully worthy of it.
This is also easy to understand. The era that Joan of Arc lived in was the most chaotic, humiliating and painful era in France. France was invaded by foreign enemies and suffered consecutive defeats. The proud noble knights were defeated; the royal family declined and evil Suddenly, King Charles VI went crazy and could not manage his own affairs for a long time. He was captured by the enemy on the battlefield. While his Queen Isabeau encouraged her husband to betray the country, she publicly announced that her crown prince was an illegitimate son and was not qualified to inherit the throne; the government was also in trouble. It was extremely chaotic and corrupt, and the two factions of nobles were at war with each other. No one was interested in resisting foreign enemies.
It was precisely because of the corruption and incompetence at the top and constant internal strife that the Kingdom of France, which was much larger than Britain at the time, was broken apart by the British and suffered heavy casualties. As a result, towns and villages were ravaged by war, and almost the entire north fell to the enemy. .
The terrible misfortune has continued since then. War, famine and plague have gathered on this poor land at the same time, turning towns into ruins and turning villages into wilderness. All these tragedies have made almost everyone believe that the doomsday predicted in the Bible It has arrived.
When Joan of Arc went to see King Charles VII, the poor king had neither soldiers nor money, and almost lost all hope. Orleans, his last territory in the north, seemed about to fall. Not only did his enemies despise him, but everywhere The feudal lords did not take him seriously, and even his mother publicly declared that he was an illegitimate son and unworthy of being king, which shook his legitimacy...
Although this young man was lucky enough to be reincarnated into the most noble family, and as the youngest son, he was lucky enough to survive the death of all his older brothers, but the kingdom he wanted to inherit no longer belonged to him. He looked like a wretch about to drown. He desperately called for help, trying to grab a life-saving straw, but he only received contempt and ridicule from all directions.
——If a king is not in a desperate situation, how can he be so desperate as to believe that a country girl can save the situation?
Fortunately, God took pity on him in the end. Since Jeanne d'Arc joined the king's service, the young King Charles VII's fortunes turned around and he survived a desperate situation. He grew up step by step, slowly expanded his own power, and finally finally succeeded. Rebuilding the country and leading France out of this darkest era.
It's a pity that Joan of Arc herself has no luck in seeing such a bright ending.
All in all, if you study the history carefully, you will easily find that France suffered such a tragic disaster at that time not only because of the cruelty of the English, but also because of the internal strife in the royal family that lasted for decades - the two uncles With the nobles of Burgundy and Armagnac fighting each other, the king and queen were crazy and the other was extravagant. The noble royal members competed to betray their country, performing scenes of scandals that were unbearable to watch.
Naturally, subsequent kings were unwilling to talk much about such "dark history." Who was willing to face the fact that the royal family had fallen into such a state? Who is willing to clarify the ownership of responsibility?
However, for Aiglon, it's a different story.
He has no responsibility for the dark history of the past, and is not afraid to settle old accounts. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the Bonaparte family. He can just clear away the dusty history and give all the great and noble auras to the ashes. girl.
To him, it no longer matters what Joan of Arc is like. He only needs to abstract a few dazzling concepts from this girl - "patriotism", "piety", "dedication" and "victory".
And these things can be applied intact to the Bonaparte family and become the halo of Bonaparte and the empire.
"Teresa, this is a good idea!" When he thought of this, Aigron clapped his hands excitedly, "Let's follow this idea!"
Because of his clapping and shouting, a subtle echo suddenly appeared in the originally silent forest, which sounded a bit strange, but this did not affect Aigron's excitement at all.
He took Teresa's hand enthusiastically and said, "Let's go back, I have an idea."
"What do you think?" Teresa asked quickly.
"If we want to impress ordinary people, especially the illiterate villagers in the countryside, words are not as good as pictures, so we use pictures to instill in them the concepts you just mentioned -" Aigron replied excitedly.
Yes, in the eyes of people today, "Joan of Arc is the saint who saved the country" and "Joan of Arc is a devout believer". These two items are people's consensus.
So if people get the impression that "Joan of Arc and the Bonaparte family stand together", then it is naturally self-evident that "the Bonaparte family defends the country and the Bonaparte family is a devout defender of the faith."
As long as such an impression is established on people, these villagers will naturally be spiritually close to the Bonaparte family - in this way, the spiritual image established by the Bourbon family based on tradition will naturally be greatly affected. Big challenge.
Aiglon does not need to let the Bonaparte family immediately break the inherent impression formed over thousands of years. He only needs to make the villagers shake their original impression a little, which is enough to make them no longer loyal to the Bourbon royal family.
Teresa was a little confused about Aigron's sudden excitement, but seeing Aigron's full energy, she couldn't bear to pour cold water on him, so she followed Aigron back to the farm obediently.
At Agron's urging, she took out her pencil and prepared to draw the picture he had conceived for him.
"I want to draw a girl in armor, riding a tall horse, holding a flagpole and a flag in both hands. Note that the flag is not the King of Iris flag but the red, white and blue tricolor flag... Behind her is a chariot drawn by four horses. The chariot, standing on top of the chariot is Emperor Napoleon wearing a Guards uniform and a bicorn hat.
Surrounding the chariot and the girl are angels, and under the horses' hooves are clouds. They launch an expedition towards the scorching sun; and behind them, flying imperial eagles, they represent victory and glory.
Girls must be beautifully painted, very beautiful! Her long hair and the flag are fluttering in the wind. She is awe-inspiring yet charming. She will lead the Bonaparte family and France forward! "
Teresa listened silently to her husband's creative ideas. After listening, she did not start writing immediately.
"Your Highness, according to historical records, Joan of Arc was a girl with short hair. After all, she had to march and fight at that time. If she had long hair in the military camp, it would affect her health..." Teresa put forward her own opinion, "Besides, Joan of Arc was extremely brave. , not necessarily a slender girl..."
Theresa's doubts did not shake Aigron's will at all, and Aigron solemnly refuted Theresa.
"Dear Teresa, you should know that not many people love history, but everyone loves beautiful girls. We should be on the side of the majority! When people talk about a famous girl in history, they usually assume that she is very beautiful. , otherwise why would you be interested in talking about her?"
"But besides being beautiful, girls also have many shining qualities!" Teresa couldn't help but retort. "In my opinion, Joan of Arc's noble character, her bravery and tenacity, her desire and persistence for victory are far more valuable than her appearance."
"Yes, it is true, but for a girl, it is an add-on." Aiglon shrugged, "We cannot go against the people's wishes. The people hope that she will be a beautiful girl with brilliant blond hair and possessions that no one else can As beautiful as she is, free from dust and blood, we should grant their wish and give them a Joan of Arc like this, she must be like this."
"Actually, it's His Highness's own hobby..." Teresa couldn't help complaining.
But since Aigron insisted, she had no choice but to obey her husband's opinion.
Of course, in fact, she is not that resistant psychologically. After all, Joan of Arc has been dead for hundreds of years. Who she is is irrelevant to Teresa. The important thing is that she is doing her husband a favor. , this is her working hard for the couple's career - this is where Teresa thinks she is happy.
In her husband's detailed description, she had already roughly sketched an outline in her mind. Then she took a pencil and sketched on the sketchbook one stroke at a time. Gradually, the lines that appeared on the paper slowly appeared. Images are formed one by one, and finally a picture is roughly formed.
After it was roughly completed, Teresa looked at the sketch carefully, then made a few minor modifications with a pencil, and then handed the sketch to her husband.
Aigron took the drawing and looked at it carefully. Although it was just a sketch, the lines were already quite smooth and detailed, and it roughly restored the scene that Aigron had just described.
Aigron's eyes passed over the Imperial Eagle, the Angel, and the Former Emperor, and naturally fell on the girl.
This is indeed a very beautiful girl, but she is also arrogant and cold. Her sharp eyes, the armor she wears, and the galloping horse at her hip make her heroic temperament come to her face.
Although she, her mount, and the flag in her hand are not painted, even so, you can still feel the beauty and unique charm of this girl.
If Joan of Arc knew better, she would probably be angry that a Corsican landowning family whose name she had never heard dared to impersonate her name and regard her as their own banner. This girl who was devoutly loyal to the royal family and died for it would probably be angry. You have to go crazy...
However, there was nothing she could do. After all, the dead could only be dressed up.
All historical figures, no matter how great they were, can only become puppets used by others after their death. Various people, with various purposes, use their once-prominent name to paint themselves, change their words and phrases, and act like them. What can he do if he least wants to see it?
This will be the case for Egron in the end.
He could only hope that the nearest few generations of his descendants would be capable, so as not to suffer ridicule and humiliation soon after his death - as for what happened in the next few generations, no one could control it, and he didn't care anymore.
"Your Highness, are you dissatisfied?" Seeing Aigron looking at the picture in silence, Theresa became a little nervous.
"No... Teresa, I'm very satisfied, so satisfied! I really didn't expect you to be able to draw the image I wanted so easily..." Aigron couldn't help but praise his wife. "Teresa, you are actually a cartoonist who was delayed by the title of princess."
But Teresa was a little confused, "What is a cartoonist?"
There was no such profession in this era, and it would not appear until the later stages of the Industrial Revolution when European people were becoming more educated and the newspaper industry was booming.
But even so, she felt Aegron's excitement and praise, and that was enough for her.
"I haven't touched a paintbrush for a long time, and I'm still a bit rusty. I will perform better in the future -"
Agron ignored his wife's modesty. He continued to look at the pencil drawing and imagined what it would look like after it was colored.
However, the more he looked at this girl, the more he felt a vague sense of familiarity.
"This portrait looks a bit like a person-" he blurted out.
Then it dawned on him. "Agnes! It's so similar. Isn't this Miss Agnes?"
Indeed, although it is not exactly the same, once you think of Agnes, you can immediately see her appearance from her eyebrows——
Theresa was a little surprised and a little distressed when she heard him call out this name, but she quickly concealed these emotions.
"You actually recognized it so easily..." She smiled bitterly. "That's right... When I was imagining it in my mind, I looked for the image you hoped for in what I saw and heard, and then the heroic figure of Miss Agnes defeating your officers that night suddenly appeared in my mind. That scene left a deep impression on me. I have never seen such temperament and grace in other girls of the same age, so I drew her based on her appearance. Such an image..."
Although Teresa felt some unspeakable sourness towards Miss Agnes, she had to admit that this young lady did possess the brilliance of Shining Eyes. If she were asked to find other templates, she would not be able to find anything comparable.
When she said this, Agron understood why Theresa was able to find the feeling so quickly. It turned out that there was already a "model".
"It's indeed quite suitable... She gives people that feeling." Aigron nodded, "It's a pity that France doesn't need her to lead troops to fight and save the country... Hey, you tell me, if we ask her to play the role one day This image must be quite interesting, right?"
"I think it's probably not necessary." Teresa shook her head slightly. "What's the need to disturb her life?"
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