Descending On France 1780
Chapter 301 - 294 Veteran Frost’s true battle is about to begin

Chapter 301: 294 Veteran Frost’s true battle is about to begin

Napoleon had been passionately briefing Josephine on General Frost’s foresight and exceptional insight when suddenly Lasalle ran to the balcony and shouted, "Hey, come look! Your sister and Andy are dancing solo, and it’s a tango!"

Napoleon’s attention was immediately hooked by this news: "What? My sister isn’t good at dancing at all!"

Lasalle said, "Come on, once this tune ends, you’ll be the second hottest topic in Paris, with more tea party invitations than you can decline."

Napoleon was about to leave, and then suddenly remembered it wouldn’t be quite right to just leave Josephine there, so he turned his head and asked her, "Would you like to come too?"

Josephine smiled and said, "Of course."

Then she very naturally took Napoleon’s arm.

Lasalle’s face showed an expression of "wow" as he took a good look at Josephine up and down, then gave Napoleon a complex look, something along the lines of "why do you like older women."

Napoleon, entirely focused on Frost and his sister’s dancing, didn’t catch the insinuation of his friend’s look. He took Josephine with him into the ballroom.

The band was playing a quite typical tango tune, while Frost was holding Pauline, spinning in the dance floor.

Lasalle commented, "To be honest, it’s passable. After all, as long as there’s passion in tango, everything else can be overlooked."

Napoleon, on the other hand, was watching Pauline’s face: "Oh my, my sister must be dying of embarrassment. She’s not the type for this kind of situation."

Indeed, anyone could see that Pauline’s face was probably hot enough to fry an egg.

Napoleon was worried at first, but after watching for a while, he laughed and said, "It seems Pauline is rather enjoying herself, no need to worry about her too much."

Josephine said, "You really love your sister very much, Mr. Bonaparte."

"Of course, our father died early, and he left us when she was five, so as a brother, I have also played the role of a father. Which father doesn’t want his daughter to do well?" Napoleon responded with not a little pride, "Fortunately, Pauline grew up very well, she’s both beautiful and capable."

Lasalle couldn’t resist teasing, "It’s just a pity that her children will have to have a wet nurse."

Napoleon pursed his lips: "Nothing in this world is perfect, it’s unavoidable."

At that moment, the tango music was reaching its conclusion. The two passionate dancers froze with the last note, gazing at each other.

Just when everyone thought they were going to kiss, Pauline squatted down, holding her foot.

Frost looked apologetic: "I told you I’d step on your foot, but you didn’t believe me. I don’t dance precisely for this reason, I’m really not good at it."

Then Frost shook his head and looked around: "So, ladies, for the sake of your feet, better not think about dancing with me."

People looked at each other, wondering who would be the first genius to think that General Frost was joking, which set off a roar of laughter.

Laughter spread across the crowd, everyone was laughing.

**

Andy scratched his head; he wasn’t telling a joke just now, just stating facts.

But it seemed like everyone took it as a joke, thinking that "General Frost" was using his humor to defuse the current awkwardness.

Well, it didn’t matter.

Andy extended his hand to Pauline: "Can you stand up?"

"Of course, no problem." Pauline stubbornly got up on her own before taking Andy’s hand.

Pauline’s little show of stubbornness was actually quite to Andy’s taste.

He was about to lead Pauline to their seats when he suddenly saw an unusual combination by the edge of the dance floor.

Josephine Boarne was holding Napoleon’s hand!

Andy was startled; he had thought that this timeline’s Napoleon would never mix with Josephine.

The result...

At this moment, Anning suddenly felt a bone-chilling terror.

He realized that his real enemy might be the terrifying existence known as historical inertia.

In the beginning of the French Revolution, Anning, to facilitate fence-sitting and to grasp the direction of history, took initiative in actions that maintained the original course of events.

For example, he operated the cannon himself when the attack on the Bastille was obstructed, and when Mirabeau did not stand up to utter that famous quote, Anning stood up in his place and claimed the quote for himself.

Later, although Anning no longer forced himself to steer history in its original direction, he was not too concerned about whether history changed or not.

Now, Anning’s hope had turned to writing his own, new history, so he had to prevent history from following its original course.

Because in that original path, the true Jacobins would slaughter each other until none were left, and then opportunists like Balas would seize the Republic.

Anning now wanted to completely erase this history and rewrite it into the "good ending" he imagined.

This simple wish had arisen countless times before Anning traveled back in time.

For instance, he had hoped that Compaore hadn’t been corrupted and continued to stand with Sankara.

He had hoped that Pinocchio, faced with CIA temptations, would cry out "preserve the constitution" like that loyal general who had been assassinated before.

But now, history spoke to Anning with a cold voice, saying, "Don’t even think about it."

Josephine would still get involved with Napoleon, just as Paul Balas would continue to provoke the relationship between Robespierre and Dan Dong.

At this moment, as Anning gazed at Josephine, he suddenly felt an intense sense of crisis, and a thought was born in his mind: to eliminate opportunists like Paul Balas before the fallout between Robespierre and Dan Dong.

The scenes from his days playing "Crusader Kings II" instantly filled his mind, and Anning thought of countless assassination methods, including but not limited to exploding excrement, balcony collapses, snakes in Balas’s bed, and so on.

But these all had a drawback; if the truth were to leak, it would severely impact the righteous image of Andy Frost.

After giving it some thought, Anning decided it was best to stick with the most popular approach of the time: concoct false charges and send the opposition to the guillotine through the courts.

Anning pondered this as he pulled Pauline back to their seats.

No, one must not stand idly by.

Even if the opponent is the colossal entity known as history, I will fight until the last moment.

It shall not make me submit—the veteran of many battles, Andy Frost, thought so.

**

While Anning was being frightened by history at the ball, in a club in London, Pitt the Younger, who was about to be elected the next Leader, was also delivering an impassioned speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, because of our tradition with the Glorious Revolution, many people in Great Britain feel sympathetic and understanding towards what is happening in France.

"However, this is wrong!

"While we launched the Glorious Revolution, in the end, we still welcomed a new King as the leader of Great Britain and the head of the Anglican Church.

"The French people actually want to overthrow the noble political tradition of thousands of years, to overturn the order of Europe! Such heretical and deviant acts must not be allowed!

"The history and traditions of Europe are irrefutable facts, just like two plus two equals four, just like the leaves are green in summer!

"Great Britain should not be satisfied with merely instigating Europe to confront France, the British Army and the Royal Navy are already prepared!

"Light the fire, to prove that two plus two equals four!

"We shall use our swords to prove that the leaves are green in summer!

"We are ready!"

Pitt’s speech received enthusiastic applause.