"Vilnius, what do you think about the nursing profession?"
After Jerome Bonaparte asked this, Vilnius was momentarily taken aback. Then, after carefully observing Jerome Bonaparte's expression, she cautiously replied, "I think the nursing profession is truly great; they save lives and heal..."
Before Vilnius could finish, Jerome Bonaparte forcibly interrupted, "I'm not asking for the official answer; what I mean is, are you willing to act as a life-saving nurse!"
"What are you planning?" Augusta looked warily at Jerome Bonaparte, suspecting that the Emperor was up to something devious again.
"I can consider it!" Vilnius tactfully replied.
"I see, you're willing!" Jerome Bonaparte seemed oblivious to Vilnius's underlying meaning and praised her as a kind angel with a thumbs up.
Vilnius understood Jerome Bonaparte's intention, and she reluctantly said she was willing to follow the arrangement.
Subsequently, Jerome Bonaparte shared his "Nightingale" training plan with Vilnius, assuring her that after returning to France, she would surely be adored by the French people.
"By that time, you will become a true angel! No rumors or slanders will defeat you!" Jerome Bonaparte promised Vilnius confidently.
"Your Majesty, must you really use this method?" Augusta frowned, somewhat disagreeing with Jerome Bonaparte's approach.
"To gain something, one must be willing to give something! If it weren't for the undercurrents still present beneath Paris, necessitating my presence in France, I would probably personally lead the battle in the Near East!" Jerome Bonaparte sighed to Vilnius.
Of course, Jerome Bonaparte's leadership would essentially follow the pre-established plan step by step; as long as the French public knew he was in the Balkans, they would equate him with the former expeditionary Emperor Napoleon.
Once he led the army to victory over the Russian Empire, in the eyes of most French civilians (farmers), he would surpass the former Emperor Napoleon.
The soldiers would also feel that the Emperor was with them, leading to greater loyalty to Jerome Bonaparte.
However, all these ideas were defeated by reality; given an Empire barely over two years old, it was extremely dangerous for the Emperor not to be based in Paris.
Thus, Jerome Bonaparte could only send someone who could implement his will to the camp, creating a sense that although the Emperor was in Paris, his heart was naturally with the army.
After eliminating some ambitious individuals within the Bonaparte Clan, Jerome Bonaparte chose his nephew Jerome Patterson to go to the front line with the troops.
If his nephew returned alive, the Bonaparte Clan's prestige in France would rise to another level.
If his nephew died in battle, it would further create a "sacrifice for the nation" impression.
Adding various halos to the deceased, Jerome Bonaparte had no psychological burden.
For the dead would never rise to seize power.
Now Jerome Bonaparte desired Vilnius to mature into his dedicated "Nightingale," truly the scoundrel among scoundrels.
"Vilnius, I do not wish to force you! If you truly are unwilling, then forget it! This matter was lacking in consideration from me!" Jerome Bonaparte said with a dejected expression.
Touched by the helplessness in Jerome Bonaparte's words, Vilnius felt a twinge of guilt.
Your Majesty and the Emperor have been so good to her, yet she had not helped them at all!
"I am willing to become a nurse and go to the Near East!" Vilnius declared firmly.
"Really? That's wonderful!" Jerome Bonaparte immediately changed expressions like a Sichuan opera, grinning widely.
"Yes!" Vilnius responded resolutely to Jerome Bonaparte, "If Your Majesty needs me, I am willing to do anything!"
"Alas!" Empress Augusta sighed, gently caressing Vilnius's forehead, and said lovingly, "Why put yourself through this? Even if you refused, His Majesty would not bear to punish you!"
After speaking, Augusta glared sharply at Jerome Bonaparte and said, "Since Vilnius is willing to go in your place, you must ensure her safety!"
Jerome Bonaparte seemed ashamed of morally blackmailing a "little girl" and awkwardly promised, "The field hospital is always at the rear, Vilnius will absolutely be safe!"
He then added, "It's just that it might be a bit tough!"
"Remember what you said!" Augusta once again "warned" Jerome Bonaparte.
"Don't worry!" Jerome Bonaparte reassured Vilnius once more.
Then, Jerome Bonaparte invited Augusta and Vilnius to follow him to the study.
In front of Augusta and Vilnius, he opened the drawer of the desk and found a notebook from a stack of documents at the bottom of the drawer.
Upon finding the corresponding page in the notebook, Jerome Bonaparte handed it to Vilnius and said, "Look, this is the professional nurse uniform I designed!"
Augusta, standing to the side, also leaned over to see Jerome Bonaparte's "masterpiece." Due to Jerome Bonaparte's inherent drawing skills, the sketches in the notebook were quite presentable.
After a while, Augusta raised her head and asked, "Hmm? Why is the hat designed like this? It looks like a nun's."
Because Nightingale is a nun! Jerome Bonaparte thought to himself.
Since Nightingale was still an obscure figure at the time, he could not use this reason to brush off Augusta. Jerome Bonaparte had to solemnly respond, "To keep the hair in place and prevent dandruff from falling!"
"Who has dandruff!" Vilnius couldn't help but quietly retort, then pointed to the nurse's uniform and complained, "Why is this dress so short, not even reaching the knees!"
"Just wear a pair of white trousers underneath!" responded Jerome Bonaparte to Vilnius.
Under the scrutiny of Vilnius and Augusta, Jerome Bonaparte slightly revised part of the nurse's uniform design. The second edition of the uniform was more conservative than the first.
In the following days, Jerome Bonaparte sent over a hundred military doctors and nurses to Louis Pasteur to receive training.
There, they would get an early taste of the atmosphere of a field hospital. In this environment, many recruited nurses became hesitant and placed their hopes on Vilnius; as soon as Vilnius left, they could also use the same reason to leave.
However, to their disappointment, Vilnius persisted and completed the training.
Meanwhile, the planning committee personally established by Jerome Bonaparte began operations, with Eugène Schneider as the chairman, quickly showcasing an unyielding nature.
With the assistance of academicians from the French Academy of Sciences (now serving as advisors to the planning committee), Eugène Schneider devised a more comprehensive system than before.
Under this system, all enterprises needed to engage in high-intensity production operations under the directives of the planning committee and the supervision of subordinate department officials.
France's pace increased by about 20% from the original foundation, and the gears of war were spinning at high intensity.
While Eugène Schneider was adapting the mobilization system, a persuasion was taking place in the Turin Royal Palace, the capital of the Sardinian Dynasty, towards the Alps direction in France.
"Your Majesty, we must join the alliance to declare war against the Russian Empire!" Prime Minister Cavour firmly stated to Victor Emmanuel II.
"Prime Minister, are you crazy? The Sardinian Dynasty has no historical enmity with the Russian Empire! Why should we declare war on the Russian Empire?" Victor Emmanuel II, the conservative monarch who inherited the throne from his father after the second Austria-Sardinia war, said with a shocked face to Cavour.
If it weren't for the fact that the logic of the Prime Minister in front of him remained intact, Victor Emmanuel II would have doubted if he had truly gone mad.
"Your Majesty, do you want to be the monarch of the entire Apennine Peninsula, or just the monarch of the Sardinian Dynasty?" Cavour asked with a serious expression.
"I..." Victor Emmanuel II was about to say that he wanted to be the monarch of the Apennine Peninsula when he suddenly remembered that his father met his end in exile after foolishly provoking the Austrian Empire. Hence, he replied sullenly, "What's the point in saying this! We are facing the Austrian Empire!"
"Your Majesty, it is precisely because we are facing the Austrian Empire that we need to join the alliance declaring war on Russia!" Cavour earnestly analyzed for Victor Emmanuel II, "The ally of Russia is the Austrian Empire. As long as we declare war on the Russian Empire, we have the chance to use France's power to push back the Austrian Empire's influence in the Apennine Peninsula! At that time, Your Majesty, you can unify the Apennines!"
"If the Austrian Empire also turns to the Anglo-French Alliance, wouldn't our efforts be in vain?" Victor Emmanuel II questioned.
"Your Majesty, a country that can even betray its allies will never win the trust of Britain and France!" Cavour said with great conviction and then added, "The Emperor of France aims to destroy the Holy Alliance and create an entirely new system, and one of the links in the Holy Alliance is the Austrian Empire!"
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