The soldiers did not know where they were going until they reached their destination.
Napoleon had set out for Egypt from the port of Marseille. At the time, the harbor had been packed with people and looked exceptionally lively. Yet apart from the senior officers, no one knew where exactly they were sailing.
Only when it was time to depart and board the ships did Napoleon make the announcement. The soldiers and scholars all cheered with excitement. They had been filled with curiosity about Egypt and the East, and happily followed Napoleon aboard.
Though that expedition had ultimately become a disaster, it at least left behind something worth remembering. Saint-Domingue was an entirely different matter.
That afternoon, Lucien had "tricked" Louis I, King of Etruria, into visiting the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, then coaxed and muddled him into buying quite a lot of porcelain.
Spanish princesses were accustomed to using gold and silver tableware, but porcelain was now fashionable at the French "court." Louis I quickly placed an order.
There, she asked Lucien whether he knew about the plan to sell Louisiana to pay off debts. She asked directly, and Lucien was even more surprised than she was. He later returned to the city.
The investigation revealed that his wife had told Georgiana. Negotiations had been underway since last year. Thomas Jefferson had first sent a man named Robert Livingston to Paris to discuss the matter, but the French had not accepted. Then they sought the help of Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours to assist the American side in the negotiations.
After the French Revolution broke out, Dupont had fled to America with the Duke of Orléans. He was very close to Thomas Jefferson and possessed extensive political connections in France. In short, he knew Josephine; they were friends of the