The First Entreaty and Refusal

When Raine got off the train, his legs were still trembling a little. Yes, they were really trembling because the train was going so fast.

For a time traveler like Joseph, who had even ridden the "Rejuvenation" high-speed train in his previous life, a passenger train speed of around 60 kilometers per hour was nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But for people of this era, it was a different story. 60 kilometers per hour was perhaps (in fact, one could be more confident and replace those two words with "certain") the highest speed he had ever achieved in his life.

The sheer speed and the thrill it brought left Raine's legs weak. So, after getting off the train, he stood there for quite a while, leaning against a lamppost on the platform, before his legs recovered.

However, during this time, Raine was not idle. He began to quickly calculate the impact of the railway's progress on his business.

"The expansion of railways will definitely lead to a significant drop in transportation prices. In any region with railways, logistics costs will decrease considerably. Logistics costs are also a significant operating cost, which will reduce costs for the textile industry in continental Europe. And once their costs decrease, it will put a lot of pressure on us."

Raine was always a very cautious person, and he almost immediately thought of the potential impact that the railroad, something that seemed to have little to do with him, might have on his business in the future.

In recent years, since the Europe market was fully opened to Britain, the Britain textile industry has made tremendous progress. For example, the scale of textile mills in Raine has been expanding almost every year. However, Raine also knows that the textile industry on the Europe continent has been struggling under Britain pressure in recent years, with a large number of Europe textile companies exiting the market every year. Some have gone bankrupt, some have transformed their businesses, and in short, the textile companies on the Europe continent that are still struggling are finding it increasingly difficult to survive.

These people would naturally be dissatisfied, and they would attack the Britain in various ways, demanding that continental Europe re-erect barriers against Britain goods. Of course, this was met with widespread opposition from other industries and was almost impossible to succeed.

However, those guys still managed to pull some tricks. For example, some people in the France textile industry successfully lobbied the Council of State to pass two bills. The first bill was called the Anti-Dumping Act Law, which prohibits foreign companies from undermining free trade through dumping. In any case, on the Europe continent, the interpretation of the term "free trade" is entirely in the hands of the France.

Under this law, any company that sells goods in France at a price lower than the price of similar products sold in the Britain will be considered to be dumping, and will then be subject to a whole package of "anti-dumping measures," including the seizure of goods and hefty fines.

Since this law was introduced, several anti-dumping investigations have been initiated. Although the France have indeed been fair in upholding "free trade," and the Britain have won these anti-dumping investigations in the end, the litigation itself is a huge cost, especially in terms of time.

The second act, in fact, was the fault of Britain themselves: the Navigation Act. Passed in October 1651 by the English Republic under Cromwell's leadership, this act aimed to protect Britain's monopoly on maritime trade. It even sparked a war with the maritime power, the Netherlands.

This act stipulated that only ships owned and manufactured by Britain or its colonies could transport goods from Britain colonies. The government designated certain colonial products that were only permitted to be traded to Britain or other Britain colonies, including tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, and furs. Products manufactured in other countries had to be shipped through Britain and could not be directly sold to the colonies.

This law remains in effect to this day. This law, which clearly violates the principle of "free trade," has naturally been the target of concentrated criticism from France and other Europe countries. However, due to the insistence of the Britain maritime community, the law has never been amended.

Six months ago, some Netherlands textile merchants pushed the Dutch Republic to pass a retaliatory bill restricting the right of way for Britain goods on the Europe continent. Of course, the bill was not explicitly aimed at Britain, but only required that facilities such as ports and roads be given priority to "countries that support free trade." However, Britain was not included in the list of "countries that support free trade."

If this rule were only prevalent among the Netherlands, it wouldn't have been so problematic. However, once the law was passed in the Netherlands, the France immediately followed suit, and once the France followed, the whole of continental Europe followed suit. This significantly increased the logistics costs for Britain goods on the Europe continent, and this disadvantage in transportation costs was likely to widen further with the widespread use of railways. This would obviously affect the competitiveness of Britain textiles on the Europe continent.

Therefore, textile merchants adopted a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, they requested the government to negotiate a solution with the France. Of course, they understood that while the Britain government might be able to exert pressure on other countries, it would be difficult to do so with the France. The France were completely unconcerned about Britain military power and even liked to occasionally roll up their sleeves and show the Britain their biceps. So, their so-called request for government negotiation was actually a hope that the government could amend the Navigation Act to some extent in exchange for concessions from the France.

Of course, this approach will definitely harm the interests of another group of people in the country, so this matter will not be easy to resolve. It is estimated that it will take several years and dozens of discussions in Congress before any changes can be expected.

The other approach is naturally to tap into internal potential and reduce production costs on our side.

The textile industry is a typical labor-intensive industry, with wages accounting for a significant portion of costs. Therefore, Raine's first thought was to reduce wages and increase labor intensity. However, to his surprise, the lowly workers refused to accept the newly drafted contract. They dared to strike, and moreover, they chose to do so just before the "Bay-Taiwan Trade Fair," when Britain merchants were about to fight against Netherlands and France textile merchants for Britain interests. This betrayal of the great United Kingdom was truly heinous.

Due to various restrictions, the United Kingdom cannot yet use the most appropriate means to deal with them. Therefore, Raine and his men have no choice but to think about these scoundrels and ungrateful villains. Don't they realize that if it weren't for the Renn Textile Mill providing them with a job, they would have long since collapsed and starved to death in the streets?

However, for the sake of the Brazil Trade Fair, Raine had no choice but to agree to their coercion and reinstate the old contract. This meant that his profits at the Brazil Trade Fair this year would be significantly reduced. It was like cutting off his own flesh.

"When we get back, I'm determined to teach those ungrateful bastards a lesson they won't dare to do again!"

As Raine hardened his resolve, he walked towards the Free Palace.

The second Brazil Trade Fair, which lasted for five days, successfully concluded. Compared to the first fair, the number of commercial contracts and letters of intent reached by all parties at this fair increased significantly.

Many newspapers widely reported on this success, generally agreeing that it vividly demonstrated the robust economic growth of France. Some newspapers even attributed this positive situation to Napoleon's wise leadership. For example, Le Businessman's Daily published a report titled "Cherish This Golden Age."

"Under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, France is experiencing its most glorious golden age since the beginning of its France. The rapidly growing economy has brought more benefits and hope to everyone. Whether we are walking through the streets of Paris or along country lanes, whether we are encountering workers or farmers, France citizens or France working or studying in France, we can see hope shining in their faces and eyes."

Reflecting back to before the revolution, under the rule of the Bourbon Dynasty, when had the France people ever seen such eyes, such smiles? At the opening ceremony of the Champ de Mars train station, countless people cheered for the beloved Consul Bonaparte, calling him 'Imperial,' and this was not without reason. Bonaparte's rule had proven that he was an invincible commander, both on the battlefield and in leading the nation's development. In the true sense of the Rome word, Consul Bonaparte truly deserved this title..."

Following this report, more newspapers joined the chorus of praise for Napoleon. Even tabloids that mainly reported gossip and published erotic novels joined in, singing the praises of Napoleon's great achievements.

Finally, it wasn't just France newspapers; even some foreign newspapers joined in. Some of these newspapers already had France ties, so it was natural for them to sing Napoleon's praises. As for the other media, there were two possibilities: one was to use Napoleon to provoke their own country's rulers, much like some parents like to use other people's outstanding children to motivate their own. The other was that they genuinely believed in the revolutionary ideals of France.

Of course, there were also dissenting voices. For example, some former nobles who had fled to Austria and England still had some money, so they started some newspapers. These newspapers naturally attacked Napoleon, attacking everything from his physique to his family.

For example, there was a newspaper in London that cleverly used comic strips to spread rumors about Napoleon. This time, they first spread the rumor that Napoleon was homosexual, saying that he was like Caesar, "The woman of all men and the man of all women."

That was bad enough; the France didn't care about such attacks at all. Then they spread rumors that Pauline had the same attributes, that she was also every woman's man and every man's woman, and even fabricated stories about Pauline and her older brother and sister-in-law.

Because the newspaper's circulation was actually very small, neither Pauline nor Joseph had noticed this incident. However, the Saintess Knight Order existed in Britain. This shameless act of maliciously defaming their "saintly" image naturally angered the Saintess Knight Order. So these "knights" gathered together, grabbed canes and whips, stormed into the newspaper office, and smashed it to pieces. The incident then made it into a major newspaper and came to the attention of the Bonaparte family.

It is said that Pauline even asked Lucien to get two newspapers related to her, and after looking at them herself, she angrily declared that the newspapers were outrageous, the illustrations were terrible, and they depicted her as too ugly. She said it was intolerable and deserved to be smashed!

As for Napoleon, he only noticed that people compared him to Caesar, and he was very proud of it, but he didn't pay attention to how exactly people compared him to Caesar.

Amidst such praise, the Council of State also took action. In July 1802, a group of members of the Council of State first proposed a bill to add the title "Imperial" to First Consul Napoleon in recognition of his contributions to France.

The proposal was immediately met with unanimous approval from all members of the Council of State. The members unanimously declared that Napoleon Bonaparte's rule was unparalleled, his power and influence unmatched throughout history, and that he truly deserved the honorific title of "Indiana Bonaparte."

So, almost in the blink of an eye, the Council of State completed the proposal and submitted it to the Tribunate for review. How could the Tribunate possibly object to such a bill? Did they have a death wish? So, the Tribunate also passed the bill at lightning speed and submitted it to the Legislative Assembly for a vote.

It is said that Napoleon only learned of this at this point. He immediately rushed to the Legislative Assembly and delivered a speech to Legislative Assembly members, stating that "Imperial" was not a title that a public servant should have. As First Consul, he was the First Sergeant of the France people, and serving France wholeheartedly was his duty, which did not require such an award. Therefore, he hoped that the members of the Legislative Assembly would respect his personal opinion and reject this bill that deviated from the spirit of democracy.

After hearing Napoleon's speech, the Legislative Assembly swiftly passed the bill in its third reading—the first time since Napoleon became First Consul that the Legislative Assembly Yuan had defied his wishes. It is said that Legislative Assembly President Edwards told Napoleon, "Your Excellency, just as you are loyal to the ideals of democracy, we must also heed the voice of the people."

The bill was then submitted to the Senate, Senate, naturally unwilling to go against the will of the people, passed the bill despite pressure from Napoleon.

Of course, this did not mean that the bill would take effect immediately, because for a bill to take effect, it had to be handed over to the First Consul for implementation. The First Consul could implement it in the way he deemed most appropriate. Naturally, the option of temporarily shelving it was also an option. So Napoleon did not hesitate to shelve the bill.

Even so, people began to refer to Napoleon as Imbrard, reasoning that, "Isn't it the inherent right of the people to address a public servant in any way?"

Newspapers gradually began to add the title "Imperial" before Napoleon's title.

Of course, Napoleon himself absolutely disagreed with this, and he repeatedly issued statements opposing it. However, all the newspapers adopted the same line. "This reflects the noble virtue of Infernal's humility."

The Legion of Honor then joined in, stating that over the years they had awarded the Legion of Legion of Honor to many France and foreign friends who had contributed to France, but the First Consul had humbly accepted only the lowest rank of Cavalry Medal. This was clearly not commensurate with the First Consul's great contributions. Many uninformed members of the public accused them of mistreating the First Consul, and some emotionally charged medal recipients even returned their medals to the Legion of Honor, stating that they were returning them because the Legion of Honor failed to award Bonaparte the medal truly worthy of his contributions. They felt they were even less deserving of the medal compared to Bonaparte.

The Legion of Honor then urgently designed and manufactured a medal called "Imperial," which was awarded to Napoleon.

This Imperator Medal is made of pure gold and inlaid with numerous gemstones. At the very bottom of the medal is the inscription: "Serve the People".

After the medal was completed, Bernie, the head of the Legion of Honor, personally carried it to the First Consul's office amidst a large crowd of France people, urging him to accept the medal.

Following closely behind him were most of the members of the Legion of Honor, all wearing their medals on their chests, as they accompanied Bernie to the Consulate to express their wishes to the First Consul.

Napoleon hurried to the entrance and explained to the enthusiastic crowd that he truly could not accept an honor that carried the flavor of monarchy. The citizen representatives, however, argued that "Imperial" was a title that existed since the Rome Republic era and was not exclusively for emperors. Just because some emperors used it did not mean we could not use it.

Clearly, this representative's speech better represented the will of the people, because everyone was applauding him enthusiastically as he spoke.

Ultimately, after much persuasion, Napoleon decided to obey the will of the France people and accepted the Order of the Imbrard.