In 1810, there were 122,000 permanent residents in downtown Paris, including nearly 20,000 widows. It is obvious that the main reason why widows lost their husbands was the emperor's repeated foreign wars.

There are more women without their own men, and the bustling streets of Paris are staged with various melodramas of sadness and joy.

Most of the widows of senior officers are rich. Thanks to the large amount of wealth plundered in foreign lands in front of her husband, and the emperor's various care, the ladies who lost their husbands still have their luxurious life as usual, without much sadness, or the sadness will not last too long. Soon, the rich widows will get rid of the black veil on their heads, put on gorgeous long skirts with bare breasts and breasts, and actively participate in the fun masquerade party and banquet salon, where there are too many young handsome men waiting to enjoy them.

The wife of a soldier or a low-ranking officer is not so lucky. The empire only gives the death pension of the lieutenant-level officers a year, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 francs; what's worse is that the large number of soldiers, whose wives can only receive 50 to 100 francs when their husbands are killed.

It should be noted that only half of the above-mentioned pensions or compensations were directly handed over to the widows by the emperor's cabinet, and the other half was classified as approved and issued by the local city hall.

In the 19th century France, when greed and impolite became popular, few local governments were willing to take the initiative to compensate the widows' pension. (In fact, Britain was not much better, the publicly traded official titles in London, the position of Wellington's commander and the rank of colonel were all bought for money) But this huge expense still exists on the books and will be smeared and changed by Jewish accountants hired by high salaries, and then fall into the private pockets of administrative officials. Even Paris, the best place, is generally the case.

Madame Lurien was such a young and beautiful widow. In October 1808, Lürian, who was the second lieutenant, was shot in the head in the second Battle of Zaragoza and unfortunately died. Madame Lurien only received a pension of 600 francs from the Army Department of the Paris Cabinet. She didn't know the other half, and no one wanted to let her know.

A 25-year-old woman with three underage children lived a difficult life with her husband and no source of income. Although the family of four tried every means to save money, half a year later, the 600 francs of pension was used up, and she could only make ends meet by selling her property, and the rent given to the landlord began to be owed day by day.

So, trouble follows.

The 45-year-old landlord was a vulgar, stingy, despicable and vulgar old thing. In his early years, he was a bankrupt farmer who wandered to Paris. In 1792, the bankrupt farmer was engaged in political speculation and wore a dress of unspoken trousers stolen from somewhere, and joined the Jacobin Club. In August, in the battle between the Paris people who captured the Palace of Duille, which symbolized the base camp of the royal party, the bankrupt farmer killed two Swiss mercenaries and received loud praise from the Revolutionary Commissioner.

In that revolutionary action to overthrow the monarchy, the bankrupt farmer became a lame lame because his calf was broken through. As compensation, the revolutionary government granted the bankrupt farmer Paris citizenship, and also asked him to manage a two-story apartment building in the 11th district. When the government was in the government era, the new Paris citizen quickly used bribery to win over the real estate bureau officials and obtained all the property rights of the apartment building. By renting out extra rooms, citizens became property owners and received 1,000 francs per month.

In this way, the great revolution turned the former bankrupt vagabond into a citizen of Paris and a proletarian transformed into a proletarian.

As early as early as 1809, the landlord wanted to occupy the beautiful widow who had lost her husband, but he never found a good opportunity. It was the stubborn Mrs. Lurien who always refused the landlord's rude request. Waiting for her and her three children to arrears of rent for three months, the landlord threatened to sue the young widow unless Mrs. Lurien promised to become one of the landlord's many lovers.

When Mrs. Lurien and her three children were about to be desperate, a non-commissioned officer named Penduas accidentally found herself. The latter said that he was from the Pierre regiment of the Rana Legion (the predecessor of the Desay Division, mentioned in Sections 1-4 of Chapter 1), and was once a direct subordinate of the platoon leader Lieutenant Lurien. The purpose of Penduas came to Paris was to rush to Saint-Silly Military Academy for three months to train in trainees, and also came here to visit the family of the fallen boss, and brought 200 francs of condolences.

Just like seeing his relatives, Mrs. Lurien hugged Penduas tightly and cried to the sergeant two years younger than her about her misfortune experiences with the children. Penduas, who was addicted to the fragrance powder, felt a little busy. This was the first time that the Marseille was hugged by a young and beautiful woman, but he was pure in his heart and did not have any distractions.

The young sergeant decided to do something for his boss's widow and children, because watching and helping each other is the tradition left by the Rana Legion, and the Desay Commander asked everyone in this way.

In the extremely resentful eyes of the landlord, Penduis helped Mrs. Lurien settle the rent and interest owed for several months. Five people found a temporary residence near the St. Cyr Military Academy. Because the military academy did not provide dormitories and diet for short-term intern officers. Therefore, under the arrangement of Penduis, Mrs. Lurien easily found a decent job to wash, cook, and clean housework for short-term trainees at St. Cyr Military Academy.

Although the young widow with the child was still hard, her life became fulfilling. In particular, the three children liked the amiable Uncle Penduwas, who had a pair of dexterous hands and could make various small toys for the little guys with used items.

At the end of June, Mrs. Lurien's misfortune was passed through written description of Penduwas to General Desai who had just arrived in Khruna. In his reply to the letter to the trainee officer, Desai bluntly told Penduwas that the bastards who oppressed the widow of the robes must be severely punished without mercy.

As for how to punish severely, General Desai did not make it clear, but he attached a check of 100,000 francs to the letter, waiting for the intern officer Penduwas to perform in an additional mission.

In August, just two weeks before Penduath was about to end his military school life, the lame landlord who had bullied Mrs. Lurien fell into the Seine after falling asleep and drowned. The Paris Police Department confirmed the accidental death.

Because the landlord had no relatives and no reason, the two-story apartment building in the 11th District was taken back by the city hall and placed in the auction house for public auction. A beautiful widow named Tess Lurien purchased the property rights of the apartment building for 80,000 francs. Then, she transformed the rental apartment building into a "military wife's home", which was specifically used to accommodate widows who were struggling to live due to the death of her husband, providing the latter with some work within her ability and taking care of their young children.

By mid-September, the "House of Military Women" had collected dozens of widows of sergeants from various districts of Paris, as well as more than 100 children. After returning to Paris, Marshal Rana, who learned about this, also donated 100,000 francs to the "House of Military Women". The Marshal also wrote a letter to the Palace of Duille to obtain various tax reduction and exemption policies for the "House of Military Women".

The public security in Paris in the 19th century was quite bad, and various vicious cases occurred frequently. Even men wearing swords and guns walked on the streets, they would encounter various unexpected problems, not to mention the numerous widows and a large number of children in the "military women's home".

In order to ensure that they are not harassed or hurt by local gangsters, with the support of Marshal Rana, the "Military Women's House" hired more than 20 Paris-born veterans from the Rana Legion, who were fully armed and took turns to serve as gatekeepers.

In fact, at the beginning of the establishment of the "House of Military Women", it became a secret stronghold for the Duke of Desay to be placed in Paris. The Hruna Military Intelligence Agency had already installed five liaison stations around 1810.

...

Late at night, a man wrapped in a black hooded black hood walked to the gate of the "Military Women's House" in agile manner. After observing the silence around and feeling nothing unusual, the man in black slammed the door knocking on the door knocker. When the doorman holding the candle opened the lookout hole carefully and looked out alertly, he took off his head hood and revealed his true appearance. It was Captain Penduwas who changed his uniform.

The janitor quickly untied the six door bolts, and when the captain flashed into the door, he closed the door bolts again.

"Captain, everyone is here!" the janitor whispered.

Penduwas nodded, "Give me 10 minutes, you guys go and prepare first!" As he said that, he took the copper candlestick from the doorman's hand and walked straight to a suite on the second floor of the apartment building.

Looking at the children who had already fallen asleep, Tess Lurien could not fall asleep. She was lying carefully half at the head of the bed, and her expression seemed to be full of worries.

As the head of the "Military Women's House", Tess Lurian certainly knew some of the inside stories, including his lover, Captain Penduwas organized a strong team here; Duke Hruna is the real owner of the "Military Women's House", and all the men in the apartment building are secretly working for it.

Tess Lurian never regretted this. Without the financial support and material assistance of the Duke of Desay, his life would be extremely miserable. More or less, Tess Lurian also heard all kinds of unfavorable rumors circulating in the Paris neighborhood, targeting the Duke of Desay.

The Duke of Desay, who was highly powerful and protected by a large number of guards, would not worry about his own safety, but Penduas was the Duke's entourage, and was the executor who was responsible for countering any hostile forces against the Duke of Hruna. As a result, Tess Lurian began to worry that the misfortune of his husband would fall on Penduas.

While thinking about it, Tess Lurien heard the sound of low footsteps outside the door. She panicked, but then she was calm. This was the heavily guarded "military women's house" and no outsiders dared to commit crimes. Soon, Tess Lurien identified its real master from the rhythmic sound of footsteps.

Tess Lurien quickly got up and got out of bed. After covering the children with bedding, put on his coat, he walked out of the bedroom and came to the living room. When the door leading to the corridor outside the house opened, Tess Lurien fell into the arms of his lover and the two kissed enthusiastically.

Penduwas left only 10 minutes of private time for himself, but his intimacy with Tess Lurien in front of the door took half of it. The captain who woke up from love and gently pushed the young widow away.

"Is it OK?" Penduwas took out a pair of rings from his arms, looking forward to Tess Lurien's happy reply.

Tess Lurien held back the tears flowing, and she nodded desperately, kissing the captain's cheek again and again.

Soon, the ring soaked with the tears of happiness of the lovers was put on the fingers of the hostess.

...
Chapter completed!