Lord Cowley, having received a response from Jerome Bonaparte, left the Tuileries Palace, bracing himself against the sudden cold wind. His body was chilled, but his heart was warmed.

Standing by the ornate window, Jerome Bonaparte watched as Lord Cowley gradually disappeared from sight. He turned away from the window, sat back down, and began dealing with the documents the secretariat had handed him.

...

As time passed, the temperature in Paris gradually dropped. The citizens living in Paris consciously changed out of their autumn clothes and put on winter cotton clothing. A few residents began to stockpile firewood early to survive the winter.

However, none of the Parisians, including Jerome Bonaparte, realized that this winter would arrive sooner than they had imagined.

By mid-January, a cold front from Siberia swept across the entire European Continent from east to west. General Winter sounded his horn, leading his snowy army gradually towards Paris.

The sudden cold weather forced the typically lax Parisians to hurry and stockpile winter firewood, racing against time. Before logs could fully leave the outskirts of Paris, they were already snapped up by resourceful and well-connected middle-class Parisians (referring to lawyers and minor bureaucrats within the city), resulting in a supply shortage in the Paris wood market and a gradual price increase for each log, creating a phenomenon where wood seemed more precious than gold.

Such rampant price inflation naturally drew Jerome Bonaparte's attention. To ease the supply-demand relationship and mitigate Parisians' dissatisfaction, Jerome Bonaparte specifically summoned the Minister of Public Works, ordering them to transport a batch of wood from neighboring provinces to alleviate the increasingly intense wood panic in Paris.

At the same time, Jerome Bonaparte also summoned George Ossman, the Governor of Seine Province, and issued a directive to this labor-abusing governor: During this period, ensure the survival of some of Paris's vulnerable groups as much as possible – there must not be large-scale deaths in Paris!

Set with a KPI by the Emperor, Baron George Ossman had no choice but to grit his teeth and use the already-meager city government budget to stabilize the soaring wood prices.

Under the dual intervention of the Ministry of Public Works and the Seine Province City Government, the wood panic in Paris showed some improvement.

However, as if heaven itself was set against Paris, it did not give the city any chance to catch its breath.

A snowstorm, arriving more than half a month earlier than usual, hit the city known as the heart of France — Paris — turning it into a snow-covered city in just one night.

It could be said that General Winter, with its severe measures, brought the painstakingly stabilized prices by Jerome Bonaparte back to square one. Not only did wood prices continue to soar, surpassing previous levels, but food prices in Paris also rose as panic spread.

These were not yet the worst of the situation. The worst part was that in this extreme environment, people froze to death every day in Paris.

Fear spread like a plague throughout Paris, and panicked Parisians would first think of the government departments. Those lurking ambitious plotters and potential Republican Faction members in Paris would, as Napoleon's faction once attacked the Orléans Government, guide Parisians to assault the government with its unlimited liability system.

Conflicts that had been lurking would once again surface, and the freezing Parisians would certainly rise en masse to overthrow the current government.

Whoever caused the Parisians' suffering, the Parisians would overthrow them.

The Orléans Dynasty at that time had failed to deliver grain to Paris in time, causing resentment among Parisians. The resentment from the grain shortage sparked the public's discontent with the political situation under the Orléans Dynasty, eventually igniting Paris.

These realizations came to Jerome Bonaparte as he reviewed the agricultural price list for the Paris Region of 1847-1848 from the Ministry of Agriculture, summarizing the causes of the Great Revolution.

Sensing that public opinion was sliding in an unfavorable direction for his rule, Jerome Bonaparte once again summoned all Cabinet Ministers to the Tuileries Palace for a brief meeting, except those of the naval department (as Minister Dico was inspecting the Toulon Region).

Within the firewood-warmed room, Jerome Bonaparte first gave a brief summary of the sudden snowstorm, systematically summarizing the current situation faced by Paris.

He then turned to the Cabinet members present, asking for their suggestions.

The Minister of Public Works immediately spoke up, first criticizing himself for failing to transport the firewood on time, then briefing everyone present on the basic conditions of the main thoroughfares and railways from Paris to nearby provinces.

Subsequently, he informed Jerome Bonaparte that, due to the snowstorm, there were still many idle workers in the national construction factories in Paris. The government could instruct them to clear traffic routes, thus stabilizing Paris.

Following that, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Percy, also stated that there were some labor forces in the Ministry of Internal Affairs that could be mobilized to clear roads.

With the example set by the Minister of Public Affairs and the Minister of Internal Affairs, the remaining departments understood Jerome Bonaparte's intention. They one after another informed Jerome Bonaparte that their departments also had labor forces available to assist in the clearing efforts.

Thus, a grand "Defense of Paris" began, with members from the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Railways, and Ministry of Justice systematically clearing the main roads and suburbs of snow under the coordination of departmental leaders.

The Chairman of the Planning Commission, Eugène Schneider, also turned some factories originally meant for military logistics production into manufacturers of engineering shovels for civil use, following the hints from Jerome Bonaparte, to ensure the speed of clearing.

Perhaps encouraged by these people, many others also began to join the large troop clearing the snow.

Even Jerome Bonaparte braved the cold to step out of the Tuileries Palace to clear snow alongside the Parisians.

When Parisians saw Jerome Bonaparte working with them to clear the snow, some of the resentment harbored in their hearts disappeared.

People recalled the efforts of the government to balance the price of wood, and the resentment diminished further.

With the joint efforts inside and outside Paris, the first batch of wood was delivered to Paris in just two days.

The panic caused by the snowstorm was gradually dissipating, and the arrival of the first batch of wood filled the market with renewed confidence in the French Government, and the prices of wood and grain also dropped.

Through this battle, Jerome Bonaparte once again won the favor of the Parisians, and some neutrals began to lean toward the current regime.

In the following days, although Paris still experienced intermittent snowfall, none of the snow was as abruptly threatening to overthrow the government as the initial snowstorm.

On the morning of January 24th, when the long-missed sunlight again bathed this land, the "Defense Battle" that lasted for more than a week finally ended.

"We deeply mourn the citizens who perished during the 117 major snowstorm, and extend our gratitude to all citizens who participated in this 'Snowstorm Defense Battle'..." Thus spoke Baron George Ossman, the Governor of Seine Province, in a conclusive speech at the entrance of the City Government on January 24th.

After the speech ended, there was enthusiastic applause around the City Government centered on Baron George Ossman, signifying that the Second Empire regime had successfully weathered the unrest caused by the harsh winter.

...

The cold not only brought a shortage of living supplies to Paris but also affected the military supplies being shipped to the Ottoman Empire.

Before the snow along the railway line was completely cleared, Jerome Bonaparte could only transfer part of the orders originally assigned to the Paris Northern Industrial Company to Eugène Schneider of Le Clerc.

The Eugène Schneider Company, which accepted the transferred orders, also began to operate in an overloaded state.

Even in such a difficult national situation, the troops of Britain, as an ally, began to act up.

When Valerovsky transmitted the location of the British Kingdom's army to Jerome Bonaparte via telegraph from Constantinople, an enraged Jerome Bonaparte directly summoned Ambassador Cowley, pointing at a Near East map (Ottoman official version) and questioning him.

"Ambassador Cowley, please tell me, where are the British troops now?"

"Your Majesty, the primary goal of the Kingdom of Britain is not to decisively battle with Russia, but to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian Empire attacks!" Ambassador Cowley calmly replied to Jerome Bonaparte: "We believe that Galipoli is the best defensive location!"

It turned out that nearly 3 months had passed since the Kingdom of Britain's war threat against the Russian Empire.

During these three months, Britain had spent two full months recruiting soldiers, electing commanders, and electing officers, while the remaining month was entirely spent planning the deployment and transportation of soldiers to the Ottoman Empire, leaving no time to survey the terrain.

And Galipoli was deemed the best defensive location by them.

"Ambassador Cowley, please tell me! How is the British army supposed to obtain the necessary strategic resources from this God-forsaken place!" Jerome Bonaparte asked Ambassador Cowley.

"What?" Ambassador Cowley replied blankly to Jerome Bonaparte, as if he was hearing about this for the first time.

"What I mean is, how is the Kingdom of Britain supposed to forage for supplies in this area penetrated only by a dirt road! There is not a single household around here to provide us with daily necessities! Our fleet also cannot establish effective supplies here!" Jerome Bonaparte stated to Ambassador Cowley word by word.

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