On an afternoon with the advent of spring, a train departing from Marseille quietly stopped at a small town train station located 55 kilometers southeast of Paris. After the train stopped, the "passengers" in the last carriage of this train swiftly disembarked from the third carriage and then formed two columns at the door of the third carriage.
Every "passenger" wore sky-blue military coats with buttons and bright red flat-topped hats. They carried Mauser rifles on their backs, which had not yet been widely distributed in the French Army. This is the most elite and loyal Guard Army of the French Empire.
The object of escort by this group of Guard soldiers was naturally the delegation returning from attending a funeral in the Austrian Empire. When Imperial Marshal Monfort and his delegation slowly disembarked from the carriage, all soldiers of the Guard saluted the Marshal before them. Marshal Monfort also solemnly returned the salute to all the soldiers present.
