Chapter 982: Black Cauldron Falling from Heaven
Chapter 962: The Black Pot Falls from Heaven
As soon as the news of the successful revolution in Paris and the exile of Napoleon IV spread, the continent of Europe erupted into a political earthquake.
A little bit of political savvy know that this time to pop up a republican government, for France is absolutely disastrous.
Controlling Paris and controlling France were two different concepts. If there is no foreign enemy threat, the revolutionary government can still take political means to unify the country, and then slowly clean out the Bonaparte elements in the officialdom and the army.
Obviously, this was impossible, and the Antifa would not leave them time to integrate the country. In the face of the millions of troops of the Antifa, the revolutionary government, which only controlled Paris, did not even have the power to fight.
Strength is the basis of negotiation, without enough strength, France wants to save energy after the war, it is simply a fool’s errand.
London, received this sudden bad news, Gladstone Prime Minister angry directly overturned the table.
How about France, now he can not care, the key is the Bonaparte dynasty destroyed is not the time.
To know that not long ago they just reached a secret agreement with Napoleon IV, funded 18 million pounds to buy all the main ships of the French Navy.
I thought I had picked up a great bargain, but I didn’t expect the ink to dry, and the Bonaparte dynasty would cease to exist.
Bonaparte dynasty is gone, before the secret contract naturally no one to fulfill. Now is not the most powerful era of Britain, even if the London government wants to force the revolutionary government to continue to fulfill, but also can not take the secret treaty.
It can’t be helped, there is too much content above the treaty against the Antifa alliance. Once it was exposed, there would be no way for Britain to mix in Europe.
If that’s all, then it’s no big deal, just pretend the treaty doesn’t exist. The problem is that the money that was paid out can’t be recovered now.
Originally thought, the French sale of warships is to raise funds to fight against Austria, the London government to pay is that fast, are not yet delivered to pay half of the cost.
Now there is no way to say, directly into a bad debt. Knowing that the money fell into the hands of Napoleon IV, the London government have no way to publicly recover.
Not only can not claim the debt, but also must find a way to cover the lid. In case of leakage, not only the plan of the French warships will be bankrupt, but also let the political opponents to seize the handle of illegal operation.
According to the regulations, this kind of large transaction must be approved by Congress. Obviously, this kind of secret deal is not suitable to bring to the parliamentary discussion, Gladstone Cabinet can only be cut beforehand.
Precedents for similar things existed in Britain. As long as it was successful, it would not be blamed. Unfortunately Gladstone failed in this operation.
After calming down, Gladstone Prime Minister: “Immediately send someone to communicate with Napoleon IV and promise him: as long as the money is returned, we will support his restoration.”
Foreign Secretary George helplessly explained, “It’s useless, Prime Minister. We have already sent people to contact Napoleon IV. Right now he is in a very bad state, and our people dare not irritate him too much.
In order to avoid accidents, our people can only talk to the French government in exile. Unfortunately, they demanded that the treaty continue to be honored and immediately issued an order for the navy to hand over the warships.
Considering that the government in exile had lost control of the navy, such a hasty order was no better than a scrap of paper, and we had no choice but to refuse it.”
Even the most downtrodden emperor, that was still an emperor. Seeing that Napoleon IV was on the verge of dying, the British representative who was originally prepared to raise an accusation was instantly dumbfounded.
Unable to determine whether it was a real illness, or a fake illness, the British representative naturally did not dare to take the risk.
In case they accidentally stimulated too much, let Napoleon IV directly led the box lunch, backed by the crime of forcing the emperor to die, that would be the end of the matter.
Napoleon IV did not come forward, the French government in exile directly pretended to be confused. It is clear that they do not believe in the British government’s commitment, ready to directly swallow this huge sum of money.
Hearing this result, Gladstone gritted his teeth and asked: ”Are they certain that we do not dare to retaliate? You know that it doesn’t take much to settle a government in exile.”
Foreign Minister George shook his head and said with a bitter smile, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the French really aren’t worried about us making a move against them right now.
Although Napoleon IV went into exile, the roots of the Bonaparte dynasty were not all lost. Because of the hatred, now now these people should be considered the staunchest anti-Austrian faction in France, and Napoleon IV is their natural leader.
Neither the Orleans dynasty nor the Bourbons would jump out against Austria at this time. Once the revolutionary government surrendered to the anti-French alliance, all the anti-Austrian forces in France would converge on them.
By solving them, the anti-Austrian forces within France were dismantled, which was equivalent to doing a great favor to Austria.
At this time, not only can we not take action against them, but we also have to find a way to strengthen them, or even support their restoration, lest there be just one voice on the European continent.
In this respect, as long as the Bonaparte dynasty sticks to anti-Austria, it’s okay for this money to stay in their hands.”
Knowing that he had been screwed over, not only was he not able to retaliate, but instead he wanted to increase his efforts to support them, Gladstone felt that the world had gone mad.
However, this was the reality. For the sake of Britain’s national interests, the French government-in-exile had to exist, or else the anti-Orthodox elements in France would not be able to find an organization.
After contemplating for a while, Prime Minister Gladstone reacted and lamented, “Napoleon IV is really a good tactic! Without even missing a face, he cheated a huge sum of money from us.”
…
“If he’s so powerful, why is he in exile?”
…
“No, there’s something wrong with the Paris Revolution. The Bonaparte dynasty was not so fragile that it could not have collapsed so quickly!
The troops stationed in Paris were Napoleon IV’s direct line, and if they hadn’t been transferred away, the revolutionaries would never have succeeded.
It seems we’ve all been fooled by him. The collapse of the Bonaparte dynasty itself was planned by Napoleon IV, and the current revolutionary government is just a scapegoat prepared by him.
Damn, the Continental War is going to end early. Napoleon IV won’t leave the revolutionary government a chance. The French army at the front is going to have problems.
There is no time left, we must negotiate with the revolutionary government immediately and finalize …… before the French surrender.”
Worthy of being the most successful prime minister of Britain in the nineteenth century, only through some clues, Gladstone analyzed the truth of the matter.
Knowing what you know, Napoleon IV used a phallic scheme. Knowing that it was a pit, everyone had to jump into it, and from the start of the armed uprising, the revolutionaries had no way back.
The responsibility for risking war was thrown to the bourgeoisie, the responsibility for defeat was dumped on the revolutionaries, and Napoleon IV, the emperor, became a victim instead.
There was also a barely justifiable explanation to the people: the defeat was not due to the incompetence of the emperor, but mainly to the excessive number of traitors. The internal and external problems broke out together, really can not be brought.
As soon as the treaty of cessation was signed, the people would turn on the revolutionary government, which had surrendered on its knees, thus minimizing the responsibility of the previous government.
……
The power of the individual is small in the face of the rolling tide of history. The Paris Parliament was still squabbling over food, when the troops at the front ran out of food first.
On October 19, 1891, on the third day of the French army’s food cut, the aged Marshal Patrice McMahon publicly telegraphed “Your Plot Has Succeeded”.
The article told of the bloodshed of the French troops on the front line in defense of the country, and denounced the plot of the revolutionary government to collaborate with the enemy and sell out the country, and to cut off the logistics of the troops in order to force them to surrender.
Immediately afterward, he ordered the troops on the front line to lay down their arms and surrender. As if by agreement, the French commanders on the southern, western and central fronts followed suit and issued telegrams.
At one time, France was full of telegrams, almost every French general had to send a telegram to denounce the revolutionary government in Paris before surrendering. It seemed that if they didn’t send telegrams, they couldn’t keep up with the times.
A black pot fell from the sky, directly the confused Paris revolutionary government smashed completely confused. “Collaborate with the enemy and sell the country”, they are indeed prepared to do, but the armistice negotiations have not even begun, what they sell ah?
Explanation is useless, Napoleon IV painstakingly planted mines, has now detonated.
The military united their stance, biting out that the revolutionary government colluded with the anti-French allies, cutting off the supply of food and provisions to the frontline troops, forcing everyone to surrender to the enemy. The revolutionary government in Paris did not even have room to explain.
It wasn’t that the Bonaparte dynasty had much influence in the army; really if it could control the whole country’s army, Napoleon IV wouldn’t have to go into exile.
After all, it was still for the sake of profit, and someone always needs to be responsible for a defeat. Especially the military is the first to bear the brunt of the defeat, you can imagine that these generals who lost the war will not have a good day after the war.
In order not to be spat on by the public, they, like Napoleon IV, needed a scapegoat to take responsibility. It so happened that at this time, the revolutionary government of Paris came together.
Wanted to be in charge, no problem. The revolutionary government of Paris, with a few telegrams, had nominally gathered military power. As the boss of the natural need to take care of food, the original Bonaparte dynasty’s responsibility, now falls on the head of the revolutionary government.
Since they are all laying mines, Napoleon IV naturally will not leave too many strategic materials in Paris, including food supplies stored along the way, but also sell them backwards, transported away.
When the Paris government took over power, it happened to be the time to transport supplies to the front line. Truckloads of shipped supplies were seized by the Revolutionary Army before they even departed from Paris.
If they had continued to send them to the front, they would have starved themselves. There was no choice but to requisition them first. This requisition, the black pot can not be shrugged off.
Unable to control the local government, unable to raise enough food supplies to be shipped to the front in a short period of time, it directly led to the frontline troops being deprived of food.
Things have already happened, no matter how the revolutionary government in Paris explains it, the frontline troops’ food shortage is caused by them.
It was a mess, the whole of France was in chaos. With the issuance of a circular letter, the Paris revolutionary government was pushed to the forefront.
The students and intellectuals who originally supported the revolution now became hesitant. The aristocrats, peasants, and some of the workers who were originally opposed to the revolution now looked even more unfavorably on the revolutionary government.
Even the capitalists, who had just been released from prison and were ready to usurp the fruits of the revolution, also stopped and chose to wait and see the situation first.
There was no way around it, the Antifa alliance had already hit. The strategic location of Paris itself is very bad, not only is it undefended, but it is also close to the front line. Once the front line troops surrendered, Paris was the new front line.
If you don’t have a way to deal with the Antifa at this time, you’re asking for trouble.
(End of chapter)