Napoleon II Reborn

Chapter 201: shadow of war

The situation that France is now facing is indeed very bad. Although the situation is not as dangerous as it was in the fourth anti-French alliance, if the situation is not under control, it is not difficult to imagine that France's enemies and "allies" will definitely It will take advantage of this rare opportunity to add insult to injury. It is hard to say whether France can survive by then.

In general, France is facing three difficulties, one is the situation within the government, the other is the situation in French occupied territories, and the third is the international situation.

Inside the government, since Talleyrand was dismissed by Napoleon as Minister of Foreign Affairs, when Napoleon left Paris, Talleyrand and Fouche took advantage of his lack of time to take care of state affairs and formed an alliance aimed at overthrowing the French emperor and restoring peace— Murat also supported the plan. After getting this news, Napoleon returned to Paris from Bayonne, stabilized the situation, and reprimanded Talleyrand and Fouche (although Talleyrand was relieved of his duties, he was still the Duke of France, and he also had a lot of influence in the government. strong influence), but the conspiratorial rebellion headed by Talleyrand and Fouché showed no sign of subsiding; on January 8, Napoleon carried out a liquidation against them (another person involved in the conspiracy— Murat is now in Italy).

When Talleyrand and Fouche arrived, they found that in addition to Napoleon himself, Duroc and Menerval, there were also Prime Minister Cambacérès, Le Brun and Secretary of the Navy Decris. Napoleon angrily accused Fouché and Talleyrand of "open treason" and revealed their shady correspondence intercepted by postmaster Lavalette and Eugène Beauharnay, including letters from Talleyrand and Murat , and the reports given to him by Napoleon's mother, Chancellor Morion, and others—all exposing their treasonous activities. Napoleon's face was livid with anger.

It started when Talleyrand's friend, the mild-mannered former police chief, the Count d'Otterville, first secretly brought Talleyrand and Fouche together in his country house in Bagnes last October. Later, they met again at the home of the Duchess of Wodmont in Surlon (a close friend of Talleyrand). So far, everything has been done in secret.

At the beginning of December, Talleyrand, who had never invited Fouche to his mansion in Paris before, extended an invitation to Fouche. Talleyrand received Fouche with a smile in his mansion, and the two walked slowly arm in arm. . The question arises on everyone: what is their purpose in behaving like this?

The whole of Paris is talking about the two of them colluding, "in the past, they were so incompatible in terms of views and interests, and they came together because of ulterior motives."

On December 4, the Austrian ambassador Metternich, who also had ulterior motives, reported from Paris to Vienna: I very much doubt that their close cooperation at this time is only to achieve a common goal. They did seize a successful moment, for the weary nation had a longing after long and excessive demands, and they feared that further demands on them would ruin their lives and everything that was nothing more than It's just to satisfy their master's personal ambitions.

A month later, the Austrian ambassador confirmed that "Talleyrand and his friend Fouché were always inseparable, determined to seize the moment, if it should come; evidently they lacked the courage to create it themselves." The cunning Metternich was right: they were actually demonstrating to Napoleon that they were fully capable of overthrowing Napoleon. They attempted to communicate with Murat, and at least one such communication was intercepted by Napoleon's men. If they really wanted to do it, Napoleon's absence would be the best time; but they were only showing off their union in public.

All this Napoleon learned in reports. "You are a thief, a coward, and a traitor!" The emperor almost snarled at Talleyrand: you don't believe in God, and you can't do your duty all your life. You have deceived and betrayed everyone. You are lawless, as long as it is profitable, you will even betray your own biological father. I have done my best for you, but you are determined to be my enemy. You have been betraying me for the past 10 months because you think my career in Spain is not going well, and you can go around showing that you have always opposed my invasion of this kingdom... So, what should your plan be? What would you do if it were you? Say it and let us hear it!

In the end, in order to curb the conspiracy of the two, Napoleon ordered the removal of Fouche from his post and sent people to monitor them. If they were engaged in activities that attempted to overthrow his rule, they would be arrested immediately. In this way, the bad situation within the government was suppressed by Napoleon with strong means, which temporarily eased the situation.

After dealing with the turbulent situation within the government, Napoleon turned his attention to the French occupation. Secret reports sent by local governors and military governors from all over France-occupied Europe, especially anti-French sentiments in the Netherlands, the Rhine Confederate States, and occupied Prussia were all instigated by interested countries, and French dominance began. being threatened.

There were also serious problems in Hamburg and Westphalia in Jerome (Napoleon's younger brother, fourth son of the Bonaparte family), including plans for an open armed uprising. Napoleon spent a lot of money to maintain the situation there. Jerome already owed the French treasury 20 million francs to keep the state going, and to build his court, sew extravagant clothing, create new medals and even a new currency, the "Jerome d'Or" (which angered his The elder brother Napoleon, whose currency was used in various countries in Europe) owed a lot of debts to friends, financiers and merchants. Jerome endlessly held balls, banquets, bought jewelry and clothing, and his extravagance even stunned Napoleon. Then, Jerome dismissed the court officer appointed by Napoleon for him, and even declared an enemy of Napoleon's customs officials, openly importing British goods that were strictly prohibited from trading.

It was at such a time in Westphalia that Napoleon appointed Jérôme in April 1809 as the new commander of the Tenth Army, ordering him: "Watch what is happening in Dresden, Hannover and Hamburg. all circumstances.” In theory, Napoleon wanted to keep this corps out of the field, but Jerome, the 25-year-old King of Westphalia, believed that he had a large army; Jerome’s commander of the guard could not bear the arrogant Jerome, planning a coup d'état at the palace, would bring down this pompous young man. Immediately afterwards, a large-scale uprising occurred in the area. All of Westphalia was in turmoil. Jérôme mobilized French troops to quell the coup; his "brave" wife fled across the Rhine to Strasbourg. Napoleon severely suppressed the uprising, setting fire to all the villages in the uprising, and shooting all the riot leaders. To make an example, Napoleon not only did this in Westphalia, but also in Naples and the Netherlands.

Napoleon, of course, blamed Jerome for everything in Westphalia. "Your kingdom has no policies, no finances, and no organization. No monarch can rule a country with extravagance and desire without lifting a finger. I think people's rebellion against you is inevitable, and I hope you gain from it. Lesson." However, Jerome not only failed to learn the lesson, but instead aroused hatred against Napoleon, which made Napoleon suffer when he desperately needed his brother's help one day.

Likewise, Holland was not much better under Louis, where Napoleon's orders were resisted, and Louis attempted to make the Netherlands his own independent kingdom. This caused Napoleon a headache, because Louis, unlike Jerome, was not only a capable officer, but his help was crucial to Napoleon.

While Napoleon was still having a headache about the occupied territories, at this time, the military threat in Central Europe was becoming increasingly serious. On February 8, 1809, Emperor Francis of Austria decided to go to war against France to shame the defeat of Austerlitz. On April 9, 1809, Archduke Charles, who was the commander-in-chief of the Austrian army, crossed the Rhine River and entered Bavaria.

On April 12, a note from the Austrian army was sent to Strasbourg ~lightnovelpub.net~ The next day, Napoleon left the Elysee Palace under the **** of a powerful cavalry guard and set off to enter Germany. On April 18, Napoleon led his army across the Rhine River and came to the base camp set up in Nuremberg. Get ready to teach Austria a good lesson. But he didn't realize at all that the current situation is not very good for France. The nearly 100,000 troops lost in Spain have not been replenished, and Austria at this time is not the same Austria as before. The defeat was miserable, but they did not participate in the last war. After several years of development, their national strength has been greatly improved, and their military strength has also been greatly enhanced.

For all that was happening, Xiao Jie was powerless. Now that the construction of Iberia has just begun, he has no time to take care of all this. In addition, in his memory, he also clearly knows the result of this war. Although Austria gained a great advantage at the beginning, it still failed in the end, so that it had to cede territory for peace again. Although France won in the end, it also further consumed France's national power, which eventually led to its subsequent failure.

"Let's fight, let's fight. The harder you fight, the better. Anyway, it's none of my business. I just need to keep my Iberia and develop it well." Putting the information in his hands aside, Xiao Jie turned to fight His own women went to play around.

(To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to .FU., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)