Fox of France

Joseph was awakened by the orderly in bed.

"Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte, Lieutenant Colonel Bonaparte, General Carnot told you to go to the War Department quickly, something happened, something happened in the south."

"What? Something happened? Something happened in the south?" Upon hearing this, Joseph jumped up from the bed like a spring.

He quickly put the military uniform on his body, put a hat on his head indiscriminately, and hurriedly followed the orderly out the door, got on his horse, and galloped towards the Ministry of War...

On the way, Joseph kept thinking: "Did something happen to Napoleon? Could it be that the world line changed because of his time travel, and Napoleon became a martyr as a result?" After all, things on the battlefield often depend on luck. Napoleon likes to play the lead, in case a shell has no eyes...

The more Joseph thought about it, the more frightened he became, his hands were shaking so much that he could hardly hold the reins of the horse. Fortunately, his residence was not far from the War Department, and after a while, Joseph arrived there.

Jumping off the horse, Joseph went straight to Kano's office.

"Lazar, what happened?" Joseph asked as soon as he opened the door.

"Ange has fallen," said Cano.

Joseph let out a long breath, then widened his eyes and said, "What? Angers fell? Then what did Napoleon say?"

"Napoleon didn't send the battle report. The news was sent from the Jacobin Club in Angers." Kano said, "I'm sorry to call you out in the middle of the night. Actually, I was just woken up too. .You take a breath first, and I will tell you something I have learned."

Kano roughly introduced what he knew to Joseph. The basic situation is this:

In the fighting of the previous few days, the army led by Napoleon has been very successful in blocking the attacks of the rebels. Just the day before yesterday, Napoleon announced that he had observed that the morale of the enemy army had declined, as had the strength of the attack, and that he had decided to launch a general counterattack. So Napoleon transferred the main force out of the city, ready to counterattack.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the main force of the French army was called out, the royalist elements in the city immediately launched a rebellion. A part of the National Self-Defense Forces was also infiltrated by the Royal Party, so the Royal Party quickly took control of some key positions in the city, and then the rebels, led by the Royal Party, quickly captured Angers. Napoleon tried to counterattack with his army, but the counterattack was not good, so he retreated quickly.

"That's it. If so, it doesn't seem to be the responsibility, at least not entirely Napoleon's." Joseph immediately began to use his brain, ready to find a way to blame Napoleon.

"Anyway, Joseph, it's a serious failure. I reckon there'll be an uproar in Paris at dawn tomorrow—no, today. Maybe I'll have to be dragged to Parliament for questioning. But you Don't worry, actually take a closer look, although the rebels captured Angers, the whole situation is not that bad. I can stand the parliament."

"General, this is really..." Joseph said.

"Wrong, I'm still a colonel now." Kano said with a smile, "I guess I won't be able to become a general again until Napoleon wins. Well, Joseph, let's study the situation together."

"Okay." Joseph said, "I don't know when that idiot Napoleon will send the battle report."

"Ah, there should be another day." Kano said, "I just don't know how the loss of his army will be."

...

After dawn, Kano was indeed called to the parliament to be questioned. It is said that the guy named Goriot seized this opportunity and jumped up and down there. What to say to suspect Napoleon of treason, what to say to suspect that Carnot and Napoleon colluded. In the end, Kano couldn't take it anymore, and gave this guy a vicious look, and then, that guy suddenly became incontinent!

"But Joseph, you know, some people in the parliament are in panic. You also know how difficult it is to discuss issues rationally with these guys who have lost their minds. So in the end, they passed a resolution to go to Send a commissioner from Napoleon's army."

This result was actually within Joseph's expectations, and Joseph asked, "Who are they going to send?"

"At the beginning, I really wanted to ask for Saint-Just to go. Although he is young, he has courage and is willing to learn, and he will not interfere with things he doesn't understand. He has carried out such tasks several times. Well, the cooperation with the military chief is good. Unfortunately, the situation in Paris these days is very delicate, so he can't leave. So we have to choose someone else."

"So who was sent in the end?" Joseph asked.

"A guy named Joseph like you, but his surname is Fouche," Cano said.

"Joseph Fouche, the one who had a good relationship with Robespierre at first, then with Lafayette, then with Brissot, and now with Marat?" Joseph said.

"It's that shameless villain!" Kano said disdainfully, "This guy is now following Mara and the others, and his dance is more radical than Mara's."

Although Kano is closer to the Mountain faction, he is very disapproving of the very radical indignant faction like Mara.

"Converters are fanatical." Joseph said, "When a traitor enters a new group, he must be more radical than others in order to be recognized. But will such a guy interfere with the command when he enters the army?"

"I talked to Fouche, and he said that he is only responsible for recording Napoleon's command so that the parliament can determine whether Napoleon has committed malfeasance. As for military command, he will not interfere."

"I hope so." Joseph said, "General, the report of Napoleon's battle has arrived. I think this bad thing may be playing tricks behind our backs..."

...

When Joseph Fouche arrived at Napoleon's army with about two hundred volunteers, Napoleon had already retreated to the vicinity of Le Mans. Le Mans is famous for its racing cars in later generations, but at this time, there are no cars here, only horse-drawn carriages coming and going.

Le Mans as the location of the decisive battle is very beneficial to Napoleon. First of all, Le Mans has good water and land transportation. Materials departing from Paris can directly reach Le Mans through the canal between the Seine and the Loire.

Secondly, the defensive conditions of Le Mans City itself are quite good. During the Hundred Years' War, Le Mans has been an important place repeatedly contested by the British and French armies, so the city of Le Mans has a very strong city wall. In the modern age when artillery is widely popularized, these city walls are a bit outdated, but it is better to have than nothing. Considering the low quality of the enemy army, the role of these walls is even greater. For General Delacortri, only by winning Le Mans can he truly threaten Paris by cutting off the waterway.

"Welcome to my barracks, Mr. Fouche." Napoleon and his officers received Fouche who was sent here as a special commissioner in the barracks.

"Nice to meet you, Master Bonaparte." Fouche said, "I was ordered to come to you to cooperate with your work."

"Then, please come here, and let me introduce you to the current military situation." Napoleon said.

"No, it's not necessary. Commander Bonaparte," Fouche said, "I don't understand military affairs, and I don't intend to interfere with your command. I have only two missions here. One is to witness this battle. For this reason, I only Eyes and ears are enough. As for the other mission... I was tasked with clearing Le Mans of the lurking rebels whose sabotage, as far as I know, caused the fall of Angers. This kind of thing is never allowed to happen again in Le Mans. If there is a need, Commander Bonaparte, I hope to get the support of your army."

"That's not a problem," said Napoleon.

Fouche did not lie. Although he participated in many Napoleon's military meetings since then, he did not say a word in these meetings. And he spends most of his time running around Le Mans, not knowing what he is busy with.

On the last day of May, revolution broke out again in Paris, as the sansculottes revolted again because of dissatisfaction with the economic situation. They believe that a group of traitors in parliament is responsible for the current crisis. The uprising people surrounded the National Assembly and demanded that it hand over those they considered "traitors". Parliament backed down again before the sansculottes, and more than two dozen MPs were arrested. Also from this night, the balance in the parliament was broken. The Mountain faction began to occupy a clear advantage in the parliament, which was enough to overwhelm their opponents on the problem of large logarithms.

What followed was that a large number of members of the plain faction left Paris. Later, when the National Assembly was in session, more than one-third of the members were often absent.

In general, Paris was always one step ahead of the provinces during the Revolution. When Paris began to advocate a constitutional monarchy, the provinces were still expecting the king's mercy; when Paris began to advocate a republic, most of the provinces were just able to accept a constitutional monarchy; Most of the provinces are more supportive of the Brisso faction. In the towns of the provinces, therefore, the Brissotists gained the upper hand, and the antagonism between the provinces and Paris was further intensified.

This also caused a decline in the power of the republicans, so the royal party began to continuously set off new rebellions in other places. As the Vendée rebels approached, various rumors began to appear in Le Mans.

On the higher end of the story, there were thousands of Vendée rebels, joined by British and Spanish troops, well equipped and well trained. Napoleon, who was defending Le Mans, had only one division with more than 5,000 people, and had lost a large number of cannons in the previous retreat, so he was definitely not an opponent.

The reason why this rumor is considered high-end is that it is half-truth and half-false, and it is also confusing to those with certain judgment. For example, it is true that Napoleon lost some cannons during his previous retreat. However, those cannons were left on purpose by Napoleon to encourage the enemy to continue marching. As for Napoleon, he did not lack cannons. Before that, relying on his brother's eccentric support, he had already prepared a batch of cannons at Le Mans.

As for the low-end rumors, they are really full of tricks and very interesting. Even the twelve Paladins (the twelve knights of Charlemagne) were resurrected according to the will of God, and came to serve the king's party with the thunder of God. There are things like military aid in battle. Such things, of course, have no effect on people of insight, but they can deceive many low-level illiterates. As a result, an undercurrent began to surge in Le Mans City.