To attack a snake, you must attack the weak spot. What is the weak spot of the French Emperor? In fact, as Xiao Letian said, it is where the legitimacy of his governance lies.
Napoleon III was not a fool. He knew very well how he succeeded in the restoration. The old aristocratic capitalists in the country wanted to follow him to maintain their original rights, and the general public accepted this empire. In fact, they just hoped that the Bonaparte family would recreate the past. past glory.
Therefore, during the years when the French Emperor was in power, he continued to expand overseas and fight wars. News of victory after victory inspired the people and made his personal prestige flourish.
In the light of countless victories, the soaring Emperor actually had a trace of worry. After all, he was not a fool. Of course he knew the current situation of the empire.
The empire as a whole is still very wealthy, but the wealth is too concentrated in the hands of some people and cannot be mobilized. As a result, France's domestic finances have always been tight.
The money spent on the Paris transformation plan has not yet been repaid. The continuous expansion of overseas colonies has scattered limited troops all over the world. I want to expand the army by another 200,000, but I don't have that much money.
Napoleon III was very surprised that his great achievements over the years had actually overdrawn the empire's financial resources. Of course, the overdraft was the part he could use.
Of course he wanted to take advantage of those wealthy people and squeeze out some profits, but if he thought about it carefully, didn't he rely on the support of those people to secure his position as emperor?
If you attack those people, isn't this just digging your own grave? Think about it or give up!
For the present, France can only rest and recuperate, change its expansion strategy to contraction, increase domestic investment in industry, and then improve the welfare of the people to absorb social conflicts.
This is the only correct path, but this path is no longer feasible. It’s not that Napoleon III didn’t want to take it, but that many people forced him not to take it!
In Xiao Letian's eyes, Napoleon III was like a gangster kidnapped by public opinion. He didn't want to fight many battles, but he couldn't do it without fighting.
The younger brothers below demand to expand the territory and demand that the boss's glory remains intact. If the boss cannot continue to expand territory, then these younger brothers are likely to change families or even cause civil strife.
Poor Napoleon III could only rush forward as hard as he could, unable to stop at all.
What's more, there are countless countries on the opposite side of him that are watching him eagerly and trying to exploit his weaknesses, just like Xiao Letian.
Almost overnight, many bizarre rumors suddenly appeared on the streets of Paris, and all of these rumors were aimed at Napoleon III.
"Have you heard that right now in Ryukyu in the east, there are more than 300 French soldiers and intelligence officers being imprisoned by the Chinese on death row!"
"They are tortured and beaten every day, and they still have to do countless hard work! Almost half of them are dead now..."
"You are wrong. There are not three hundred people on death row but five hundred! Five hundred! It is said that a noble knight is also imprisoned there!"
"How dare the Chinese people be so bold? Those yellow-skinned monkeys dragging pig tails dare to be so provocative?"
"You don't read newspapers and you don't know how to read. You know nothing! It's the Chinese who captured us, not the Qing Dynasty. It was Xiao Letian who was assassinated a few days ago but didn't die!"
"Oh God! It's really possible if that lunatic is! But why didn't our Majesty take revenge? How could we just watch our people being treated like this overseas!"
"Bah...revenge? One of our palace knights was killed by the Chinese! Even the nobles died unexpectedly, but the emperor didn't even fart!"
"Really or not! There is such a thing? It's such a shame..."
People gathered together and kept talking!
"What happened to our emperor? He didn't back down in the face of the powerful Qing Dynasty and directly captured their capital! Why is there no action now?"
"Forget it, isn't it because of the threat from the Prussians in the north that we can't send out troops?"
"Then start a war! Deal with those Prussians ruthlessly, and then let the victorious army fight to the east! How can we be so humiliated!"
Taverns, coffee houses, and many people's homes were all crowded with people, and they began to talk about it. In the end, even more bizarre news came out.
"Have you heard? His Majesty the Emperor is too old and no longer has the functions of a man... The Queen now relies on a few lovers and bodyguards to meet her physical needs!"
"The emperor is no longer good. He doesn't even have any ability, let alone the ambition to expand the territory! How about facing Prussia without being tough at all?"
"Real or false? How is this possible?" This is how people are naturally interested when they hear such gossip.
"I don't know if it's true or not, and I can't take off the emperor's pants to see with my own eyes... Anyway, His Majesty's momentum has not been as strong as before in recent years!"
"Do you know why we didn't participate in the Austro-Prussian War and just watched Prussia win?"
"It's not because Bismarck agreed to cede the land west of the Rhine to us in exchange for France not sending troops!"
"Without France's commitment, how could Prussia concentrate its forces against Austria? Still want to win? Just dream..."
"But in the end, Bismarck broke their promise! They didn't give us any land west of the Rhine. They flatly denied that they were treating us like fools!"
"That's it, Your Majesty has nothing to do! Even if it's like this, Your Majesty won't start a war!"
"There is no hope, there is no hope for this empire!"
Pessimistic rumors spread like the wind on the streets of Paris. Various versions focused on the emperor's weakness and incompetence. Some people even shouted slogans of losing power and humiliating the country.
The situation in Paris that had just calmed down suddenly became restless again, especially those at the bottom who were poorly educated and prone to hot-headedness.
Under the instigation of countless caring people, they vented their grievances on the emperor of the empire!
"Check it! Investigate it! Who is spreading rumors? If you catch him, I will kill him without mercy!"
Napoleon III was completely angry. It was unbearable for him to be slandered like this!
However, this kind of rumor came and went without a trace. It was even harder to find the source of the spread. The senior officials of the National Police Agency all had pale faces.
They want to tell the truth but they dare not to die. At this time, they must find a scapegoat!
"Your Majesty, please calm down! This matter is clearly a conspiracy of the Prussians! They must have spread rumors to smear Your Majesty..."
"That's enough! What do you want to say? The Prussians created rumors, then go and capture Bismarck! Judgment!"
This group of senior officials were so frightened that they did not dare to speak. Are they thinking of arresting Bismarck? What you can't do with millions of troops at your disposal, do you want us, the police, to do it?
