Napoleon III was old and a little confused. In addition, everything had not been going well in the past few years, which gradually made this old man in his dying years a little psychopathic.
A person like Napoleon III is a typical character who can advance but not retreat. When he was young, he could tolerate failure. After all, he still had a lot of time to struggle.
But this is not the case now. He is already old. Under the pressure of internal and external troubles, he feels a deep crisis. At this moment, all he thinks about is to safeguard his rights and enjoy the authority of the emperor until his death.
In Xiao Letian's eyes, what such people do is no different from Cixi in her later years. They will control the power of the empire until their death. People like them can do anything, even if there is a flood after death, they have no scruples. .
The French Emperor knew very well that he had temporarily quelled the unrest of the working class by vigorously promoting nationalism, letting the people first feel the threat of Prussia in the north, and making these people temporarily forget bread and milk for the sake of the banner of patriotism. .
War is inevitable. This war is just to buy some time for the French emperor's reforms. It is a bit like the morphine given to dying people or the ginseng soup drunk by the Chinese.
Hang your life by winning a war!
As long as the war against Prussia is won, Napoleon III can buy himself at least three years of buffer time. By then, he can find ways to ease domestic conflicts, even if appropriate reforms can be considered.
But he knew better that the war against Prussia must be won and not defeated! If this injection of morphine does not have an effect and instead stings the nerves of the domestic people, then I am afraid that these lunatics will not even give him three months, let alone three years of buffer.
Napoleon III knew very well that his family's ability to gain support from the French people actually relied on his uncle's reputation in hundreds of battles. The people wanted to win, and the domestic capitalists needed to expand abroad.
That’s why he was able to successfully restore the empire! But now there are so many unfavorable rumors circulating on the streets of Paris. On the surface, these rumors are not worth refuting, but these lies directly hit the French Emperor's weakness.
Once the people no longer believe that he can bring military victory, then he will be nothing but a pile of garbage!
However, war cannot be fought simply by fighting. Without sufficient preparations, easily provoking a war can only increase the probability of failure, not to mention that the French emperor is still thinking about the popular sentiment of the swing states in South Germany.
"You... you must suppress this evil trend! I don't want to hear any more rumors spreading on the streets of Paris. If you can't do this..."
"Haha, then you will all be organized into the vanguard battalion, and you will be the first wave of soldiers to charge against Prussia!"
"Get out of here right now! If you can't complete the mission, just wait to die on the battlefield!"
This group of policemen shrank their necks in fear and quickly exited the Tuileries Palace. That afternoon, the streets of Paris were full of policemen on duty, and all kinds of spies were present in all social occasions.
Countless citizens were arrested for talking about these rumors, and the prisons in Paris were suddenly overcrowded!
In the imperial military headquarters, France's most senior generals were also busy analyzing the current chaos. When the French Emperor came to visit them in person, Marshal Bazin and Marshal MacMahon were anxiously pointing on the map. Point and point.
"My marshal! Has the military department come up with a plan?"
"Your Majesty!" Everyone in the conference hall stood at attention and saluted as soon as the French Emperor arrived.
"There is no time to be polite. You are also well aware of the chaos on the streets of Paris. If this continues, those workers will cause trouble again..." The French Emperor stretched out his hand and pressed down.
Marshal Bazin was the highest-ranking person here. He frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the Prussians' strategy is actually very simple. They just want to force us to declare war in order to win the hearts and minds of the four southern states such as Bavaria!"
"Bavaria, Baden, Hesse, Württemberg...these four broad German states, the public sentiment is wavering. It can basically be predicted that whoever goes to war first will be regarded as a war criminal by the people here and is sabotaging them. The murderer of a stable life!"
"Bismarck wants us to declare war on our own initiative, so that the people of these four countries will share the same hatred and regard us as invaders!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down! This is the enemy's way of provoking generals, you can't be fooled!"
No matter how angry the Emperor was, he could not vent his anger on the marshal of the empire. He took a deep breath to calm down his mood, "My marshal, of course I know this is Bismarck's conspiracy, but just avoiding it is not the solution!"
"If we avoid war for a long time, what will the people at home think? Will those guys led by Blanqui who are ready to take action make some small moves?"
"The situation is so sensitive that it cannot be solved by patience!"
When Blanqui was mentioned, people in the military were reminded of the riot of 200,000 people not long ago. The scenes of killing and burning were still in front of them. If the empire had not handled it properly that time, a war would probably have broken out. There was a nationwide uprising.
Marshal McMahon thought for a while, "Your Majesty... if it doesn't work out, just negotiate with Blanqui and the others and see how to come up with a timetable for friendly negotiation..."
"Impossible!" The French Emperor's eyes stood up. "It's already a huge favor for me to allow him to return to Paris from Belgium. These traitors still want to negotiate with me?"
"A bunch of ungrateful pigs and dogs! Sooner or later I will deal with them myself!"
Seeing that the emperor was so stubborn, no one present dared to say anything. At this moment, the door of the conference room was pushed open, and the Duke of Montauban and the Prince Eugène Bonaparte walked in together.
"Your Majesty...Father...why are you here?" the two asked in unison.
After seeing his son, he felt much better as a father. "My son, what are you busy with today? I haven't seen you for three days!"
The prince excitedly waved behind him, "Father, I went to conduct a weapons experiment! I brought good news!"
Prince Eugene took the rifle handed over by the attendant, "This is the latest Saspor-style needle-piercing rifle installed in our empire. One of these two is a Prussian Mauser, and the other is a Prussian Dreser..."
"In the past few days, my guards and I have been continuously experimenting with various types of rifles. After the analysis of many engineers, we came up with amazing results!"
"Father, our Saspor rifle's performance far exceeds that of Dreser, and it is not inferior even to the Prussian Mauser!"
"Range, accuracy, reliability...our rifles have all-round advantages!"
"Unless the Prussians fully equip the latest Mauser, it will only equalize the advantage with our rifles! That is impossible!"
"The Prussians can no longer create the miracle of the Austro-Prussian War! Their weapons have no advantage over us at all!"
"The balance of victory is on our side!"
