The capture of Versailles by the Prussians proved that the Paris siege had officially entered its final stage, and the whole of France was already restless.
In the southern Orleans theater, the French Southern Corps and Prince Carl's Corps were strangled together. There were tough battles every day, and there would be a large-scale battle every three days.
Both sides continued to increase their troops. At first, the Prussian army only had 28,000 troops to attack Orleans, and even briefly captured the city. However, the retreating Southern Corps, under Gambetta's strict orders, regrouped and reorganized in the Loire River.
A large number of new soldiers came in as reinforcements. In just three days, the force expanded to 70,000 people, and the Loire Corps in the South was officially formed!
The Loire Corps, which gained fresh troops, launched a counterattack against Orleans and successfully drove the Prussians out of Orleans!
The furious Prince Carl once again increased his troops and even ordered the newly reinforced Bavarian Legion to join the front-line battle sequence. The attack on Orleans is currently in the preparation stage.
The Bazin Army in the north was trapped in the city of Metz. More than 100,000 French troops fought hard under the heavy siege of the enemy. Even the rats in the city were almost eaten, but they were still fighting unremittingly.
As for the resistance of local guerrillas, it was wave after wave. They demolished railways, attacked transport teams, and ambushed small groups of Prussian troops. They caused wars everywhere in the north.
But at the critical moment when all of France was desperately resisting the invaders, serious internal strife broke out in Paris!
The royalists went crazy. They desperately attacked the Provisional Defense Committee and the leftists on Montmartre. They severely criticized the non-resistance policy and forced these people to go out of the city to fight the Prussians!
Trochu and others were also crazy. They actually forgot what freedom of speech was and immediately ordered the arrest of royalist activists!
It can be seen that Trochu and others are also afraid. They are mainly unable to explain their strategies and tactics to the people, because they know that the people in France are crazy. At this moment, they do not use their brains to think about problems but are purely emotional animals.
But I didn't expect that these royalists were well informed and fled Paris at night and took refuge in the arms of the Prussians. Now the whole of Paris was in an uproar!
The people began to divide into two groups. One group believed that the royalists were right and should fight the enemy decisively. There were only more than 100,000 Prussian troops surrounding Paris at the moment. If we start the war in advance now, we will definitely win!
But the other faction condemned the royalists' surrender to the enemy and believed that these boneless cowards were not worthy of representing France!
The people were noisy just to watch the excitement, but Trochu, Blanqui and others felt chills in their hearts!
They finally realized that Bismarck took in the royalists in order to use the restoration of the empire to put pressure on the new government! In other words, the Prussians are ready to support another dynastic empire!
How is this possible? Is the Republic so short-lived?
Regardless of the conflicts with the leftists, the committee hurriedly started the talks, but this time Thiers fell silent. On the surface, his expression was still serious, but on the inside he was happy.
All of this was a conspiracy drawn up by him and Xiao Letian, and even Bismarck was just a supporter!
The situation of the country is already in their hands!
"Haha, keep arguing, keep arguing! On the way to hell, I will let you have a good time talking first..."
Thiers has long given up any hope for various meetings. Can the national crisis be solved by just talking at a meeting? If you have this spare time, you might as well engage in some conspiracy!
Facts have proved that this is indeed the case. The Provisional National Defense Committee and the leftists debated for two days but there was no unified opinion!
The people of Paris have been rallying and demonstrating in the streets like crazy. They demand to take the initiative and give the invaders a severe lesson.
But Trochu, Blanqui and others all know how powerful they are, so they go out of the city for a decisive battle? That's really hitting an egg with an egg against a stone!
However, it is not without any effect. During the continuous quarrels, the National Defense Council ordered a three-month rent extension for all tenants in Paris. This means that the current tenants can stay in the landlord's house until April next year. go!
In addition, for people’s pawned items, items under 15 francs can be redeemed for free!
This can be said to be a major compromise made by the National Defense Committee to the citizens. Of course, the people cheered, but the capitalists and middle classes in Paris were mourning.
Under the protection of bodyguards, Thiers inspected the streets of Paris. He found that almost all pawn shops did not dare to open their doors, and countless citizens surrounded the door.
They took small pawn tickets to take away the items they had pawned. In fact, there was nothing valuable, just winter clothes, bedding from home, and even daily necessities such as kitchen knives, dinner plates, and ovens.
From this we can also see the gap between the rich and the poor in Paris at that time. The pawnshop even accepted scissors, kitchen knives and other daily necessities from ordinary people's homes. This shows how poor the people were and how meticulous the business was.
"Where's Eugene? Remember to remind him to be careful...ask him if he has any friends who are involved in these businesses...if you can't, just run away. There will be chaos in the future..."
Eugene's brother-in-law is a small businessman in Paris. He has opened two pawn shops and rents out several buildings. His life has always been considered to be a little bit upper middle class.
And all the policies of the interim government are aimed at attacking small businessmen like him!
Eugene's brother-in-law, Andrew, was on the verge of tears. The three buildings were full of people but he could not receive a penny. The two pawn shops did not dare to open their doors at all. Whenever they opened, they would encounter a rush.
The 15-franc pawn ticket must be returned to these untouchables for free, and the 30-franc pawn ticket must be redeemed at half price... How can I reason with this!
I really want to leave, but all my property and career are in Paris. He wants to leave but he really can’t bear to leave!
At the most critical moment, his brother-in-law Eugene found him: "Brother-in-law... I have a big business to take care of you. Once this deal is completed, I think we can join the ranks of the top businessmen in France..."
"Look what this is? A cashier's check from Standard Chartered Bank, a total of eighty thousand francs..."
"God, where did you get it? Didn't the exchange business between the Bank of Paris and London stop long ago?"
Eugene and his brother-in-law Andrew were hiding in a small attic, whispering like mice!
"It's not remitted from the UK, this is money given to me by the Chinese..."
"Oh my God! How can you have contact with the Chinese...Are you crazy? Do you want your life?"
"What do you know? I found a huge business opportunity, a business opportunity that can make a lot of money..."
"Go and see if there are any works of art or cultural relics among all your pawned items...Give them all to me, give them all to me, and I will help you sell them to the Chinese!"
"Just work hard to collect them for me, as much as you can...especially the cultural relics that were stolen from China back then. When Paris is besieged, these things will no longer be valuable!"
"You can buy it with just a small amount of money, and then we'll sell it to the Chinese at a high price... Don't worry about anything, just sell all the cultural relics you can get to the Chinese!"
