18th century total war

Chapter 264 Looting Plan Step by Step

[Congratulations to the host for completing the strategic feat of expedition to the Italian peninsula, successfully forcing the Holy Roman Empire to sign an armistice treaty, smashing this anti-French alliance, and gaining a total of 50 glory points! 】

"The withdrawal of the Holy Roman Empire from the anti-French alliance means that the Prussians also withdrew, and the other small countries will inevitably follow suit. In the end, there will only be one Britain left, and the anti-French alliance will naturally cease to exist.

It turns out that the upgraded total war system must achieve this step before it can carry out strategic reward statistics.

However, this expedition to Italy got 50 Glory Points, which allowed him to train 5 troops, and earned a lot of money, not to mention pushing the border between France and the Holy Roman Empire to the Rhine River, and obtaining the Belgian region.

It is estimated that the Holy Roman Empire would not dare to pursue what my army did in Italy. "

After receiving the reminder from the total war system, Li Wei immediately sent someone to Italy to inform Karl—the net can be closed!

In early April 1797, the Pope and some of his entourage, escorted by a regiment of the French Defense Forces, boarded a convoy heading to Paris, the French Republic.

As soon as the convoy transporting the Pope left the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia, all the big cities in the Italian peninsula launched a vigorous "looting campaign".

According to Li Wei's instruction, in order to reduce the loss of his own soldiers as much as possible during the looting period, Karl did not adopt the robbery mode from the beginning.

The commanders of the garrisons of the First Army of the French Defense Forces, the first step is to call the rich local nobles, regional bishops, big businessmen, big capitalists, etc., to forcibly extort a large amount of wealth from them, and block them. Escape route!

The officers of the French Defense Forces directly took out the wealth information they sent people to buy during the occupation, and according to the above bills, they went door to door asking for more than [-]% of the wealth!

In addition to the land and real estate that cannot be taken away, including useful goods in the store, they were all taken away by the French Defense Forces with a list!

At this time, the news that the anti-French alliance was broken with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had spread in Italy. The dignitaries, wealthy senior priests, merchants and capitalists in these Italian regions did not dare to resist the French Defense Forces, especially When the Wehrmacht threatened them with bayonets!
In almost every city, one or several typical examples were picked out by the French Defense Forces, not to mention the ransacking of homes, and all immediate and collateral relatives were taken to the guillotine for execution!

The use of the guillotine naturally follows the tradition of the European continent. When dealing with people in the upper class, they must use the guillotine to cut off their heads to maintain dignity.

Only ordinary untouchables and criminals will be hanged!
The effect of the French Defense Forces killing chickens and monkeys is very good. The wealthy people in Italy and the upper class of the Kingdom of Sardinia, except for fixed industries, have their wealth on the surface looted, leaving only basic rations and daily necessities...

The French Defense Forces didn't even let go of those priceless works of art. Due to the raids in the Italian peninsula, it was impossible to hold an auction here, so they were packed and shipped back to France for auction.

There are still many wealthy people in France.

No matter how much a country suffers, there will always be a small group of people who are rich.

As a matter of course, the French Republic's years of civil war and confrontation with the anti-French alliance, the shrinking wealth belongs to the country and the common people. As long as those rich people are not too unlucky, they have a way to keep their wealth.

And these rich people are an important pillar of the economic development of the French Republic. It is impossible for Li Wei to ransack all of them and exterminate their families. Doing so will only wipe out the economy of the French Republic immediately.

History has proven that an economic system that relies solely on state control cannot operate for a long time. The Soviet regime that collapsed in Li Wei's previous life is a clear example.

This is also the reason why Livy needs to indirectly control the French economic system through the Wallace Business Alliance.

All the art museums and precious historical relics in Italy have been looted by the French Defense Forces, and anyone who dares to stop will be shot!
The bodies of those who were shot will be hanged at the gate of the city in public to warn others and demonstrate the deterrent power of the French Defense Forces.

However, the first step plan of the French Defense Forces has little impact on the civilian class in Italy. Those who blackmail are all the upper class, and what are looted are state-owned properties such as art museums and historical sites.

The common people may feel disgusted, but far from wanting to resist.

After all, the fighting power of the French Defense Forces is very strong, and everyone does not want to risk their lives...

Even many ignorant Italian civilians were greatly satisfied with their hatred of the rich when they saw those "upper-class people" who were usually aloof and arrogant being broken into their homes one by one by the French Defense Forces to "count their property."

In any era, as long as there is injustice in the society, human beings will have a hatred of the rich.

The hatred of the rich is not caused by the disdain for others' good mentality, but the pathological psychology caused by the wealthy class enjoying superior treatment in many public places and wantonly trampling on the self-esteem of ordinary people.

To put it bluntly, the proportion of people who hate the rich in a country can tell whether the work and life in this country are fair enough.

If the higher-ranking people treat the lower-ranking ones as equals, and have friendly conversations as friends, instead of a group of people at a wine table who have to act according to the face of a leader, naturally there will be no hatred of the rich... …

In fact, the psychology of hatred of the rich is caused by the natural self-esteem of human beings.

If a person's self-esteem is trampled on, he will naturally feel unhappy and generate hatred. Even if he dare not show it on weekdays, he will vent it in other hidden places.

Even many people whose self-esteem has been trampled on, in order to vent the anger in their hearts, they will intensify their efforts to make things difficult and punish those who are lower than themselves.

Suppressed level by level, the people at the bottom of the society have no lower-level people to vent, and eventually this hatred of the rich will only accumulate more and more. In the end, either the temper becomes irritable or depressed, Buddhist, or derivative Come out anti-social personality.

No one is born with an antisocial personality, it is all oppressed by acquired experience.

Of course, the evil nature of human beings lies here. An absolutely fair and just society can only exist in heaven. As long as there are classes in society, trampling on the self-esteem of others is inevitable.

Otherwise, what are people working so hard to climb to the high map?

Isn't the pleasure of lusting for power just about imposing one's will on others?

Central and northern Italy is a very economically developed region, especially among urban residents, where class stratification is very serious, which is commonly known as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Naturally, this is the best breeding ground for hatred of the rich.

Li Wei seized this weakness of human nature and let the French Defense Force's first strike fall on the upper class first.

After all, the upper-class people are in the minority, and they don't have the guts to go all out, so they are the easiest fat sheep to harvest.

After the first step of the plan was launched, groups of fleets filled with wealth and goods were transported every day from Italy and the Kingdom of Sardinia to France.

After entering the mainland of France, those goods with commodity value will be taken over by the people of the Ministry of Commerce, and then resold everywhere while transporting them.

For France, which has just gone through the war and lacks everything, the sales of these goods are still good.

The most important thing is that these goods were all extorted by the French Defense Forces, and they were sold at no cost. Therefore, when they were sold to the French, they were all sold at a par price. There was no deliberate increase in price, and there was no so-called tariff increase. The price is relatively cheaper. .

In order to facilitate the transactions of ordinary people, the Li Wei government even accepted the method of bartering. After all, many French civilians did not have much cash in their hands.

Bulk goods such as grain, cloth, and horses can be used for barter transactions.

A large amount of materials plundered from the Italian region and the Kingdom of Sardinia greatly promoted the economic development of the mainland of France!

Economic circulation can not only improve the lives of ordinary people, increase the support of the people, but also increase tax revenue!
There is a transaction tax when there is a sale!
The Italian region and the Kingdom of Sardinia are so rich that even if it was just to extort the wealth of the upper class, it took more than two months to transport all kinds of property and goods!

Compared with the increasingly prosperous commercial activities in France, the market economy of Italy and the Kingdom of Sardinia has suffered a fatal blow!

The goods in the shops were all given to the French Defense Forces by their owners. The bustling streets were full of closed shops. I don’t know how many capitalists went bankrupt because of this, and how many businessmen fell from the clouds...

However, after extorting all the assets on the surface, the French National Defense Forces did not stop. After a large amount of wealth and goods were transported, the French National Defense Forces once again rushed into the wealthy families of the upper class. This time, they directly opened a A huge fine.

The reasons for the fines are varied and strange, and they answered the phrase 'there is nothing wrong with imposing a crime'.

It's just, how can a rich family who has been extorted of most of their wealth afford to pay the fine?
As a result, each family head and important family member was arrested by the French Defense Forces, and then the French Defense Forces would leave one or two important direct members behind and ask them to prepare money for ransom.

The maximum period of redemption is seven days, that is, one week. If it expires, it will be sent to the guillotine!
If the time is up and the wealth raised is not enough, you can pay late fees, extend the redemption period, and extend the lives of the arrested family members.

The French Wehrmacht's second plan was so brutal that even ordinary Italian civilians were terrified.

After all, what the French Defense Forces arrested were all prominent figures, and they were not arrested in small quantities, but in one spoonful!
In many cities in Italy and the Kingdom of Sardinia, because most of the high-society dignitaries were arrested and imprisoned, the government agencies were directly paralyzed. The French Defense Forces took over the power unceremoniously and imposed military control on major cities!

Once the seven-day period passed, and under the threat of life, the French Defense Forces received a steady stream of income again.

Those rich people had to pay for their lives with their private money. The officers of the French Defense Forces immediately issued a pass when they saw those big men who had cleared their books of wealth and still had money to redeem their lives.

Of course, the pass needs to be bought with money!
The purpose of the pass is very clear. With the pass, you can safely leave the blockade of the French Defense Forces. Whether you leave by boat or escape to Austrian territory, you can leave the hellish Italian region.

Of course, the dishonest behavior of the French Defense Force frightened the wealthy people in Italy and the Kingdom of Sardinia. If they had the opportunity to leave this land, they would have to buy expensive passes even if they borrowed money!
However, not everyone has the money to redeem their lives, let alone buy passes.

The family members they stayed outside watched their family members being sent to the guillotine one by one in despair, gritted their teeth and stamped their feet, and used their family or personal prestige to incite the crowd to rebel!

It's a pity that the second step of the French Defense Force's looting plan is still aimed at the upper-class people. Even if ordinary Italians are disgusted, they have food and clothing, so why should they follow you to fight against the terrifying French Defense Forces?

Even the Austrians have been defeated, how can the Italian He De be willing to stand up?

As a result, these wealthy Italians and Sardinian kingdoms who had been hollowed out and planned to rebel were reported by Italian civilians under the reward offered by the French Defense Forces before they could incite the people.

Then the whole family was neatly sent to hell by the French Defense Forces...

Although the second step of the robbery plan had some twists and turns, the overall plan was still within control.

When no one bought the pass, the French Defense Forces once again issued a new ticket to arrest the rich who had just redeemed their lives but stayed behind!
The credibility of the French Defense Forces in Italy and the Kingdom of Sardinia has been shattered. Naturally, they don’t mind going back on their words. Who told you not to buy a pass?

It's a pity that most of these families who didn't buy the pass really didn't have any money, and in the end they were ransacked and exterminated by the French Defense Forces.

This behavior of the French Defense Forces almost wiped out the upper class society in the Piedmont and Italian regions of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Except for those who fled and bought passes before the war, the remaining [-]% died on the guillotine of the French Defense Forces.

So far, the second step of the ransacking plan has come to a perfect conclusion.

What the French Defense Force did in Italy and the Piedmont region of the Kingdom of Sardinia shocked the entire European society. Countless countries in Central and Western Europe compared the French to the Russians as barbaric and disreputable!

Then Tsarist Russia was dissatisfied, you can just scold the French, why compare us Russians?

Of course, civilized people do not consider the feelings of savages.

Amidst the scolding, the French Defense Forces launched the third step of the looting plan.

(End of this chapter)