18th century total war

Chapter 276 Napoleon's Confidence
"Colonel Bonaparte, these are General Nizza's new orders."

A herald riding a fast horse dismounted in front of Napoleon, took out a roll from his package and handed it to Napoleon.

After Napoleon took the roll, he looked directly at the herald in front of him and said, "Please call me Colonel Napoleon, thank you."

The herald was startled slightly after hearing this, then smiled and replied, "I see, Colonel Napoleon."

Because the emperor of the French Empire, Levi Charles, never mentioned his family in front of everyone, and always honored his own name, there was a wave of imitation among the French Defense Forces who blindly worshiped Livi.

Any military officer who thinks that he will achieve a great cause will ask outsiders to call him by his first name instead of his surname. They follow Li Wei's will and take pride in their own name instead of their surname like traditional European nobles.

Of course, this trend was also exploited by the Propaganda Department of the French Empire. Livy knew that his background in the upper class of Europe was not good, so he hoped that the European people would elevate their names to the same level as their surnames, instead of blindly worshiping the surnames. Come honor.

In Europe of this era, honor is often directly linked to social status!
The importance of the surname is actually the "potential" created by the traditional European aristocrats. This is not difficult to understand, because once a person reaches a certain height, he will naturally have to consider how long his portrait can hang on the wall after his death. The problem.

Therefore, there is no more convenient and simple method than continuing power through one's own blood.

Propagating the glory of the surname can also greatly unite the big families with the same surname and blood relationship, and guarantee the exploitation of the bottom people from generation to generation.

This is actually nepotism in the Eastern world.

In terms of continuing their surnames and bloodlines to maintain their rule, the East and the West are surprisingly consistent. In the Eastern world, there are also various aristocratic families, which are actually maintained through surnames and bloodline relationships. Even the big guys in the Eastern world recruit adopted sons. The habit of giving people a surname to expand their power.

Of course, in the Western world, there are also rituals for giving surnames and honors.

It's just that the feudal system in European society is more stable, and the traditional aristocracy has not been overthrown many times. Even if they lose most of their power, they can still retain a foundation in the European aristocratic war game.

This leaves few opportunities for ordinary people in Europe to climb up. Even if they are lucky enough to get knighthoods or even higher noble titles, it will take generations to work hard to climb up before they can become a royal family.

On the other hand, in Eastern society, ever since the slogan "the princes and generals are better than each other" was chanted, there have been countless examples of peasant uprisings when dynasties changed.

There was even a classic case of grassroots counterattacks at the bottom - a bowl at the start, all equipment depends on chopping!

Characters like Zhu Yuanzhang in the Eastern world cannot be seen in European society, because even if they win the court of their own country, they will attract gang fights from other countries.

This is actually a way for European nobles to maintain their noble blood. If anyone from a commoner background can be a king, wouldn't nobles in other countries have to worry about the serfs in their fiefdoms following suit?
Why was Napoleon hated in history?

It is because Napoleon broke this European convention!
In the history of Li Wei's previous life, all revolutions in Europe broke out after the Napoleonic Wars. It is no exaggeration to say that Napoleon's expansion in Europe brought awareness to the lower-level people in European countries.

Even revolutionary pioneers like Marxism-Leninism crazily praised the ideological progress brought about by the French Revolution...

Since then, the deep-rooted status of blood theory has been severely challenged in European society.

In this parallel world, Li Wei is a clear example. Because his origin was not recognized by the upper class of Europe, Li Wei simply emphasized his name and allowed his personal glory to surpass the traditional old aristocracy through war and conquest. The last name is glorious!

This is actually an invisible war of continental European influence.

When most of the common people in Europe no longer blindly follow the will of the nobles and noble blood, the aristocratic group, which accounts for a small proportion, naturally cannot easily call on the majority of the common people to resist Li Wei's rule.

The people of France who have experienced a series of wars during the French Revolution, most of them don’t take noble blood seriously now, and their attitude towards nobles is very different from that of the Kingdom of France. manner.

There is envy, jealousy and hatred, but it is not believed that the rich are omnipotent and must obey the orders of the rich!
In the Middle Ages in Europe, why did the nobles have a small number of private guards, but they could recklessly oppress civilians hundreds of times as many as thousands of times?

It is because of the majesty brought by the noble blood that most civilians blindly obey.

This is a kind of domestication of the nobles to the common people!
It's not human nature!
The series of wars launched by Li Wei were actually breaking this habit of domestication. The French people were the first group of countries that Li Wei changed their thinking inertia, and the next target was the whole of Europe.

The reason why Livy wanted to break this European norm was simple. He did not control the country through the aristocracy. What he wanted to establish was a unified centralized system, and it was impossible for the bureaucracy to appoint a large number of aristocrats. Livy wanted people to control the aristocracy. Innate awe turned into official standard thought.

History has proven that the most critical mental control of the unified dynasty is to make the vast majority of ordinary people have official-oriented thinking.

The so-called official-based thinking is that being an official is above all else, including the power of money!
Bloodline is not worth mentioning.

The addition of official-oriented thinking to centralized rule is very terrifying. If the common people are afraid of officials, how much more to treat the imperial class that can appoint officials at any time?
Therefore, the idea of ​​official standard will make the common people instinctively have a deep awe of the central government!
On the other hand, capitalist countries have been using the guise of freedom and equality to weaken the public's awe of officials. If the public does not have enough awe of officials, they will naturally not have any awe of the central government. This makes bureaucratic power very difficult. It is easy to be eroded or even defeated by the power of money!
And the most common way for money to defeat the bureaucracy is to vote by popular vote!
The so-called democratic voting is just a means for capitalists to manipulate politics, and the so-called democracy is just a cover to fool the majority of ordinary people.

What political opinions can those people who vote have?
Many people even hear the names of the candidates for the first time when they vote!
The common people don't know the candidate at all, and can only rely on the candidate's public speeches to increase their impression points.

The best way to attract votes is to let candidates appear in front of the screens of ordinary people with as many positive images as possible.

However, if you want candidates to frequently appear on the screens of people's daily lives, you must spend a lot of money to purchase various channels and then broadcast them during peak viewing hours!

To put it bluntly, it is to use money to create a good impression in the hearts of ordinary people.

Isn’t this just capital controlling politics?
This can only be regarded as a moderate method. There are still many politicians who simply use various supermarket coupons, food cash coupons, and even send free fried chicken and coke at polling places. One vote can get a free meal !
This method of canvassing votes was too common in the United States of America in Levi's previous life...

This is why the president of the United States is either a rich man himself or has the support of one or more plutocrats.

If you don’t have money, let alone running for president, you can’t even be elected as district chief!
Perhaps many civilians like this way of capitalists buying them to win votes. As everyone knows, the oppression of the civilian class by the capital's manipulation of politics is far higher than the central government's control over everything.

The reason is very simple. After capitalists take control of politics, they only serve their own interests and do not care about the lives of ordinary people at all. The grievances of people's lives will only be vented on the government. What does it have to do with capitalists?
All they need to do is to suggest to those politicians they supported that they just need to modify the law to make it easier for capitalists to make money, and the government will take the blame for everything.

Since politics is controlled by capital, in order to maintain their positions, those politicians can only serve the capital plutocrats against their own will.

On the other hand, in countries controlled by the central government, since the central government is the one responsible, no matter how much they exploit and oppress, they will scruple on face, and even carry out anti-corruption operations from time to time to improve the government's status in the eyes of the people and win public opinion!

Comparing the two, it is easy to see which type of government is more in line with the interests of the majority of civilians.

It's a pity that what the common people lack most is short-sighted people. I don't know how many people envy the kind of countries where capital controls politics, just for a free meal or supermarket coupons...

However, the French Empire controlled by Li Wei is different from ordinary centralized countries, because Li Wei's army and high-level government are all loyalists, and Li Wei does not need the support of public opinion and does not need to worry that the state power will be 'overthrown' Lost life'.

This makes the Li Wei government only need to ensure that the common people do not starve to death and lose too much labor force to maintain the normal operation of the country.

The so-called freedom and equality are completely invisible to all strata of society in the French Empire.

The reason why the common people of the French Empire did not feel the oppression and exploitation of the Li Wei government was only because the French Kingdom they lived in was worse.

No matter what the Li Wei government did, because there was less exploitation of the aristocratic class and the church class in the middle, even if the income of the Li Wei government was much higher than that of the previous French kingdom, the exploitation and oppression of the French people would be reduced.

This shows how important it is to crack down on middlemen and earn the price difference if you want to live a good life!
After Napoleon opened the scroll and browsed, he said to the herald sent by General Niza: "Tell General Niza that I only need the troops of my regiment to take Kassel, the capital of the Principality of Hesse, and firmly guard it. Live the situation on the northern front of the First Army!"

"Colonel Napoleon, please forgive me. Although you have defeated the main force of the Hessian Principality, there are still many Hessian regular troops remaining in the capital of Kassel. What's more, the Principality of Hesse can also mobilize Kassel's young and strong generals. They are armed.

These militiamen may have very weak combat effectiveness, but they can still rely on city defenses to garrison them.

Are you really sure?
After all, the news I sent back will greatly affect General Niza's next strategic deployment. "

"First of all, I want to correct you, I am not the main force to defeat the Principality of Hesse, but to wipe it all out!

Do you see any prisoners of war over there? Their number is several times that of my troops. If it weren't for the drag of these prisoners of war, you might have to travel a little longer to see me.

Secondly, I can issue a military order!
I, Napoleon, do not fight uncertain battles. The morale of the Hessian army has already been broken by me. The defeated soldiers who fled back to Kassel will only further disintegrate the resistance of the Principality of Hesse. The Principality of Hesse can be taken at a small cost.

I believe this will save General Niza a great deal of troops.

Better cooperate with the next main battle of the First Army. "

After hearing this, the herald nodded slightly and replied: "Okay, since Colonel Napoleon is so persistent, I will report to General Niza."

After Napoleon watched the herald leave, he called his adjutant and ordered: "Let the rest of the prisoners of war be handed over to the logistics team behind for management, and all combat troops will advance in full gear. I want to see the card when the sun rises tomorrow." Fort Sale!"

"My lord, the logistics team at the back is made up of ordinary militiamen. They are not many in number. I'm afraid there will be accidents when escorting thousands of prisoners of war."

"Don't worry, the Principality of Hesse has been defeated by us, and there will be no troops attacking the baggage train in a short time. Although the militiamen of the baggage train are not the heroic French Defense Forces, the muskets in their hands are not burning sticks. A group of unarmed prisoners of war can't stand it?
We can't waste too much time preparing for the Principality of Hesse, and we can take Kassel and destroy the Principality of Hesse with this great victory! "

At Napoleon's insistence, his first regiment did not even wait for the follow-up supplementary soldiers, so all members started the rapid march mode.

Not long after, Napoleon encountered the Guards cavalry who had returned in pursuit of the defeated troops. The two forces merged into one and continued to advance towards Kassel.

The next morning, dense black dragon battle flags appeared outside Kassel, and the entire city of Kassel fell into panic.

After receiving the news, the Duke of Hesse immediately fled in a carriage from another direction with his trusted ministers and family members!

The Duke's Guard with the most combat effectiveness in Kassel escaped with their Duke of Hesse just like this...

Of course, all this was expected by Napoleon.

After the Duke of Hesse and his trusted ministers fled, the upper floors of the Kassel Fortress (originally a military fortress and later gradually developed into a prosperous capital city) followed suit, and the government agencies were paralyzed in just one hour!

(End of this chapter)