Flowers, Swords and France

Soon after Charles sent Julie and the others away, news came from the Dillion family that their eldest daughter Julie was sick and extremely weak, and went to the southern seaside to recuperate. Due to the previous dance party, this news caused a little ripple in the social circle, but it was soon replaced by other news and slowly faded out of people's sight.

The storm that once happened was eliminated invisibly, as if nothing had ever happened, and Charles and others buried this matter deep in their hearts and no longer mentioned it to anyone.

Only Matilda seemed to be confined by her father. According to Fran and Mary, she has not come to the studio to study recently. But Fran is convinced that the smart and brave Matilda will return to everyone soon.

But after Charles's mind was settled, he had shifted to other more important things.

As time passed, the Bonapartist's plan was getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. The political situation is becoming more and more chaotic, the people are restless, subversive and inflammatory pamphlets are circulated everywhere, and the atmosphere that the storm will eventually come is getting stronger and stronger.

In short, the revolutionary tide is rising. No place in Paris or France is exempt.

Of course, to be fair, this is not the credit of the Bonapartists alone. It can even be said that this is not mainly the credit of the Bonapartists.

In fact, now is the general outbreak of the grievances of the various opponents of the July Monarchy. Everyone is denouncing the July Monarchy and blaming it for everything: too incompetent governance, greed and tyranny of government officials, too weak foreign policy, losing Belgium, etc. Some people scold him for being too slow, while others scold him for being too sensitive. The Republicans laugh at the king as a ridiculous dynasty, and the orthodox laugh at the king as a despicable usurper, and so on.

From any indication, the continuation of this dynasty is already very problematic. There is only one question left.

Once the disrespected July Monarchy falls, who will take over France?

This is a matter of life and death for Charles.

Should it become a republic? Or return to the rule of the Bourbon dynasty, or fall into the hands of the Bonapartists as Charles idealized?

Past history seems to prove that the last situation will happen.

Charles must make it happen.

Past history can serve as a guide to give him a general direction. Although he doesn't know how to do it, it can at least give him a kind of secret courage - at least the direction of history is on my side now, right?

Today, he attended another new internal meeting of the Bonapartists. Because the topic of this meeting is crucial, only a few people in the core circle attended.

"At present, 900 rifles and 18,300 bullets have been prepared, and many reliable people have been recruited. There are also 50 pistols and 700 bullets. And a number of swords, sabers..."

"Too little?" The middle-aged man Marié-Carrion, the host of the last secret meeting, expressed his opinion after listening. "These weapons are not enough to make a fuss."

"The key to our success is not the number of weapons. Can we have more weapons than the army?" A participant spoke. "These weapons only allow us to organize and eliminate some unexpected situations at that time... Without the support of the army, we cannot succeed, no matter how many weapons we prepare."

"And the National Guard." Another participant added.

"Yes, there is also the National Guard." The man just nodded.

The National Guard is an extremely important armed force at this time-this is not because of how powerful their military force is, but because of their special members. This is a volunteer army composed of the bourgeoisie. Almost every property owner and bourgeois in Paris has a military registration in this army, but the ranks are assigned according to wealth and past service status-for example, a very rich businessman or an old officer with military service experience will be arranged to serve as an officer in it.

There is no doubt that this is an armed force organized by the bourgeoisie themselves, with the purpose of uniting and suppressing workers and proletarians who may rebel-or, a king.

"Their attitude is indeed crucial." Carrion nodded. "Are we sure we can get their support by then?"

"It's hard to be sure of that. After all, no one knows what these merchants really think, and I'm afraid they themselves don't know." Charles answered, "But I think there is still some hope."

"What do you mean?"

"At least Bonaparte is better than the Bourbons, isn't he, sir?" Charles lowered his eyes and looked at the table. "I think they will carefully weigh the weight of this issue at the last moment."

"That makes sense..." Carrion nodded. "I'm afraid they will think so when they get to that point."

Taking down the already shaky July Monarchy is by no means the end of the expedition for Charles and others, but the beginning of a new journey. In this new struggle, they must face both republicans and supporters of the Bourbon orthodoxy at the same time. In order to finally seize the French regime, they must spend a lot of time and energy to eliminate these two types of people at the same time. The difficulty can be imagined.

Fortunately, the history that happened before the time travel gave Charles confidence in this.

In the struggle of this era, neither the republicans nor the monarchists won, perhaps it can be said that both won, and together they witnessed the re-establishment of the Bonaparte dynasty. For them, this is not an unacceptable consequence - at least it is better than the other party coming to power.

The biggest advantage of the Bonapartists is not that they are numerically superior, but that they are the faction that can most easily get compromises from their opponents: republicans believe that they are at least better than the old dynasty; while supporters of the old dynasty believe that they At least it's better than the rebellious Republicans. When the above two types of people face the final choice and cannot win with certainty, they will always think, "At least Bonaparte is better than those damn people..."

Louis Bonaparte used the monarchists to intimidate the republicans, and the republicans to intimidate the monarchists. So the empire was rebuilt.

"But what about the army? Is the army's attitude confident?" Another voice sounded.

"Although the lower-level soldiers generally have a favorable impression of the emperor and the empire, the attitude of the senior officers is more ambiguous..." The answer was a little hesitant, "After all, the empire has been overthrown for more than thirty years, and the current senior officers are all in the empire. Those who were promoted and promoted in the era after the overthrow do not have the same special feelings for the empire as before, so this aspect requires more attention..."

"It's difficult but it has to be done. We can't do anything without the support of the army. But as long as we have the support of the army, or even if they are just neutral, we will have a good chance of success." Ciel whispered. "The Army is France!"

"You are right, sir." Carlyon nodded approvingly, "The Army is France. So our next focus is to do our best to communicate with the military community so that more officers will lean towards us. Although we have been We are doing it, but we need to intensify our efforts in the future..."

"Yes, this is not only useful in overthrowing Mr. Louis-Philippe, but will be even more useful in the subsequent struggle." There was an echo from the side. "If we can always get the support of the Army, then we will have a smooth road ahead. Who else can stop us?"

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“Everyone else wants what we want,” one participant reminded calmly. "They're going to do the same thing as us."

"So we must pay more attention." Charles replied, "Besides, we also have our advantages. Different from the conservative and timid Bourbons, we dare to challenge Europe. The Bourbons and Orleans gentlemen have retreated step by step in front of Europe, which has made France The people are angry enough, and the Republicans are even more angry. They even want to abolish the throne and the nobility! But we can rebuild the country's glory and let the soldiers establish meritorious service. Everyone understands the military's desire for meritorious service and titles, right? "

"Yes, we can emphasize this point," Karion nodded approvingly again, "I was a soldier, and I know what soldiers are thinking."

Yes, at least in this era, the illustrious military exploits of the Napoleonic era are still cherished by soldiers. Those glorious victories across Europe, and the examples of generals, marshals and nobles who were awarded titles for their military exploits can still inspire ambition. The French [***] people, they can still work hard for these things at this time.

After the Third Republic was established from the ruins of the Second Empire, until the middle of the century, the French Army was still the stronghold of "reactionary conservatives". Most of the senior generals despised the Republic and its politicians, so much so that the Republic's parliamentarians legislated Deprive soldiers and officers of their right to vote, lest they create a new Napoleon.

However, in the end, it was one army general who ended the French Third Republic, and another army general who ended the French Fourth Republic.

"However, having said that, the weapons collected now are indeed too few, right?" Karion frowned, "Can you think of other ways?"

"It is very difficult," the person in charge of the matter replied, "after all, it is very troublesome to transport a large number of weapons into the city and then store them under the noses of the government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs..."

"Can't you pretend to be a weapons dealer? After all, it's normal for weapons dealers to keep a lot of weapons in their shops and mansions, right?" Karion put forward his own idea.

"We have always done this, but even so we can't be too blatant. Compared with preparing a few more guns and a few boxes of gunpowder, being careful not to make any mistakes is the most important thing, isn't it? In case someone finds out and reports If so, all our plans will be ruined!”

Karion pondered for a moment.

"Well, since you have already considered it this way, let's go ahead with your current ideas. However, I still want to emphasize one point..." He glanced at the few people present next to him. "Although Louis-Philippe and his dynasty are dying, caution is still our first purpose. Even if the situation is developing smoothly now, we must be careful!"

Then he increased his volume for emphasis.

"The tragedy of 1840 cannot be repeated again. This time we must prepare carefully in advance, and then implement it carefully and resolutely. No mistakes can be made. You must know that we don't have many six years to waste, gentlemen!"

[Refers to Louis Bonaparte who landed in France from England in 1840 and attempted to incite a rebellion. He was captured by the political ax army and sentenced to life imprisonment in a fortress. It was not until May 1846 that he successfully escaped from prison. His father Louis died in the same year. 】

"Okay." Several people replied at the same time.