Flowers, Swords and France

When Lucien Leflaire rushed back to General de Treville's headquarters, it was already dawn, and a thin white line had already appeared in the eastern sky.

This is an exquisite villa with a carefully tended small garden next to it. It was originally the property of a wealthy businessman, but after the arrival of the French army, it was requisitioned by the owner "voluntarily" and became a general. resting place and headquarters.

Amidst the morning dew and the fragrance of flowers, the rising sun is particularly beautiful. The faint sound of gunfire in the distance is more like playing music to this morning. However, Lucien didn't pay any attention to this beautiful summer scene. He walked through the garden and, under the salute of the guards, came directly to the small building where the general lived.

"The general is still resting now," the general's personal attendant stopped him in the living room downstairs and whispered. "Just wait a moment."

"Okay." He sat down obediently.

"How is the situation on the front line?" the manservant asked with some concern.

"all the best."

"Great!" The old servant smiled happily, "When the master wakes up, he will hear the good news!"

"I've heard it! Who can sleep with such loud gunshots?" Suddenly, both of them heard a powerful shout at the same time. The door of the general's bedroom on the second floor opened, and the old man in pajamas walked away. come out.

This old man has shown his age, and his face is covered with the marks of time. Because I just woke up, my hair is still a little messy. And they are all gray. However, the fire of ambition is still burning in his eyes, which does not make anyone doubt his strong energy. He is the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force. Marquis de Treville.

He leaned on the railing and looked at the two people downstairs quite excitedly. "Lucien? What, has the front line been broken through?"

"Yes, General!" Lucien replied loudly, "Our plan was successful! We have breached all those strongholds!"

"Great!" The Marquis patted the teak railing hard, "Call those people over and let's celebrate!"

Then he looked at his manservant. "Go get some bottles of wine from the cellar!"

"yes!"

………………

A moment later, in the living room of the villa, General de Treville and his team of staff and adjutants had gathered together. The morning dishes were already set on the table. The morning sun shines through the glass window, making the bright red wine in the cup even more vivid.

"Have they occupied it?" The Marquis de Treville gently picked up a piece of bread, spread it with cheese, ate it, and then took a sip of wine. "Then we can consider how to march into Rome."

Although the shouts of killing in the distance are endless. But it didn't affect the general's appetite at all. On the contrary, it seemed to stimulate his appetite even more.

"General, under your excellent command, the mob in Rome is completely unable to resist us..." An officer smiled and complimented the general, "Our army's victory is close at hand!"

"Don't laugh too early. We will talk about these words after the victory." The general waved his hand to stop his subordinates from complimenting him. "Only victory that is truly won can be called victory. Everything can happen before the enemy is eliminated. We should always remember the lessons of 1811 for a thousand years, and we must never be proud and complacent again..."

As soon as I heard this old soldier from the imperial era and participant in the Russian campaign mention 1811. The relief on the others' faces was instantly replaced by seriousness.

"You are right, General, we should always be cautious." Lucien agreed sincerely. He respected the general very much. "Never be complacent until you defeat your enemy."

"That's good." Marquis Treville smiled and nodded, very satisfied with the performance of his subordinates, "You are all outstanding talents in the army and will play an important role in defending the country in the future, so I have high expectations for you. Big, don’t let me down.”

"yes!"

"However, now that we have achieved such an important victory, it is always a good thing..." The Marquis took another sip of wine, "The war has dragged on for so long, and the pressure on the president from the parliament is increasing. We must always offer something to the president. A little bit of good news, it will give him more energy to carry on."

As expected, his ulterior motive caused a wave of anger among the officers.

"Parliament? Parliament! Bah! What do those people mean? They crawled into the Bourbon Palace just by showing off their words, and yet they dare not take us seriously? Bah!" An officer snorted disdainfully, " I don’t care about the parliament. Only the president and the emperor’s nephew truly know how to lead the country!”

"The soldiers at the front are fighting bravely, but these congressmen only know how to hold us back from behind. If they have the guts to criticize us, why don't they have the guts to shoulder their guns and come to the front line? Come and suffer the same crime as us! These scum "!" Another officer also yelled, "I think the only thing that can destroy the country is the pigs in the parliament!"

"We only support the president, not the parliament! Fuck him!"

Seeing that his provocation was so effective, Marquis Treville couldn't help but feel happy and took another sip of wine.

This dispatch of troops to Rome was actually extremely controversial in France. Although Catholic priests and some conservatives strongly agreed with the president and the government's decision to save the pope, many people stood up and expressed fierce opposition.

As soon as the French Republic was established, it attacked and killed another republic that was born out of the revolution in order to defend the churches that were considered "malicious, reactionary, terrifying, cruel and insidious" by the republicans. Needless to say, this caused great controversy in France. Not only did the republicans make fierce comments in the newspapers, but even a large group of parliamentarians launched extremely fierce attacks on President Louis Bonaparte. However, the president ignored this attack and continued to send troops under great pressure because he knew what the army wanted and was willing to do all this to please the army.

He even deliberately maintained this situation of "going against the parliament for the army" in order to gain the heartfelt support of the army.

On the other hand, the Marquis de Treville has been trying to cultivate nostalgia for the glory of the past empire and contempt and disgust for the current situation of the parliament and the republic in the hearts of these soldiers. Judging from the performance of the soldiers now, he has done a very effective job.

Just as the soldiers were still scolding the parliament, the Marquis's personal valet suddenly came in and whispered to the Marquis.

"What? The Pope's envoy is coming to see me?" The general frowned. "At this time?"

"He said that the matter is urgent. He is coming to see you on the order of the Pope. Please be sure to see him."

After hearing his words, the others immediately quieted down and waited for the general's decision.

What? Do you really think we are here for the Pope?

Soon, the general's brows relaxed and he sneered, "Tell the envoy to wait. I have to go to the front line to inspect first. When I come back, I will meet him when I have time!"

Then, he pushed away the plate in front of him, stood up directly, and glanced at his subordinates.

"Gentlemen, have you finished breakfast? Let's go to the front line together!"

The original text is available at 6 # 9 @book/bar!

………………

In the morning, when the commander of the expeditionary force, Marquis de Treville, arrived at the front line, he was immediately cheered by the front-line soldiers. He rode on a gray Arabian horse, wearing a bicorne hat, and the medal on his chest was shining. Although he was already very old, he was vigorous and his spirit was no less than that of a young man.

Accompanied by the front-line officers, the general and his party came to a place not far from the battle site - exactly where Lucien was in the early morning, and the villas in the distance had been captured by the French army and became the French defense stronghold.

He had just arrived, and the Italians had just launched a round of counterattacks on the positions they had accidentally lost.

Amid sharp roars, a large group of soldiers rushed towards the French positions. The sound of guns and cannons roared from time to time, taking away lives one by one.

Even in such a noisy environment, the Marquis of Treville remained calm. He calmly picked up his telescope and looked at the distant position of his subordinates.

There was artillery fire on the battlefield ahead, and soldiers fell from time to time, but the Marquis was unaware. A small group of Roman soldiers rushed into the villa and fought fiercely with the French soldiers. The two uniforms were entangled together, and for a while they could not tell each other apart.

"Did Garibaldi personally lead the counterattack?" He muttered to himself, looking at the bright red cloak in the telescope, which was Garibaldi's signature wear, "Ah, what a powerful man!"

In the general's telescope, Garibaldi's red cloak appeared there, and the Italians rushed there, so brave that it was almost unbelievable, and the French front was increasingly compressed.

"General, I will bring people to reinforce them immediately!" Seeing that the situation was not right, the officer hurriedly asked for battle, "I will drive these bastards away!"

The general remained silent, watching the battle in the distance.

"General!" Seeing that the French army was gradually showing signs of exhaustion, the officer became a little anxious and urged again.

"No. Such reinforcements are meaningless. The battlefield is too small. Our people can't display their strength and can't play the advantage of more troops." The voice was still as cold as before, and then he called the adjutant and issued his order, "Let the cavalry attack from the flank and cut off their reinforcements!"

The adjutant hurriedly took the order and left.

Then he turned to look at the officer.

"Your 17th Regiment will follow and encircle their flanks! Go!

"But those people in front..."

"They must hold on until the last moment and give our army a chance to encircle the enemy." The general replied calmly. "If they are going to die, they must die there."

"Yes!"

After the officer took the order and left, the general picked up the telescope again and looked at the battlefield in the distance.

"Victory is in sight." He thought to himself. (To be continued..)