Harry Potter Morning Light

Chapter 1368 Megalomania

Napoleon once said that there are two levers in the world that can drive people to action-interest and fear.

But he probably didn't realize at the time that there are other levers in this world that can drive people to act.

A bronze Tulla column with a gilded equestrian statue of Kleber was erected on December 4 on rue de Montebello near the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Kleber is the most beautiful figure in the whole army, known as Nicoto in the French army, he is fifty years old, speaks with a German accent, and maintains some German habits, because he once served in the Austrian army. Infantry officer for eight years.

In 1790 he was appointed commander of the Volunteer Battalion in his hometown of Alsace, he played a role in the siege of Mainz, and later led the garrison of this fortress to the Vendée to counter the rebellion. He later participated in many battles and commanded a main division with outstanding military exploits, but his ironic wit made him many enemies. In 1796, he was sent to the banks of the Chayou River. In 1797, he left the team and ran back to Paris. Napoleon found him When he was in an extremely embarrassing situation, he was treated courteously after defecting to Napoleon's command. The Directory didn't like him, and he didn't like the Directory's lawyers either. He is a little careless by nature and is easily deceived by schemers, but he is smart, brave, and military-loving, and many people like him.

There is no name on this Chinese watch, but many scholars participated in the tree pillar ceremony. At first, they did not get along well with the soldiers. The soldiers thought they were a burden that hindered them from carrying out their tasks. The scholars also felt that the soldiers were uneducated. , Just looking for gold and silver trophies, I don't understand the archaeological value represented by the hieroglyphs on those "old stones".

Later, they encountered many things, such as the Battle of the Pyramids, and scholars also took up guns during the riots in Cairo, and gradually they turned from rejection to habit.

The assassination of Kleber shocked everyone. After the murderer was severely punished by the soldiers, it was those "civilized people" who made specimens of the murderer. The literati also used the method of making mummies to embalm Kleber's body. There are many controversies about his funeral. In Christianity, dissection of corpses is not advocated, and embalming has been abolished after the 4th century. In short, it is not easy for Kleber to "buried in the ground" and his coffin was suspended. In a fortress in Marseilles.

Hannibal's army came from North Africa, where the weather was hot, while Napoleon's army was in a state of half-starvation. The French mainland provided them with very little supplies, no military pay, no food, no fodder, no shoes and socks, no camps, basically everything No. One battalion refused to carry out an order to move to another area because it had no boots to wear. For a 27-year-old foreigner with a short stature, a beardless face, and an ugly Corsican accent, the army did not obey orders at first, and some people even ridiculed him as "the king of the streets, relying on the bride" Take Commander as ".

It is not easy to bring that kind of army into what it is now. No matter how capable Napoleon is, his energy alone is limited. Desai was one of the most distinguished officers in the army, energetic, well-bred, and a man of honour. He is short in stature and unattractive in appearance, but he is good at planning battles, and he can direct the battles carefully and meticulously. He can command both the legion and the avant-garde, and is excellent both in the military and in the civil service. If he is to govern a province, he will certainly be able to govern it well.

Napoleon originally planned to display the memorial column for Kleber and Desai Lihua after returning home, but he had too many things to do and forgot.

Soldiers want honor, decency, rewards, but titles, offices, and wealth are not enough for these soldiers.

A general, Kellerman, who did not want to go to Saint-Dominque, also joined the expedition. He did so only in the hope of gaining the right to preside over the ceremony of erecting the Chinese watch in Dijon and Paris.

He is Desai's old subordinate, and he was originally the commander of the heavy cavalry regiment.

During the Battle of Marengo, at 3:00 p.m., 10,000 Austrian cavalry copied the right flank of the French army.

Under the strong resistance of the howitzers and the Germans on the left wing, the right wing barely kept it, but the left wing became shaken because of the emptiness. The Austrian cannons fired grapeshot at the same time, and the routs and wounded soldiers filled the road. It seemed that the French had already lost.

At this time, Napoleon launched a charge. He said to the soldiers, "My children, you must remember that my habit is to sleep soundly on the battlefield."

So the soldiers shouted in unison, "Long live the Republic, long live the First Ruler!" Charged forward, and it was Kellerman who led a division of the almost complete Central Army to launch the charge.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the sun began to go west, and just when the Austrians thought they had won the victory, the counterattack of the French army began.

The momentum of the heavy cavalry galloping is like thunder, and the scene of the galloping horses cannot be described in words unless it has been personally experienced. Under the cover of artillery, the heavy cavalry rushed towards the Austrian flank like a torrent, and cut them in two in a blink of an eye, not only saving the left wing, but also causing the enemy to fall into greater chaos.

Just now the Austrians were still a victorious army. The soldiers played military music and carried the military flag, and they became defeated in a blink of an eye.

At that time, Napoleon didn't know that Desai had been shot and was about to die. Later, he heard the report of Desai's adjutant, left the war and went to Desai. He accompanied Desai on the grass for the last journey.

It may be difficult for the Austrians to imagine that it was the two short men who turned the tide of the war, so that when the Hungarian and German prisoners of war walked past the two, they did not recognize Napoleon Bonaparte and Kellermann at all.

Although the French won the battle in the end, no one felt happy. There were dead people everywhere on the battlefield. Regardless of the enemy or us, the accumulation of fifteen thousand corpses looked like a vast ocean, and the cries of wounded soldiers were everywhere.

Napoleon couldn't bear to see that scene, even though the French won, he wrote to the Emperor of Austria asking for peace.

The war broke out in April 1792, and all those who had been in the National Guard and had weapons in their hands enlisted one after another. One day in May, Captain Lear of the Engineers received a letter from Kelleherman, inviting him to participate in the National Guard. The party held at the home of Dietrich, the mayor of Strasbourg, and asked him to write a military song for the army that can boost morale and is loved by the people. This song is "Battle Hymn of the Rhine Army".

Later, under the leadership of Arnault, the citizens of Marseilles designed to seize the fortress, obtained weapons and expelled the Duke. They held a rally and organized 500 volunteers to march into Paris to rescue those members who sympathized with the reform. The citizens of Marseilles actively joined the army and marched forward singing the "Battle Hymn of the Rhine Army", which opened the prelude to the French Revolution, and this battle song was gradually called "Marseillaise".

Georgiana, who just wanted to take the opportunity to get some gold and silver, was invited to participate in the tree pillar ceremony. The watch in Dijon was in charge of Kellerman, and the watch in Paris was in charge of Napoleon himself. Pull the tree up with a rope.

The ceremony was extremely solemn and magnificent, with guards of honor in place, it looked like a French National Day military parade.

The general's wives stood with Georgiana on the outermost perimeter, like witnesses, although the money for the repair of these two pillars was paid in their name.

After the ceremony at Dijon is over, Kelleherman and Lecquebert will set off for Marseilles and board a ship for Saint-Dominic. Robechamp, the general appointed by Napoleon during the hunt, will take Davout The supplies and amulets prepared by the women met with the expeditionary force somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Under the old system, wars were always carried out unprepared. Once an outbreak broke out, officers and soldiers had to be recruited, and munitions suppliers would hoard goods regardless of high or low, filling their warehouses to blackmail the king. The drawbacks are obvious, and the government tries to oversee the system, but the oversight is too weak to maintain a clean and competent bureaucracy.

The 30,000 soldiers of the Legion of the Lower Rhine who boarded the ship in Marseilles had already been vaccinated. In addition, the food produced in the cannery would also be sent to Haiti by the transport ship. Horse meat tasted bad, and it was better than eating onions.

There was still plenty of wine on board, and the Navy had a much better life than the Army.

"How does it look?"

The First Consul, wearing a red parade uniform, walked to Georgiana's side and looked up at the Trajan-style memorial column.

"Kleber looks like this?" She looked at the majestic and serious general on the top of the column.

The sun was shining on the gilt, blinding her eyes.

"Maybe be a little more serious," said Bonaparte. "Do you know why I put a monument here?"

"Because our first date was here?"

"I want to introduce you." Bonaparte said, staring at Kleber. "He has always supported my divorce."

"Did you promise Pauline to divorce Josephine and marry her if she got pregnant?" Georgiana asked.

"How do you know?" He turned his gaze to her.

It was Hathor who said it.

She said in her heart, but she said on the surface, "This is a trick you men are used to."

"You were not fooled." He said without shame, "Why didn't you agree to the conditions that Lucien said?"

"Unless you are crazy, you will let a child born to an English woman become your heir." She said calmly, "You will not be Caesar at that time, but Antony, and we will be killed by the French and tied up in the Chariots paraded through the streets."

"Sounds horrible," he said without fear.

"Do you know what the biggest difference between Caesar and Antony is?" she asked lazily.

"What is it?"

"Megalomania, to use the terminology of ancient Rome, means to have a firm belief in one's own destiny." Georgiana said "Cicero met Caesar, Antony, and Octavian successively. He was received with civility and warmth, and at Octavian he received superficially polite indifference, and Octavian threatened Cicero's friends with the death penalty."

"I knew it was right to take back the church's books." Napoleon smiled triumphantly.

"When I first met you, I thought you were a megalomaniac." She stared at Kleber and said, "I hate megalomaniacs."

"Do you want to know how I nationalized the tobacco tax?" he asked.

"Didn't you say it? You used a little power and law..."

"I told them that if they don't hand over their tobacco-related industries, I'll kill them." Napoleon said calmly, "Do you want to see the guillotine used in the Place de la Concorde?"

Georgiana felt a rush of cold air from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

"I originally planned to marry Eugenie in the Madeleine Church, which is next to the Place de la Concorde, but she told me that the place is terrible, and she wants to change it. Do you dare to marry me in that church?"

"Are you threatening me to marry you?"

He didn't answer.

"If I succumb to your threat, and others threaten me, I will succumb too." She said without tears.

"I threatened you, how did you treat me, how did you surrender when I treated Britain?" he asked again.

"That's different."

"Why is it different?"

She thought, at most, it was just another blockade. The UK survived the blockade last time.

But now, he can transport the 30,000 troops who claimed to be going to St. Dominic to the British mainland.

As long as London is captured, the game is basically over.

"Say something." He said calmly, "Don't just stand there."

"My heart will go cold," she said, staring at the demon who fired at the demonstrators, "and will be broken to pieces, never to heal again."

"Are you threatening me?"

"What can I threaten you with?"

"Don't think I dare not kill you." He looked at her with gloomy eyes.

"I didn't break the law, I just rejected your marriage proposal, you are going to kill me?" She sneered, "Where did the person I love go?"

He calmed down a little, and the killing intent in his eyes was not so strong.

"I love you, Leon, but I can't marry a married man. If Josephine dies, I will be a target for your sisters and Lucien. I can't be busy dealing with them while I want to assist you again."

"I hate this now." He rubbed his nose, as if it smelled bad.

"Are you trying to let the public know I'm yours?" she said with a laugh.

"Right." He said angrily.

"That's easy." Georgiana turned her head, pulled his black sable fur collar, and kissed his lips under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of people.

She didn't hear the sound of collective gasps, nor did she hear whistles and cheers, only the noisy voices she heard on the street every day.

"Free France." She smiled at him and said, "You should legislate that couples can kiss in the street, First Consul."

He was too shocked to speak.

"Long live freedom!" Georgiana suddenly yelled at the crowd, but no one responded at first.

Later, I don't know who shouted "Freedom!"

Then more and more people shouted for freedom.

She turned to him and spread her arms out. "You can kiss me now."

"Kiss her!" Someone in the crowd urged.

And this voice is getting louder and louder.

"Do you dare to kiss me? Coward." She defiantly said to the dictator amidst the crowd's encouragement.

He lowered his head and smiled, glanced at Kleber's sculpture, then suddenly walked over, held Georgiana's face, and gave her a French kiss.

Now the crowd is boiling.