Fox of France

"What do you mean?" Kano frowned.

"Lazar, to defeat the enemy, we must understand the enemy. Only by understanding the enemy's situation can we effectively deal with them. And some of our officers know nothing about the enemy, and even know nothing about themselves. If you know the situation, go to fight the enemy. Lazar, this is not a battle, this is letting the soldiers die, and it can even be said that it is a crime against the Republic! I always think that there should be such a principle in the military , That is not to fight unprepared battles." Joseph said.

"Your whole principle is good. But the situation is so critical that we cannot ignore the Vendée," Cano said.

"Lazar, why do you think those farmers in the Vendée rebelled? What made those honest farmers pick up their guns? What are the characteristics and weaknesses of the rebels?" Joseph asked again.

"Why?" Kano thought for a while, "They should have been encouraged by those priests and won over by those nobles."

"No." Joseph shook his head, "When we cut off the head of Louis XVI, they didn't respond; when we ordered the expulsion of the priests, their rebellion was limited; but...but when we ordered the conscription They rebelled on a large scale. What made them rebel was nothing but conscription. Only conscription was the thing that really damaged their interests and allowed them to unite and resist."

"However, it is impossible for us not to conscription, and it is impossible for us to be lenient on Vendéenet." Kano said.

"Of course," Joseph said. "I say this not to raise any objection to the policy of conscription. I just use it to illustrate a characteristic of our enemies, the rebels of the Vendée. Well, Lazar, you Remember how most of the Volunteers in Paris were reluctant to leave Paris?"

"Of course I remember...Joseph, you mean, they and..." Kano felt enlightened after hearing this.

"In fact, they are very similar to our volunteer army. They are unwilling to leave their hometown, and they all have the courage to defend their hometown and life. If they fight in the Vendée, they are like Antaeus standing on the ground, almost invincible Yes. If the problem is solved by military means alone, we cannot really win unless we wipe out the whole land of the Vendée. To accomplish such a job, Lazar, I must say, you give The number of troops we have prepared is too small. I think it needs to be multiplied by at least a ten."

"Damn it, Joseph, why should I go to the Vendée when I have so many troops? Why don't we go straight to Vienna?"

"So, a direct military solution is just a dream! The matter of the Vendée must be both military and political!" Joseph said.

"It seems that you already have an idea, Joseph!" Kano said, "tell me how to do both!"

"Let's talk about the military first. Political matters are not something we can completely solve." Joseph said, "Military, I don't have a complete plan yet, so I can only offer one idea, which is to find a way to lure Antaeus away His land. The farmers in the Vendée are definitely unwilling to leave their land, but the nobles who lead them, and the British behind them will not allow them to shrink in the Vendée like this. They come out to attack us. If we find a way to lure them, they will come out faster. Then we will find an opportunity on the battlefield outside the Vendée to give them a hard blow and wipe out their elite Outside the Vendée. In this way, many things in the future will be easier to handle.”

"Well," Kano nodded, "this idea is interesting. So, what about the political solution?"

"Politics..." Joseph slowed down his speech, "Political matters, in the final analysis, are the distribution of interests. Lazar, why did the farmers in the Vendée oppose us? Isn't it that we have harmed their interests? If If we can provide them with suitable, even very cost-effective compensation, we may be able to completely solve the Vendée problem.”

After hearing this, Kano shook his head in disappointment and said, "Joseph, if we have enough things that can compensate for their losses. Then why do we still need to recruit troops? Why don't we just recruit troops? What can we give them? Compensation? You can’t print another batch of coupons for them, right? They’re not fools...now even fools know not to refer to coupons.”

"Lazar, have you read Machiavelli's "On the King"?" Joseph asked.

"The Italian conspirator?" Cano replied.

"That guy's views are really painful, but some of his techniques are interesting. To be honest, if our former king had really had Machiavelli's tricks, France might still be a kingdom now." Joseph said.

"I've read that book before, but I forgot a lot of things. Joseph, just say what you want to say."

"We don't need to use our things to compensate them. As Machiavelli said, a wise ruler must be good at being generous to others." Joseph replied.

"Ah, this paragraph, I remembered. Well, Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Augustus all had a reputation for generosity, but their generosity actually distributed other people's things generously to their soldiers... ...Ah, is that what you mean?"

"Yes, Lazar, think about it, what do those peasants desire most? Isn't it land? Let's lure those nobles first, bring them out of the Vendée, and then destroy this wave, and then take advantage of them Before recovery, we entered the Vendée and killed all the noble and landlords of the Vendée, but let some of their descendants escape. Then we confiscated all their land and distributed it to the local farmers. The best lands will be allocated to those who are willing to serve as soldiers for us. If this can be done, Lazar, I think the rebellion in the Vendée is not unstoppable, and the Vendée region may even become the most Support our base area," Joseph replied.

"This way of thinking...it should be feasible, but such an important decision must be passed in the National Assembly." Kano said with some hesitation, "Nowadays, if such a resolution is to be passed in the Parliament, it will definitely be rejected by some people." opposing."

"Why? It doesn't cost us anything?" Joseph asked.

"Because... because the parliament has confiscated the land of the nobles in the Vendée region as collateral and issued a bond." Kano hesitated for a moment before replying.

"What? There is such an operation?" Joseph was stunned for a while.

"But the military suggestion you made earlier is also very good. Joseph, I think it must be good to entrust this matter to you." Kano once again wanted Joseph to take on this responsibility.

"I'm really not humble, and it's not that I don't want to serve France. As long as it's good for France, I don't care even if I risk my life. How can I shirk responsibility because of personal gains and losses? But designing such a strategy, and There is still a big difference in commanding the enemy according to circumstances. Don't look at what I'm talking about here, but if you really want to command against the enemy, there may be some troubles. In fact, Lazar, I am closer to you, we are both more suitable to serve in the Ministry of War. No... I am still different from you, you are more suitable to work in the Ministry of War than me, and the place that is more suitable for me is actually the laboratory .Damn it, it's been so long, I've been away from the lab for so long."

"Actually, I like the laboratory better, really!" Kano patted Joseph on the shoulder and said, "I can understand you. But, we are all working hard for France now. Well, if you can't go, What do you think about letting Napoleon go? I think he's pretty good tactically."

Joseph had no objection to the appointment, he just made this point: "If Napoleon is to take on this responsibility, I have no objection. He is indeed more suitable than me. However, I also have two requirements. The first is that you must Help him strengthen his subordinate mid-level commanders, and secondly, if Napoleon has any special actions, I hope everyone can trust his command."

"I understand." Kano said, "Although my influence is limited, when it comes to military command, I will never let those guys who don't understand meddle in."

In this way, Napoleon suddenly became the commander-in-chief of the counter-rebel army. Although the number of counter-rebels is limited, there is only one division, but after all, this is the beginning of the real independent role.

As for Joseph, he returned to Kano's side again and became Kano's deputy. At the same time, he served as the director of a new institution - "Tactical Research Institute". Kano once wanted to persuade him to also come out to serve in the National Salvation Committee, but Joseph politely refused. In short, Joseph became a harmless but very useful person again.

As Joseph expected, the nobles in Vendée couldn't bear to just stay in the backcountry of Vendée with nothing to do. They took out the money accumulated by generations of the family, and recruited another team of more than 40,000 people. And began to attack north. On the opposite side of them, there is only Napoleon's newly built division with a number of no more than 5,000, and the National Guard in some places.

According to the fighting power shown by the Peasant Army in previous battles, the rebel commander General Francois Atanas de Charette de la Cotri believed that they could completely defeat the French army in front of them. Straight to Paris.

Of course, General Dracotelli also knew that relying on such a small number of people and his weak logistics was not enough to truly capture Paris. But he believed that if he had just won one or two victories and threatened Paris, the northern front would be alive and the republic would be doomed.