Chapter 95: What Happened Before and After

Such divinely blessed flashes of wisdom are always associated with youth and creativity, and Napoleon is one of the most creative people of all time. ‘6’ ‘9’ ‘s’ ‘h’ ‘u’ ‘x’ ‘.’ ‘c’ ‘o’ ‘m’

——Goethe

Above the bay, the snow-capped peaks of the Alps shimmered, looking down with contempt at the French officers and soldiers swarming in.

The white cloud cliffs were jagged at the top, piercing the blue sky in the morning.

God built an insurmountable natural barrier here. He once protected early Rome, allowing it to rise before Gaul. Perhaps it was not God at that time, but Jupiter.

Napoleon thought of the heroes of ancient Rome, and his heart was filled with lofty ambitions. Caesar set out from Rome and conquered Gaul, so he set out from Gaul to conquer Rome.

At this moment, the mountain seemed to order the new commander-in-chief Bonaparte to stop moving forward, warning him that this was God's pasture and mortals were not allowed to peek.

Unfortunately, the French did not listen to the call, which was clearly seen from the actions of the French kings of all generations, such as the handsome Philip, the Spider King Louis XI, and the father of the people Louis XII.

Even in the Middle Ages when the church was rampant, the French king did not care about the reputation of the Pope, so how could he expect the natural barriers to stop Bonaparte?

Napoleon was a man who never relied solely on force, but often placed wisdom over force. In recent months, he racked his brains for the ancient problem of how to cross the Alps, and finally his thoughts were not in vain.

Hannibal once crossed this mountain range, and he planned to go around it.

For this enemy, we must also seize its weakest link. At the junction of the Apennines and the Alps, there is a not very obvious ravine. From here, the difficulty of crossing the mountain is greatly reduced, and the troops do not have to wait for the arrival of summer.

The earlier the time, the more solid the snow, and the less the risk of avalanches. Act quickly and enter the Po River Plain, the richest place in Europe.

Austrians were in the east of Lombardy, Sardinians were in the west of Lombardy, and there were armies of many small kingdoms and principalities in Italy.

Before the snowmelt arrived, they would not expect the enemy to take action.

However, the French soldiers lacked military pay, Lyon's output was not enough to supply so many troops, and Paris was facing destruction caused by currency devaluation. The government's finances were in chaos. Even if Robespierre was willing to rectify, he was still under great pressure.

Just before Bonaparte arrived at the army, a general wrote in a letter home: "If the number of people who died of hunger and plague here could be counted, France would tremble." If the new commander could not bring money or food, what could he do?

Fortunately, the early operation of Lyon allowed Napoleon to temporarily restore the supply and pay of the troops, and the victory of the Battle of Toulon greatly boosted the morale of the army.

"Soldiers! You are short of food and clothing, and the government has nothing and cannot meet your demands.

Your patience and courage in these desolate mountains and wilderness are admirable, but this can neither bring you honor nor bread.

I will take you to the most fertile plains in the world, where wealth and prosperity await you, and you will get honor, enjoyment and wealth. Soldiers, facing such a prospect, will you still lack courage and perseverance?"

The army responded to his call, but in just over a month, the promised land of God-Italy was now prostrating at Napoleon's feet.

In response to this. After Napoleon settled down in the Lombardy region, he quickly issued a notice.

"Dear Milanese people, France is a nation that values ​​freedom and fraternity.

The tyrants who rule Lombardy are tyrannical and domineering, and at the same time endanger the security of France...

However, the army of the Republic will protect you from beginning to end and help you drive away the invaders!

Property, human rights, and religion will all be respected by us.

However, I believe that the Lombards will thank us for this and will take the initiative to ask to repay us...Lombardy should of course support the French army without any hesitation.

In order to liberate you, we came here from faraway France, but our supplies were in crisis.

Therefore, I decided to collect 20 million francs from Lombardy.

I think that Lombardy, a country with a rich country and a strong people, will not have any difficulty in completing this matter."

After Napoleon's announcement was issued, the collection began. In fact, for Lombardy, the amount Napoleon asked for was not much, and it was a completely acceptable number.

Therefore, they did not think of resisting. After all, the French dared to kill even the king, and no one had the idea of ​​taking bullets with their bodies. It was just that there was always some resentment towards France in their hearts. After all, who would like to be paid?

But Napoleon did not care about these. He was busy managing relationships. Robespierre was upright and Roland had a grudge against him, so what? Although these two were the leaders of the two factions, it did not mean that the two factions would completely listen to them.

There were so many members in the entire parliament, and there were always people willing to accept Napoleon's gifts. After all, not every hospital had a big house with a garden and a fountain to live in, exquisite Chinese porcelain, classical marble sculptures to play with, precious truffles, foie gras to enjoy, and endless francs.

Napoleon sent famous paintings, statues and gold coins back to Paris. Although this did not help the economy of Paris, it could satisfy the vanity of Parisians and exchange for the support of the parliamentarians.

As a result, people's admiration for him gradually increased. Moreover, in this way, the storage capacity of art works in the Louvre has been greatly enriched, and its contribution may exceed that of the most glorious monarch.

At the same time, Napoleon would not show any mercy to his current motherland, France. He wrote in the document: "The actual consumption of the army is far greater than the original budget, and some logistics personnel even falsified accounts... squandering, embezzlement, bribery, and corruption are common.

To solve this problem, the army must be reorganized, military commissions must be set up, and they must be given absolute powers, including the power to shoot corrupt officials. "

In fact, there are countless official documents issued by him personally to clamp down on fraud.

At that time, many women were stationed with the French army, and he issued an order saying: "Within twenty-four hours from now, if there are any women who stay privately in the military camp, their faces will be painted with black ash and displayed in public for two hours."

At the same time, based on humanitarian considerations, he abolished some barbaric provisions prevalent in war, such as the use of whipping to extract confessions, which was strictly prohibited. He said: "Extorting confessions through torture can only yield false testimony. This is a method that goes against human nature."

Through a series of measures, Napoleon obtained military pay and supplies for the soldiers, wealth for the parliamentarians, power for himself, and a firm foothold in Lombardy. The next step is to see if the Pope is aware of it. .