Dominate the Country

That night, Chen Ming got drunk, very drunk.

He hadn't been drunk for many years, but he got drunk that day.

Because Chen Ming was completely relieved.

Napoleon went on an expedition to Russia as scheduled, and was defeated as scheduled, but this did not mean the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire, nor did it mean the fall of Napoleon. Because Napoleon, who returned from Russia in defeat, still maintained a certain strength.

Napoleon was much stronger than his historical counterparts, with at least 100,000 more French veterans.

More importantly, Napoleon now had the help of a powerful version of the Ottoman Empire and Chen Han, and was no longer isolated and helpless as in history.

In Ukraine, the Ottomans were likely to take the blame for the defeated French, because St. Petersburg could not give up Ukraine and the Black Sea. If the Russian army in Belarus did not keep an eye on the Ottomans in Ukraine, Alandar Mustafa would definitely have the courage to lead the Ottoman army northward and cut off Alexander I's way back; in the east, Chen Han's army had swept the entire lower reaches of the Volga River. St. Petersburg also could not wait until Chen Han took over the Guryev Fortress and Astrakhan before mobilizing troops to counterattack eastward. In that case, they would lose a large area of ​​land east of the Volga River!

Because, with the emergence of Minié rifles and hexagonal cannons, coupled with rockets and permanent fortifications, the pattern of war has changed.

A solid fortress, if there is enough water, food and ammunition in the fortress, only one-fifth or even one-tenth of the garrison can resist the army outside the city.

Although the importance of the fortress is far less than that of the original bastion, it is qualified as a strategic support point on a line of defense.

The shortcoming of the Russian army is that they have too few soldiers, but Chen Han has no worries in this regard. The Russian army, which was short of soldiers and generals, could only put its limited troops in a few military strongholds to defend, and abandoned large areas outside, with only a certain number of cavalry active inside. This was the tactics and strategy of the bastions that had just emerged in Europe hundreds of years ago.

But this method was completely ineffective for Chen Han, just because Chen Han had a large number of troops.

A full 200,000 combat troops, far outnumbering the Russian cavalry, kept chasing the Russian cavalry outside the fortress, like a hound chasing a hare.

Chen Han surrounded one fortress after another, and was heavily besieged in the early stage. When the defensive positions and trenches outside the fortress were built, so many soldiers were no longer needed. For example, the Guryev Fortress was initially surrounded by 70,000 infantry and cavalry, and later there were only 20,000.

Wei Baocheng did not covet the large tracts of land in Russia, and did not disperse his troops to occupy the vast rural towns.

His eyes were only on Russia's military power.

As for the order of countless towns and villages, the rolling cavalry will serve as a deterrent. If an armed resistance breaks out there, the rolling cavalry will not hesitate to completely flatten the villages within the surrounding 20-mile area. Anyone who dares to resist will die, and those who obey will become Chen Han's coolies.

The latter's task is to build one defensive position after another on the Volga River and the Ural River, as well as the vast land between the two. Although they are civil engineering, they will soon become as hard as pig iron after being poured with snow water in the cold winter.

Chen Han has enough troops to fully guard these military strongholds, and then extend a piece of defensive positions horizontally and vertically, and then hide a large number of cavalry behind these chain-shaped defense lines to form a large and meticulous net.

With these cavalry, the net is no longer a simple defense. The cavalry units are like countless blades that can rotate and cut the prey that jumps into it into pieces.

So, Europe can rest assured.

Napoleon was hit hard, his strength was greatly damaged, and more importantly, his prestige plummeted. It was impossible for the Napoleonic Empire to suppress all the countries in Europe.

Let alone Prussia, Frederick William III, who was reduced to only four provinces by Napoleon, would definitely be the first to defect. And what choice would Austria make? Should it immediately go to war with the Ottoman Empire to save Russia from disaster, or take the opportunity to counterattack Napoleon?

As for Napoleon, he was Franz's son-in-law, and the Austrian princess gave birth to Napoleon's legitimate successor, the King of Rome. This can only play a small role. The most important thing in the overall situation is the interests of the country.

Prussia's strength has fallen sharply. If Napoleon is not defeated, how can Frederick William III "revive" Prussia? So the Prussians are firmly opposed to Napoleon.

But what about Austria?

The disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire has become a fact, and Austria's national power is declining, but Vienna is still the boss among the German states.

Even if they helped the British and Prussia to kill Napoleon, how much benefit could Austria get? Prussia would benefit the most.

Would Napoleon sell out the Rhine Confederation, the Ottoman Empire, and even Poland in order to win over Austria? It's hard to say.

Napoleon was a typical politician. He attached great importance to his family. He hastily pushed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to the Spanish throne, which angered the entire Spanish people, so that his army is still struggling in the quagmire of the Iberian Peninsula; but for his own interests, he could also be just as firm and decisive to demote his brother Louis Bonaparte. Every politician is a selfish ghost.

Now that Napoleon is in a difficult situation, between betraying his teammates or suffering for himself, Chen Ming believes that he will choose the former without hesitation.

If Russia is willing to withdraw from the next war, Napoleon will even make concessions to St. Petersburg on the issues of Lithuania and Poland, even though Napoleon knows that the Russians have huge troubles in the Black Sea and the East. But his troubles are obviously bigger now!

Napoleon's biggest problem lay within France.

The war has been going on for more than twenty years, and a generation has grown from embryonic embryos to adults. Millions of French people bled and died on the battlefield. They followed Napoleon across the entire continent of Europe and even made an expedition to Egypt. The French were exhausted. The army lost the passion it had in the early stages of the revolution, and its motivation for fighting changed from revolution to personal worship and belief in Napoleon, as well as the pursuit of wealth.

During the expedition to Russia, even Napoleon said: The soldiers are not willing to travel long distances, and the generals are not willing to fight on land 800 miles away from Paris, but fortunately, they are still willing to follow me. [Rio, the old French unit of length, approximately equivalent to 4.5 kilometers. 】

The other is the corruption of the French army and the decline in combat effectiveness. This is "mutually reinforcing" with the decline in French soldiers' revolutionary passion.

The nature of the French army has changed, from revolutionaries to plunderers and invaders. Military discipline has become very bad. After entering Russia, not only the servant armies of various countries robbed, but also ordinary French soldiers robbed, and even Napoleon's Old Guard openly robbed. Napoleon strictly prohibited this several times, but could not stop it. This army, once full of revolutionary passion, has now degenerated into a bandit group and has become an out-and-out arrogant soldier.

Napoleon had long known about the "bad phenomenon" in the French army, but he was unable to stop it. Besides, after the revolutionary passion subsided and the danger of subversion of the new French regime was eliminated, there was no attraction for wealth, let alone ordinary soldiers. Even those aristocratic generals and marshals conferred by Napoleon no longer thought about it. war.

In the original time and space, after Napoleon's expedition to Russia was defeated, he returned to Paris and issued an order to recruit 900,000 soldiers, but there were very few applicants.

And what about this current time and space? Even if Napoleon's conscription order is still very few, he will have 100,000 more French veterans in his hands, and without Russia, there may not be Austria. It will only rely on Britain, Prussia and some small German rebels. How could the Sixth Anti-French Alliance bring down Napoleon?

And even if Austria, ruled by Franz, once again directed the war against France, the Ottoman Empire would definitely share some of the pressure with Napoleon. The British and Russia are "firm" allies. Russia is in trouble. Even if Austria, which has just joined the alliance, sends a partial division, it will still attack the Ottoman-controlled areas on the lower reaches of the Danube River.

Such a Europe is completely the ideal state in Chen Ming's mind. Because such a Europe is not a threat from China at all, and it is impossible for Europe to cause any trouble for China in the next hundred years. Unless China abandons its pursuit and exploration of science and technology overnight...

After failing once, Napoleon would probably find it difficult to form an invincible French army that could sweep across Europe. Because times are different, because society is different.

Just like the "cutest people" on the Korean battlefield are completely different from the PLA after 2000.

The ups and downs of the French Revolution have subsided, and the power of social squeeze has been exhausted in the continuous wars. The destruction of Napoleon's "God of War Halo" dealt a heavy blow to the French. The French soldiers in the future will be like the French Army with the morale of the Bourbon dynasty. It is strong because of the strength of the country, not because of the violent combat effectiveness of the military units.

This is a process that every dynasty has to go through.

The Napoleonic Empire can continue to exist in Europe in the future, but Napoleon has fallen from the status of a superpower and has returned to the same level as Austria and Russia. Even if it is stronger than these countries, its strength is limited.

"An era is about to pass..."

Chen Ming looked at Europe on the map. The ever-changing French Revolution was about to come to an end. If Britain and France can take this opportunity to get along with each other this time. And Chen Ming's era is about to pass.

Fifty years have passed since he rebelled, established the Chen-Han Dynasty, and now dominates the world. Chen Ming is sixty-three years old after the Chinese New Year. His body is still very good, but his heart is tired.

Chen Han's cavalry has traveled through most of the world, holding thousands of miles of mountains and rivers in his hands, and all people in the world are tied to him. Chen Ming stands at the pinnacle of the world, dating back thousands of years and throughout Chinese and foreign history. Who in the past has achieved such domineering achievements as him?

He had already seen the gorgeous scenery at the top, how could the wild flowers and grass on the roadside catch his eyes?

When Japan has become a loyal dog, when the lighthouse country has become a novice, Europe has lost Napoleon, the entire Pacific has become China's inland sea, and Southeast Asia and Australia have become China's back garden, what else in this world can attract people? Where is Chen Ming?

As for domestic cultural governance, Chen Ming is still very satisfied if we look at the current national fiscal revenue, people's living standards, and the enrollment rate of school-age children.

He has made amazing achievements in both martial arts and civil affairs. The whole world is in the palm of his hand, and the world is no longer a stranger to him.