Dominate the Country

Smith from Ireland was so excited when he saw the check for 10,000 pounds in his hand. This was not because the 10,000 pounds in his hand was a fortune, but because he believed that he had really found a backer.

In the future, Ireland will surely reappear in Europe as a country like the Poles.

He was so excited.

The French showed him several letters from Poland - the anti-French content was deleted, and even several letters were pieced together. Smith wanted to howl loudly after reading them. Although the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was only a part of the original Polish-Lithuanian United Kingdom, with less than one-third of the original kingdom's land - its territory only included the territory originally divided by Prussia (in 1809, the part controlled by Austria was added), but its birth gave the Poles hope.

These letters also gave Smith hope.

The Poles have passed the darkest dawn, ushered in the dawn, and seen hope. What about Ireland now?

The Poles have seen hope and dawn, but the Irish are still groping slowly in the dark darkness.

At this moment, Smith was full of enthusiasm and respect for the old friend in front of him. He stood up and bowed to him respectfully.

This bow was not directed at the liaison officer - the French were very cautious and only exposed this person from beginning to end. Smith's bow was to the powerful force behind the Frenchman in front of him. Napoleon could become the patron saint of Ireland at this time.

"Please pay the highest respect to His Majesty Napoleon. The Irish people need the help of France, and France will always be the most loyal friend of the Irish."

Smith's tears were about to flow down.

The French were not polite to Smith. They were all old friends. As a mid-level European agent recruited by the European Office, he could receive 1,000 pounds of living expenses from the European Office every year. During the mission, he would receive a very generous special allowance, and a large amount of mission rewards after completing the mission. Just like Smith opposite him, the French have received a full 10,000 pounds for this mission so far, which is the same amount of funding received by the Irish.

The Frenchman and Smith were already very familiar with each other, so he simply said it directly. "Although His Majesty Napoleon wore the crown of the emperor, he still defended freedom and democracy, and protected the fruits of the Great Revolution. The French Civil Code and the Concordat are completely different from the past political system of France. You should be able to tell the difference inside." So France was destined to conquer Russia, because Russia under the rule of the Tsar was already the most conservative and stubborn feudal fortress in Europe. The great Majesty Napoleon had the responsibility and obligation to liberate the Russian people who were full of hatred and suffering from the Tsar's autocratic rule.

"Polish revolutionaries in Russia and Austria have united and are planning an uprising. On the land of Poland and Lithuania! According to what I know, the Poles have organized a team of 5,000 people and established a revolutionary committee. The leader of this committee has now arrived in Paris..." The Frenchman lied to Smith and said that a revolution would break out in Poland. And it is precisely because the Polish revolutionaries have actually taken action that His Majesty Napoleon in Paris was very moved by the revolutionary spirit of the Poles in their struggle to win their own national independence. Although these Polish revolutionaries lack both funds and weapons, they have the support of France, so all difficulties are not difficulties.

The Frenchman looked at Smith with burning eyes, "You must take action. Only when His Majesty sees the results of your actions can you get more and greater support. And we" the Frenchman pointed his hands at himself, "will also have a higher status in His Majesty's mind. So, this time, we will give you the greatest help, but you must take action within a month."

"Even if it is a terrorist attack-"

"Of course, that's for sure!" Smith nodded simply.

It is normal for the French to see actual results. Even if Smith is French, he will not do something that only pays money but does not produce results.

"We can also provide financial support, and provide... 10,000 pounds. You can choose whether it is paper money or gold."

"I can assure you that as long as you can take action, you will definitely get more funding. Even the channels for purchasing weapons are not a problem for us! One of the businesses I am responsible for is engaged in the arms business."

"That's great!" Smith nodded confidently and contentedly. "I thank France for its help on behalf of the Irish people! Please be sure to tell His Majesty Napoleon and let him wait and see how we perform." In fact, Smith also knew that this matter might not be delivered directly to Napoleon's ears.

France's intelligence agencies are under the responsibility of the secret police, and the French secret police are under the responsibility of the Minister of the Interior. This is somewhat similar to China's intelligence system, or it can be said that the current specialized intelligence agencies in European countries are all learning from China. The secret police are not real police, which is many levels away from Napoleon. The Frenchman in front of him is probably just an intelligence team of a French intelligence department.

But Smith would never expose all this. The French in front of him were their biggest financial backers and their biggest hope, and they couldn't afford to offend them.

As for the "action", Smith already had a preliminary plan. He was not an idiot, and he planned all this on the way to London. The French's urging only made him more determined and firmer. He believed that he would definitely make a big news.

At the same time, Smith was also very excited because he saw the future development direction of his organization - the Revolutionary Committee.

Yes, this is a very good idea. He can completely connect with other anti-British secret organizations, establish a preliminary contact organization, and wait until the time is right to develop into a committee or parliament. Smith is looking forward to the day when he becomes the chairman or speaker.

However, in this time and space, the Irish people may really win national independence in advance, instead of waiting until after World War I, when the British Empire was seriously injured, as in the original time and space, before daring to play independence.

And the Irish famine from 1845 to 1850 is also likely to be avoided. It's not that the potatoes in Ireland wouldn't rot and fail at that time, but that Ireland at that time was probably an independent country, and they could import large quantities of food. Instead of doing what the British government did, with ineffective relief measures, slow response, and even taking advantage of the situation. During the worst years of the Great Famine in Ireland, the British still imported food from Ireland to the UK every year. And Ireland was a net exporter of food throughout the famine. This inhumane approach, which didn't care about the lives of the Irish people at all, caused this natural disaster to quickly turn into a man-made disaster, and eventually caused the Irish population to drop by nearly a quarter; in addition to starvation and disease deaths, this number also included about one million Irish people who emigrated overseas due to the famine, most of whom immigrated to the United States. And in the same famine, the famine from 1782 to 1783, the Irish government at that time closed the ports and dropped all food prices to save itself.

In comparison, the British really can't blame the Irish Republican Army! Their ancestors committed the evil that year, and their descendants are here to take revenge.

…

March 1809, Paris, Tuileries Palace.

“Yes, Your Highness, we are indeed providing assistance to the Irish revolutionaries as French, and I also ask France to facilitate and assist our communication with the Polish revolutionaries. This is a change that is beneficial to both of us! If His Majesty Napoleon agrees, the European Office can even fight together with your country’s intelligence agencies! But the Duke of Otranto must be excluded.”

The Duke of Otranto is Joseph Fouché, the first Minister of the Interior of France. Before Louis Bonaparte returned to Paris, he also served as the Minister of Police. He was one of Napoleon’s most trusted ministers, but he was an anti-Napoleonic element.

Yang Dewang, who came to France as a private person, really couldn’t understand the rules of the game of Europeans. In 1809, Napoleon's two political right-hand men, Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and Interior Minister and Police Minister Joseph Fouché, betrayed Napoleon successively, both after 1806.

Napoleon was not an idiot. He was well aware of Talleyrand and Fouché's betrayal, but Napoleon still let Talleyrand be in charge of France's diplomacy and Fouché be in charge of France's internal affairs and police. Last winter, he even canonized this cold-blooded and cruel man as the Duke of Otranto. Yang Dewang was confused.

Yes, Talleyrand's diplomatic skills were very powerful and he could be called the first-class diplomat in Europe; Fouché was cold, but he worked meticulously and was full of energy. He was a qualified executioner. France's public security, which was corrupted by the Great Revolution, returned to normal because of his efforts. But no matter how rare the talents were, they were both betrayers. Why was Napoleon so heartless?

The First French Empire is now short of funds. This time, Yang Dewang came to France, and his main task was to reach a colonial purchase agreement with France. After buying Louisiana, Napoleon once again sold all of France's colonies in the Americas to China, mainly several islands in the Caribbean and the rights to French Guiana. In addition, Napoleon wanted to borrow a high-value loan from China, but Napoleon could no longer provide suitable land as collateral.

Other things are all accessories to this matter.

Whether the European Office and the French intelligence agencies have carried out close cooperation, and how to cooperate specifically, Yang Dewang doesn't care at all. This is not as big as his curiosity about Napoleon's thoughts.

Knowing that these two people are big traitors, why do you keep them in important positions? Yang Dewang even thinks that Napoleon is confused.

You must know that Talleyrand is a super corrupt criminal. If Talleyrand is investigated, at least 30 million francs can be made. Although 25 francs is only equivalent to 1 pound. But Talleyrand went from having nothing to a private fortune of one million pounds in just a few years, which can definitely be said to be a good manager.

This guy had just taken office as Foreign Minister [during the Directory period], and he made a lot of money for himself right after taking office. During the years when France dominated Europe, many countries wanted to establish relations with it, so the first hurdle was to go through its Foreign Minister - Talleyrand.

Talleyrand bluntly asked them to take the "sweetness" first. No matter which country he was from: the small German states, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, the Ottoman Empire, or even the United States and Austria, he would reach out and ask for hundreds of thousands or millions of francs. In the first two years of his tenure as foreign minister, he received more than 12 million francs in bribes.

Talleyrand boldly extorted without scruples, because at that time, corruption was rampant in the French officialdom, and the governors themselves were not upright and corrupt. No one would bother Talleyrand no matter how he did whatever he wanted. As the country's foreign minister, Talleyrand still carried out many reforms in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs that were beneficial to the bourgeoisie. He stipulated that consuls stationed abroad should serve French business, and French businessmen could elect representatives to be consuls; he restored the Consular Bureau and stipulated that the main task of the consul was to protect the interests of French businessmen and collect business intelligence. After Napoleon's coup, the consul was simply renamed "commercial negotiation representative." He also restored the Youth Translation School attached to the Consular Bureau and trained a large number of talents for embassies and consulates in various countries. Such a Talleyrand can be said to be Napoleon's right-hand man, and he gave Napoleon great help in international situations and diplomatic affairs. Even in the process of Napoleon's coup, he played an extremely important role and played an important role in it. At the beginning, Talleyrand took the initiative to stick to Napoleon.

But such a person has now betrayed Napoleon. Napoleon is very clear about this, and even he knows why.

This may be because Talleyrand is not a revolutionary. Talleyrand participated in the republic purely because he hated the Bourbon-such as his role in the arrest and execution of the Duke of Danggan [Louis XVI's cousin] and Napoleon's breach of contract and invasion of Spain. But he can still be called an outstanding politician. He is calm and rational, has a wide network of contacts, is cunning and good at communication. He is usually considered to be the successor of Count Fergins's diplomatic career [a diplomat in the late Bourbon dynasty of France], and is sometimes considered to have inherited some of Mirabeau's ideas.

"Talleyrand has survived the late Bourbon dynasty, several Republican governments and then the Empire, and has always stood firm. His connections in Europe, his political vision, and his rich diplomatic experience are equivalent to a political and diplomatic think tank. Your Majesty is reluctant to kill him." Louis Bonaparte returned to France after a year of glorious travel in China and was appointed Minister of Police by his second brother Napoleon. The word "think tank" is a new word that Louis Bonaparte learned in China.

Many years ago, the emperor of China organized ministers who retired from the government and many professors of political academies to jointly edit a set of government policy guidelines. The content of this "guideline" has been growing over the years. A few years ago, it was officially renamed "think tank" by the great emperor of China.

That is a treasure trove of political wisdom.

"Smart wisdom cannot be used by me, but is a disaster. He and Fouché are both traitors. Keeping such people around is definitely a harm to His Majesty Napoleon's great cause." Yang Dewang still couldn't understand.

Talleyrand's policy and diplomacy were conservative. He didn't like Napoleon's idea of ​​making France the hegemon of Europe. He hoped to maintain a conservative policy to maintain the current order in Europe and steadily seek the interests of the Republic. He didn't want to see France become the target of public criticism, and he didn't think France had the ability to unify Europe.

He believed that Napoleon's path would only lead France to destruction and was a great harm to France. This is just like some "people of lofty ideals" in Germany during World War II, who opposed Hitler from beginning to end.

And Fouché? He is a venomous snake hidden in the dark, with the ability to change color, and is more harmful. He was famous for his cruel violence during the Jacobin dictatorship. After being attacked by Robespierre, he overthrew Robespierre's rule together with his opponents. Unlike Foreign Minister Talleyrand, Fouché was the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave every day; also unlike Talleyrand, he never replayed any details of his work, and his memory was amazing. He knew everything about the department he was in charge of and other departments of the government. Everything was recorded in his secret files, which even Napoleon could not see.

Fouché lived a simple life and simple clothes, but he never refused to wear his favorite blue velvet uniform with silver decorations, and he never refused to ride in a carriage escorted by cavalry through the streets and alleys of Paris. This is a contradictory person.

He regarded himself as a politician and a great man, not just a minister of police. He expected a bigger and farther political future, which may be one of the biggest reasons for his betrayal of Napoleon.

Because of the empire under Napoleon's rule, Fouché could never have the rights he longed for.

There is a Western proverb that says, "The most despicable and evil behavior also requires courage and talent" - Fouché has enough courage and talent in this regard. He had dealt with Robespierre and Napoleon. Although people can cite various objective reasons, the outcome of history will not change: the former was plotted against by Fouché, while the latter had no choice but to use him in the end.

But Yang Dewang felt that this was the biggest difference between Western politics and Eastern politics. Western politics has its own set of rules, and they are willing to play around these rules. But the powerful in the East often overturn the table and take everything. He believed that if Emperor Chen sat in Napoleon's position, Fouché and Talleyrand would be sent to prison or even beheaded on the first day. Even if such behavior could lead to the collapse of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior, chaos in the police system, and great backlash, Emperor Chen would never be soft-hearted.

Because the emperors of the East all believe in one sentence: People who are willing to be officials in the world can never be killed.

"Prison is the best destination for the two of them. If His Majesty Napoleon doesn't want to kill them." No matter how much influence Yang Dewang has received from French monotheism, he is still a Chinese in his bones, and he cannot accept betrayal from the bottom of his heart.

Naturally, the intelligence network of the European Office must not be involved with Talleyrand and Fouché, absolutely not.