Dominate the Country

The fragrant breeze made him feel refreshed. Before Napoleon opened his eyes, the soft and warm touch between his arms told him how he felt so refreshed this morning.

Last night was a pleasant night. After celebrating the ninth birthday of their son, Waleski Jr., with Marie Walewska, Napoleon had a thorough hand-to-hand fight with his beloved Polish wife.

The Polish wife was still asleep, but Napoleon had already gotten up.

After last year's disastrous defeat, Napoleon had the habit of morning exercises. He got up very early in the morning, and he would exercise in the morning when it was still gray outside. This has become his life habit. He was also paying tribute to his ultimate opponent and life goal, Emperor Chen!

Chen Ming has always insisted on early morning exercises, and this habit has been spread outside many years ago. When Napoleon went to study in China, he admired Chen Ming's achievements. When he reached the peak of his life, the gap between his status and Chen Ming seemed to have narrowed a lot, but in fact it was still out of reach.

Especially the failure of the war against Russia, the flames of war on the European continent rose again. Although Russia was pulled away by the Ottomans and the Chinese, after repeated considerations, Napoleon promised to return Galicia, New Galicia, Zamość and Krakow, the Polish territories originally occupied by Austria, to Austria. In this way, together with some small states in the Rhine Confederation, it can be said that Napoleon used the interests of Poland and Germany to make Austria choose to maintain friendship with France. In order to get Austria to join the war as soon as possible, Russia also promised to cede a large area of ​​Polish territory to Vienna.

Of course, Russia's crisis is also an important influencing factor-the Ottomans are making rapid progress on the west coast of the Black Sea. If they really gain a foothold in Ukraine, then Austria will have to fight on two fronts when it goes to war with the Ottomans in the future. This kind of absolute strategic disadvantage is something that the Austrians will turn a blind eye to if they are mentally lame.

And because of the absence of Russia and Austria, although the Sixth Anti-French Alliance once spread like wildfire on the European continent, Napoleon won the Battle of Leipzig. Of course, this is a miserable victory!

After the victory, Napoleon did not even have the power to counterattack Prussia, nor did he have the power to stop Prussia from losing its own land. Except for part of Poland, the rest of the territories lost in the Treaty of Tilsit were all returned. The Germans on those lands still preferred Prussia.

At the same time, Prussia was also intensively carrying out the reconstruction of the army. In the decisive battle of Leipzig, Prussia lost 50,000 troops, which was higher than the national strength of Prussia before the start of the Sixth Anti-French Alliance.

In Rotterdam, negotiations between the British, Spanish, Prussians, Portuguese and France were underway, and Russians and Austrians attended the meeting.

Napoleon knew that his desire to unify Europe was no longer possible. The jumping guys in the previous crisis made him clearly see the weakness of his rule and many hidden dangers.

Most importantly, he felt the French people's weariness of war. Yes, after the war against Russia, Napoleon, who returned to Paris in a panic, suppressed the chaos of the royalists and internal rebellion with an iron fist, but the new conscription order he issued, calling for 500,000 conscriptions, only provided him with less than 50,000 troops. A considerable number of them were retired veterans! Their age was even comparable to that of Napoleon's old guard.

But Napoleon was unwilling to admit defeat, nor would he bow his head willingly. If there was no way to integrate the whole of Europe by force, there were other ways to go. He was using his persistence to remind himself that he must not forget the great enemy in the East!

There were several lights on in the room, but the light was not bright. They were covered by Chinese specialty ceramic lampshades, and the light was hazy. Napoleon could see the beauty sleeping on the bed. Although she was over 30 years old, she was still so fascinating.

Half an hour later, the sun rose above the horizon. Napoleon ran four or five miles in the morning light, feeling tired and panting.

He truly felt his aging.

When he was studying in China, he also did five li of morning exercise every day, so running down was a piece of cake. But now...

Napoleon is 46 years old, almost 50 years old.

But Napoleon does not think that he is too old. This age group is the golden age of a superior, and it is the time when a politician matures in politics, mind and means. He, Napoleon, can not only lead troops to fight, but also play politics.

After getting up early for exercise, Napoleon enjoyed a simple breakfast, and then picked up the documents and intelligence that the attendants had already prepared.

First, Austria and the Ottoman Empire.

After the war in Transylvania [the western region of Romania, belonging to Austria], the armies of the two countries in Serbia also started a war.

The situation here is very similar to Romania. The northern Vojvodina region is under Austrian control, and the central and southern parts are controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

The Austrians have not invaded the central region of Serbia. They have occupied Belgrade three times, but each time they were quickly recaptured by Austria.

The Austrians launched an attack on Belgrade, and the local Serbs also organized a team of more than 20,000 people to echo the Austrians' "Liberation War". As a result, the Austrian army's southward attack speed was slower than everyone expected. More than 20,000 Serbian armed forces only lasted two days near Belgrade before being completely defeated by the Ottoman army of about 10,000 people with absolute superior artillery firepower and sharp infantry and cavalry assaults.

Although the Ottomans failed to capture the Serbian leader Milos Obrenovic on the battlefield, they captured Karadjordje Petrovich, the leader of the last Serbian uprising. This guy led a Serbian uprising ten years ago, and then the uprising failed and fled to Austria. Unexpectedly, this battle became the biggest gain of the Ottoman army.

Then there was the war between the Austrian army and the Ottoman army. The former had an advantage in manpower, while the latter had a fortified Belgrade.

Napoleon was very concerned about the war between Austria and the Ottomans. He hoped that the Ottomans could fight back and hold back the Austrians for three or two years, so that France could really catch its breath. But today, he saw the worst bad news about Osman at the end. The rumor of a military coup in Istanbul had been confirmed, and Selim III died in the chaos.

This is too bad! "Damn it." Napoleon couldn't help cursing, and all his good mood was burned.

After reading the news about the Ottomans and Austria, Napoleon picked up the war intelligence between the Ottomans and Russia, and there was no new news. But the subsequent Sino-Russian War brought him a heartfelt surprise-Bagration's attack on Astrakhan failed, and now the entire army was tightly surrounded by the Chinese on the banks of the Volga River.

"I need more detailed information about this war!"

The expression on Napoleon's face was brilliant at this moment. This good news came at the right time.

If the 100,000+ Russian army was completely wiped out..., haha, the impact of the Ottoman coup could be completely overshadowed, and the whole of Europe would be speechless, right? At that time, if I proposed a complete peace and European countries worked together to deal with the Chinese, it would be easier to get more people's approval? !

In Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the racial determinism and racial and racist policies of "white supremacy, the rest are inferior" were very popular. In the previous Britain, the British did a lot of business with China while tirelessly spreading remarks that destroyed China's image. This is a good example in itself.

Moreover, the scale of this Sino-Russian war is different from the past. Compared with this battle, China's two previous victories in the war against Russia can be said to be very small. And Russia's influence in Europe is greater than that of Spain and Portugal combined. The deterrent power of the gray beast is not comparable to that of the big duck and Portugal.

If the previous small-scale battles could still give Europeans a mouthful of words, so that China's strength was only partially recognized by Europeans, rather than completely convinced, then after this battle, the last fig leaf of Europeans was also torn off.

Napoleon was very eager to see this phenomenon, because such a victory of the Chinese could be the best footnote to the "Yellow Peril Theory" that has been widely circulated in Europe in recent years. Based on China's huge population and industrial strength, this rumor that has been spread and spread is likely to become true. Especially when the Chinese military force is also extraordinary.

The Yellow Peril Theory or the Huaxia Threat Theory, the race struggle between yellow and white skin, the war of civilization...

The victory of the Chinese in the war against Russia is simply the best basis and evidence to prove and confirm this inference. How could Napoleon not be happy? This provided him with a huge impetus. Napoleon has changed his "thinking".

Although his status has fallen from the peak of Europe to the same level as Alexander I, Franz I and others, Napoleon has experienced the beauty of the peak after all. When his vision has transcended the interests of France and focused on the entire world chessboard, Napoleon will have a very easy inference of where to go after his expectation of unifying Europe by force is shattered.

But whether he can make it through this step depends on whether Britain, Prussia, Russia, Spain and other countries are willing.

Napoleon stood up a little irritably. He was really uncomfortable with the feeling that he didn't have the initiative in his hands. The defeat in the war against Russia made him lose too many things!

People like Napoleon put their fate in the hands of others, which is too inconsistent with their character.

Unfortunately, France today is no longer the France of 20 years ago. More than 20 years of war and death have completely released the passion accumulated by the French for hundreds of years. Without this revolutionary passion, the combat effectiveness of French soldiers is just that, and the enthusiasm of the French to join the army is just that.

This caused a lot of trouble for Napoleon.

Napoleon, who clearly recognized this, also clearly understood that he could no longer lead an army full of passion and fighting spirit to conquer the European continent.

The desire to unify Europe by force can no longer be realized.