Dominate the Country

Whether the Iram Corps is the Huai Army or whether Istanbul is the court of the late Qing Dynasty is unknown to the true gods of the world of the Arabian.

However, the Chinese ambassador to Istanbul, who has a close relationship with Iram, knows that this Egyptian Pasha, codenamed "Jiaomu Jiao" in the Military Intelligence Bureau, is definitely not a loyal minister to the Istanbul Sultan.

Egypt itself has a certain degree of autonomy, and the Mamluks are more like recognizing Istanbul as the boss, rather than completely surrendering.

Iram is definitely not the "Qing Dynasty papermaker" Li Hongzhang.

In fact, since receiving the warning from the European Office, Iram immediately mobilized the army and leaked the news to "his own people" in Istanbul to test Istanbul's attitude on the matter.

He believed that the Chinese would definitely not only pass the news to himself but not to Istanbul.

The result of the matter made Iram and Chen Han, the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, feel relieved. Istanbul did not intend to kill with a borrowed knife.

Although the Iram Corps was really a bit eye-catching, Iram himself was relatively obedient. In the previous wars against Russia and Austria, Iram also fought hard. Rather than simply avoiding war and cowardly fighting, blindly preserving strength.

Therefore, in the eyes of Istanbul's dignitaries, Iram was like a stronger and bigger frontier governor, who had not crossed the red line in Istanbul's heart.

Therefore, when Chen Huacheng and his party arrived in Nanjing on the Egret, the French expedition to Egypt and the war between France and the Ottoman Empire had already begun.

The expeditionary fleet, which concentrated the main force of the French Mediterranean Fleet, carried tens of thousands of French soldiers and their commander Napoleon, and advanced into a world of deserts and oases.

…

In the midsummer of this year, the Equality Society of Babeuf, which rose rapidly after the Thermidorian coup, was completely eradicated by the Directory.

Babeuf, the founder of the first "real communist party capable of action" in the original time and space history, was arrested by the Directory along with other leaders of the Equality Society who conspired to riot, and was soon sentenced to death by the Vendôme High Court.

Dong Gao, who was in charge of the European Office, also wrote a special report to Nanjing on the issue of "Babeuf and the Equality Society", because this Frenchman who could not even write the simplest Chinese characters unexpectedly had a connection with China that shocked Dong Gao. After the Equality Society was suppressed by the Directory in the name of rebellion, the "People's Forum" led by Babeuf was closed down, and Babeuf's residence was also closed down. The French military and police found many of Babeuf's private letters from it, but what shocked Dong Gao was that the French found "The Analects" and "The Book of Rites" and a large number of Chinese works represented by Confucianism in Babeuf's residence.

Facts have proved that Babeuf's "utopianism" was really influenced by the Confucian idea of ​​universal harmony, which Dong Gao never expected. The "People's Forum" led by Babeuf has been encouraging people to eliminate private ownership and establish a "universally happy" and "equal" society; and envisioned the establishment of an agriculture-centered, egalitarian and ascetic "communist commune".

This is an absolute utopianism. How could the ‘Great Harmony World’ come when the 19th century had not yet arrived?

However, the suppression of Babeuf and the Equal Society greatly weakened the power of the French Republicans, because Babeuf and his party were staunch supporters of the Republicans, and their death revived the royalist forces, the mortal enemy of the Republicans.

At this time, the latter had realized that it was difficult to achieve restoration by force, and began to turn to legal struggle as the main means, striving to enter the government through elections. In the elections of the Senate and the Council of Five Hundred in the second month after Babeuf's death, the royalist candidates won a great victory. The legislature controlled by the royalist members passed a resolution to pardon the fugitives, restore Catholicism, and replace many republican ministers.

When autumn came, the republicans who could no longer bear it decided to organize an armed uprising to restore the republic. Napoleon played an important role in this new coup. When the Directory was not functioning properly and the five consuls were full of contradictions, General Jean-Charles Pichegru, one of the heroes of the revolutionary war, was elected as the president of the Council of Five Hundred. Although he was a hero of the revolution, he had always been inclined to restore the monarchy. As a staunch republican (at least at the time), Napoleon sent General André Masséna to Paris to test the winds, but he did not expect that the latter also had political ambitions and was soon involved in the political whirlpool. The shrewd and perceptive Napoleon also sent the respected General Sérurier to Paris, claiming that he was presenting the captured Austrian flag, but in fact he was trying to offset the influence of Masséna. Sérurier had equal military exploits to Masséna, but he had no political ambitions. As soon as he arrived in Paris, he announced his firm support for the republic.

Napoleon then sent General Pierre François Charles Augereau to Paris. More than a month later, Augereau led the 17th Division to assist Barras in launching a coup, arresting Pichegru and others in one fell swoop, and completely crushed the royalists' conspiracy to interfere in the political situation through the legislature. In the autumn, Napoleon was transferred from the Italian Army to the English Army. Charles Antoine Desaix, who was transferred from the Rhine Army, served as his deputy, and his chief of staff Louis Alexandre Berthier took over as the commander of the Italian Army.

During this period, Napoleon's influence in the whole of France increased rapidly, and the victory of the Italian campaign became the theme of French literature and art. A large number of paintings, sculptures, songs and poems came out, and the protagonist was Napoleon without exception. The opera "The Bridge of Lodi" was also performed. Whenever Napoleon charged with the flag, the theater would burst into warm applause. The Rue de Cedrin where Napoleon lived was renamed Rue de la Triomphe, and honors poured down on the young general like a storm. After the coup, due to the exile of Consul Carnot, there was a vacancy in the French Academy of Sciences. At the end of the year, Napoleon was officially elected as a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

With the continuous improvement of his political status, although Napoleon pretended to be mature and prudent and indifferent to the world, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the ambition hidden in his heart was becoming stronger and stronger and more and more difficult to contain.

But in any case, the title of commander of the English Corps was very attractive to Napoleon, and Barras and others also hoped to divert the young man's excessive concern for politics. Because the target of the war of the English Legion was the British Isles, if Napoleon really wanted to launch an expedition against Britain, it would not matter whether he could come back or not. Because the war would inevitably take up a lot of Napoleon's time, which gave Barras and his cronies time to consolidate their power, and even Barras and his followers were ready to bear the loss of "Napoleon's defeat in Britain".

For the sake of power, Barras did not care at all about the fall of a republican hero.

Napoleon himself was also very clear about this. What to do next was crucial to his life. During that period, he tried his best to repair his friendship with the European Office and apologized for his previous "coldness" because he needed the European Office to inform him of more intelligence and news about the British. He had his own plan, so he was full of energy for the expedition to Britain. He started military preparations, including inspecting ships, selecting generals, etc.

Napoleon quickly formulated a plan to invade Britain. Prior to this, General Lazare Hoche had landed in Bantry Bay in southwest Ireland in December 1796, but failed. In February of the following year, a landing at Fishguard in Pembroke Hill was also unsuccessful. Napoleon's attempt was larger than these two. He ordered the military factory to manufacture British-caliber artillery so that he could use captured enemy shells after landing. But when he found out the number of flat-bottomed boats that the navy could provide, evaluated the facilities of the port, and learned that the French navy had completely lost its sea control, he concluded that invading Britain was risky and unfeasible.

Then Napoleon suggested sending an expeditionary force to the countries on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to threaten India's trade, but the Directory did not respond immediately. Although this strategic intention was first conceived by the Directory.

At that time, there was a trend of thought among the French people that the occupation of Egypt would enable France to cut off trade between Britain and India. French writers Renard and Volnay published some works promoting this view. The famous French merchant Magallon and some other Marseille merchants in Cairo also submitted petitions to the Directory. These people emphasized that if Egypt became a warehouse for France, it would overturn Britain's advantage in the Eastern world.

This idea has been brewing in France for hundreds of years. As early as the Louis XIV period, the Sun King considered the issue of conquering Egypt. Later, Louis XV's Foreign Minister Schwartzer also had the same dream, but France has always been an ally of the Ottoman Empire, and the latter is still the ruler of Egypt to a certain extent. This French dream has always been empty and absurd.

However, Napoleon suffered strong suppression from his former close allies such as Barras in the political arena. His advantage was not in playing tricks, but in winning one victory after another on the battlefield.

Therefore, Napoleon was very eager to launch a foreign war, so that generals like him would have a place to use their skills.

At this time, the appearance of a person attracted Napoleon's attention. That was Charles Maurice Talleyrand, the revolutionary bishop of Paris at the beginning of the revolution, who was forced to wander for many years because of his collusion with Louis XVI. He won the pardon of the French revolutionary government and returned to Paris last autumn.

This guy, who was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs by Barras through Madame de Staël, was very happy to deepen his friendship with Napoleon.

Because this astute politician did not believe that the young Napoleon would always surrender to the corrupt Directory.

Napoleon was a dazzling star in French politics, and Talleyrand was very willing to get close to Napoleon.

And from the perspective of a diplomat, Talleyrand was a qualified diplomat. He had a diplomatic vision and always advocated launching an expedition to Egypt. So he published a paper on the benefits of new colonies (including Egypt) in the French Academy of Sciences, which attracted Napoleon. In the paper, Talleyrand proposed a clear plan to send troops to Malta and Egypt to cut off the transportation lines between Britain and the Eastern world.

For Napoleon, it can be said that a pillow was handed to him when he was sleepy.

In February of the 24th year of the reign of the Emperor, Napoleon received the order. Although some French people believed that attacking Egypt, the territory of the Turkish Sultan, an old ally of France, was an unjust act, the Directory still agreed to Napoleon's plan to invade Egypt.

On the one hand, after France defeated Austria, Europe's traditional continental power, it urgently demanded a showdown with Britain, the re-organizer of the anti-French alliance; on the other hand, the Directory really hoped that the war would attract Napoleon's vigorous energy and wisdom, and Britain had already If it was rejected by Napoleon, then Ottoman is also a good choice. Lest this jealous, ambitious young man turn against himself in Paris.

This expedition to Egypt was in line with Napoleon's wishes and the wishes of the Directory. If the victory returns to the court, the Directory can use this to further consolidate its rule. If Napoleon failed, or died on the battlefield, the Directory would be relieved of its worries, and they would be willing to endure the loss of a talented general.

And this is politics, the politics of the weak and the strong!

Cruel, cold-blooded, without any mercy.

If you don't put your opponent to death and then put a bullet in the heart of the opponent's dead body, you are not a qualified politician.

The long distance and slow transportation means that by the time this news was sent to Nanjing, it was already the summer of the 24th year of Chengtian. In 1798 of the Western calendar, Emperor Chen of China was already setting up a construction department for the Suez Canal. The labor department under the Immigration Bureau also began to open construction projects in Japan, Malay, Annan, Myanmar, Luzon, Java and other places. and recruit migrant workers on a large scale.

After the news from Tianfang World was urgently sent to Nanjing, Chen Ming walked away for a long time with a frown on his face.

I have been stirring up trouble in the Eastern world for more than ten years, and I have also created a large piece of Central America. Now the war in America has entered the harvest stage. The Spanish regular army, colonial army, etc. in the Americas have all suffered from the garrison. A heavy blow to the army.

The fame of the Hexagon gun and Mini rifle shocked Europe, and even Elam was requesting China to purchase these two weapons.

The war in India has come to an end. Tipu Sultan cannot be considered a failure, but the huge losses were unbearable for the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mysore Royal Army, which only had an army, could not substantially threaten the British home base in India, but their thousands of miles of coastline were all under random attack by British warships.

However, the pressure from the British is not small. The two vicious dogs and a puppy raised by China in the Himalayas were finally released.

Ladakh, Bhutan and the Kingdom of Gorkha each had their stomachs full.

Although this allows the Marathas, who are now 'Cao Cao' in India, to use the emperor to control the princes, and the Indian emperor in Delhi is in their hands. As the overlords of North India, the Marathas certainly do not want to see Kuo Cao. The Erkhas, Bhutanese and Ladakhis became powerful.

But there was nothing they could do.

Under these many constraints, the situation in India gradually became calm, with only the Sikhs in the northwest.

Chen Ming has been struggling in this world for so many years. Why hasn't there been a big change in the evolution of Europe?

The period of the Great Revolution before that had been postponed for a long time. Now that Napoleon was about to expedition to Egypt, time was back on track.

In 1798, Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in the original time and space history was in 1798. Then it was 'corrected' again half a year ago?

Of course, what Chen Ming has to consider now is not this issue, but whether the already established construction department will be sent to Egypt as planned?

Given the current situation, is it appropriate to send thousands of Chinese and a larger number of workers to Egypt? Is it safe?

The war in Egypt has a variable called Elam. Chen Ming believes that Napoleon will not conquer Egypt on land so easily, but this does not mean that Egypt is stable at this moment.