Fox of France

Kano thought for a while and said, "This matter is very important, and it can't be decided just by the two of us..."

Speaking of this, Kano paused again, and then said: "I will seriously consider this matter. If it is really feasible, I will write to you. But... It is also necessary to make various preparations in advance. Not bad."

Joseph nodded and said: "I will. However, for this, I need you to guarantee the priority purchase of the weapons we produce. In addition, you also know that the cost of genuine goods will definitely be higher, and the price will naturally be higher You have to ensure that our products will not be robbed of the market by those cheap rotten things."

"I can only say that I will try my best." Kano said.

"Okay." Joseph said, "If there is really no way, then I will find a way by myself."

"Don't mess around right now." Kano heard something wrong from Joseph's tone, and hurriedly said.

"No. Don't you know me yet?" Joseph laughed.

...

Coming out of Carnot, Joseph took the guards, changed into a carriage, and left Paris.

The day before Joseph left Paris, the researchers who signed the contract with him left Lavoisier (Lavoisier still had some matters to deal with the University of Paris.) They all left Paris and went to Toulon . At that time, Joseph also divided half of his guard cavalry to escort them. Because the mail van they packed was relatively slow, Joseph caught up with them on the third day after leaving Paris.

A few days later, we arrived in Toulon. At this time, Napoleon had already been notified that Napoleon had just expanded the "Naval Research Institute"—no, it should be called the Bonaparte Research Institute and was waiting for them outside.

The expanded Bonaparte Institute is very similar in form to the old "Army Technical Institute", both surrounded by trenches with high-wall drawbridges. The basic layout basically imitated the "Military Technology Research Institute", so these researchers found a suitable place very quickly and put their things away.

By this time Napoleon had prepared supper for them. Everyone had a meal together, and then went back to rest.

Joseph called Napoleon out, and the two walked on the beach by the sea, while Joseph told Napoleon about the situation in Paris.

"You plan to let us go to Italy?" Napoleon said, "Why not go directly to Paris? What are these guys doing!"

"Napoleon, now is not the time to go to Paris." Joseph said, "Napoleon, you have won some victories before, but because of this, is your status in the hearts of the French people high enough? Have you reached the point of being a household name? The French people Will you be the first to think of you when faced with a difficult situation, and say, 'If only General Napoleon was here'? If you still can't do this, think about it, even if you go back to Paris and overthrow the government by force, Can you maintain a stable government? If you can’t, won’t this be opening the way for others?”

Hearing this, Napoleon smiled embarrassedly and said, "Actually, I know that too, but I'm a little anxious to see those idiots jumping around. It's like watching idiots play chess."

"You think he's a fool, but other people don't necessarily see it that way. It's like when you watch a game of chess, you think he's making a bad move, and the guys on the sidelines think he's making a good move because their level is too low. Now The first thing we have to do is to increase your prestige in the hearts of the French people, so that when the French people hear about the war, they think: 'If only General Napoleon was in command.' On the other hand, just use the government to give us The lack of appropriation and the poor quality of materials and equipment will bring the army over and make the Republic's army truly our own."

"You mean to let me go to Italy and use the captured wealth to support the army? Then use my series of victories to contrast the incompetence of those guys in Paris?" Napoleon immediately understood what Joseph meant.

"Yes, but not now, but to let the army feel the pain brought to them by an incompetent government." Joseph said, "To make them disgust or even hate this government, only in this way Only under certain circumstances can you buy them with loot and turn them into our army. Before that, we all need to be patient. In addition, during this period of time, I will also prepare some small toys for you... "

"What is it?" Napoleon hurriedly asked. The "little melon" Joseph gave him last time was so easy to use, which made his expectations suddenly high.

"Secret," Joseph said.

After that day, Joseph plunged headlong into the Institute. And something he told Napoleon began to become a reality.

First of all, military pay has come down. Although on the surface the numbers everyone got seemed to have risen a bit, but what everyone got were coupons, and the value of such things was dropping almost every day. Today is no longer the Jacobin era, and there are no special commissioners with guillotines to supervise businesses that must use coupons. As a result, the practice of refusing to accept securities has generally returned, and this has further caused the securities to continue to fall. Although in order to please those decent people, the Directorate government is still restrained in printing coupons, but the depreciation of the coupons is like their integrity, flying down three thousand feet.

As a result, the living standards of the soldiers plummeted immediately, and the quantity and quality of the bread they could eat every day also dropped sharply. Therefore, Napoleon thoughtfully reduced the frequency and intensity of training. He stayed in the barracks every day, ate the same food as the soldiers, and kept chatting with the soldiers, telling them that the difficulties were only temporary, and took them with him. Sing: "It'll be fine, it'll be fine..." But the latter sentence changed to "There will be buttered bread."

Although the soldiers complained about the decline in their living standards, they loved Napoleon even more.

If only the standard of living had declined, the image of the Directorate in everyone's minds would not have collapsed so quickly, but not long after, the various weapons and ammunition that the Directorate gave to them made everyone dissatisfied and despised the government quickly. It levitated.

The first thing that caused the soldiers to complain was naturally the "little melon" that they liked very much before. Because the "little melons" sent in this batch did not have the surname Bonaparte.

As a result, on the northern front, of course, what happened in the armies of the two warring parties was repeated.

The first accident occurred during a live ammunition training, and the "little melon" thrown by a soldier did not make a sound for most of the day. So that stupid soldier wanted to go up to see what happened, but just after walking a little, the "little melon" exploded.

Fortunately, this small melon that cut corners even omitted the prefabricated fragments, and as a result, the outer shell was only blown in half. The soldier was hit by the air wave and fell into a somersault, but miraculously, he was not injured.

Also in this live ammunition training, there were still a few "little melons" that did not ring. With the lesson just now, everyone naturally did not dare to go up again. Napoleon even asked people to circle that piece with a rope. Others approach. As a result, those few "little melons" were left there for a whole day, but they really didn't make any noise.

Except for the little melon, everything else was in the same mess. The brown gunpowder used in the cannon was obviously damp, and the sulfur inside was not even broken, and some small stones that might be used for weighing scales were mixed in; Yes, in the words of some soldiers, when cutting bread, they are worried that they will be chipped or curled; (of course, this is due to the poor quality of the knife on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also because too many additives are added to the bread There are also military uniforms, the thickness of the cloth has dropped significantly, and the buttons are not sewn firmly, and they can be pulled off from the clothes with a little pull.

In this way, the complaints of the soldiers were really unstoppable. Some low-ranking officers still had correspondence with their comrades on the northern front, and they vividly told those black jokes on the northern front, making everyone know the story of the hapless General Joubert.

Napoleon still seems to be doing his best to clear the land for the government, and attribute the responsibility to those profiteers. His words can basically be summed up as: "Today, the Holy One is the most holy and bright, but he was deceived by a few treacherous ministers." Ah, no, I remembered the wrong word, it should be: "Those people in the current government are actually not bad people, it's just that they Too young and naive to be scammed by those profiteers."

However, this statement is a bit lacking in convincing. The soldiers are not fools, they will not believe that a group of too young and naive guys can climb to that position.

"It must be a fool to be fooled by a few profiteers like this." A soldier said.

"It's either stupid or bad!" Someone agreed.

"I've already sat in that position, could I be a fool? Their position is not hereditary. If there is no shady deal in it, my surname will not be Mitterrand!" Another soldier scolded.

"Maybe, there is a certain merchant who gave them beautiful women." Another soldier started to sway.

"How do you know it's a beautiful woman? Maybe they washed their sons and sent them to those guys. You know, it's said that some guys above like this one..." So Lou became even more crooked. up.

"Well, they weren't the ones who died on the battlefield anyway. They weren't stupid, they were just bad!" Someone concluded.