Fox of France

One morning in September, a person came to the door of the "Bonaparte Institute" and showed the gatekeeper a letter signed by Fouché and Carnot, asking to see Joseph.

The letter was delivered right away while the man waited outside the door.

"Vibicki? It sounds like a Slav." Joseph looked at the letter of introduction that came in. Although the letter of introduction contained almost nothing except the name of the bearer, Joseph's intentions for this person's visit were not clear. With a rough guess.

"Okay, take him to the reception room and wait, I'll be right over," Joseph said.

After a while, Joseph saw this man whose name was also Joseph but whose surname was Vibicki in the living room.

"Hello, General Bonaparte, I am a representative of General Kościuszko, and I hope to buy some weapons from you for the just cause of the Polish people." Fluent in French, he explained his purpose straight to the point.

Joseph knew the name "Kosciuszko". This man was a Polish military officer. After the second partition of Poland in 1993, Poland was on the verge of subjugation. In March 1794, General Kościuszko took advantage of Belgium and the Rhine to defeat the Prussian army, and the Russian Empress was seriously ill. He launched an uprising in Krakow, trying to regain the country and establish a new Poland. Speaking of the chaos in France after Thermidor, the military pressure on the north was relatively limited, and a lot of the credit for this was due to General Kosciuszko.

In order to suppress his uprising, and to prevent the Russians from taking advantage of this opportunity to swallow up the rest of Poland by themselves, Prussia and Austria disregarded the obstruction of the British and transferred many troops from Belgium to Poland. . Speaking of which, General Kosciuszko chose to revolt at this time, originally hoping that France could attract firepower for him, but it turned out that he attracted firepower for France.

"What kind of weapons do you want to buy?" Since the other party was so direct, Joseph went straight to the point very directly.

"Bonaparte melons, the authentic ones," Verbicki replied.

"Well, we just resumed the production of this weapon." Joseph said, "So how much do you need? How will you pay for it, and in terms of transportation, should you solve it yourself, or let us deliver it to you?"

Verbicki reported a number, and then said: "If the price is right, we will have additional orders."

Joseph shook his head in his heart, "additional order" sounds beautiful, but considering the environment the Poles are in, no one can tell how long they can last.

After some calculations in his mind, Joseph reported a number to him.

"Is...is this price too high?" Wibicki seemed surprised when he heard Joseph's quotation, "The prices of other manufacturers are much lower than this."

Joseph was actually prepared for his words, and he replied with a smile: "Mr. Verbicki, frankly speaking, the price of our products is indeed higher than that of other manufacturers, but it makes sense Yes. Because our production costs are much higher.”

Having said that, Joseph waved to a guard next to him, and the guard walked over.

"You go and get a sample of 'Bonaparte Melon', and by the way, a few samples of other brands of 'Mellow Melon'."

The guard turned and left after hearing this. Joseph then continued to Verbicki:

"I just noticed that when you made a purchase request to us, you specifically emphasized that you want authentic Bonaparte melons. The reason why you gave up those manufacturers near Paris is because you know the ones they produce The 'little melon' problem. Well... as you probably know, our General Joubert was wounded. Also, as far as I know, those cheap ones caused quite a few problems in the Prussian army.

In addition, you should also know that the transportation of these things is also a big problem for you. The number of your first batch of purchases is so small, probably because of your own channels, it is difficult to transport enough things at one time. Under such circumstances, if you still want to buy low-end cheap goods, even from an economic point of view, it is actually uneconomical, isn’t it? "

Just as he was saying this, the guard had already walked back. There was also a plate in his hand, and there were a few small round melons on the plate.

"Mr. Verbicki, please look, this is our authentic 'Bonaparte melon', and these are cheap non-branded melons. Don't worry, the stuff in these 'little melons' The medicines have been taken out. You can take them to see the difference carefully."

As Joseph said, he signaled the guards to bring two "little melons" to Verbicki for tasting.

Verbicki picked up several "little melons" from the tray in turn and looked at them again and again. But judging from his expression, he couldn't understand the difference at all.

"Mr. Verbicki, look at the authentic small melons. There are deep scratches on the outside. These scratches are not for aesthetics. They serve two purposes. The first is that they are easy to hold and not easy to slip. Wiby Mr. Tsky, you know that soldiers, especially recruits, are very nervous when they are on the battlefield. Therefore, they are also prone to all kinds of stupid mistakes on the battlefield, such as slipping their hands, Just dropped the little melon on my feet. With these nicks, it is not easy to have such a problem."

Joseph first showed Verbicki the authentic "Bonaparte melon", and then picked up another "little melon" with a smooth surface:

"Look at this small melon of a different brand. There is no scoring on the outside at all. Of course, it is also the cheapest. Well, there is this one. Look, there are a little shallow marks on it, which are made by etching. Although it is very shallow, it can also play a non-slip effect. Of course, with an extra process, the cost of this 'small melon' is naturally higher, and the price is also a little more expensive than the previous one."

After finishing speaking, Joseph said again: "However, Mr. Verbicki, compared with the authentic one, it still lacks one of the most important advantages. You see, the authentic 'Bonaparte melon' has more incisions than this one." Much deeper. In this way, when the 'little melon' explodes, its outer shell will shatter along these notches, forming dozens of shrapnel and flying around. Within ten meters from the center of the explosion, They are all effective killing ranges. Therefore, an authentic 'Bonaparte Little Melon' that falls into the enemy's ranks can knock down a large rank of enemies.

Take a look at this miscellaneous brand 'Little Melon' in my hand. Its scoring is too shallow, so it can't achieve the effect mentioned above. When it explodes, it's easy to just blow the shell into two pieces. It cannot produce a large amount of deadly shrapnel, so its power is far less than the authentic 'Bonaparte melon'. And the reason why it is so shallow is that the material they use is not as good as ours. They use the most common white cast iron, and it is impossible to make such prefabricated fragments in advance on this kind of cast iron. So, you see, on the face of it, the authentic 'Bonaparte melons' are indeed the most expensive of these 'little melons' because ours are better made, perform better and naturally cost more. In fact, we don't make more money from customers than these cheap off-brand products. "

But at this time Verbicki seemed to be still hesitating. Joseph smiled again: "Mr. Verbicki, in fact, if your order is larger, we can deliver it for you."

The temptation worked immediately, and Wibicki immediately said, "Can you deliver the goods to Poland?"

Joseph shook his head and said: "This is not possible, but we can help you send the goods to Denmark first. The land route from France to Poland is closely watched. But if you go from Denmark, take a boat and go ashore in Danzig , and then cross Prussia and enter Poland. This route is relatively unchecked, and it should be easier to travel.”

"Sir, there's no Danzig, only Gdańsk. (the Polish name for Danzig)" Wibicki said. "Also, how much do we need to order to get this service?"

Joseph smiled: "Ah, I was wrong, it should be Gdansk. As for the quantity, if you double the quantity of the order, we can send the goods to Denmark for you for free. Also, IMHO , your enemy is too powerful, I admire your courage, but, to be honest, your struggle may not have a good result."

"Mr. Bonaparte, what do you mean?" Verbicki's complexion changed, his eyes spit out anger, as if he was ready to ask Joseph for a duel at any time.

"Mr. Wibicki, don't get excited. I have no malicious intentions." Joseph said, "I just want to offer a little suggestion as a friend, a friend of the Polish people, under the current situation. You should know that now In all Europe the Poles have no more reliable friend than France."

This remark made Verbicki calm down, and he said: "Mr. Bonaparte, I'm sorry, I was too excited. However, I still want to ask, do you really think that our current struggle prospects are not good?" ?”

"Yes," said Joseph, "it is ashamed to say that this is mainly our French responsibility, if not for so many things happening within us, we would be able to put a lot of pressure on Prussia and Austria, if that's the case , then your current uprising has a great chance."

"Ah..." Vibicki sighed.

"However, even if this uprising fails to regain the country, it can still boost the national spirit. With such a spirit, even if Poland fails for a while, it will never really perish." Joseph said again.

"Thank you, thank you for your encouragement," Verbicki said.

"But now, we have to prepare for the future." Joseph continued, "First of all, if the enemy is too strong, then don't fight head-on with the enemy for the time being. Winter is coming, we must save the fire. As long as the resistance If the fire is still burning, Poland will not perish. I suggest that you use guerrilla warfare to submerge the invaders in the vast ocean of people's war..."

"What kind of guerrilla warfare? What kind of vast ocean of people's war?" Wibicki really couldn't comprehend such a wealth of information all at once.

"Ah, this matter, it's like this..."

According to Joseph's analysis, the reason why the Russians and Prussians wanted to invade Poland was naturally to plunder the Polish people. Otherwise, could it be that they really came to build a kingly paradise? Therefore, the contradictions between them and the Polish people cannot be reconciled. Therefore, as long as the guerrilla stands on the side of the people and tries its best to safeguard the interests of the people, he will be able to get the support of the people, just like Antai with his feet on the ground, invincible.

Whether the Russians or the Prussians, they invaded Poland to suck blood, not to have too much money and no place to spend it. If they sabotage their attempt to suck blood from Poland, or even use widespread guerrilla warfare to get them mired in this never-ending battle, costing them far more than what they can get from Poland, then their aggression will naturally If it cannot be sustained, coupled with the support and help of people who love justice and peace throughout Europe, Poland will surely recover.

Verbicki stood up excitedly, and Joseph's words opened up a whole new world in front of him.

"Mr. Bonaparte, what you said is so good! Poland has not perished, as long as the fire of resistance is still burning, Poland will not perish! Yes, we must mobilize the entire nation and drown those invaders in the ocean of people's war In the sea..."

Wibicki pumped his fists, as if Poland had won, had become the same big Bobo who flattened the town.

"Mr. Verbicki, for this sacred goal, we still need to work together." Joseph said, "Well, we also have a weapon called 'Bonaparte's Mousetrap', which is especially suitable for guerrilla warfare. Don't look at it?"

"What? Yes, of course I have to see it!" Verbicki hurriedly said.

The so-called "Bonaparte's mousetrap" is actually just a land mine. To be more precise, what Joseph was going to sell at this time was not even the whole mine, but only the fuse of the mine.

"This kind of thing is actually similar to the 'little melon'. It uses a fire tube to detonate explosives. However, it is not used for throwing, but is buried under the road that the enemy may pass. Once the enemy comes from above Walking past and stepping on it, it's like a mouse stepping on a mousetrap, and with a bang, they go to heaven. This thing, our official product with a cast iron casing is of course very good. But I consider that you are in the economy Therefore, I suggest that you only need to buy the fuze part. As for the other parts, you can find a stonemason yourself, chisel a shell with stones, and fill it with black powder - anyway, this thing is buried in the ground, so it is bigger , it doesn’t matter if it’s heavier—and then connect to our fuze system…”