Fox of France

An envoy sent by Napoleon sent a letter to Suvorov. In this letter, Napoleon first highly praised the fearless spirit shown by the Russian army in battle, and then pointed out: "There is actually no problem between Russia and France that must be resolved by war. It is an incomprehensible tragedy that the young people of the two countries needlessly shed blood over a few technical issues that were negotiated to resolve."

Napoleon proposed to Marshal Suvonov that an armistice should be reached first between the two sides. As for the "minor misunderstandings" and "minor problems" between France and Russia, they can be left for later, and the governments of the two sides can discuss and resolve them.

Napoleon also proposed to Suvorov that the two sides select a place to negotiate on matters related to the armistice.

After sending away the French military envoy, Suvorov gathered all the Russian generals. He first showed the letters sent by Napoleon to his generals for everyone to see. After everyone had finished reading and discussed among themselves, Suvorov asked, "What do you think of this letter?"

"Archduke John of Austria has been declaring these days that the French have suffered a major setback in the north, and that Napoleon's army will soon be ordered to withdraw—it seems that what the Austrians said may be true."

"But let me tell you, the French are right. Can we really give us a piece of land in Italy? Even if we fight the French desperately and take advantage of their retreat to snatch Italy over, it's not cheap. Austria People. What can we get? I think it's better to talk to the French about the conditions, for example, we can get some technology from the French - compared to the British, I think the French may be better in science and technology .”

"I agree with Antonov's later statement. I think the French are more advanced in science and technology than the British. At least in terms of army-related technology, the French must be number one in the world."

"If you want me to say, we should send people to France to study systematically. To..."

"Actually, let me say that there is no need for us to fight any war with France. On the contrary, we should form an alliance so that the east is ours and the west is theirs. How nice it is!"

"You're right, but the French and the Turks have always been together."

"Why do the French team up with the Turks? Isn't it just to deal with the Austrians? We are much stronger than the Turks. If we want to suppress the Austrians, the French can..."

Everyone chattered, although everyone said something different, but one thing was the same, that is, everyone didn't really want to fight the French, at least they didn't want to be with the French. Faraway Italy is at war.

Suvorov listened quietly. He knew that this attitude was not only the attitude of these generals, but to a large extent, it was also the attitude of the vast majority of soldiers. They didn't want to continue fighting the French.

Theoretically speaking, chasing after the French army retreated might lead to a big victory. But looking at everyone's morale and thinking about the combat effectiveness shown by the French army, Suvorov felt that even in field battles, most of the current Russian army cannot beat the French army. If you can use the negotiations to get some good things back from the French, it seems really good.

As for Austria, Marshal Suvorov felt that the blood shed by the Russians was already very worthy of the Austrians. If the Austrians are not happy with the armistice, they can fight the French themselves. Well, we can support them mentally.

Now that there is such an understanding, the negotiations between the two parties have become quite smooth. Napoleon and Suvorov met at an estate somewhere, exchanged gifts, and agreed on a temporary cessation of hostilities.

Then Napoleon left a part of the army behind, and led the army north to fight against the British.

Discovering that the main force of the French army was withdrawing to the north, Archduke John approached Suvorov, saying that this was a good opportunity, and he chased after him. Maybe he could take advantage of the main force of the French army to withdraw to the north and take Italy back.

Regarding this request, Marshal Suvorov said: The French are very cunning, and if they chase after them rashly, they may fall into the trap of the French, so you must be cautious when chasing something. In addition, the Russian army suffered heavy losses before and is now unable to pursue them.

What made Grand Duke John even more speechless was that Marshal Suvorov's attitude, at least the attitude of "you must be cautious in pursuit", has also received widespread support in Austria. The Austrian generals also said that the French are very cunning, and it is best for us to remain unchanged.

So the main force of the French army swaggered northward under the Russian army's "cautiousness" and the Austrians' "constant response to all changes". And even after receiving very reliable information, the main force of the French army has already gone north, and there are only less than 10,000 French rear troops and 40,000 northern troops assembled to "defend the free Northern Italian Federation" in front of them. The Italian Federal Army is gone, and the Russians still look "cautious".

Although the Russians were cautious, the Austrians became active. They felt that although it was dangerous to fight the French, even the French rear troops, they still had confidence in fighting the Italians. Italians, who hasn't seen it?

So the Austrians went up to position A, which they thought was guarded by the Italians, and then they played GG. The defeated Austrians said to the Russians: "We have met Frenchmen in Italian clothes!"

So the Russian said logically: "We have already said that the French are very cunning, and our actions must be cautious. If you don't listen, look, you have been fooled? The French are so cunning."

"Yes, the French are really cunning!" the Austrian agreed.

Napoleon crossed the Alps again and returned to France with more than 60,000 elite French troops. As soon as he returned to China, news came that the British-Prussian coalition forces were approaching Verdun.

The French army, which was defeated from Liege, retreated to Versailles without armor and armor all the way, and joined forces with more than 100,000 supplementary soldiers in Versailles to guard Versailles. At this time, a strange error occurred in the French information system.

In order to transmit information quickly, the French established a special system that uses optical signals to transmit information. The system is like this:

The French built tall towers at intervals on the road from the main city to Paris, just like the beacon towers built by the countries in the Far East.

But the information that this system can transmit is much more complicated than that of beacon towers, because it uses flashes of different lengths to transmit information like a telegram. The party that sent the information turns the information into long and short flashes, and then sends it out at a fixed time. When the tower over there sees it, it records the flashes, and then sends it to the next station repeatedly, so that comparisons can be made. Quickly transmit more complex information to distant places.

In Alexandre Dumas's novel "The Count of Monte Cristo", Edmond Dantès bought a signalman and let him deliberately send false information through this system, which led to an economic fluctuation and took advantage of this Fluctuation bankrupted his enemy Tanglar.

Almost the same as in the novel, a certain signalman was bought by the royalists, and changed the news that "General Bonaparte won a major victory in Italy, and has led the army northward, and returned to France" into "General Napoleon suffered a major defeat in Italy." Frustrated, Marshal Suvorov led a large army across the Alps into France".

This news caused the members of the Directory in Paris to be in a mess. Some of the fellows even got into the wagon right away, ready to flee. Several high-ranking officials who had fled were recognized by inspectors on the road, and then were dragged back by angry crowds.

This escape almost completely bankrupted the Directory's prestige. If it had not been for the new and corrected news that followed, the people of Paris would have been on the verge of an uprising.

A special issue of Scientific Pravda circulated freely and freely that General Bonaparte had won a decisive victory in Italy, had returned to France with a large army, and was heading north. Cries of "Long live General Bonaparte" resounded throughout Paris.

But just as the people of Paris rejoiced because of the good news, Joseph was summoned urgently by Kano.

"Lazar, what happened?" Joseph saw Kano's face, and knew that something terrible must have happened.

"Joseph, there is one thing that I must leave to you to handle." Kano said.

"What is it?" Joseph asked.

"Jubert was injured again and is still unconscious..." Kano replied.

It turned out that not long ago, in a small tentative battle near Verdun, General Joubert, the commander who always liked to run forward, was injured by a bullet and could no longer command the army to fight. . And his deputy, General Moreau, was still on the front line of Cato at this time, and because of the local enemy situation and distance, he could not rush to Verdun to replace Joubert. As a result, the French army in Verdun was temporarily without a commander.

"Damn it!" said Joseph. "Lazar, what are you going to do?"

"Now I can only let you succeed Joubert first, and temporarily serve as the commander-in-chief of the French army in Verdun." Kano said, "Now, I don't have a more suitable candidate here than you."

"What?" Joseph was taken aback. "Me? Damn it... I've never commanded an army to fight a war!"

"No, Joseph, you have commanded. You have commanded the Red Army, and you have taught our other generals many times in the exercise. Besides, we don't have any guys with the rank of generals here. If Berthier is here, maybe I can still let him go up to do it, but now, it's only you."

"I've actually been away from the command operations of the military for a long time."

"But your legends are still everywhere in the army. And these years, in fact, you are leading the transformation of the army's technology and tactics."

"But you say I'm a technician, why..."

"Don't be so, if there is someone more suitable, I don't want you to go. But, including me, no one is more suitable for this position than you. Well, Joseph, don't be humble, the Ministry of War has decided , the commander-in-chief will let you be..."