In these days in the South, Napoleon was busy retraining his army and writing a new program of operations, because the "little melon of Bonaparte" had brought about too great a change in the way of warfare. First of all, any horizontal column and column will become a thing of the past as soon as the "Little Melon" appears, because the stragglers equipped with the "Little Melon" are too great a threat to them.

In the past, a skirmisher, firing at the queue, shot past, knocked down at most one person, and the queue counterattack could also knock him down. Most of the time, skirmishers are worth more than privates (skirmishers have to have some autonomous combat effectiveness), so the threat is still limited.

But now it's different, a "little melon" thrown over, the damage brought by a bullet is not comparable to a bullet. According to the figures of the "Military Technical Research Institute", each "little melon" can have an average of more than 30 pieces of cast iron after the explosion, and each fragment has the lethality equivalent to a bullet within 20 to 35 meters. (Because the performance of the loaded Republic 1 explosives is unstable, the damage radius of the small melon also varies greatly.)

In this way, a "small melon" thrown by a straggler can lead to the casualties of several people or even a dozen people. What's more, throwing a "little melon" is much faster than shooting a bullet. In the time it takes to reload a bullet, the skirmishers can throw dozens of "little melons". If an army is still rigidly using dense formations, then they will be crushed if they encounter a small group of skirmishers equipped with "little melons".

Therefore, almost all the French generals who have seen the performance of the "little melon" on the battlefield, whether it is Napoleon in the south or Rubert in the north, have realized that since the "little melon" has been played, skirmishers will inevitably become the main way for soldiers to fight on the battlefield. However, no one knew how to effectively use the stragglers equipped with the "little melons", so Napoleon, who was originally in charge of the construction of the "Red Army," was instructed to study an efficient way of using stragglers in combat and to compile a set of operational outlines to guide the future operations of the entire French army.

In addition to this, Napoleon also had an important thing to confess with the whole family, so as not to let Joseph know something about the port of Toulon. To tell the truth, Napoleon was really relieved that the higher authorities did not transfer his corps back, but let them suppress the localities in the south on the one hand, and on the other hand, study new tactics on the other.

During this period, Napoleon and Joseph also exchanged some letters. Of course, because of Joseph's special situation now, his correspondence with anyone must be checked by the "National Salvation Committee". And it can only be released if it has the signatures of the three members of the "National Salvation Committee". In addition, every letter he issued would be archived as an important confidential document in the National Salvation Committee for future reference. The safe containing his letters is said to have been the work of His Majesty the King.

Of course, the same is true of the reply to Joseph. Under such circumstances, Joseph could not have spoken to his unreliable brothers about politics in his letters, even if he had really wanted to warn Napoleon that in times like these, he must be a little cowardly, a little more, a little more cowardly, and the Bonaparte family would be saved, but he did not dare to say a word, not even in a cryptic language—Robespierre was a good lawyer, and what lawyers were best at was to chew on words.

So Joseph's letters to Napoleon, in general, could only be a few ordinary greetings, and then the main content was some discussion of tactical details.

Although before the crossing, Joseph did not study military affairs. But after crossing over, especially in the past few years, he has been in charge of military work, and now Joseph, even without the intellectual benefits that come with crossing over, is already a real expert. And Joseph also had the insight of later generations as a reference, so his opinion naturally became more valuable. Even St. Just saw it and was amazed.

Joseph hid in the "Military Technical Institute" to a large extent in order to avoid the current chaotic situation, especially during this period, when the external enemy was defeated, all kinds of contradictions within the Jacobins also emerged, and the situation was chaotic.

Cano ordered Joseph to report to him at the War Department, in large part, to find out what Joseph thought of the current situation.

It is said that the two men discussed for a long time in the office of the War Department, and as for what they discussed, both men were tight-lipped on the grounds that important secrets were involved. Since then, however, Cano has rarely expressed any opinion on politically related issues.

Cano no longer spoke about politics, but with another consequence, his position seemed to rise in the "National Salvation Committee" as a whole. Even all the members of the committee, including Robespierre, were a little afraid of him. Because although Kano no longer speaks on political issues, as soon as he speaks, there must be only one topic - asking for money!

"I would like to remind you that the 'Equality Grenade' is of course good, but if the current situation is allowed to continue, soon we will be out of grenades! You have to come up with a plan for me as soon as possible! Kano blew his beard and glared at Robespierre as he turned on the hair dryer.

"What's wrong, General Kano?" Robespierre leaned back slightly, keeping himself away from Kano's mouth.

"What's wrong? Hell alive it! Kano slammed a document on the table with a "snap", "Look at it, look at how low our saltpeter and caustic stocks are today!" I mentioned this issue to you last month, and you said you would find a way to solve it; I reminded you again last month, and you still haven't solved it. Hell, if this continues, soon our army will have to fight with cold weapons! I tell you, this issue cannot be delayed any longer, and any delay is treason! ”

Saltpeter and caustic alkali (sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide) are important raw materials for the production of explosives, which are not produced in France very much. But for France, these things are indispensable. Among them, saltpeter came mainly from Turkey, a traditional ally of the French. In the area under its control, there are quite a few saltpeter mines.

As for caustic, the sodium hydroxide used by the French used to come mainly from Spain, while the potassium hydroxide they used mainly came from the Baltic region. Now there is a problem with the import of these materials.

With half of the French fleet lost at Toulon, France lost its naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, and the British, Spanish, and even Italian navies cut off French communication with their traditional ally, Turkey, and saltpeter could not be brought in. The only way for the revolutionary government to deal with it was through smuggling. However, the amount of smuggling is limited, and it simply cannot support the huge consumption in the war.

As for caustic, it can only rely on smuggling. Smuggling these things, not to mention the limited quantity, the price is ridiculously high. Moreover, those smugglers do not accept the money at all, but only ask for real money. This in turn adds to the economic pressure.

"Kano, don't worry, we've already taken some measures." Robespierre said, "We ordered the whole of France to be stockpiled, but as you know, the production is limited and it will take some time to produce it." But that's the only thing I can do at the moment. ”

"Well, in that case, tell me, how many dumps have you built now? What is the projected production? "This is related to the next step of our army building, if the output can be guaranteed, we can produce more 'small melons'." Otherwise, we would have to compress or even suspend the manufacture of these things. ”

"We can only try as hard as we can. But Kano, you know, we can't make something out of nothing. Robespierre replied.

Kano stopped talking, he knew that Robespierre had done their best in this matter. They even sent special teams to each village to collect the nitrate from the farmers' walls and barns, as well as the furnace ash from the kitchen, which could be used to purify potash. And the peasants were allowed to use these things to offset a portion of their taxes.

"Fundamentally, we still have to rebuild the navy." Kano concluded.

"Yes, we need to rebuild the navy, but it's not easy, and we need more things to rebuild the navy."

"I suggest that we should set up a 'material management committee' to manage these important materials in a coordinated manner. And restart trade with neutral countries. "We should suspend the law of navigation and trade with neutral nations with hard currency and foreign exchange and other goods." ”

"Hard currency? Where do we have so much hard currency? Robespierre said.

"The property of the traitors was confiscated, not only money, but also all kinds of luxuries, works of art, and all kinds of other things that they needed, such as wine or other things. Anyway, their cargo ship can't go back empty, we can barter. Barrel replied.

"The Paris Commune may be upset." Kang Peng said.

This is natural, because this means that a lot of goods will be used for barter, and France has not many things that can be used for foreign trade at this time. Don't look at Barrel when he gives an example, he is talking about wine, but everyone knows that wine alone is a drop in the bucket, and the real meaning can only be the "other things" that he didn't say later.

As for what other things are that are not said, everyone actually knows in their hearts, and there is only one other thing that can be traded in large quantities, and that is food.

This year's grain harvest was abundant. The sans-culottes, represented by the Paris Commune, thought that the price of food would come down somewhat. But if this grain is exported in large quantities, it will be almost a famine artificial. The supporters of the Paris Commune were the poorest of the people, and they were certainly among the most affected by this policy. So it is to be expected that the public society of Paris will be very unhappy with this.

"Yes, they will be upset. If we do that, it will lead to someone starving. Some may even starve to death as a result. Paris may be fine, after all, we will take care of Paris more, but in the countryside of the provinces, there may really be a tragedy of people who grow food and starve to death in a good harvest year. But if we don't, we're going to collapse completely financially. An economic collapse can also become a military and political collapse. At that time, more of us will die and the cost of flying out will be greater. Barrel said.

"I felt I had to do it, even if it was a risk." Robespierre said, "As for the reaction of the Paris Commune, I think I should go and talk to Ebel, who should be able to understand the difficulties of the Republic." ”

Robespierre said so, but it was not thought that he could really convince Ebel of them. Kano, in particular, even immediately remembered what Joseph had said when he "reported to him".

"The scarcity of materials, especially strategic ones, will be the most difficult problem to solve below. If this issue is not resolved, the Republic's previous victories will be meaningless. But the solution to these problems is to rely on trade with neutral countries. The republic lacked hard currency, so for the most part, it had to rely on barter. And the only goods that the republic can provide in large quantities are grain. In this way, the interests of the peasants and the sans-culottes at the bottom of the city will definitely be harmed. Surely they won't say yes.

The National Salvation Committee was bound to clash with the Paris Commune. Ebel is a man with great ambitions, and he is afraid that he has long felt that he has not obtained the position he deserves.

Oh, the establishment of the republic relied on the revolution of the Paris Commune; The cutting off of the king's head relied on the power of the Paris Commune; In the end, the Monthills defeated the Marshes, also with the support of the Paris Commune.

However, after the victory, the Paris Commune received nothing. The National Salvation Council is the most powerful institution in the entire country and is at the heart of state power. But none of the representatives of the Paris Commune could enter this institution. Do you think Ebel will be willing?

He would certainly not be reconciled, and he would certainly try to take advantage of this opportunity, to take advantage of the discontent of the sans-culottes, to make a revolution that would guillotine all those who were now in the National Salvation Committee, and then establish the direct rule of the Paris Commune over France. But Lazar, I think the situation is different now than it was when the Brissotes were still in control of the National Assembly. At that time, the National Assembly was not united and no effective measures could be taken. But the current National Salvation Committee is not so easy to deal with. Just wait and see, there's going to be a good show......"