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

The letter was immediately sent inside, while the man waited outside the door.

"Vibitsky? Sounds like a Slav. Joseph looked at the letter of introduction that had been sent in, and although it contained almost nothing except the name of the person holding the letter, Joseph had a rough guess in his mind about the purpose of this man.

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

A while later, Joseph met the man in the living room, who was also named Joseph, but whose surname was Vibitsky.

"Hello, General Bonaparte, I am the representative of General Kosciuszko, and I hope to buy some weapons from you for the just cause of the Polish people." As soon as the man saw Joseph, he explained his purpose in French, which he was not very fluent in.

The name "Kosciuszko", as Joseph knew, was a Polish officer who was on the verge of the kingdom after the second partition of Poland by the Russian-Austrian Partition in 93. By March 1794, General Kosciuszko had taken advantage of the defeat of the Austro-Prussian army in Belgium and the Rhine, while the Russian Empress was seriously ill, to launch an uprising in Krakow in an attempt to regain the territory and establish a new Poland. Speaking of which, after the Thermidori, France was in such a chaotic situation, but the military pressure on the north was relatively limited, and much of the credit for this was attributed to General Kosciuszko.

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

"What weapons do you want to buy?" Since the other party is so direct, Joseph is also very direct to the point.

"Bonaparte melon, the authentic kind." Vibitsky replied.

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

Vebitsky quoted a number, and then added: "If the price is right, we will have additional orders." ”

Joseph shook his head in his heart, the words "additional order" sounded beautiful, but given the environment in which the Poles lived, no one could say how long they could hold out.

Joseph thought about it in his mind and gave him a number.

"This ...... Isn't the price a little too high? Hearing Joseph's offer, Vibitsky seemed surprised, "The prices of other manufacturers are much lower than this. ”

Joseph had actually been prepared for his remark for a long time, and he replied with a smile: "Mr. Vibitsky, frankly speaking, the price of our goods is indeed higher than that of other manufacturers, but this makes sense. Because our production costs are much higher. ”

With that, Joseph beckoned to one of the guards next to him, and the guard came over.

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

The guard listened, and turned away. Joseph then went on to say to Vibitsky:

"I just noticed that when you asked us to buy it, you made it very important that you wanted an authentic Bonaparte melon. The reason why you gave up on the manufacturers near Paris is because you know the problem of the 'little melons' they produce. Well...... As you probably know, our General Rubel was wounded. Also, as far as I know, in the Prussian army, those bargains also caused quite a few problems.

In addition, you should also know that the transportation of these things is also a big problem for you, and the number of your first batch of purchases is so small, I am afraid that it is also because of your own channels, it is difficult to transport enough things at one time. In such a situation, if you want to buy low-end bargains, even from an economic point of view, it is actually not cost-effective, is it? ”

As he spoke, 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. Vibitsky, please see, this is ours, the authentic 'Bonaparte melon', these are cheap miscellaneous melons. You don't have to worry, the charges in these 'little melons' have been removed. You can take a closer look at the differences. ”

Joseph said as he motioned for the guards to bring the two "little melons" to Vibitsky for tasting.

Vibitsky took turns picking up a couple of "little melons" from the tray and looked at them again and again. But judging from his expression, he couldn't understand the difference at all.

"Mr. Vibitsky, you look at the authentic little melons, there are deep nicks on the outside. These notches are not for aesthetic purposes, they serve two purposes, the first is that they are easy to hold and not easy to slip. You know, Mr. Vibitsky, soldiers are very nervous when they are on the battlefield, especially the recruits. Therefore, they are also prone to all kinds of stupid mistakes on the battlefield, such as dropping a small melon on their feet because of a slippery hand. With these nicks, it is not easy to have such problems. ”

Joseph first picked up the authentic "Bonaparte melon" to show Vibitsky, and then picked up another "small melon" with a very smooth surface:

"If you look at this little melon, there are no notches on the outside, and of course, it's the cheapest. Well, there's this, you see, there's a little bit of a shallow mark on it, which is made by etching, and although it's shallow, it also has a non-slip effect. Of course, with one more process, the cost of this 'small melon' is naturally a little higher, and the price is also a little more expensive than the previous one. ”

After saying that, Joseph added: "But Mr. Vibitsky, you see, compared with the authentic one, it still lacks one of the most important advantages. You see, the notches of the authentic 'Bonaparte melon' are much deeper than that. In this way, when the 'little melon' explodes, its shell will shatter along these nicks, forming dozens of shrapnel that will fly around. Within a dozen meters from the center of the explosion, it is an effective killing range. Therefore, an authentic 'Bonaparte melon' that falls into the ranks of the enemy army can defeat a large platoon of enemies.

Look at the miscellaneous 'little melon' in my hand, its notch is too shallow, so it can't have the effect mentioned above, and when it explodes, it is easy to just blow the shell into two pieces. Unable to produce large quantities of lethal shrapnel, it is far less powerful than the authentic 'Bonaparte Melon'. And the reason why it is so shallow is that they use materials that are not as good as ours, and they use the most ordinary white cast iron, on which it is impossible to make such prefabricated fragments in advance. So, you see, on the surface, the authentic 'Bonaparte melon' is indeed the most expensive of these 'little melons', because we are better made, perform better, and naturally cost more. In fact, we don't make more money from our customers than these cheap miscellaneous goods. ”

At this point, however, it seems that Vybitsky is still hesitating. Joseph smiled again: "Mr. Vibitsky, in fact, if your order is a little larger, we can help you deliver the goods." ”

The temptation worked immediately, and Vibitsky immediately said: "Can you deliver to Poland?" ”

Joseph shook his head and said, "This is not possible, but we can help you get the goods to Denmark first." The overland route from France to Poland was closely watched. But if you go from Denmark, get a boat and go ashore at Danzig, and then cross Prussia into Poland. This route is relatively not strictly checked, and it should be better to walk. ”

"Sir, there is no Danzig, only Gdansk. [Danzig's Polish name]," said Wibitsky, "and how much do we need to order in order to get this service?" ”

Joseph smiled: "Ah, I said it wrong, it should indeed be Gdansk." As for the quantity, if you double the quantity of your order, we can deliver the goods to Denmark for you free of charge. Also, with all due respect, your enemies are too strong, and I admire your courage, but, honestly, your struggle may not end well. ”

"What do you mean, Monsieur Bonaparte?" Vebitsky's face changed, and his eyes spewed with anger, as if he was ready to ask Joseph for a duel.

"Don't get excited, Mr. Vebitsky. I have no ill will. "I just want to make a little suggestion as a friend, a friend of the Polish people, in the present situation." You should know that in all of Europe these days, the Poles have no more reliable friend than France. ”

This calmed down Vibitsky, and he said: "Bonaparte, I'm sorry, but I'm too excited. Still, I would like to ask, do you really think that the prospects for our struggle today are not good? ”

"Yes." Joseph said, "It is a shame to say that this is mainly the responsibility of our France, and if it were not for the fact that so many things have happened within us, we would have put a great deal of pressure on Prussia and Austria, and if that were the case, then your present uprising would have a great chance." ”

"Alas......" Wibitsky sighed.

"However, even if this uprising does not recover the country, it will still lift the national spirit. With such a spirit, Poland, even if it fails for a while, will never really perish. Joseph said again.

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

"But now, we need to prepare for the future." Joseph continued, "First of all, if the enemy is too strong, then don't fight the enemy for the time being. Winter is coming, and we must keep the fire alive. As long as the flame of resistance burns, Poland does not perish. I suggest that you adopt the method of guerrilla warfare to drown those aggressors in the vast sea of people's war......"

"What guerrilla warfare? What is the vast sea of people's war? "There's really no way that Vebitsky can understand such a wealth of information at once.

"Ah, this thing, that's it......"

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 they really have come to build a royal paradise? Therefore, the contradictions between them and the Polish people cannot be reconciled. Therefore, as long as the guerrillas stand on the side of the people and do their best to safeguard the interests of the people, they will be able to gain the support of the people, just like Antai who has his feet on the earth, invincible.

And whether it is the Russians or the Prussians, they invaded Poland to suck blood, not to have more money and no place to spend it. If they were to sabotage their attempt to suck blood from Poland, or even to plunge them into the quagmire of such a never-ending battle with extensive guerrilla warfare, and to make them pay far more than what they could get from Poland, then their aggression would naturally not be sustainable, and with the support and help of justice- and peace-loving people throughout Europe, Poland would surely be revived.

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

"Monsieur Bonaparte, you speak so well! Poland did not perish, as long as the flame of resistance burned, Poland did not perish! Yes, we will unleash the whole nation, and we will drown those aggressors in the sea of people's war......"

Vibitsky shook his fist as if Poland had won and had regained its position as the big Bobo of the Peaceful Town.

"Mr. Vibitsky, we still need to work together for this sacred goal." Joseph said, "Well, we also have a weapon called Bonaparte's mousetrap, which is particularly suitable for guerrilla warfare, would you like to take a look?" ”

"What's that? Yes, of course! Vibitsky hurried.

The so-called "Bonaparte's mousetrap" is actually just a landmine. More precisely, what Joseph was going to sell at this time was not even a whole mine, but only a fuse for the mine.

"This kind of thing, in fact, is similar to 'Little Melon', which uses a fire pipe to detonate explosives. But it's not meant to be thrown, it's buried under the path that the enemy might pass, and once the enemy walks over it and steps on it, it's like a rat stepping on a mousetrap, and with a bang, they're in heaven. This thing, we have a formal product with a cast iron case, of course, it's good. But I take into account your financial difficulties, so I suggest that you only need to buy the fuse part. As for the rest of the parts, you can find your own stonemason, chisel a shell out of stone, fill it with black powder - this thing is buried in the ground, it's bigger and heavier, it's nothing - and then connect it to our fuze system......"