After the fall of Dublin, the British in the few remaining coastal strongholds in Ireland also quickly retreated. Now all of Ireland has been liberated. After the general arrangement of affairs in Ireland, President Russell was to prepare for the formal establishment of the Irish government.

As to the form in which the Irish government should be, most of the members of the federation were in favour of copying the French assignment directly. In other words, if you get a ruling government out of the gourd, and then set up five parliaments - anyway, if France is so advanced, so developed, and the people's life is so good, it means that the French system is good.

But Russell, on the contrary, was a little dissenting. He felt that the power of the first consul in the French system was still too great, and in fact far exceeded that of the previous kings. It makes sense for the French to do this, because it is very efficient. Revolutionary France, on the other hand, is a thorn in the side of almost all the reactionary forces in Europe, and in order to defeat the great coalition of the reactionary forces in all of Europe, it is necessary to adopt the most efficient system.

But this is not the case in Ireland today, Ireland is not the center of the world, it is not in the same danger as France, and there is no need to adopt a French-style system for the sake of efficiency.

However, the federation is democratic, and everyone is against his opinion, so President Russell naturally respects the organization's decision after retaining his opinion.

Then there are all kinds of details and some diplomatic things. The first is to inform friendly countries of the intention to establish a state, well, there are quite a few friendly countries in Ireland today. Basically, the countries that had declared war on Britain along with France were de facto allies of Ireland, and even those that remained neutral were considered friendly countries.

The Federation sent special envoys to these friendly countries to discuss matters concerning the establishment of national and diplomatic relations.

In France, Napoleon's family was already discussing what to do with Ireland.

"In general, there are four types of allies." Joseph said.

Generally speaking, Joseph only does principled guidance and specific operations on political matters, which he is really not very good at. In fact, apart from scientific things, especially mathematical things, Joseph really didn't care about the details.

"Otherwise, how could he have the name 'Joseph who never makes mistakes.'" It is said that Napoleon once complained about his eldest brother in this way. But complaining is complaining, but Joseph's style, in fact, Napoleon still likes it very much. On the contrary, if Joseph interferes in everything, every small thing, every specific operation, it is really unbearable.

"Which four?" Napoleon asked.

"Let's use the analogy of the four animals." Joseph said.

"The first animal is the pig, and what is the reason for living in this animal, and everyone usually keeps it and protects it? Of course, it is to kill and eat meat during the festival. There is a category of 'allies' that are good for nothing but money and resources. Such allies are pigs. The meaning for us is to kill and eat meat when necessary. ”

"Well, I know you're talking about Turkey, Northern Italy, Austria, and Prussia and Spain." Napoleon smiled brightly. These big fat pigs have made France quite full over the years, and the free labor, resources, and markets of Austria and Prussia have benefited France a lot, of course, the big fat pigs are more unlucky, the loss of labor, the loss of resources, and the market is still full of French goods. These once European powers are not doing well now.

However, the days are not good, but the position of the king or emperor of these countries is still quite secure, (Austria has reconciled with the Holy See, and the Holy See has recognized that His Majesty Fritz has been wronged, but the Roman emperor's hat cannot be returned to him, so he becomes the Austrian emperor.) Because although they betrayed the country, exploited, and were almost compradors with crowns, fortunately, France absorbed a large number of laborers, and the Americas were so large that they could accept many immigrants. Therefore, although the life of the common people is not good, because there are few young people in the country, it is not easy to make too much trouble.

"The second animal is the cow." Joseph went on to say, "For us, these countries are our core allies, we protect them, and they work hard to support our cause. They are a beneficial, indispensable part of our value chain and play a very important role in our economy. Their economy is completely integrated with ours, almost part of the empire. ”

"I know, you're talking about the Rhine Union, the Netherlands and Northern Italy." Napoleon said.

"This kind of country is now both prosperous and lossy with us. We have to love them, protect their interests, that is, protect our interests, because ......"

"Because in fact, the big capital of these countries is our periphery." Lucien interjected.

"Ploughing cattle is different from pigs, and it is better to raise them to work than to kill them and eat meat. Of course, when it comes to the last resort, it's like encountering a great famine, and you won't be able to survive tomorrow without food, let alone next year, so you can't care so much. I hope we never have a time like this in our lives. Joseph continued.

"You mean, our juniors may encounter such a time in the future?" Lucien asked.

"Ah, there is no permanent empire in the world." Napoleon replied, "Like the stock market, no stock can go up forever, it will always crash, maybe several times in a week." ”

"The third group of allies are dogs, which are of limited economic help to us, and they don't have much meat to kill them. But they have a big advantage, that is, they can bite. As long as we support us in the back, they can shed blood in our place and hold back the enemy's strength, like hunting dogs, playing a key role in destroying our prey. But now the question is, what do we do with the hounds if the prey dies? ”

"I know who you're talking about, Irishman. But the prey isn't dead yet. As for after the prey dies - England is not so easy to die, it is always a threat, and it can be used to suppress England at all times while Ireland is left. Besides, what else can you do in Ireland besides growing potatoes? There was no meat at all, and he couldn't eat meat on his head. ”

"The last category of allies is the wolf. They are only temporarily on the same path as us, and more importantly, they have their own ambitions, and they may compete with us for interests in the future. For example......

"For example, the United States." Napoleon said, "But now, the Americans have little room to develop." To the west is Louisiana, and soon to the north will be Quebec. But it's better to find an opportunity to dismember it, so that our interests can be guaranteed. ”

"And what about Russia?" Lucien asked.

"Russia, Russia is different from all these countries." "Russia is not our ally, and it is not our enemy at the moment," Joseph said...... They're barbarians now. In the long run, Russia is a vast country, rich in resources, and with a large population, it is naturally a great power. However, they have many nationalities within themselves, which is a weakness that can be exploited. ”

After such a strategic study, the next direction of research was how to deal with the question of the establishment of the Irish state. The Irish envoy had arrived in Paris and had visited Napoleon and Joseph about the establishment of the state.

Joseph and Napoleon naturally expressed their support for the founding of Ireland. The question now is what kind of etiquette France should take to the founding ceremony of Ireland. According to the Irish side's thinking, they would love to invite Joseph to attend their founding ceremony and to speak on behalf of the advanced countries of Europe at the founding ceremony of Ireland.

Joseph excused himself: "What do you say I, a retired general, a scientist, go to a political occasion to make a speech?" ”

Joseph was not a member of the Federation, so the envoy could not tell him, "It's an organizational decision," so the envoy found his student Carol. Carol is a member of the organization, and even a nominal member of the Central Committee.

The envoy approached Carol and said, "Carol, the organization has a glorious and difficult task for you. ”

Carol laughed when she heard this: "Jimny, you want me to persuade my teacher to go to the founding ceremony, right?" Well, it's not easy, you don't know my teacher's character, he doesn't like to show his face in public. Well, that's weird, right? After all, the teacher was a general, he gave speeches to the soldiers more than once, he lectured in various classes, and he also lectured to many people, and he never saw people blushing, unable to speak, and other problems. However, he really didn't like to stand in front of the public. It's like on his defensive position, where no one can be seen under normal circumstances. I can try as much as I can, though. ”

Coupled with Carol's persuasion, Napoleon also said that since Ireland is still a very useful dog, it is nothing for you to run Joseph. So Joseph had no choice but to say that although I don't like to do these things, as long as it is good for the country, then it is appropriate for individuals to make some sacrifices. Where can you stop going because you are afraid of seasickness? However, while I'm away, don't take the opportunity to mess around in the Academy of Sciences!

In this regard, Napoleon was very unhappy and said: "You are a tyrant in the Academy of Sciences, and the academicians have been suffering from Joseph for a long time. But those academicians are all cowards, even if you are gone, few guys dare to follow me to mess around. ”

Considering that the British Navy still maintains a presence at sea, there are frequent operations. So Napoleon sent the battleship "Caesar", as well as the super cruisers "Free Trade" and "Common Market" that rushed back from North America, as well as two armored cruisers named to participate in the parade of the founding of Ireland, and more importantly, to ensure Joseph's safety along the way.

Speaking of which, the British Navy is indeed full of fearless spirit. Even in today's unfavorable situation, they are already trying. At this time, the British Navy could no longer guarantee its own sea supremacy, so their combat goal became to destroy other people's sea supremacy.

To this end, the British made bold improvements to their cruisers. They realized that their success or failure would depend entirely on the high speed of their ships for a long time to come. So they removed all the armor of the armored cruisers, leaving only a part of the armor in the boilers and ammunition depots. That is, the British resorted to streaking to increase their speed, attacking various sea targets in various European countries, in addition to modern warships.

After removing the armor, the ships were much lighter, which allowed the British cruisers, counting the age of sails, to be faster for the first time than their French counterparts. And their practice of running naked without armor actually achieved another unexpected effect.

Just a few days earlier, one evening, a British cruiser had encountered an old armored cruiser of the Rhine Coalition while attacking a merchant ship in the Netherlands, while the British were taking control of the captured merchant ships when the sea was foggy. Then the two warships suddenly encountered at a very close distance, only about three hundred meters. A brief but fierce exchange of fire ensued, in which the armored cruiser of the Rhine Union was badly wounded and might have been sunk by the British warships had it not been for the cover of sea fog.

And this British cruiser, he also received more than a dozen shells. But there was a serious problem with all of these shells - over-penetration. Because the British cruiser had basically no armor, the shells aimed at the armor basically penetrated directly from the port side to the starboard side after hitting the British cruiser, knocking the cruiser in three eyes. But not a single one succeeded in exploding.

And because of the sea fog, the Rhine Navy soldiers could not see clearly what their shells had penetrated, and as a result, their statements all became: they should have hit many of each other's guns at such a close distance, but these shells were all blocked by the armor of the British cruisers.

The news even blinded the French. For a time, the French really thought that the British had made some breakthrough in technology, so that their warships not only surpassed the French in speed, but even better in defense than the French warships. To this end, the Admiral Tréville also issued a special order for the French warships to avoid engaging British warships without numerical superiority.

As for the British, they naturally knew that their warships were running completely naked, and as long as people noticed and exchanged ammunition, they could beat their cruisers all over the sea and look for teeth. So, they gave the same order, and the result was that until now, the French thought that the British had new armor technology.