On 5 June, the Vendée rebels approached Le Mans, only a day's journey away. It was also in the afternoon that Fouché appeared in front of Napoleon.

"Commander Bonaparte, I need the cooperation of your army." Fouché said.

"Tell me, how do you want me to cooperate with you?" Napoleon was also very crisp.

Fouché pulled out a map of Le Mans from his bosom and laid him out on the table.

"Commander Bonaparte, do you see these houses marked with red crosses?" Fuché Road.

"This is the home of traitors?" Napoleon asked.

"Yes." "They are plotting a rebellion and joining forces with the Vendée rebels," Fouché said. ”

"What do you want me to do? To arrest someone? ”

"No, you don't have to worry about arresting people." Fouché smiled like a tiger, "You only need to be responsible for killing people." You see, you and your subordinates are officers, not locals, and you may not be proficient in arresting people, you just need to let your soldiers control these most critical positions and enforce a strict curfew in the city. You can order that, in addition to our own people, anyone who sees anyone walking in the street after dark can shoot at them. Le Mans is such a great place that it has its full city walls...... As long as you look at those key places, none of those traitors can escape! ”

Napoleon lowered his head, looked at the map carefully, and said, "Where might the fiercest resistance of the rebels be?" ”

"In this position." "I know they've hidden a bunch of weapons here, and they've gathered about a hundred or so people. ”

"The streets of this place are too narrow and winding, and if we do it in this place, we will also suffer unnecessary losses." Napoleon propped his chin in his hand and stared at the map, "I suggest you do it here first, they will surely be alarmed." Then they have two choices, one is to go to support here. ”

Napoleon pointed with his hand on the map: "I will arrange a company and two cannons here, and if they want to come, they will definitely pass through here, and when the time comes, we will kill them all here." Of course, they have another option to run away, so they will go like this......"

Napoleon's fingers moved slowly along the streets on the map, then stopped at a bend in the streets, and said again: "Here, I have placed two more cannons and twenty cavalry here, and as soon as they turned, they ran forward for a while, and then suddenly they were bombarded from behind...... Hehe. ”

"Very well, Bonaparte Division, let's do this!"

After nightfall, the city of Le Mans quickly fell silent. Because of the proximity of the war, Le Mans has long since imposed a curfew, and after dark, no one is allowed to be outdoors.

About one o'clock in the hour, there was a sudden sound of footsteps in the street, and the clatter of the wheels of a loaded carriage against the stone road. Many of the residents on the street were awakened by these sounds, and when they looked out of the cracks in their windows, they saw groups of soldiers with torches running along the road.

"What's going on?" These people are thinking in their hearts, and at the same time waking up their own families, ready to respond.

The mayor of Le Mans, Constantin de René, was awakened by the sound of the street outside, and he had just sat up from his bed when he heard a cacophony outside. Then there was an argument at the door, and then there was a hurried knock on his bedroom door.

"Master, master, it's Commissioner Fuche, he took a team of soldiers, and asked the master to go down with him to preside over the capture of the rebels."

René was taken aback, he was politically closer to the Brissotes. A few days ago, the accident in Paris made him very frightened, and now that such a thing suddenly happened, he didn't know how to deal with it for a while.

"Sir, Commissioner Foucher is still waiting below." When he saw that the master had not yet opened the door, the servant outside the door said again.

"Ah, you tell him that I'll get dressed and come down and let him wait a little bit." René came to his senses and hurriedly said.

The servant went down. René got out of bed, and his wife rushed to help him get dressed.

"Konstantin, it's going to be okay, is it?" The wife said.

"Julie, don't worry, it's going to be fine." René kissed his wife on the forehead, then opened the door and walked down the stairs.

When he reached the living room, he saw Fouché waiting there with a team of soldiers.

"Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry to disturb you at this time." Foucher said, but neither from his expression nor from his tone, he could not see or hear that he was embarrassed.

"The situation is urgent, there are traitors who want to start a rebellion, and we must act to stop them. Now please come with me to the town hall to preside over the situation. ”

"Ah...... Then ...... here," René said.

"Mr. Mayor, I will leave behind a squad of soldiers to protect your family. Please come with me now, our time is precious. ”

Two people went out the door. Just as they walked out of the door, there was a gunshot from the other side, followed by a crackling gunshot.

René was startled, but Fouché didn't seem to hear at all. He opened the door of the carriage he had brought with him and smiled, "Mr. Mayor, please get on the carriage." Rest assured, my driver is very experienced and this car will not overturn. ”

By the time the two of them arrived at the town hall, there were gunshots all around. Looking out of the window on the second floor of the town hall, you can see that there are even flames rising to the west.

"Over there, not over there......" René pointed to the west.

"yes, those are some of the richest guys in the city. The French people have given them a good life, but they are not satisfied, and even delusional to trample the French people under their feet forever. So they went to collude with the royal party, which is ridiculous, don't you say, Mr. Mayor? Rich people are always unreliable. Fouché still spoke in a calm and polite voice that frightened René.

"Mr. Commissioner, do you have any evidence?" René Dao.

"There is some evidence, although not enough to form a complete chain of evidence, but it is enough to show that they are suspicious. As for more evidence, it will be soon. And at a time like this...... "Foucher smiled," "do you need evidence at a time like this?" In order to protect the interests of the people of France, isn't it enough to have suspicions? ”

"Aren't those people the people of France?" René asked with the courage to ask.

"They are the people of France?" Fouché smiled, he slowly shook his head and said, "Mr. Mayor, you have a problem with your understanding of the word people. Revolution is for the people, and the people should not be understood as a class who, by virtue of their wealth, has privileges, enjoys all the joys of life and all the wealth of society. The people are the sum total of all the citizens of France, but he defended the borders of our country first and foremost with his life and fed the toiling masses of society as a whole with his labor. If our revolution focuses only on the wealth of a few few people and allows 24 million to be left to poverty, it is a political and moral atrocity – the greatest atrocity in the world! We must correct this atrocity and, if necessary, with revolutionary atrocities. Do you understand? Now we are correcting this atrocity, with our own atrocities. ”

It seemed to be in line with Fouche's remarks, and suddenly there was a rumbling sound of cannon outside.

"What's going on? Do we need to use artillery for arrests? René's face was as white as a dead man.

"Don't you understand? This is not a capture, but a war, a war of one class, against another! Fouché smiled intimidatingly, "In essence, rich people will never become real revolutionaries, nor will they become real republicans!" Because the republic is based on the equality of citizens, and those who are rich, they will always consider themselves to be a special kind of people. No citizen should possess more wealth than is necessary for his own survival, and anyone who possesses such wealth, if he is a true republican, should give it to the state to fight against the enemies of the people. ”

At this point, Fouché paused, then said to René, "Mr. Mayor, do you understand what I mean now?" You know, the rich are unreliable, and many of them, in order to have too much money, are in contact with our enemies. And the rich people are also very grouped, and they have a lot of connections with each other. Even with Mr. Mayor, you have a lot of contacts. But now, you have to choose, whether you are on our side and who is still on theirs. ”

At this time, several more cannons were heard outside. It's just that the sound of artillery seems to be coming from another direction.

"The rebellion has been crushed!" Fouché smiled and said, "I'm going to interrogate those traitors myself in a moment." These undisciplined guys sometimes love to talk nonsense - you have to make a choice as soon as possible. ”

"I ......" René faltered, almost unsteady. He reached out and helped the table next to him to prevent himself from collapsing. His face was blue for a while, and then red, and at last he looked up and said to Fouché as if he had made up his mind: "I am loyal to the republican system. ”

"Good, I'm glad to see that you made the right choice." Fuche said with a gentle smile.

Early the next morning, the bell rang at the town hall and gathered the citizens who had been frightened all night. Fouché gave them an impassioned speech, and then, on the town square, erected the invention improved by His Majesty, and cut off more than a hundred noble heads in one fell swoop, so that many families were all together in one piece.

Inspired by Fouché's speech, Mayor René took the lead in a group of wealthy people loyal to the republic, who donated their excess wealth and helped Fouché find out more of the wealth hidden by the rebels. Using a fraction of this wealth, Fouché quickly organized the sans-culottes of Le Mans into a National Guard of 5,000 men.

(Note: Fouché's rather sickle-like remarks were not framed by the author, but were published directly in his "Work Instructions" during the Revolution, when he was a commissioner in Nantes.) Some words may be a little different from written to colloquial language, but the meaning remains the same. ）