Section 251 The Fall of Napoleon

Speransky agreed.

Of course, the promise was conditional, and the government he formed was not subordinate to China, but remained loyal to the tsar, and he only carried out reforms on the tsar's territory, and not divided the tsarist territory.

Zhou Lang agreed to all his conditions and told him that as long as it was good for the Russian people, he was willing to do it. He really just wanted to try, the war would end sooner or later, but Russia always needed to find the right path.

Speransky also asked for a treaty to be signed with Zhou Lang, a legal scholar who drafted the text of the treaty himself. He said that he would reorganize local government agencies in areas controlled by Chinese troops, but that this government would not be accountable to China and would not provide any material assistance to the Chinese occupation forces.

This is tantamount to taking away the power in the controlled areas without paying any price.

But Zhou Lang still agreed to this condition.

He didn't think about taking anything from Russia, perhaps the most important thing: the future of the Russians!

The reform of serfdom according to Zhou Lang's wishes had begun, and the army entered every village to carry out propaganda, allocating the land of the fugitive nobles to their serfs, telling the serfs to be exempt from any taxes and servitude, but that's all, the Chinese army could not establish any government institutions in Russia, because there were not many people who could not even understand Russian, and many of the interpreters accompanying the army were Jin merchants of Kyakhta trade, and Jin merchants' Russia was a commercial Russian developed in Kyakhta, which was only circulated in Kyakhta. Later, when the Manchus negotiated with Russia, they found that they could not find a professional Russian interpreter, and the Kyakhta Russian Russian diplomats could not understand it at all.

Therefore, many of the measures taken by the army were written in individual translators who really understood Russian, and then announcements were made.

There are some revolts in the occupied areas, but they are not serious, because there is a lack of organization, there is no organization, those who have the heart to resist cannot resist, and with the organization, those who do not want to resist can only resist, and the organization is very important.

Because of the lack of organization, there were only a few scattered guerrilla units, and they tried to attack the lone Chinese soldiers, but the Chinese soldiers were retrenched in the strongholds, and they were not given a chance at all. They tried to attack the transport supply lines, but they were heavily protected and they had no chance.

The most dangerous was the counteroffensive of Kutuzov's regular army, who, seeing that the Chinese army was stuck in the inability to make peace with Perm, immediately began to launch a counteroffensive. Unfortunately, the fortified city they abandoned has now become the best protection for the Chinese army, and the Chinese do not fight the Russians in the field at all, but stand in fortresses and pillboxes, relying on favorable terrain to kill the Russian army with artillery and rifles. Field warfare is popular in European countries, one purpose is to hope for a quick victory, and the other purpose is to protect the city residents, because whoever gets the city hopes to use the city, and the city is generally not protected by city walls, and the defense value is actually not high.

The same is true of the Russian cities, but there are fortresses, but this fortress is not like the Chinese cities that are used to protect the people, this fortress is used to protect the nobility. Europe has a system of aristocratic lords, and China has a county system, and in contrast, China's traditional ruling morality is higher than that of the West. However, high morality never means advanced and backward, nor does it mean strong and weak. Advanced is just a more efficient organization and a greater ability to access and utilize resources, nothing more.

At this time, the Chinese army did not have to think about the Russian people, so they organized defense with pillboxes as the core, dug trenches on the periphery, built barracks, and formed a reasonable firepower network. This made Kutuzov suffer, and he was annoyed by this very different way of fighting in the West.

His army suffered heavy damage and tried to besiege it for a long time, forcing the other side out of the field. Another reason why European countries like to fight in the field is because they don't have enough supplies, so they need to fight quickly. But the Chinese saved a lot of supplies, began to prepare for the winter in the summer, and made up their minds to be turtles, so what did Kutuzov do?

The siege, the confrontation, was very bad for Kutuzov. He could only wait for more troops, more firepower. The good news is that their tsar really defeated Napoleon. Napoleon rejected repeated opportunities for peace, and was then overthrown by the enemy with the force in which he excelled.

Napoleon really had a worrisome IQ, and compared to his military prowess, his political level was simply a retarded mind.

After taking Austria as an anti-French camp, Napoleon looked for the enemy everywhere in order to annihilate him, but the anti-French coalition made a plan to avoid a decisive battle with the French army led by him.

At this time, the anti-French coalition took advantage of the opportunity of Napoleon's main force to leave Dresden, and advanced the opportunity to press the city with a Bohemian army of 150,000 people, trying to destroy Napoleon's logistics base, Bohemia is the territory of Austria, and these 150,000 people are the Austrian army.

Dresden was defended by only 30,000 men, and it was dangerous to attack with an army of 150,000 men. Napoleon received an urgent report and led the main force to return to the aid in the starry night, traveling more than 190 kilometers in four days. The coalition did not expect Napoleon's main forces to return to Dresden so soon, panicked and disorganized. General Moreau personally went to the battlefield to direct the battle, and he didn't want a shell to hit him, which blew off his legs, and soon died. In the evening, the coalition forces were forced to retreat towards the Lut Mountains after suffering 50,000 casualties. The French army was victorious for the time being.

Napoleon had the capital to be proud, and only Han Xin could do it in Chinese history to fight at this level with these recruits, and only Han Xin sent his main elite to Liu Bang again and again, and then used the old and weak to fight, and then cultivated the elite, and was transferred by Liu Bang again. In addition to Han Xin, famous players like Bai Qi often rely on the overall hard power.

However, the rest of Napoleon's men commanded recruits with a worse record, and MacDonald attacked the Silesian army and lost at Cardiz; Oudinot, who attacked Berlin in the north, was defeated by Bernadotte's Swedish army. Napoleon could only put out the fire again and again, and ordered Ney to lead his army north to support first, instead of Oudinot. He then led the main force north. However, the Silesian army led by the Prussian general Blucher took the opportunity to attack from the east of Bautzen, and Napoleon ran to attack Blucher. Blucher avoided his sharpness and fought and retreated. While Napoleon was about to pursue, the Bohemian army led by the Austrian general Schwarzenberg attacked Dresden again. Napoleon hurriedly withdrew his troops and went to attack the Austrian army. No sooner had the main French army returned to Dresden, when Blucher's army attacked from the east. In this way, Napoleon ran from place to place, struggling to cope with the loss of one or the other.

Napoleon, knowing that the situation was unfavorable, retreated to Leipzig, where the French army at this time consisted of 155,000 men. And after repeated temptations, coupled with the death of Moreau, who strongly demanded that he could not fight Napoleon, the anti-French coalition began to try a decisive battle with Napoleon. By this time, their strength had reached 295,000 men, nearly twice the size of the French army.

Napoleon was defeated in this battle, and all sorts of problems broke out in the makeshift army, two Saxon brigades mutinied, the cannons could not be supplied, the retreat was cut off, and it was blown up by his own men in a panic, because Napoleon had ordered the defenders of the bridge to blow up the bridge as soon as the enemy pursuers arrived.

After this battle, the French army was left with more than 120,000 men. The allies began to betray, and when they retreated to Frankfurt, 40,000 Bavarian troops blocked Napoleon's retreat. The defeated French concentrated 50 cannons on the enemy, and the Bavarian army fled in defeat. The French army withdrew west through Frankfurt. November 2, to Mainz. After staying for 7 days, evacuate to Paris. The French fortresses along the Vistula, Oder, and Elbe rivers were all lost.

By this time, the road to France had been opened, but the Allies were still not sure of victory, so they hoped for peace talks.

The coalition proposed that France should completely abandon Germany, Italy, and Spain; France should be bounded by the Alps, the Rhine and the Pyrenees; This territory is actually much larger than that of France in later generations, because the territory of France in later generations did not reach the border of the Rhine, and it was even larger than the territory of Louis XIV's time, because the concept of establishing natural degradation with mountains and rivers was put forward by Louis XIV. It can be said that as long as Napoleon agreed, he would still be the monarch who ruled the largest territory in the history of France.

But Napoleon refused to accept it, he could not accept peace talks without a considerable victory.

When Napoleon returned to Paris, he began to reorganize his army, sending representatives to negotiate with the allies in Chateaillon to gain the time needed to rearmament, while conducting an intense conscription process. But at this time, France was full of cries for peace. Dissatisfied with Napoleon's repeated conscription of hundreds of thousands of French youths to the battlefield and the loss of countless families to the death, the common people began to boldly express their dissatisfaction with the government.

Even some generals were tired of the life of the horses. Although these generals had a lot of wealth, they never had time to enjoy it, and most of their lives were spent in a hail of bullets. Now, they no longer want to live a life of dealing with death, they want to enjoy the material life they have never enjoyed before, they want to walk the streets of Paris and dance at the glamorous banquets.

But Napoleon did not want this, he longed for a new victory, to defend the collapse of the Imperial State Building with sword and fire, and he turned a deaf ear to the cries of the whole country for peace. He told the French parliamentarians who had persuaded him to make peace: "For my part, nothing is going to hinder the restoration of peace, and I know and have French feelings—I mean French, for none of them are willing to have peace at the cost of honor." It is with regret that I ask this noble nation to make new sacrifices, but these sacrifices are required by the noblest and most precious national interests. I had to recruit a large number of recruits to strengthen my army: the nation could only make itself safe if it exercised all its power in negotiations. So that posterity will not say this about us: they have sacrificed the most important interests of the country, because they have recognized the laws that England had tried in vain to impose on France in the past. ”

At the same time, the British began to use their good diplomatic means to divide and break Napoleon's allies everywhere, such as the Kingdom of Bavaria, and they even succeeded in winning over Napoleon's generals.

The British government promised Napoleon's most valiant cavalry general, Murat, that the Allies would ensure the safety of his Kingdom of Naples as long as he broke up with Napoleon. Murat immediately agreed, and left Napoleon.

In view of the slightest concession from the French negotiations, the 200,000-strong allied troops finally crossed the Rhine in January 1814 and marched centripetally towards Paris in several directions. At this time in southern France, the army of Wellington of England crossed the Pyrenees from Spain and invaded France. Napoleon's situation was even more precarious. The coalition also seized the opportunity to propose new terms for negotiations, demanding that France retreat to the pre-revolutionary borders.

Napoleon chose to fight, and he barely managed to gather an army of 85,000 men, which he decided to use to attack Blucher's legion, which was the greatest threat to Paris.

The French defeated the Prussian general York at Saint-Tier, and then went to meet Blücher's army. Knowing that Napoleon had come to fight him, Blucher was not afraid, and he felt that it was fanciful for Napoleon and the small army of newly drafted and inexperienced troops behind him to defeat his elite troops.

But he didn't expect Napoleon to surprise the Prussian generals while he was celebrating with them. The Prussian army was defenseless and panicked. Blucher and his officers fled for their lives in the confusion, and with great difficulty, they were able to escape, but the generals and lieutenants behind him were either captured alive or killed on the spot.

However, Napoleon only had 30,000 men left, but he was always ready for new battles.

The anti-French coalition army numbered 120,000 men under the leadership of the Prussian king, the Russian tsar and the Austrian emperor.

The decisive battle Napoleon naturally failed, and 7,000 French troops were killed or incapacitated, and Napoleon had to retreat. When he was about to retreat, he ordered his gunners to aim their howitzers at enemy troops stationed in nearby villages. Shells rained down on the village, and the fire drove the enemy out of the village.

Napoleon's army quietly retreated, but the coalition did not dare to attack them, and they were always afraid of Napoleon. Napoleon led his army out of the battlefield.

The coalition did not want to fight Napoleon, they thought of crushing Napoleon's regime by attacking Paris, but the division of troops created an opportunity for Napoleon, who personally led 45,000 men to attack and destroy Blucher's middle echelon Orsufeev army. Under the sudden blow of the superior forces of the French army, the entire army of 5,000 people was annihilated, and Orsufeev himself became a prisoner.

Napoleon went again to attack the already isolated first echelon of the Saken army. The battle lasted a day, and Napoleon won again. In one fell swoop, Napoleon drove the remnants of the Saken army north across the Marne.

Napoleon then directly attacked the main Prussian force led by Blucher, and with his 40,000 troops, defeated more than 50,000 people of Blucher's corps and annihilated 20,000 Prussian troops.

But there is a problem that can never be avoided, Napoleon had only one man, Napoleon's troops were insufficient, and the allied forces arrived in Paris.

This time it was the Russians who won.

Pozzo di Borgo, a close confidant of Tsar Alexander, said to the tsar: "The purpose of the war is in Paris. If you want to fight, you are in danger of being wiped out, because Napoleon has always fought better than you. His army, though disgruntled, was supported by a sense of honor, and as long as Napoleon was by their side, they would fight to the last man. No matter how much his military might is shaken, it is still powerful, very powerful, more powerful than yours. However, his political power has been extinguished, and times have changed. The military autocracy was accepted as a good thing the day after the revolution, but now it is dead in public opinion. Efforts should be made to end wars politically, not militarily. As soon as you touch Paris with your finger, Napoleon will be overthrown, and in this way, you will break the sword that you cannot take from him. ”

At the claims of the Russians, the coalition made the risky decision to take advantage of Napoleon's distance and attack Paris directly. The coalition hoped that there would be a mutiny in Paris, and with the help of the mutiny, they quickly seized the capital, so that Napoleon would not have time to return to Paris.

At dawn on March 25, the two armies of the coalition marched westward side by side, marching straight to Paris. They left only 10,000 cavalry, which they used to monitor Napoleon's movements. At that time, the forces standing in the way to Paris were very weak, and they were constantly losing in the face of the rolling 200,000 coalition troops.

On March 30, the citizens of Paris were awakened by the rumbling sound of artillery, and the coalition forces poured into Paris from all directions. After several hours of stubborn resistance, the defenders of Paris surrendered at 5 p.m.

Napoleon did not expect that while he was fighting outside, his old nest, the capital of his empire, would surrender. He immediately galloped towards Paris, and arrived at Fontainebleau that evening. Upon learning that his marshals were negotiating with the enemy, Napoleon was furious and shouted like madness: "All men have become headless flies...... Let's go, we should go to Paris! As long as I'm not around, people do stupid things...... What a despicable act! Surrendered! It's 4 hours late! If I had arrived 4 hours earlier, everything would have been saved! ”

Napoleon again began to send men to negotiate peace with the coalition forces, delaying time, and at the same time quickly mobilizing all the troops remaining in the rear of the coalition forces to strike a bold blow at Paris. He believed that he could save Paris if the coalition forces did not take any decisive political measures within three or four days.

At this time the coalition troops entered Paris, and the royalists rejoiced, marching through the streets, constantly chanting "Down with Bonaparte!" "The Bourbon royal family is forever!"

The vast majority of the citizens of Paris, however, showed coldness and obedience. On 31 March, Emperor Alexander issued a proclamation: "The monarchs declare that they will no longer associate with Napoleon or any member of his family; They respected the territorial integrity of France's existence under a legitimate monarchy; They will recognize and guarantee any constitution that the French State may choose. Therefore, they demanded that the Senate appoint an interim government as soon as possible to deal with the affairs of the country and prepare a constitution that meets the wishes of the people. ”

At the same time, the allied monarchs refused to negotiate with Napoleon.

Tsar Alexander said bluntly: France was exhausted by Napoleon, and he was no longer needed. Austrian commander Schwarzenberg said with a sad look: In 18 years, Napoleon has turned the whole world upside down, and as long as he is there, no one can find peace at any time. It was too late that people had been constantly suggesting peace to him and that he would keep his empire, and he would not budge in the slightest.

Napoleon wanted to counterattack Paris, but his marshals did not agree, because their families remained in Paris. With all sorts of complicated maneuvers and communications, Napoleon understood that the coalition forces wanted him to abdicate.

So Napoleon, who had been able to hold on to a huge empire a few days ago, lost his empire in one victory after another.

Now that Napoleon has failed, the Russian army can draw up its forces to fight a decisive battle with China, and this is Kutuzov's intention.