"Now the army is in chaos, and those who support us and those who support the party of order are fighting so hard that they are in trouble! Most people are still waiting, but if we do it now, they will definitely rise up against us, and then we will be absolutely isolated in the Army...... Therefore, the meaning of Mr. President is obvious, and now we can only slowly fight with our opponents in the political framework, accumulate strength, and then solve the problem with the saber after everything is ready. ”

In one of the rooms of the Élysée Palace, Colonel Conrobert, the aide-de-camp of Mr. President, whispered to the man sitting next to him.

He had just turned forty years old, and he was full of energy, and although he was slightly bowed, the muscles in his arms were tight and strong, and he looked powerful. The uniform on his body was tightly knit, and every copper button seemed to glow blindly.

He was one of the few high-ranking officers in the army who had now thrown himself directly into the Bonaparte family, and naturally he did not lack the ambition shared by the Bonapartists.

[Francois-Certain-Canrobert, (1809-1895), born in a family of French officers, graduated from the French military academy of Saint-Cyr in 835, and later participated in the colonial war of the July Dynasty in North America, and was later transferred to North Africa to fight, and was promoted to colonel because of his many military exploits.

After the February Revolution, he became a Bonapartist and, after the election of Louis-Bonaparte, was appointed aide-de-camp to the president, by whom he was promoted to general in 1850. Become one of Louis Bonaparte's henchmen in the army.

He later participated in and directed Louis Bonaparte's Coup d'état, by whom he was promoted to Marshal of France in 1856. 】

"Is the opposition in the army so strong?" Charles asked gently.

"Well, it's been decades now. How many people still remember the glory of the past? Conrobel sighed, "Now everyone listens to senior generals, and those generals were all promoted in the previous dynasty, so ...... So none of them had a very deep affection for the Bonapartes. General Kafenyak, General Shangargne, and Duke Rigevo were all against our actions. They said Mr. President would have to step down soon, and then it would be up to us to laugh at us. ”

"Hah! Forget about Kafenyak, that bastard from Oudino. The son of the marshal, who is the emperor, dares to oppose Mr. President, it is shameless! Charles spat in seemingly righteous indignation, "Father is a traitor. The son is really a bad seed. Sooner or later we'll have to give them a taste of the color! ”

[Referring to Charles-Victor-Oudinot, a French general at the time, the second Duke of Rigevo. Born into a military family, he joined the army at an early age and later became a general. In its original history, he led the French expeditionary force against Rome in 1849. He leaned towards the Party of Order and opposed the rule of Louis Bonaparte.

His father, Nicolas Charles Oudino (1767-1847), was a soldier of the former imperial era, who was appreciated by Napoleon for his bravery in battle. He was made Duke of Rigevo and in 1809 he was made a marshal. After the end of the empire, he took refuge with Louis XVIII. When Napoleon was restored in 1815, he refused to serve the emperor again.

After his father's death, Oudino inherited the title of duke, and continued his father's political tendencies, and both father and son became enemies of the Bonaparte family. 】

"It's useless to talk about this now, just talking angry words can't damage them." Conrobert interrupted him, "In short, what Mr. President means is that now is not the time, and we can only continue to accumulate influence in the Army, and it is not appropriate to act directly." ”

"It's a very wise judgment." Charles nodded slightly.

"So, as a means of achieving this goal, Mr. President is very interested in building momentum for the expeditionary force. Monsieur de Treville, as you all know that you are busy, you need to be more attentive in this regard...... You also know that now that the war in Rome is coming to an end, and most of the rebellion has been purged, it is estimated that most of the expeditionary force will be transferred back soon, and these people have been trained in Bonapartism, and they will definitely be more inclined to Mr. President...... As long as they are enveloped, Mr. President's strength in the army will become stronger and stronger, and those wait-and-see factions will know which way the wind is blowing. ”

The so-called "edification of Bonapartism" is probably the distribution of fat after the robbery, Charles complained in his heart.

"Of course, you don't have to worry about me, I know what to do." Charles also nodded, and replied rather sternly.

Originally, this kind of thing should not be asked by him, but who called the commander of the expeditionary force his grandfather?

"That's great," Colonel Conrobert smiled slightly, "and you've always had the trust of Mr. President, and you shouldn't mess things up." Besides, General de Treville has always been highly respected, and the army will admire him, at least in my opinion. ”

"Thank you for complimenting my grandfather like that, Colonel." Charles smiled back, "However, you also know that my grandfather is old, and he can't stay in the army forever. He was now only trying to promote the officers who were inclined to the Bonapartes...... In the future, the Army will need a younger generation to lead the ......"

Upon hearing Charles's words, Colonel Conrobert did not reply, but seemed more pleasant—for he certainly belonged to the "younger generation."

"But, as often happens in the world, in the midst of the light, we can always see a few clouds of darkness," Charles said suddenly.......

The Colonel gently placed the spoon in the cup, then swirled and shook it slightly, and the black coffee juice shook around, showing a ghostly ripple. The young man in front of him obviously had something to say, but he was not in a hurry and waited for the other party to say his words.

"Of course, things are unpredictable. I want to, though. You can speak to me without beating around the bush, sir. ”

"Actually, it's not a big deal. It's just an afternoon chatter and hopefully not wasting your precious time. Charles smiled apologetically, "I'm just saying that I have some opinions about the current army system......

"Oh? So what are your comments? Speak up and listen to it. The Colonel picked up his cup and took a sip of his coffee.

"I think there are big problems with our army's recruitment system as a whole." It was as if he had been encouraged by the other party. Charles said in one breath, "Don't you think? I am afraid that in the future large-scale war, the current system is completely unsuitable for my country to mobilize the forces that it should have. thus putting our country in a very dangerous situation......"

"Where do you start?" Taken aback at Charles' alarmist-looking words, the Colonel gently lowered his glass. "Although many people have opinions about the Army, such a harsh view. It's the first time I've heard it. ”

"Then let me explain it to you in detail."

Charles placed his hand on the table. Then he made a gesture.

"We now have almost 100 infantry regiments, plus chasseurs and other troops, and there are more than 300,000 infantry alone. Moreover, we had between 80,000 and 90,000 cavalry - but we were short of horses, and often had to import them from Germany. We also have tens of thousands of artillery and gendarmes, or other service units.

If we do this calculation, we will probably have about 500,000 army troops in peacetime...... Although many troops had to be placed in colonies around the world, the number was large enough. ”

"There is no doubt about it. We have the most powerful army in the world. With a sense of pride, Colonel Conrobell replied.

However. His pride was not reciprocated by Charles.

"In a short-term, or small-scale war, we can certainly say that we have the strongest army in the world, but what if it's larger? What if it was a war on a scale that we had never seen before? When we need an army of well over half a million men, we find that the situation is not rosy - because France simply does not have much of a reserve army with adequate military training! Then we will find that we need to train new recruits from scratch, and then waste precious months in the middle of war - and a few months may be doomed to the demise of a nation!

Why is this happening? Because we don't actually use the conscription system at all, we don't have enough soldiers every year, because we allow people to pay for someone else's substitute service, and we have those substitutes serve for a long time. These substitutes are of course good and brave, but their long service just prevents us from training more troops with short service periods......

This is easy to understand -- if a unit of the same 100,000 men serves for 10 years and serves for 3 years at the same time, then in 10 years, the total number of troops serving for three years will be hundreds of thousands more sufficiently trained soldiers, and although these soldiers will be discharged and returned to the civilian population, will they not be able to be called up at any time when necessary? In this way, in peacetime, although the combat strength of the two armies is equal, after the simultaneous expansion of the army on both sides, it is easy to imagine who will win and who will lose, isn't it? ”

"I can understand what you're saying, but do we really need to use more than a million troops?" After hearing Charles's tirade, the colonel slowly became a little serious, "We are not fighting a war in Europe. ”

"In the future, I insist that each country will grow in strength, and that one day several great powers will be able to use a million armies to kill each other, and that day is not far off. Since it was destined to follow this path, shouldn't France have prepared earlier? She's already lagging behind......" Charles replied firmly.

He glanced at the other man, then accentuated his tone.

"When the time comes, not to mention traditional powers like Austria or Russia, I'm afraid Prussia will be able to come up with an army that is more powerful than the French Army."

His words quickly received the expected response.

"Oh, Prussia!" Colonel Conrobell shouted, looking like he wanted to laugh but couldn't laugh because of etiquette. "Look what you're talking about!"

"I'm saying that it won't be long before even Prussia can come up with an army stronger than France, sir." Charles repeated coldly. "And, I'm well-founded."

"According to?" The Colonel glanced at Charles again. As if to confirm whether the young man had a high fever. "Prussia was a small country, with a small population, and its financial power was not at all comparable to that of France. How could it possibly defeat France? It's a joke, but that's too clumsy, sir. ”

"Before Galileo argued that two iron balls hit the ground at the same time, many people thought the same way as you." After feeling the hidden ridicule of the other party, Charles replied lukewarmly.

"Oh? Then tell me about it, and I'll see how you can lift the Prussians up to heaven! Hey, the Prussian ...... "Colonel was also a little upset. "Our predecessors have seen them, yes, the Emperor Napoleon and your grandfather. They were in Jena, and it took only two days to beat them all over the ground...... Have you forgotten your grandfather's glory back then? ”

"I haven't forgotten Jì, sir. It is precisely because I have not forgotten that I cherish this glory even more. I'm afraid it's a little missing. And that requires us to work harder than usual. ”

"Isn't that the end of it? You are not an officer. I haven't even been a soldier for a day, and if I question the affairs of the army too much, I'm afraid it won't be convincing, right? With a smirk, Colonel Conrobert replied slowly, "The affairs of the army, the army can naturally handle it on its own, don't worry, it is more reliable than any agency in France." It's also more powerful. ”

Insiders will inevitably show this kind of smile when they encounter outsiders in their own business.

"But. With all due respect, we cannot turn a blind eye to the crisis that is already in front of us, and I feel that the entire army does not have that sense of crisis, let alone the sense of urgency to carry out adequate reforms. In the face of the other party's taunts, Charles remained calm. This is not something that we can do with our eyes closed, but a real crisis. ”

"So, do you have any secret channels? I think the armies themselves know a lot better than you do about the forces of the armies of the European countries......" The Colonel smiled again, as if he felt too lazy to refute the Charr any longer, "so you need not bother with these matters at all, and you can do your job with peace of mind." ”

"I don't have any secret channels, and I don't need any secret channels, sir." Charles replied, "Even if we just read the published texts and information, we can find out what is wrong." ”

He put his hand on the table again and continued.

"Prussia conscripts about 50,000 soldiers a year, and then these conscripts serve for three years, plus the core officers and non-commissioned officers, they have a standing army of about 200,000 men, which does not seem to be a number to worry about, or even less than half of ours......" Charles suddenly changed his words, "but, if we think about it, we can see the problem." After retiring from the army, these soldiers serve seven years of reserve service. That is to say, they maintain a reserve force of nearly 400,000 people, all of whom are young and middle-aged people who have received strict military training, and these reserve units are strictly registered, and can be quickly re-recruited when needed, and then cooperate with the existing officers and non-commissioned officers, and after a short period of training, they can become combat-effective troops. That is, in reality, Prussia was able to come up with an army of nearly 600,000 men in a very short time, which is about the same size as our entire army. Sir, this is all clearly written in official documents, written in newspapers, do I need some secret channel to know? ”

Charles's answer made the colonel speechless for a while.

Before he could figure out how to answer, Charles continued.

"If this is the case, we can probably be relieved, because the quality of the Prussian army is inferior to ours, and we can win the Prussian war of the same size. However, there are more worrying things - the Prussian military service law is from 20 to 40 years old, that is to say, after 7 years of reserve service, it is still possible for a man to be drafted, and every year more than 50,000 of them are trained, and between 20 and 40 there are more than 1 million, more than 1 million, sir! ”

"It's not entirely possible, it's just a theoretical number." The colonel had some wrinkles on his forehead, "The conscription troops will not be so smooth." ”

"Of course, considering all kinds of unexpected circumstances, it won't be so smooth to recruit reserve troops, but even with a discount, they can loot six or seven hundred thousand people, right? Add to the more than 200,000 standing troops, and there are close to one million people. And our military service system does not allow us to do that. As it stands. We can only hastily recruit 100,000 or 200,000 troops in a few months, and even if we hastily bring back the troops of the colony, it will probably be 6 or 700,000 troops.

You think that the French troops were stronger than the Prussian ones. I believe, but what if faced with an irreversible numerical disadvantage? Can this quality advantage make up for it? I'm afraid not.

That is, if 500,000 against 500,000, we will be able to win, but if 600,000 against 800,000 or even 1 million, then we are unlikely to expect to be able to defeat Prussia, right? -- Do we still have to turn a blind eye to this grim reality?! ”

Yes. The problem has always been obvious, all there, but everyone has turned a blind eye. It doesn't take it as a thing until the year comes, and then it's all over.

"This ...... But ......" the colonel tried to argue, but at once he didn't think what to say.

"Sir. You're right. I haven't carried a gun and I've never been a soldier, so maybe I don't have much common sense about the combat effectiveness of the army and how it fights......" Charles smiled calmly and continued, "But, at least I'm not stupid, I can do arithmetic. Prussia had a population of less than twenty million, but was able to do so at the necessary moment. In a given period of time, close to a million soldiers with a certain amount of training were taken out - although this is certainly rare. But they can do it. However, France, with more than 30 million people, cannot do this, sir, is it not an arrogant thing? In the face of this discouraging reality, can we still have the cheekiness to say that it is the strongest army in the world? ”

"But war is not just arithmetic, sir." Although he had been a little shaken by Charles's words, for the sake of face, Conrobel still forced himself to say something. "We have the ability to defeat Prussia before they reach the limit of their forces, but let their every preparation come to naught."

"Really? What if not? Charles asked rhetorically.

"Surely, sir." The colonel replied, "You need to have confidence in the army. ”

Sure enough, no one will believe it at this time, even if it is an obvious fact. Looking at the other party's majestic appearance, Charles sighed in his heart.

Courage can't be changed, strength and talent, if you don't do it when you can, what's the use of regretting it when the time comes?

Forget it, there is no point in this kind of argument, it's still early anyway, just sow a seed first.

"I hope so." He nodded, taking the initiative to end the argument.

Colonel Conrobert was also secretly relieved to see Charles die down, obviously he was also a little overwhelmed by the young man's sharp words, and wanted to end the argument.

Then again, he was a little curious about Charles.

"I really didn't expect you to care so much about the affairs of the Army."

"I'm a friend of the Army, and always have been." Charles replied with a smile. "I believe that it is my duty in my position to cooperate with the work of the Army, so that it can exert its strength to the best of its ability, so as to defeat the enemies of this country and seize the vital interests of this country."

"It would be great if everyone thought like you! Isn't the Army fighting for this country all the time? As long as the Army seizes benefits for the country, isn't it better for everyone? The colonel sighed again, "There are too many stupid donkeys in this country now, and while holding the benefits of the country, the country is in danger everywhere!" Do they think they are citizens of the world? It's just stupid! ”

His sigh was also intended to mend the quarrel between the two people just now, after all, he didn't want to offend the current hot de Treville family.

"That's right!" Charles chimed in, and drank the already chilly coffee in front of him.

"By the way, have you heard about that?"

"What a thing."

"The Marquis de Treville, not long ago, ......proposed to Mr. President," Charles gently lowered his glass, "and he thought that an Army Staff should be established, a specialized agency responsible for drawing up the Army's operational plans and mobilization plans......"

"Is there such a thing?" The colonel's eyes widened slightly.

"If so, who do you think is the most appropriate chief of staff?" Charles asked slowly.

The colonel swallowed, then replied with some hesitation, "Well, the Marquis of Treville is highly respected......"

"He's old, and staff work isn't easy." Charles replied immediately, "I think that the time will come when we need someone who can have the confidence of Mr. President, and who is competent enough to do the job......

Although the words "like you" were not spoken, Colonel Conrobert could certainly hear the extraneous sound.

Yes! How can there be such a good thing! Will it really happen? Will the president agree? Even if the president agrees, can it be implemented?

The middle-aged officer's heartbeat suddenly increased. A series of questions suddenly swept through my mind.

It's no wonder that he reacted so violently, this thing is too tempting.

It shouldn't be groundless, isn't it because this person came to me to talk about this?

If this is true, and the Marquis de Treville, who is trusted by the Bonaparte family, recommends me again......

This department, this position, is a high authority in every way, as long as I can get this position......

These two thoughts made Colonel Conrobert's heart tremble, and he almost couldn't sit still.

He could not refuse such a reward.

"If the Motherland ...... If the motherland needs my service, I ...... I'm going to die......" He replied reluctantly, holding back the tremors in his voice. "No matter what kind of hard work and pressure, I can handle it."

"So," Charles smiled, "we need to help Mr. President defeat an enemy first." ”

"It has to be! Be sure to crush them! The middle-aged man replied in a loud voice. (To be continued......)