Chapter 161: The Provisional Republic of Southern France
The parliament is submissive, but the city of Paris is not.
In the midst of turmoil, the time came for the next day.
By this time, the peace treaty signed by Nasan had been distributed to everyone, and the content was simple, that is, the temporary transfer of the city defense of Paris, and the indemnity of 400 million francs.
This treaty seems to be quite tolerant to foreigners, and it may be tacit acquiescence in a different country.
But the French were not willing to surrender to Prussia in any case.
After the initial chaos, a number of like-minded soldiers soon joined forces, numbering as many as 20,000.
They openly raised the banner of opposition, calling on the Parisians to refuse to recognize the peace treaty.
Although the spearhead was not directly pointed at Nasan, after all, he was the first one who dared to come out and do it.
Parisians responded positively and expressed their support.
And they did not refuse to come, whether it was the elderly or the housewives, all of them were organized into the protest ranks.
Then, most of the protesting soldiers remained at their posts, while a small number of the remaining took tens of thousands of civilians to the Champs-Élysées.
The once bustling Champs-Élysées is now deserted, and almost all commercial activity has ceased at a time when rationing was in place throughout the city.
This leaves plenty of room for the protesters.
The momentum of tens of thousands of people gathering together was terrifying, and even if the soundproofing of the Élysée Palace was good, Nasan could no longer continue to work.
He was quite troubled by how to deal with these people, and if the other party rebelled directly, then he would not have to worry about it anymore.
But the other party only protested, and no one has publicly said that they want to depose the emperor for the time being, which is a bit difficult to do.
But it's just tricky.
Yesterday, after the 170,000 troops were gathered, Nasa succeeded in getting the soldiers to recognize the peace treaty through a general salary increase and a bonus of 200 francs each.
With soldiers in his hands, he is not panicked, and he is confident that the situation will not be beyond his control......
Just as the Emperor showed his oratorical talents and tried to disperse the people, the hot air balloon of Gambida successfully landed on the outskirts of Dijon after a day and a night of sailing.
The 32-year-old republican leader has a certain reputation throughout France, and after he revealed his identity, the police who rushed to hear the news did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly reported the shocking news he had brought to their superiors.
However, there was no need for him to report it, the Prussian media had already spread the news all over Europe, and most of the people who should know about it knew it.
To be honest, no matter who it is, the first reaction is disbelief.
That's France, the second best at sea and land, a formidable opponent that was defeated by the all-European alliance seven times.
Now at the helm of Napoleon's nephew, it has nearly a million troops nationwide.
Paris has not been taken, and no matter how you look at it, it is impossible to surrender like this.
But the facts cannot be doubted, in order to improve credibility, some media at the scene took an intimate photo of Nasan and Crown Prince William.
As we all know, photos can't pup, so it's true.
The only one who is not surprised by this is Alfonso, who tried to write a letter to William I begging for mercy after being captured in history, and it can only be said that Nasan has a cowardly character, unlike some European soldiers who regard honor above life, which may have something to do with his wandering experience in various countries when he was young.
However, it does not matter what the emperor's reasons for surrendering, what is important is how to deal with the matter.
In southern France, attitudes towards surrender were polarized.
Some people believe that this time it was only 400 million francs in compensation, which is not a small amount, but it is not a lot of money for rich France.
If there was a full-scale war with Prussia in the future, the money would be 5 or 10 times that amount, and a lot of people would have to die.
Just admit the result and forget it.
However, some people believe that this is an issue of continental hegemony and national contradictions, and there is absolutely no way to compromise, not to mention the loss of 400 million, even if it is white peace.
In general, those who supported the continuation of the fight had the upper hand, and the war machine that had been set in motion had no intention of stopping, and the French in the south were still armed.
Including Spain, the army in the south at this time had reached as many as 600,000, almost reaching the limit of the patriotic fervor of southern France.
If we want to go further, we may need to pass legislation to make conscription compulsory.
However, none of the officers had this idea, and if the army in Paris was counted, the number of French land forces at this time had surpassed that of Russia and became the world's largest army power.
If the army went any further, it would probably be too much to carry even the well-developed railway system in France.
The army of southern France is going to save Paris, but this gives birth to a question - the procedure of taking three is completely legal, and the two countries are no longer at war, in what name do they send troops?
Gambida, who had fled to Dijon, came into their sight.
Soon, the army and the local government of southern France jointly announced that because of Nasan's treason, he would be temporarily removed from power and the republican government headed by Gambida would be temporary regent.
Whether or not to retain his position as emperor will be left to a nationwide vote after the war.
At this time, the Three Kings faction and the republican faction within the army were entangled endlessly, and they could not figure it out for a while, so they simply formed a republican government to deal with it, but this did not mean that the army officers in southern France were republicans.
In fact, in the South the republicans are a very small minority, several monarchical factions, and any one of them is stronger than them.
Although it was decided to send troops, the situation was even more unfavorable than before.
For in the foreseeable future, they may also have to deal with the royalist army that supported Nasan.
So they urged Spain to send troops to help.
Alfonso gladly accepted, and by this time Spain's army had reached 220,000, an increase of 50,000 from the time of the Spanish-Italian War.
The newly mobilized 50,000 remained at home for defense, while an additional 80,000 of the remaining standing army were sent to France to support.
Counting Garcia's 30,000 volunteers, a total of 110,000 troops.
Moreover, these 110,000 people have basically undergone long-term training, and some of them have also participated in the Cuban War and the Spanish-Italian War, and they are much better than the miscellaneous armies of southern France in terms of combat experience and weapons and equipment.
Prim successfully took command of the whole way.
The counteroffensive was carried out in three directions, with Spain taking charge of the eastern route, and the ultimate goal was to relieve the 200,000 French troops in the fortress of Metz.
To this end, the local government sent 90,000 troops to help Prim.
It is generally believed that there should be no problem in dealing with the hundreds of thousands of Prussian troops outside the Metz fortress by sending a hot air balloon to deliver a message to Marshal Bazin, and that a total of 400,000 troops should be dealt with outside the Metz fortress.