Arthur's heart was surging, and he said excitedly, "Yes, Napoleon was such a man, and he carried out this spirit all his life!" ”

Char smiled and didn't comment too much on it, just carried the kettle to the side of the pool and picked up some water, and then placed it on Cassifer's body.

"Napoleon's life is truly unparalleled, and even in the long history of mankind, there are only a few who have been able to reach this level.

However, "

Char sat in his chair and looked at Arthur.

"I hope you will do one thing in the future, that is, if you come across something that moves you, you should seriously think in multiple directions.

We can think about that now. ”

After a pause, Char pondered for a moment and slowly spoke.

Let's start by looking back at Napoleon's life.

His parents were down-and-out aristocrats in Corsica and lived in poverty from an early age.

Not much older than you, he moved away from his parents and entered a non-commissioned officer school on French soil.

Most of his classmates were wealthy aristocratic children, who had been looked down upon for a long time and were always alone.

After leaving school, he entered the army, successively becoming a second lieutenant and then a lieutenant, but he was still poor.

So he stayed away from the luxurious crowd, persevered in his studies, and became a young officer with a pale face and a very gloomy look.

However, when he was twenty-four years old, a great revolution took place in France at that time.

This gloomy young officer rose to the rank of major, and in the battle of the revolutionary army to retake the fortress of Toulon he was credited with his excellent command.

And then it became known that, with a lack of weapons and training, Napoleon led his army over the Alps and into the Italian plain like a tsunami.

He defeated the Austrian army with lightning speed, and then captured Italian cities one after another, winning one victory after another wherever he went.

When Napoleon returned to Paris with glory and wealth, he was warmly welcomed by the people of Paris and became a well-deserved triumphant general.

At that time, France had just experienced the Great Revolution, the political struggle was fierce, and the domestic situation was also turbulent.

The French people prayed from the bottom of their hearts for peace and order.

Napoleon took the opportunity to reorganize the government by force, concentrating power in his own hands, initially as one of the three consuls, and later for life, eventually ending the republic and ascending to the throne.

And at that time, Napoleon was only thirty-five years old.

It took him only ten years to ascend to the throne from an obscure gloomy young man, a poor officer.

After becoming emperor, Napoleon was still unstoppable, and the European countries formed an alliance with Britain as the center, and tried several times to defeat him, but all failed.

In one war after another, the soldier-born Napoleon showed his talent to the fullest, whether in Austerlitz, Jena or Wagram, Napoleon continued to stage outstanding victories worthy of fame in history.

The Netherlands was subjugated to him at an early age, the Italian peninsula was at his disposal, Germany was subservient to his power, Spain was also in his sphere of influence, and the European continent was almost unified by him for a time, except for Russia.

When Napoleon convened the All-European Conference in Erfurt, four German kings and thirty-four princes gathered to greet him.

Surrounded by them, Napoleon watched the performance of the famous actor Talma, who was specially brought from France, and Napoleon was already a veritable "Augustus".

At this moment, he alone is enough to decide the fate of tens of millions of people on that continent, and he stands on the top of many people who will not be able to climb in their lifetime.

But it was only a few years after that that he fell from this peak and went straight into the abyss. ”

Arthur nodded, "Because the expedition failed." ”

"At that time, almost all European countries were subjugated to Napoleon's feet, but there was one country that was difficult for Napoleon to conquer because of its geographical position, and it never submitted to Napoleon."

"The Isles of Britain." Isabel muttered softly, it is not difficult to guess that with the geographical advantage of the English Channel, no army can cross it.

Char nodded, "In order to put Britain in a difficult situation, Napoleon forbade European countries to trade with Britain, but Russia did not follow his orders.

This made him angry, and he planned a massive expedition to Russia.

As you know, it ended in a crushing defeat, and Napoleon's army won a great victory, even capturing their capital for a time.

But even the emperor was unable to resist the bitter winter there and eventually had to retreat.

The soldiers who retreated in the snow and ice were hungry, hundreds of thousands of people froze to death, and those who did not freeze to death were killed in the pursuit of the Cossack cavalry.

The army that first invaded Russia was more than 600,000 strong, but when it left, there were less than 10,000 left, which can be described as extremely tragic.

News of Napoleon's defeat soon reached Europe, and Prussia, which had been seeking to free itself from Napoleon's oppression, rose up first, and the other countries then formed another alliance to attack France.

Unable to defeat the coalition forces, he was exiled to the island of Elba, where he fled and regrouped his forces, which led to the Battle of Waterloo.

But alas, his past invincibility still failed to carry over to this battle.

He failed.

He was eventually imprisoned on a small island called St. Helena on the west side of Africa.

Napoleon spent five and a half years on this harsh island without any freedom, and finally died there alone.

The fate of this once glorious emperor is embarrassing.

At that time, the time and space were in a time and place, and round after round of turmoil followed, boiling like boiling water, and various class problems emerged one after another.

Events that might have taken fifty or even a hundred years to unfold in other periods have appeared in succession during his twenty years of rise and fall, and all of these things have something to do with his name.

He had to establish a new order for France in the aftermath of the great upheaval, constantly repelling foreign aggressions.

After dealing with these things, he had no time to rest at all, and he had to stand at the political center of European countries and deal with all kinds of complicated and cumbersome diplomatic relations.

He handled all of this with great skill, and not only did he personally adjudicate domestic problems, but he also commanded three or four large-scale wars, each of which was enough to be called a model of tactics.

Outside of the war, he was also full of decisiveness, without the slightest hesitation, as if tireless, no matter what kind of predicament he was in, he showed his unyielding fighting spirit and the self-confidence of the king.

He is indeed a hero, rising in the face of adversity, brilliant and fast, full of energy, as magnificent as the sun, and the process of decline is also a sad song, and it is indeed worthy of worship.

But while we are lamenting his life, we also need to make a reflection.

He. Is it perfect?

Or rather, what did he accomplish with his extraordinary powers?

This is a question that you can use to look at any great man or hero. ”

Char didn't continue to speak, he gave Arthur time to think.

He took out a jar of tea leaves and a set of tea sets from the cupboard.

He took some tea leaves from the teapot and put them in the teapot, then he walked over to Cassifer and took the boiling water and poured it into the teapot.

The scent of tea soon permeated the living room.

And Char's words continued.

"When Napoleon was just coming to prominence, the French people were in a peculiar period, overthrowing the rotten feudal system and eager to build a completely new society.

But the European countries of the time still adhered to this system, and those in power feared that the wave of France would reach them.

So they joined forces to try to extinguish the flames they had kindled.

Internal and external troubles arose at the same time, and the whole country was plunged into great suffering.

But the French people did not succumb to the difficulties, and almost all the men did military service, bravely facing the enemy from all sides.

You know, at that time, the vast majority of European countries practiced a mercenary system.

The French army, on the other hand, is made up of people who have just gained their freedom after the establishment of a new government.

They loved the fledgling government, loved their country, and even gave their lives.

Under the banner of that emerging faith, the spirit of the French people, who had just created a new era, was unimaginable to the mercenaries of the time.

Because of this, despite the lack of weapons and ammunition, and even without formal training, the French still defeated the enemy and defended their homeland.

And the man who led this army to defeat the countries of Europe one by one was Napoleon.

So, at least until Napoleon became emperor, he did make a contribution to the defense of his homeland and to the growth of a nascent social system.

Later, the French, tired of the long civil strife and longing for order and peace in the country, took the opportunity to gather power, establish a new order, and stabilize the situation.

Although it was out of personal ambition, it was also because of him that France had a new order, and he gathered scholars to establish the new order with law, which led to the Napoleonic Code.

You know what, Arthur.

This code was very famous in that time and space, and many countries used it as a model when they first enacted legislation, and it affected many countries.

He did make a lot of contributions in the new era after the feudal era, and he conformed to the development of society, so he succeeded again and again.

But as he became emperor, everything began to change.

He began to use power for the sake of power, and in order to expand it, he became the object of fear and disgust of many.

His greatest failure was the sanctions imposed to bring Britain to its knees, prohibiting the continent from trading with it.

He believed that power was enough, and he believed that power had to be done for the sake of power.

However, at that time, the island of Britain dominated maritime trade, and tens of millions of people on the European continent were the victims of this struggle compared to Britain.

Later, there was even a shortage of sugar that Europeans used every day, and no matter how much sugar beet they cultivated, they could not meet the needs of the population.

No matter how powerful Napoleon was, he could not erase the needs of tens of millions of people.

Although Napoleon instituted harsh punishments, the orders could not be carried out, and in the end they not only failed, but also attracted the resentment of tens of millions of people.

At this time, Napoleon's expedition failed, and more than 600,000 people died in the ice and snow.

Most of these soldiers were recruited from all over Europe, not for their faith, not for their homeland, and still less for what they needed to protect.

It was only because of Napoleon's power that he went to Russia, became a victim of ambition, and went to death in such a vain manner.

These more than 600,000 people have family, friends and loved ones, and behind this is the pain and tears of millions of people. ”

Arthur's face was a little heavy.

Char looked at him quietly, "Do you have any insights when you hear me say so much?" ”

"There are some, but I don't know what to say." Arthur said.

"Don't rush, think slowly." Char laughed.

After a moment, Char spoke slowly.

"Britannia is bigger than the whole of Europe combined, but such a huge country has only been founded for more than 200 years, and the history of Britain can be traced back to the time of King Arthur, which is only more than 1,000 years.

There are too many civilizations in this world that are older than Britain, more than 6,000 years of Egyptian civilization, and more than 5,000 years of Shenzhou civilization.

This is only recorded, and before that, there is still a lot of unrecorded history, at least tens of thousands of years, and the history of mankind may exist for tens of thousands of years, or even hundreds of thousands of years.

The entire history of mankind is like a flowing river, and billions or even tens of billions of people in the future jointly push this river forward.

Even Britannia is an insignificant stretch in the history of mankind as a whole.

The same is true of what we think of as heroes and great men.

And once they get out of this river, or even those who block the flow of this river, they will only end up being swallowed up by the turbulent water.

We stand at the source of the river and look at the whole life of Napoleon and you will find out.

At a time when he used his power to plunge so many people into pain, parting and sorrow, he had already begun to hinder the progress of society, and its decline was inevitable, and it was only a matter of time.

On the contrary, all the things he did to conform to the river were the reason for his brilliance.

So, you should get the idea. ”

Char looked at Arthur, "Of all those who are called great men or heroes, there is no value in learning to be detached from that river or even the things that stand in its way." Only the things that move this river forward are truly meaningful.

From this perspective, you can relearn what Napoleon is worth learning.

His courage, his determination, and his iron will and his energy that flowed like a river.

That's what a leader should be.

At the same time, you must remember the reason for his decline and always take it as a warning. ”

(End of chapter)