(I'm really sorry, there is only one chapter today. My friends came to Chengdu to open a shop, and I accompanied them to choose a shop all afternoon, and I will make up the chapter that I went home very late tomorrow!)
The order to prepare for battle had reached the hands of the Napoleonic family and the Imperial commanders. Jérôme was appointed commander-in-chief of the Imperial Westphalian Army, commanding the 10th Army and the Westphalian Army. King Louis of the Netherlands raised an army of 20,000 men to fight while he himself remained in Amsterdam. King Joseph of Spain had no soldiers to use, and Xiao Jie would not send troops to directly participate in this war. Withdrawing the 2nd Division from the border to the rear was already the biggest concession he had made. Of course, Lucien, already comfortably settled on an English estate protected by British cannon (after being exiled to Italy by Napoleon, fled to London in September 1810 as a member of the Bonaparte family) The first traitor, Lucien, was well treated and protected in London). On September 30, 1811, Prince Eugène de Beauarne, who temporarily ruled the Kingdom of Italy, received an urgent order from Clark, ordering him to lead the Italian army to the war and to command two new Polish legions. "I am so sorry to see you go to war again, but I hope God will bless the wonderful son of a kind and gentle mother," Josephine wrote - words echoed by thousands of mothers across Europe .
As for the last member of the Bonaparte family, Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, King of Naples, the problem was much more difficult. The husband and wife have been at odds for a long time, especially after Caroline openly had an affair with Prince von Metternich. Murat and Caroline, who have been separated, are now considering the issue of public image and have decided to rebuild the old relationship. Murat needs Caroline to intercede with Napoleon. Napoleon openly threatened to annex Naples, as he had threatened King Joseph of Spain and King Louis of the Netherlands. On June 14, 1811, when Murat fired the senior French officials stationed in Naples appointed by Napoleon himself, and issued a decree requiring all French officials and officials serving in his new kingdom to give up their French citizenship , and became a citizen of Naples under his new policy, the situation worsened. Napoleon finally had enough of Murat. Napoleon immediately reinstated most of the important officials who had been unreasonably dismissed by Murat, and gave Murat a shame no less than a face-to-face slap: he replaced Murat's new law with the Supreme Law of Paris.
Napoleon reminds King Murat that the Kingdom of Naples is made up of Sicily and Naples and is an integral part of our Empire, so any Prince who rules there is of course a French citizen...that very special Prince (Murat) It is up to our people (Napoleon's French army) to ascend and keep the throne; therefore we have decreed and decreed again: decree 1, all Neapolitan citizens are by right French citizens; decree 2, The decree of June 14, 1811 issued by King Murat is null and void.
The haughty Murat had gone too far, and rumors spread through Paris and Naples that he might be dethroned by Napoleon, who had announced the disbandment of the Neapolitan army and its replacement with the French Observation Army.
Murat turned to Caroline for help, and Caroline reluctantly left Metternich's bed and traveled a long distance to the Tuileries Palace to intercede with Napoleon on behalf of Murat. her kingdom. Napoleon reluctantly made a concession, but the condition was that Murat apologized to Napoleon himself for what he had done, bowed his head to Napoleon, and was willing to participate in the upcoming war against Russia. Murat yielded, looking innocent and pitiful. Murat replied shamelessly: In fact, all my thoughts and efforts are aimed at the only goal, which is never to violate your will, on the contrary, to serve you wholeheartedly...but His Majesty humiliated his brother-in-law , revoked his title of commander, and insulted him as an anti-Fa in front of the whole French people. How can this not make me tremble when I think about it? …As someone who was your faithful friend to the end of my life, I need not say that I am extremely disappointed in all of this.
Now, Murat can perform well. Napoleon has let him join the war against Russia. On September 2, 1811, Napoleon ordered Murat to lead the Imperial Cavalry Corps to prepare for the expedition. War is possible at any time. It exploded, and Caroline was finally able to return to Metternich's fragrant, soft and comfortable feather bed.
Thus, after returning to Paris on September 5, Coulancourt was summoned to the Palace of Sainte-Cluh to accept the punishment given for his failure to represent France's vested interests in Russia while also deteriorating relations between the two empires. Downgrade punishment. Coleincourt argued in vain in front of Napoleon: "In this situation, the only thing I can do now is to ask your Majesty for mercy. Please forgive me for my situation. I am neither expressing approval nor criticism. , I just stated everything that happened to His Majesty truthfully. Whether all the criticisms against me are grounded or not depends entirely on His Majesty's divine judgment." However, Napoleon yelled at him loudly. Coulancourt then remarked: "I refuse to accept any personal complaints against me from a head of state who never admits his mistakes and acts unfairly." This is something few people have dared to say since Talleyrand. "His Majesty's attitude towards me is stronger than ever." Although Coulancourt and Napoleon often contradicted each other, Napoleon still did not let Coulancourt resign. Napoleon secretly respected those who stood their ground and were not intimidated by him, and Coulancourt was such a man.
In the autumn of 1811, Napoleon's behavior changed again: he shook off his recent indolence and the stupor that had lasted since his marriage to Marie-Louise and until the birth of his son. And the light is like a cicada shedding its shell on the trunk of an elm tree. He would suddenly have new actions, a new sense of urgency, discussions with ministers and Congress would become acrimonious, and what was more terrible, new orders one after another would flock to the Secretary of State Clark - the sleeping genius finally woke up again Come.
In order to completely defeat Russia, Napoleon was fully prepared and mobilized a large number of troops from France and countries controlled by France. In total there were: Guards, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th and Cavalry. There was also a Dutch Legion of 20,000 men, two Polish Legions, three Rhine Legions, and the Italian Front. A total of 265 infantry battalions, 291 foreign mercenary battalions, 219 French cavalry squadrons, 261 foreign cavalry squadrons, a total of 513,500 infantry and artillery, 98,400 cavalry, a total of 611,900 soldiers; this does not include more than 25,000 officers, squires , camp prostitutes and other accompanying personnel. Napoleon did not forget to bring the backbone of his army: 130 large-caliber siege guns, 1,242 field guns of various calibers, more than 6,000 wagons for daily food supplies, a total of 32,700 for various purposes wagons, carts, and ammunition carts.
When Napoleon was making the final preparations for the war, Xiao Jie was not idle. The expansion of the Iberian army had been completed, and the newly recruited 6 divisions had been formed into a new army—the 1st Iberian Army. Legion, with two artillery regiments, two cavalry regiments and other troops directly under the legion, the total strength of the Iberian 1st Army reached 110,000.
In December 1811, good news came from the Valencia shipyard. After the unremitting efforts of engineers, a brand new warship was finally developed. Xiao Jie arrived in Valencia on December 13 and participated in the launching ceremony of this new warship. The new warship is 51 meters ~www.mtlnovel.com~ and 6.2 meters wide. The keel and hull of the warship are all made of steel. After completion, the displacement reached 6,100 tons, making it the largest warship in the world at that time. With four 4,000-horsepower steam engines as the main power, the maximum speed can reach 17 knots. It is definitely the fastest warship in the world, except of course, the small three-masted clipper. Compared with the 'Iberia' class warships, this new warship has greatly improved in terms of firepower and defense. The new battleship uses two 155mm naval guns, six 122mm naval guns and ten 105mm naval guns as the main firepower, and is also equipped with eight 75mm rapid-fire guns (new products from Talavera Arsenal, which can fire every minute) 10 shells, but with less power and range than the 75mm field gun) and 6 heavy machine guns for close range fire. Not to mention the defense, the all-steel hull is absolutely unique in the world, especially in key positions such as turrets, bridges, and ammunition depots. The armor thickness has reached 150 mm.
Xiao Jie is very satisfied with this new warship, but it is a bit expensive, with a total cost of 42 million francs, which is more than three times that of the 'Iberia' class warship. Due to the shortage of naval military expenditures, Xiao Jie had to allocate 130 million francs from his private money to purchase three new warships in advance. At the same time, this pro-warship was also officially named the "Bonaparte" class, and the three ships purchased by Xiao Jie will be named "Emperor Napoleon", "Prince Joseph" and "Andresi" in sequence.
(To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to .FU., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)