On a spring afternoon, a train departing from Marseille quietly stopped at a small town train station 55 kilometers south-east of Paris. The last carriage of the train, the "passenger", was on the train.
After stopping, quickly get off the third car and then line up in two columns to the door of the third car.
Each "passenger" wore a sky-blue buttoned military coat and a fiery red flat cap. On their backs, they carried a Mauser pistol that had not yet been widely circulated in the French army.
Rifles, this is the most elite and most loyal Guards unit of the French Empire.
The objects that this group of Guards soldiers wanted to escort were naturally the delegation returning from the Austrian Empire for a funeral. When Imperial Marshal Montfort and his delegation slowly walked down from the carriage, all the soldiers in the Guards
Saluting the marshal in front of him, Marshal Montfort also solemnly returned the salute to all the soldiers present.
When Prince Montfort walked out of the small town train station, the first thing he saw was a gorgeously decorated carriage. Then he could see that there were also Imperial Dragoon troops who had been guarding the carriage near the carriage. The officer commanding them was
Colonel Burbasky, aide-de-camp to the emperor.
Prince Montfort walked down the steps of the train station step by step. Upon seeing this, the emperor's adjutant hurriedly stepped forward to support Prince Montfort and said humbly, "Your Majesty, thank you for your hard work! I came here on your Majesty's order.
meet!"
Prince Montfort, who was supported by Burbasky, kowtowed gently, and the two of them walked down the steps step by step.
When Prince Montfort was helped to the side of the carriage by Burbasky, Prince Montfort leaned into Burbasky's ear and whispered to Bulbasky, "After I left, did something happen in Paris?"
What's up?"
Burbas looked stunned, then shook his head and responded to Prince Montfort in a cautious tone, "Your Excellency, please forgive me for not being able to answer this question right away!
You can go to the Palace of Fontainebleau to ask His Majesty personally!”
Looking at the cautious Bourbaski, Prince Montfort was convinced that something had indeed happened in Paris during his time away from Paris.
Otherwise, Jérôme Bonaparte would never have left the Tuileries Palace!
Prince Montfort couldn't help but think of the reason why Jérôme Bonaparte told him that he wanted to use the Palace of Fontainebleau as his third palace.
Indeed, compared to the gorgeous Tuileries Palace in the center of the city, the Fontainebleau Palace is far behind in every aspect.
But it has an "advantage" that the Tuileries Palace can never surpass.
Although this "advantage" often exists in the form of a shortcoming in daily activities, under certain circumstances, the "advantage" of Fontainebleau Palace can often save the empire.
The advantage is that Fontainebleau Palace is far away from Paris.
In other words, once Paris falls, the monarch living in the Palace of Fontainebleau will not lose contact with the outside army immediately.
Looking at the restoration of the Bourbons and the collapse of the Orleans Dynasty, it was all because the monarch lost control of the army at the first opportunity, and then lost the entire country.
(Although the Orleans Dynasty still controlled the National Guard before its fall, the National Guard was essentially composed of Parisian citizens and it was impossible to rely on them to fight against Paris.)
If the monarch falls into the Tuileries Palace, Paris will completely fall into the hands of the rioters. Those cunning generals entrenched in the provinces will not rush to the rescue immediately, but will choose to sit quietly and watch the jade.
Waiting for the old and new regimes to decide the winner.
If the old regime defeats the new regime, they will assist the old master in destroying the thugs as soon as possible.
On the contrary, they will smoothly fall into the arms of the new regime.
As long as the policies of the new regime do not violate French "tradition".
(Various actions of the Paris Commune violated France’s long-standing political tradition, which is why the generals based outside Paris were unwilling to be loyal to the Commune)
Therefore, the Second Empire simply could not expect to spend several months mobilizing large-scale troops from other provinces to come to the rescue like the Second Republic did. It had to take advantage of the time when the rioters had not completely involved the entire Parisian citizen in the riot.
, decisively eliminate the crisis.
Therefore, all the Second Reich could really hope for was complete control of its Guards troops.
However, the prerequisite for mobilizing the Guards for suppression is that the monarch is not held hostage by thugs.
If the monarch is kidnapped by thugs, the Guards, no matter how capable they are, can only stare blankly.
Because of the obvious "advantage" of being far away from Paris, the Palace of Fontainebleau would not be immediately controlled by the mob in the first place.
As long as Jérôme Bonaparte can go to the Palace of Fontainebleau with light equipment as soon as the riot occurs (if necessary, he can even leave the Queen and the Prince in the Tuileries Palace to temporarily stabilize the situation), then he will
He immediately used the Palace of Fontainebleau as a temporary command post and directed the Guards troops to march into Paris.
The transformed streets of Paris will no longer allow rioters to build barricades as easily as before. The spacious main roads can even allow several artillery pieces to pass through side by side.
With this ebb and flow, the difficulty of suppression has been greatly reduced.
At the same time, the emergence of Mauser rifles and Chateau machine guns made the combat effectiveness of the Guards soldiers far behind the Paris National Guard.
Even if the rioters received help from the citizens of Paris, their firepower was far inferior to that of the Guards.
Relying on the power of Mauser rifles, Napoleon bronze cannons, and Xia Sebo machine guns, the Second Reich was able to suppress the riots as soon as possible.
Moreover, in order to prevent unnecessary contact between the Guards soldiers and the Parisian people, all Guards soldiers came from other provinces, and some of them even came from the traditional royalist Vendée and Brittany.
These soldiers are born with class hatred for Paris, and it is as difficult as going to heaven to get them to empathize with the Parisian people.
If there is a chance to annihilate Paris, they will never show mercy.
The officers of the Guards have also been completely replaced by right-wing soldiers who are disgusted with republican ideas, and they will unswervingly carry out the emperor's orders.
Of course, the premise for Jérôme Bonaparte to use the army to suppress the situation was that the situation in Paris had collapsed beyond recovery.
Prince Montfort clearly remembered that before he left, Paris was still in a prosperous situation.
Although the various factions within the Imperial Parliament are somewhat dirty, they can still unite around the empire.
No matter how quickly the situation collapsed, it would not shake the foundation of the empire in just over a month.
Therefore, Prince Montfort believed that there had been riots in Paris, and he did not believe that the situation in Paris would collapse in a short time.
All the truth would have to wait until he met Jérôme Bonaparte.
After Prince Montfort stepped into the carriage carriage, Bourbas outside the carriage quickly closed the door and then mounted a brown Arabian war horse.
The soldiers around the carriage also mounted war horses, surrounding the carriage and acting as a barrier to prevent assassination by young men.
As the driver gave the "forward" command to the horse, the horse pulling the cart began to exert force, and the wheel hub began to rotate around the axis. The carriage moved rapidly along the cement-paved road, and the surrounding cavalry followed the carriage.
The faster.
Since the train station is located on the right side of the Seine River (when the train was originally built, Jérôme Bonaparte considered the problem of pollution and did not build the train station near the Fontainebleau Palace on the left bank of the Seine River), and wanted to go to Fontainebleau.
The Palais Blanc must pass through the entire town of Fontainebleau.
When the motorcade arrived at the small town of Fontainebleau, the residents walking in the streets of the town chose to avoid it. They stood on both sides of the street and looked at the hurried carriage with curious eyes.
After the carriage gradually faded away, some residents of the town began to discuss it enthusiastically.
"I really wonder what happened in Paris? First the emperor and the empress came, and then the army!"
"I heard from my grandpa's nephew's neighbor that there seemed to be a riot in Paris!"
"A riot? That's really terrible! I hope the empire doesn't fall in this riot!"
"Collapse? What are you thinking about? If the empire really collapsed, would Your Majesty still be sitting at the Palace of Fontainebleau?"
…
Prince Montfort, who was sitting in the carriage, naturally could not hear the discussions of the residents of Fontainebleau. At this moment, he was half-lying in the carriage, closing his eyes and meditating.
The nearly 1,000-kilometer journey has consumed all the energy of this 70-year-old man.
About twenty minutes later, Prince Montfort, who was sleeping, heard a shout coming from his ear.
"Your Majesty the Prince, Your Majesty the Prince!"
The hazy Prince Montfort was gently shaken awake. He slowly opened his sleepy eyes, and Burbasky's figure appeared in front of him.
"Your Excellency, we are here!"
"We're here!"
Prince Montfort murmured in a low voice, then put his hand on the seat and stood up slowly.
Upon seeing this, Burbasky, who was at the carriage door, quickly stepped forward and stepped into the carriage, and then gently supported Prince Monfort with his hands.
"Thank you!" Prince Montfort said softly.
With the support of Burbassky, Prince Montfort stepped out of the carriage, and a horseshoe-shaped step appeared in front of him.
Looking at the steps of the horseshoe in front of him, Prince Montfort's thoughts once again returned to that era of several decades.
"When I returned to France with my first wife, my brother looked at me on this step!" Prince Montfort's eyes were full of nostalgia for the past years, and he said with emotion and security, "No
I think that in a few decades, my children will be able to stand where my brother stood!"
"Both Your Majesty and the late Emperor (Napoleon) are heroes of France, and their existence is France's greatest luck!"
There was a hint of fanaticism in Burbasky's tone, and it was obvious that he was also a staunch loyalist.
