Chapter 314 Change people without changing their minds
Faced with Minister Saint-Arnaud's explanation, Jérôme Bonaparte didn't know how to refute his "not making progress" remarks for a while.
From a historical perspective, this kind of thinking is undoubtedly a mistake. It will lead the French army into the abyss. If we look at it from the perspective of the time, not carrying out reforms will indeed save a lot of troubles. Not every
Any reform can achieve results.
Successful reforms can be remembered by people, while failed reforms will only be swept away as the garbage of history.
Adhering to the principle of doing more and making fewer mistakes, doing less and making fewer mistakes, the French army's reform motivation is not as urgent as Jérôme Bonaparte imagined, and it may even create a resistance to reform.
Except for Jerome Bonaparte, no one will know the next fate of France.
Generals and marshals will only see France winning more victories with a smaller army. As long as victory can be guaranteed, all flaws can be buried.
"Mr. Minister, I still remember that it was not like this when you first met me!" Although Jerome Bonaparte understood Saint Arnaud's choice, he still expressed his dissatisfaction: "
How energetic you were back then, as if no difficulty could make you flinch!
Look at you now, how did you become like this? Can the position of Minister of War really change a person's original intention? "
Jérôme Bonaparte's words caused a trace of panic to appear on Minister Saint-Arnault's face. For Jérôme Bonaparte, who had established a dictatorship system, dismissing Saint-Arnault, the Minister of War, was nothing more than
A matter of words.
So what if it was Saint Arnaud who helped him complete the coup!
Drinking from golden cups together and not showing mercy are the qualities that every monarch should possess. The struggle between powers does not allow for the slightest bit of mercy.
"Your Majesty, it's really..." Minister Saint-Arnaud tried his best to explain something, but was interrupted by Jérôme Bonaparte, who raised his hand and said: "Now immediately bring everyone from the Ministry of War to the conference hall.
I would like to see how many people want to rest on their laurels and refuse to move!"
Minister Saint-Arnault, who wanted to save some impression points in front of Jérôme Bonaparte, went to his subordinate departments in person to summon officials from all bureaus and divisions of the Ministry of War to the conference hall to discuss matters.
Looking at the leaving figure of Minister Saint-Arnault, Major General Niel showed a bitter smile on his lips. He knew that he had not only offended Minister of War Saint-Arnault, but would also offend most of his colleagues in the War Department.
Nowadays, if you want to survive in the army, you have to rely on the trust of the ruling party.
From a certain perspective, Major General Niel will be more loyal than Saint-Arnaud and others.
After all, after the coup, Minister Saint-Arnault consciously established his own small circle.
In this regard, Jérôme Bonaparte still adheres to the attitude of fighting without defeat, and the most important thing is to cultivate a force that is completely his own.
With Minister Saint-Arnaud's personal summons, the leaders of various departments under the Ministry of War were more active than usual.
The time soon came to 10 am.
Logistics Department, Personnel Department, Munitions Department, Ordnance Department, Algerian Affairs Department, Military Affairs Department (two departments of war history and surveying and mapping have been assigned to the Secretariat Office), Finance Department and Secretariat Office, Infantry and Artillery Personnel Committee, Fortress Military Committee,
All important members of the Military Medical Committee were present.
Before the meeting began, War Department officials sitting on the chairs were whispering among themselves. Many officials speculated that the president was probably criticizing them for shortcomings in recent military exercises.
At a quarter past ten, Jérôme Bonaparte entered the conference hall together with Minister Saint-Arnaud, Major General Niel and State Secretary Benjamin.
A surprising scene happened. Saint-Arnaud, the Minister of War, sat on the left side of Jerome Bonaparte, while Major General Niel sat on the right side of Jerome Bonaparte.
The order of seats represents the monarch's closeness to a certain extent. Does this mean that Minister Saint-Arnault has lost the love of the ruler?
In the conference hall, there were uneasy expressions on the faces of several of Saint-Arnault's confidantes brought from Africa, and smiles appeared on the lips of several generals who opposed Saint-Arnault.
Everyone is waiting for Jerome Bonaparte to speak.
"Defenders of the Republic, I came here today to talk to you about a serious matter!" Jérôme Bonaparte paused, glanced at the directors and division chiefs in the audience and said, "Previous paragraph
Time, a military exercise jointly planned by the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Railways, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce... To be honest, that military exercise made me very dissatisfied!
I never thought that our army would become what it is now in just thirty years... Our army would encounter so many things after going to the designated place..."
Jerome Bonaparte commented on some of the shortcomings of the French army one by one: "Our military depots cannot guarantee the basic needs of the army. Our food collection team is a group of bandits and villains, and our soldiers are also
It’s also a bunch of rabble…”
Jérôme Bonaparte severely criticized the liberal style of France and the related problems of the inability of military stations to fulfill their functions. The generals who got so many professional terms from Jérôme Bonaparte must have appeared in the army.
Having discovered the "traitor", they immediately set their sights on Major General Niel, convinced that it was Major General Niel who had informed him.
Major General Niel once again showed a wry smile. The moment Jérôme Bonaparte found him, he would probably lose most of his "popularity" in the Ministry of War.
Although he lost the "friendliness" of his colleagues in the War Ministry, Niel gained the friendship of the monarch.
As long as he can learn to hold his thighs, he will be invincible.
After reprimanding for a long time, Jerome Bonaparte suddenly felt his mouth was dry. He swallowed and pointed at Niel beside him and said: "Director Niel, tell them about the problems that exist in the army now!
"
"Yes!" Niel responded to Jérôme Bonaparte, and in a passionate tone he described the shortcomings that everyone present was well aware of.
After Major General Niel finished speaking, Minister of War Saint-Arnaud immediately applauded: "Well said!"
Afterwards, Saint-Arnault reprimanded the officials in the audience with a straight face: "I have told you a long time ago that you must pay more attention to anything you encounter! Major General Niel did a good job in this regard.
We gave the War Department a direction..."
Next, Saint-Arnault gushed to the members of the War Department in the audience about Jérôme Bonaparte's "foresight", without mentioning the contribution of Major General Niel here and the contribution of Major General Niel at all.
Seems trivial.
Major General Niel showed a sad face, and subconsciously looked at Jérôme Bonaparte out of the corner of his eye.
Jérôme Bonaparte, who felt Niel's afterglow, immediately said: "This is all thanks to Major General Niel!"
"That's right! Major General Niel has indeed made great contributions!" Minister Saint-Arnault also agreed.
Subsequently, Jérôme Bonaparte announced in front of all military bureaucrats present that Major General Niel would be responsible for reorganizing the military station in the next few years.
In order to make Niel more handy, Jérôme Bonaparte divided the entire recruitment committee of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Personnel under Niel.
At the same time, it was announced to everyone present that the number of people recruited by the army every year in the future will increase from 80,000 to 100,000, which means that France’s standing army will increase from the original 400,000 to about 500,000 to 600,000.
The amount of exemption money that needs to be paid for the service has also been changed from the original 2,400 francs to 4,000 francs.
[ps: Considering that the number of people recruited every year is different, under the service system, the number of troops is also high and low. 】
In the end, all members of the Ministry of War agreed to Jérôme Bonaparte's plan.
September 15, 1851.
The Ministry of War submitted to Jérôme Bonaparte a plan for the rectification of military depots and adjustments to the recruitment and service system. In the plan, the army's budget was presented on a five-year basis, which meant that during the five-year period, the army did not need to
The issue of annual military expenditures is presented to the legislative group every year.
After reading the proposal, Jerome Bonaparte immediately approved the proposal of the Ministry of War and submitted the proposal of the Ministry of War to the legislative group.
After the proposal went through a lot of tossing in the Legislative Group (mainly because the Legislative Group had some discussions about the ratio of the urban and rural military service population, and members of the Legislative Group all know that the so-called urban military service is just to extract money from the city), it was finally passed by a majority vote.
The proposal was approved in the form.
Then, the proposal was submitted to the "Second House". After the second house's procedural review and approval, the War Department's proposal was passed.
On September 20, Walewski, who had stayed in Britain for nearly three months, finally returned to Paris.
The carriage brought Walewski to the door of the Tuileries Palace. As soon as Walewski got off the carriage, he saw Jérôme Bonaparte and most of the members of the Tuileries Palace walking towards him.
.
"Welcome back!" Jerome Bonaparte gave Valewski a warm hug.
Walewski nodded movedly.
After the welcome ceremony, Jérôme Bonaparte took Valewski to a side room of the Tuileries Palace and asked impatiently: "How was it?"
"Britain has agreed to be consistent with us on the issue of the Russian Empire. Britain also expressed understanding on our pursuit of colonies and other issues, as long as it does not touch Britain's interests..." Valewski said to Jerome in one breath
Bonaparte told all the contents of his conversation with Britain, including joint efforts against Russia, colonial expansion, and French power in the Apennine Peninsula.