Chapter 341 Candidates for Chief of the General Staff
"Oh? How are things going with Bazin and Trochu?"
Jérôme Bonaparte's mouth showed an interesting smile. Since the coup on December 2, Jerome Bonaparte, who has been busy with everything, has not seen Trochu and Bazin for a long time. Today, he suddenly heard
Bazin and Trochu actually felt a little strange after that.
"Colonel Trochu is now the chief of staff of the 1st Paris Division, and Colonel Bazin is now the commander of the 2nd regiment of the 2nd Paris brigade!" Leboeuf replied to Jérôme Bonaparte.
"That's it!" Jérôme Bonaparte knocked on the table gently, thought for a moment and then asked Brigadier General Leboeuf for his opinion: "Which one of these two options do you prefer!
"
"Your Majesty, as far as I'm concerned! I prefer the second option!" Leboeuf cautiously replied to Jérôme Bonaparte: "The mountainous terrain in the Near East is complex, which is not conducive to large-scale deployment of the army! We can only rely on small forces.
A long-term war of attrition will not only dampen the soldiers' enthusiasm for war, but will also cause great trouble to our logistics!"
Leboeuf's answer was exactly what Jérôme Bonaparte wanted. In his plan, an exciting war must be fought in Crimea once it begins, otherwise the fanatical patriotism of the Paris people will be lost due to the long period of time.
He became numb due to the war and even resented Jerome Bonaparte.
And those soldiers who were sent to the Near East to live in small-scale annihilation wars all day long would also be full of resentment towards Jerome Bonaparte.
By that time, not to mention gaining the prestige bonus through Crimea, I am afraid that Jerome Bonaparte can consider finding an auspicious day to escape to Britain.
War after war is enough to prove that the Parisian people's patience with war has a limit. They can support the government's actions out of impulse. When the passion wears off, they begin to retreat, become numb, and even oppose the war.
Jérôme Bonaparte had to bring them victory after victory to convince them that the war would soon be over.
Only in this way can Jérôme Bonaparte gain enough prestige through war, rather than making the people lose patience with the existing regime through war.
"Very good!" Jérôme Bonaparte nodded in approval: "You already have the basic overall view of being the Chief of General Staff!"
Jérôme Bonaparte's approval made Leboeuf feel happy in his heart. He had not guessed the emperor's thoughts wrongly, which meant that Leboeuf was one step closer to the chief of general staff.
Everyone in the current Secretariat Office is eager for the Secretariat Office to be truly independent from the Ministry of War and become an equal entity with the Ministry of War, rather than becoming a subordinate unit of the Ministry of War as it is now.
Similarly, from Canrobert to Saint-Arnault, and then to Leboeuf, every secretary general hopes to become the first chief of general staff.
Although Leboeuf knew that he would never be on the list of the first chief of staff, people always have some dreams. If the emperor really makes an exception and promotes him...
Thinking of this, Leboeuf subconsciously glanced at Jérôme Bonaparte, and then quickly shifted his gaze to the map again.
"The Secretariat will follow the second plan!" Jérôme Bonaparte said decisively.
"Understood!" Leboeuf responded immediately.
Later, Jérôme Bonaparte asked difficult questions one after another, and Leboeuf's answers gradually became a little overwhelming.
Looking at Leboeuf's slightly panicked eyes, Jérôme Bonaparte stopped just now. He waved his hand and said to Leboeuf: "Okay! Give me some space to think independently!"
"Yes!" Leboeuf stood upright in front of Jerome Bonaparte, saluted Jerome Bonaparte with a military salute and then left.
Jérôme Bonaparte, sitting alone in his office, looked out the window at the setting sun, which was his lost youth...
Bah bah bah!
In fact, after Leboeuf left, Jérôme Bonaparte had been thinking about whether the Secretariat should be completely independent and turned into a large general staff organization on an equal footing with the War Department.
This institution founded and supported by Jérôme Bonaparte carries all his hard work, and he must personally raise it to the height it deserves.
There must no longer be a confusion of power and authority between the Ministry of War and the General Staff.
Jérôme Bonaparte strengthened his confidence to continue, and then he screened the candidates for Chief of General Staff in his mind.
Commander Renault?
Jérôme Bonaparte thought of Commander Reignault who was still in Strasbourg. As the first general who was "personally" trained by him to become a major general and then appointed as Minister of War, Jérôme Bonaparte
Ba's trust in him is naturally self-evident.
It's just that General Renault himself is not a resolute person, but the Chief of General Staff himself needs a decisive and resolute general.
Conrobert?
Jérôme Bonaparte thought of Canrobert again. The effort and hope he had put into Canrobert could be said to be even worse than that of Renault. Canrobert was able to survive at the age of 42.
The military rank of major general at that age was all managed by Jérôme Bonaparte.
Precisely because Canrobert was only 42 years old, he was also excluded from Jérôme Bonaparte's chief of staff system. A 42-year-old top military commander was really appalling.
To use a common saying, once Canrobert becomes the Chief of General Staff, he will face a situation where he has no title.
At that time, Jérôme Bonaparte could only consider leaving Canrobert idle at home.
Furthermore, Canrobel's own abilities still need to be further honed.
In particular, the judgment of war and the handling of fighter aircraft need to be added.
Couzin Montauban? No, this is absolutely not possible!
I have just recalled that Jérôme Bonaparte, the Count of Bali Bridge, turned against Montauban. The time when the Count of Bali Qiao joined Bonaparte's camp and the contribution he made to the coup are really incomparable with Regno and Connaught.
Robert is comparable to either of the two.
Hasty removal will only affect the harmony of the camp. Judging from the historical actions of Count Baliqiao during the Franco-Prussian War, he is more suitable to serve as an administrative talent.
After thinking about it, Jérôme Bonaparte discovered that among the qualified and capable candidates, only the Minister of War, Saint-Arnaud, was left.
The key is that Saint-Arnaud is currently serving as Minister of War. If he is transferred to become Chief of General Staff, who will manage the original War Department.
Subsequently, Jérôme Bonaparte began to select the Minister of War.
This time Couzin-Monbonto became Jérôme Bonaparte's first choice, and the first division under his command was commanded by Canrobert.
The Second Brigade was taken over by Brigadier General Leboeuf, and Leboeuf's adjutant position, Jérôme Bonaparte, was ready to be filled concurrently by Edgar Ney, who is currently the director of the Special Investigation Division.
After finishing his thinking, Jerome Bonaparte called Mokar over again and ordered him to go to the Ministry of War to ask the Minister of War to come over.
After Mokar took the order and left, Jérôme Bonaparte stood up and walked out of the study. Walking in the quiet corridor, he looked at the end of the corridor. He suddenly felt like a prisoner of power, firmly bound by power.
Especially during his tenure as emperor, the number of times he left the Tuileries Palace was really only a handful.
Every day, there are countless documents waiting for Jérôme Bonaparte to correct, meetings of all sizes waiting for Jérôme Bonaparte to convene at the Tuileries Palace, and there are also ministers from various departments who need to be summoned by him individually.
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Now he wants to split himself into eight parts, and then each part can handle the work independently. In this way, Jerome Bonaparte can easily complete all the work.
Thinking of this, Jérôme Bonaparte couldn't help but sigh and muttered in a low voice: "I really don't know how my cousin did it back then!"
How did Jérôme Bonaparte know that after becoming emperor in OTL history, Napoleon III spent most of his energy on attracting bees and butterflies, leaving all the work to ministers and his close associates?
"Comrades-in-arms" Pesini and Morny.
Such decentralization directly caused the entire Bonaparte government to face serious corruption problems. Deception from top to bottom and falsification of data were commonplace.
The collapse of government credibility caused by corruption snowballed quickly, and it even almost faced the risk of being overthrown several times!
Although the government led by Jerome Bonaparte also faced corruption problems, its level of corruption was not as rampant as in the Second Empire in history.
In order to prevent local officials from being ineffective, Jérôme Bonaparte, who was crowned emperor, had an annual salary of only 6.5 million francs.
Compared with his uncle Napoleon's 13 million francs, Louis XVI's 25 million francs and Louis Philippe's 14 million francs, Jerome Bonaparte's annual salary as emperor is obviously much less.
Most of the more than 6 million francs were paid as rewards to the generals who had surrendered to themselves and some members who needed relief from Jérôme Bonaparte.
There was not much money that could really go to Jérôme Bonaparte.
Jérôme Bonaparte's daily expenses were all supported by his Norinco, Schneider Steel Industry and the gold mines in California.
These three industries can also bring an additional income of 3 to 4 million francs to Jerome Bonaparte every year. These incomes are not included in the government budget list.
Except for Jerome Bonaparte himself and Adolf Schneider, not many people know about it.
Therefore, the people's trust in the government is much higher than in OTL history.
Compared with the Second Empire in history, officials were slightly more honest. These subtle changes were not known to Jérôme Bonaparte, but they were actually changing the entire France.