The Fox of France - Chapter 530 (Patreon)

Chapter 530: "The Journey of Destiny"

In summary, the captains smoothly sold the expensive boat tickets, then divided the proceeds with the prestigious passengers. Following this, the ship left the harbor, heading towards India.

In this transaction, both the captains and the distinguished passengers made money, and the ordinary passengers also secured a safe return to India. Despite being slightly exploited, reaching India early and potentially turning the tables against their exploiters could recoup their losses. Thus, this scenario presented a classic win-win-win situation.

The French exploratory data that were sent back were submitted to the Academy of Sciences. After thorough research by the academy, it was commonly believed that there existed a massive gold mine in southern Africa.

"From the current data, it might even surpass the two gold mines we discovered in North America. Of course, it's deeper than those in North America, but the mining isn't too difficult. It has significant development value," Joseph remarked as he set down the documents, concluding his presentation to Napoleon. Then, unsurprisingly, he noticed Napoleon's eyes turning wholly yellow.

"Damn, we need to end this war quickly, smash the British, and then… hmm, Lucien, do you have any news about Britain?" Napoleon asked.

"The British are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain in the long term. Recently, inflation has remained at a significantly high level—far surpassing what we experienced in '93. Some regions are even facing severe food shortages. The British government has implemented measures like rationing of food and clamped down on speculative activities. It must be said, the British government's execution of these measures is commendable, definitely stronger than our Directory period. Just last week, in front of the Tower of London, they beheaded over twenty people to stabilize the populace."

"Haha, the British still show some backbone, don't they?" laughed Napoleon.

Typically, Napoleon spoke positively of the British, believing it highlighted his own magnanimity to praise an adversary when he felt victory was assured. This contrasted with portrayals of enemies in historical dramas where adversaries are depicted as weak, implying disdain. However, if one considers that being dominated by a 'weak' enemy for over a decade reflects poorly on oneself, praising the British occasionally seemed reasonable.

"The English slave trade and genocidal anti-humanity mob is historically the most powerful, most evil, and most efficient armed criminal group. In comparison, even Genghis Khan pales, not to mention Attila or the lame Timur, who appear like harmless kittens next to it—it represents the first industrial-scale big bandit group in human history, the great red dragon from 'Revelations'."

As 'Revelations' and the Bible were mentioned, the Holy See, the foremost authority on the Bible, naturally stepped up to support this view. Theologians from the Holy See, after extensive and systematic theological proofs, demonstrated that ever since Henry VIII, moved by filthy desires, betrayed the marriage blessed by God, "Satan entered his heart." Since then, the British royal lineage was no longer the anointed bloodline of Jesus but a cursed lineage of Satan. Satan used the British kings to deceive the people, leading Britain onto an anti-Christ, beastly path.

After the Pope made his stance, it was time for the Protestant denominations to react. Protestantism, with its many sects, like Lutheranism and Calvinism, holds various views, particularly regarding the Anglican Church, which is least like Protestantism except for substituting the Pope with the British king. Its practices hardly differ from Catholicism—especially in persecuting Protestants.

As for the European mainland Protestants, they generally view the Anglican Church negatively, as cursed followers of Satan. (Of course, this includes the Catholics and Orthodox churches, and Lutherans and Calvinists, except for themselves…)

"It's just a bunch of scapegoats and puppets. The real investors might just be those who, in the name of God and the king, solemnly condemn and execute them—though when we let the mobs hang those Jews, they didn't realize who actually caused the great stock crash," Lucien remarked coldly.

Napoleon frowned slightly. He was aware of who orchestrated the great stock market crash, which significantly involved the entire "Roman Empire" and its citizens, with the real manipulators being the imperial family themselves.

Subconsciously, Napoleon didn't find this fact glorious, so hearing Lucien speak so unreservedly and even sarcastically made him somewhat uncomfortable.

"Lucien, why bring this up?" Napoleon questioned.

"Just a reminder," Lucien explained. "Napoleon, you know our propaganda aims to guide others with hope or illusions, essentially deceiving them. But we must understand who we are and what all this is for. Napoleon, I think you have a weakness."

"What's that?" Napoleon asked, keenly interested in any claim of discovering his flaw.

"You have dreams, and they give you the strength to do what many cannot. But as

 Joseph said, nothing is purely beneficial without drawbacks. This trait makes you susceptible to grand objectives and superficial vanities, losing direction. To put it plainly, gaining the people's cheers is just our means, not our goal. I think you've been confusing them lately."

Napoleon stared at Lucien for a moment, then chuckled, "Lucien, I've fallen to the point where you point out my faults. But as Minister of Truth, it's indeed your duty. Also, I indeed enjoy the people's cheers, but I'm not so foolish as to sacrifice real benefits for it. Alright, let's continue discussing the situation in Britain."

"The security issue in Britain is worsening due to severe unemployment, forcing the government to deploy the military for public order. Napoleon, you've said that using the military in such matters would weaken its combat capabilities. Also, to prevent too many unemployed from rebelling due to hunger, the British have significantly expanded their army, especially in recent months, absorbing about one hundred fifty thousand people into the army. Britain now has about six hundred fifty thousand soldiers, a number unprecedented in its history."

"The British have never had such a disorganized mob," Napoleon said dismissively, arms crossed. In his view, the British army, hastily conscripted and poorly trained and equipped, posed no real threat.

"Napoleon, they're prepared for a defensive battle. As long as British propaganda is effective, their morale should be decent—just like ours once was," Joseph interjected. "So, we shouldn't underestimate them. Remember, an army, even poorly equipped and trained, can still be formidable if it has enough courage to sacrifice."

"Joseph, you're always cautious. But you do have a point…" Napoleon said, not fully agreeing with Joseph but respecting his opinion more than Lucien's.

"Joseph, you might be worrying too much," Lucien countered. "From what I understand, the British government doesn't really count on these newly expanded forces. They've even armed them with old, rifless guns. The expansion isn't so much about building a capable military as it is about locking up society's most vigorous young people in the army, dispersing and controlling them, and ensuring they have food, to prevent them from becoming a revolutionary force. As for the war with us, the key remains the British navy. As long as we defeat the British navy again, we don't need to land in Britain; they'll either negotiate peace and submit to us, or a revolution will occur. So the British aren't really investing resources in their army; its main function is stability."

"Hmm, we've received some intelligence suggesting that despite the large increase in army size, military spending has actually decreased. Joseph, you know, even propaganda consumes resources. If they can keep this army from revolting without investing resources, that's already an achievement. From what we understand, many new units aren't even getting enough food."

"If that's the case, the British approach is like drinking seawater to quench thirst," Joseph noted. "Such an army is easily a hotbed for revolution. The British must know this, which suggests two things: First, a revolution in Britain is very close, forcing them to use such measures to delay it temporarily; second, the British navy must be planning a move soon. Hmm, any intelligence on the British navy?"

"About a month and a half ago, the British moved two newly launched battleships to the Irish Sea, named the 'Crecy' and 'Poitiers,'" Lucien answered.

Crecy and Poitiers are locations in France where the British achieved glorious victories during the Hundred Years' War. At the Battle of Crecy, the English longbows decimated the foolish French knights attempting to cross muddy terrain, causing heavy casualties and a rout. In the Battle of Poitiers, the Black Prince Edward of England defeated a much larger French force and captured the French king, John II. Naming their new battleships after these battle sites clearly conveyed the British intent.

"As for more details, we don't know much yet; these two battleships haven't been in service long enough to assess their combat effectiveness," Lucien continued.

"I have some additional intelligence about the British navy, from the Ministry of Public Security. You all might want to see this," Napoleon said, pulling out a document and handing it to Joseph. Lucien leaned over to look with him.

The intelligence was detailed, analyzing various British production preparations and personnel movements, leading to a speculation that the British fleet might attempt a daring sortie to break the blockade within the next week or two.

"The Irish Sea has two exits, one south and one north, far apart, making it impossible for us to predict their exit route," Joseph noted. "Our navy has launched five Augustus-class battleships, but only three have completed basic training and are battle-ready. Another has been in service less than a month, with most training incomplete and thus no combat capability. The last one has just been launched

Chapter 530, Heavenly Number

In any case, the captains smoothly sold the high-priced tickets and then shared the money with the influential passengers. Afterward, the ship left the port and headed for India.

In this transaction, the captains and influential passengers made money, while the ordinary passengers successfully secured the opportunity to return safely to India. Although they were taken advantage of, as long as they could arrive in India as soon as possible and then find a chance to take advantage of the locals, they might still break even. So, it was truly a classic win-win-win.

Various exploration data sent back by the French were sent to the Academy of Sciences. After careful study by the Academy, it was generally believed that there was a huge gold mine in southern Africa.

"Based on the existing data, it may be larger than the two gold mines we discovered in North America combined. Of course, it may be deeper than those in North America, but the difficulty of extraction is not particularly high. It's highly valuable for development," Joseph said to Napoleon as he put down the data in his hand. Then he noticed without surprise that Napoleon's eyes turned completely yellow.

"Damn it, we need to end the war as soon as possible, defeat the British, and then... Lucien, do you have any news about England?"

"England is finding it difficult to sustain itself for long. Recently, inflation in England has been consistently high—far exceeding our conditions in 1793. There have been severe food shortages in some areas. The British have implemented measures such as rationing and crackdowns on speculation. I must admit, the British government's enforcement in such matters is quite good, much better than our provisional government. Just last week, they beheaded more than twenty people in front of the Tower of London to quell unrest."

"Haha, the British are quite spirited, aren't they?" Napoleon laughed.

Generally speaking, Napoleon now tended to praise the British when they were mentioned. This was, of course, because he felt confident in his position and believed that praising the opponent could enhance his own glory. Otherwise, it would be like the anti-Japanese dramas of later generations, portraying the Japanese invaders as mentally deficient, as if doing so could demonstrate disdain for the enemy. But upon closer examination, if all your enemies are mentally deficient and you are still invaded by them, and even invaded for over ten years, what does that make you? So, now, whenever Napoleon had the opportunity, he would praise the British. The basic argument was:

"England's slave-trade, genocide, anti-human gang is the most powerful, evil, dangerous, and efficient armed criminal organization in human history. Compared to it, even Genghis Khan pales in comparison, let alone Attila, the lame Timur, and so on. This is the first time in human history that an industrialized criminal gang has appeared, even the Great Red Dragon in the Book of Revelation pales in comparison."

Since the Bible was mentioned, and the Book of Revelation was mentioned, it was natural for the authoritative Roman Holy See to step forward and applaud. The great scholars of the Roman Holy See cited scriptures, expounded in a circuitous manner, filling enough pages to fill a room, systematically and rigorously proving that since Henry VIII betrayed the blessed marriage blessed by God out of dirty desires, "Satan has entered his heart," and since then, the British royal family has ceased to be the bloodline of the anointed ones and has become the cursed bloodline of Satan. Satan used the British king to deceive the British people, leading Britain onto an anti-Christ, beastly path.

After the Roman Pontiff made a statement, it was time to talk about matters in the Protestant camp. Protestantism was diverse, with various denominations such as Lutheran, Calvinist, and many others, but strictly speaking, the Anglican Church of England was also Protestant.

However, within Protestantism, the Anglican Church was the least like Protestantism. Except for the pope being replaced by the King of England, almost everything about it was indistinguishable from Catholicism—especially in persecuting Protestants. Remember those people in North America who were persecuted by the Anglican Church, weren't they Calvinist believers persecuted by the Anglican Church?

So, the prevailing view of Protestantism on the European continent was: the Anglican Church was nothing to write home about. Having a king as a pope violated the teachings of Jesus. They had long been cursed, following a Satanic cult organization. (Of course, so were the Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Lutherans (Calvinists), except for me, everyone else...)

"They are just pawns in gloves, the real investors might just stand in front of the Great Judgment Throne, condemning their crimes in the name of God and the king, and sentencing them to death—But speaking of which, when we allowed the mob to hang those Jews, they didn’t know who the real culprits behind the stock market crash were. Hehe..." Lucien chuckled coldly.

Napoleon couldn't help but frown. He was well aware of who was behind the stock market crash at the time. The significant force behind it was the entire "Roman Empire," almost all "Roman citizens" played at least a supporting role in the storm, and the true mastermind, the real black hand, was the entire imperial family.

Subconsciously, Napoleon didn't think it was a glorious thing, so he felt somewhat uncomfortable hearing Lucien speak so openly and even sarcastically.

"Lucien, why are you talking about this?" Napoleon said.

"Of course, it's to remind you," Lucien said, "Napoleon, you know our propaganda is all about guiding others, using hope, even illusions, to induce people, or to put it more bluntly, to deceive them. But we ourselves must understand who we are and what we are doing. Napoleon, I think you have a weakness."

"What?" Napoleon asked. He was actually quite interested when others claimed to have found his weakness.

"You have dreams. Your dreams give you strength and courage to do things that many others cannot. But as Joseph said, there is nothing that only has benefits without drawbacks. Your character is also like this. You are easily dazzled by lofty goals, by those external vanities, to the point where you lose your direction. To put it more plainly, Napoleon, you

 must remember that gaining the cheers of the people is just our means, not our goal. But I think you've been mixing them up a bit lately."

Napoleon looked at Lucien for a while, then suddenly laughed: "Lucien, I have actually fallen to the point where you point out my flaws. But as Minister of Truth, this is indeed your duty. Also, I want to tell you that I do like watching the people cheer for me, but I haven't been confused enough to sacrifice real benefits for it. Alright, continue talking about the situation in Britain."

"Right now, the public security situation in Britain is getting more severe, because of severe unemployment, the government has to use the army to maintain public order. Napoleon, you said before that if the army is used in this kind of thing, it will lead to a decline in the combat capability of the army. In addition, to prevent too many unemployed people from rebelling because they can't eat, the British have greatly expanded the size of their army, especially in the last few months. In the last month, about one hundred and fifty thousand people have been absorbed into the British army. Now Britain has about six hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. This has never happened in the history of Britain."

"Britain really has never had such a rag-tag mob before," Napoleon said with arms crossed, dismissively. In his view, the British army, hastily pulled up like this, whether in training or equipment, was a complete mess, and not much of a threat at all.

"Napoleon, they are preparing to fight to defend their country. As long as the British propaganda is effective, their morale should still be good—just like we used to be," Joseph said. "So we shouldn't underestimate them too much. You should know that an army, even if the equipment is a bit worse, even if the training is a bit worse, as long as they have enough courage to sacrifice, it is still a formidable army."

"Joseph, you are always cautious. But what you said makes some sense..." Although Napoleon didn't quite agree with Joseph's statement, his attitude towards Joseph and Lucien was not the same.

"Joseph, maybe you are too worried," Lucien said. "From the information I've learned, the British government doesn't really count on these newly expanded armies. They even let them use old guns without rifling. The reason for expanding the army this way is more about putting the most energetic young people in society into the army, then breaking them up and dispersing them, managing them, and letting them have something to eat, to prevent them from becoming a revolutionary factor. As for the war with us, the key is still the British navy. As long as we defeat the British navy again, we don't need to land in Britain, either Britain will negotiate peace and submit to us, or a revolution will occur. So the British really don't intend to invest resources in the army, the existence of the army, most of its function is just to maintain stability."

"Hmm, some of the intelligence we have even indicates that although the number of the British army has greatly increased, the military expenditure allocated to the army has actually decreased. Joseph, you also know that even propaganda actually consumes resources. If they can keep this army from rebelling without investing resources, it's already not easy. From what we understand, many of the newly formed armies can't even eat enough."

"If that's the case, the British method is like drinking seawater to quench thirst," Joseph said. "Such an army is very likely to become a hotbed for revolution. The British must know this, which only shows two points. First, the domestic situation in Britain is very close to an explosion of revolution, so the British have to use such methods to temporarily delay it; second, the British navy must be planning some action soon. Hmm, any intelligence about the British navy?"

"A month and a half ago, the British moved two newly launched battleships to the Irish Sea. They have just named these two battleships 'Crecy' and 'Poitiers'," Lucien answered.

Crecy and Poitiers are places in France where the British had previously achieved glorious victories during the Hundred Years' War. At the Battle of Crecy, the English longbows devastated the foolish French knights trying to cross a muddy area, causing heavy casualties and a rout. At the Battle of Poitiers, the Black Prince Edward of England defeated a much larger French force and even captured the French king John II. Now, the British naming their new cutting-edge battleships after these battle sites speaks volumes.

"As for more details, we don't know much yet. These two battleships haven't been in service long enough to really assess their combat effectiveness," Lucien continued.

"I have some additional intelligence about the British navy, from the Ministry of Public Security. You all might want to see this," Napoleon said, pulling out a document and handing it to Joseph. Lucien

 leaned in to look with him.

This intelligence was very detailed, analyzing various British production preparations and personnel movements, and then made a speculation that the British fleet is very likely to leave the Irish Sea in the next week or two to try a daring move to break the blockade.

"The Irish Sea has two exits, one south and one north, far apart, we can't judge where they will strike from," Joseph said. "Currently, our navy has launched five Augustus-class battleships, but only three have completed basic training and are combat-ready. Another has been in service for less than a month, most of the training is not complete, and it really has no combat capability. Another has just been launched, many parts are not even installed yet. So at most, we can dispatch three new type battleships, plus the existing Caesar-class battleship, a total of four battleships, plus the newly commissioned 'Hermes' super cruiser and 'Artemis' super cruiser. The strength is clearly superior to the enemy, but if we have to block both exits at the same time, we have to divide them into two fleets. In that case, our advantage is not so obvious. Especially since we only have three new type battleships, it's not easy to divide them up."

"Two new type battleships, plus a batch of armored cruisers, form one fleet, used to block the St. George's Strait. One new battleship, plus the Caesar, plus two super cruisers, go to the Aile Island anchorage, to block the North Sea Strait. (Aile Island is an island at the exit of the North Sea Strait. The British did not have time to update the coastal defense batteries on this island. As a result, a year ago, the French military, with the support of the Caesar battleship and other ships, captured this island. Now this island has become one of the important anchorages of the French navy.)"

"I think this should be fine. Any one of the fleets is not weaker than the enemy, even if it's just a tie, strategically, it's a failure for the British. The British no longer have the capability to put together another fleet."

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