French Empire: But Napoleon IV

Chapter 44: The order to take 3 reached Paris.

At 4:45 a.m. on August 11, 1870, during wartime, the gaslights at the War Department’s communications office were kept on all night in order to maintain constant contact with the front lines.

However, when a telegram arrived, the coder, who was deciphering it as usual, suddenly stopped, and the ink dripped onto the yellowed telegram, spreading into a black stain.

The codebreaker stared at the words "Napoleon Bonaparte" translated into Morse code on the paper. Knowing that this telegram was an order from His Majesty at the front, the codebreaker even breathed a little lighter.

Three minutes later, the encrypted telegram, rolled up in a copper tube, was delivered to the Prime Minister's Office by a messenger on horseback.

Before the advent of radio technology, there was no radio in Paris, so all urgent military orders could only be transmitted by cavalry and wired telegraph networks. The messenger covered the three-kilometer distance from the Ministry of War to the Prime Minister's office in just seven minutes.

In the Prime Minister's office meeting room, the conservative Montauban did not use gas lamps, but instead used tallow candles.

By four o'clock in the morning, the third tallow candle lit in the meeting room had burned down to its base, and the wax dripped down the copper candlestick in a winding stream.

As regent, Eugénie, who also had a strong desire to control power, stayed up all night in the conference room with Montauban.

Having not slept all night, the exhausted Queen of France rubbed her brow with her hands, her pale face bearing heavy dark circles under her eyes.

The Count of Palicago, now the French Prime Minister Montauban, stood with his hands behind his back in front of a six-foot-tall hand-drawn map of the defense of Paris. The people in the meeting room had just finished a six-hour debate.

The core of this debate revolves around only two issues: how to implement the cabinet's previously approved expansion of the military by 6 troops, and how to deal with the numerous rioters who vandalized three police stations and injured 17 military police officers last night.

In this situation, Eugène, the Governor of Paris, should have been present, but considering his strained relationship with Montauban, Eugène did not allow him to come, lest the two of them start arguing again in the meeting room.

While many high-ranking French officials were taking a break, the meeting room door was suddenly pushed open, and a communications officer, whose military cap was askew, rushed in wielding a brass pipe.

"Urgent telegram from the front lines, order from the Supreme Commander."

Upon seeing that it was a message from Napoleon at the front, Montauban quickly turned around. Overwhelmed by the tension of the battle, his right hand, which was holding the letter, paused slightly as he took the copper tube.

When Montauban used a letter opener to remove the sealing wax and read the contents of the telegram word by word, the entire meeting room fell silent, with only the crackling of the burning candles remaining.

"Marshal François Certain Camrobé is appointed Commander of the newly formed Legion of Paris, which will be expanded from the existing 13th Army of 29,000 men to 120,000. The Ministry of War shall provide all weapons, equipment, provisions, and supplies with unconditional priority. This order is issued by Napoleon Bonaparte."

"...Utterly absurd."

Napoleon III didn't receive any orders from the government or any arrangements for the troops at the front; instead, he received orders to expand the army in Cornwall.

During wartime, expanding the army seems like a normal thing. But everyone present knew Campbell's position: this French Marshal was a complete sycophant of the Bonaparte family, obeying the orders of a 14-year-old child without any dignity.

Given the current animosity between Montauban and Eugène, Nathan's order was unlikely to be accepted by the prime minister. The enraged count slammed the telegram on the oak table, causing the brass candlesticks to rattle loudly.

"The cabinet only approved an expansion of 9 troops. On what grounds does Your Majesty bypass the parliament and the cabinet and directly increase it to 12?"

The Bazin Legion still has 17 soldiers in Metz. We should prioritize supplying the troops at the front, and we should build a more diverse army in Sharon's camp, rather than expanding our forces in Paris, our rear base.

Montauban's anger went unanswered, and the government cabinet blocked Nathan's signals that he wanted to reclaim Paris, but that doesn't mean they can deny the decisions Nathan had already made.

Nathan was hesitant, unsure whether to stay on the front lines or return to Paris. Amidst this indecision, Eugénie led the government in making the decision for Nathan.

With Napoleon III already having made his decision, it's hard to say whether Eugénie and the government can still have any influence, especially since Eugénie has no reason to refuse Napoleon III's decision.

Everyone else knew that Conrobel was loyal to Bonaparte, and Eugénie knew it too. She had no reason to refuse such an act of strengthening herself.

Other cabinet officials understood this, so even though they didn't quite agree with Nathan's decision, they didn't show any obvious opposition. Only Montauban was in a state of impotent rage.

Aside from Montauban, only the Army Inspector General Troch, who was standing in the corner, seemed a bit off.

The director remained with his arms crossed, and in his moment of triumph, a hint of panic, barely perceptible to others, flashed in his otherwise empty and unfocused eyes.

Trochet had calculated that the two major defeats on the front lines would cause the Bonaparte family to lose the trust of the army, and that as the front lines continued to collapse, the chaos in Paris would naturally escalate.

When the Republicans raise their arms, the empire will crumble. As for whether the front lines will continue to collapse, Troche, a Trump supporter, is not too worried.

But now, Napoleon III has given Eugène Napoleon the sharpest knife: a full 12 well-equipped regular troops, a force powerful enough to crush any untrained popular uprising in Paris.

Without hesitation, Troch quietly wrote a letter when no one was looking. None of the high-ranking cabinet officials in the room expected that someone of their rank would side with the Republican Party.

He crumpled the written code letter into a ball, put it in his sleeve, stuffed it into the inside pocket of his vest, and then continued to daydream.

Just as Montauban had expected, Eugénie remained silent for a full five minutes before agreeing to Nathan's decision.

"This is His Majesty's decision. Prime Minister Montauban, immediately notify the Ministry of War and instruct them to carry out the order."

"Your Highness the Queen."

Montauban, still wanting to make a last-ditch effort, attempted to engage in a debate with Eugénie to persuade the Queen of France, but his attempt failed before he could even begin; Eugénie interrupted him with a raised hand.

"Count, now is not the time to argue about authority. The vanguard of the Prussian army has already crossed the Saar River and entered our territory. The Prussian cavalry can advance 30 kilometers a day. We have no time to fight."

"You all saw what Eugène did in Paris. Only he could get the workers to take up arms, only he could get the people to trust the government. His Majesty's decision was correct."

Montauban was directly labeled as a power struggle, and seeing that Eugénie clearly favored Eugénie in this matter, Montauban could only reluctantly give up.

As a tributary of the Moselle River, the Saar River was essentially the first natural line of defense for France and Prussia. Now that the Saar River has been breached, Lorraine and Alsace, to some extent, no longer possess any natural defensive lines.

The current focus on debating Nathan's orders and shifting attention to Paris is indeed a power struggle.