Chapter 113: , Internal difficulties

Almost at the same time Napoleon solved Toulon's problems, the French, who quickly mobilized more troops, also turned to the north. Their offense was a very suitable opportunity. Because when they launched the offensive, the anti-French alliance happened to have another moth.
Just like the fable of the swan, barracuda and prawn pulling a wagon together, the several countries of the Anti-French Alliance each have their own little abacus. As a result, they lack cooperation with each other, and even tear down each other.
The first thing the British must ensure is their interests in the Netherlands. So they strongly proposed to use the main force on the attack on Dunkirk. They surrounded Dunkirk from land and sea, and asked the Prussians and Austrians to join the offensive operations against Dunkirk.
But Dunkirk is not a very attractive target for the Austrians and Prussians, so they, in turn, tried to convince the British that they must waste time and strength on this "secondary goal" and hurry up. The army was transferred to join them in a decisive attack on the French on the Belgian border.
The number of the British Army was limited, and they were all thrown into the battle for overseas colonies that had more visible benefits for Britain. Both the Austrians and the Prussians tried to persuade the British to mobilize quickly. But Prime Minister Pete was unwilling to disrupt the pace of British national development. So Pete took a more compromised approach. That is, the British paid for the guns, and the Italians came to fight the French.
The British recruited a mercenary of more than 10,000 men in Italy, and then took advantage of the Austrian road to send them to Belgium. When the British borrowed their way from Austria, they said that these troops would be used for combat on the border between Belgium and France. However, after the team arrived in Belgium in August, the British said that because of the changes in the battlefield situation, they had to use these mercenaries in the battle at Dunkirk.
However, the Austrians and Prussians claimed that they had already included this mercenary in the combat plan. When formulating the battle plan, although they did not use this Italian mercenary as the main force (As everyone knows, the combat effectiveness of these Italian mercenaries is not reliable, far inferior to the mountain people or the German mercenaries. The only advantage is that It requires less money.), but they can at least be used for defensive tasks in order to liberate more troops. Now that the British suddenly disregarded credit and transferred this army away, their offensive would naturally be impossible.
But the real facts are not the same as what they said. Recently, Her Majesty the Queen of East Rome was so sad that she lost her beloved lover, Duke Potemkin, and fell ill. As soon as the queen fell ill, the Polish guys were ready to move, and there was some turbulence in the area controlled by Prussia.
The empress’s serious illness also allowed the Prussians and Austrians to see some ideas for gaining a little more from Poland. However, any idea must be supported by military forces, otherwise it can only be a delusion. Austria borders France, and it is not too dare to transfer the army back, but Prussia is not the case. Prussia now feels that the security of the Rhine states does not seem to be a problem for the time being, and the interests of France are also limited. Therefore, the Prussians had long been thinking about redeploying their troops to the east. It's just that Austria has used various means to hold them.
After knowing that a mercenary of more than 10,000 men was about to join the Belgian battlefield, the Austrians could no longer hold the Prussians. Before the Italians were in place, the Prussians first transferred more than 10,000 troops back. Anyway, the blank left by them, the Italians will fill in... However...
On the front of the confrontation between the two sides, one side suddenly lost more than 10,000 people, and naturally there were more flaws. But on the other side, on the French side, the situation is completely different. While using the guillotine to quickly resolve those with a "German" in the name, special commissioners from all over the country also continued to send a large amount of wealth and enlisted soldiers to Paris. By the end of September 1793, France had organized as many as one million troops. Yes, most of these armies are under-trained and poorly equipped (because military production cannot keep up with the recruitment rhythm), but their morale is high. Most of them cannot be put into battle yet, but new and trained troops (in fact, the training is quite limited) are constantly being sent to the north by the revolutionary government. Unlike when Di Mourier rebelled, the French army has restored morale and has a clear advantage in numbers.
Taking advantage of the hesitation of the Anti-French Allied forces, Kano gathered a large number of troops in the Canton of Noor. Under the supervision of the Saint-Just commissioner (political commissar), the French army launched a counterattack in early September. They first defeated the British army commanded by the Duke of York (later George V) at Hondsshot, then turned to Maubeuge, where they defeated the army of General Koble of Austria.
France’s military danger seems to have been temporarily resolved, but once the tight thread of the military slackened, many problems that had been suppressed by the military crisis immediately appeared again.
The first thing that came up was the economic problem.
After the Jacobins took power, in order to support the war, they adopted a collection system and various price-limiting systems in the country. Although this strategy similar to wartime communism ensures that the country can concentrate its efforts against foreign enemies, it also brings about many problems.
According to the decree of September 29, each county in France is in charge of food price limit, while each municipality is responsible for determining the wage limit. Under the restrictions of this decree, generally speaking, compared with 1790, the price of food has generally risen by one-third, while people's wages have generally risen by one-half. Everything seems pretty good.
However, the price and wage standards set by various parts of France are very imbalanced. Each county is working hard to raise the price of local products while depressing the price of foreign goods. (Otherwise, it will be difficult to maintain wage growth.) This has led to the fragmentation of the national market.
On the other hand, the large number of conscriptions has made the labor force strained, especially in rural areas. There was a bumper harvest this year. However, due to lack of manpower, the harvesting and threshing of grain has been protracted, coupled with the demand for a large amount of military rations. As a result, food shortages appeared in many places during the harvest year, especially In some areas of southern France, these problems have become more serious due to the impact of the war.
To put it simply, the current problem is based on the National Salvation Committee’s control over the country and their understanding of the economy. If you want to abandon the traditional market economy and directly use plans to allocate resources across the country, this is obviously far beyond. Their abilities. But once abandoning these things full of planned economy, politically, it is almost suicidal.
Therefore, the National Salvation Committee must allow the revolution to continue to deepen so that it can truly control the country and survive the immediate crisis.
But this requires pressure. Previously, foreign intervention forces provided this pressure. But now, a funny situation has emerged, that is, the previous series of victories have fundamentally shaken the legitimacy of the revolutionary government.
If there is no pressure, then artificially create pressure. At least, a dead tiger must be dragged and beaten up. So Robespierre chose to church the dead tiger.
Prior to this, through the "Priest Law", the revolutionary government had already cracked down and plundered the church. Now the rest of France are priests willing to swear allegiance to the parliament. But now, the Republic needs an internal enemy who can unite everyone. So the remaining priests, as well as the entire Christianity itself (including Catholicism, including Orthodoxy and any Protestant) have become enemies of the Republic.
On October 24, the National Assembly passed a bill to implement the republican calendar in France. This move actually sounded the clarion call for a full-scale declaration of war on Christianity and the full expulsion of Christian faith from France.
Kano returned home very depressed. He didn't catch a cold about the "Republican Calendar" or something. Although the Republican calendar seems to some guys in later generations, the "Mist Moon", "Frost Moon", "Snow Moon", "Bud Moon", and "Flower Moon" are really beautiful and extremely high. But in Kano's view, this is nothing short of trouble. And even though he was the first contributor to a series of victories of the French army during this period of time, the authority and legitimacy of the National Salvation Committee was weakened by the victory it led. Kano’s status is also due to this series of victories. The victory fell. So his opposition to the republican calendar and non-Christian movements was almost ineffective.
"These guys are getting more and more crazy! Especially the power mobs in the Paris Commune! France let them do this, it will be over sooner or later!" Cano said to his wife in anger.
When his wife heard this, her face paled in fright. She looked around, lowered her voice and said, "You are crazy! You can say anything like this? Are you going to die?"
"What do they dare to do?" Kano lowered his voice unconvinced, "Damn it, at this time, Napoleon is in the south, and Joseph shut himself in the laboratory! There is not even a person to discuss..."
"You can't go to the laboratory to find Joseph? Or let him come to the War Department to report to you about the research?"
"Well, this is also a way. Joseph has many ways, maybe there is a good way." Cano said.
Compared to Kano, whose status has declined due to victory, Joseph's status has risen a bit. The grenade launched by the laboratory he was responsible for shined in the battle of Toulon and the battle in the north. In the battle report, Napoleon called it the "cannon in the hands of the infantry" and the "Jupiter's Thunder", and praised that it would be difficult for them to seize the key in such a short time without the help of grenades. The Mulgrave fortress, it is impossible to easily repel the British counterattack afterwards.
In the north, Sanjuste also admired the products of Joseph's laboratory.
"This new type of weapon has played a decisive role. Strong and trained soldiers can throw this thing 50 or 60 meters away, and it can also ensure a relatively accurate landing point. This distance is similar to that of enemy platoon guns. The distance is not much different. In Hondschott, the British still wanted to hit us with bayonet as usual. As a result, they walked halfway and were blown out by a grenade. But in Maubeuge. , Grenade also played a decisive role. Especially skirmishers equipped with grenade, it is the nightmare of the enemy... Therefore I suggest that the production of grenade should be performed as the most urgent and important military task. And related to grenade. Everything must be regarded as the country's top secret..."
Because of this credit, Joseph was also promoted to brigadier general. Of course, his military rank is still under Napoleon. When Joseph accepted this honor, he strongly praised Lavoisier's contribution to the development of the grenade. He told the observer Shire sent by the National Salvation Committee that the explosives and fuzes used in the grenade were all the credit of the research team led by Lavoisier. It is also recommended to name the explosives with Lavoisier's name.
However, the National Salvation Committee believes that Lavoisier is a captured enemy, and all his research results are returning what he had stolen from the people. So Lavoisier is not worthy of such an honor. Therefore, this explosive was named Republic One, and the grenade was named Equality One. Externally, they claimed that this was the collective achievement of the military technology laboratory. However, the soldiers preferred to call it "Bonaparte Melon."
It is said that after Joseph told Lavoisier of the National Salvation Committee’s decision on the naming of the grenade, Lavoisier mumbled:
It’s nothing~EbookFREE.me~ Anyway, my contribution to science has been enough, enough in the history of science. A thick chapter is left. Besides, a weapon that defends this group of thugs, if named after me, would be an irony to me! Well... that's it!"
But after a while, the guy said: "Oh, Joseph, if I were an Englishman, how much money could I make just by inventing the patent fees for nitrated starch? And in France, let alone patent rights , Even the power of naming is lost."
Joseph could only comfort him: "Mr. Lavoisier, as long as you take care of your body, maintain a healthy diet as I suggest, and run and exercise regularly every day, you will surely get the patent fee in the future."
"Speaking of running exercise, it really seems to make my body better, so that my appetite has increased. When I run every day, I can see the mob named Charles hiding in a fan. Look at me behind the bars."
"I told him that this is disciplinary and domesticating you." Joseph said, "Of course this is just to fool him."
"I understand." Lavoisier said, "What I want to say is that I was running in the sun, but he was shrunk behind a dark bar. I really don't know who is more like a prisoner."