Chapter 3379 The Tide of the Earthly World (XIV)

In the opening of the 007 movie "Golden Eye", 007 drove a sports car with Bond girl to a place called Monte Carlo. The latest French invisible helicopter was stolen during a test flight here. 007 went to investigate. The place where the sports car passed was the French Riviera.

Monte Carlo is a city in the Principality of Monaco, and Monaco is the only way to Monte designed by Napoleon. It is indeed pleasant to drive a convertible supercar along the Cote d'Azur, but there are still many cyclists on this road. Almost every year, the Tour de France passes through Nice, and Bond in the movie met the participating cyclists.

Time seemed to have passed in a blink of an eye. In 43 BC, when Octavian was adopted as an adopted son by Caesar, he was only 20 years old. By 13 BC, he was already 50 years old.

This age is no longer considered young, and his wife Livia has also passed the best childbearing age, which forced them to consider the issue of heirs.

There may be other motives or purposes, but the military talents, status and prestige of Augustus's adopted sons were enhanced by the conquest of the Alps.

The poet Horace praised Drusus's victory over many Alpine tribes and Tiberius' victory in conquering Laetia in two "odes". In the "Consolation to Livia" in the late reign of Augustus, he also praised the military exploits of the two brothers.

Livia was the mother of Drusus and the great-grandmother of Caligula. Her name contained Julia, and she later received the title of Augusta. There was a monument on the Ligurian Sea coastal road, which listed the names of the tribes conquered by the "head".

Since the time of Caesar, high mountains and steep ridges have no longer been used as a defense line. It seems ideal, but can building a base on the top of a mountain solve the problem?

As a surveillance point, the top of the mountain is indeed the best location, but it is impossible to station a large-scale defense force to resist the attack of foreign enemies. One of the purposes of Caesar's conquest of Gaul was to transfer the country's defense line from the Alps to the Rhine River, replacing the mountains with rivers, which became the military strategy of the Roman state after Caesar.

The defense line is set by the river, so it is easier to see the other side. The invisible enemy is the most terrifying.

Rome, a small country between the Apennine Mountains and the ocean, continued to grow. It not only annexed the once powerful Etruscan civilization, but also ruled other Italian countries as vassal states.

The Senate, the Parliament and the Executive issued laws and orders to the Italian social classes, which was no different from the way they conquered other territories. However, in 126 BC, the Parliament banned residents of Italian cities from moving to Rome. In 95 BC, non-Roman citizens were prohibited from living in the capital area.

There was a nobleman named Marcus Livius Drusus, who was the son of a tribune who had been hostile to Tiberius Gracchus. After he was elected as a tribune, he immediately made three suggestions: first, allocate more state-owned land to the poor; second, restore the Senate's exclusive right to judge, and add 300 more merchants to the Senate; third, all free citizens in Italy can become Roman citizens.

The parliament happily passed the first bill, but was indifferent to the second bill. The Senate flatly opposed the first two bills and declared them invalid. As for the third bill, it ended in vain because Drusus was killed at home by an unknown assassin.

The Drusus Act brought hope, but this bill brought more terrible consequences. During the Roman conquest process, many allies were made. The manpower and resources of the "alliance" were exhausted because of the war, but the small kingdoms loyal to Rome did not receive due rewards. Many kingdoms that helped Rome to establish the country were also attacked, so that many people were forced to join the slaves' rebellion, while a few rich people in the city were allowed to become Roman citizens.

So the kingdoms of Italy prepared to rebel, and the Federal Republic was established, with the city of Corfinium as the temporary capital. Except for the Etruscan and Umbrian tribes who refused to join, each tribe selected a total of 500 representatives to form the Senate. Rome immediately declared war on Italy, and Marius came out of his seclusion and took up arms again to defend the country. He won many battles. Except for Sulla, other Roman generals were defeated. After three years of war, 300,000 soldiers died on the battlefield, and central Italy was devastated and broken. When the Etruscan and Umbrian tribes were about to join the rebellion, Rome comforted them by granting them Roman citizenship. In 90 BC, Rome announced that as long as the free citizens of the Italian states swore allegiance to Rome, they would be given the right to vote.

In this way, there was not much difference between Romans and non-Romans, but this greatly reduced the fighting spirit of the federation, and cities disarmed one after another. This bloody war finally ended in 89 BC. However, after the war, Rome did not fulfill its promise and immediately organized the new citizens into 10 new tribes. These 10 new tribes could only vote after the existing 35 tribes, so their voting rights were meaningless. In addition, only a few new citizens had the right to participate in the meeting held in Rome. These new citizens, deceived and desperate, had to wait for another opportunity to come.

The Civil War took place after Caesar finished writing The Gallic War. The opening of The Civil War echoed the Gallic War. Pompey and Caesar had a good cooperation.

In 58 BC, Scribonius, who served as a commander under Caesar, built two wooden theaters. There were 8,000 seats, 360 columns, 3,000 statues, a three-story stage, three colonnades, one wooden colonnade, one marble colonnade, and one glass colonnade. Because he exploited the labor of slaves too harshly, he finally caused dissatisfaction. The slaves burned the newly completed theater, causing him to lose 100 million sesterces in vain.

In 55 BC, Pompey built the first stone theater in Rome, which had 17,500 seats and a large cloister park for the audience to walk during the intermission.

It was once very popular, but in 53 BC, Caesar asked another commander, Curio, to build two wooden theaters. This building was very special, consisting of two back-to-back semicircles. In the morning, the two stages performed plays, and then while the audience remained in their seats, the two revolving buildings began to rotate 180 degrees, and the two combined stages could be used as a fighting arena.

Some people would focus on the bloody competitions in the Colosseum, while others would focus on the audience seats.

The toga was not only a Roman national costume, but also a symbol of Roman citizenship. Non-Roman citizens would be identified by Roman citizens if they wore it, not to mention the seating arrangement related to social status.

The "good show" was about to begin, so would they change seats at this time? What if there was a stampede among so many people?

Oh, exit and reenter, and those who shouted slogans exited by themselves, because most people would not exit anyway.

Talleyrand dragged his boot, which was as hateful as his soul, when he walked, but he believed that there were two ways to let France and Europe recuperate. One was to adopt a federal system and let each conquered monarch continue to be the master of their respective countries. If so, the First Consul could now restore the throne of the King of Sardinia and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, etc. One is to unify and annex these countries. If so, the First Consul would have embarked on an endless war career.

However, peace is conducive to Bonaparte's rule. After experiencing the huge storm that almost destroyed France, the French people longed for peace, demanded order and stability, and they should be appeased. So Talleyrand suggested to Bonaparte: "You have only one way: stabilize the government, eliminate the panic about the future, and make those who are loyal to you feel safe."

Ever since Talleyrand saw Napoleon, he was attracted by his great temperament. His great achievements, his glory and brilliance made Talleyrand feel excited, so much so that Talleyrand believed that his glory and brilliance shone on those who assisted him in fulfilling his noble mission.

What Napoleon thought, said, and everything Talleyrand witnessed him do can be called a wonderful performance. So Talleyrand really didn't want to change someone to take up the baton, even though Louis XVIII wanted to come back after the Battle of Marengo and let Napoleon take the same position as Monk.

As early as when Barras was the director, Barras had already wanted to change the duke.

There were also people who wanted to replace Talleyrand in the matter of Louisiana's land sale. Brussels was a good stage and far away from Paris.

"Please allow me to borrow the words of a minister under Henry IV to his master in history (their friendship is well known to the world): 'My fate is connected with yours for a short time, but I belong to you, life and death.'"

This is the content of a letter written by Talleyrand to Bonaparte. In terms of the level of writing love letters, Talleyrand is much better than Georgiana.

But since the Italians have now chosen a republic rather than a federal system, let's talk about the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Austria has been ruling northern Italy since 1714. In the anti-French coalition war, the Kingdom of Sardinia and Austria were allies, but Austria also warned the commanders on the front line not to trust their allies too much, and the Austro-Sardinian alliance was not stable.

Napoleon did not attack Turin because of the lack of supplies. He had no siege equipment and artillery at all.

At the time of the Battle of Montrotte, the Italian army had less than 50,000 soldiers, while the Austrian-Sardinian coalition had 80,000 soldiers. However, the Austrians and Sardinians had different strategic needs. The Austrians wanted to go east to guard Milan, while the Sardinians wanted to go west to guard Turin. In the field battle, Bonaparte managed to pin the Sardinian army in place. The next day, Sardinia asked for peace. He almost shot the officers who allowed the soldiers to loot in front of the Sardinian envoys.

Hungry victorious armies often looted their garrisons. When Napoleon sent a letter from Carrasco to encourage the army, in addition to "You have nothing, but you will have a lot in the future", he also emphasized that "I promise to occupy Italy, but there is one condition. You must swear that you will respect the people you liberated with your own hands and put an end to the terrifying burning, killing and looting. The enemy will stimulate the villains to indulge in looting."

The peace talks with Sardinia were held in Carrasco. The envoys arrived at night. After the French officers who violated the discipline were shot, Bonaparte went to meet the Sardinians. They talked for several hours while watching the sunrise.

When talking with the envoys, Bonaparte behaved elegantly, spoke briefly, and treated people coldly. When the two sides could not reach an agreement on the conditions, he took out his pocket watch and told the Sardinian envoys, "Gentlemen, I tell you, I have ordered the general attack to start at 2 pm. If I have not reached Cony by the end of today, the general attack will not be delayed for a moment."

This was just Bonaparte's bluff, but the Sardinians could not risk it. Sardinia ceded Alexandria, Cuneo and other fortresses, and also handed over the Po, Tanaro and Stura rivers. the territory between, and the right of way of the road from Cheva to Valenza.

The Austrians soon got the news, which was leaked by the French on their own initiative. The purpose was to make the Austrians think that the French had crossed the Po River at Valenza. In fact, the French planned to cross the river near Piacenza.

At the celebration banquet, the nuns of Carrasco made a pyramid of cups and filled them with Attis wine to entertain Napoleon.

"I remember the Count of Chiconyara gave you Attis wine, right?" Stanley asked in English, "Do you think the wine tasted good?"

"No." She said with a headache.

Stanley shrugged and continued, "Now everyone is rushing to the 'party' in Gibraltar. Privateers from Nice are even out, but unfortunately this year's floods destroyed the bridge... you know Which bridge is it?”

She suddenly remembered the "bridge" across the river.

"It was originally built very close to the low-tide line, but I don't think Nelson would take this opportunity to capture Nice." Stanley said, "The Sardinian envoy seemed to think that the French were going to capture Naples."

"What do they want?" asked Georgiana.

"After shooting the French violators, the First Consul condemned the Austrian, Russian and British plunderers." Stanley paused. "But what the Sardinians are most worried about is whether the French will invade Sardinia."

"What suggestions does Monsignor Talleyrand have?" Georgiana asked.

"How long do you think it will take for the news to reach Brussels and back again?" Stanley said.

"What do you suggest?" Georgiana asked.

"I can only win on the battlefield, but Josephine can conquer all hearts with kindness." Stanley said absently, "This is what the First Consul said to an attendant. Do you also want to conquer all hearts with kindness?"

She looked at Stanley, the former technical "broker", expressionlessly.

"Of course not." She smiled and said, "But I won't give you the skilled worker in Lyon either."

Stanley smiled.

"I'm not making demands."

"Then what do you want?"

"It's not time for me to negotiate terms yet. Since you don't need kindness to conquer the Sardinians, what are you going to use to conquer them?"

"You want me to do what Bonaparte did at Carrasco?" asked Georgiana.

"It's up to you, whether to eliminate their panic about the future or create panic." Stanley said with a smile, "You know, chaos is sometimes not an abyss, but a ladder to success."

She felt that she was chatting with a "little devil".

"Is this why you don't go to the Congo?" Georgiana asked.

"This is much more interesting. Who would miss such a show?" Stanley said with a smile, "Although Talleyrand took away all my family property."

She was speechless and speechless.

Not even letting go of such a small mosquito, but Talleyrand had the nerve to pass on the bishop's robes.