Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

C2860 Struggle for Peace

On September 1, 1870, at four o'clock in the morning, the interior of the fortress of Sedan was brightly lit: corridors, walls, barracks, stables. Torches and bonfires were lit in all areas. Countless soldiers slept soundly wrapped in blankets, while countless others could not sleep at night as they carried out all kinds of war preparations.

Sedan City was not a real city. It was just a strategic military fortress at the border. Normally, there were more than 10,000 French soldiers stationed here, but during wartime, this complex fortress could accommodate more than 60,000 regular soldiers.

There were more than two thousand residents in the city, but they had all fled. All of the homes of the residents had been commandeered by the military officers, and the entire city had been transformed into a military camp.

At this moment, French Emperor had handed over the command of the entire army to General McMahon. Old Marshal, who was under great pressure, couldn't fall asleep at all.

"To the east of the city, the Prism Castle s will need another fifteen cannons. The firepower is still not enough …" "How many cannons do we have?"

"Reporting to Marshal, 650 doors …" "However, we don't have enough cannons. According to the average combat consumption, we can only last about four days …"

"Four days! This could be considered good news, it was still better than nothing … "Believe me, in four days this damned war may be over!"

"You mean …" The surrounding military officers immediately surrounded him.

McMahon stood on top of the city wall, looking at the endless Prussian army camp in all directions, the enemy's bonfires were as dense as the milky way on a midsummer night.

"I know you guys are tired. You guys are tired!" Actually, wasn't I the same as well … Right now, the number of enemies is three to four times more than us, so we will definitely not win this battle! "

"But even if we can't win, we have to fight, and we have to fight with extreme ferocity! We must let Prussian know how powerful we are! "

"This is related not only to glory, but also to the well-being of our future!"

"To tell you the truth, someone has already suggested for His Majesty to surrender! But I don't think it's advisable to surrender. What we should do is to fight for peace! "

"Make peace through war?" Everyone exclaimed as if they had understood something!

Right, to fight for peace! It is absolutely undesirable to surrender, because as long as we do, our empire will immediately collapse and those fanatics in Paris will immediately proclaim the establishment of a republic! "

"Gentlemen, don't forget your identities. Your Nobility only recognizes that as a nation, we will lose not only our rights now, but we will also be sent to court for trial!"

"I definitely don't believe those madmen... Oh yeah, do you know what Prime Minister Ao Liwei is doing now? "

sighed and said, "He's a smart person. Ever since he was treated as the scapegoat and was ousted, he went to Italy to seek help from his relatives and friends without any hesitation …"

"He has already seen through the faces of the fanatics in Paris. Once the Revolution breaks out, they will surely massacre all the nobles and capitalists!"

"Do you want such an outcome? Or do you want to escape from our homeland, France, and become a asylum seeker in another country? "

His words moved the generals present. "Oh my God!" Had the situation eroded to this point? Another revolution? My God, what happened to our country? "

"So, if we want to protect our own interests, we have to protect the empire! "Our biggest concession is the constitutional monarchy. If we allow His Majesty to abdicate, we can help the Crown Prince ascend the throne and become a constitutional monarchy like Britain!"

"This is the only way to get out of this mess!" And all of this is inseparable from the existence of our army, which means that we must go back to Paris in formation, to suppress those ambitious people who try to rebel! "

"Before that, we need to fight a bloody battle with the Prussian and get our morale out. We need to let Bismark and the others know that if they want to win, they need to fight with ten times the risk of their lives!"

"Hit them until their hearts bled, hit them until their hearts trembled … Only then will they negotiate with us equally! "

"Remember, we are signing a truce, not a surrender! There's a world of difference between the two results! "

All the generals were worried about their own future. The great revolution of eighty years ago seemed very far away, but it was something that their parents and ancestors had personally experienced.

In that bloody massacre, how many aristocratic families were wiped out? How many ambitious people were there? The entire social class had been turned upside down. The ten Seine rivers of blood that had been lost could not be contained.

Thinking about their villa in Paris, imagining their wives and children, and their young and beautiful lovers, these were all happy lives. Once the revolution broke out, all of this would be for naught.

McMahon took the chance and struck the iron while it was hot: "Gentlemen, if we go forward and fight to the death, perhaps many of us will die …" If we retreat, most of us will die! "

"Is it the cowardly waiting for the destruction of all? Or do you want to fight bravely? To fight for that chance? I think this choice is not that difficult to make! "

"All of you know that A Erfulade died, but what you don't know is that in the end, A Erfulade and the rest died while singing the song of the Marseille, and in the end, they did not lose face for the empire!"

"In that bloody battle at sini, he earned the honor of our France's Aristocratic Legion! Xiao Letian personally promised to bury those brave nobles! "

"He wants the sini to build more monuments and carvings on the walls. He will not only be commemorating his men, he will also commemorate our brave soldiers!"

"A Erfulade used his life in exchange for the enemy's respect, but what about us? Can't you just risk it all? "

"Marshal!" You don't have to … In this bloody battle, we will personally take part in the front lines, and we vow to defend Saidang to our deaths! "

"Without bullets, we still have bayonets and swords. Even if it's a melee fight, we will still have to fight to the death!"

"We will fight to the last soldier! The only choice is to fight to the death! "

McMahon felt his nose sour, and said extremely excited: "Prepare for battle! The more time passes, the better we have to make the soldiers eat, and give us as much food as possible … It's been a long day! "

The generals immediately dispersed. Soon enough, the massive Sedan stronghold began to bustle with activity. The logistics officers were ordered to move out the food, and soon enough, every unit received sufficient rations.

Each company began to set up a large pot of oatmeal porridge. The whole ham was sliced into pieces by bayonets and thrown into the porridge. The last piece of baguette was then distributed among them.

The sleeping soldiers were almost all enticed awake by the fragrance of the food. When they saw such a sumptuous breakfast today, they started to fight like vicious dogs.

A bowl of steaming oatmeal and two pieces of burnt baguettes gave them the feeling of recuperating in Paris for breakfast.

But after the soldiers finished eating, they discovered that the military officers in the group abnormally didn't rest in their own tents, and instead sat alone in the corner, sharpening their knives.

The warblade that was filled with the vicissitudes of history was splashed with clear water. His ancestor once brought him along to accompany Napoleon in his expedition to Egypt.

Grandfather passed it on to his father, and his father passed it on to him. Today, it was his turn to drink human blood!

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