Fox of France

Napoleon was taken aback for a moment, then put away his smiling face and said, "My brother, what do you have to say about this issue?"

"Napoleon," Joseph hesitated, and then said, "I want to know, in your goal, will France be a republic or an empire in the future?"

"Joseph, why do you doubt Napoleon?" Before Napoleon could speak, Lucien spoke in a dissatisfied tone.

"Shut up!" Joseph didn't even look at Lucien, but continued to stare at Napoleon. So Lucien became sullen and sat beside him without saying a word.

"What about the empire? What about the republic?" Napoleon originally planned to say directly, "Of course I want to be emperor", but for some reason, such words came out of his mouth, with words that even he hated. A word on the scent of weakness.

"Hahahaha," Joseph laughed, but there was no smile in his eyes at all, "My brother, you have also become a person who always makes 'I dare not' follow 'I want' Is it? But knowing how to conceal one's goal is also a mature performance. And, Napoleon, it is very rare, you raised a question that is very worth discussing, and it is not so stupid. What do you think is the difference between an empire and a republic, What are their strengths and weaknesses?"

This is a very broad question, but for Napoleon, it was a question he had to answer. Napoleon, who was full of secondary school thoughts, of course hoped to become emperor. But Napoleon also knew that without the support of Joseph, the position of the emperor would not be so easy to sit on. Even if you can't get Joseph's support, at least, you can't make Joseph object.

Napoleon knew that his eldest brother was a math monster. The math monster didn't mean Joseph's XX law, but that when this guy made a judgment, it was like doing a math problem. What kind of rhetoric? , Passion and so on, the value to him is equal to zero. He only cares about real power and interests, and he can only rely on these to convince him.

"Let's talk about the benefits of the empire for the family first." Napoleon said this. He knew that speaking from this angle would be the easiest to convince Joseph.

"If France becomes an empire and I become an emperor, our family will change from a small noble family to the top royal family in Europe. Some people in our family, such as you, such as Lucien, can become The king of a certain country in Europe, then our family will continue to prosper...Joseph, do you think it is right?"

Joseph said noncommittally: "So what's the harm? You don't think that a certain practice has only benefits and no harm?"

"Of course there are risks." Napoleon said, "Short-term risks, for example, we fail on the battlefield. Everything we have now is based on continuous victories on the battlefield. If we If we fail on the battlefield, we may be beaten back to our original shape. Well, this is the main risk in the short term, but I think, with your internal coordinated production and my battlefield command, I don’t think this risk How big it can be."

"And what about the long-term risk?" Joseph pressed.

"Long-term risk?" Napoleon laughed, "Joseph, in the long run, we are all going to die. This is the biggest long-term risk. Of course, in addition to this, in the long run, there is also the risk of revolution. Joseph , I know what you are worried about, you are nothing more than worried that one day in the future, the French people will be dissatisfied with us, and they will even overthrow our family like we overthrew Bourbon, or even overthrow Louis XVI—that Pushing some of our descendants to the guillotine is like a weak fool. But Joseph, even so, from the comparison of costs and benefits, have we really lost money? Or, our family Is it a loss?"

"Go on," Joseph said.

"Well, let's take Bourbon as an example. If the Bourbon family had not become the royal family of France, would their current situation be better than that of becoming the royal family of France?" Napoleon asked.

Then, without waiting for anyone to answer, Napoleon shook his head and said: "If the Bourbon family is still the Duke of Bourbon, they will not be able to escape the Great Revolution. Maybe the Duke of Bourbon and the Duchess of Bourbon will also be pushed to the guillotine, or It was directly hung on the lamppost. Even, because the entire family was in France, in the storm of 1993, the entire Bourbon family was wiped out, and it was possible that no one was left. But Bourbon What about when the family became royal? Even today, they even keep another crown in Spain.

So, Joseph, you see, it is much safer for the family to be King of France than to remain Duke of Bourbon. And if the Bourbon family is not even a duke, not even an aristocrat, but just an ordinary poor farmer in France, then there is no need for the turmoil of 1993. From 1584 to now, I don’t know how many times Things like famine, plague, war, lack of money to marry a wife, etc., can all make this ordinary commoner family die.

Joseph, I don't know if you have discovered that any existing commoner, if he traces his previous generations, it won't take long before he can get involved with the nobles. Their ancestors were likely to be fallen nobles, low-level knights, or their illegitimate children.

Joseph, why is this? Why do you seldom find a family that goes back several generations and is all common people? The reason is very simple. Because such a family cannot be passed on for so long, and within a few generations, they will lose their children and grandchildren because of the reasons I mentioned earlier. It is difficult for a poor family to inherit even more than three generations. A humble status is the greatest danger to a family. Joseph, do you think I'm right? "

"Papa..." Joseph clapped his hands. But the applause did not make Napoleon feel happy, because Joseph, who was applauding, didn't have any expression of joy on his face.

"Napoleon, you think deeply, and what you say makes sense." Joseph said, "But, have you considered the difference between our family and Bourbon? The Bourbon family can become a royal family because they already have Royal blood. However, our family, at least within the scope that can be traced back, does not have it. Of course, if it can be traced back to ancient Rome, or even Troy, then maybe there really is, but it is not, and I made it up for myself There is no difficulty for a powerful ancestor. However, even so, according to the basic rules of inheritance, the crown is not our family. Napoleon, don't rush to refute, listen to me.

Those feudal royal families will never agree with us. Of course, the power our family now possesses is enough to crush these so-called rules, thus setting a new rule for this world. We can completely rely on our own strength to turn ourselves into a royal family and oppress them to make them bow to us. This is not difficult, especially now that the "Zeus Project" has been basically successful, and the "Hephaestus Project" is also on the way to success, we can easily do this.

But, Napoleon, if we do this, tell me, what rules do we write? Just like what you said just now, people who are still alive are almost certain to have a noble ancestor. Even if they go all the way back, they might be able to catch up with a Greek hero, or a Trojan prince, or even an Egyptian. pharaoh. If people in our family can become emperors, then everyone can become emperors. Whether one can become an emperor or not is only related to strength and has nothing to do with other things. So we wrote down a brand new rule, this rule is: 'Princes and generals, would you rather have a kind? ’ Or to put it more clearly: ‘Is the emperor born noble? It's just the one with the strongest army in his hand. '

In this way, our family has become the target of everyone. On the civilian side, every talented and capable person will covet our crown and throne ambitiously; on the nobleman's side, everyone also hates us to the bone. Don't you think, Napoleon, how terrible this situation is? In our generation, with me and you, Lucien is an idiot, but he can barely use it. With the three of us, there will probably be no problems, but what about the future? Certainly our dominion cannot be as secure as that of Bourbon.

Moreover, in order to stabilize the rule, we must obtain the support of more people. And the reason why these people support us can only be for one reason, that is, we have brought them benefits. In other words, in order to guarantee our regime, we can only please those people. Napoleon, now you can ask the soldiers and the people to sacrifice for France, because they mistakenly think that France belongs to them. But if France becomes an empire, you no longer have the moral height to call on soldiers and people to sacrifice for France. Because France has become yours and no longer theirs, why should they sacrifice for you? At that time, the whole of France, whether it is the army or the people, will become mercenaries. As for the issue of mercenaries, if you are familiar with Roman history, it is impossible for you to be unclear.

Of course, even so, being able to become the new Roman royal family is a good thing for the family, and the benefits far outweigh the risks. However, there is only one chance in thousands of years to write the new rules of the whole world with your own hands - this is almost the opportunity to climb Mount Olympus and become a new god. It has fallen into our hands, and we will Is it used so recklessly? "