The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1340 Inside Story
In this life, Napoleon III did not have the opportunity to display his talents. The continuous wars even made him think that the Republicans were crazy.

But no matter what, Napoleon III's reputation and France's strength at this time were far lower than those in the same period. If this continued, I am afraid that he, as president, would become a victim of the Second French Republic.

However, if Napoleon III chose to stand up and stop the madness of the Republicans, he would either be ruined in the torrent of so-called public opinion, or be sidelined and become a puppet.

Traitor, running dog of the Austrian Empire, extreme conservative, hypocrite, coward, any one label could spell the end of his political career.

So could compromise help Napoleon III preserve his presidential position and political capital?

The answer is simply impossible.

Because this is not a cooperative game, but a zero-sum game, where the winner takes all and the loser gets nothing.

The elimination of the Order Party is the best proof that Albert de Lafleur not only wants his opponents to be ruined, he also wants to kill them all and eradicate them completely.

Even if Louis Napoleon survived until the fall of the Republicans, would he be left alone to face the domestic and international mess and the wrath of the Holy Alliance?
So would Louis Napoleon choose to surrender, or be exiled or imprisoned for life?
The situation was stronger than the man, so Napoleon III accepted Franz's seemingly crazy deal.

Sacrificing your opponent to gain the throne seems like a huge pie in the sky.

The price is the country's 100,000 troops, although these people are neither obedient nor strong enough to fight, and may even threaten its own regime in turn.

But after all, they were only 3400 strong men, and even if they were lost to the colonies, it would be better than being buried with the Republicans. Although France had nearly 3500 million people (more than million in the same period of history), the loss of troops would still affect the stability of the political situation.

Moreover, the loss of these 100,000 people will have an impact on all aspects of society, but in the mind of Napoleon III, it is nothing compared to the throne.

In a sense, it was also the will of the people that Louis Napoleon's Second Empire replaced the Second French Republic. The Second French Republic had always implemented policies of high pressure and high taxes.

If there were no foreign wars and the economy was doing well, this system could barely be maintained. But with the economic crisis and the continuous wars, it would be a miracle if the political situation could be maintained.

Without the stimulant of nationalism, the Second French Republic might have collapsed long ago.

Precisely because of what the Second French Republic had been doing, not many people stood up to oppose Louis Napoleon when he launched a coup.

No matter how generous the benefits promised by Albert de Lafleur were, no one was willing to take the risk. After all, it was not the first time that the government of the Second French Republic had broken its promises.

On the other hand, France's wealthy people could no longer tolerate such a precarious life, and state factories and state farms were simply unacceptable to them.

The Second French Republic was clearly incapable of controlling nationalism, and they needed a strong government to protect their property and prevent possible "new revolutions."

Just as they had made Louis Napoleon president, this time they would fully support him in becoming emperor.

France at this time had already shown revolutionary tendencies. If it had not been for the bloody suppression that had always taken place, and the placebo of nationalism, the flames of revolution would probably have burned throughout France long ago.

In addition, Franz had already spread the word that only monarchies could participate in the Vienna Peace Conference, and the Austrian Empire would not accept proposals from non-monarchies. This was also part of Franz's deal with Louis Napoleon. For Franz, it was not important whether Louis Napoleon was crowned, but it was important that there was no Second French Republic.

Even if Louis Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France, Franz was not obliged to recognize the former's legitimacy.

For Louis Napoleon, this condition would make his actions seem more legitimate, and even have some meaning of personal heroism and sacrifice.

This is very important for persuading the domestic opposition and stabilizing the situation in France. His seizing power through a coup at a time of national crisis will not appear despicable, but will instead appear to be full of human brilliance.

Louis Napoleon removed all obstacles on his way to the throne in one fell swoop, and Franz also achieved his strategic goals. It can be said that this was a win-win deal.

Everything happened so fast that the British were a little confused. Having just received news of France's surprise attack on the Kingdom of Sardinia, John Russell thought that the Vienna Peace Conference would be forced to end.

In order to make the situation more chaotic, Viscount Stratford left Vienna overnight and deliberately released a message claiming that he "did not want to be buried with the Austrians."

However, the next day the Austrian Empire announced a great victory west of the Ticino River. The reason why it emphasized west of the Ticino River was because that was the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the east naturally referred to Austria.

In less than a week, Louis Napoleon launched a coup and announced his acceptance of the Treaty of Vienna in one go.

The window period ended before the British had time to arrange their plans.

Of course, the British were still confused at this time, and what made them even more uncomfortable was yet to come. After Louis Napoleon's coup, he prepared a series of economic revitalization plans.

All of this would require a lot of money, so he decided to talk to the British.

Louis Napoleon did not really intend to default on his debts by doing this. He dared not not pay back the British money, but he was just using the debt issue to deepen the connection between the two.

France was too weak at this time and it needed a strong ally. This ally could obviously only be Britain, but in order to lock it down, it had to be tied to it with interests.

The same is true for Britain; the decline of France is not in the interests of the British Empire.

Although almost all the main leaders were arrested at the first opportunity, Louis Napoleon still launched a comprehensive sweep of the opposition in Paris.

On the other hand, Louis Napoleon was also mobilizing troops to wipe out opponents in the provinces, where riots were mainly concentrated in rural areas.

This is not to say that Louis Napoleon was bad to the peasants. On the contrary, as soon as he came to power, he issued a series of decrees to improve the current situation of the peasants.

However, these rebellions were not directed against the Second French Empire. Even if the Second French Republic continued to exist, rebellions would have occurred, and some of them had even occurred before.

The rebellion spread to twenty-seven departments, but was not intense except in the republican strongholds of the Vendée, the Rhône valley, Languedoc, and southern Provence.

The Napoleonic Code was dug out again, and the propaganda slogan of the Second French Republic, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", was torn down and thrown on the ground to be trampled upon.