The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 815: Can Paris "Greek" this time?

Late at night on August 8, in a hidden meeting room in the Tuileries Palace, Thiers, Favre, Gambetta and other bourgeois republican and royalist leaders sat around an oak table covered with documents. The light of the kerosene lamp cast a series of curled and twisted shadows on the wall, just like their thoughts at the moment.

"We have the key to the Bank of France." Thiers tapped his fingers on the table. "But the International Workingmen's Association and the Bonapartists will not give up power easily."

Favre sneered: "This afternoon, Varlan announced at the district trade union meeting that he would implement an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage law - they are trying to make a revolution, not save the country!"

Gambetta frowned: "But we need armed workers. The Prussians may come to the city at any time."

"Then stabilize them first." Thiers took out a list from his arms, "The key positions in the National Defense Government - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Defense - must be held by our people. As for the Mayor of Paris and the Commander of the City Defense..." He paused, "You can temporarily give them to the Bonapartists and let them fight the Prussians to the death."

"What about the people from the International Workingmen's Association?" Favre frowned. "Oh, that Moore is a senior adviser to the British royal family and was previously an ambassador to the Kingdom of Korea! And the International Workingmen's Association was founded in the UK."

"Then give them some unimportant posts, such as Minister of Labor and Minister of Social Welfare." Thiers lit a cigar, "Let them deal with wages and working hours, and don't get in our way."

At the same time, in an officers' lounge in the Invalides, Prince Napoleon was having a secret conversation with several Bonapartist generals.

"The Guards have sworn allegiance to the Republic." The prince ran his finger across the map, "But we can't rely on the militia alone to defend Paris."

"We need to form a new regular army." An old general whispered, "Recruit those experienced veterans and equip them with new rifles."

"But the National Defense Government will not agree." Another officer was worried. "The Republicans are afraid of the army, and the workers' faction wants to disband all the officer corps."

Prince Napoleon shook his head and said: "Paris must become an impregnable fortress. Only if we defend Paris will the Bonapartists have a foothold on the French political stage in the future. Otherwise..."

He stood up, walked to the window and looked at the brightly lit town hall in the distance.

"Go and tell Trochu that if he will support me as commander of the city, I will support him as provisional president of the republic."

In a printing house in the Saint-Antoine district, Varlin, Blanqui, More, Friedrich and others were convening an emergency meeting of the International Workingmen's Association.

"Thiers and his gang are already plotting to divide up power." Blanqui slammed his fist on the table. "They want to exclude us from the core decision-making!"

Varlan frowned. "But we need their funds and diplomatic channels. Without the support of the Bank of France, we can't even afford a month's worth of food."

Moore slowly exhaled a puff of smoke: "Who said we need their funds and diplomatic channels?"

All eyes turned to him.

Friedrich answered for Moore: "The International Workingmen's Association has raised 500,000 pounds of revolutionary funds, as well as 200 tons of saltpeter, 500 Mitreus multi-barreled guns, 200,000 meters of barbed wire, 45,000 tons of flour, 10,000 barrels of American light crude oil, and 2,000 tons of Brazilian rubber."

Moore's eyes swept across everyone's faces: "Don't forget that the Chinese Datong Association is also a member of the International Workingmen's Association, and Frederick and I are senior advisers to the British royal family! So we have our own sources of funds and diplomatic channels, and we can also get the military supplies needed to defend Paris. If Trochu and Thiers want to use money and diplomatic channels to control us, they are wrong! Moreover, the gold reserves in the Bank of France belong to the entire French people, not their private property!"

Varlan's brows relaxed a little: "Then should we still cooperate with them?"

"Of course! Defending Paris requires a lot of resources. Just because we have them doesn't mean we don't need more!" Moore's voice was calm and firm. "But the positions of Paris City Defense Commander, Police Director, Defense Minister, and the future President of the Bank of France must be held by our people or reliable Bonapartists."

"Bonapartists?" Blanqui was incredulous. "Those lackeys of the empire?" "Prince Napoleon still has several thousand guards," Moore said calmly. "The capital of the Bonapartists in politics is their willingness to fight. Now we give him one last chance. He will definitely do his best, and I am confident that he will not betray us."

Varlan took a deep breath and said, "So, at the three-faction meeting tomorrow, we are going to support Prince Napoleon as the city defense commander?"

"Yes." Moore nodded, "but the condition is - he must accept workers' representatives into the military command, and his people must help us train the National Guard. In addition, he must set up a quick officer school for us. Paris workers must have their own army!"

On the morning of August 8, in the conference hall of the Tuileries Palace, Thiers, Prince Napoleon and More sat in a triangle, surrounded by Republican parliamentarians, Bonapartist officers and workers' representatives. The air was filled with the mixed smell of cigar tobacco and strong coffee.

Thiers was the first to break the silence, tapping on a list of the Bank of France's gold reserves with his fingertips: "Gentlemen, what Paris needs is a provisional government that can unite all parties." He deliberately pushed the list to the center of the table, and the edges of the paper curled up due to excessive reading. "The Bank of France's gold reserves are enough to support three years of war - provided that we can establish a legitimate government."

Prince Napoleon sneered, his boots rolling heavily across the ground: "Legal? Defending Paris is the greatest legality! There are less than 120 rifles in Paris, and they are all old Minié rifles. There are only 2500 Mitellius multi-barreled guns, and the number of artillery is even less, and they are all outdated smoothbore cannons! In addition, the food reserves in Paris are not enough. Once surrounded, it will soon fall into food shortage. There are more than one million people in Paris now. At least more than 500 tons of wheat are needed per month, and at least 2000 tons of food must be prepared for three months. In addition, the stock of gunpowder is not enough. If we want to organize defenders to hold Paris for three months, at least tons of gunpowder are needed. Now the gunpowder stock in Paris is only tons, and there is still a shortage of tons. It must be replenished as soon as possible."

Everyone couldn't help but frown when they heard what Prince Napoleon said. 2000 tons of grain, tons of gunpowder, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of guns and hundreds of cannons.
At this moment, Moore suddenly pulled out a roll of telegrams from his bosom and placed it on the oak table: "Twenty cargo ships set sail from Portsmouth last night, carrying more than 50 tons of American flour, tons of gunpowder, British Enfield rifles and Armstrong breech-loading cannons."

More deliberately emphasized the "Portsmouth Harbor," the "British Enfield Rifle," and the "Armstrong Breech-Loading Gun," and Trochu, Thiers, Favre, Gambetta, and others could not help raising their eyebrows.

Gambetta then took over Moore's words: "Since Mr. Moore is so resourceful, why not let the workers' association take charge of military supplies?"

Moore captured the other party's deeper calculation: Gambetta wanted to shift the responsibility for material shortages to the workers.

"The Ministry of Munitions can be handed over to Varlan." Moore took advantage of the situation and took over the Ministry of Munitions. Then he proposed his own conditions, "But the guards of the Bank of France's vault must be a mixture of the National Guard and the Guards - after all, who can guarantee that someone will not transport the gold overnight."

"The treasury of the Bank of France can be handed over to the National Guard and the Guards, but the Minister of Finance must be the banker Perego!" Thiers immediately put forward a new request...

The tripartite meeting lasted for seven or eight hours until the afternoon of that day, when they reluctantly reached an agreement. According to the "Tripartite Agreement", the commander of the Paris defense was assigned to Prince Napoleon, but each regiment must be equipped with a worker representative to supervise the commander; Blanqui was appointed as the chief of police, and his 3,000 worker pickets could legally carry guns; and the Minister of Munitions, Varlin, was granted the right of requisition and could seal up any store that hoarded supplies.

In addition, More also used lunch time to reach a secret agreement with Prince Napoleon: the International Workingmen's Association supported Prince Napoleon in expanding the "Paris Guard" to 6 people, in exchange for Prince Napoleon training the National Guard for the workers in the city of Paris and opening a crash course military school to train 500 worker officers within months.

When Thiers signed the document, Moore was gazing out the window. Under the gaslight of Saint-Denis Street, teams of "Eastern Crusaders" from Rome were coming from the direction of the train station with rifles. The middle-aged officer leading the team looked familiar. He seemed to be the Japanese revolutionary Sakuma Shozan whom Moore had met in the East.
Late at night on August 8, on the upper floor of the Baiswen Company on Saint-Denis Street in Paris, in the dim light of a kerosene lamp, Moore and Friedrich were having a secret conversation.

"The Prussian army has advanced another ten kilometers." Friedrich pointed to an arrow on the map. "If they continue to move west, Paris will not last more than a month."

Moore lit his pipe and took a deep drag. "So we need them to turn eastward—to annex Austria."

“Will they listen to us?”

"Tell Bismarck that a Red France will tie up the energy of all the monarchies in Europe." Moore's finger ran across Vienna on the map. "If Paris becomes the beacon of revolution, the Tsar and the British authorities will be busy suppressing the workers' movement at home. Who will have time to manage the expansion of Prussia?"

Friedrich groaned: "But Bismarck's goal is to completely suppress France..."

"So you have to remind him..." Moore tapped the corner of the table, "If Prussia breaks through Paris now, it will only make Thiers and Bonaparte the tyrant, and France will get the support of Britain and Russia. But if we can establish a workers' regime here, the bourgeoisie throughout Europe will point their guns at Paris, not Berlin."

(End of this chapter)