The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 820: The red flag of Paris is flying, and the Prussian army is approaching
On September 1867, 9, the sun was shining brightly in Paris with a gentle autumn breeze. The streets were crowded with French people who were full of expectations for the future.

The soldiers of the National Guard stood on the street with their guns pointed downwards, but their eyes were alert. Their mission today was to defend - to defend the most fair, just and extensive vote in French history!
All Parisians, including women, had the right to vote and were eligible to cast a vote that could decide the future of France.

In the square in front of the town hall, more than a hundred polling stations were lined up, and there were long queues in front of each polling station. Workers wearing coarse clothes, holding voter ID cards in their hands, waited patiently. Women held their children, and the elderly leaned on crutches, all with a solemn expression on their faces.

"This is the first time," an old shoemaker said to the young worker beside him, "the first time we have a regime that truly belongs to us!"

The young worker nodded and glanced at the Red Guards standing not far away. They were wearing ordinary work clothes, but with pistols on their waists and sharp eyes. They did not interfere with the voting, but just made sure that no one messed up, no one threatened voters, and no one paid for votes.

The ballot was very simple, with only one line of words on the front: "French Workers' Association - Fight against Putin to the end, and never sign a humiliating treaty!"

On the other hand, the workers' association advocated: an eight-hour workday; compulsory seven years of education; a minimum wage law; confiscation of church and noble land and distribution to landless and landless peasants; democratization of the army - soldiers have the right to elect soldiers' committees and supervise officers; and state takeover of banks, railways and important factories related to the anti-Putin cause.

Under the workers' association's proposal, there are also two options: "for" or "against".

This vote was not an "election" but a referendum, or more precisely, part of a revolution - a confirmation by the people of Paris of the revolutionary achievements of the French Workers' Association!

If the vast majority of Parisians voted "yes", then the Workers' Association would have full authority to rule Paris and implement revolutionary measures, and would be able to go all out.

The voting lasted three full days without any violence and certainly without any fraud.

On the morning of the fourth day, the results were announced: the French Workers' Association received over 99% support!

Subsequently, the French Workers' Association announced the formation of the Provisional Supreme Council of France - this committee will have full power during the anti-Prussian war!
The chairman of the committee was Louis-Auguste Blanqui; the military commissar was Jaroslav Dombrovsky; the economic commissar was Eugène Varlin; the foreign affairs commissar was Karl Moore; the justice commissar was Delcroze; the propaganda commissar was Eugène Pottier; the education and social commissar was a woman named Louise Michel; the labor commissar was Emile Duval; and the safety commissar was Raoul Rigaud.

When the list was read out on the balcony of the Town Hall, thunderous cheers broke out in the square.

"Long live France!"

"Long live the Workers' Association!"

Red flags are flying over the streets and alleys of Paris!
On September 9, a temporary trial platform was set up in the Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris.

Trochu, Thiers and Perregault were brought up, charged with "treason" - selling out Paris's defense deployment to Prussia in an attempt to overthrow the Government of National Defense.

Today, they will receive the fairest trial under the angry gazes of tens of thousands of onlookers!
Judicial Commissioner Delcroze sat in the center of the bench and looked at them coldly.

"Perego," he began, "what do you have to say?"

Perego's face turned pale, his legs trembled, he glanced at Trochu and Thiers beside him, and suddenly knelt down.

"I plead guilty!" he screamed. "I plead guilty! I betrayed the information to the Prussians! But I was forced to do it! It was Trochu and Thiers who ordered me to do it! I beg for forgiveness, don't kill me, I am willing to do hard labor!"

Trochu turned his head suddenly, his eyes blazing with fire: "You coward!"

Thiers sneered: "Do you think they will let you go? Think of the guillotine during the Great Revolution!"

Delecluse banged his gavel for silence.

"Perego has pleaded guilty and has performed meritorious service," he announced. "He is sentenced to confiscation of all his property in France and expulsion from the country, to be carried out today. Perego, you can now go to London and live a good life."

Perego was so excited that he almost cried, as if he had been pardoned: "Long live France! Long live the Workers' Association!"

He originally thought that he would have to work as a laborer digging trenches, but he was released and allowed to go to London. Although his property in France was no longer safe, the money he had in London was enough for him to spend for ten lifetimes.
When two Red Guards came forward and carried him away from the square, he kept saying "thank you"!

Derecluse turned his eyes towards Trochu and Thiers.

The two looked ashen--if Perego was also going to die, even if it meant hard labor, their mentality would be better. But now he was going to enjoy his life in London, and they...was it too late to surrender now?

"As for you," said Delecruse coldly, "you are sentenced to death and executed immediately."

The square suddenly became quiet.

Trochu and Thiers were also heartbroken - immediate execution, without appeal?
The Red Guards immediately rushed over, picked up the two remorseful reactionaries, and dragged them directly to the wall at the edge of the square. The firing squad was ready. The two men were blindfolded and thrown to the wall. The Red Guards immediately dodged. Then someone shouted, "Shoot!"

"clap clap"

Several gunshots rang out, and the two men fell heavily to the ground, dying before they could even scream.
In a nearby building, Foreign Affairs Commissioner Moore and Friedrich, who was about to become the British ambassador, stood at the window, watching all this silently.

"What do you think?" Friedrich asked.

Moore lit his pipe and took a deep puff: "It's a lot better than the Great Revolution." Friedrich smiled: "At least there is no guillotine."

"But it's not enough." Moore shook his head. "This is just the beginning. The real test is still to come. We have to beat back the Prussians before we can establish a true workers' state in France!"

In another building, Prince Napoleon, the new commander-in-chief of the French National Army, and Rinko were also watching the execution in the square.

"My cousin's biggest mistake," the prince whispered, "was that he didn't execute the royalists and didn't confiscate the lands of the nobility and the church and distribute them to the common people. He wanted to please everyone, and in the end everyone hated him."

Rinko smiled slightly: "The current workers' association only pleases its own base, and it is very thorough."

The prince nodded: "So they won. At least they won today! But next, they still have to withstand the attack of the Prussians!"

Metz train station, filled with steam.

A row of military trains spewed thick smoke and slowly drove into the platform. The doors of the carriages opened, and Prussian soldiers in gray uniforms poured out like a tide and quickly lined up on the platform. Their boots stepped on the stone floor, making a neat roar.

"First Guards Division, assembled!"

"Third Artillery Brigade, get ready!"

The officers' roars rose one after another.

At the other end of the platform, a crane was unloading Krupp breech-loading guns from a flatbed truck. These steel behemoths shone coldly in the sun, with barrels as thick as tree trunks and frames as heavy as mountains. Engineers used chains and pulleys to secure them to a special gun carriage, which was then towed to the assembly area by a horse team.

"These guns can penetrate any wall in Paris." Hindenburg, who had been promoted to lieutenant of artillery, said to a major beside him.

The major sneered: "I wish the workers in Paris knew how to surrender."

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the end of the platform. Soldiers made way for a distinctive train to slowly roll in - it was Prussia's secret weapon: an armored train.

The front of the car was covered with 25mm thick steel plates, with firing holes on both sides, and a rotating turret on the top of the car, equipped with a 4-pound breech-loading gun and a Gatling machine gun. "Iron Armored Chariot No. " was painted in German on the body.

"Oh my god," a young private muttered, "this thing will crush everything."

His squad leader, Sergeant Adolf, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't be in a daze, kid, get ready to get on the bus!"

At the same time, another even larger train slowly stopped on the dedicated track. This was Krupp's latest railway gun, the "Friedrich the Great". Its barrel was 4.5 meters long and 150 mm in diameter, enough to deliver a 50-kilogram shell to a target 10 kilometers away.

"This thing can blow down the gates of Paris with one shot from 10 kilometers away!" an engineer proudly said to Moltke.

Moltke nodded, his eyes grim: "Very good, it's time to let the workers of Paris have a taste of Prussian steel."

As night fell, the headquarters of the Metz Fortress was brightly lit.

Moltke stood in front of the huge sand table with a gloomy face.

"The red flag has been raised in Paris," he said coldly, "but we can't let them be complacent for too long."

Commander of the First Army, Steinmetz, Commander of the Second Army, Prince Friedrich Karl, and Commander of the Third Army, Prince Albrecht, stood by with solemn expressions.

"March on Paris!" Moltke slammed his baton.

"Remember," he looked around at everyone, "our goal is not to occupy Paris, but to destroy the regime of the Workers' Association. His Majesty William wants an obedient France, not a hotbed of revolution!"

The three commanders responded in unison: "Yes!"

"The First Army will set out early tomorrow morning and advance toward Verdun along the railway line." Moltke continued to issue orders, "The Second Army will encircle Paris from the southeast and cut off its connection with the outside world. The Third Army will serve as the general reserve and provide support at any time."

"Where is our powerful reserve artillery?" Steinmetz asked.

"Deploy them all on the Saint-Denis Plateau," Moltke replied, "where the view is wide and can cover the whole of Paris."

"Where's the armored train?"

"Maneuver along the railway line, specifically against the workers' barricades."

The officers quickly recorded the order, then saluted and left.

Moltke stood alone at the window, looking at the night sky in the distance - how long would the red flag of Paris fly there?
(End of this chapter)