Father of France

Chapter 19 A Unified Army

Once French women gain the right to vote, it won't be so easy. There's a saying that a man can't guarantee he's the biological father, but a woman can guarantee she's the biological mother.

This kind of operation, which clearly doubts a woman's fidelity, would certainly cause controversy in peacetime. Koeman always believed in the boxer's ability to make connections.

Fortunately, there is a brief window of opportunity at this moment, and things that are not usually possible can be done now.

The national blood bank plan was thus implemented under the guise of revenge against Germany. The Youth Division was divided into four parts according to its organizational structure and headed to various locations, with Paris as the center.

At this time, the French people also learned another piece of news: de Gaulle met with Thomas de la Tour, the leader of the French Communist Party, who had returned from Moscow. After negotiations, the French Communist Party was willing to hand over command of its armed forces and establish a unified French army under de Gaulle's leadership.

The French Communist Party (CCP) had its own armed forces. General Dragon was in Sardinia, and north of Sardinia is Corsica, which was liberated by the French Communist Party through armed forces.

On this island alone, there were 15,000 armed men under the command of the French Communist Party, who liberated France's largest island without the assistance of the Allies.

The French Communist Party (CCP) had developed 250,000 resistance fighters across France, but Torres' compromise displeased André Martí, the CCP's armed commander. Martí did not understand Torres' compromise, and the two had a heated argument. The leaders attending the CCP meeting had differing opinions.

Charles de Gaulle, who was temporarily working at the city hall, already knew the inside story of this dispute within the French Communist Party. After listening to the report, he nodded almost imperceptibly.

“General, France has 250,000 armed men.” Pompidou was somewhat worried. This was not a factor that could be ignored. His experience as a trade representative made him hesitant about such a confrontation.

“That’s precisely why we need to establish a strong and unified central army. Otherwise, the future problems will be very serious. We certainly cannot become a vassal of Britain and the United States, but becoming a vassal of the Slavs is not a good idea either. Being caught in the middle is indeed uncomfortable.” De Gaulle said decisively, his eyes slightly narrowed.

De Gaulle always had a vague feeling that the threat from the United States was no less than that from the Soviet Union, and in his two years of contact with the Americans, he had come to deeply feel that the Americans looked down on France at that time.

This may also be related to the fact that he himself was not a French leader supported by the Americans. The Americans supported General Giraud, but not all of them. Supporting General Giraud and believing that de Gaulle was not one of the Americans was only one factor.

The most crucial factor was that France was quickly defeated by Germany in this war, which violated the ironclad law that might makes right, and the United States no longer regarded France as a powerful nation.

Wartime can solve problems that are impossible to solve in peacetime, a fact that even Koeman understood. This is even more true for De Gaulle, who led France. If he hadn't intervened to take back the French Communist Party's armed forces, it would have been even more difficult for anyone else to do so.

At Les Invalides in Paris, the lawns are manicured like freshly cut hair, and the stone paths are swept clean of every fallen leaf.

Napoleon's tomb is in the center; the massive red sarcophagus is housed in the basement, visible only after descending a flight of steps. The sarcophagus is surrounded by inscriptions detailing his military exploits: Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland…

Under the guise of visiting wounded soldiers, Corman came here and talked with some of them, mainly inquiring about their needs for protection of soldiers' rights. He recorded these in order to communicate with Henri Freyner. However, Corman certainly kept quiet about financial assistance, as the country was still in a difficult situation and the war was not over yet, so it was too early to talk about that.

When Alain arrived at Les Invalides in Paris, he asked around but couldn't find Corman. Finally, he learned that Corman was in the exhibition hall, which displayed weapons and uniforms from various dynasties, from rusty medieval armor to brand-new, gleaming rifles. Corman was standing with his back to the entrance, seemingly examining the exhibits carefully. Alain walked over quietly and gently patted Corman on the back. "Corman."

"Hmm." Koman reluctantly withdrew his gaze, as if he had given up a rare treasure due to an irresistible external force, and asked absentmindedly, "How did we find this place?"

"Would you like to take a look at some of the Antioch Regiment's investigation reports?" Alan had never seen Koman look at him like that before. It was like the eyes of a couple deeply in love. But apart from some wounded soldiers recuperating, where were the women here? Could it be a nurse, or a nun who came to help?
"Furthermore, there are reports that the provisional government is negotiating with the French Communist Party to bring the armed forces under its command under the unified command of the provisional government."

"Strengthen the central army and dilute the cohesion of the French Communist Party with multiple parties." Corman concluded with a confident tone, a plan devised by de Gaulle as the leader of the provisional government during the post-war period.

The fundamental reason, of course, was the fear of a French Communist revolution. The fact that 250,000 armed men were fighting against the Germans under the leadership of the French Communist Party was indeed a huge advantage for France at that time.

Therefore, de Gaulle chose to start with the military, annexing the French Communist Party's armed forces to establish a unified French army, while diluting the influence of the French Communist Party through multi-party cooperation.

In fact, de Gaulle's ambitions went beyond this. According to General de Gaulle's vision, the Fourth French Republic should be a presidential republic, not a parliamentary one. De Gaulle had finally managed to suppress the French Communist Party, but he failed in his confrontation with supporters of a parliamentary system, ending his less than two-year term as leader of France.

Even ten years later, when he returned with the support of the French army in Algeria, de Gaulle still failed to establish a presidential system, and France's political system became a semi-presidential system.

After a moment of thought, Koeman replied, "A country cannot have two armies, one that listens to the state and the other to the French Communist Party. At this moment, General de Gaulle certainly needs the army to voice its support. Let's go."

Before leaving, Koeman couldn't help but glance at the exhibits before walking out of the Invalides. Alan wondered what was so attractive and followed Koeman's gaze to look at the product label: Napoleon III's Scepter.

Koeman's gaze was just like Yuan Shikai staring at the dragon robe, or Zhu Zhanji holding the Imperial Seal of the State, a gaze that Alan noticed.

On the way back to the Judicial Purification Committee, Alain also introduced the areas now under the jurisdiction of the Youth Division: "Northern France is divided into three parts, from west to east, respectively handled by the Edessa Division, the Tripoli Division, and the Jerusalem Division. With such a large population in Paris, our Antioch Division is under great pressure."

The Youth Division did not have a formal organizational structure. The regiment level was named by several countries established by the Crusades. Koman and a few others belonged to the Antioch Regiment.

At Place de la Fabien, the red flag of the French Communist Party headquarters was very eye-catching. Corman, who was just passing by, suddenly stopped and turned to look at the building of the French Communist Party headquarters.

A dozen minutes later, under Alain's as if he had seen a ghost, Coman came out with a party membership card and said as he walked, "General de Gaulle needs support now. If the First Army can be the first to stand up and call for support for the unified command of the French army, it will be most beneficial to us."

"Do you want to see what you're saying?" Alan, who had just watched Koeman put his party membership card in his pocket, had a thousand words in his mind, but in the end, only one ambiguous voice rang out, "Hmm!"

(End of this chapter)