Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 1237 The Emperor's Decision

"The army surrendered alone? Thank you for thinking of such a reason. You are really whimsical!" After listening to De Gaulle's suggestion, Gan Molin jumped out immediately. "What you are doing is damaging the honor of our French Army and splitting France's national defense. Therefore, I firmly oppose it!" Gan Molin yelled at de Gaulle.

"Then I'll replace you!" The current de Gaulle was completely irritated by the other party's arrogance.He also jumped up, pointing his arm straight at the other's forehead and shouting loudly: "I will immediately issue an order in the name of the French President. You, Gan Molin, have been relieved of all duties. Please leave immediately .” After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and made a gesture of seeing off the guests.

"Hahaha!" Gan Molin suddenly laughed loudly. "De Gaulle, your thinking is too simple. You can't decide to dismiss me alone, but you must get the consent of the French Parliament." After a pause, he continued: "The relationship between a monarch and a president There is no similarity between them, because the former can legally claim to represent a country and can quickly replace someone, while the latter, he does not have that much power. Moreover, once the head of France steps down, he will quickly It was replaced by someone else, and it was quickly forgotten." After speaking, Gan Molin sat down again, looked at the other party with provocative eyes, and the meeting was suddenly cold.

Just when the situation was deadlocked, Deputy Prime Minister Camille Chaudang stepped forward and made a suggestion: "I think France should ask China about the conditions of the truce, instead of directly asking for an armistice." Having said that, Xiaodang He stopped and looked at the reactions of the people. Fortunately, no one jumped out to criticize this suggestion, so he continued: "If we directly ask for an armistice. In that case, the armistice conditions proposed by China will definitely be very harsh. Harsh It is unacceptable. In this way, we can use this opportunity in turn to unite the French who have gradually lost their confidence and make the people accept the behavior of leaving the mainland to fight in North Africa.” Although, he said relatively High-sounding, but also very deceptive, so as soon as Xiao Dang's words came out, he immediately won the approval of many people.After all, this kind of centrist approach is still good from the current point of view.But everyone ignores the fact that where is the bottom line for harsh treaties?Is it not to cede land?Or just admit defeat?This is a question worth considering.

Therefore, as soon as Xiao Dang's words came out, he was immediately opposed by de Gaulle: "I must point out that inquiring about the conditions of an armistice is the same as asking for an armistice."

Seeing that the people present were happily talking about the bottom line of the French negotiations, de Gaulle stood up again and poured cold water on everyone, "With our current situation, as long as we start to seek negotiations, we can't retreat, we can only talk , and as long as this matter is announced, the remaining morale of the army and the people will be completely lost. So I absolutely disagree!" De Gaulle hit the nail on the head with one sentence.

But most of the MPs did not listen to de Gaulle.Obviously, Xiao Dang's proposal is more in line with their appetite.So de Gaulle had no choice but to propose a voting system to make the final decision on this matter.Soon, in a vote, 13 ministers endorsed the proposal.Only six ministers opposed or abstained.obviously.The French appear to be in favor of the proposal.

So desperation de Gaulle had no choice but to notify the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the proposal first, and prepared to hand it over to the Senate that afternoon for approval.

At noon, the British reply came, and Churchill set out the conditions of the British: "Only when the French fleet sails into the British port before the armistice negotiations, the British will agree to France's inquiry about the terms of the armistice." Of course, this telegram dealt a heavy blow to the British. De Gaulle, because he knew.This request of the United Kingdom will not get Darlan's consent in the first place.This also means that it is impossible to get its ally, Britain, to agree to armistice negotiations between France and China.

At 1 p.m., the Senate meeting officially began.The meeting had just started, before everyone could sit still, Petain stood up.

"I have decided to resign as the current Minister of Defense!" Petain said coldly to everyone present.As soon as his words came out, a heavy bomb was dropped in the entire parliament. Everyone stopped talking and looked at this respected old man quietly.

"Well! I don't want to hold a position in this hopeless Communist Party anymore. I don't want to participate in a middle life that is about to abandon all people and leave France. I don't want to cater to those militants and Despicable politicians ruined the whole country for their own selfishness. So I am going to leave, France must be self-reliant and must not rely on foreign countries!" After hearing this passage, everyone knew that the old man had started to act.He began a showdown with de Gaulle and Prime Minister Renault.

After Petain dropped the bombshell, de Gaulle had to order an adjournment.Then several people discussed the current issue of Petain, but no results were reached.

When the meeting continued at 5 p.m., Renault suddenly announced the request for the establishment of the British-French special alliance. This special alliance is actually transformed from two countries into one country to jointly fight against China.But what happened next was far beyond Renault's expectations.The proposal to form an Anglo-French alliance was immediately opposed by almost everyone.Most cabinet members believe that this plan is to reduce France to a status similar to that of an autonomous dominion, and to completely reduce France to a second-rate country. This is absolutely not allowed by the proud French.

Even Mandel, who has always supported Renault, questioned his comrades loudly: "For us, defeat and surrender can at least guarantee that France is a sovereign country, and if it merges with the United Kingdom, we can only be an overseas dominion of the United Kingdom. , is equivalent to Australia. Are we going to put the proud French crown on the head of the British king?"

Hearing this, Renault was completely desperate. He said in his final speech: "I have suffered a complete setback. This is the biggest disappointment in my life."

Chaudan once again took the opportunity to put forward his proposal, but the frustrated Renault simply replied that Britain refused to end the alliance obligations with France, and he was too lazy to repeat the content of the telegram sent by Britain.

At 6 p.m., a telegram came from General George.Telegram briefly explained the dire situation.It was difficult for troops to move because of blocked roads and bombed railways and bridges.From the present point of view, a decision has been absolutely necessary.This bad news from the front completely broke the tired Renault.The opposition of each member to the Anglo-French alliance left the French prime minister feeling alienated.He felt he could no longer lead a party that did not have the support of a majority of cabinet members.So he announced another adjournment.After that, he was disheartened.Offered his resignation to the French President: "I propose that Marshal Pétain form a new cabinet in order to achieve the truce he has always advocated."

Hearing Lei Nuo's words, the cabinet members were all dumbfounded.Those ministers who supported Reynaud were particularly angry that, for their part, Reynaud had taken the decision, which affected all cabinet members, without any consultation with them.Everyone is incredible.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, de Gaulle called Petain to his office.He simply congratulated the old man on becoming the new prime minister and asked him to start forming a cabinet immediately.But to everyone's surprise, Petain immediately opened the file package and took out a list from it: "This is mine."

De Gaulle was surprised and pleased when he heard the news. He said happily: "I remember how difficult it was to organize a new one during my tenure as president. It usually took three or four days to finalize it. But this time, you only took 1 minute. That's great."

In this short period of 1 minute, the 107th and last session of the French Third Republic took place in the shortest time in history.

Just before midnight, the new cabinet held its first meeting.Petain spent 30 minutes introducing the entire cabinet, and then the meeting quickly passed the official communiqué on the reshuffle, which was to be published in the morning papers.Subsequently, the new French President took less time than reading this short official communiqué to make the following decision: France should ask China to propose conditions for the cessation of hostilities between the two sides.

The ministers agreed, and they assigned Baudouin to seek the terms of an armistice from China through the Spanish ambassador.

The history of France will turn a dark page.

Not long after receiving the news, at the invitation of Guan Xuqing, Kaiser Wilhelm II flew to Beijing urgently, and the two countries held a formal meeting in the Zhengda Guangming Hall of the Old Summer Palace.

This was the first official meeting between the two giants since the formation of the German Fourth Reich.However, compared with the powerful William II before World War I, this time, facing the powerful Chinese emperor, he took the initiative to lower himself to a subordinate position.

China almost single-handedly went out to win; after some calm analysis, William II also knew that this meeting was nothing more than asking him to obey the decision of the Chinese emperor.So he carefully put forward Germany's request. Germany needs the northern mountains of France as its own territory.In addition, all French islands in the Mediterranean including Saint-Naille and Corsica are required, as well as all French colonies around the Mediterranean. "

But what surprised William II was that Guan Xuqing rejected his request.

"I decided to make peace. I don't need to occupy all of France. I just ask France to stop the war with us, and take back the land and status we want by the way."

(End of this chapter)