Chapter 176

St. Petersburg

Russian Foreign Minister Karl Wosser frowned and said: "Your Majesty, the minister in Paris has received news that Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was restored on January 1, 1852, calling himself Napoleon III."

When he heard the news of the restoration of Napoleon III, Nicholas I was angry. In his opinion, the upstart Napoleon family is not qualified to be the emperor of France.

This is not only his personal opinion, but also has practical interests. Napoleon came to power by popular election, breaking the tradition of "divine right of the monarchy" and shaking the foundation of all monarchy countries in Europe, which is also the origin of the anti-French war.

After finally suppressing this fallacy and heresy, and now allowing Napoleon III to restore it, isn't this an insult to all the participants in the Vienna Conference? The most important thing is to insult Alexander I.

What made him even more angry was that Napoleon III dared to challenge the majesty of the Russian Empire. After the Holy Land crisis broke out, the French government intervened, shaking the Russians' control over the Orthodox Church.

New hatred and old hatred are added together, and it is naturally impossible for Nicholas I to recognize the legitimacy of Napoleon III. If it weren't for the distance between the two sides, he would have used practical actions to let the French know the power of the Russian Empire.

Nicholas I said disdainfully: "Sure enough, he is a scumbag, he just plays some unprofessional tricks.

Ordered the ambassador to France to send a diplomatic note to the French government, condemning the shameless act of usurping Louis-Napoleon-Bonaparte and ordering him to abdicate immediately. "

The restoration of Napoleon III was naturally a quick cut. In order to avoid interference by international forces, the specific time was kept secret.

In Nicholas I's view, this is petty, without a trace of the majesty of the monarch, and is not worthy of being a member of the monarchy.

Karl Woossel admonished: "Your Majesty, it is not good for us to answer so hard, it will continue to deteriorate the relationship between the two countries."

If you don't admit it, you won't admit it, and even send a diplomatic note to disgust Napoleon III, which will undoubtedly make the relationship between France and Russia worse.

Due to the distance, Russia does not have much influence on France. This kind of diplomatic accusation made Napoleon III look ugly at first.

Anyway, no matter how fierce the tsarist government is, Napoleon III is unlikely to abdicate. At this point, no matter what is ahead, he will continue to walk.

Nicholas I said disdainfully: "What are you afraid of, you will be offended if you offend. Anyway, the relationship between Russia and France is like this, how can it be so bad?"

Break the jar, this is the attitude of Nicholas I. It's not that he was impulsive, but that on the Ottoman issue, the contradiction between France and Russia has heated up, both sides are unwilling to make concessions, and the possibility of reconciliation is almost zero.

In the face of Nicholas I, who has made up his mind, Foreign Minister Karl Woossel will naturally not respond. What does the life and death of the French have to do with him?

"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Karl Worcester.

He then changed the subject and said, "Your Majesty, the negotiations in Constantinople have been determined to be impossible to achieve. With the support of Britain and France, the Ottoman Empire will not make concessions this time. Our next plan can be started."

In other words, war is coming, and now a plausible excuse is needed. Influenced by European culture, the tsarist government is not as reckless as it used to be, and knows the importance of being a bitch and building a torii.

Nicholas I nodded, and then said: "Order the Duke of Menshkov to issue an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire. If they still reject our goodwill, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will choose an excuse!"

Goodwill, who felt the "goodwill" of the Tsarist government? Their appetite is so great that no matter how weak the Sudanese government is, it must continue to resist?

Compromise is slow suicide, and there is still a chance for hard resistance. With the support of Britain and France, the Ottoman Empire is not completely out of luck.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" replied Karl Worcester

There are thousands of excuses, and they will always be found. The Ottoman Empire itself is rotten, and there are too many messy things. It is too easy to pick their thorns.

Constantinople is the dream of the tsarist government for generations. It is not only of pure military value and economic value, but also contains huge political and religious value.

In short, as long as the tsarist government succeeds in capturing Constantinople, no matter how heavy the losses are, it is acceptable.

From this point of view, Nicholas II was too stupid in history, and ran to fight with the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

If he first bullied the Ottoman Empire and seized the Constantinople area, with political and religious bonuses, he could completely overwhelm all domestic contradictions.

From this point of view, Nicholas I's strategy is completely correct. After taking back Constantinople, with his strong prestige, it will be much easier to go back to reform.

The internal contradictions in Russia had actually attracted the attention of the tsarist government, but the opposition group was too powerful, and Nicholas I did not dare to act rashly.

Including Nicholas I himself, many high-level Russians were opposed to serfdom, but unfortunately they were all counseled in the face of the entire aristocratic group.

Now the tsarist government is pinning its hopes on this Russian-Turkish war. As long as it takes Constantinople, everything will be fine. If it fails, there is no way to do it. It can only take risks and carry out internal reforms.

...

Paris

After the successful restoration of Napoleon III, the country did not stabilize immediately, and the strength of the opposition was still strong. On January 12, an anti-imperialist uprising broke out in Paris.

Half a month later, the uprising spread to Toulouse, Marseille, Li

More than 20 provinces including Morges, Perpignan, Ballena, Toulon and Bordeaux.

At this time, the role of bribing the officers was manifested. Napoleon III reacted much stronger than the July Dynasty and immediately ordered the suppression of the rebellion.

Thirty-two provinces across the country have entered a state of martial law. In just one month, more than 26,000 people have been arrested and more than 10,000 people have been exiled.

Due to the lack of effective organization, the insurgents were scattered throughout the country to fight and were quickly suppressed.

Seize the throne, Napoleon III's troubles also came. The first is the financial crisis. In the process of restoration, in order to buy people's hearts, Napoleon III greatly increased everyone's salaries.

For example, the annual salary of a senator is 30,000 francs, the annual salary of a state counselor is 2.5 francs, and the annual salary of ministers starts at 40,000 francs. Those who have part-time jobs have multiple salaries.

Napoleon himself also received an annual salary of 26 million francs. Compared with the annual financial income of 12.3 billion francs in France, the emperor's annuity only accounted for 2.1%, which did not seem to be too high.

However, it is obvious that this cannot be calculated in this way. The treatment of the upper ranks has improved, so can the salaries of the lower ranks of civil servants not increase?

There is no doubt that Napoleon III was a good leader and cared about everyone's living standards, so the French civil servants were happy, and the era of "high salaries" came.

Government officials have raised their salaries, and Napoleon III has also not forgotten that the army on the same front as him, the promotion of promotion, and the salary increase.

Even the Catholic Church, which had supported him, received a grant of 42.8 million francs in 1852. Compared with Franz, the emperor who took the church to open the door, Napoleon III was obviously a good boy.

On the day when the new emperor ascended the throne, which was celebrated in the whole world, Napoleon III also took into account the interests of the common people and abolished a series of extortionate and miscellaneous taxes.

Then everyone was happy and chanted "Long live the emperor", the only problem was the finances.

With expenditures and incomes increasing and decreasing, the French government is not far from bankruptcy.

Playing with people's hearts is Napoleon III's strength, but when it comes to governing the country, he is still a novice, and he is just getting started.

In order to consolidate his rule, Napoleon III also expanded the civil service, and the French administrative officials expanded from 470,000 to 620,000.

It is worth mentioning that, in response to the crisis in the Near East, Napoleon III also planned to continue to expand the army, but because of financial difficulties, he was forced to shelve this plan.

Looking at the financial statements that were about to go bankrupt, Napoleon III asked with a headache: "Rouet