Chapter 380 Guizot's Fall

The flames of war gradually died down, and neither France nor the Netherlands made any moves. Seeing that the German Confederation was about to return home, the Anglo-Saxons on the other side of the Channel finally couldn't sit still.

The latter tried to contact various countries to send representatives to London to attend the aftermath meeting, but failed because no one responded. The final venue was set in Luxembourg.

Of course, it would be better if it was in Frankfurt or Vienna, after all, it was a great opportunity to highlight the status of the German Confederation as the winner.

But it doesn't matter, because the distribution of the cake has been basically completed, and the only thing left is the final bargaining with France.

Since the French violated the previous agreement with the German Confederation, they should be punished, but neither Austria nor other German states are willing to go to war with them formally, because they are not sure of winning against the behemoth France, so they just renegotiated the German-French demarcation line.

However, for the sake of "fairness", the final ownership of the province of Namur will be decided by voting. If the locals are willing to stay on the French side, the German side will never interfere, and vice versa, France needs to do the same.

Paris’s high-ranking officials, including Louis Philippe and Guizot, felt that the brains of the senior officials in Vienna were either broken or collectively blinded, because Wallonia belongs to the French-speaking area.

However, what the former did not know was that the local residents had just been robbed by French officers and soldiers, causing disasters to almost every household; either the money and food were lost, or the wives and children were separated, and many conscripted civilians and women never came back.

In fact, the reason why the people in Wallonia hated the French so much was certainly not just because of the 20,000 French troops. Even if they were beasts, they could not harm many people.

The hundreds of thousands of German Confederation troops defeated by them were different. The defeated soldiers were bandits. This sentence was true in many cases and many situations.

As a result, this land suffered an unprecedented tragic looting. Fortunately, the number of German Confederation troops was large enough to be rotated. These defeated soldiers who had done something wrong did not want to make achievements, but just wanted to find a place where no one was, so they embarked on the journey back home.

The Walloons couldn't find the culprits, so they simply put all the blame on the French. Coupled with the instigation of the media and the church, the province of Namur almost unanimously passed the proposal to refuse to join France.

And the people of Hainaut and Brabant, which were about to be assigned to France, also fled. They didn't like this kind of ruler who didn't care about their lives.

France, Paris, Tuileries Palace.

Louis Philippe was furious.

"Look at the stupid thing you did! The Austrian envoy promised Wallonia to us not long ago, but you, a fool, lost it and made France sacrifice 20,000 excellent soldiers in vain!"

However, the fact is that Prussia soon discovered that these prisoners of war were a hot potato. The Austrians gave them trouble, not spoils of war.

So Prussia hastily released the prisoners of war despite the opposition of other states. They didn't want to get into trouble. But trouble doesn't necessarily come to them.

Those unarmed prisoners of war who had once caused trouble now had to face hundreds of thousands of angry residents in Wallonia.

Soon a real-life battle royale took place in Wallonia, and only a handful of remnants were able to escape back to mainland France.

Because among the angry pursuers, there were also some resentful German Confederation soldiers hiding, who were also holding back their anger and had nowhere to vent.

Those French officers and soldiers who returned home by chance were not welcomed by Paris, who just treated them as ordinary defeated soldiers.

Neither Louis Philippe nor Guizot were interested in losers.

In addition, since their weapons had been confiscated by the German Confederation Volunteers, not to mention that losing equipment was a serious crime, most of their endings were very miserable.

Let's get back to the point.

"But the British said they would send troops to help, should we..."

It would have been better if Guizot hadn't mentioned England, but Louis Philippe was furious when he mentioned it.

The British had agreed to let their son be the King of Belgium, but in the end they chose the son-in-law of the King of England. Fortunately, he was smart enough to marry his daughter to the King of Belgium.

But his son-in-law failed to live up to his trust and was not on France's side at all. Not only did the Belgians refuse to join the envisioned Franco-Belgian Customs Union, they even flirted with the Anglo-Saxons all day long.

All these things made Louis Philippe resentful, and at this time, the Namur that the Austrians had stuffed into his throat was gone, which made him even more angry.

"Tell me! Are you a spy sent by the British?" he asked angrily.

This sentence had been hidden deep in the heart of the monarch before.

The inexplicable result of this war, plus the loss of Namur and the loss of 20,000 troops, and the fact that he could have waited for the profit but ended up losing the good situation, how could he not be irritated.

And Guizot's series of actions, in Louis Philippe's view, clearly regarded Britain as more important than France.

However, he misunderstood Guizot, who had always acted this way because he knew better than anyone else how powerful Britain was, and also knew the truth that France was weak underneath its strong appearance, so he was afraid that his country would stand on the wrong side and trigger the crisis of foreign intervention decades ago again.

"Your Majesty, I am always loyal to you and the great France. You should know that we cannot afford any defeat now."

"That's enough! Without your stupid actions in private, there would not be today's defeat! Look at what you have done, are you still embarrassed to deny it? It is because of you that I am the 'First Citizen' I am ashamed.”

Historically, Louis Philippe was nicknamed the "Pear King" by a wandering painter because his head was big and his face was like a pear. However, he himself preferred to be called the "Citizen King" or the "First Citizen" .

"Everything I do is for France, I swear to God."

"Haha, dear Guizot, I'm afraid money is your God, right?" Louis Philippe sneered. He has lost patience. France is now facing unprecedented changes.

Neither the former Kingdom of France nor the Napoleonic Empire could reasonably develop overseas colonies.

And now Louis Philippe firmly believes that he has figured out the password to dominance. If every colony can be like Texas, he can recreate countless large and small Frances.

Maybe one France can't rule the world or defeat Britain, but two? Three? What about four? Texas, Algeria, Morocco, Guatemala, La Plata, these lands are full of great potential…

"Your Majesty the King, I feel that wealth not only makes people free, but also makes them smart. When our citizens are no longer driven by the damn blind fighting spirit, then a broad road to prosperity will open. There is nothing wrong with wealth. Okay! Even if you can sit here and give me orders today!"

To be honest, Guizot and Louis Philippe were both puppets brought to the stage by financial capitalists. Of course, the latter was nominally the master and the former was the minister.

Guizot's implication was that Louis Philippe had no right to accuse him. But the latter didn't think so. Louis Philippe never defined himself as a pawn.

In his eyes, he is the chess player, and the group of financial capitalists are just his "supporters", people who want to get rewards and are optimistic about him.

"Mr. Guizot, in the name of the first citizen of the Kingdom of France, I solemnly declare that you have been dismissed from office. However, from now on, although you are no longer a member of the cabinet, you are still an official of France.

I now give you a brand new task, Governor of Guatemala, please take office immediately! "

After hearing this, Guizot walked out of the king's study without saying a word.

Although Louis Philippe admitted that Guizot had certain abilities, his almost flattering policy towards Britain caused France to continue to suffer losses.

This is the real reason why he kicked him out of the cabinet. In addition, this is also the result of his expanding ambitions. Historically, Guizot's diplomatic strategy towards Britain could be called traitorous diplomacy, and France made concessions in almost all disputes and conflicts.

But France is now stronger than in history and has more conflicts with England. Therefore, Guizot will naturally be criticized more, and the intensification of conflicts is the biggest factor that makes him step down.