Chapter 292: Chapter 289 12.2 Coup (4)
At a quarter past 3 in the morning, Valerovsky, who received the orders, quickly sprang into action and arrived at the Ministry of War command post by 3:20.
At this moment, Minister Saint Arno at the Ministry of War, upon receiving his guards’ report, set aside the work he was currently engaged in and personally welcomed Valerovsky into the Ministry of War.
"You’ve worked hard!" Valerovsky said, shaking Minister Saint Arno’s hand.
"It’s nothing!" Minister Saint Arno continued, with bloodshot eyes and slightly dry lips, asking, "What is the President’s next instruction?"
"This is the list of impending arrests!" Valerovsky handed over the arrest list, which Jerome Bonaparte had already drafted, to Minister Saint Arno.
Minister Saint Arno, upon receiving the list, revealed a look of astonishment. Some people on the list had already joined the Elysee Palace’s camp, implying they were also within the scope of the arrests?
Valerovsky, having noticed Saint Arno’s astonishment, had shown the same expression when he first received the list.
Valerovsky emphasized again, "All those on the list must be arrested and brought to justice. Do not leave them a sliver of hope for a comeback!"
"Yes!" Saint Arno was also a decisive commander and, with the list in hand, quickly summoned the "secretaries" (staff officers) from the Secretariat.
Compared to these military commanders at the Ministry of War, he had more confidence in the staff officers he personally trained.
"Colonel Bazan, you are responsible for arresting Cafenak! Lieutenant Colonel Lebren, you are responsible for arresting Changarnier. Major Boyland, you are responsible for arresting Udino..." Minister Saint Arno first assigned the task of arresting generals opposed to the Bonaparte Faction to his staff. In his view, the threat posed by these generals was of the highest priority. To prevent his generals from hesitating out of fear in arresting these once high-ranking generals, Saint Arno employed a carrot-and-stick approach: "Do not fear them; they are merely a group of spineless dogs removed from the army by the President! You all represent the future of France... If anyone fails to capture anyone on the list, then they can strip off their uniforms and go home to farm! The French Army does not need those who can’t complete the plan!"
"Yes!" Saint Arno’s threat clearly had an effect. As the Secretariat expanded within the Ministry of War, with more subordinate departments forming,
those with some foresight understood that the Secretariat would eventually become a separate department directly under the President, and they would become the founding members of the newly established department.
If they made a mistake at this crucial juncture, they would likely regret it forever.
After assigning the arrests of key officers to the Secretariat, the remaining members of the Legislative Assembly were to be captured based on which district’s jurisdiction they resided in.
Meanwhile, Valerovsky also interjected, asking if he could assist in the arrests.
Saint Arno looked slightly surprised, but he agreed to Valerovsky’s offer to help.
At 3:40 in the morning, horses departed from the temporary command post of the Ministry of War in all directions.
The staff officers assigned to their respective tasks quickly sprang into action.
At 4 a.m., Colonel Bazan arrived near the residence of General Cafenak, whom he was to arrest.
A squad of patrolling soldiers, upon seeing Bazan on horseback, quickly saluted him.
Bazan dismounted and returned the salute to the soldiers, handing the reins to one soldier, then turned to the sergeant of the squad and said, "I am Colonel Bazan from the Secretariat of the Ministry of War, and I am now requisitioning you for a mission!"
The sergeant glanced at the insignia on Bazan’s uniform, confirming he was indeed a Colonel, and promptly saluted Colonel Bazan, saying, "The first company of the first battalion of the third regiment, Paris Second Brigade, is at your service!"
"Good! You all come with me!" Bazan left the soldier holding his horse at the former spot, leading the small detachment of over ten men toward Cafenak’s residence.
Faced with Cafenak, who had been stripped of all actual power, retaining only the status of a legislator, excessive force was unnecessary.
Too many forces would instead alert the enemy.
At this time, Cafenak was still locked in slumber, his years of indulgent life as a legislator had eroded any sense of alertness, so much so that Bazan had taken the soldiers to the entrance of Cafenak’s mansion without him showing any signs of waking.
Gazing at the three-story mansion before him, Bazan used gestures to order the soldiers to crouch and press against the wall, then he approached the mansion’s main door and knocked.
The knocking persisted for nearly 30 seconds before a lazy yet clear female voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
"Is this General Cafenak’s residence? I have something urgent to report to General Cafenak!" Bazan pinched his voice, making it sharp to disguise his original voice.
"Can’t it wait until morning?" The lazy voice grew closer to the door of the room. As she opened the door, she saw Bazan in the shadows.
"Who are you?" The woman looked at Bazan in confusion; it was her first time seeing a stranger here.
Bazan was equally startled upon seeing the woman in front of him. He was amazed by her appearance, and internally, he felt a twinge of jealousy towards Cafenak. Gathering himself, he made hand signals with the hands hidden behind his back as he addressed Madame Cafenak, "My name is Bazan, from the Ministry of War! I need to inform General Cafenak of an urgent situation!"
"Wait a moment, I will go wake him!" The woman, not suspecting anything, turned and entered the mansion to awaken Cafenak.
"No need! Going in will wake him!" Paris entered the mansion.
Only then did the woman realize that Bazan did not come alone.
Dozens of soldiers followed Bazan into the mansion as well.
"What... what are you trying to do!" The woman’s eyes filled with fear and horror as she distanced herself from Bazan, asking in alarm.
"Madam, do not worry! I am indeed from the Ministry of War!" Bazan attempted to reassure the excessively young "Madam" of Cafenak: "I am here under orders from the President to invite General Cafenak for a moment!"
"You... this is a coup!" The woman immediately grasped Bazan’s intention and sharply accused, "The people of Paris will never agree to your actions!"
"That is not something for you to worry about, Madam!" Bazan replied coldly, then gestured for two soldiers to guard the backyard while the remaining soldiers headed to Cafenak’s room to arrest him.
Just as the soldiers were about to go upstairs, Cafenak’s voice came from the stairs, "Who is it?"
"Run!" Realizing the situation, Cafenak’s "Madam" urgently shouted to him.
But it was too late; the soldiers led by the sergeant quickly ran up to the second floor.
A commotion was heard from upstairs shortly thereafter, and after a while, soldiers led by the sergeant brought Cafenak down.
Seeing the former governor in such a sorry state, Bazan regretfully shook his head and said, "General Cafenak, there was no need for futile resistance!"
Cafenak, his nose bleeding from a punch, shouted angrily at Bazan, "Are you still a soldier of the Republic? Where is your sense of honor and shame?"
"General, I am a soldier and also a soldier of the Republic!" Bazan replied in a calm tone, "I am currently following the orders of Jerome Bonaparte, the President of the Republic!"
"Jerome Bonaparte!" Cafenak shouted angrily at Bazan again, "What right does he have to arrest a member of parliament? What right does he have to overthrow the Legislative Assembly? All his powers were given by the Legislative Assembly!"
"No!" Bazan corrected Cafenak’s mistake, saying, "The President... no, His Majesty’s rights come from all the people of France, and the Legislative Assembly can no longer represent all the French people’s rights! His Majesty has the right to overthrow them!"
"His Majesty! His Majesty! You are all poisoned by Bonaparte. What benefits does he have! He will only bring France to the brink of destruction. He doesn’t have the genius wisdom of that Emperor! The Emperor of the past failed, and he will fail too!" Despite Cafenak’s emotional struggle, it was ultimately futile against the robust young men.
"In terms of time, we will eventually die!" Bazan retorted as well, "Does that mean we should die now just because we will eventually die? The former Emperor indeed faced failure, but he also brought honor to France! Everything we have now is the legacy left by the former Emperor, how can we not be loyal to him!"
"You will... eventually destroy France!" Cafenak cried out in despair.
"A grand destruction is a hundred times better than a natural demise!" Bazan waved a hand lightly, and several soldiers escorted Cafenak out the door.
"Madam, I hope we haven’t disturbed your dreams!" Bazan "politely" responded to the lady.
At 4:15 am, the prison transport responsible for escorting Cafenak appeared at the entrance of Cafenak’s mansion.
"General Cafenak, please board!" Bazan invited Cafenak.
"Hmph!" Cafenak grunted coldly, shrugging off the two soldiers, and walked boldly with the demeanor of a victor as he boarded the prison vehicle.
The prison vehicle took General Cafenak to a jail of the Police Department, where Mopa, who was responsible for receiving him, settled Cafenak into a cell.
There Cafenak saw Changarnier, Beduo, Lamo More, Udino... all the generals who had opposed Jerome Bonaparte were sent by him to this prison, where they would stay for a time, then face the rendering of the victors.