As Louis XVI pondered whether to decide with England in advance, Pierre took out several newspapers from his bag: "In fact, many are already criticizing us."
"Many believe we should repel the enemy at our borders and counterattack the moment the English army launches an attack, rather than allowing the English army to set foot on French soil."
"Especially..."
Pierre hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "Especially before the war, Napoleon said he would make the English army come and never return, so..."
Napoleon let out a cold laugh and said, "So, they think everything I said before was just tough talk, mere bluster to scare the English?"
Seeing Pierre remain silent, Napoleon simply let out another cold laugh and said no more.
The grievances between France and England could be traced back more than a hundred years, with both sides secretly wishing for the other's demise but lacking the confidence to achieve it.
After France and England joined the Great Ming's loose confederation, even if they wanted to eliminate each other, they couldn't find a suitable excuse for a while.
At the very least, France was unwilling to risk offending the Great Ming by directly engaging in conflict.
Now that George III had finally gone mad, France had a reasonable opportunity to confront England forcefully. If they hadn't made some harsh threats beforehand, would England have taken the bait so easily?
Louis XVI naturally understood this.
Louis XVI shook his head slightly and said, "Prepare for an early decisive battle—if we're going to fight, let's make it a big one."
"After all, we can't completely destroy England, so we might as well take this opportunity to eliminate those bastards from the Habsburg family, and drag the Russian Goose and the foolish Eagle down with us."
Upon hearing Louis XVI's words, Napoleon was stunned for a moment, then nodded vigorously and said in a deep voice, "Indeed, this is also a good opportunity to deal with the Habsburg family."
Pierre looked at Louis XVI, then at Napoleon, and finally asked with a look of bewilderment, "Wasn't this supposed to be against England? How did the Habsburg family get involved?"
Louis XVI chuckled and said, "If you were the Great Ming, would you let others destroy England?"
Before Pierre could answer, Louis XVI answered his own question, "Obviously not. Even if the Great Ming dislikes England, and even if they were to destroy England themselves, the Great Ming would absolutely not stand by and watch others do it—and 'others' includes us, France."
"Because, England is after all one of the Five Benevolent Ones of the loose confederation. If we completely destroy England, it would be equivalent to challenging the Great Ming's status in the loose confederation. Therefore, we cannot completely destroy England; we can only take a substantial piece from England."
"However, completely eliminating the Habsburg family presents no problem."
"You must understand the unwritten rules of the loose confederation: punishment does not apply to the benevolent, and respect is not shown to the laborers."
"Matters among the Five Benevolent Ones of the loose confederation can only be decided by the Five Benevolent Ones themselves, but for other laborers... any Great Benevolent One can decide their life or death."
At this point, Louis XVI shrugged again, his face filled with helplessness. "Well, those short and ugly Japanese should be calculated separately. Except for the Great Ming, the other four Great Benevolent Ones cannot decide their life or death because they are the dogs raised by the Great Ming."
Pierre's heart stirred, and he asked, "Since Tōjō Nijuhachi has fled to England, does that mean..."
Louis XVI let out a cold laugh and said, "What is Tōjō Nijuhachi? He's just a little puppy from a kennel—if the Great Ming truly supports England, do you think we, France, would have any chance to resist?"
Louis XVI's words plunged Pierre into silence.
As Louis XVI said, Tōjō Nijuhachi was merely a small puppy found in India by a Chinese doctor. Whether this puppy could bite, and how severe the injuries it could inflict, was not up to the puppy itself, but to that Chinese doctor.
But, a mere doctor...
France also had doctors from the Great Ming.
Napoleon looked at Louis XVI, "What about the matter of the early decisive battle..."
Louis XVI hummed and said, "Let's do it early. Since I have handed over the command of the French army to you, you will decide the direction of the war. Whenever you plan to have a decisive battle with those Rose Beefs, I will support you!"
...
Ever since the decision was made to take all of France within three months, Tōjō Nijuhachi had been galloping on the path of burning, killing, and looting with a group of English officers.
Need food?
Rob it from the French civilians. Besides seizing enough for themselves, they grabbed extra to pack and take away for future needs. Anything they couldn't pack, they burned.
Need weapons?
Force French civilians to act as laborers, using knives and firearms to compel them to transport weapons for the English army.
Oh, the French beauties are quite good-looking~
Additionally, Tōjō Nijuhachi also organized a group of French civilians to start the so-called Sino-French Co-Prosperity.
In short, they did every despicable and shameless thing imaginable, and absolutely nothing that resembled civilized behavior.
It must be admitted that Tōjō Nijuhachi's tactics were very effective in the initial stages—the French officers had never encountered such cruel and shameless tactics, and were understandably bewildered for a time.
However, once Napoleon personally arrived at the front lines, Tōjō Nijuhachi's good days were numbered.
Napoleon first implemented the scorched-earth tactic.
Unlike the situation in the Great Ming, where there were cities in various regions and the towns and villages were not far from the cities, making it difficult to implement the scorched-earth tactic in densely populated areas. At least a corps commander would be needed to execute it; units below the division or brigade level simply couldn't manage it.
However, France was sparsely populated and lacked proper cities, making the scorched-earth tactic easy to implement.
Once France began implementing the scorched-earth tactic, the English army led by Tōjō Nijuhachi fell into a predicament of food and supply shortages.
Napoleon's second move was to disrupt the English army's maritime supply lines.
As everyone knows, destruction is far easier than construction. While the French navy might not be able to match the English navy, the French fleet was more than capable of causing trouble for the English transport fleet, even having plenty to spare.
With the maritime supply lines disrupted, coupled with Napoleon's scorched-earth tactic, the consequence was that the English army led by Tōjō Nijuhachi faced supply difficulties.
It was no exaggeration to say they were struggling to move forward.
When this situation arose, Edward, the overall commander of the English army, began to voice his complaints: "Mr. Tōjō, this is not what you predicted—if we don't receive supplies soon, the entire army might lose its combat effectiveness."
Richard, the commander of the naval forces, followed suit: "Mr. Tōjō, the difficulty of maritime transport is increasing. If this continues, it's likely the French army will launch a full-scale offensive. If that happens, won't we suffer a great loss?"
Facing the doubts of the English officers, Tōjō Nijuhachi remained unfazed and confident: "What's the panic? I had already anticipated that France would implement the scorched-earth tactic before I planned for rapid advancement."
Edward, the commander of the English army, frowned: "Since you had anticipated it, why didn't you inform us in advance? Or, have you already thought of a countermeasure?"
Tōjō Nijuhachi snorted coldly: "Of course, I have a countermeasure, but why should I tell you in advance?"
"Your England is so infiltrated by France that it's like a sieve. Anything I tell you today will reach the ears of the French in a few days. If I tell you the countermeasure in advance, won't the French have ample time to prepare?"
Upon hearing Tōjō Nijuhachi's words, Edward and Richard's expressions turned grim.
The enmity between England and France could be traced back a century, and the tradition of mutual espionage was equally ancient.
For instance, the news of Louis XVI and Napoleon's decision to fight an early decisive battle was known only to the three of them, so England was not fully aware. However, the news of Napoleon personally arriving at the front lines to take command reached England immediately.
The reverse was also true.
The news of Tōjō Nijuhachi's decision to use the rapid advancement tactic could not be kept from France. If Tōjō Nijuhachi had revealed his countermeasure to the scorched-earth tactic in advance, Napoleon's side would likely have known it early, giving them ample time to prepare countermeasures.
After careful consideration, Edward frowned and asked, "Then, Mr. Tōjō, what is your countermeasure?"
Tōjō Nijuhachi said with a sinister grin, "There are plenty of methods. The simplest method is to make the French attack French fortresses."
"If the French army is concerned about the civilians, we can attack behind those civilians. If the French army is unconcerned about the civilians, we can widely publicize how inhumane the French army is, to win over more French civilians to our side."
"There is another, more troublesome method: to allow the French to scorch the earth and then besiege without attacking."
Edward and Richard were taken aback and asked in unison, "Besiege without attacking?"
Tōjō Nijuhachi said with a sinister grin, "Of course."
"If the French want to implement the scorched-earth tactic, they must drive all French civilians into the cities."
"By doing so, we may not be able to get supplies from those civilians, but it makes it easier for us to surround their cities."
"When the French army and civilians are holed up in a city, and we happen to surround that city... where will their supplies come from? Without supplies, how long can a city hold out?"
Edward frowned, "I must remind you, Mr. Tōjō, if this information gets out, then..."
Tōjō Nijuhachi waved his hand dismissively and retorted, "Who will leak the information? You? Or Richard? Or me?"
"Besides, what if the information gets out?"
"For us, how to conquer all of France is the question we should be considering. How to account for it after the information gets out is a matter for the English cabinet to consider."
"Or, if we don't admit it, who can do anything to us?"
At this point, Tōjō Nijuhachi's expression became particularly ferocious. "As long as our Great Ming father does not intend to intervene in the chaos in Europe, victory will surely be ours!"
Looking at the now frenzied Tōjō Nijuhachi, Richard and Edward exchanged glances, neither of them speaking.
However, Tōjō Nijuhachi's madness did not subside.
Tōjō Nijuhachi scanned Edward and Richard and asked, "How is the matter of contacting the Habsburg family going?"
Richard frowned, "We have received word from the Habsburg family. They originally planned to send troops to support us, but the Russian Goose has suddenly increased its offensive against the Habsburg family's alliance, so..."
Tōjō Nijuhachi's expression immediately turned cold as he stared at Richard and said, "So, they will not attack France for the time being? In other words, we cannot rely on the Habsburg family at all and must fight alone?"
Richard hesitated and replied, "I'm afraid so, Mr. Tōjō. I'm afraid we won't be able to count on the Habsburg family for any help for a long time to come."
Upon hearing Richard's words, Edward, as the commander of the English army, became headaches.
Why did England have the confidence to fight France?
Besides King George III's sudden madness, the more important reason was that the Habsburg family had proactively sought an alliance and promised to divert some of France's attention, preventing the French army from focusing solely on the English army.
Otherwise, if England could confront France's navy at sea, it would be fine, but for England's army to march onto French territory and fight the French army to the death?
Edward felt he didn't have that kind of prowess.
And the current problem was: the Habsburg family dragged England into war, but then claimed they didn't have the spare energy to care about England's survival?
This was utter nonsense...
And as Edward was having a headache, Tōjō Nijuhachi suddenly snorted coldly, "Since we can't rely on them, then we won't."