Toulon 1

When news of the fall of Toulon arrived, Joseph immediately realized he was in trouble. With the loss of Toulon, France control over Corsica would be virtually wiped out.

"Damn it, Mom and the others are still in Corsica!"

Compared to France, Corsica was, in some ways, much safer. At least, the relic of the French Revolution, as improved by His Majesty the King, hadn't yet been sent to Corsica. But Napoleon's brilliance was already beginning to emerge. Though not as dazzling as later, at least... at least he was a firefly, wasn't he?

"Once Toulon falls, Corsica will be in Britain hands in the blink of an eye. And Paoli, who already has close ties with the Britain, is even less likely to let this opportunity slip by. However, Napoleon hasn't completely broken ties with Paoli, and if Paoli were even slightly smart, he wouldn't... Anyway, they must be removed from Corsica... But the problem is, France seems to be in more danger than Corsica now. Corsica still has some boundaries, but France..."

Just then, a song drifted in from outside the window. "Ça Ira, Ça Ira, the unscrupulous merchants are all hung on lampposts..."

Joseph frowned and turned to look outside. He saw a group of Sans-culottes carrying spears, singing as they walked down the street not far away. A head was stuck in the tip of the spear held by the man at the front.

"I wonder which unlucky fellow this is. Probably a flour shop owner," Joseph thought, then realized that bringing his mother and the others to Paris was definitely not a good idea.

"They've never seen anything like this before. Putting aside everything else, just seeing this every day would drive anyone crazy. But keeping them in Corsica isn't a solution either. This is a real headache! Maybe, just maybe I should have a serious talk with that Napoleon guy."

Although Napoleon had returned to Paris, he was not in the Paris proper. After all, his army couldn't be stationed in the Paris center. Napoleon's Fifth Legion was stationed near Montmartre Heights in the north of the city. This area later became one of the most charming parts of Paris, home to the famous Moulin Rouge. However, that was many years later; today, it's just an ordinary hill.

When Joseph was having lunch, he told Carnot that he had to go to Matt to see Napoleon, so he had to leave his two younger brothers in Carnot's care for the time being. Anyway, the two of them had gotten used to eating at Cano's place.

"What brings you to Napoleon at this hour?" Carnot asked.

"Lazar, you know, my whole family—my mother, and several sisters—are in Corsica. Now that there's trouble in Toulon, I'm afraid Corsica will also descend into chaos, so I'm very worried..."

"I see...that is indeed a problem," Carnot said. "You should definitely ask for leave to discuss this with Napoleon. Corsica will certainly fall into Britain hands for the time being. Hmm, try to bring them to France, but neither you nor Napoleon can go to pick them up."

"I know what's important, Lazar," Joseph said. "If we go to fetch them, it will only bring them additional danger."

"Alright, then use my carriage. I'll also send you a few guards; the roads aren't very safe these days."

Napoleon also agreed to bring his family out of Corsica, but he also believed that the women in his family should not be brought to Paris. They needed to be found a safer place for them.

"Let Lucien go and fetch them," Napoleon said. "Lucien is old enough to be doing something. After he arrives, we'll buy a manor somewhere in the provinces, under assumed names, and let them stay there while Lucien takes care of them."

"Lucien?" Joseph was still uneasy. "That guy isn't very reliable."

"Come on, Joseph," Napoleon shook his head. "Who do you think is reliable? Lucien is unreliable, but am I? To put it bluntly, you've always thought that no one is reliable except yourself. But let me tell you, don't be blind to your brother's strengths. Lucien very shrewd. He acts that way usually only because he feels that someone will always back him up. If you really entrust things to him, he knows his limits."

Joseph thought for a moment, and realized that this was something only Lucien could handle. But he needed to find Lucien an accomplice, so he asked, "Do you have any particularly clever guys under you? There are a few very clever young men, but they're already battalion commanders, even regimental and division commanders. Getting them to do this for our personal matters..."

"It's alright," Joseph said. "It's just abusing power for personal gain, isn't it? Whoever you think is good, I'll find a way to get him a transfer order so he can go south on official business, and then help us out while he's at it."

"Then I think Battalion Commander Chrysler would be a good fit. He's cautious, which would be a good complement to Lucien's shortcomings. What do you think?"

"This is your subordinate; you know him better than I do. Alright, once you've made up your mind, give me the list, and leave the rest to me," Joseph concluded.

Near Toulon, the French Army consisted of only some newly formed units, which, due to the recent chaos, had not even had time to be fully equipped with weapons and equipment. As a result, the French Army was unable to organize a decent counterattack for the time being.

If the Britain could quickly assemble a large army, land at Toulon, and then march north, given the considerable influence of the Royalist Party in the south, such an action would certainly pose a greater threat to France.

However, Prime Minister Pitt had recently cut the army by a quarter in an effort to save money. It wouldn't be easy to assemble a large army now. Besides, the Britain didn't actually have much interest in France territory. They knew that the continental Europe wouldn't allow them to establish a Normandy colony on the continent. Britain's greater purpose in joining the Anti-French Alliance was actually to keep an eye on France's colonies.

Although France lost to Britain in the Seven Years' War in the Far East, almost completely losing its colonies in India, France still held considerable colonies in North Africa and North America. Now that the Britain had occupied Toulon, they had effectively severed France's connection with North Africa. At this juncture, was it better to send a limited army to the France mainland to fight hundreds of thousands, or even more, France, only to end up with little spoils, or to deploy that army to North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea to seize the former France colonies?

When faced with this choice, almost any Britain would arrive at the conclusion without much thought, and Prime Minister Pitt was no exception. Therefore, after capturing Toulon, he did not send many additional troops to Toulon.

Of course, under pressure from Austria and Prussia, the Britain did make some efforts, persuading both the Spain and the Kingdom of Sardinia to send troops to Toulon.

First, there were the Spain. They initially planned to send 10,000 troops, but when their army disembarked in Toulon, they discovered that Britain troops were also Toulon and boarding. Those boarding were combat troops, while those disembarking were clearly hastily recruited engineers. Since the Spain were here, wouldn't it be perfect to transfer the troops in Toulon to North Africa to seize territory? As for why they brought a large number of engineers, it was obviously to strengthen the defense of Port of Toulon. As long as they could maintain control of Toulon, it would be of great help to North Africa. The Britain certainly didn't intend to go north and help the Austria and Prussia snatch chestnuts from the fire, but they still wanted to hold Toulon.

Seeing these actions by the Britain, the Spain quickly realized—something was wrong! While it was highly unlikely that the Britain would carve out a piece of land on France soil, was it possible that the Spain could? If not, why fight the France on France soil? The Britain could go to North Africa, so why couldn't the Spain?

So the Spain stopped sending reinforcements to Toulon in order to compete with the Britain for meat in North Africa.

The Kingdom of Sardinia had initially agreed to send 5,000 troops, but upon seeing that these two powerful nations, either former or currently in power, were engaging in such tactics, they naturally realized: even if the France monarchy were restored, could the small Kingdom of Sardinia possibly force France to cede territory and pay reparations? Moreover, their troops hadn't even been loaded onto ships yet, so the Kingdom of Sardinia simply decided not to send any troops at all. Instead, they dispatched these troops directly to the Mediterranean Sea to seize islands.

As a result, during the most critical period, the number of foreign troops in Toulon not only did not increase significantly, but the number of their most combat-effective troops inexplicably decreased considerably.

Of course, to appease their allies, the three countries kept quiet and made a fortune. They informed Austria and Prussia of the unit numbers of the troops that landed in Toulon, but they did not tell them that although these unit numbers were in Toulon, most of the troops under these unit numbers were actually on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.

This unexpected time difference gave the France more time to react. Carnot first dispatched a corps under General Pope, who was closest to the Pope, to attack Toulon, and then ordered Napoleon's Fifth Legion to be ready to move south at any time to support the Toulon battlefield.

Taking this opportunity, Joseph had Napoleon suggest that he send an advance team to Toulon to study the battle situation.

The request was quickly approved by Carnot, although he knew that Joseph and Napoleon actually intended to use this opportunity to help bring their families out of Corsica.

The advance party was sent out, with Lucien as their guide. Napoleon also began preparing to lead his troops south, and at this time, Joseph made another suggestion to Carnot.

The afternoon update will be a little late.