Toulon (10)

Almost simultaneously with the departure of the Britain and Spain, Davout and his army entered Toulon. Davout had expected the traitors to put up a stubborn resistance, but when he entered the city, the entire population offered to guide him. These men all claimed to be loyal republicans to the revolution, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the royal army—no, the Republic's army—to quell the rebellion. However, Davout did not trust these uninvited guides. Who knew if they had welcomed the invading Britain and Spain armies in the same way?

However, these matters were not under Davout's jurisdiction; Davout only needed to control the key points in Toulon. As for tracking down traitors and suppressing counter-revolutionaries, that was naturally the responsibility of the special envoy sent from Paris. Davout did not care how the special envoy would deal with them.

Napoleon didn't care about the fate of the Toulon people. Now that the battle was over, he focused all his energy on finding his other family members. Lucien, Pauline, and Elise were all safe and sound, but the situation on the other ship was still unknown. Napoleon then used his position to send out a large number of cavalry to search for them, ostensibly to hunt down escaped traitors.

A day later, Napoleon received news that his resting family had been found. Chrysler had also landed near Toulon with them, and even their landing time was roughly the same. However, Chrysler accurately assessed that his location was extremely dangerous, so he led them back onto the ship and sailed east for another day before landing again. After landing, he first sent men to contact the nearby French Army, and only after confirming that Toulon was no longer in danger did he lead Letizia, Jerome, and Caroline towards Toulon, thus successfully reuniting with Napoleon and his family.

After learning about their experience, Napoleon greatly admired Battalion Commander Chrysler's caution. Then, he couldn't help but recall Lucien's reckless behavior and exclaimed, "Joseph certainly has a good eye for talent; Lucien is just an unreliable scoundrel!"

However, he could no longer chase after Lucien with a whip, because on this matter, he had to agree with Lucien on the same story.

"Lucien, Joseph can't know about your affairs." Napoleon frowned. He didn't want to be chased and whipped by Joseph when he got back. Well, considering that Joseph was giving him more and more face now, and that this matter hadn't caused any truly irreparable consequences, and besides, the main responsibility for this matter didn't lie with him, probably... maybe... Joseph wouldn't chase him with a whip, just like he chased Lucien with a whip. But even so, he would definitely ridicule him severely, mock him mercilessly, and mentally lower his credibility by several tens of percent. If that happened... "That would be too embarrassing!"

"As long as you don't tell, I'm not asking for trouble, why would I tell?" Lucien said. "Joseph may not be as barbaric as you, but if he finds out about this..."

At this point, Lucien suddenly remembered Joseph's long list of math problems and couldn't help but shudder.

"And Pauline and Elise, they can't let anything slip! Otherwise..." Lucien quickly added.

"Pauline caused the trouble herself, she probably won't say anything... As for Elise, we can talk to her, she probably won't..." Napoleon said, sitting astride a high-backed chair, resting his chin on the back of the chair and frowning.

"That's hard to say," Lucien said. "Others are fine, but Pauline ...you know Pauline! She's a little rascal, a super brat. She's really proud of what she's done. Even if you tell her, who knows when she might get all excited and tell Joseph about it, like she's showing off a treasure."

"That's true. We must emphasize the seriousness of the matter to her, to raise her awareness, and to awaken her from the depths of her mind..." Napoleon said.

"Come on, Napoleon, what's the use of all that? The most important thing, in my opinion, is to make Pauline truly understand how terrifying Joseph can be when he's angry! Only when she truly understands this can she keep the secret."

"Well, Joseph has always been very kind to Pauline. She has no idea..."

"That's because when Joseph left home, Pauline was still young, and he didn't have time to prey on the innocent and vulnerable Pauline. But things are different now..."

"Hmm... hmm?... What nonsense are you talking about?" Napoleon sat up straight.

"Napoleon, I mean, Joseph hasn't even had time to assign Pauline any math homework yet. I think we should let Pauline experience it first, let her know how terrible Joseph is... I guarantee she'll keep her mouth shut."

Hearing Lucien's explanation, Napoleon nodded with a sense of empathy. "Indeed... We'll compile the exercise books that Joseph had us do... so that Pauline can have a deeper understanding."

"I'll go right away..."

An hour later, from the study of Napoleon's temporary residence came Pauline's sobbing. "Waaaaah... Lucien... you're such a bad thing! If I had known, I would have had Napoleon beat you to death!"

Thus, an alliance dedicated to concealing the truth was formally formed.

When Napoleon marched south, the Committee of Public Safety was busy with other matters and did not immediately send a special envoy to Napoleon's army. Napoleon's attack was very swift, and he captured Toulon in just a few days. Therefore, the special envoy did not arrive until Toulon had been captured.

Although the special envoy arrived a little late, just by looking at his name, Napoleon knew that the higher-ups indeed attached great importance to Toulon.

The special envoy to Toulon this time is Couthon, a member of the Committee of Public Safety. His appointment as the special envoy to Toulon also reflects the attitude of the Committee of Public Safety.

Couthon was convinced that he could achieve the same success and honor in Toulon as Saint-Just- Just in the north, and thus gain a greater voice in the Committee of Public Safety. However, Carnot was reluctant to let him take the post. As a result, a lot of time was wasted, and when he finally arrived in Toulon, he found that Toulon had already been captured by Napoleon.

"What the hell! Wasn't Toulon supposed to be heavily fortified, with a large and well-trained enemy force that would be difficult to conquer? How could this be..." Couthon felt as if he had gone to great lengths to prepare for a grand feast, only to find that the feast was over and all that remained on the plates were scattered scraps, while everyone else was burping and preparing to go home.

Couthon couldn't, of course, accuse Napoleon of acting too quickly and not waiting for him, but he needed to vent his anger. So he first targeted Pope. In his view, this was entirely reasonable. Look, Napoleon took Toulon in just a few days with minimal casualties. What does that mean? It means Toulon's defenses weren't strong. Yet, facing such an easy enemy, Pope suffered heavy losses... Wasn't he suspected of treason?

Fortunately, Pope's eldest son became a martyr, which cleared Pope of much suspicion. Furthermore, Napoleon stated that General Pope played a crucial role in his victories (many of the trench diggers were Pope's men). Therefore, Couthon couldn't directly arrest Pope on charges of "treason." However, Couthon argued that since Pope's previous actions couldn't be interpreted as treason, they could only be considered incompetence. In short, Pope was either bad or stupid. Which one he was was up to him to choose.

Pope chose "stupid" without hesitation, and was thus honorably retired on the spot.

Couthon's anger couldn't be vented on Pope, so the guys in Toulon suffered the consequences. Couthon began a large-scale arrest of "traitors" in Toulon. Anyone whose name contained the character "De" or who had ever worn the black robe (priests) was sent to prison. He then quickly organized a "Revolutionary Tribunal" to conduct swift trials on these people.

The trial was essentially the execution of a batch file. All the suspects were found guilty, and all those convicted received the same, and only, punishment—heading to the guillotine.

However, Toulon did not possess any revolutionary relics—the guillotine. The original guillotine had served a purpose after the Royalist Party occupied Toulon, beheading many Jacobin; but after the Britain arrived, a Britain officer, finding it unique and valuable for collection, took it back to Britain. Thus, Couthon had to wait several more days for a new guillotine to be delivered.

Of course, he wasn't idle during these days. He continued working and discovered that many counter-revolutionaries, at this time, were once again disguising themselves as revolutionary activists in an attempt to evade punishment. Some of them had even managed to infiltrate the Revolutionary Tribunal! If it weren't for Couthon's sharp eyes, these guys would not only have escaped punishment, but might even have infiltrated the revolutionary ranks and caused even greater destruction in the future.

So another large group of people, including many members of the "Revolutionary Tribunal," were sent to prison to await their execution.

In prison, one death row inmate asked another:

Why were you arrested too?

"Because when it came time to vote on whether Count Martin should be beheaded, I was too slow to raise my hand. They said I sympathized with the nobility."

And what about you?

"I... I raised my hand too quickly. They said I had something to hide and was trying to cover it up..."

Finally, the two death row inmates asked the one who had remained silent the whole time, "Hey bro, what about you?"

"Because I am Count Martin."

A few days later, the guillotine arrived, and the special envoy from Couthon used it to behead nearly two thousand people in one go.

I had so much to do today, and I've only just finished the second chapter. Tomorrow will be even busier, so tomorrow's update will probably be late.