The Crisis (2)

Carnot worked hard to send more people and supplies to the north. However, the northern army did not immediately receive sufficient personnel and supplies for a simple reason: a large-scale rebellion had broken out in the Vendée region.

The Vendée is a region full of hills and forests, one of the most traditional, backward, and isolated regions in all of France. The way of life there is not much different from that of hundreds of years ago.

However, the isolated and underdeveloped Vendée region was not actually a base for the Royalist Party, and the peasants there had little affection for the king. This was quite normal, just as the peasants of the Eastern Great Eater Nation sang in their "Jirang Ge": "We work at sunrise and rest at sunset. We dig wells to drink from, and till the fields to eat from. What does the emperor's power have to do with us?" Therefore, in the eyes of the peasants of the Vendée region, what did it matter to them what the king was like?

The fact that the revolutionary government beheaded a man named Louis XVI was no big deal to the Vendée peasants—were the crops still growing? If they were, then there was no problem! As for the noble lords also suffering misfortune, the Vendée peasants didn't care much either. What did it matter to them if the lords had their lamps hung up? As long as the crops were in the fields... Therefore, the Vendée was stable when the monarchy was established; the Vendée remained peaceful even when the king was beheaded.

However, recently, the farmers of Vendée have also gradually come to realize that the current revolutionary government is indeed problematic.

The first objectionable move by the revolutionary government was its attempt to expel the clergy. After the revolution, the "Clergy Law" was passed, requiring clergy to swear allegiance to the government, which led to a split within the Church in France. However, in the Vendée, clergy who had not sworn allegiance continued to operate their churches, perform their services, and hold the key to heaven for every poor peasant. The France government in Paris, in reality, had little influence over these impoverished rural areas. Therefore, the "Clergy Law" had, for the time being, a very limited impact on the Vendée.

However, after the king was beheaded, the situation changed. Many clergy who refused to swear allegiance to the government became the backbone of rebellions in various places. As a result, the National Assembly passed a decree declaring the expulsion of all clergy who had not sworn allegiance to the government.

According to this new decree, all clergy who have not sworn allegiance to the government must leave France within the time specified in the decree. Any clergy member who remains in France beyond the deadline without swearing allegiance to the government will be considered a traitor and may be executed without trial.

Some clergy in the Vendée region also launched rebellions after the king's execution. These rebellions initially appeared no different from those in other regions. The vast majority of farmers in the Vendée maintained an attitude of "what do imperial power mean to us?" and did not participate much. Therefore, these rebellions were quickly suppressed.

However, the subsequent expulsion of "unlicensed" clergy caused great discontent among the Vendée farmers. Because in the isolated Vendée region, there were basically no "licensed" clergy. Therefore, the Republican government's actions in the Vendée were, in a sense, an operation to expel Christianity from the Vendée.

While the clergy's rebellion did not garner much support from the peasantry, the republican government's expulsion of the clergy sparked outrage throughout the Vendée region.

However, if it were only this problem, the Vendée rebellion might not have been so serious. Because of the crisis in the north, the Republican government passed a nationwide conscription decree proposed by Carnot and sent special envoys to various regions to urge conscription and tax collection.

Due to limitations in their mode of production, agricultural populations are generally unwilling to leave their hometowns. The Vendée peasants were no exception. In fact, even the National Guard in the cities were generally unwilling to leave their cities to fight elsewhere, let alone the Vendée peasants. In addition, with the instigation of priests, nobles, and foreigners, the Vendée rebellion quickly expanded.

The revolutionary government mobilized some National Guard to suppress the rebellion, fully expecting to easily quell the peasant uprising as before. However, the situation in Vendée was completely different from the past. The peasants of Vendée displayed remarkable courage in defending their homeland, no less than those of the Volunteer Army. And their commanders were all nobles who had served as mid- to high-ranking officers in the France army.

The Vendée, being a coastal city, presented a golden opportunity for the Britain to strike at the outset of the rebellion. They scourd the France aristocracy for those filled with hatred for the Republic and possessing some military experience, gathering them in Britain France, organizing them, and then sending them by warship to the Vendée coast. There, guided by local church members, they were assigned to different units to command. This is how the Marquis de Lantenac, in Hugo's last novel, * Ninety-Three *, arrived in the Vendée.

Therefore, when the inexperienced Sans-culottes generals of the revolutionary government led the National Guard into the Vendée, they were not facing the disorganized rebels they had imagined, who were numerous but uncoordinated and unable to cooperate. Instead, they faced a real army with the same high morale as themselves, better command, better coordination, and more soldiers.

The outcome of the battle was self-evident. The government forces were utterly defeated by the peasant army, and the entire Vendée region fell. At that time, most of the France army had been deployed to the north to fight against the combined Prussian and Prussian-Austrian Allied Forces, leaving the south largely undefended. If the rebels were to seize the opportunity to advance north, the Republic would be plunged into a precarious situation of fighting on two fronts.

Since joining the anti- France camp, the Britain haven't actually deployed even a single platoon of troops on the ground, yet the threat and losses they've inflicted on France are no less than those posed by Austria and Prussia, who mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops. A legendary troublemaker, terrifying indeed!

Of course, being a troublemaker can also bring other problems. For example, it can lead to an over-reliance on the power of others to play the "using barbarians to control barbarians" game, without putting in any effort of its own. While France was conscripting soldiers nationwide and Prussia and Austria were also mobilizing, the Britain took the opportunity to cut the size of their army by a quarter to save costs.

This raises another problem: although the Royalist Party leading the Vendée rebellion were eager for the Britain army to land in the Vendée, join forces with them, march north to Paris, quell the rebellion, and restore the Bourbon, the Britain refused to send a single soldier, hoping the rebels would solve the problem on their own. According to Britain calculations, if the Vendée rebels marched north at this point, they would have already achieved their objective.

But something unexpected happened to the Britain and Royalist Party: the Vendée peasants were not actually loyal to the monarchy.

In fact, just as the National Guard members in the city are unwilling to leave their hometowns to fight on distant frontiers, the farmers of Vendée are equally unwilling to leave their villages and farmlands. This attachment to their hometown far exceeds that of the urban residents.

After the city dwellers who had forcibly dragged them hundreds of miles away to fight were driven away, the peasants scattered and went back to their homes. In the end, only the nobles and a few cats and dogs remained.

Watching the group of farmers scatter in all directions, whether they were from the Republic, the Royalist Party, or other foreigners, they were all dumbfounded, each feeling as if their eyes had deceived them.

So, the Northern Expedition to Paris was obviously out of the question. That's why they say peasants are just too... too honest!

However, leaving Vendée unattended is not an option. What if, just what if the Britain army really does attack from there? The Britain haven't sent troops now, but who can guarantee they won't in the future? If they're fighting Prussia and Austria-Hungary to the bitter end, only to be stabbed in the back by the Britain, that would be truly...

Therefore, the revolutionary government could only hope to hold out in the north for the time being, and then transferred the troops that had been moved to the north to the south in order to completely resolve the Vendée problem. Fortunately, Austria and Prussia were also relatively cooperative, especially Austria. As soon as the pressure on the battlefield eased a bit, they immediately remembered that the Empress had taken such a large piece of the spoils, but had only let them smell the aroma. So they turned around and began to argue with the Empress about the special interests of the "Holy Roman Empire" in Poland.

Furthermore, Austria felt that if it fought too aggressively in the north now, it would only attract more France troops, leading to a bloody battle in which the Britain and Spain would reap the benefits. If that happened, wouldn't Austria once again be left only to smell the aroma of their prey wafting over from the north?

As for Prussia, they also felt it was best to hold off for now and let the France fight each France. Ideally, the France and Britain should fight first, and then they could maximize their gains.

As a result, with the two kings and one emperor plotting their own schemes, the most crucial and decisive northern battlefield temporarily quieted down. The France, in turn, gained a rare chance to catch their breath.

Taking advantage of this lull, Carnot quickly recalled Joseph, Napoleon, and the Red Army. After all, the commander of the Northern Army felt that they were too influential in the army, hindering his command.

One of the reasons Carnot recalled Joseph and Napoleon was to put them in charge of suppressing the Vendée rebellion. However, when he brought this up with Joseph expressed strong opposition.

"The Vendée issue is not a military one, but a political one. If a political problem must be solved militarily, Lazar, then I must say, you have prepared far too few troops."