A Night of Blood and Fire

On June 5th, the Vendée rebels approached to within a day's journey of Le Mans. That same afternoon, Fouché appeared before Napoleon.

"Commander Bonaparte, I need the cooperation of your troops," Fouché said.

"Tell me, how do you want me to cooperate?" Napoleon was quite straightforward.

Fouché took out a map of Le Mans from his pocket and spread it on the table.

"Commander Bonaparte, do you see these houses marked with red crosses?" Fouché asked.

"Is this the residence of a traitor?" Napoleon asked.

"Yes," Fouché said. "They are plotting a rebellion, coordinating with the Vendée rebels from within."

"What do you want me to do? Arrest someone?"

"No, you don't need to worry about arresting people." Fouché grinned like a tiger. "You only need to be responsible for killing. You see, you and your subordinates are all officers, not locals, so you might not be experts in arresting people. You just need to have your soldiers control these key positions and enforce a strict curfew in the city. You can order that anyone seen walking on the streets after nightfall, except for our own men, be shot. Le Mans is a good place; it has complete city walls... As long as we keep an eye on those key locations, none of those traitors will escape!"

Napoleon lowered his head, examined the map carefully, and then asked, "Where might the fiercest resistance from the rebels be found?"

"At this location," Fouché said, "I know they've hidden a cache of weapons here and gathered about a hundred men."

"The streets here are too narrow and winding. If we act here, we will suffer unnecessary losses," Napoleon said, resting his chin on his hand and staring at the map. "I suggest you act here first. They will definitely be alerted. Then they will have two choices: one is to go and support here."

Napoleon pointed to the map. "I'll position a company and two cannons here. If they want to come, they'll definitely pass through here, and then we'll wipe them out right here. Of course, they also have the option to escape, and then they'll go like this..."

Napoleon's finger moved slowly along the streets on the map, then stopped at a bend in the street, and he pointed heavily. "Here, I'll place two more cannons and twenty cavalrymen here. After they turn the corner and run forward for a while, they'll suddenly be bombarded from behind... Heh heh."

"Very well, Commander Bonaparte, let's do it this way!"

As night fell, Le Mans quickly quieted down. Due to the approaching war, a curfew had been imposed in Le Mans, and outdoor activities were prohibited after nightfall.

Around one o'clock, a series of footsteps and the clanging of heavy horse-drawn carriage wheels over the stone pavement suddenly came from the street. Many residents along the street were awakened by these sounds. Looking out through the cracks in their windows, they saw squads of soldiers carrying torches running along the road.

"What happened?" These people were thinking to themselves, while waking up their families, ready to respond at any moment.

Mayor Constantine de René of Le Mans was awakened by the noise from the street outside. He had just sat up in bed when he heard a commotion outside. Then came arguing at the front door, followed by urgent knocking on his bedroom door.

"Master, Master, it's Commissioner Fouché. He's with a squad of soldiers and wants you to go down and help him arrest the rebels."

René was taken aback; politically, he was closer to the Brissotins. The events in Paris a few days earlier had already filled him with anxiety, and now, with this sudden turn of events, he was at a loss for how to react.

"Master, Commissioner Fouché is still waiting downstairs," the servant outside the door said again, seeing that his master had not yet opened the door.

"Ah, tell him I'll be downstairs after I change, and ask him to wait a moment," René said quickly, regaining his senses.

The servant left. René bed, and his wife quickly helped him dress.

"Constantine, will everything be alright?" his wife asked.

"Julie, don't worry, everything will be alright." René the forehead, then opened the door and went down the stairs.

When he entered the living room, he saw Fouché waiting there with a troop of soldiers.

"Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry to bother you at this time," Fouché said, but neither his expression nor his tone revealed any embarrassment.

"The situation is urgent. Some traitors are planning a rebellion, and we must act to stop them. Now, please come with me to the City Hall to oversee the situation."

"Ah... here..." René said.

"Mayor, I will leave a squad of soldiers behind to protect your family. Now please come with me; our time is very precious."

The two men went out the door. Just as they stepped out, a gunshot rang out from the other side, followed by a barrage of gunfire.

René was startled, but Fouché seemed not to have heard him at all. He opened the door of the carriage he had brought and said with a smile, "Mayor, please get in. Don't worry, my driver is very experienced; the carriage won't tip over."

When the two arrived at the City Hall, gunfire was everywhere. Looking out from the windows on the second floor of the City Hall, flames could be seen rising to the west.

"That's not over there..." René pointed to the west.

"Yes, those are some of the richest guys in the city. The France people have given them a good life, but they are still not satisfied and even dream of forever trampling the France people under their feet. So they go and collude with the Royalist Party. It's ridiculous, isn't it, Mr. Mayor? The rich are never reliable." Fouché spoke in a calm and polite voice, uttering words that terrified René.

"Commissioner, do you have any evidence?" René asked.

"There is some evidence, though not enough to form a complete chain of evidence, but it is sufficient to demonstrate their suspicion. As for more evidence, it will come soon. And in a time like this..." Fouché smiled, "In a time like this, is evidence even necessary? To protect the interests of the France people, isn't suspicion enough?"

"Aren't those people also France people?" René asked, mustering his courage.

"They are the people of France?" Fouché laughed, slowly shaking his head. "Mayor, your understanding of the word 'people' is flawed. Revolution is for the people, and the people should not be understood as a class that, due to wealth, possesses privileges and enjoys all the pleasures of life and all the social wealth. The people are the sum total of all France citizens, but first and foremost, they are the working masses who defend our borders with their lives and support the entire society with their labor. If our revolution focuses only on the wealth of a few hundred people while allowing twenty-four million to fall into poverty, that is a political and moral atrocity—the greatest atrocity in the world! We must correct this atrocity, and if necessary, we can correct it with the atrocity of revolution. Do you understand? We are now correcting this atrocity, with our own atrocity."

As if in sync with Fouché's remarks, the sound of cannons suddenly boomed outside.

"What's going on? Does the arrest operation require the use of cannons?" René's face was as white as a corpse.

"Don't you understand? This isn't an arrest, it's a war, a war between one class and another!" Fouché revealed a frightening smile. "In essence, the rich will never become true revolutionaries, nor true republicans! Because the foundation of a republic is the equality of citizens, and those rich will always consider themselves a special kind of people. No citizen should possess more wealth than they need for their own survival, and anyone who possesses such wealth, if they are a true republican, should donate that wealth to the state to fight the enemies of the people."

At this point, Fouché paused, then said to René, "Mayor, do you understand what I mean now? You must know that the rich are unreliable. Many of them, in order to amass too much wealth, are colluding with our enemies. Moreover, the rich are very united; they have numerous connections among themselves, including with you, Mayor. But now, you must choose whether to stand with us or with them."

Just then, several more cannon shots rang out outside. However, the sound seemed to be coming from another direction.

"The rebellion has been crushed!" Fouché said with a smile. "I will be personally interrogating those traitors in a moment. These unscrupulous fellows sometimes love to spout nonsense—you must make a choice quickly."

"I..." René swayed, almost unable to stand. He reached out and grabbed the table beside him to steady himself. His face flushed and paled by turns, but finally, as if he had made up his mind, he raised his head and said to Fouché, "I am loyal to the republic."

"Very good, I'm glad to see you've made the right choice," Fouché said with a gentle smile.

The next morning, the City Hall rang its bells, gathering the citizens who had been terrified all night. Fouché delivered a passionate speech to them, and then, in the city square, erected His Majesty the King's improved invention, and in one fell swoop chopped off more than a hundred noble heads, allowing many families to be reunited intact.

Inspired by Fouché's speech, a group of wealthy, republican loyalists, led by Mayor René, donated their surplus wealth and helped Fouché uncover more of the rebels' hidden riches. Using a small portion of this wealth, Fouché quickly organized the Le Mans Sans-culottes, establishing a National Guard of five thousand men.

(Note: Fouché's somewhat hammer-and-sickle-like remarks were not fabricated by the author, but rather were directly issued by him in his <Work Directive> during the French Revolution when he served as the commissioner of Nantes. Some words may differ slightly due to the shift from written to spoken language, but the meaning remains the same.)