"Do you dare slander great France?"
"You traitor!"
"Damn the remnants of Orléans!"
The staff officers at headquarters immediately turned on Paul Dubois, but the man from Brittany refused to back down.
"Then who are the real traitors? You keep saying that you overthrew the monarchy to achieve equality for all! But where is this democracy you speak of now? Where is the peace? The bread?
My soldiers can only fight the Germans and the mercenaries—and our own countrymen—while gnawing on biscuits older than they are!
Since June 15, we've suffered twenty thousand casualties! Twenty thousand! And what have we gained? A city reduced to ashes? A ruin we couldn't even fully occupy?"
The staff officers at the French headquarters and the other two generals were momentarily at a loss for words. The previous siege, in particular, had been a disgrace: tens of thousands of regular troops had been unable to take a commercial city defended by nothing but militia and mercenaries. The French Army had lost face completely.
"We still have more than fifty thousand men. We can still retreat in time. If we're annihilated here, we won't just lose a battle—we'll lose the entire war.
"First, the Lamoricière Corps in Lorraine will be attacked from both sides, and will soon meet the same fate as us.
"With the destruction of the entire Central Army, the gates of Paris will be thrown open to the German Allied Forces. Do you think the gentlemen of Paris will welcome the Germans the way they once welcomed Napoleon?"
Thinking of the gentlemen of Paris and their principles, everyone felt a little embarrassed. They would raise a glass with the Russians if they invaded, let alone the Austrians.
"Paul! Enough!"
Benoît de Coulon shouted to silence him. He knew perfectly well that Paul