Fox of France

"Napoleon, let me ask you, what is the most important question in a revolution?" Joseph asked suddenly.

"Of course who is our friend and who is our enemy? This is one of your rare, not so stupid questions." Napoleon said, "The most important thing to decide who is our friend and who is our enemy What is the point? Doesn’t it depend on where their economic interests are? When I was in Italy, which Italians supported me and which Italians opposed me? To put it simply, they got land and benefits in the war Everyone will support us. Those who have suffered losses will oppose us. To put it more clearly, those who are in line with our interests are our friends."

"But the question now is, where are our interests?" Joseph said.

Before Napoleon and Lucien had any more reactions, Joseph handed them a report: "This is the income statistics of the various industries under our family's control. You can take a look."

The two quickly took the report and read it.

"Have you noticed? Among our income, the income from agriculture accounts for a relatively small proportion. Although speaking, our family has a lot of land now, but not much is used for agriculture. Why is that?" Joseph asked.

"Because farming doesn't make money." Lucien replied, "Even the most profitable high-end vineyards can make a little more money a year? And our factory, as long as it is in operation, the efficiency of making money is higher than that of wine." Where did it go. And wine, in today's agriculture, is already considered profitable.

Before the revolution, if a person owned a large area of ​​arable land, he might be the richest and most powerful person in a large area. Now, of course, there are no such people in France, but there are still many such guys in many countries. What do we call such guys? Old hat. Are you still counting on farming to make money? hehe. These old hats will definitely hate us very much. "

"Lucien, the peasants are doing better than before," Napoleon said.

"That's right, but if the peasants earn it, can that count as money? That's a little more?" Lucien shook his head disdainfully.

It is true that French farmers are living a good life today, but this is not bad on the basis of comparison with before the revolution. But in fact, it is just the appearance of being able to barely maintain a living. Of course, the sense of happiness is based on comparisons. Compared with farmers in some surrounding countries that have to pay taxes to nobles, French farmers are of course very happy.

"So, there is no doubt that our main interests now are in industry and commerce. If we understand where our interests are, we can understand who our enemies are." Joseph continued.

"Then who do you think our enemies are today?" Napoleon asked.

"First of all, those landed nobles." Lucien said, "All the landed nobles in Europe must be against us."

After saying this, Lucien looked at his two brothers, and seeing that they were silent, he said with some anxiety, "Why, did I say something wrong?"

"A few years ago, you were right," said Napoleon.

Lucien turned his gaze to Joseph.

"Napoleon was right," said Joseph.

"Stop playing charades? Why is it wrong now?" Lucien said.

"A fool was sailing in a boat on the Seine, and his revolver fell over the side of the boat. It was a fine ivory-handled revolver, and it was worth a fortune, and someone called out to him: "Go down and fish, the water here is not deep!" However, the fool unhurriedly took out a small knife from his pocket, carved a mark on the side of the boat, and said, "What's the hurry, my gun came from this If the position fell, wait for the boat to reach the end, and then there is still time to pick it up. 'Well, Lucien, you are such a fool."

Lucien was stunned for a moment, but before he could remember, Napoleon slapped his hands and laughed loudly: "Joseph, this story is too appropriate and fun, no, I want to record it in my diary. I will tell it to you later." Listen, Lucien's son. Ha ha ha ha."

Lucien gradually understood at this time, and immediately retorted: "Napoleon, don't forget that you also have a story, and I will tell it to your son in the future!"

"Your story is much more," Napoleon shouted unflinchingly, "Come, let's hurt each other."

"But your reputation is more valuable than mine. No one in the whole family needs to pay more attention to my reputation than I do except Paulina! We who don't have chaps are never afraid of wearing chaps!" Lucien also put on a " I'm a hooligan, who am I afraid of?"

"Okay, don't get distracted from the main problem." Joseph said.

So the two brothers quieted down, but they kept teasing each other with their eyes.

"Lucien, I have taught you before to look at things from the perspective of development. The world is not static, but is constantly changing. 'One cannot step into the same river twice'. In the past, those landed nobles were indeed Our number one enemy, but the world will change, not only the world will change, but we will change too!" Joseph seems to be back to being a teacher to the brothers.

"Hmm..." Lucien listened to the class obediently.

"Look, whether it's Austria, Prussia, or even Italy, what is the main source of wealth for their richest landed nobles today, or do they rely on collecting that little rent?" Joseph asked again .

"Ah, Joseph, I understand! They have changed, they have become us!" Lucien suddenly realized, "Indeed, if they still rely on the little wheat in the field, they will die of poverty. Their main source of income now It has become something else, like mines, trade or something. They have become like us, they have become us. However, this does not affect the conclusion, because 'the people who hate the industry are the people who hate the industry'."

"Wrong." Joseph shook his head, "They are not our peers. What is the core of our industry? It is manufacturing. It is our steel factory, our shipyard, our cement factory, our electrical and other production Factories of various things. They are just a part of our production chain. For example, the copper mines and coal mines in Austria and Prussia are basically sold to us, and these mining nobles sell the ore to us, and then They are already a link in our chain by selling their manufactures back from us. If they are content with that, they are our allies, or, to put it more plainly, our servants. Only the guys who are also trying to make their own steel, electricity, ships, cement, etc. are our peers. You know who I'm talking about?"

"Understood, Britain is our enemy." Lucien said.

"Just understanding this is not enough. To be precise, it is the British industrial capital that is our enemy." Joseph added.

"You're right, Joseph." Lucien nodded.

"But it's not the most dangerous enemy." Joseph shook his head again, "Napoleon, you are more politically sensitive than Lucien. Tell me, who do you think is the most dangerous enemy?"

Napoleon looked at Joseph, folded his hands on his chest, leaned back on the back of the chair, and said with a smile, "Are you talking about the workers in our factory?"

"What?" Lucien was taken aback. "Our workers support us very much, they love us very much. They are all cheering for you."

"More than once, the French people cheered sincerely to the king. I even saw it with my own eyes. They shouted at Louis XVI: 'Long live the king!' But in a blink of an eye, their shouts became' Cut off the tyrant's head." Napoleon said disdainfully, "They are cheering for us now because they see the life of the British workers, Austria, Prussia, and the peasants of the Rhine Union. OK. And they still have a North America to go to. They still have a way back, not like the sansculottes before the revolution, so they won't rebel yet and they'll be cheering on us. But you look at the UK, those workers have started Rebelled. Even Prussia and Austria, whose mine workers rebelled are commonplace. French workers haven't done it yet, but if we don't handle it well, one day, they will shake their fists at us. "

"Well, by the way, Lucien, do you know why I said that these workers are the most dangerous enemy?" Napoleon asked again.

"I don't know." Lucien shook his head.

"Because we can easily eliminate the land aristocracy, and we can guarantee that there will be no more of them in the future. We can also work hard to eliminate those British counterparts, but we will never be able to truly eliminate the workers. Because without them, our The benefits will no longer exist. This is almost exactly the same as when the king and land nobles faced the third estate before the revolution. No matter how the king and the others suppress it, the third estate itself will not die. As long as the third estate Once the level is successful, the king and land nobles are completely finished. Now there are lovely British people to help us block the guns, but we can't waste the time the British bought us, and we must make full preparations before the rain .Understand?"

"So, how can we prepare?"

"Lucien, since ancient times, successful reactionary rulers have always relied on two things: suppression by force and deception by public opinion. We are no exception. Do you understand?" Joseph finally said.

There are many things today, only this one.