He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 58

(57) Robespierre Extends His Hand to Napoleon

When a scandal breaks out, the most important thing is to gather information quickly.

“Weren’t we going straight to the Committee of Public Safety? Where are we?”

Eugene lightly dusted off the table and turned his head.

Napoleon was tilting his head with a puzzled look.

Of course, it wasn’t Napoleon’s first time in Paris.

But following Eugene, who was a native Parisian, he ended up in an unexpected place.

A place completely opposite to the Tuileries Palace, located north of the Seine.

It was the Café Procope in the southern Saint-Germain district.

Eugene, who had returned to his old haunt after a long time, smiled and replied.

“Café Procope. It’s still intact. Quite well-maintained, isn’t it?”

“What? A café? Why all of a sudden?”

“We need to hear the preliminary information first, General.”

Just then, an old man with snow-white hair emerged from inside the café, leaning on a cane.

“Indeed. You should listen to the wisdom of an old man like me. Heh heh.”

It was the still vibrant Recamier, despite his age.

He had received the letter Eugene sent via Tournai and was waiting.

Eugene suddenly smiled as he looked at Recamier’s face.

“You look much healthier, Monsieur Recamier. Is it because you’re a newlywed?”

“Don’t say such frightening things! I haven’t touched my bride with even a fingertip! Well, I do stroke her hair sometimes.”

“Ah, I see. Is ‘Madame Recamier’ doing well?”

This time, Recamier responded with a sly smile.

“Yes, she’s become very close with ‘Princess’ Marie Therese. Heh heh heh!”

Just now, a battle of wits had unfolded between Eugene and Recamier, two ‘financial gamblers’ meeting after a long time.

Eugene teased Recamier about the awkwardness of having his daughter as his wife.

Recamier, in turn, mentioned Marie Therese, Eugene’s weakness.

Of course, it was a friendly exchange between close acquaintances.

However, Napoleon, seeing this exchange for the first time, was dumbfounded and grabbed Marsot.

“What is all this talk? Not touching the bride? Major Marsot?”

“Everyone has complicated family matters, General Bonaparte. More importantly, please greet him. This is Jacques Recamier, the owner of Recamier Bank.”

“Oh? Ah, you’re the famous banker from Paris. I am Bonaparte.”

Suppressing his bewildered feelings, Napoleon greeted him, and Recamier smiled.

“I’ve heard of you, Brigadier General Bonaparte. It’s an honor for this humble banker to meet the hero of the Vendée.”

“Haha, you flatter me too much. Wait, Vendée? Not Toulon?”

“Isn’t the hero of Toulon worthy of praise? Heh heh.”

Originally, Napoleon’s fame stemmed from his victory in the Siege of Toulon.

Anyone who met Napoleon would mention Toulon first.

But Recamier, the first outsider he met in the capital, Paris, unexpectedly mentioned [Vendée].

Banker Recamier nodded with a peculiar smile.

“But you are already the hero of Vendée, General. Everyone in Paris already knows.”

Eugene stared at Recamier and shrugged.

“Recamier, you spread the word.”

“Our gambling prodigy is back, so I had to do at least that much. Do you have a plan?”

“Let’s hear the information first. What’s the situation in Paris right now?”

This was precisely why Eugene had called Recamier before arriving in Paris.

Accurate information was needed.

Especially now that an unexpected scandal had broken out.

Why was the Committee of Public Safety, or rather, Robespierre, calling for Napoleon?

It was because a rebellion had broken out in the military.

Therefore, it was obvious that they intended to get their hands on the closest general, Napoleon, first.

So, what was the state of Paris?

Recamier pondered for a moment and tapped the floor with his cane.

“I don’t know where to begin. It’s very bad. Prices have skyrocketed tenfold. There’s a shortage of wheat, and the sans-culottes [working-class revolutionaries] might rise up at any moment.”

January 1794.

The storm of the Little Ice Age had once again engulfed France, no, Europe.

On top of that, a large number of young men had to be conscripted for the war.

As a result, France was suffering from a famine, and Paris was facing soaring prices.

Naturally, public sentiment could not be good.

Eugene confirmed another economic problem.

“Trade with England has also been cut off, right?”

“They finally declared war. They must have done so while you were on your way to Paris.”

“So, the First Coalition has finally been formed. It’s quite late.”

Originally, the First Coalition should have been formed around March 1793.

However, because the king and queen had not been executed, European countries could not easily find a justification to declare all-out war on France.

In the meantime, only Austria and Prussia had made explicit declarations of war and had been fighting.

But when the Revolutionary Army invaded Flanders, the situation changed.

Because the Netherlands came within range of the French Revolutionary Army.

England, which had been on friendly terms with the Netherlands since the time of William III, also gained a reason to participate in the war.

In addition, Spain and Naples, whose royal family was the Bourbon dynasty, declared war.

Portugal and Sardinia, friendly countries of Spain, also joined in.

Finally, the Vatican, which had antipathy towards the revolutionary government for attacking the church, also jumped into the alliance.

The whole of Western Europe was attacking France.

Conversely, official trade was also cut off.

However, the real problem in Paris lay elsewhere.

Recamier licked his lips.

“More than anything, the atmosphere in the Committee of Public Safety is not good.”

“Why is that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? In the Vendée, Rossignol, sent by Marat, caused an accident, and in the Rhine, Dumouriez, sent by Danton, betrayed us. Eugene, you know what this means, right?”

This is how they referred to the three giants of the Mountain faction [radical republicans] in the revolutionary government.

Marat, Danton, and Robespierre.

The generals from Marat and Danton’s factions had caused trouble.

Eugene’s eyes gleamed.

“It’s time to assign responsibility.”

At that moment, Napoleon, who had been listening intently, asked.

“Then, what should I do in this situation? Child prodigy?”

Eugene spoke the answer that Napoleon probably already knew.

“First, let’s send word to our [connections].”

“Indeed, starting there?”

“Yes. Your fan, General.”

Eugene twisted his lips and smiled.

“Augustin Robespierre.”

Furthermore, he was the one who had issued the permit to bring prisoners from the Vendée in the first place.

***

In a crisis, people tend to grab at any hand that is offered, even a cat’s paw.

“It’s a really difficult situation. How can a military commander of a country kidnap a minister and flee to an enemy country? Has this ever happened before?”

Augustin hastily accepted Napoleon’s request for a meeting.

He even had Salicetti, a fellow Corsican deputy, attend to show consideration for Napoleon.

Considering that the Vendée was a very sensitive battlefield, Augustin had made a very gentle gesture.

It was a tacit expression that he would never hold Napoleon responsible in any way.

However, before they could even drink their coffee after meeting, Augustin was already talking about the Dumouriez affair.

Eugene, who was more eloquent than Napoleon, smiled and replied.

“No, there isn’t. There are quite a few cases of defection, but they all happened when they were civilians. For example, the Prince of Condé, or even Prince Eugene, from whom I get my name.”

“That’s right. That’s exactly it, gambling prodigy. It’s okay if they’re civilians. But a commander causing a mutiny in the middle of the war!”

“Have you apprehended all the family members?”

At Eugene’s sudden words, Augustin’s mouth dropped open.

The other attendees discreetly turned their heads at the sight of coffee spilling onto the saucer.

But Eugene didn’t take his eyes off him and said calmly.

“If you couldn’t detain the person himself, you should at least seize his family. That’s the order of punishment for a traitor.”

Collective responsibility.

It was a punishment that was actually carried out on traitors during the old royal era.

It wasn’t as strict as the Eastern practice of exterminating three generations, but Europe also had strict punishments for treason.

But wasn’t this the era of revolution, after the collapse of the old royal family?

The audacity to mention collective responsibility in front of revolutionaries who were, in their own way, believers in Enlightenment philosophy.

More than anything, Augustin shuddered for a moment at the boy’s unchildlike cruelty.

Of course, the Committee of Public Safety was actually encouraging the massacre of rebels in the provinces.

At that moment, Salicetti, the Corsican deputy in attendance, spoke to Napoleon.

“Our child prodigy seems to have some Corsican traits, Bonaparte.”

“He’s been lodging at my house lately. It seems my mother has been giving him some table manners education.”

“No wonder, he started talking about [Vendetta] right away. She taught him well.”

Vendetta, which means [revenge] in Italian.

An Italian custom of repaying those who have violated one’s family’s honor and life with an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and blood for blood.

It would later become the operating principle of the Mafia, but the original was not Sicily.

It was Corsica.

Only then did Augustin realize why Eugene was saying such things, and he clicked his tongue.

The battlefield was not a good educational environment for a boy, after all.

“Our revolutionary government does not apply collective responsibility. Punishment is given to the person himself, not the family. Besides, Dumouriez doesn’t even have a family.”

“He doesn’t?”

“Didn’t you know? He divorced when he was young, and he’s been alone ever since. He might have illegitimate children, though.”

As Augustin shrugged, Eugene smiled coldly.

“Then, the generals of the French Revolutionary Army will pay the price for that blood.”

Again, Augustin’s expression hardened.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Deputy Augustin? Why do you think the Vendetta came about? Because Corsicans are barbaric? No.”

“You’re saying there’s a rational reason?”

Just as he was about to get angry, saying how could there be any rationality in a revenge law, Eugene stated definitively to Augustin.

“It’s to end the bloodshed with the least amount of blood. It’s to avoid killing people who are not involved.”

Augustin couldn’t say anything.

The boy in front of him, and Napoleon behind him, came from the Vendée.

The Vendée was the site of the Revolutionary Army’s massacres of citizens.

If they had only retaliated against the royalists who caused the problem, perhaps the massacres would not have occurred.

So, were the Corsicans who practiced Vendetta barbaric, or were the French revolutionaries who committed massacres barbaric?

Eugene, smiling again, spoke to Augustin, who had lost his words.

“Dumouriez has escaped. Unless our Revolutionary Army can defeat Austria, and by extension the First Coalition, there’s no chance of punishing him.”

“If he’s sane, he’ll probably flee to England.”

“But our government has been disgraced. Moreover, it’s facing an internal crisis. What should we do? Shouldn’t we carry out a purge?”

In that instant, Eugene’s eyes flashed.

“Just like they tried to massacre the royalists in Toulon, just like they carried out massacres in the Vendée!”

If Danton had been the one listening to these words, he would have shouted back at him.

If he had been talking to Marat, he would have ignored him and proposed executing the former royal servants.

Or, if he had been facing Robespierre, he might have been logically refuted and worried about the guillotine.

But the person Eugene was talking to now was Augustin Robespierre.

Robespierre’s younger brother, who admired Robespierre but was not as dogmatic as him.

A politician who listened.

Augustin stared at Eugene and smiled weakly.

“The gambling prodigy of Paris always has a solution, doesn’t he? You’ve shown me before.”

“I just have the cards. Whether those cards will be effective or not, we’ll have to see when we actually use them. Like all gambles.”

“What is it? It seems like our General Bonaparte is having the gambling prodigy say what he wants to say.”

Augustin looked back and forth between Eugene and Napoleon and asked.

Eugene let out a small sigh of relief.

As before, Augustin lacked decisiveness and excellence, but he had tolerance.

Perhaps that was why he had scouted Napoleon in the original history.

Tapping the untouched coffee cup, Eugene said.

“Use the Vendée massacre as a front to turn the tables.”

Augustin tilted his head.

“You mean the twelve royalist prisoners you brought? The commander-in-chief’s name was Rochejaquelein, wasn’t it? And his subordinate was the Marquis de Lescure. Are you saying we should call those people to the National Convention [French Republic’s assembly]?”

“Rochejaquelein isn’t the only one among them. There’s also Carrier, and Colonel Turreau.”

“What?”

The moment Augustin’s eyes widened, Eugene coldly shot back.

“If we’re going to emphasize suppressing the rebellion and punishing the royalists, we have to kill all the aristocratic officers. But if we shift the direction to punishing the massacre, there’s no reason to do so.”

Twelve royalist rebel leaders prisoners.

But the real ‘escorts’ that Eugene brought to Paris with Napoleon were different.

They were the deputy on mission Carrier, who came to take responsibility for them, and the La Rochelle regiment, who had carried out the massacre.

Of course, there was only one missing from this group.

That was General Westermann and his direct subordinates.

But it was a little difficult to deal with them all at once.

Because Danton was behind Westermann.

If Westermann were brought to Paris, that would be the time for Danton to fall.

Eugene had summarized all of this and proposed it.

Augustin wasn’t a fool either.

Just as Augustin, who had roughly understood, was rolling his eyes.

Napoleon opened his heavy mouth.

“Monsieur Augustin, didn’t you already see it in Toulon? If you have overwhelming superiority, forgiveness is more effective than massacre.”

The words, mixed with a Corsican accent, resonated even more heavily in Augustin’s heart.

“I’ll talk to my brother about it.”

Augustin was not the decision-maker.

But he could move his brother, Robespierre.

***

The number one man in the revolutionary government is, in fact, still a lodger.

-Tap, tap, tap!

The sound of a carpenter working with wood was loud.

This place was actually the workshop and residence of Maurice Duplay, a woodworking entrepreneur.

Duplay, a supporter of Robespierre, had offered his home for him to stay in.

The study where he had met Eugene before was also located here.

Recalling the time he had met Eugene before, Robespierre looked at his brother.

The sound of the woodworking, like a security measure, prevented sounds from leaking outside.

It was a safer place for secret talks than the Hôtel de Fleur, where the Committee of Public Safety was located.

“The gambling prodigy made such a proposal?”

“It’s actually General Bonaparte’s proposal. No matter how talented the gambling prodigy is, he’s still a child. Regardless of his abilities, he doesn’t have the authority to make decisions.”

“Yes. But doesn’t that apply to Bonaparte as well?”

Just as Augustin was about to hesitate, Robespierre narrowed his eyes.

“Augustin, you scouted Bonaparte.”

“Yes? Ah, that’s, that’s right. With Salicetti’s recommendation.”

“Salicetti is a fellow countryman, so there’s nothing strange about that. What I’m suspicious of is something else. Have you forgotten who the real person behind the gambling prodigy is?”

Augustin blinked and shook his head.

“Are you talking about General Alexandre de Beauharnais? Surely that friend didn’t instigate the Dumouriez rebellion?”

“What nonsense are you talking about, Augustin! Alexandre is an incompetent man who’s lucky to have survived the battlefield. It’s even questionable that he’s the gambling prodigy’s father. His ex-wife Beauharnais must have cheated on him for sure!”

“No, they did look alike. Then, who are you talking about, brother?”

Robespierre glared and replied.

“Lafayette!”

Only then did Augustin realize what his brother was worried about.

Could Lafayette be behind all of this?

Lafayette still had considerable influence.

Many citizens still respected Lafayette as the hero of the Battle of Valmy.

Rather, in times like these, the fact that almost all adult men had universal suffrage became Robespierre’s weakness.

Many citizens in Paris supported Robespierre.

Due to the influence of the rebellion, Lafayette’s support might be even higher in the provinces.

But Eugene, who was connected to Lafayette, had returned to Paris.

And with him was the talented general Napoleon.

Robespierre frowned.

“Lafayette is behind the gambling prodigy. Half of the National Convention still supports Lafayette. He’s the one who will be eager to take the lead in this Vendée massacre.”

“Th, then should we, should we arrest him? Th, the gambling prodigy?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Are you saying we should kill the prodigy we scouted after separating him from Lafayette? Besides, what about Bonaparte if we kill the prodigy? Do we have enough of our people in the military to do that?”

Strictly speaking, Eugene was an individual Robespierre had directly scouted.

Although it was a forced conscription with a strong sense of punishment, Robespierre directly gave him his position and battlefield.

Naturally, when Eugene achieved success, Robespierre was praised equally.

People were amazed by his insight in selecting such a talented young soldier.

Now, to kill Eugene?

Leaving aside personal feelings, it would be a political own goal.

Robespierre, who had been frowning, sat down in his chair and glared at his brother.

“Fine, no matter who’s behind him, you’re the one who brought Bonaparte up, Augustin.”

“Th, that’s right.”

“So, we need to send a signal to the entire military. That if you follow this Robespierre, you will definitely be rewarded.”

Robespierre’s eyes flashed coldly.

“Make a proposal to Bonaparte. Tell him we’ll entrust Paris to him.”