Chapter 347 Make France Great Again
Chapter 347 Make France Great Again
"The peaks and mountains are like clusters, the waves are like angry waves, and the mountains and rivers are like Tongguan Road inside and outside."
"Where's down there?"
"There really isn't anything left... I, a rough guy, only remember these few sentences."
After a very detailed explanation, Isabella II and her daughter Maria finally fully understood Shao Quanzhong's intention of asking Spain to send troops.
The three of them happily walked out of the Queen's bedroom where they had held secret talks for two days and two nights, chatting and laughing.
Shao Quanzhong recited two lines of poetry, and Isabelle II actually understood them, although she only understood the superficial meaning.
"Mother-in-law, I haven't seen you for two years. How come you can speak Chinese now? Who did you learn from?"
"Zhang Zihuai."
Oh, how much effort does it take for a Spanish mother-in-law to learn a foreign language as difficult as Chinese? Does she have to frequently summon Zhang Zihuai, the tall, handsome, and fair-skinned Chief of Staff of the Spanish Bourbon Royal Guard?
Alas, Zhang Zihuai, you have worked hard and contributed so much to the friendship between Qing and the West.
At the critical moment of the Franco-Prussian War, Shao Quanzhong stayed in the Spanish palace for two days. Wouldn't that miss the opportunity to fight?
The facts immediately gave a resounding response to those who doubted the Marshal's ability.
As the head of the Bourbon royal family, Isabella II sent a telegram to the world, announcing that Spain would send troops into France to save the French people from the suffering of war.
Spain sent troops into France, but it was not declaring war on France or forming a new anti-French alliance, and certainly not declaring war on Prussia or the Qing Dynasty.
On October 1870, 10, Prince Alfonso XII of Spain, as the legitimate heir of the Bourbon family, swore an oath in Madrid to fight against the "pseudo-French Republican Government". His goal was to restore the Bourbon dynasty in France and bring bread, authority and a sense of security to the hungry and displaced French people.
Alfonso XII appointed himself commander-in-chief of the expeditionary army and Zhang Zihuai as chief of staff.
The expeditionary force included 5,000 Bourbon Royal Guards, 80,000 Spanish regular troops, 50,000 South American mercenaries, 130,000 Cuban mercenaries, and 28,000 American and Irish Youth Volunteer Divisions, totaling 293,000 people.
This is why President Johnson sent his favorite general, George Dewey, to lead the American Atlantic Fleet to Spain to escort a huge transport fleet of mercenaries and volunteers.
The Federation was grateful for the selfless help provided by France, especially King Louis XVI, to the Federation during the War of Independence. When the French people were suffering, the Federation was willing to repay the favor and support the restoration of the Bourbon family in France.
Our federation did not intervene in the Franco-Prussian War. We only supported the Bourbon family, who had done favors for the federation, in the French Civil War in a voluntary manner.
The Bourbon family originated from Lower Navarre in France, the Bourbon royal family of Spain, and had a legitimate claim to the French throne.
In her telegram, Her Majesty Isabelle II said affectionately that in France, farmers are now living in turmoil, without government care, and citizens are living in misery and hunger.
A chicken in Paris costs 75 francs and a pound of butter costs 60 francs. Most of the animals in the Paris Zoo have been eaten, and the people of Paris are now catching mice to eat. This is an unprecedented disaster suffered by the French people.
Who caused this disaster? It was the fake emperor Napoleon III and the fake republican government.
When our Bourbon royal family was alive, the French people lived a stable and prosperous life, and even the poor had enough to eat.
The pseudo-republican government drove out the Bourbon dynasty and killed King Louis XVI. What did the French get?
In the past, the poor people in France didn’t have enough to eat, but now they can finally eat no more.
Our 300,000-man army is not going to fight. It is going to restore the chaotic order in the south of France without government and to deliver bread and chickens to the hungry people of Paris. Do you remember the ancestor of the Bourbon royal family, His Majesty Henry IV? He made sure that "every peasant has a chicken in his pot" in France.
Remember Louis XIII and the great Richelieu? The Bourbon family once brought great glory to France.
Now that France is in danger, the Bourbons are back, and our goal is to “make France great again!”
Under normal circumstances, weak Spain would never dare to interfere in the situation of the powerful France.
Now, the main force of the French regular army has surrendered at Sedan with Napoleon III. The remaining Rhine Army is surrounded by the Prussians in Metz and is running out of food and is in danger of collapse.
The Prussians only allowed each position to accept two French soldiers who surrendered from Metz every day, and the rest had to go back to consume the food and grass in Metz. The French soldiers who got these two places became the happiest soldiers because they could finally eat their fill.
Apart from the besieged Paris, only Tours had a high-ranking official of the pseudo-republican government, Gambetta, who was recruiting young men to form the Loire Army to lift the siege of Paris - this guy escaped from Paris in a hot air balloon.
In the vast French territory, there is now no army, no order, only peasants who support the monarchy and desire a stable life.
This was a perfect opportunity to restore the Bourbon dynasty. Moreover, with the strong support of her son-in-law and an army of 300,000, Isabella II could quickly rise to the occasion.
King Alfonso XII held a swearing-in ceremony at Puerta del Sol in Madrid.
In terms of squares, China's is the largest. Puerta del Sol was originally only 5,000 square meters, but was expanded to 12,000 square meters last year. Therefore, only His Royal Highness's 5,000 guards participated in the oath-taking ceremony here.
His Highness unfurled the white fleur-de-lis flag of the French Bourbon royal family on the spot. Two thousand French Far East sailors, two thousand Saigon colonial soldiers, and three thousand colonial black troops, led by former Cochinchina Governor Dupere, senior official Huo Daosheng and Vice Admiral Courres, swore allegiance to the newly-minted French Bourbon royal family and became the first batch of loyal subjects.
Shao Quanzhong took great pains to bring them here from Shanghai and Saigon. Tell me, would you rather remain as prisoners of war and owe me the fare for your return? Or would you rather follow the emperor and become an official? A smart person would make a choice, right?
With the addition of 7,000 French guides, the Bourbon Restoration Army that Isabella II helped her son Prince Alfonso to gather now has exactly 300,000 people.
However, 158,000 people are still floating on the Atlantic Ocean and will not arrive until half a month later.
Alfonso led the existing 142,000 troops by train, and the vanguard of 5,000 people reached the Spanish-French border that day.
Five thousand well-equipped guards crossed the Bidassoa River as if they were in an empty land.
The French border guards here had long been transferred to the front line to fight the Prussians and were already in Prussian prisoner-of-war camps.
Prince Alfonso, riding an Andlucian horse and with a white fleur-de-lis flag behind him, posed on the banks of the Bidassoa River and took a portrait, which was later made into an oil painting titled "The Great Son of God Saves France."
Subsequent restoration troops continued to cross the border. In the French town of Hendaye on the opposite bank, the restoration troops left behind 40 former French colonial soldiers, 30 black troops, 800 Spanish soldiers, and 500 South American mercenaries.
Colonial soldiers were promoted to local officials and became loyal guides. Spanish soldiers maintained local order, while South American Taiping Army mercenaries "persuaded" landlords to donate and distributed food to poor farmers who had no food or clothing during the turmoil.
The local peasants knelt on the ground along the road, worshipped Prince Alfonso, cried inconsolably, and welcomed the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy.
(End of this chapter)