With the full support of Minister of Foreign Affairs Talleyrand, and the founder of his military career, Ballas, who was still an important figure in the Directorate-General's government, as his backer, Napoleon naturally had no fear and enthusiasm to travel back and forth between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palace of Luxury. He also wrote a letter to a senior Austrian diplomat, saying that he would soon go to Rashtadt. Due to Vienna's apology, he expected the problem between the two countries to be resolved peacefully. At the same time, France continued to dispatch troops to the Austrian border, putting Austria in a situation of heavy military pressure.
Unfortunately, there was no one around Napoleon who could give him advice. Obviously, Foreign Minister Talleyrand was unable to restrict this Corsican general's bluff. As a result, in a private meeting with Ballas, Napoleon secretly boasted of the possibility of abandoning the Egyptian expedition, but he did not reveal any thoughts of his personal goals and aspirations to Ballas and Talleyrand. At the beginning of May, Napoleon disclosed all his ideas to the Directorate-General. He was sharp and aggressive about how to use Austria's weakness to bargain with them at the negotiating table to force them to cede more land. As a reward, he should have a seat in the Directorate-General (the frightened Ballas had previously suggested that the twenty-eight-year-old Napoleon did not meet the legal age for entering the Directorate-General, which was at least forty years old). The governors were naturally shocked by his desire for power, not to mention his arrogance and defiance. They needed peace, and they could not let Napoleon Bonaparte do as he pleased.
As an eyewitness to the whole process, Ballas believed that Napoleon wanted to use the strength of France as a bargaining chip to impose his will on hopeless victims in Rushtato. Napoleon did not want to miss such a good opportunity and attempted to monopolize all European affairs through the Directorate-General. He no longer concealed his contempt for the Directorate-General and threatened us by withdrawing from the military. Governor Lebel, who hated this arrogant general, immediately took out a pen and paper. Napoleon, who had been humiliated by his excessive words and deeds, rejected it with complete silence.
After this meeting, the five-member council of the Governor met again to discuss and cancel Napoleon's diplomatic mission and the trip to Rashtat. Then, Ballas personally informed Napoleon of the decision.
When Ballas arrived at Napoleon's residence in Triumph Street, he found his servants carrying boxes to the carriage. Napoleon was planning to leave for Tattrash! Their meeting lasted only 15 minutes. According to Brenner's memory, the two of them were locked in Napoleon's small study. Ballas asked Napoleon to hand over his diplomatic passport, which had now expired. Ballas was the first to leave, passing through the living room without greeting Mrs. Napoleon. The general then came out and sent Ballas to the door. Then, without a word, she returned to his study and slammed the door.
Napoleon dictated a brief letter to Bruise, ordering him to ship the troops on May 9. At the same time, he told his old friend, General Caffreri: The expedition to Egypt would continue, and he would set out for Toulon the following evening.
The humiliation that Napoleon had suffered in front of the five most powerful men in France was something he would neither forgive nor forget, and he was determined to make them pay for it. They don't need me at all, he confided to Brenner. Just like they did at Brienne, they must be overthrown... but the time is not yet ripe... I still have to wait... I will be completely on my own. Good, we're finally going to Egypt, where all the great opportunities for glory lie…I'm going to get glory.
On May 3rd, General Napoleon left Paris with Joseph and Brenner. In his haste, he had failed to notice a notice in the Provenance about a prisoner of war, a young British admiral named William Sidney Smith, who had escaped with the help of Louis Deflippo, one of Napoleon's fellow students at the Royal Military Academy-the two men would one day meet Napoleon in the distant Acre Harbor.
During the five-day journey to Toulon, Napoleon was silent and thoughtful. But when he reached Toulon at six o'clock on the morning of the 9th of May, he was a completely different man. The final resolution had been made, and now it was time to make it a reality: He decided to succeed and obtain glory!
The Navy Fleet
After a journey of thousands of miles and nearly six days of bumpy carriages, General Napoleon was exhausted, but he did not look tired at all. After arriving in Toulon, he did not rest, nor did he accompany Joseph or listen to Brenner's report in the stone house that overlooked the bustling Toulon Harbor. Instead, he immediately inspected the army that was preparing to board the ship. He treated her as if she was his subordinate. He was as meticulous and serious about military inspections as he was about other things in his life. He personally checked the combat readiness of the soldiers, checking their guns, bayonet, equipment, cannons, two-wheeled cannon carts pulled by six to twelve horses, ammunition carts, and so on.
Napoleon found that the French Mediterranean port was unusually busy with warships, merchant ships, and other activities, especially the gathering and mobilization of troops. Such a large-scale activity in such a usually quiet harbor would have been difficult to escape the eyes of the vigilant British and their spies. Thus, they had to make the expeditionary army move out as soon as possible. Ajaccio, Genaya, Civitaveccia, and the Eastern Army of Marseille were preparing to set off. However, due to many obstacles, Napoleon had to postpone his departure from Toulon to May 13 - 14.
What awaited Napoleon in Toulon was disturbing bad news and problematic reports, which made the usually energetic Napoleon feel overwhelmed. The impartial and efficient comptroller, Nayak, also sent a report, stating that he still lacked the 1.8 million Francs to pay the navy. Without this salary, the navy refused to go to sea to fight. Where was he going to get the money? In addition, the navy alone had lost 2,049 personnel (including the sailors of the escort team). The very ambitious Nayak said that if they had no choice, they could let civilians and soldiers serve as sailors for the huge gunboat! To make matters worse, the logistics of the expeditionary force was very difficult, mainly due to the lack of funds. The soldiers and sailors did not have enough food, so the officers had to open the supplies that had been sealed on the transport ship for use in Egypt. The horses of the expeditionary army did not even have any feed, so Narak had to send 700 horses back to Genaya.
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