"We must adopt a more flexible and rapid approach to warfare and take the initiative into our hands, sir. Especially in this era of rapid change, we must pay more attention to keeping ourselves ahead in technology and preparation, so that our army can challenge any enemy from a more advantageous position......"

After a moment of silence under the watchful gaze of Louis Bonaparte, Lucien raised his head and looked directly at the president, and spoke his judgment.

When he said this, he naturally didn't just express his heart directly, but after Charles's special mention.

Since he had finally helped Lucien get a chance to be valued by the president, Charles certainly would not let Lucien come to the president without any preparation, and in order to make Lucien more impressed in front of Louis Bonaparte this time, he had already given Lucien a lot of hints before the president came - so of course Lucien understood what he should say.

However, although the words have been carefully considered, these words do contain many ideas that Lucien shares very well.

Perhaps, this can also be said to be the military tradition of the entire French ** team since the emperor.

Then, both Charles and Lucien looked at Louis Bonaparte in silence, expecting his reaction.

After a moment of silence, Louis Bonaparte raised his eyebrows with interest.

"Oh? That's a little interesting, isn't it? Can you tell me a little bit more about it? Sir, I would like you to be able to speak a little more clearly. ”

Then he made a gesture to the attendant standing next to him, and told him to give the order. "I have something to do here, you can make them wait another half hour."

The attendant took the order and departed. Charles and Lucien glanced at each other.

That's great! Charles's heart became much more excited.

Now, half of his wish has been fulfilled.

Lucien's heart was twice as excited as Charles's. Considering the future position of Louis Bonaparte. Being able to win his favor at this time is tantamount to sending a broad road to his future future in the army.

After forcibly suppressing the excitement in his heart, he spoke again, "Thank you for your encouragement, Your Excellency. I know you're not having a lot of time, so I'll keep it simple...... Based on my experience of serving in Algeria, combined with the current situation of leading troops, I have come to a conclusion. That is, from now on, the shape of war will be completely different from before, and we will face a completely different shape, and at that time, the requirements for our army will be higher than in any previous era. ”

"Even if it's compared to the Age of Empires?" Louis Bonaparte asked in a low voice.

"Even if it's compared to the Age of Empires." Lucien replied sternly, "Sir, the country you lead, with all due respect, I think is in fact in a more dangerous situation than in the days of the Empire......"

"Huh?!" Louis Bonaparte's pitch raised quite a bit.

"Yes. I'm not kidding, sir. Lucien looked up at the president, "In the age of empire, we were enemies of all of Europe. But we have a strong base -- we have a large standing army, and we have high-quality and brave officers and soldiers, and this strength. It is beyond the reach of our neighbours – so we can calmly mobilize forces from within and march across Europe. But now. The situation is completely different, other countries have caught up militarily. Personally, I think we still have some kind of advantage, but we need to be able to concentrate our forces and not make too many enemies on the continent at the same time. ”

"That...... It also makes sense on a certain Cheng dù. Louis-Bonaparte frowned, then nodded, agreeing with him, "It is true that we are no longer able to go to war with the whole continent. ”

This is a clear reality.

"At the same time, thanks to technological innovations, we will be able to use the rail system to assemble large legions faster than ever before, and use it to quickly put them on the battlefield...... This poses a huge risk to us - the larger the scale of the decisive battle, the more resources we need to invest, and the more difficult it is to afford defeat, because the enemy country will have the same things, sooner or later. This urgently requires us to find ways to improve the efficiency of military command and to increase investment in technology...... Otherwise, we will face an extremely dire consequence. ”

Lucien did not say any more in order to take care of Louis Bonaparte's affections, but of course he could understand what this "terrible consequence" meant, as his uncle had already demonstrated.

"Lucien had participated in my military exercises before, and he was very enthusiastic about the innovation brought about by the railway system, and he was bent on improving our military system." Charles duly added a sentence next to Louis Bonaparte.

"You have a point," said Louis Bonaparte, who nodded after a moment of silence, "as you say, we do face a more sinister environment. ”

"Only people like you can take on the responsibility of getting the country through this difficult time." Charles complimented him with a serious gesture - though he knew he hadn't done it in his previous life. "What the emperor didn't do well, you can do better."

"That's too much, how is that possible?" Louis Bonaparte shook his head. "I just wish I could follow in his footsteps!"

Of course, this was an insincere statement, and Charles knew what was in his heart.

On the one hand, Louis Bonaparte relied on his uncle's sign to gain fame and prestige, but as often happens in the world, he was vaguely unwilling to accept such a position in his heart, and was bent on proving that he was not completely obscured by the dazzling light, if not as good as his uncle. That's right, he didn't want to be just a "little Napoleon" as people called it.

It was this mentality that drove him to often lead his armies in person, like his uncle, to lead them to fight foreign enemies - however, by all standards, his appearance of commanding war was not convincing, and could even be said to be terrible.

In 1859 he met the equally terrible little friend Franz Joseph, so that even with his mediocre command, the French were able to defeat Austria with the good quality of the soldiers and the bravery of the officers; In 1870 it was different, when he was extremely unfortunate to meet Moltke, one of the most brilliant military strategists of the 19th century. So he got the most terrible end.

"Not only the railroads, but also the artillery and guns will be more powerful than ever before, so the difficulties faced by our troops will also increase exponentially, and it will be more and more difficult for us to break through the enemy's frontal or fortified areas...... For our military in the future, it is very important to use better command, which requires us to use a special command structure. Of course ......"

Lucien spoke of some difficulties at first, and then suddenly held his head high, "I still think that the offensive is the tradition of our army. We have the bravest soldiers, and the finest and decisive non-commissioned officers who are the best in Europe, and we should take advantage of this advantage by quickly assembling by rail, and then, when the conditions permit, strike without mercy, maneuver quickly, penetrate deep into the heart of the enemy, and force our opponents into a decisive battle with us. We should deploy more heavy artillery fire for our army, but it must be light, so that it can keep up with our advance...... Moreover, by any point of view, it is better to fight a war on the soil of another country than on our own soil. ”

"That's right, that's right." Louis Bonaparte nodded again in approval.

For that's what he thought—that Lucien's words were too much for his appetite.

Charles had reservations in his heart, but he didn't intend to say it, ruining the happiness of the two.

This military idea of "taking infantry as the lead, using artillery as the main auxiliary weapon, pursuing lightness and speed, and subduing the enemy with fearless attacks" was still the core idea of the French Army even in the era of the fall of the Second Empire and the rule of the Third Republic.

In order to embody this military thinking, France was equipped with a large number of lightweight 75mm guns before the First World War as auxiliary firepower for army divisions, which were extremely popular with French officers and soldiers, and even received the nickname "Miss 75".

However, the experience of the First World War proved that heavy artillery was the key to the army's engagement at that time, and the German and Austrian-centered Allies had an advantage in heavy artillery, giving them an advantage in a series of battles. In the Battle of Verdun, known as the "meat grinder of Verdun," the German army, which was in a position that should normally be unfavorable for the offensive, actually caused the French army to pay many more casualties than it did -- of course, there were innate factors such as poor deployment and poor organization of the French army, but the German army's excessive artillery fire was also one of the main reasons.

After the French ** team learned the lesson of the First World War, which caused them heavy losses, and rebuilt itself into an army that was mainly trench warfare and defensive warfare, the new technological revolution suddenly turned into an offensive advantage, and the large-scale concentrated use of mechanized equipment and aircraft became the most advanced tactics at that time, as a result, France was once again caught off guard by this, and this time it was directly beaten by Nazi Germany to sue for peace, if it were not for the Germans to destroy themselves and start a war with the United States and the Soviet Union at the same time, France does not know how many years it will have to sink again before it will be able to rise again.

Because of this painful historical lesson, unlike the leaders of the Third Republic who blindly trusted the military generals in World War II, Charles felt that he could not trust the military judgments of these army generals too much, and he preferred to trust himself rather than these people, at least he had a historical line to guide him.

I'll have to take care of you.

Looking at Lucien, Charles thought to himself. (To be continued......)