Chapter 93: Crisis (Part 1)

 The National Convention quickly appointed a man named Camacho to take command of the Northern Army. Camacho was a regular attendee at the Roland couple's salon, which is to say he was a Brissotin. It was said that he had participated in the Seven Years' War and had held positions like a sergeant during the war. Later, after the revolution, he had also served in the army and recently led troops to suppress a church rebellion in Brittany.

With such a background, he was not really suited for the position of Northern Army commander. Carnot even thought that it would be better to let Napoleon or Joseph take the role directly. However, the Brissotins strongly opposed this idea. They believed that the Bonaparte brothers had too much of a Jacobin flavor, and if one of them became the Northern Army commander, it wouldn't be good for the Brissotins. Their main reasons included: first, the Bonaparte brothers were too young; second, they had a close relationship with Carnot. If they took on such an important role, Carnot might have the opportunity to become a dictator in the future. Perhaps the series of recent failures were all part of Carnot's conspiracy; third, the Bonaparte brothers had released Dumouriez, casting doubt on their loyalty to the revolution.

On the other hand, Danion also supported the Brissotins. This was strange because the Brissotins had attacked Danion for not detecting signs of Dumouriez's betrayal when he had personally visited Belgium. This was probably due to Danion taking money from Dumouriez. But Danion surprisingly supported them. Some believed that Danion wanted to compromise with the Brissotins, while others thought that Danion saw the Northern situation as dire, with the next failure being unavoidable, and so he agreed to let a Brissotin take command.

In any case, this guy named Camacho became the commander of the Northern Army. This appointment left Carnot very dissatisfied because he thought that the reasons against having the Bonaparte brothers as Northern Army commanders were baseless.

First, the Bonaparte brothers were indeed young, but command in warfare didn't depend on age. How old was Alexander the Great when he led his army into Persia? Younger than Napoleon is now. As for the Bonaparte brothers releasing Dumouriez, it was necessary for the overall situation. If the Northern Army lost those mid-level officers, it would have collapsed. It was Napoleon's decisive action that saved the entire Northern Army.

As for the notion that he would become a dictator, it was an insult to his character. Hot-tempered Carnot couldn't take it anymore and threw his glove at a guy named Galiot who made these accusations, and said to him, "Choose between a pistol, a sword, or a dagger; if you're a real man, resolve this matter like one."

However, Galiot immediately backed down, apologized, and claimed he didn't mean it that way. Even worse, after his apology, he turned his back, and when people mocked him for being cowardly, he said, "Mr. Carnot is from a military background, and he's an expert in all sorts of duel techniques. Challenging him to a duel, no matter what weapon, is unfair, and even amounts to murder..."

Carnot was about to lose his temper, "Tomorrow, I will propose that I tie one hand behind my back and duel him!"

"Mr. Carnot, I don't think you should duel someone like that. Dueling is an honorable thing, at least in the eyes of us Corsicans. If you challenge him to a duel, it will only give him honor. But does he really deserve the honor of a duel? I don't think he does! He deserves a good whipping, like a lazy donkey that the master flogs!" As soon as Carnot said this, Lucien, who was always ready for chaos, dropped the mathematics problem he was working on in his study and rushed out.

"Tomorrow morning, Mr. Carnot, take me with you to the doors of the National Convention, and I'll hold two pistols to stop others while you give him a good beating, whip him hard with a horsewhip!"

Carnot's anger left Lucien increasingly incoherent, and he asked, "Lucien, are you done with your homework? Show it to me."

"Not yet, just a little bit left. It'll be done soon. I'm going to finish my homework now." Lucien immediately rushed back to the study.

Lucien went into the study and seemed to work on his homework diligently, or at least it looked like that. But after Carnot sat down and contemplated, he found Lucien's words made sense and were quite feasible. He couldn't sit still any longer, stood up, took his coat and hat, and prepared to leave.

"Lazare, dinner will be ready soon. Where are you going?" his wife hurriedly asked.

"I have urgent business. Don't wait for me," Carnot said as he headed for the door.

Early the next morning, Carnot, accompanied by two friends, Deputy Espa and another Deputy Deron, blocked Galiot at the doors of the National Convention. Carnot didn't waste any words and struck him with a punch right on the nose, causing blood to gush, making it look like a sauce shop had just opened, with flavors of salt, sourness, and spiciness all pouring out.

Galiot screamed loudly, staggered backward, clutching his nose with one hand and pointing at Carnot with his other, speaking incoherently, "Carnot, you... you can't be so... so brutal... we should talk... properly..."

Carnot was unfazed and moved forward again, landing another punch on Galiot's eye socket, causing his eye to swell and burst like a fireworks display, displaying shades of red, green, and purple.

Galiot lost his balance, fell backward, and sat on the ground.

The surrounding Brissotin deputies wanted to come to Galiot's aid, but at that moment, a gunshot rang out. Espa held a smoking pistol pointed to the sky with one hand while Deron had drawn two pistols and placed them between the deputies and Carnot and Galiot.

"Everyone, this is a personal matter. I hope you don't interfere," Espa politely said, holding his pistols.

Perhaps because Espa's words were quite persuasive, even the Brissotin deputies were convinced. They stood by and made comments like, "Oh, Mr. Carnot, can't we talk this out nicely?" and "Oh, don't do this..."

After beating Galiot for a while, and after one punch too many, Carnot accidentally hit too hard, causing the whip to snap. He withdrew his hand and pointed at Galiot's nose, saying, "If you dare to spread rumors behind my back again, I'll hit you every time I see you. Remember that!"

Galiot curled up on the ground, answering repeatedly, "I remember, I remember..."

"Hmph!" Carnot dropped the broken horsewhip and walked away.

Once Carnot left, Espa twirled the pistols on his fingers and then put them away, saying to the onlooking deputies, "Thanks for your cooperation."

Then, together with Deron, he followed Carnot and left.

"Such a barbarian, really... too barbaric!" the shocked Brissotin deputies exclaimed.

"Good job, Carnot! Scum like him should be beaten to a pulp!" the Mountain faction deputies, especially those from 'The People's Friend,' cheered.

Carnot didn't care about the consequences. He may have lost his rank and had his pay cut, but it didn't bother him. Lowering his rank didn't change his job, and restoring the rank wouldn't take long. As for the lost pay during this period, it was a small price to pay for peace of mind. Even his motivation for work seemed to have increased.

After a day of work, Carnot returned home. He hung up his coat and hat, and his wife and Lucien greeted him.

"Mr. Carnot, many people sent you gifts today," Lucien called out to Carnot.

"Gifts for me? Today is not my birthday. What's going on?" Carnot asked.

"Lazare..." His wife's expression was strange. "It's a pile of horsewhips."