The siege of Berlin
When we walked back along the pastoral avenue of the Elysee Palace with Dr. Wei, we explored the history of the siege of Paris until the walls were riddled with shells and the sidewalks were riddled with machine guns. When we were approaching the Star Square, the doctor stopped and pointed to a magnificent high-rise building around the Arc de Triomphe and said to me:
"Did you see the four closed windows on the balcony? At the beginning of August, that terrible August full of storms and disasters last year, I was called to treat a patient who had a sudden stroke. He was a soldier in Napoleon's time, Colonel Ruff, and he was opinionated in honor and patriotism. At the beginning of the war, he moved to the Elysee Palace and lived in a room with a balcony. Can you guess the reason? It turned out to be a ceremony to visit our army's triumph ... this poor old man! He was about to leave the dinner table when the news of the fiasco in Visanburg reached his home. As soon as he read the name of Napoleon at the bottom of the defeat report, he fell to the ground as if he had been struck by lightning.
"When I got there, the veteran was lying flat on the carpet in his room, his face was red and his face was dull, as if he had just been beaten with a sap. If he stands up, he must be tall; Now lying down, it still looks big. He has regular facial features, beautiful teeth and curly white hair. At the age of 80, he looks only 60 ... His granddaughter knelt beside him, tears streaming down her face. She looks a lot like him. Looking at them together, it can be said that they are like two ancient Greek coins cast in the same mold, except that one is very old, with dirt and edging, while the other is dazzling, clean and bright, completely maintaining the newly cast color.
"The girl's pain touched me very much. After two generations as a soldier, her father served in the General Staff of Marshal Mike Mahone. The image of the burly old man lying in front of her will always cause another terrible association with her father in her mind. I tried my best to comfort her, but I didn't hold out much hope. We are suffering from severe paraplegia, especially at the age of 80, and there is no cure at all. That's what happened. For three days, the patient has been unconscious and motionless ... Within these days, the news of the failure of the Battle of Reshefen came again. You must remember how the news came from. Until that night, we all thought we had won a great victory, annihilated 20 thousand Prussian troops and captured the Prince of Prussia ... I don't know what miracle or what current made the whole country exult and spread to our poor deaf-mute patient and got into his paralyzed illusion. In a word, I didn't see the original patient when I approached his bed that night. His eyes are bright and his tongue is not so stiff. He has the spirit to smile at me and stammered twice:
"Play ... victory ...!
"Yes, colonel, a great victory! '
"When I told him the details of Marshal Mike Mahone's brilliant victory, I found that his eyes were straight and his face became cheerful.
"As soon as I left the room, the young girl stood by the door waiting for me. She was pale and sobbing.
"'He's out of danger!' I held her hand to comfort her.
"The poor girl hardly has the courage to answer me. It turns out that the real situation of the Battle of Reshefen has just been announced. Marshal Mike Mahone escaped and was wiped out ... She and I looked at each other in horror. She is worried about her father, and I am worried about my old grandfather's illness. There is no doubt that he can't stand this new blow any more ... So, what should we do? ..... can only make him happy, let him keep this fantasy of bringing him back to life ... However, you must lie to him. ...
"'Well, I'll lie to him!' The brave girl volunteered to tell me that she wiped her tears and pretended to be beaming and walked into grandpa's room.
"The task she shoulders is really arduous. The first few days were fine. This nice guy is still not sound, just like a child, being fooled by others. However, as his health gradually recovered, his thinking became clearer. It is necessary to explain to him clearly how the armies of both sides move, and to make up the daily report for him. This beautiful little girl looks really pitiful. She lay on the map of Germany day and night, planting flags everywhere, trying to make up a wonderful battle. Marshal Bazin marched into Berlin for a while, General Froy Sadr arrived in Bavaria for a while, and Marshal Mike Mahone marched into the Baltic Sea. In order to keep it alive, she always asks my advice, and I try my best to help her; However, in this fictional offensive war, it was the grandfather himself who helped us the most. You know, he fought so many wars in Germany during the Napoleonic Empire! He knew in advance of any military action of the other side:' Now, they are going to move here ...' You see, they are going to do this ...' As a result, his foresight was realized without exception, which of course made him somewhat proud.
"Unfortunately, although we have conquered many cities and won many battles, we can't keep up with his appetite. This old man is insatiable ... Every day when I go to his house, I hear a new military victory:
"'Doctor, we have laid the Meiyang Temple again!' The girl said this to me with a wry smile on her face. At this moment, I heard a sweet voice in the room shouting at me through the door:
"'Very good, very good ... we will enter Berlin in eight days!
"In fact, the Prussian army is only eight days away from Paris ... at first we discussed transferring him to other provinces; However, as soon as he goes out, the real situation in France will make him understand everything. I think he is too weak, and the stroke caused by a heavy mental blow is still very serious, so it is impossible to know the real situation. So, we decided to let him stay in Paris.
"On the first day of the siege of Paris, I went to his house. I remember, I was very excited and worried that day. At that time, all the gates of Paris had been closed, and the borders of Enemy at the Gates and China had been narrowed to the suburbs, which made everyone panic. When I went in, the good man was sitting on his bed and said happily to me:
"'hey! The siege has finally begun!
"I looked at him in amazement.
"'Why, Colonel, do you know? ……'
"His granddaughter quickly turned to me and said:
"'yes! Doctor ... this is good news. The siege of Berlin has begun!
"She said this, while doing needlework, action is so calm, easy ... How can the old man doubt? He couldn't hear the guns of the massacre. He can't see the unfortunate city of Paris, which has been turned upside down and suffered a lot. All he can see from the bed is the corner of the Arc de Triomphe. Moreover, in his room, there are many shabby relics of Napoleon's empire, which effectively maintained his fantasy. Portrait of Marshal Napoleon, woodcuts depicting the war, pictures of the childhood of the Roman king; There are also tall cabinets carved with bronze ornaments, which display imperial relics, badges, small bronze statues, rocks on St. Helena under the glass dome, and some small portraits, all depicting the same lady with curly hair and beautiful eyes. She was wearing a dancing dress, a yellow robe, swollen sleeves and tight cuffs-all these, long cases, Roman kings, bailiffs, and so on. This lady in a yellow robe, slender figure and waist-tied, has the noble demeanor that people loved in 1806 ... and constitutes an atmosphere full of victory and conquest, which is more powerful than the lies we told him, the kind colonel, and makes him naive enough to believe that the French army is besieging Berlin.
The siege of Berlin (2)
"From this day on, our military operations have been greatly simplified. It is only a matter of time before Berlin is conquered. After a while, as long as the old man was impatient, we read him a letter from our son. Of course, this letter is false, because Paris has been surrounded. As early as the defeat of Sedan, Marshal Mike Mahone's staff was captured and escorted to a fortress in Germany. You can imagine how pathetic this poor girl is. She got no news from her father. All she knew was that he was captured, deprived of everything, and perhaps still sick, but she had to pretend to be his tone and write a cheerful letter. Of course, the letter is very short, and a soldier who is constantly advancing in the conquered country can only write such a short letter. Sometimes, she just can't go on, and she hasn't written for weeks. The old man is in a hurry and can't sleep. Soon there was another letter from Germany. She came to his bed, held back her tears and pretended to be happy to read it to him. The old man listened carefully, smiled knowingly, nodded approvingly, criticized again, and explained to us what was unclear in the letter. But what makes him particularly noble is his reply to his son. He said, "You should never forget that you are French." ... be tolerant of those poor people. Don't let them think that our profession is unbearable ... The letter is full of endless exhortations about protecting private property, respecting women and so on. In short, it is an out-and-out military honor manual specially reserved for conquerors. Sometimes, he also mixed some general views on political and peaceful conditions in his letters. On this issue, I should say that his conditions are not harsh: "as long as the war reparations, nothing else ... what's the use of cutting their provinces over?" Can we turn Germany into France? ……'
"When he dictated these words, his tone was very firm. You can feel that his words are full of naive feelings. His noble patriotism sounds very touching.