Napoleon collected his thoughts. ‘First, we must do all in our power to convince others of the need to defeat England.That can be achieved by one of two means. First, by the invasion of Britain. I drafted an outline on the journey from Milan. Of course it will require a large army, a huge number of transport vessels, supply depots, and not least of all the defeat, or diversion, of the Royal Navy.’

‘Impossible,’ General Poucelle cut in. ‘Our ships are no match for theirs.’

‘Not at present,’ Napoleon conceded. ‘But given time we might match their battle fleet.’

‘What was the other means of defeating England?’ asked Talleyrand.

‘England’s lines of trade are her lifeblood. If we can’t invade England then we must stop her trading with other nations, and seize her colonies. Then we can bleed her to death. To that end we must take the war to the West Indies, to the Mediterranean and India. Not one of her overseas possessions must be spared. If we take control of Egypt then we can block overland communication with India, and one day open a route for the invasion of India by a French army.’

‘And I thought the invasion of England was ambitious,’ said Talleyrand. ‘What you are suggesting is a war such as no man has ever seen. Armies and fleets locked in a fight right round the world . . . almost a world at war.’ Talleyrand appeared momentarily awed by the vision and looked at the slight figure of the young general standing in his salon. ‘Very well then. What must we do?’

‘At the moment I can count on the loyalty of the Army of Italy, and the goodwill of the people of France will last a few months yet, if I do not let them become too used to the sight of me. But there are other generals that they look to. Men like Augereau who has been so assiduously building his reputation at the expense of my own. I gather that he has been taking much of the credit for our victories in Italy.We’ll have to bide our time until I am pre-eminent amongst generals, and then our soldiers and our people will be ready to accept a leader who can bring them to victory, and peace. But for that to happen, I must be given new commands, new opportunities to win glory for France. Will you help me do that, Talleyrand?’

‘Yes, I will.’ The foreign minister’s eyes gleamed. ‘For France.’

‘For France,’ Napoleon agreed, and the others solemnly joined in the pledge.

‘Good,’ he concluded with a smile.‘Then I suggest we end the meeting. Lucien will act as our go-between from now on. We cannot afford to have any written proof of our ambitions. Write nothing down, and say nothing to anyone else, no matter how close. If we fail in what we aim to achieve, then France will fall with us. Never forget that.’