Fox of France

Since the Austrians and Russians moved so slowly, Napoleon planned to take his army directly to the territory of Austria, so that the Austrians would not be idle all day long.

But Joseph stopped Napoleon.

"Napoleon, I don't want to interfere with your military decision. I just have some news that I need to tell you."

Joseph knew that Napoleon, a bastard, listened to him more in other matters, but in military matters, that guy was very conceited, and he always put on the air of "I am not targeting any of you", especially He likes to refute Joseph. Therefore, when Joseph gives Napoleon military advice, he needs to be vaccinated first, so as to save him from making any troubles in order to argue.

"Our people discovered a large coal mine in the Rhine region." Joseph said.

"So... how big is it?" Napoleon habitually wanted to say "What's so great about that" at first, but suddenly realized that the big coal mine... this thing is really, very important.

"It's very large, maybe, maybe bigger than all the coal mines discovered in France before combined." Joseph replied, "And, that place is very close to Lorraine."

"There are iron mines in Lorraine, and coal mines in the Rhineland... This is really..." Napoleon clenched his right fist and kept beating in the palm of his left hand. Obviously, Napoleon, who loves science, also understood the large coal mine and the coal mine in one place. What is the significance of the big iron mine.

"It's a pity that these two places are in the north. It would be great if they were in Italy." Napoleon sighed again, "Well, Joseph, do you want to control these two places into our hands?"

"Of course, such a treasure land can only be most effective if it is in our hands?" Joseph replied.

"In my opinion, not only this treasure land, but the whole of France should be in our hands, so that we can play the most effective role." Napoleon said.

"You want to be Caesar?" Joseph said suddenly.

"No, it is our family that needs a Caesar, and even France needs a Caesar... and you, my brother, you always keep back, trying to hide in the shadows, with a sword that no one else can see It is very safe and very Joseph, but Joseph, you have to admit that this method is not efficient enough. Even from scientific considerations. The more transmission links in the middle of a system , the lower the mechanical efficiency. Well, this is also the reason why you must engage in that Zeus plan. It is the same in politics. What you are doing now is actually artificially reducing our efficiency. I think it is I who stand up , it’s time to lead everyone.”

"You're planning to usurp the throne!" Joseph said, "but... well, tell me about your plan."

"Not yet." Napoleon spread his hands.

"what?"

"Of course." Napoleon said, "You just told me about that discovery. But Joseph, from what I know of you, you probably already have your own ideas, um, tell me your ideas."

Joseph gave Napoleon a hard look, and said after a while: "Napoleon, I think we need a crisis, a crisis that will make everyone feel disappointed in the current government, and a crisis that will make everyone feel disappointed. The crisis of the hero who turned the tide. I have studied the military situation in the north, and what we know about the input of the enemy troops. You have seen some of the relevant information, and you can also take a look at some of the latest ones. "

Napoleon didn't make a sound, just picked up the document and read it.

"The reason why I don't want you to launch an attack immediately is because I am worried that your early attack will cause Austria to have a big problem before our northern army has a problem. As a result, it will affect the northern battlefield and relieve the siege of the north instead." Joseph Again.

"But if I just wait like this, until they really gather the army, I may not be able to take advantage of it." Napoleon said, "Archduke Karl of Austria, I have analyzed him with you before. This man's The level is very good. If we did not have an overwhelming advantage in weapons during the last war, it may not be so easy to defeat him. And the Russian commander... Suvorov, hehe, Joseph, you study Have you ever heard of his battle examples and theories?"

"No, I have more things to do, besides, don't you still have military matters?" Joseph replied.

"Suvorov can be regarded as the most outstanding commander in this era. How can you be so ignorant of his battle examples and theories?" Napoleon raised his eyebrows, finding an opportunity to laugh at his elder brother made him very happy happy.

Joseph ignored Napoleon's provocation. Not fighting his opponents in familiar territory was one of the most basic principles Joseph believed to need to abide by. So he asked again: "So, how do you think he compares to you?"

"Compared with me... I haven't fought yet, but I'm a little excited to fight him." Napoleon said.

Napoleon seldom uttered such words. From this point of view, he is probably "confident, not sure" about fighting Suvorov.

"So you want to defeat the Austrians before Suvorov arrives?" Joseph said.

Napoleon nodded.

"Think about it, if the guy in the north is defeated by a guy like Brunswick, and you can beat famous players like Duke Karl and Suvorov in one fell swoop in Italy, wouldn't it be better?" Joseph said .

"You have such confidence in me, it really makes people... No, Joseph, do you have something good hidden that I don't know about? Take it out quickly, don't hide it!" Napoleon said.

"There are some things." Joseph said, "You and I will go to the research institute to have a look?"

Not many people know what Napoleon saw in the institute, but Napoleon didn't seem particularly happy when he left France and went to Italy. It is said that he said to Berthier, the chief of staff whom he tried to poach from Kano: "The current war is really boring. Some annoying guys use some of the most brutal methods to destroy the beauty of war. "

Following Napoleon to Italy was a batch of military supplies that Napoleon had just purchased. Once back in Italy, Napoleon took advantage of these and began constructing entirely new fortifications.

On the other side, in the north, the combined forces of the Prussians and the British continued to grow. Thanks to the largesse of the British, Prussia mobilized fairly quickly. In the past few months, they have mobilized another 300,000 troops. Most of these troops are recruits and the training level is not very good. However, the Prussians do not need to send them all to fight against France. The battleground, many of them were used to displace, on the Polish side, the armies used to suppress Polish resistance.

Compared with the Irish Independence Army, the performance of the Polish National Independence Movement is quite average. Those who are determined to rely on the Polish nobles can only engage in small-scale assassination activities. On the one hand, those Polish nobles support their small troubles. It is best to give them to the Russians, Austrians, and Prussians Yeah, put a little pressure on it, and don't make things too big, so that it won't be easy to clean up. As a result, the targets of the assassination were only some low-level officials, or even ordinary soldiers. Actions against high-level officials are even intimidating. Even if they have the opportunity to shoot, they can only be shot at the foot.

The effect of such resistance is naturally very limited. The Irish have already hung up a duke, but what about the resisters of the Polish aristocracy? Not even a school-level officer was killed.

The aristocratic faction is not doing well, so what about the serf faction? The results of the serf faction were even worse. These serfs are basically people who have been away from Poland for a long time, and even have almost nothing to do with Poland except for blood. They know nothing about the situation in Poland. Coupled with the eagerness for success, they encountered even greater setbacks.

Indeed, even under the rule of the Russians, the life of the serfs was also in dire straits. But the depth of the water and the heat of the fire are completely incomparable to when Poland was an independent country. So when the Russians came, the serfs almost felt: "God finally heard our prayers!" In Poland today, if you want to ask which class is most supportive of foreign partition of Poland, it must be the Polish serfs up.

Especially when the Empress died and Paul I came to the throne, in order to show his progress, His Majesty the Tsar passed a series of decrees to protect the rights of Polish serfs, and enforced them. Those gentlemen in the past could no longer bully the serfs as they wished, so in the hearts of the Polish serfs, the "tsar baby daddy" was simply a saint second only to Jesus.

What, we are being urged against the "tsar baby daddy"? Does the person who said this still have a conscience? What, they say they want to give us complete freedom, to create an independent Poland without serfs and nobility? Pooh! What does an independent Poland look like? Which of us has never seen it? Who are they lying to? Really, can you believe what the Poles say? If the Poles are to be believed, the sows will climb trees! This is completely treating us as fools, this can be tolerated!

As a result, those who went to encourage the serfs to rebel were directly beaten to death by the serfs. In addition, the aristocratic faction took the opportunity to backstab, so the serf faction was either beaten to death or hanged to death, and the few cats and dogs left ran back to France to cry .

As a result, on the northern front, the number of Prussian and British troops increased rapidly, and soon formed a clear numerical advantage over the French army.

The Prussians worked hard, the British even harder. The British knew that if they could not defeat France, they would not be able to solve the Irish problem. If Ireland, which is close at hand, can't solve it, or it can only be solved with a lot of effort, then Britain's hegemony in the world will be greatly affected. Therefore, the British are better than the Prussians in the matter of attacking France. People are more active.

The British also mobilized extensively at home and quickly mobilized another hundred thousand troops. In February 1798, 50,000 British troops landed in Emden and approached Munster along the Ems River, thus posing a huge threat to the flank of the French army stationed in Hanover.

In fact, the French army has long noticed this danger. In the short peace, the French army began to build a fort in Munster. However, due to various factors, by this time, Monte Fortress had not been fully completed, and the attached firepower had not been fully in place.

Britain's military production capacity is far from what Prussia can match. For this war, the British placed a large number of orders to various artillery factories in the country in one go.

The technology tree of the British cannon is actually a bit crooked, at least for the time being, it is not suitable for land warfare. Their artillery is mainly iron cannons. The advantage is that it is relatively cheap, but the disadvantage is that it is relatively bulky compared to copper cannons. It is often difficult to keep up with the speed at which the troops are advancing. (Anyway, the main buyer of British cannon is the Navy, which is less sensitive to the weight of the cannon, but quite sensitive to the price of the cannon.)

But now in Munster, the French army relies on the fortress for defense, while the British army can rely on the Ems River to ensure transportation. So at this time, the problem of inconvenient movement of artillery is not so prominent, but the advantages of cheap artillery and large output are revealed. So, just two months later, in front of the French defense line of the Munster Fortress, the British gathered more than 400 cannons, including heavy cannons weighing more than 24 pounds. As for the French, there are no more than 10,000 troops and less than 30 cannons in this fortress, and they are mainly six-pounder and eight-pounder guns.

The gap in firepower between the two sides made this offensive and defensive battle extremely unfavorable to France. During the long bombardment, the casualties of the French army were significantly greater than that of the British army, and the fall of Munster seemed to be only a matter of time. Once Munster falls, the French army in Hanover will become alone.

Therefore, the French army had to take the initiative to retreat from Hanover.

Since ancient times, retreat has been the most dangerous military operation. Especially a long-distance retreat can easily turn into a rout. In the original history, during Emperor Napoleon's expedition to Russia, the French army did not suffer much on the battlefield until the capture of Moscow. But when retreating, it was different. The Russian army pursued all the way, the French army abandoned their armor and armor, and almost all of Napoleon's old background was lost on the way to retreat.

The situation of the French retreat was slightly better this time. After all, the distance was shorter and there was no severe winter. But losses in the retreat were still inevitable. General Joubert successfully retreated the main force to the area around Liege. But his army lost almost all its artillery and over forty thousand men in these series of battles.

To be honest, in this series of battles, Joubert's performance is not bad, and many commands and decisions can even be called remarkable. But within a few months, the whole of Hannover was lost and hundreds of kilometers retreated, which was a huge failure in any case.

This series of failures immediately caused an uproar in Paris.

Something was delayed today, only one update. It will be back to normal tomorrow.