Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2414 Reclaimed Eden (Part 2)

Charleroi is located on the north bank of the Sambre River. It has been built since 1666. Its function is to monitor the crossing of the Sambre River to France. Therefore, the southern part of the fortress is very strong, and the fortified lower city is deep into the flooded grass that can be flooded. In Dianli, the city walls overlook the Sambre River. The defenses in the northern part of the city are weaker, and the terrain slopes slowly upward through the woods.

   But after a siege in 1794, Charleroi's defenses began to fall apart, when Jourdan and Kleber were in charge of defending the city, and Prince Koberg of Austria was attacking.

   It was a hard battle, and although the French finally won, they suffered heavy casualties. This small town has a total of 5,000 inhabitants, and it is impossible to provide the food and grass needed by 70,000 people. It thrives on coal, along with clothing and glassware factories, but coal is the backbone of the region. Large quantities of coal were mined from the surrounding woods, and the town's main trade was with France, so the only language spoken was French.

  The war is over, the soldiers are gone, and the local people have to continue to live. From Charleroi to Brussels there is a country gravel road, which is often black with coal carriages passing by. In addition to supplying the residents of Brussels, these coals are also used for industrial use in Brussels. This road passes through a small town called Waterloo, which happens to be located in a sunkenlane in a hill. The road runs north-south, with An ancient Roman road running east-west intersects, and the road is almost completely straight.

After so many years, the ancient Roman road was barely usable, but once it rained, the stone road would become difficult to walk, mainly because the coal **** spilled on the ground would stick to pieces when it encountered water. Sometimes heavy rains for days in a row eroded the pavement, so it was decided to dig a canal connecting Charleroi to Brussels.

  When the Brussels post road is still smooth, it only takes 3 days from Paris to Brussels. The road from Brussels to Mons is in good condition at the moment, and the worst is the Valenciennes to Mons section, which is almost unusable.

   Valenciennes was also besieged in 1793, and the battle was equally fierce. The road from Valenciennes to Paris is unobstructed, which means that if Valenciennes falls, the combined forces of the British army led by Austria and the Duke of York can go straight to Paris. Prior to this, the French had experienced a fiasco at Germap near Mons, and Emperor Franz personally went to the front to console the triumphant Austrians and encouraged them to pursue the victory.

   The defender Drouet sent a hot air balloon flight team. After completing the aerial reconnaissance mission, they found Jourdan and brought reinforcements. Leading the troops was Pishgru, who destroyed the road in order to delay the arrival of the Archduke Karl, and then engaged the Anglo-Otto army. Probably because the emperor was around, the officers did not dare to be so savage that they looked lacklustre, and were eventually defeated in the battle with Pishgru.

It’s still the same, the soldiers will leave after the war, and the local people will still live there. In the past, Austria used corvés to build roads, and they mainly built roads. Other country roads were almost dirt roads. . After the destruction of the war, the newly-ruling French Republic abolished corvée, and this road has never been repaired.

There is also a wonderful part of this section of the road. Mons belongs to Belgium and Valenciennes belongs to France. The Treaty of Luneville has passed the French referendum, and believes that Belgium should be included in the border of France. In this case, then France should pay for it.

  In the early days of the Republic's army, the tactics were to brave the enemy's artillery fire, to charge regardless of life and death, and to hit the enemy's front like waves. Although there are artillery and skirmishers to pave the way for the charge, this desperate style of play will bring a death rate close to 17:1. For every 5,000 French killed, more than 300 coalition soldiers are killed.

  There were deserters on either side, and some of these deserters hid in the forest near Suwanee, also near Mons. Some of them formed large and small gangs, and made a living by robbery along with the Belgian deserters.

In November 1792, Austria and France also fought a battle in Remap. At that time, Dumourier, the general who later treasoned the country, was in charge of leading the troops. He led 40,000 soldiers to defeat the troops stationed in Remap. The Austrians, in turn, led their army to besiege Antwerp along the Scheldt. These 40,000 people were almost the total force of France at that time. In January of the following year, news of the king's beheading came. In February and March, the French were still victorious in Belgium, but Dubriel's performance changed. Strangely enough, after driving the Austrians out of Namur, he disregarded the orders of the National Convention, stopped pursuing the victory, and stationed his troops in Namur. Then there is the logistical supply of the French army. Dumourier distributed it to several Belgian dealers. Every month, 30 million francs flow into Belgium. However, the finances of the republic at that time were already stretched, and Dumaurier's behavior of "eating inside and out" undoubtedly added fuel to the fire.

  The situation is so chaotic that it is impossible to determine whose pocket the money ended up in. After all, many people have become rich because of the war. Rupe, the son of a doctor, went to seminary and joined a poor sect, but he now pays the most in taxes in Brussels.

   This is the rule of the new French celebrities, whoever pays the most taxes is eligible to join the Electoral College. If he didn't think about it, what did he do wrong? In particular, he protects the interests of Belgium everywhere, even at the risk of offending the notorious French police minister Fouche. How do you know if Fouche will take revenge on Rupei by taking advantage of the investigation?

   The mayor of Brussels at this stage is not elected by the people, but appointed by the French central government. Except for Rupe, Langenhofen is one of the few candidates. After the last ball was pocketed, Bonaparte took everyone back to the town hall opposite, where Langenhofen's wife and two daughters were waiting for him, and when they saw him appear, they immediately stood by his side. around.

   After reaching the center of the crowd, Bonaparte gave a short speech:

   Citizens, peace has come, but we have difficulties to face, but with perseverance, we will restore order, prosperity and happiness...

  Georgianna stood behind him, her eyes darting quickly over the officers in bright uniforms.

   At this time, it was difficult for her to associate them with their ragged clothes and scarred appearance after experiencing gunpowder smoke and hard fighting, and she couldn't imagine how poor and frightened they looked when they were recruited.

In "Pride and Prejudice", Lydia is very curious about the soldiers passing by. She is not the only one. Along the way, Georgiana saw many girls cast admiring glances at the handsome Guard cavalry. People no longer I feel that being in the army is done by poor people who can't afford the military service tax.

   Putting on new clothes, people can't help but look in the mirror, and they will inevitably feel proud when they look at the heroic and handsome self. She once heard a story, two sons of a slave owner went to serve in the army, the eldest son died in battle, the younger son was about to go into battle, and a slave said loudly to the younger son who was looking in the mirror, "Look at that **** soldier. ', the slave owner happened to hear it, and he was immediately angry.

   He asked another slave to fetch a shotgun, and the talking slave unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his chest.

  The two slaves obeyed, one fetched the shotgun, the other unbuttoned her jacket, Miss Sally begged, but her father threw her away, so she spread her arms and stood between her father and the big slave.

  Any violence that is not based on a firm, spiritual foundation will sooner or later be shaken and unreliable.

  Force does not create rights, people will only bow to force temporarily, not by their own will, and at best it is an expedient measure...

   At this moment, Bonaparte finished his speech, and there was applause around him. He took Georgiana's hand and left the venue.

   However, they did not live in the palace of Louis XIV opposite, but got on the carriage and left the center of Brussels, which was once razed to the ground by artillery shells and has now been rebuilt to become the "most beautiful living room" in Europe.

   (end of this chapter)