I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 301 Dad is here, something big must be happening! (Please ask for a monthly pass during the double period)

Second floor of the Palace of Versailles.

Sunlight reflected from the huge arched floor-to-ceiling windows into the spacious corridor, making the Crown Prince and his entourage seem to be enveloped in a pale golden light curtain.

"So, Austria was defeated?" Joseph frowned slightly and looked at Emman, who was holding the report that had just been sent.

"Indeed, Your Highness." The latter glanced at the document in his hand. "General Wilmser lost more than 5,000 soldiers and was almost surrounded by the Prussian army. He retreated to Luxembourg and barely blocked the Prussian attack. Chase."

Joseph shook his head secretly. He remembered that historically Wilmser would not be defeated until the end of this year, and it was not yet June.

He looked at Emang again: "You just mentioned that the Dutch also provided support to the Southern Netherlands?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the military expenses of the Prussian-Nigerian coalition forces and the weapons of the rebels are basically provided by the Dutch Provincial Federation Council."

"It's no wonder." Joseph sighed. It turned out that the Dutch were much more involved than in history. This may be the reason why the Austrian army retreated quickly. It seems that my butterfly wings have had a considerable impact on the progress of history - if William V was still ruling the Netherlands, the "lying faction", the Netherlands would not support the Brabant Rebels so generously.

Of course, it is also possible that the British did more operations behind the scenes, which triggered this series of results.

Emang continued: "Your Highness, according to the report sent back by the Intelligence Bureau the day before yesterday, the Dutch are likely to claim sovereignty over the Southern Netherlands. And Van der Noort seems to be very willing to accept the Dutch."

Van der Noort was one of the leaders of the Brabant uprising.

Joseph asked again: "What about the conservatives in the Southern Netherlands? That guy named Weng or something like that?"

"You mean Henry Unk? Your Highness."

"Yes, that's him."

"He doesn't seem to be taking a position on it."

Joseph nodded and ordered: "Please send someone to ask Director Fouche to come. We need to contact Wengke as soon as possible."

He rubbed his brows: "In this case, matters in Southern Netherlands will have to be dealt with first. Oh, please read me my recent itinerary."

"Okay, Your Highness. Your current itinerary is: depart for Saint-Etienne at noon today to inspect the Royal Ordnance Factory there.

"Then we will go south to Lyon to promote automatic looms. Before that, Mr. Baill will report to you about the newly established insurance company.

"The next stop is Troyes, where I personally presided over the military combat effectiveness assessment and gave a speech to the First Guards Corps...

"The next step is to inspect the logistics and material preparations at Verdun...

"If things go well in Bavaria, you will go to Munich to sign a trade agreement with Austria and other countries on behalf of His Majesty the King. If the negotiations on the trade agreement are delayed, you will go to Saxony first..."

Joseph waved his hand tiredly: "Please advance the task of presiding over the army's combat effectiveness assessment and inspecting the Verdun logistics site. The rest can only be put aside for now."

Joseph knew that after Austria suffered a defeat in the Southern Netherlands, it would definitely not give up.

Historically, Austria even hesitated to interrupt reforms and mobilized nearly 200,000 troops with all its national strength to prepare for a war of national annihilation with Prussia. It took two and a half years to finally put out the Brabant Uprising.

And he wanted to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand this war as much as possible, thereby driving a wedge between Prussia and Austria and eliminating the possibility of them joining forces to deal with France.

If the previous layout in Poland can also achieve certain results, so that Russia, Prussia, and Austria cannot carve up Poland, or it can be postponed for a few years, the common interests of Prussia and Austria can be eliminated.

As a result, the main theme of the future war on the European continent will most likely be between Austria and Prussia, competing for the position of the German leader.

France will no longer have to face the troublesome anti-French alliance, and will become strategically more at ease - as continental powers, Prussia and Austria will definitely compete to win over France. There is so much room for France to profit from this.

At present, Wilmser is rapidly defeated in the Southern Netherlands, so Joseph can only put domestic matters aside and give priority to rectifying armaments.

After all, if you want to gain profits in the Austro-Prussian War, you must first have a powerful army that can have an impact on the war situation.

The stronger you are, the more valuable you are to win over. Therefore, every livre invested in armaments today may receive ten or even hundreds of livres in return in the future!

"Your Highness, we have to speed up a little. Your Majesty may have to wait in a hurry." A palace official walking in front saw the crown prince stopped and was talking to his attendants, and hurriedly turned around to remind him.

"Oh, okay." Joseph hurriedly took two steps to catch up with the palace official, and then asked casually, "By the way, what does Her Majesty the Queen want from me?"

The latter prevaricated skillfully: "Your Highness, I don't know about this. But Her Majesty the Queen's expression is very serious, and she seems to have important matters. Oh, His Majesty the King is also there."

"Ah? Father is here too?" Joseph suddenly realized that something big had happened, otherwise it would be unlikely to alarm Louis XVI, the king of hangups for thousands of years.

When he arrived at the Little Trianon, he saw his father and mother sitting by the window listening to music, obviously waiting for him intently.

He hurriedly stepped forward and bowed.

When Queen Mary saw her precious son coming, the serious expression on her face suddenly relaxed, and she waved to him: "My dear, sit here quickly!"

Joseph sat next to his mother and listened to her: "Your uncle sent a special envoy just now."

Joseph blinked: "Uncle? Which uncle?"

"It's the Grand Duke of Tuscany." Louis XVI reminded from the side.

Queen Mary pushed the dessert plate with pudding and macarons in front of her son: "The special envoy told me and your father about the physical condition of His Majesty the Emperor. As you said a few days ago, I'm afraid it's not optimistic."

The Emperor she was talking about naturally meant Joseph II.

"The special envoy also specifically mentioned your cousin." The queen stared into Joseph's eyes. "My dear, you are not young anymore. It's time to decide on a marriage partner. When I was your age, I already had Married to your father. What do you think of Clementine? Your father and I both like her. Maybe we can propose marriage to your uncle..."

Joseph almost choked on his own spit, stood up suddenly, and waved his hands in embarrassment: "This... I'm afraid... Actually, regarding the causes of genetic diseases, these close relatives... Is it better for us to discuss it again... "

How could Queen Mary not see what her son meant? She couldn't help but frown slightly: "Joseph, do you have any dissatisfaction with Clementine? Or do you already have someone else in mind?"