I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 344 War and Military Expenditure

In addition to its military strength advantage, Mysore is also a very wealthy country.

Thanks to trade with Britain, Mysore's cotton, tea, spices, indigo, and sugar were exported in large quantities, bringing a lot of wealth to the nobles, which could provide sufficient material guarantees for the country's war.

To paraphrase a line from later generations, Lafayette had never fought such a rich war.

Of course, the opponents he had to face were also more powerful - not to mention Britain, the world's most powerful country. The East India Company has more than 3,000 standing troops in India, which can be mobilized to about 6,000 when necessary. If troops are transferred from the British mainland, it can have 10,000 troops in three to four months.

In addition, the princely states under British control and Britain's Indian allies can also provide a large number of troops, up to more than 200,000. Although the combat effectiveness of these Indian soldiers is far inferior to that of Mysore, it is definitely a big trouble, especially since these princely states can provide logistical support for the British army, which is an important factor affecting the direction of the war.

Therefore, the most important order Joseph gave Lafayette was to unite the local Indian states as much as possible, at least to win them over and not surrender to Britain.

At the end of the 18th century, Britain's control over India was far less than that in the 19th century. The Indian princely states that it completely controlled did not exceed one-fifth of the total area of ​​India, and most of them cooperated in the form of alliances.

The princes of these princely states were very greedy and were easily bought by interests.

Lafayette and Salah talked about the situation of the ministerial meeting just now and got on the carriage one after another.

𝟞𝟡𝕤𝕙𝕦𝕩.𝕟𝕖𝕥】

Lafayette suddenly remembered something, took out a colorful ribbon from his pocket and showed it to Salah: "Oh, Tipu Sultan also named me 'Umda'. There seems to be a ceremony for the title at noon the day after tomorrow. I wonder if you are free to attend?"

Umda is the highest-level military officer title in Mysore, which shows how much Tipu Sultan values ​​Lafayette.

Salah smiled and nodded: "Congratulations, Marquis, I will definitely not miss such an event."

...

Southern Netherlands.

Eastern suburbs of Brussels.

Tens of thousands of soldiers in red uniforms and white tights lined up in a long and narrow marching column, winding forward on the lush green grass accompanied by the sound of drums.

The red column extended all the way to the hills in the distance and disappeared in the light mist.

Not far from a twelve-pound cannon pulled by eight horses, two officers were riding slowly with their guards.

The man on the left wearing a golden double-breasted red uniform, two dark blue ribbons on his chest, thick black eyebrows, a high nose, and a handsome appearance was the current Hanoverian Governor Karl II.

He was muttering very quickly at this time: "The guys in the Southern Netherlands Parliament are all a bunch of idiots.

"Now the Austrian army has not been completely expelled, and the French are involved again. What are they doing? Focusing on the control of the parliament...

"It even affected the deployment of the army. More than 8,000 Dutch soldiers were just sitting there in Ghent, watching us fight the French.

"Especially the one called Onk. Those soldiers have been resting for more than a month, and he even asked them to rest until the end of the year... Let them retire in Ghent."

General Karel van Bronckhorst, the commander of the Dutch Volunteer Army in a blue uniform, nodded helplessly and said, "Who said it wasn't? But now Onk has a very high prestige in the Southern Netherlands Army, and since the last defeat at the hands of the French, their army has been very happy to rest. Onk's order just meets their wishes. "

Carle II glanced at the army beside him and snorted coldly, "After defeating the Austrians, I will definitely suggest to His Majesty the King to merge the Southern Netherlands Parliament with the Dutch Parliament. "

Bronckhorst was delighted when he heard this. Although Britain had been secretly promising to promote the unification of the Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands, now that the commander of the Hanover army, who actually represented the will of Britain, said it himself, he felt more hopeful.

He flattered Karl II, and then hesitated: "Marshal, do you think that after you defeated the French and Austrian armies, will the French continue to invest more troops in the Low Countries?"

As a Dutchman, he would naturally worry about France, the giant neighbor. After all, Louis XIV almost destroyed the Netherlands decades ago.

Karl II smiled disdainfully: "I remember you are a shareholder of the Bank of Amsterdam? Then you should be very clear about France's current financial situation. "

As a long-established financial empire in Europe, the Netherlands has its own banking business all over Europe, especially in France. More than 40% of France's foreign debts are owed to Dutch banks.

General Bronckhorst nodded: "Yes, I do know something. The scale of France's debt is still over 2 billion livres. "

He naturally didn't know that although the total amount of French debt had not changed much, Joseph had replaced a large part of it with low-interest debt through the previous banking tsunami, and the financial pressure was greatly reduced compared to before.

Karl II looked at him and said: "You know, France maintains an army of more than 20,000 people in North Africa to guard against possible attacks from Algiers and Tripoli.

"At the same time, they have 30,000 troops in Silesia and 20,000 in Luxembourg. These troops stationed overseas are very expensive. France can no longer afford to support more troops, otherwise the national finances will collapse before they can decide the outcome on the battlefield."

Bronckhorst also nodded in agreement. Karl II continued: "France's standing army is less than 120,000. Currently, they have stationed more than 70,000 troops in various places. Unless they recruit soldiers on a large scale, they will not have enough troops to maintain order at home."

He pointed to the southeast: "So, as long as the French army in Luxembourg is defeated, the battle in the lowlands will be completely over.

"And our superior forces will soon complete this task."

Just as the commanders of the Hanover and Dutch armies were talking, at the border between Luxembourg and Liege, Leo was looking at Lefebvre with a bitter face: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, my friend, maybe it's better to rest for a while. ”

After the last pursuit battle where he won with fewer troops, Lefebvre has been promoted to lieutenant colonel.

"General, look, your reinforcements have all arrived." Lefebvre smiled and gestured to the Austrian camp in the distance, "You can't let down the emperor's trust, right?"

In order to draw the attention of Prussia and Hanover to the Southern Netherlands, Joseph II sent 8,000 soldiers to Leo, and at this time he had nearly 10,000 troops.