I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 384 Awkward Situation

Southern Netherlands.

In the southern suburbs of Brussels, the Hanover Expeditionary Force is stationed.

"Finally, right here!" Karl II confidently knocked on a small town southeast of Brussels on the military map and shouted loudly, "We will form a siege on the French and eventually completely annihilate them. Then we will wave The army goes south to support General Blücher..."

Several officers in front of him looked at each other awkwardly. Finally, an older general spoke carefully:

"Marshal, your deployment is perfect. However... the current condition of the soldiers may not be suitable for launching a full-scale counterattack."

The other officers immediately nodded—

Just half a month ago, Karl II assembled 30,000 troops and a large amount of logistical supplies to launch a thunderous blow against the French army's positions.

However, as soon as the Hannovian army left their station, the French appeared near Antorf like ghosts.

Although there were nearly 4,000 people in the Southern Netherlands National Guard defending Antolfo, they only lasted less than half a day before being completely defeated. It's not that the French army is powerful, but that the Southern Netherlands Army there has just been recruited and has been trained for less than two months. They will definitely collapse when encountering the regular army.

Charles II was so frightened that he hurriedly stopped the offensive on the southern front and mobilized troops to return to Antolfo. If this was lost, the French army would be able to attack Brussels from the north without hindrance.

When the main force of Hanover moved north, the Dutch Army and the South Netherlands Army south of Brussels were immediately attacked by the French, losing two extremely critical villages.

Afterwards, it took Karl II more than ten days, enduring French artillery bombardment, and at the cost of more than a thousand casualties of soldiers, before he finally recaptured the two villages and stabilized the defense line.

After all this trouble, the morale of the Hanoverian army was low. Without two or three months of rest and recuperation, it was impossible to organize a decent attack.

But their lord marshal wants to launch a "full-front counterattack" at this time.

Karl II did not blame the officer who raised the objection. Instead, he looked around at everyone with a smile and said proudly:

"If nothing happens, the French will transfer a large number of troops back to the country in at most half a month. We must prepare in advance for such a good opportunity."

Ignoring the surprised looks of the officers, he pointed at the map again:

"Now I will arrange operations to support the Prussian army."

As soon as he said this, he heard the attendant's voice coming from the door:

"Master Marshal, Speaker Vandernot is here."

The smile on Karl II's face suddenly became brighter and he waved:

"Come in, Mr. Speaker. My generals need good news from him."

Yes, Van de Nott had informed him about the riots caused by the "Committee of Free Alliances" in France, and it was for this reason that he began to prepare to counterattack the French army.

Moreover, he also learned from his own intelligence channels that the people of the Southern Netherlands were doing a good job, and that the French royal family had been devastated by the riots in the northwest provinces.

Van der Noort came here at this time, most likely to tell him the good news that the French had decided to transfer the frontline troops back to the country.

As the door of the strategic conference room was pushed open, Van der Noort hurried in. Just as he was about to say something, he saw a room full of senior Hanover officers.

He paused for a moment, bowed to Karl II, caressed his chest, and said hesitantly:

"Master Marshal, I, um, have something I want to talk to you about alone."

"Oh, there is nothing I can't say to my loyal subordinates." Karl II smiled and showed his hands to the officers, "And I have already told them the situation."

"Ah? Do you know the situation?!" Vandernot was surprised.

Carl II saw that he looked wrong and hesitated and said:

"What do you mean by 'situation'?"

Vandernott was already very anxious, so he immediately took a step forward and said in a deep voice:

“Our people were arrested in large numbers in France, and the French held a public trial of them, and the rioting peasants went to watch the trial…

"In short, our plan failed."

"What? Failed?!" Karl II grabbed his arms and shouted loudly, "Didn't you say that the action is foolproof and the French will retreat within half a month?"

He was very clear about the situation of his troops. If the French army did not return to the country, his counterattack would be fatal.

Van der Noort nodded nervously: "I swear to God, we have indeed made adequate preparations. Who knows why it turned out like this..."

In fact, it’s not that he didn’t plan carefully. It can only be said that he lacked understanding of France’s new police system and still acted according to the capabilities of the old police.

Without police reform, the peasants of Reims, led by a large number of South Netherlands "revolutionaries" and armed with thousands of flintlock muskets, would have destroyed the town hall in the first riot. The riots will then spread rapidly and the entire province will fall into chaos. The situation in Lille and other places will be roughly the same.

Coupled with the crossfire between the young nobles who were incited to "protect the interests of the nobility" and the rioting peasants, the chaos would even sweep half of France.

Van der Noort sent more than 200 revolutionary elites and invested a lot of money, so he must have enough confidence to inflict pain on France.

However, his men encountered Joseph's new-style police.

More than 500 police officers in the city of Reims bravely withstood the rioters' rocks and bullets, marched into the rioters in formation, separated the rioters into several groups, and dispersed them with explosion-proof waist forks.

In the first two riots in Reims, more than 70 policemen were killed or wounded, but the perfect police training mechanism enabled the Reims Police Department to immediately recruit hundreds of police academy students for supplementary work, and maintained the highest level of alert for more than half a month.

This sense of responsibility for public security, loyalty to the government, and high morale, let alone the old-style police, even some armies cannot compare with them.

It was the excellent performance of the police in the northwestern provinces that a huge storm was eliminated invisibly. It can be said that similar situations, whether in Austria or Prussia, would cause ten or a hundred times more damage than in France.

Karl II repeatedly confirmed with Van der Nott unwillingly, and after the latter gave more details, he finally waved to the officers in the conference room with a grim face:

"Go out. Oh, and don't mention what you just heard to anyone."

"Yes, Marshal."

...

Paris.

The day after the public trial of the Southern Netherlands spy, Joseph received a report from the diplomatic department saying that the British Foreign Secretary requested to postpone the meeting originally scheduled for the day after tomorrow for 5 days.

Joseph looked at the documents in his hand and couldn't help but smile: "He needs to spend some time thinking about how to deal with the current embarrassing situation."