War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

A royal member of the Austrian Empire is in Switzerland, a hero who once fought against Napoleon is in Switzerland, and a destabilizing factor is at the center of this storm.

This can explain why the Orthodox Alliance suddenly changed its strategy, but this is definitely not good news for France.

"Archduke Karl is in Switzerland."

This message may actually have multiple meanings:

Austria wants to unilaterally end Swiss civil war?

Austria wants more benefits?

Austria and the Orthodox Alliance have reached some kind of agreement?

Austria already has de facto control over the Orthodox Union?

Austria wants to annex Switzerland?

Baron Pasquière did not dare to think further, but it was not wise to break up with Austria or directly launch a war to seize territory.

Louis Philippe's bottom line was to give up the cantons of Aargau and Valais, but now it seems a bit too whimsical.

At this time, he remembered Metternich's previous words. The other party seemed to want to ask for a bribe.

"Your Excellency, we in France are willing to give up the Canton of Aargau again. At the same time, we are also willing to solve your debt problem in Ochsenhausen and fund you with another one million francs to rebuild the manor."

To be honest, the bribe was not small, at least much higher than that paid to Russian Prime Minister Hilarion.

But the problem was that the French bid was too low and completely failed to meet the psychological expectations of Austria and Metternich.

According to Franz's plan, the negotiations need to be delayed further.

Metternich certainly knew what to do.

"Let me think about it. Just wait for my news."

Baron Pasquière still wanted to fight for it, but the other party had already issued an eviction order. He could not say anything more and could only send the news back to Paris as soon as he left.

Switzerland, on the other hand.

Dufour's attack was very unsatisfactory, because most battlefields were very unfavorable to the Free State Alliance, or whichever side attacked was disadvantageous.

The terrain is narrow and it is difficult for troops to deploy, and solid defense facilities are difficult to destroy. In fact, it is not that those fortresses are really strong. Compared with the new concrete structures, they are still much worse.

The main problem is the lack of heavy artillery and the monotony of the offensive mode. The 12-pound field gun is already considered a heavy artillery in the eyes of the Swiss.

But in fact, 12-pound guns may not be able to show off their power on the North American battlefield at this time, and the siege guns of major countries are generally above 24 pounds.

At the same time, Dufour also lacked offensive means. Every time a strong attack failed, he chose to take a detour. However, every time he took a detour, he would be blocked by Archduke Karl as if he was cheating, and then he would be defeated.

Dufour once suspected that the other party would use witchcraft, because several of his extremely covert attacks were intercepted by the enemy. This was simply impossible unless there were spies in his headquarters.

Such questions will remain if they never see the observation balloon floating in the sky.

In addition, the muddy roads made it difficult to maintain supplies, and the morale of the soldiers who were unable to attack for a long time dropped sharply. This is fatal to the new recruits. If they don't have enough to eat or wear warm clothes, they will lose in one fight.

Dufour is not a cruel person, but at this moment he must resolutely enforce military law and let the officers and soldiers see his determination, otherwise the situation will become uncontrollable.

However, if he shot all the soldiers who escaped every day, he would become Robespierre of Switzerland, so he could only use an ancient military law, which was to kill at eleven.

However, this approach could not scare anyone at all. Dufour could only ask for more reinforcements and supplies. He hoped to use supplies and people to pile up the Orthodox Alliance to death.

It must be said that Joseph Loy was a qualified leader. Even though almost all the free states opposed the continued appointment of Dufour, he still insisted on trusting the veteran.

But it is impossible for those free states to continue to provide money and personnel. However, there happen to be two Orthodox states that have surrendered, especially Friborg State, which has a large number of disbanded Orthodox Union soldiers.

So Joseph Loy asked Friborg and Zug to assume war obligations in the name of the federation, which was actually an order.

Since these two states had surrendered, they were lambs to be slaughtered. Joseph Roy quickly raised another 100,000 troops for Dufour.

However, Augustin Keller's defeat in the canton of Schwyz still had a considerable impact on the Swiss Confederation. The top leaders of the canton of Zug initially surrendered because they did not want the war to burn to their homes.

Now that Augustine Keller is dead, the promise not to let them go to the front line is also invalidated. As a result, Zug State not only has to recruit a large number of young men to join the army, but also has to pay for the war, and its home has become a battlefield.

Several senior officials in Zug canton dare not go out for fear of being scolded by their elders in their hometown.

In addition, Tanner Amkhed's guerrillas were not wiped out. They took advantage of the complex terrain of the mountainous area to appear and hide, making Frey Holosei's army unable to move.

Ordinary local troops and militiamen were no match for the guerrillas, and Frey Holosei's main force had too big a target and too slow movements, forcing the opponent to move back and forth on its own territory.

Tanner Amherd's fighting method is the most common mercenary mode. He fights if he can win, and runs if he can't. He specializes in picking weak enemies.

But because the attacks were all on official warehouses, the local people usually chose to turn a blind eye. In addition, as the war took a turn for the worse, people's lives became worse and worse. Tanner Amkhed's guerrillas became people's idols.

Frey Holoser's lies were discovered, and coupled with his long-term lack of achievements, the Swiss Confederation became increasingly distrustful of him, and he himself became increasingly manic.

As a result, it was not uncommon for soldiers to be whipped and then beaten into submission, and even more so, the army was like bandits, and the bandits were like the army.

At the Lucerne State Command, Archduke Karl sat on a rocking chair and took a nap. The captain of the guard, Sigismund, used iron tongs to make the fire as bright as possible to make the room warmer.

If it weren't for the sand table in the middle and the map on the wall, it would be hard to believe that this is the high command of the Orthodox Alliance.

In fact, Dufour's army was not very mobile, and the cold weather in winter restricted it even more.

Konstantin Sigvort and Ulrich Sallis were very busy because they never thought that the army would consume supplies like this.

The two of them expanded the original 40,000 troops to 100,000 despite the objections of Archduke Karl. As a result, the front line did not collapse, but the logistics was about to collapse first.

Switzerland has a sparse population and barren land, and does not have high war potential. However, due to the implementation of the compulsory conscription system and the tradition of mercenaries, the number of soldiers it can mobilize in a short period of time is far higher than that of ordinary countries.

However, the huge contrast between the two will quickly worsen the situation.

But this is not what Archduke Karl cares about, because the other party's situation will be worse than that of the Orthodox Alliance.

What really concerned him was what did the chess players behind the scenes want to do?