Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1352 - Capítulo 1352: 1257: Terms of Surrender
Capítulo 1352: Chapter 1257: Terms of Surrender
Soon, the carriage slowly stopped in front of the City Palace Square.
Count Montijo glanced at the young “assistant” sitting opposite him and whispered, “Your Highness, we have arrived.”
Charles put away the “script” handed to him by his brother and nodded steadily, “Rest assured, I’m already prepared.”
Then, the two got off the carriage one after the other and strode with heads held high towards the Prussian officials standing not far away under the watchful eyes of the tense Prussian Royal Guard.
An hour later.
In the Hall of Mirrors of the City Palace, Baron Stein, the Prussian Prime Minister, pressed his hands heavily on the table and gritted his teeth:
“We are far from defeated!
“Even if Berlin is lost, His Majesty the King will still command the army to fight France from Konigsberg. The war will continue!
“With the huge manpower advantage of the Allied Forces, we will gradually reclaim lost territory and secure ultimate victory!”
“Victory?” The French envoy Count Montijo leaned back in his chair and said indifferently, “Alright, let’s assume the Allied Forces win the war, but what does that have to do with Prussia?”
Without hesitation, Baron Stein replied, “Of course it does, we are also part of the Allied Forces.”
“No, no, you’ve got it wrong.” Count Montijo shook his head with a smile, “That victory belongs to Austria, to England, Russia, Hesse, even Saxony, but not to Prussia.”
Baron Stein snorted coldly, “Please spare us your clumsy attempts to sow discord.”
Count Montijo fiddled with his cane and asked, “How many troops can your country still summon?
“Let me guess, 30,000? Hmm, maybe just 20,000?”
The few senior Prussians in the hall all wore sullen expressions and kept silent.
Two days ago, news had already reached Berlin about the Duke of Brunswick surrendering to Surt near Kassel. In other words, Prussia had almost lost all its combat units.
After a previous nationwide mobilization, practically all able-bodied men of Prussia had been sent to the battlefield, with Berlin’s garrison troops eventually deployed in the final defense of Weimar.
Stein had spoken assertively, but in reality, the forces they could summon didn’t even reach the lower number guessed by the French.
Count Montijo cast a glance at the few people present and continued, “While Austria, on the other hand, still has hundreds of thousands of troops. What do you think His Majesty Franz II would want to do most once victory is achieved?
“Yes, it’s quite clear, he wants to unify Germany. At that time, Prussia would be his biggest obstacle.
“I wonder if you have the confidence to resist the Austrians for a month?”
Prince Henry suddenly interrupted him: “We have an alliance with England, and Russia won’t just watch Austria monopolize Germany!”
Count Montijo seemed to hear a joke: “The British Army? They couldn’t even defeat the Spaniards, and you want to rely on them to counter hundreds of thousands of Austrian troops?
“As for the Russians, I can guarantee, if His Majesty Franz II promised to cede East Prussia to them, Saint Petersburg might declare war against you even sooner than Vienna.”
Baron Stein shouted, “No matter what, we must first choose the side of victory. If we accept the armistice, we will lose everything!”
The French envoy chuckled, “Why do you think the Allied Forces stand a chance of winning the war?”
“The hundreds of thousands of troops from England, Austria, and Russia could cross the Rhine River at any moment…”
“Number of troops.” Count Montijo nodded, “I can reveal some information to you.
“As of a week ago, our country had already summoned a total of 380,000 soldiers, most of whom are currently assembled along the Karlsruhe line.”
The Austrian top officials exchanged gazes and all showed expressions of shock.
Count Montijo continued, “Actually, if His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t want to impact domestic production, this number would be even larger.
“Oh, by the way, do you know how long it takes us to supply the Baden front from Paris?”
No one spoke up.
“Two days.” Count Montijo said, “Including the time for loading and transporting to the military camp.”
“It’s absolutely impossible!” Prince Henry said loudly.
Having fought wars for more than a decade, he knew very well the difficulty of logistics over hundreds of kilometers. The Prussian Army’s supplies from Berlin to Weimar took a full half-month, and this distance is much shorter than from Paris to Baden.
Count Montijo nodded, “I understand your astonishment.
“You must have heard about trains, right? It’s the latest vehicle developed by our country driven by steam engines.
“It can transport all logistics materials for an entire brigade at once, including food, oats, and ammunition, traveling nearly 400 kilometers in just one day.
“Oh, it is already in public operation in our country, if you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself.”
Prince Henry’s expression had turned extremely grave.
Logistics is the most crucial factor influencing the outcome of a war.
If the Allied Forces cannot swiftly defeat the French Army, the French could easily drain the Allies through this powerful logistical capability.
And France has mobilized 380,000 troops. This already surpasses the manpower the Allies planned to deploy on the Baden front, so how could it be swiftly defeated?
Of course, Montijo had concealed some facts. The French Army is still scattered in various locations, with only around 200,000 troops near Baden.
Count Montijo continued, “Now let’s look at weaponry.
“Our soldiers are all equipped with rifled guns. And no, not the kind equipped by the Allied Forces, but a brand new design, with loading speed identical to the caplock gun.
“You should understand the comparison of firepower density between the two sides.”
Prince Henry exclaimed, “Didn’t you only equip skirmishers with rifled guns?”
He had indeed previously received reports from the Allied Intelligence Department, knowing the French Army had been equipped with a new type of rifle, but he wasn’t expecting so many.
“You could say that.” Count Montijo smiled, “But our army is almost entirely composed of skirmishers.”
Indeed, due to production speed constraints, most new French recruits were still using caplock guns, but the total number of rifled guns had already exceeded 200,000.
Prince Henry remained silent for a long time before quietly asking, “Are you saying all this is true?”
The French envoy nodded, “Certainly, you should be able to verify this easily through intelligence channels.”
He spoke with a blend of truth and falsehood, ensuring that based on Prussia’s intelligence capabilities, they would conclude it all as entirely true amidst his information interference.
Seeing the evident wavering among the Prussians, Montijo then threw out his “trump card”:
“By the way, His Highness the Crown Prince said if your country accepts the terms of surrender, he can consider returning both captured corps to you.”
Prince Henry and the others immediately perked up.
The units of the Duke of Brunswick and Blucher would allow at least seventy to eighty thousand men to return, even after accounting for battle casualties. These were all able-bodied men, and with them, Prussia’s foundation could be preserved!
