Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1551 - 1457: Heading North and South

Lavallette had already grown accustomed to the Crown Prince, ah, the Regent King’s various profound and enigmatic operations, and thus asked no more questions, continuing to report:

“Your Highness, additionally, Mikhailovich’s Austrian corps passed through Innsbruck three days ago, and is estimated to arrive in Zurich by the end of the month.”

Joseph nodded: “I’ve already handed this matter over to the General Staff to handle, you need to continue advancing the operations within Austria.”

Of course, the French military also has its own intelligence system. In other aspects, it might not react as quickly as the Security Bureau, but in terms of the movement of such large corps, their information channels are even broader than those of the Security Bureau.

Joseph received the report from the General Staff early on when the two Austrian intervention troops had just left Klagenfurt.

According to his arrangement, by this time, there should be nearly a thousand “freedom volunteers” from France, Wurttemberg, Augsburg, Bavaria, and other countries gathered in the northern Jura Mountain.

They came to help the People of Swiss in Basel, Schwyz, and other states resist the brutal invasion from Vienna, “voluntarily” assembling here.

They will collaborate with 900 Basel militiamen and 2,500 mercenaries recruited by Wurttemberg officers from the southeastern Swiss mountain areas, to ambush the Austrian Army between the Jura Mountain and Bern Mountain’s dense forests.

Unlike before, this time the resistance forces will be commanded by a retired French officer named Pelleger. Using his private connections, he acquired substantial amounts of “old” munitions from France, which will significantly enhance the fighting capacity of the resistance forces.

Joseph knew that merely relying on these less than 5,000 miscellaneous troops would certainly not defeat the Austrian Army, which was several times larger, but they could harass the Austrian troops utilizing the mountain and valley terrains.

Even in Zurich, there are quite a few dissatisfied with Vienna, who will secretly carry out sabotage.

Yes, with the continuous expansion of the French and Baden’s picture printing factories, they can now print more than 150,000 comic books monthly.

These comics, carrying various French romanticism and freedom, as well as the French ideal life, are flooding into Switzerland, Austria, and even England.

Unlike the usual pamphlets, this type of fully illustrated booklets can be understood seven to eight tenths by even the illiterate.

Thus, the Swiss mountain villagers, silk reel workers, and woodcutters, who were previously indifferent to political landscape, are now inspired by the stories in the books and join the ranks opposing Austria —

Most of them will not directly engage in the war, but even if they only transmit some information to the resistance forces or hide food and refuse to sell to the Austrian troops, it could greatly shift the power balance between the two sides.

Moreover, as soon as the resistance forces sense unfavorable circumstances, they can swiftly retreat to the adjacent Bern region, which is France’s Upper German Province.

Give the Austrian Army a hundred guts, they’d never dare to pursue into French territory.

After the resistance forces undergo rest and recovery in Bern, they can quickly return to Basel and other places…

Joseph wasn’t expecting the mere consumption of 20,000 Austrian troops to weaken the Austrian finances, but as long as the Empire wastes military funds in such impoverished and desolate places like Switzerland, domestic discontent will increasingly intensify.

Especially when victory hasn’t been achieved yet.

With the fermentation of Metternich’s reforms, independence movements are beginning to erupt in Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, Serbia, and other places, causing the whole Empire to exhaust its national power continuously amid persistent internal strife.

Even premature disintegration is not impossible.

Now Prussia is almost in a “chick state,” so Austria shouldn’t be too strong either. After all, the strength between the two powers of Germany must remain relatively balanced, which is beneficial to regional peace, right?

Lavallette nodded solemnly, finally saying: “Your Highness, there is another matter worthy of attention.

“Although the Americans verbally repeatedly affirm the plan for a joint attack on Canada, according to the intelligence we’ve collected in North America, their conscription and training are very limited in the states north of Philadelphia.

“In contrast, Wilkinson has appeared multiple times in the southern states of Georgia and others, and built a new recruit training camp in Charleston.”

Wilkinson is the current commander-in-chief of the American Army, also known as the most capable general in the United States.

Joseph frowned upon hearing this.

It seems the Americans do not intend to head northward. Could they be contemplating taking over the Mississippi River?

It doesn’t seem likely either. After all, Georgia is in the southeastern corner of the United States, very far from Saint Louis Louisiana.

And Napoleon should have left some psychological impact on the Americans, they shouldn’t have forgotten the pain so quickly.

Georgia… he suddenly had a thought, could the Americans be planning to advance southward to Florida?

Florida is located in the southeastern part of North America and is the only area on the east side of the Mississippi River not occupied by the Americans.

Currently, Spain’s garrison in Florida counts only over 800 people, and they are stationed separately in East and West Florida.

If the Americans advance southward from Augusta in Georgia, it would be nearly impossible for the Spanish garrison in East Florida to offer any resistance.

Only, why would the Americans dare to wage war against Spain?

You must know that although Spain doesn’t care much about Florida, merely for the empire’s face, they would deploy troops for defense from Juan Island, or Mexico.

At the same time, as long as the King of Spain opens his mouth, France’s Louisiana Colony would certainly also dispatch troops to aid in Florida.

Where did the Americans find the confidence to consume Florida?

Joseph pondered for a good while but found no clue, so he instructed Lavallette: “The Security Bureau needs to enhance intelligence gathering in North America, and quickly figure out the Americans’ intentions. Also, notify the Governor of Florida to prepare in advance.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

…

Western Germany.

Capital of Nassau, Wiesbaden.

In the impressive two-story light grey office building of the Alphonse-Boutin Steel Factory, Maréchal marched into the manager’s office full of anger, slapped several order forms on the table, and shouted:

“The payment should’ve arrived 20 days ago, I just checked the shipping plan, why hasn’t the shipment to Hebert Coking Plant been arranged?”

Hebert Coking Plant is his transit company established in Cologne.

The manager in Northern Germany, Gorna, quickly offered a smile: “Baron, you may have heard, the people from the Steel Technology Association have been continuously examining the company’s sales records. Oh, the auditors from the Tax Bureau are right present in the finance room.”

“What’s that got to do with me? I’m asking you, when will the coal be shipped?”

“Well, it indeed concerns you.” Gorna hesitated, “In fact, it’s precisely because the company shipped too much to the Cologne area that it attracted the attention of the Steel Technology Association.”

Maréchal thrust his right hand aggressively, shouting: “Damn, I’m French, and my company is a French company, completely in compliance with the association’s regulations!”

“Yes, yes, I know. Please don’t get angry. But the bureaucrats of the Steel Technology Association always love finding trouble to show the Ministry of Industry their indispensable role.”