Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 450: Chapter 364: From Austria to Russia (Long Chapter)

Joseph certainly wouldn’t tell the Emperor of Sanctum that among the enemy forces in Brussels, over 18,000 men were from the South Netherlands Army who had little combat capability, including remnants of Witte’s force that had already been demoralized by the Guard Corps and hastily conscripted farmers and peddlers.

Even the Dutch Army were those enlisted since last year’s uprising, whose combat effectiveness could hardly be considered reliable.

The only truly capable forces were the 13,000 men from Hanover, who lacked both cavalry and artillery.

However, a total figure of 35,000 was attributed to Charles II, which was sufficiently intimidating when spoken of.

Joseph’s pen continued moving across the paper:

"To ensure the Southern Netherlands does not fall into the hands of the rebels again, you need to deploy at least 20,000 soldiers here. Since Prussia and Hanover may also send reinforcements, it would be best to assemble even more troops for security.

Oh, and there’s another important matter, my dear uncle. Threatened by the Prussian Army from the direction of Liege, our army’s logistical support has encountered significant trouble. You know, the vehicles transporting supplies from Luxembourg to Brussels must pass near Liege. This makes our logistics very susceptible to attack. Therefore, I hope to recruit military supplies locally in the Southern Netherlands, which could also save you some expenses.”

A large portion of the French Army’s current military expenses in the Southern Netherlands are borne by Austria.

And if the French Army were to “recruit supplies locally,” that would amount to taking over the taxation of the Southern Netherlands. Naturally, this would necessitate the creation of some administrative positions to facilitate communication with the public and the transportation of supplies.

As for certain “incompetent” Austrian officials, having them temporarily relinquish their authority during the war becomes a matter of course.

At the end of the letter, Joseph expressed with great righteousness: France will certainly offer the utmost support to our close Austrian relatives, including preparations to reinforce the front lines in Brussels, and requested the Emperor to be at ease.

He was very clear that Austria and Prussia were engaged in fierce conflict in Silesia, and not a single step backward could be taken by either side without risking catastrophic consequences. Therefore, Joseph II would hate to have to call back the Austrian Army from the Southern Netherlands, and it was absolutely impossible to deploy an additional 20,000 men there.

So Austria’s choices were reduced to two—1, lose the Southern Netherlands. 2, export interests to France, allowing the French Army to stabilize the situation in the Southern Netherlands.

In fact, there was no real choice. If the Southern Netherlands were to become independent, it would not only greatly tarnish the Empire’s reputation and severely impact morale, but the Southern Netherlands National Guard and the Dutch Army would likely go to Silesia to support the Prussians.

With such a loss and gain, Austria might as well cease fighting.

Joseph handed the letter to the messenger and then summoned a staff officer to take a message to the Austrian Commander Leao in Luxembourg.

No sooner had he finished with these tasks than Eman brought in a messenger from Paris into the tent.

The latter respectfully greeted Joseph and then took out two letters from a leather case he carried, handing them to Eman who was standing by.

Joseph received the letters from his attendant and scrutinized them. One was from Archbishop Brienne, likely seeking the Crown Prince’s opinion on important matters recently occurring in France, which was essentially a work report.

The other, however, was from Queen Mary, with an appended “Proposal for Promoting Russo-French Trade” submitted by the Russian Ambassador.

He opened his mother’s letter, puzzled, and began to read.

The beginning was the usual—she talked about how much she missed her son, to the point of losing sleep every night, then expressed concern about whether her son was eating well in Luxembourg, whether he was sick or tired, and lamented that he had again forgotten to bring a chef…

Joseph felt warmed by the affection pouring from the letter. It seemed that she had written it while he was still in Luxembourg. But really, what was the issue with bringing along a few Imperial Chefs while at war? Usually, they would even bring along a convoy of kitchenware and ingredients…

It suddenly occurred to Joseph that he could allow the Imperial Chefs to prepare nutritious meals for the wounded in the rear. This would not only make the soldiers feel the Royal Family’s care and importance placed upon them but also save his mother from nagging about the matter each time.

He continued reading.

Queen Mary advised in the letter that her son should not stay too close to the front lines and leave the fighting to the generals. France had so many generals.

Joseph was moved, realizing that in a mother’s eyes, her child is always just a fragile little kid.

"Well, if that’s the case, I might as well be granted the rank of General.”

He smirked and turned to the second page of the letter.

After wrapping up the family matters, Queen Mary mentioned an interesting incident she had encountered recently—the apparently inebriated Count Stroganov, the Russian Ambassador to France, praised Russia’s Emperor for admiring France’s “Swedish plan” and even expressed his support for our claims over the lowland countries. In the end, Stroganov declared that the Russian Army would support us in taking the Rhine River from Austria’s eastern side as long as they could cross Poland… just look at what he was saying. Yet, for all his intake of alcohol, he was still an excellent diplomat, eloquent even in his inebriation…

As Joseph read up to here, his eyes narrowed slightly—the “Swedish plan” was his own idea, which he had sent Talleyrand to dangle before the Russians.

This was clearly Catherine II’s response to France, not some ramblings of a drunk Russian Ambassador.

What Joseph had not anticipated was the grand scale of Catherine’s appetite; she wanted not just Sweden and Poland, but even to partition Germany with France!

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