I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1258 Conditions for Surrender

Soon, the carriage slowly came to a stop in front of the city palace square.

Count Montenton looked at the young "assistant" sitting opposite him and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, we have arrived."

Charles put away the "script" his brother had given him and nodded calmly: "Please rest assured, I am ready."

Immediately, the two got out of the car one after the other, and under the watchful eyes of the Prussian Royal Guard, who were on high alert, they walked with their heads held high toward the Prussian officials standing not far away.

After one hour.

In the Hall of Mirrors at the City Palace, Prussian Prime Minister Baron Stein slammed his hands on the table, gritting his teeth as he said:

We are far from failure!
"Even if Berlin is lost, His Majesty the King will still be in Königsberg, commanding the army against the French. The war will continue!"

"With the overwhelming numerical superiority of the allied forces, we will reclaim the lost territory step by step and achieve final victory!"

“Victory?” Count Montion, the French envoy, leaned back in his chair and said calmly, “Well, assuming the allied forces really did win the war, what would that have to do with Prussia?”

Baron Stein replied without hesitation, "Of course, we are also a member of the Allied Forces."

“No, no, you’re mistaken.” Count Monteon smiled and shook his head. “God is my witness, that victory belonged to Austria, to England, Russia, Hesse, and even Saxony, but not to Prussia.”

Baron Stein scoffed, "Please stop your clumsy attempts to sow discord."

Count Montenton fumbled for his cane and asked, "How many troops can your country still muster now?"
"Let me guess, 3? Hmm, maybe only 2?"

The several high-ranking Prussian officials in the hall remained silent with dark faces.

Two days ago, news of the Duke of Brunswick's surrender to Soult near Kassel had reached Berlin. This means that Prussia has now lost almost all of its fighting forces.

Following the previous nationwide mobilization, almost all of Prussia's able-bodied men had been deployed to the battlefield, with the final defensive battle of Weimar even involving the garrison troops of Berlin.

Baron Stein spoke with great bravado, but in reality, the number of troops they can recruit is less than the latter figure the French guessed.

Count Montenton glanced at the group and continued, "But Austria still has hundreds of thousands of troops. What do you think His Majesty Franz II would most like to do after your envisioned victory comes to fruition?"
"Yes, it is clear that he wanted to unify Germany. At that time, Prussia was his biggest obstacle."

"Do you have the confidence to hold off the Austrians for a month?"

Prince Heinrich suddenly interrupted him: "We have an alliance with Britain, and Russia will not stand idly by while Austria monopolizes Germany!"

“Ha ha,” Count Montenton said as if he had heard a joke, “The British Army? They can’t even beat the Spanish, and you expect to rely on them to deal with hundreds of thousands of Austrian troops?”
"As for the Russians, I guarantee that if His Majesty Franz II had promised to hand over East Prussia to them, St. Petersburg would have declared war on you even sooner than Vienna."

Baron Stein shouted, "In any case, we must first choose the victor. If we accept the ceasefire, we will lose everything!"

The French envoy's smile faded: "Why do you believe the allied forces have a chance of winning the war?"

"Hundreds of thousands of British, Austrian, and Russian troops could cross the Rhine at any moment..."

"The number of troops?" Count Monteon nodded. "I can give you some information."

"As of a week ago, our country had recruited a total of 38 soldiers, most of whom are currently assembled on the front line in Karlsruhe."

Several high-ranking Prussian officials exchanged glances, all showing expressions of shock.

Count Montion continued, "In fact, if His Highness the Crown Prince hadn't wanted to avoid impacting domestic production, the number would be even higher. Oh, by the way, do you know how long it takes for our troops to resupply the Baden front from Paris?"

No one said anything.

“Two days,” Count Montenton held up two fingers. “Including the time for loading and transporting to the barracks.”

"That's absolutely impossible!" Prince Heinrich exclaimed.

Having fought in wars for over a decade, he knew all too well the difficulties of logistical transport over hundreds of kilometers. It took the Prussian army a full two weeks to transport supplies from Berlin to Weimar, a distance much shorter than that from Paris to Baden.

Count Montion nodded: "I understand your surprise."

"You must have heard of trains, right? They're the kind of steam-powered vehicles that our country has just developed."

"It can transport all the logistical supplies of a brigade at once, including food, oats and ammunition, and can travel nearly 400 kilometers in just one day."

"Oh, this thing is already openly operating in our country. If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself."

Prince Heinrich's expression had become extremely solemn.

Logistics is the most important factor affecting the outcome of a war.

If the Allied forces cannot quickly defeat the French army, the French can easily rely on this strong logistical capability to wear them down.

France mobilized a staggering 38 troops. This exceeded the Allied forces' planned deployment to the Baden front, so how could they possibly be quickly defeated?
Of course, Montion concealed some information here. Currently, the French army is still scattered in many places, with only about 20 troops near Baden.

Count Montenton continued, "Let's take a look at the weapons and equipment."

"Our troops are now fully equipped with rifled rifles. Oh, not the kind of shotguns used by the Allied forces, but a completely new design with the same loading speed as the percussion cap rifle."

"You should understand the comparison of the firepower density between the two sides."

Prince Heinrich exclaimed, "Didn't you only equip skirmishers with rifled muskets?"

He had indeed received reports from the Allied intelligence department that the French army was equipped with a new type of rifle, but he did not expect there to be so many.

“That could be said,” Count Montenton said with a smile, “but our army is basically all scattered troops.”

Well, in reality, due to production speed limitations, most French recruits were still using percussion caps, but the total number of rifled guns had already exceeded 20.

Prince Heinrich remained silent for a long time before whispering, "You, what you said is all true?"

The French envoy nodded: "Of course, you should be able to verify that easily through intelligence channels."

He was telling a story that was seven parts truth and three parts falsehood. Given Prussia's intelligence capabilities, under his information interference, they would certainly arrive at a conclusion that was entirely true.

Seeing that the Prussians were clearly wavering, Montion played his trump card:
"By the way, His Highness the Crown Prince said that if your country accepts the terms of surrender, he may consider returning the two captured legions to you."

Prince Heinrich and the others were immediately struck by a thought.

Even after deducting combat casualties, the Duke of Brunswick and Blücher's troops should have at least seventy to eighty thousand men returning. These are all able-bodied men; with this force, Prussia's foundation remains intact!
(End of this chapter)