I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1264 The King's Palace

Hildesheim, 30 kilometers south of Hanover.

As Gayal listened to the soldiers around him singing "Ode to the Army," he turned to Lefebvre with great excitement and said, "The British were really arrogant in the Netherlands a few years ago. I almost got hit by a cannonball once."

"At that time I said to the Englishmen across from me, 'Hey, you bastards, I'm going to burn down your king's palace'... cough, don't mind my rudeness."

"I never thought my wish would come true so soon, haha."

Yes, George I lived in Lennar Palace in Hanover before he became King of England. So it's not wrong to call it the King's palace.

Lefebvre said calmly, "You're too easily satisfied."

Gayal grinned and said, "Satisfied? Of course, otherwise, would we be burning down St. James's Palace?"

“You are perfectly free to make such a wish.” Lefebvre glanced westward. “Our Crown Prince has ambitions that you can hardly imagine.”

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you belong to the Walloon local army and may not be able to participate in the amphibious operation."

Gayal felt a surge of emotion rush to his head and quickly grabbed him, pleading, "You must find a way to transfer me to the expeditionary force. We're best friends, aren't we?"

Lefebvre smiled and nodded: "I'll give it a try. If you can win a medal in Hanover this time, I think your chances will be much better."

"Okay, then you can let me take the lead!"

As Gayal was patting his chest, a military medic rode up behind him, bowed slightly to the two men, and then handed a small paper packet to the attendant beside him: "This is potassium iodide. Have the general take one-tenth of it every day. Come back to me to get more after he finishes it."

Lefebvre looked at the white powder in the paper packet with suspicion: "Mr. Faro, is this medicine for something? I don't remember being sick."

The medic leaned closer and whispered, "It's for treating lead poisoning. Uh, haven't you noticed there haven't been any canned goods in the recent supplies?"

"Poisoned?"

"Don't worry, General, it's just a minor issue. A few months ago, some soldiers experienced headaches and fatigue, but the cause couldn't be found. It's said that His Highness the Crown Prince discovered it while eating canned food."

Joseph never imagined that in order to reduce the difficulty of tinning iron sheets, a large amount of lead would be added to the tin—which would significantly lower the melting point of the tin.

He hadn't eaten canned food much before, until this time when he led the grenadier battalion to participate in the defense of Karlsruhe. When he opened the can, his fingers were stained with lead black marks, and that's when he realized there was a problem.

He then immediately ordered the replacement of all tin cans and had Lavoisier urgently synthesize a batch of potassium iodide—he remembered seeing it before, as it could promote the excretion of lead.

Fortunately, the period during which the military consumed canned food on a large scale was not long, so the impact on the soldiers' health was minimal.

Recently, seaweed harvesting has become a popular industry along the French coast. Currently, the fastest way to obtain iodine is by burning seaweed, while more than 20 French soldiers on the front lines are waiting to take potassium iodide.

At nine o'clock the next morning, Gayal personally led 5 Walloon soldiers in a fierce attack on Hanover.

However, the enemy's complete resistance that he had anticipated did not occur, and before lunchtime, he was already standing in the luxurious Reiner Palace.

Yes, the garrison defending Hanover numbered only a little over 600 men, and they were mostly hastily assembled. As soon as the French cannons opened fire, they turned and fled.

Somewhat dejected, Gayal said to Lefebvre beside him, "Do you think I'll get a medal this time?"

The latter shook his head awkwardly: "Ah, I'm afraid it won't be easy..."

Today's fighting was less like a battle and more like an armed march; most soldiers still had their guns fully loaded. How could they possibly earn medals? "Damn it..." As Gayal spoke, he caught a glimpse of the statue of George I in the square through the huge French windows.

He immediately pointed irritably out the window and said to his servant, "Boss, have someone dismantle that thing for me, no, just blast it to pieces with cannons!"

Then he looked at the messenger behind him: "Order the soldiers to finish lunch as soon as possible. We'll set off for Felden at 2 p.m. and try to capture Karl Lewis."

His hopes of winning the medal now rest entirely on capturing the Governor of Hanover, who is also George III's brother-in-law.

Lefebvre quickly stopped him, saying, "Don't be impulsive. The soldiers need to rest now. As for Karl Louis, I've already sent hussars to pursue him. But you'd better not have too high hopes."

Gayal sighed and prepared to restore order in the city when he suddenly saw a major running up to him, shouting, "General, we found a secret compartment in the palace study containing many of the Governor of Hanover's private letters."

Gayal immediately became interested, took a letter from the wooden box being carried by the soldier next to him, and unfolded it: "'The council has decided to start the war, and you must complete the mobilization of the army as soon as possible...', um, it's from the Duke of York."

He sent another letter: "This is about William III's loan to him. Lucky fellow, he probably won't have to pay it back."

"Ha, look at this, Karl's mistress is complaining that he's been flirting with Countess Rombly lately..."

Lefebvre also came over and joined in opening the letters.

Even generals with illustrious military achievements cannot resist the allure of gossip.

However, when he opened a rather thick letter, his expression instantly turned serious, and he read aloud in a low voice: "...I have confirmed with Count Zubov that the young crown prince most likely killed his father with his own hands. Thank you very much for your previous advice; those Russian nobles have indeed long harbored thoughts of a coup, but lacked a concrete plan... I have attached detailed information about this matter at the end of the letter. Please see if there is anything I can use it for, so I can make some preparations before the Foreign Minister arrives in St. Petersburg..."

Gayal's eyes widened: "Who wrote this?"

“Charles Whitworth, the British Minister to Russia,” Lefebvre replied casually, quickly pulling out the next few pages. His eyes lit up immediately. “We’ve found something incredible, enough to earn you a medal…”

……

Coburg, in central Germany.

Two Thuringian farmers, peering nervously from their rooftops, watched the seemingly endless procession along the distant path, muttering to themselves, "I remember they were heading west yesterday afternoon, how come they're heading east again today?"

"Idiot, didn't you see the gold trim on the collars and cuffs of those people yesterday? They weren't the same group of people."

"Hey, look, those people have gold trim on their collars, don't they?"

The older farmers were also a bit confused: "I don't know either. Listen, they're singing, it doesn't sound like German..."

“I know, it’s French. I often hear Mr. Prosno speak French with people, and it’s this tone.”

Yes, what stood before them was the French Royal Second Army led by Soult.

Yesterday morning, the Allied Milius Legion returned from their journey to reinforce Berlin, only to unexpectedly encounter Soult west of Coburg.

Before the Austrian army could react, Soult had already sent men to occupy a strategically important high ground, while the right-wing leaping troops quickly completed their infiltration.

As Austrian soldiers saw the light blue hot air balloons rising in the sky, artillery fire erupted from three directions around them almost simultaneously.

(End of this chapter)