I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1277 Archduke Karl's Persistence

1799 5 Month 3 Day.

Passau.

Allied Command Headquarters.

"Enough!" Archduke Karl waved his hand, his face ashen, interrupting the staff officer who was reading the Stuttgart Declaration to him. He clenched his fists tightly and said, "These poor cowards have succumbed to the intimidation of the French."

He looked up and took a deep breath: "Don't they know that the French can never control the German territories for long? One day, they will be severely punished by the Reich!"

He was just venting. He knew very well that the empire was unlikely to win this war.

In fact, the armistice negotiators in Vienna had gone to Karlsruhe ten days earlier—where the French crown prince was located.

However, Archduke Karl, as Vienna's most steadfast hawk, never intended to give up so easily.

Austria possesses a unique defensive advantage—surrounded by mountains on three sides, leaving the French with very few opportunities to launch attacks, and all of these areas are easy to defend.

As long as Passau is held—where the main French forces are concentrated—the more than 30 French troops fighting far from home will have to retreat due to the enormous logistical burden in eight or nine months at most.

Archduke Karl had absolute confidence in Passau's defenses.

The coalition forces still have more than 30 troops, and he personally deployed three lines of defense along the Danube during this period.

The French army had previously attempted to attack several times, but all of their attacks were repelled without any doubt.

New recruits and logistical supplies are being continuously transported from Vienna, giving the French absolutely no chance.

When the French army begins to retreat due to logistical shortages, that will be his opportunity to counterattack!
“Marshal,” Verother walked in, bowing slightly as he held a document from the Shap signal tower, “We just received news that the 3 new recruits from Vienna have completed their training and will arrive here in 10 days.”

Grand Duke Karl's expression softened slightly, and the Chief of the General Staff continued, "However, the Military Commission indicated that this may be the last batch of new recruits for the near future."

Although Austria is a large country, it has already mobilized 33 soldiers, which is far beyond its capacity. The upper age limit for conscription has now been raised to 40.

If we continue to conscript soldiers, the empire will probably collapse.

Grand Duke Karl sighed: "It's alright, that's enough. By the way, have Count Kobutzl try to persuade the Russians to send at least 5 more troops when we begin our counterattack."

Before Verother could reply, two staff officers entered one after the other and handed him the battle report.

The Austrian Chief of the General Staff noticed something amiss from the expressions of the two men. He quickly opened the first report, his brows furrowing as he said to Archduke Karl, "Your Excellency Marshal, Ludwig X occupied Kassel two days ago. William IX has declared exile in Prussia."

Archduke Karl exclaimed in shock, "Didn't Brunswick, Prussia, and other countries send troops to intervene?"

"It seems not."

"Damn it!" Archduke Karl stood up angrily and slammed his cane into the ground to vent his rage.

The Stuttgart Declaration divided up all the empire's direct territories in northern Germany, and now even the most resistant countries to France have been annexed.

Moreover, Hesse-Darmstadt is very pro-French, and after acquiring all of Hesse, its power in northern Germany is second only to Prussia. France will receive a huge boost here.

Veruser carefully turned to the next battle report, but immediately exclaimed, "Marshal, Poland... Poland has declared war on our country..."

"What?!" Archduke Karl snatched the report and quickly scanned it, his face turning even more grim.

It stated that the Poles had not only declared war, but had also occupied Neuchøisel several days earlier, clearly intending to launch a surprise attack while Vienna was undefended.

The last few lines of the report also mentioned that another Polish army unit attacked Olomouc.

Archduke Karl paced back and forth in his office in frustration, then looked at Verother and ordered, "Immediately send those 3 new recruits back to Vienna for defense. The Poles may have reinforcements."

"Once we have a clear understanding of the Polish army's strength, we will have General Raul defeat them as soon as possible."

The Empire is currently engaged in a war of attrition with France, and chaos must not break out domestically.

However, he didn't take Poland too seriously. After all, it had just been partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and its national strength was weak. It only had 3 troops left, so it shouldn't cause too much trouble.

Verother quickly stood at attention and said, "Yes, Marshal."

Just as he was about to turn around, Archduke Karl called him back: "Wait, the Polish army attacking Olomouc is supposed to be a diversionary tactic, but we can't let our guard down. Send the troops stationed in Prague and Krems to disperse them."

"Yes, Marshal."

Archduke Karl still felt uneasy about something, so he summoned his officers to discuss it. Finally, on Kutuzov's advice, they decided to transfer another 20,000 soldiers from Passau back to Vienna to ensure everything went smoothly.

However, these Allied high command were completely unaware that as early as the beginning of April, Soult had already led the French Royal Second and Fourth Armies, along with three infantry divisions, a total of 110,000 troops, along the western side of Bavaria to Dessau in northwestern Saxony.

This task would have been best suited for Moreau, since he was familiar with the route to Vienna. However, his legions had suffered heavy losses, so Joseph decided to send Soult to lead the northern offensive.

……

1799 5 Month 9 Day.

Soult waved the intelligence that the Security Bureau had just sent and said to Lana beside him, "Just as Your Highness predicted, Dresden has less than 3 garrison troops."

Currently, Saxony's main forces have been transferred to Passau by Archduke Karl to assist in defense, leaving the country very vulnerable.

In reality, Saxony only had a little over 20,000 troops in the entire country. Even if they were all left to defend the capital, it would be impossible for them to stop the Soult Legion.

Rana nodded and then asked, "How are things on the Polish side?"

The staff officer following behind hurriedly said, "We received news yesterday at noon that the Koskushko Legion has captured Olomouc."

Rana raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Then we'd better speed things up."

It's 130 kilometers from Dessau to Erz, and there's a battle to be fought in Dresden along the way. If we fall behind Koschuszko and reach the Nachszew Pass, we'll be laughed at by the Poles.

As it turned out, the French army's marching speed was absolutely reliable.

Just three days later, the Soult Legion launched an attack on Dresden.

The outcome of the battle was not in doubt. The French vanguard's more than 40 cannons bombarded the enemy for an hour. Before the skirmishers could even move out, Augustus III's truce envoys arrived at Soult's command post.

(End of this chapter)