I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1410 Eastern European Meat Grinder

The group of people sitting by the dock fell silent.

Jaeger frequently traveled to southern Germany and knew that Austria, due to its defeat in the war, was very hostile to France, so he would certainly not allow the Swiss Confederation to join the Stuttgart Trade Agreement.

After a long while, a warehouse merchant gritted his teeth and said, "Which bastard decided to join the Swiss Confederation!"

"The lords of the council cannot betray us for their Holy Roman Emperor!"

Someone stood up: "That's right! Let's go to the market square and demand that the council abolish..."

The market square is the "Red House," which is the site of the Basel Parliament Building.

The man who said he would protest in parliament received no response, and he himself became dejected.

They had all personally experienced what happened a month and a half ago: hundreds of soldiers suddenly appeared, surrounded the protesters, and opened fire to disperse them.

Prior to that, the entire canton of Bern had fewer than 200 military and police personnel, and the troops that came to suppress the rebellion were clearly newly assembled by the parliament.

How could these merchants and sailors possibly be a match for the henchmen of Parliament...

Just then, a middle-aged man in a dark gray linen coat with a capable expression came to Jagger's side, looked him up and down, took off his black felt hat and said, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Niels Jagger?"

Jag glanced at him and waved his hand, saying, "I have no interest in the 'Steamship Association.' You see, I don't have the money to pay the membership fees."

"You've misunderstood..."

"I don't need a captain either."

The man in gray stepped forward: "I have a business I need your help with."

Jag frowned and waved his hand: "Sorry."

He knew very well that the fact that they came to him privately instead of going to the shipping association meant that the goods they wanted to transport were definitely contraband.

He had already decided to sell the boat and didn't want to get into trouble in these last few days.

The man in gray whispered, "Mr. Marty sent me."

Jag paused for a moment, then gestured for him to come to an open area and asked, "Where are you sending them? What kind of goods are they?"

Marty was one of the key organizers who pushed for Basel's accession to France last time, and he has considerable influence among the citizens.

“Some… well, some dangerous stuff was brought back from Esslingen.”

Jag helplessly shrugged: "It's not that I don't want to help, but you know, it's okay on the Buchhorn side, but the customs officers are very strict about checking goods from the north."

Buchhorn is an Austrian port city located on the northern shore of Lake Constance, northeast of Switzerland. Esslingen, on the other hand, is a city in Württemberg and would be affected by tariffs from the southern German market.

The man in gray nodded: "You don't need to worry, someone will take care of the anti-smuggling team's problem."

Jag postponed the announcement: "Don't try to fool me, this could land me in jail."

The customs service is directly under the command of the parliamentary committee of seven.

The man in gray said confidently, "To be honest, I have the help of a big shot in the council."

More than ten days later.

Jeg, personally piloting his "Red Violin" river cargo ship, nervously gazed at the river ahead, his palms sweating profusely. He hadn't expected that Mr. Marty had managed to procure over 400 flintlock muskets from Württemberg!
Those things are now piled up in his hold.

Several times along the way, he considered simply throwing them into the Rhine. If the customs officers found out, he wouldn't just go to jail; he'd be hanged.

But when he thought about what Martí might do, he convinced himself that if Martí managed to control the parliament, he might be able to avoid bankruptcy.

More than an hour later, Jaeger was able to see the lighthouse outside Basel Harbour through his binoculars, and then a customs ship appeared "as expected" on the south side.

The light galley, equipped with several six-pound cannons, had obviously spotted the "Red Violin" as well, and turned to come this way, causing Jaeger's heart to leap into his throat.

However, when the two ships were about 200 to 300 meters apart, the anti-smuggling team's ship suddenly slowed down and watched the "Red Violin" slowly pass by its port side.

Yes, while Freno and other members of parliament may not have the same influence as the "Committee of Seven," they have been in Basel for so many years, how could they not have their own connections?

Previously, Zurich's negotiations with the Swiss Confederation were nearing completion, and they were in despair when a mysterious person told them that they could seek help from Württemberg.

They then met with advisors to the Württemberg royal family. The latter offered to provide weapons and funds to help Basel "break free from Vienna's control."

As for Württemberg, it harbored a deep resentment over its past "stain" of allowing Russian and Austrian troops to pass through during the last Coalition War. Upon receiving a hint from Talleyrand, it immediately devoted itself wholeheartedly to intervening in Basel's affairs.

That evening, Freno's butler personally led a group of people to load hundreds of wooden crates onto trucks at the dock and transport them to villages south of Basel.

……

Mogilev, a city in northeastern Poland.

In the Polish front-line command post, General Mokronovsky pointed to the east bank of the Dnieper River on the map and excitedly shouted to Koschushko:

"Marshal, this is a golden opportunity for us to break through the Russian defenses!"

"I suggest that we transfer all the Lithuanian reserves from Vilnius to Mogilev. This time we will definitely be able to advance the front line directly to Smolensk!"

General Madalinsky, standing to the side, appeared very cautious:
"Marshal, we cannot trust those Russians so easily. This might just be a trap set by Kutuzov..."

Mokronovsky immediately interrupted him:
“You’re being too cautious. Right now, our army is on the offensive along the entire Dnieper River. Even if the Russians want to ambush us, we can easily shift our offensive focus to Moziri or Orsha after probing them.”

General Madalinsky said coldly:

"We have already lost too many soldiers in our previous fierce attack, and we cannot afford to take any more risks!"

His words were immediately agreed upon by several officers, but Mokronovsky also had many supporters.

Since late autumn last year, tens of thousands of Polish troops have been continuously attacking Kutuzov's Dnieper River defenses.

Although Russia was fighting on two fronts, in the Transcaucasus and the Dnieper River, Kutuzov could never mobilize more than 8 troops, more than half of whom were newly recruited soldiers, he managed to keep the Polish army at bay on the west bank of the Dnieper River by relying on his firm defensive tactics.

During this period, they even launched several effective raids against the Polish army through the fortress of Kiev on the west bank.

In less than three months of fighting, the Polish army suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

As winter approached, the Polish offensive paused for a while, followed by the muddy conditions brought by spring rains.

Koschusko did not resume his offensive until May.

(End of this chapter)