I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 384 Awkward Situation

Southern Netherlands.

The Hanover Expeditionary Force was stationed in the southern suburbs of Brussels.

"Finally, here it is!" Karl II tapped a small town southeast of Brussels on the military map with great confidence and said loudly, "We will encircle the French and eventually annihilate them completely. After that, we will march south to support General Blücher..."

The officers in front of him looked at each other awkwardly. Finally, an older general spoke carefully, "Marshal, your deployment is perfect. However... the current state of the soldiers is probably not suitable for launching a full-scale counterattack."

The other officers immediately nodded.

Just half a month ago, Charles II assembled 3 troops and a large amount of logistical supplies and launched a thundering attack on the French positions.

However, as soon as the Hanoverian army left their station, the French appeared near Antolf like ghosts.

Although the Southern Netherlands National Guard defending Antolf had nearly 4 men, they only lasted less than half a day before being completely defeated. It was not because the French army was strong, but because the Southern Netherlands troops there were newly conscripted soldiers who had been trained for less than two months. They would be defeated at the first blow when they encountered the regular army.

Charles II was shocked and hurriedly stopped the offensive on the southern front and mobilized troops to return to support Antolf. If this place was lost, the French army could enter Brussels from the north without hindrance.

When the main force of Hanover moved north, the Dutch and Southern Netherlands armies south of Brussels were immediately attacked by the French and lost two extremely critical villages.

After that, Charles II spent more than ten days, enduring the bombardment of French artillery and paying the price of more than a thousand casualties, before he finally recaptured the two villages and stabilized the defense line.

After all this, the Hanoverian army's morale was low, and without two or three months of rest, they were unable to organize a decent attack.

But their marshal wanted to launch an "all-out counterattack" at this time.

Karl II did not blame the officer who raised the objection. Instead, he looked around at everyone with a smile and said proudly: "If nothing unexpected happens, the French will transfer a large number of troops back to the country in half a month at most.

"We must prepare in advance for such an opportunity."

He ignored the officers' surprised looks and pointed to the map again: "Now I will arrange the operation to support the Prussian army."

As soon as he said this, he heard the servant's voice coming from the door: "Marshal, Speaker Vandernot is here."

The smile on Karl II's face suddenly became wider, and he waved his hand and said, "Please invite Mr. Speaker in. My generals are in need of his good news."

Yes, Van der Nott had informed him of the riots in France caused by the "Committee of Free Allies", and that was why he began to prepare for a counterattack against the French army.

He also learned from his own intelligence channels that the people of the Southern Netherlands were doing a good job and that the French royal family had been overwhelmed by the riots in the northwestern provinces.

Van der Nott came at this time probably to tell him the good news that the French decided to transfer the front-line troops back to the country.

As the door of the operations conference room was pushed open, Van der Nott hurried in. Just as he was about to say something, he saw a room full of senior Hanoverian officers.

He paused for a moment, saluted Karl II with his hands on his chest, and said hesitantly, "Marshal, I, um, have something I want to discuss with you alone."

"Oh, there is nothing that I can't tell my loyal subordinates." Charles II smiled and waved his hands to the officers, "and I have already told them the situation." "Ah? You know the situation?!" Van der Nott was surprised.

Seeing that he looked strange, Karl II hesitated and asked, "What do you mean by 'situation'?"

Van der Nott was extremely anxious. He stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "A large number of our people were arrested in France. The French held a public trial for them. The rioting peasants went to watch the trial...

"In short, our plan failed."

"What? Failed?!" Charles II grabbed his arms and shouted, "Didn't you say that the operation was foolproof and the French would retreat within half a month?"

He was very clear about the situation of his troops. If the French army did not return to the country, his counterattack would be suicidal.

Vandernot nodded awkwardly: "We have made sufficient preparations. Who knows why it turned out like this..."

In fact, it is not his fault that his plan was not careful. It can only be said that he lacked understanding of France's new police system and still acted according to the capabilities of the old police.

Without the police reform, the peasants of Reims, armed with thousands of flintlock rifles, led by a large number of Southern Netherlands "revolutionaries", would have destroyed the town hall in the first riot. The riot would then spread rapidly and the entire province would have fallen into chaos. The situation in Lille and other places would have been roughly the same.

Coupled with the exchange of fire between the young nobles who were incited to "protect the interests of the nobility" and the rebellious peasants, the chaos might even sweep across half of France.

Van der Noor sent more than 200 revolutionary elites and invested a large amount of funds, so he must have had enough confidence to inflict serious damage on France.

However, his men encountered Joseph's new type of police.

More than 500 police officers in Reims fearlessly faced the rioters' stones and bullets, lined up and forced their way into the rioting crowd, separated the rioters into several groups, and dispersed them with explosion-proof forks.

In the first two riots in Reims, more than 70 police officers were killed or wounded, but the complete police training mechanism enabled the Reims Police Department to immediately recruit hundreds of police academy students to supplement the force, and maintained the highest level of alert for more than half a month.

This sense of responsibility for public security, loyalty to the government, and high morale are beyond the reach of the old-style police, and even some military forces.

It was the excellent performance of the police in the northwestern provinces that a huge storm was averted. It can be said that a similar situation, whether it occurred in Austria or Prussia, would cause ten or a hundred times more damage than in France.

Karl II was unwilling to give up and repeatedly confirmed with Van der Nott. After the latter told him more details, he finally waved his hand to the officers in the conference room with a grim face and said, "All of you, go out. Oh, and don't tell anyone about what you just heard."

"Yes, Marshal."

……

Paris.

The day after the public trial of the Southern Netherlands spies ended, Joseph received a report from the diplomatic department saying that the British Foreign Secretary requested that the talks originally scheduled for the day after tomorrow be postponed for five days.

Joseph looked at the documents in his hand and couldn't help but smile: "He needs to spend some time thinking about how to deal with the current embarrassing situation."

(End of this chapter)