I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 736 Anti-French Alliance
Although Count Rheinfels had guessed it long ago, his heartbeat still quickened when he heard it confirmed by the British himself.

He whispered tentatively:

"You mean, your country wants to pay tribute to France..."

Lord Grenville nodded.

"How confident are you that you will win?"

“There is no possibility of losing.”

……

Vienna.

Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz II tightly grasped his cane, looked at the Foreign Minister, and asked:

“How likely are you to win?”

Count Rheinfels said very calmly: "Your Majesty, Britain and their allies will join the war."

Britain's allies included Prussia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Hanover, which was itself in a union with Britain - these countries together were definitely an extremely powerful force.

"The British fleet will immediately blockade all French ports. France's navy is only half the size of Britain's, which means that France will immediately lose all maritime trade."

Count Rheinfels described the British strategy: "With France's current debt situation, without the income from maritime trade, even without war, it will collapse in 10 months at most.

"At the same time, Britain and its allies will mobilize more than 20 troops to launch a fierce attack on France.

"The huge military expenditure will further accelerate France's financial collapse.

"So, no matter what the course of the war, France will surrender within 10 months."

"Very good!" Francis II could hardly hide his joy, "By then, the French will no longer be able to stop us from withdrawing from the Rhine-Seine Treaty and taking back the governance of the entire Southern Netherlands.

"The British have been a great help. Now we just have to wait for the war to end and all our problems will be solved."

Count Rheinfels and Baron Turgut and others looked at each other for a moment, then coughed and said, "Your Majesty, in fact, joining the war is the best option for our country."

"Join the war? Why?"

This time it was Baron Turgut who spoke first: "Your Majesty, if our country chooses to stand aside and Prussia participates in the war to defeat France, then our country's appeal in the German region will hardly be comparable to that of Prussia."

Francis II was stunned for a moment - unifying Germany was Austria's highest strategy, and the German states could not be allowed to turn to Prussia.

"That's right," Count Rheinfels added, "If our country joins the war, it will further accelerate the process of France's defeat, and at the same time we can obtain a lot of war dividends."

Seeing that His Majesty the Emperor was hesitant, Interior Minister Kobzl stepped forward and said in an excited tone:

"Your Majesty, if our army has the opportunity to control part of French territory, it will completely change the balance of power in Europe."

Franz II felt the blood rushing to his head instantly.

Yes, the Habsburgs were one of the two powers that competed with France for hegemony on the European continent. But after the War of the Austrian Succession, the national strength was greatly damaged, and they no longer had the power to challenge France, so they began to compete with Prussia for the hegemony of Germany.

If they can really defeat France and capture Paris, then the Habsburgs will once again become the overlord of Europe!

What German region?

The Habsburg family will only have the entire European continent in their eyes! He stood up immediately, but suddenly thought of a question and said hesitantly:
"However, given the empire's financial situation, it may be difficult to support a large-scale military deployment."

Count Rheinfels immediately said: "Your Majesty, the British promised that if our country joins the war against France, they will provide us with a low-interest loan of 40 pounds."

Francis II immediately calmed down, looked around at the ministers in front of him, waved his cane and said:

"Then, let us welcome the opportunity for the empire to regain its glory!"

……

The day after Austria responded to Britain's request to join the war, the British ambassador to France formally sent a note to France, asking France to open up sugar supply, significantly reduce sugar prices, and give up "trade plunder" of the southern German market. If France refuses the above conditions, it will suffer disastrous consequences.

Prussia, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries subsequently expressed their support for the British position.

Paris.

Palace of Versailles.

At the cabinet meeting, all the ministers looked solemn.

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Although everyone had been mentally prepared for war with Britain, they did not expect it to come so soon, and that the other side would be able to attract so many allies.

After reading the British demands, Talleyrand looked at the Dauphin and said, "Your Highness, I think we should negotiate with Austria immediately.

"If we make concessions on trade terms and offer some benefits, it is possible that they will change their hostile attitude toward our country."

Queen Mary immediately nodded slightly - the betrayal of her mother's family was the most difficult for her to accept.

Joseph did not comment, motioned Talleyrand to sit down, and turned to the Minister of War, the Duke of Broglie, and said:

"If a war breaks out, how many enemy attacks will we face? At the same time, how many troops can we mobilize to fight back?"

In fact, he and the General Staff had already made repeated plans for the upcoming war, but at this time he still needed the ministers to have a comprehensive understanding of the war situation.

Duke Broy said hurriedly, "Yes, Your Highness. In the worst case scenario, if Britain, Prussia, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, and China send troops at the same time, our country will face more than 30 enemy troops, or even 40."

He was not exaggerating. Prussia and Austria alone could mobilize at least 25 troops. Hanover and the Netherlands alone could mobilize 30 troops. Britain and Portugal might not mobilize their land forces if the war went well, but if they went all out, they could send another 5 to 8 soldiers.

This has not yet reached the maximum mobilization capacity of various countries.

The Minister of War continued, "And our army currently has a total of 16 soldiers. Among them, there are 7 troops directly under the General Staff, the rest are traditional troops, and a small number of Tunisian troops."

What he meant by "the Corps directly under the General Staff" was the new type of army organized by Joseph. It was no longer simply called the "Guards Corps" but had been reorganized.

Currently, there are 4 Royal Infantry Divisions, 7 Royal Skirmishers, 2 Royal Grenadiers, 2 Royal Cherries, 11 Royal Cavalry, 6 Royal Dragoons, 3 Engineers, as well as 2 Horse Artillery and 2 Foot Artillery Battalions.

At the same time, the old-style army still had nearly 9 people.

However, the French military nobles were not fools. Seeing that the combat effectiveness of the crown prince's new army was so exaggerated, they all followed suit.

Although I only learned the basics, I have made great progress in training and combat thinking.

Some of the more outstanding legions have combat capabilities that can even rival those of the new army.

If these old armies were placed in other countries, they would undoubtedly be elite forces.

(End of this chapter)