I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 749 Unexpected
Lille, northwest France.

Outside the French Southern Netherlands Front headquarters.

Joseph picked up an August 1790 hunting rifle, aimed at the small wooden barrel more than a hundred steps away, and then held his breath and pulled the trigger.

With a loud "bang", the rotating bullet flew straight towards the target.

The next moment, wood chips flew everywhere, and a bullet hole the size of a palm appeared in the middle of the barrel.

Joseph looked at the wooden barrel in the distance with satisfaction, raised his musket, took the gunpowder bag from Emand, poured it into the muzzle, then stuffed in lead bullets and knocked it hard with a cleaning rod.

The loading process was very easy, and to outsiders it looked like he was holding a smoothbore rifle.

However, the Auguste Model 1790 is a genuine rifle.

Not only does it have a terrifying range, but it is also extremely accurate.

According to Berthier, elite veterans of the Jaeger Battalion can hit a man-sized target at 200 paces.

Generally speaking, this distance is for cannons to be used. For an ordinary flintlock rifle to shoot at a target 70 steps away, whether it can hit the target depends entirely on faith.

Although all countries now have chasseurs equipped with rifled muskets, the time taken to load the ammunition is more than half that of the August 1790 which adopts the "Touwennan model".

Therefore, most of the hunters were only organized at the company level - they were mainly looking for opportunities to snipe officers on the battlefield. Given their shooting speed, too many of them would affect their combat effectiveness.

However, the French chasseurs are organized at the battalion level, and as the production capacity of the arsenal continues to increase, they will soon be able to expand into a chasseur regiment.

The firing rate of the Gein August 1790 is extremely high, and the chasseurs can be used to shoot ordinary soldiers of the enemy. Naturally, the more the better.

If one day all French infantry were equipped with this kind of gun, they could defeat the enemy's infantry line from just over a hundred steps away!

Just as Joseph was putting the cap on the back of his rifle and preparing to fire again, an officer came up quickly, raised his hat and saluted him, saying, "Your Highness, yesterday morning, riots broke out in Wavre and other places at the same time, and the scale was very large."

As there were no Chape telegraphs in the Southern Netherlands, Wavre's message took more than a day to reach the French border, but then reached Lille in just a few minutes.

Joseph took the report, glanced at it, and nodded: "It is basically consistent with the analysis of the Intelligence Bureau."

He looked at the visitor again: "What's the trend of the Wallonia Chamber of Commerce?"

"Your Highness, President Chevenneman has already convinced the Wallonia Regional Committee to move the main force of the police to the south of Brussels five days ago, in accordance with our suggestion. The logistical supplies are stored in Tubize and will not be affected by the riots."

"Chevenement has done a great job." Joseph turned and signaled to the herald, "Let General Lefebvre set off.

"Oh, Count Ségur can also go to Württemberg."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Lefebvre was still waiting at Artois with the 4th Royal Infantry Division and two regiments of skirmishers.

This is also the reason why Prince Coburg received intelligence that there were only 1 French troops on the border of the Southern Netherlands.

However, Lefebvre's troops had made sufficient preparations and would use wooden tracks to transport all the soldiers' personal belongings. Not only would the soldiers march empty-handed, but they would also be able to take turns riding in horse-drawn carriages, so it would only take one day to get from the rear of Artois to Lille.

As for Prince Coburg's statement that "it would take the French army a week to reach Brussels", that simply did not happen.

At the marching speed of the corps directly under the General Staff, 100 kilometers can be completed in just 3 days!
Assistant Foreign Minister Count Ségur will conduct intensive diplomatic activities in the southern German states, denouncing Austria for violating the agreement and brazenly sending troops to invade the Wallonia demilitarized zone.

Historically, the lesson of Emperor Napoleon's failure to pay attention to diplomatic details and relying solely on violence and brute force was something Joseph would certainly be careful to avoid.

Often, standing on the moral high ground may seem useless, but this is often a silent influence, and when it works, it can even change the situation in Europe as a whole. …

North of Wavre.

In a dry river valley, hundreds of tents suddenly appeared.

Although no flags were seen around the tents, there were always three or four hundred men with flintlock rifles patrolling nearby.

Next to a tent, Bourget took off his hat, looked at the bright sun in the sky, and sighed to the round-faced young man leaning on the hay on his left: "It seems that I can't go back this week. Oh God, it's my turn to go to Paris for training in 5 days, why do I have to conduct 'field training' at this time?!"

For Walloon police officers like them, going to Paris for training every year is a dream come true. Although the training is hard, the bustling streets, fashionable beauties, and exquisite goods in Paris make them linger. What's more, there are additional training allowances.

The round-faced young man came over and said, "Oh! Don't even think about a 'vacation'. I heard from Superintendent Debrey this morning that Langdon was also occupied by rioters."

Bourget frowned. "Are these damn Flemish people crazy? Do they really think Wallonia belongs to them?"

A middle-aged policeman who was sharpening his bayonet not far away said, "Obviously someone is organizing them. I'm from Namur, and there are also people making trouble there, but it's not as serious as in the north."

Bourget said anxiously: "Then why don't we go and quell the riot? I believe that as long as the superintendent gives the order, we can get rid of those guys in just one day!"

The middle-aged man looked at the desolate river valley around him and shook his head, "Who knows? I heard that even the police stations in Mons and Langley have been emptied..."

He was right. At this time, most of the police in Wallonia were gathered here, more than 4 people. Only a small number of police remained in the area to deal with the rioters.

The round-faced policeman looked around and then lowered his voice and said, "Do you think the top brass of the police department are colluding with the Flemish people?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Bourget shouted.

"Then why is it 'field training' at this time, and why is the salary doubled? Don't you think it's weird?"

After hearing what he said, Bourget and others were a little unsure.

At this moment, the assembly call suddenly sounded in the camp.

The drummer immediately came out of the tent and began beating the drum around his squad's area, calling in the police officers.

Thanks to the training they had been doing over the past few days, the police officers reacted extremely quickly. In less than 20 minutes, a queue over a thousand meters long had formed in the open space in front of the river valley.

The public security prosecutor from the police station where Bourget worked came to the front of the team and said seriously: "Check the ammunition carefully. We are not training today, but conducting actual combat!"

Bourget was overjoyed: "Sir, are we going to deal with those rioters?"

"No, against the Austrians."

……

Count Radetzky rode on his horse, following the endless marching column.

He turned his head and asked the staff officer beside him: "How far is it to Wavre?"

"A little over a mile, General."

1 Auli is approximately 7 kilometers.

In other words, this Austrian army had already entered the Wallonia region and went very far.

(End of this chapter)