I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 752: Making Diplomatic Preparations

"Stupid! You didn't make any preparations before the battle, and just let the soldiers rush in recklessly?" Count Radetzky glared at Lieutenant Colonel Buseck, "And then you were defeated by a group of policemen?"

Buseck lowered his head and whispered in defense: "General, the military quality of those policemen is quite high, especially their shooting speed..."

"Shut up!" Count Radetzky shouted angrily, "You are bringing shame to the imperial soldiers!"

No wonder he lost his temper, it was because Busek underestimated his enemy.

If Boussec had organized most of his soldiers into a line array and left only two or three hundred scattered soldiers in the front for harassment, he might have been able to achieve a draw given that the Walloon police lacked the confidence to engage in battle with the regular army.

But he ordered all his soldiers to charge forward in a skirmish formation, and they were easily defeated under the dense firepower of the opposing infantry line.

Count Radetzky looked at his pocket watch and saw that the hour hand pointed to 4 p.m., so it was definitely impossible to reach Wavre today.

It would also take time to reorganize the defeated soldiers of the Busec Legion.

He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and said to the herald, "Gather the troops. The Croix Legion will be responsible for dealing with those policemen tomorrow morning.

"Also, report the situation here to His Royal Highness Prince Coburg."

"Yes, General!"

The next day.

Inspired by yesterday's victory, the Walloon police once again stubbornly repelled Croix's first attack - this time the latter did not underestimate the enemy, but deployed three regiments of troops to form a line formation to engage in a head-on confrontation with the police, while also sending out three cavalry squadrons to harass the flanks.

Fortunately, two six-pound cannons of the Walloon police also arrived at the battlefield last night, which surprised the Austrians again.

Yes, the Walloon police has an artillery police department!

However, they also suffered nearly 300 casualties in the previous battle.

When the Austrian army was preparing to launch a second attack, the Chief Superintendent of Police of the Wallonia Region ordered all police officers to withdraw to the city of Wavre in accordance with the "Command Science" they had learned before.

No matter how high their training level is, they are ultimately just police officers responsible for maintaining public order and lack qualified commanders.

What they faced was the Austrian regular army with tens of thousands of soldiers, coordinated by cavalry and artillery.

But their previous outstanding performance and the appearance of cannons made Count Radetzky wary.

He carefully spent a whole day ordering the Hussars to conduct repeated reconnaissance of Wavre, and only after confirming that there were only more than 3 police officers in the city did he decide to launch an attack.

Southwestern Wallonia.

The city of Mons.

The president of the Walloon Chamber of Commerce, Chevennemans, looked around at the members of the Chamber of Commerce, raised the newspaper in his hand, and said angrily: "I'm sure everyone has seen that the Flemish people, in collusion with the Austrian government, want to use the army to control the Walloon region!

“Our police bravely repelled them twice north of Wavre, but the Austrian troops were too numerous for the police to hold Wavre.”

All the committee members looked at the president with serious expressions.

Chevennement slammed the newspaper on the table:

"The recent riots in Wallonia were also planned by them. Fortunately, I received a warning from the French government and transferred the police to Wavre, otherwise even Mons might have been controlled by the Austrian army by now!"

Yes, a month and a half ago, the French intelligence agency noticed that Dutch-speaking people in Wallonia were plotting to "do something big."

Joseph immediately realized that this was most likely Austria preparing to take action against Wallonia.

However, he did not rashly interfere in the situation in Wallonia. Instead, he proposed at the General Staff meeting that the Wallonia Chamber of Commerce ignore the rioters and use all police forces to guard against Austrian troops.

After weighing the pros and cons, Chevennement accepted the advice of the French Intelligence Agency, which led to the scene where the Walloon police sniped the Austrian army.

Seeing the anger on the faces of the Chamber of Commerce members, Sheveneman continued loudly:

"We now have only one choice left, and that is to ask France for help and ask them to send troops to drive out the Austrians!"

The Chamber of Commerce members in the hall looked at each other and whispered. An old man stood up and said, "Mr. Chevenneman, this will undermine the status of Wallonia's 'demilitarized zone'."

Someone else echoed: "Yes, this could easily lead to the French military taking control of Wallonia."

“The independence of the Chamber of Commerce may also cease to exist.”

The Wallonia Chamber of Commerce has great authority here, just like an independent small government, and certainly does not want anyone to control them.

Chevenneman said in a deep voice: "From the moment the Austrian army entered the Wallonia region, the so-called 'demilitarized zone' no longer existed!"

He looked meaningfully at the members who raised objections:
“Those Dutch-speaking and German-speaking guys, their goal must be the coal mines and factories in Wallonia.

"Please don't forget that we all speak French."

The hall, which was noisy just now, suddenly became quiet.

The members of these chambers of commerce are major shareholders of coal mines, ironworks and the like in Wallonia.

As the largest shareholder in Wallonia, the French government will certainly protect their rights.

However, the Austrians who came here as troublemakers are likely to steal their assets!

Compared with the "independent administrative power" of the Wallonia region, their financial resources are the most important.

In other words, without money, executive power will soon be lost.

After more than ten seconds of silence, a member of the Chamber of Commerce raised his hand and said, "I agree to invite the French army to enter Wallonia."

Someone immediately followed suit and said, “I agree too.”

"Let the French come. When the Austrians ruled Wallonia, the situation was much worse than it is now."

"Yes, the Flemish will not let us have an easy time. Only the French army can change this situation."

There were already a quarter of French people in the Chamber of Commerce, and they responded one after another. For a time, the voices of opposition were completely suppressed.

Chevennement motioned for everyone to be quiet and waved his hand, saying, "Then, let's start the vote now. Those who agree to ask the French government for help, please raise your hands."

Of all 78 committee members in the hall, 75 raised their hands.

……

At noon that day, Joseph received a message through the Chap signal machine from the Walloon Chamber of Commerce requesting France to send troops to Wallonia.

Of course, the official documents were still on the way, but this did not affect his mobilization of troops at all.

Just 40 minutes later, the French Southern Netherlands Front stationed in Lille set out towards Wavre.

At the same time, the Royal 4th Infantry Division in Artois entered a forced march, heading north along the wooden track.

The total force reached 2.

……

Upper Hesse.

Marburg.

Count Ségur, assistant French Foreign Minister, was denouncing Austria in front of hundreds of nobles for tearing up the agreement, sending troops to the Wallonia demilitarized zone, and causing serious damage there.

Suddenly, his assistant tiptoed up behind him and whispered something to him.

Segur nodded, turned around, waved vigorously to the Hessian nobles, and said passionately:

"The Walloon Chamber of Commerce formally requested the French army to enter Wallonia three days ago to protect their demilitarized zone status!"

(End of this chapter)