I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 871 Britain and Austria's Desperate Gamble

On the highest tower of the Mantua Fortress, Beaulieu and Wurmser watched together as four riders rushed out of the fortress, and quickly disappeared from sight under the intensive fire of the French army.

The two Austrian commanders silently made the sign of the cross on their chests, praying that the cavalry could break through the siege and deliver their jointly signed letter for help to Vienna.

Outside the fortress, French chasseurs armed with rifles quickly shot and killed three riders, and then the chasseur captain quickly suppressed the guns in the hands of the soldiers who were still unsatisfied:

"Let him go! Hey, no one is allowed to shoot!"

This was Napoleon's order.

Letting the messenger go was to urge Austria to send troops to reinforce Mantua as soon as possible, while killing the three people was to increase the sense of urgency on the Vienna side.

……

Vienna.

Schönbrunn Palace.

In the Great Gallery, Mainz diplomat Meyer knelt on the scarlet carpet, wiped his tears with his sleeves, and choked up to Franz II:

"The people of Mainz are waiting for the great emperor to save them... Every day people are fleeing from the west bank of the Rhine, and the people of Mainz are pouring into Frankfurt.

"There are seven or eight thousand French troops on the other side of the river, staring at Frankfurt like hyenas. Please give us an eagle flag so that we have the courage to face their cannons..."

Maximilian, the Crown Prince of Bavaria, interrupted him loudly: "Your Majesty, the French obviously don't care about North Germany.

"At present, more than 3 French troops are heading south and may cross the Rhine River to attack Memmingen at any time. We are the real target of the French.

"You know that our country has lost a great number of troops in Luxembourg and is totally unable to resist the French."

He glanced at Franz II and said with a hint of threat in his tone: "If you don't send reinforcements, the Elector will have no choice but to compromise with the French. Once the French army crosses Bavaria, they will face Linz directly."

Linz is a province in western Austria, only 150 kilometers from Vienna.

The Cologne Foreign Minister also knelt down and was about to speak, but he saw Franz II stand up with a grim face, turn around and walk around the chair, leaving a sentence "Baron Thugut will give you an answer", and then quickly walked out of the hall.

Meyer knelt down and turned around, raised his hand and said to his back: "Your Majesty, we have received your solemn promise that you will make up for the losses caused by this war to the various states..."

Franz II squeezed the letter in his pocket vigorously. It was sent by Wurmser at the risk of his life.

At present, there are only 5 soldiers left in the Mantua fortress, and there are 5 French troops surrounding it outside. The fortress will fall at any moment.

And those damn Bavarians and Mainz people are still asking him to send troops to reinforce.

He didn't even know where to get the troops to reinforce Mantua!
An idea suddenly occurred to Franz II: Why not just negotiate peace with France?

At this moment, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Rheinfels, came towards him. When he saw him, he touched his chest and saluted: "Your Majesty, Lord Grenville requests an audience."

"He's finally here. Damn the British," Francis II muttered through gritted teeth, "It was he who said that he could easily defeat France...

"Let him go to the Grand Gallery... No, let him go directly to my reception room."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Ten minutes later, Lord Grenville appeared before Francis II and bowed to him.

Before the British Foreign Minister could speak, the Holy Roman Emperor said angrily: "Great Britain can't even restrain its allies. Ha, first the Netherlands surrendered, and then even Prussia was frightened by the French! "Please tell me how this war will continue!"

"Confidence and perseverance." Grenville said calmly, "Please believe me, the difficulties faced by France are no less than ours.

"We have cut off all French maritime trade, which will be devastating to their finances.

"As long as we keep fighting, maybe next month, or the month after, the French will back off!"

Francis II waved his hand: "Your fleet suffered losses in the Mediterranean..."

"Yes, the French used a despicable trick to plot against Lord Hood." The British man said immediately, "But our country has formulated a huge shipbuilding plan. In half a year, the Mediterranean Fleet will have 60 steam battleships.

"You know, the French relied on these ships for their surprise attacks.

"France will then lose all Mediterranean trade and control over North Africa. This will completely destroy France's finances!

"And you, the great emperor, only need to lead the empire to hold on until that moment, and the balance of victory will tip back to our side."

"Half a year?" Franz II shook his head. "That's too long. What I need now is a way to deal with the situation in northern Italy!"

"120 million pounds." Lord Grenville immediately mentioned the aid plan that the British Parliament had just passed. "Our country will provide you with an interest-free loan of 120 million pounds. I brought people from the Bank of England with me, and it will be disbursed within a week."

120 million pounds is 3 million francs, which shows that Britain is determined to go all out this time.

The Englishman glanced at the Emperor of Shinra’s expression and added, “Your Majesty, I can reveal another secret to you.

“In fact, half a month ago, when the French army invaded Mannheim, Mr. Wilberforce discovered a huge loophole in French finance.

"He is well prepared and will soon be able to launch an attack on this point. If all goes well, perhaps France's finances will collapse in less than half a year."

In this world, gold coins can indeed solve most problems.

The £120 million apparently gave Francis II new courage.

He exchanged a glance with Count Rheinfels, who immediately said to the British Foreign Secretary:
"Your Majesty will consider your proposal seriously. I will give you a personal reply by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

Two hours later, Austrian officials gathered at Schönbrunn Palace to discuss the expansion of conscription under the chairmanship of Francis II.

By the evening the new conscription decree had been signed.

The decree provides:

First, landlords in all German provinces in the country must send one male serf to join the army for every 15 male serfs they own (the age limit is between 1 and 16 years old).

Second, the Hungarian Noble Council must send 1 soldiers within one month, and the Galician Noble Council must send 8 soldiers within one month, all to assemble in Göz.

Third, in the name of the Holy Roman Emperor, all noble men between the ages of 16 and 45 in the country were called upon to join the sacred war.

In addition, Baron Thugut also suggested sending 10,000 troops from the Liegnitz garrison in Silesia to Mantua.

The plan was to recruit a total of 8 troops, commanded by Marshal Alvinzi, to regain control of northern Italy.

(End of this chapter)