I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 977 Second Military Reform
The "lone march" incident of the Udine garrison did not actually cause much waves in France.

Mainly because the incident involved collusion between the intelligence department and military officers, which had a very bad impact, Joseph asked the General Staff to publicize that General Bonaparte had instructed Desaix to steal and sell military supplies from the Mantua Fortress to the Austrians. The Austrians also severely punished a large number of officers for this incident.

It just so happened that Leo had recently exiled a large number of officers involved in the incident to the barren mountains of Transylvania, and the news from both sides suddenly coincided.

As for the CIA, it was another case: hundreds of agents from the CIA's Central European Operations Department collectively embezzled a total amount of 15 francs.

This amount is also exactly verifiable, and Mara even intervened with the Fair Investigation Office. It was true that 15 was missing from the account, and the purpose of the money was unclear.

Mara even came to Joseph to apologize for this matter, and lamented his dereliction of duty for not discovering any clues of such a huge corruption case.

After the "walking alone" incidents were handled separately, they became two slightly larger ordinary news stories.

However, what Joseph did not expect was that even though the results of the military court's trial had not yet come out, someone had already come to him to plead for Napoleon and others.

In the reception room of the crown prince, Dimobin bowed his head and said in a sad tone:
"Your Highness, General Bonaparte's behavior of disobeying military orders and arbitrarily mobilizing troops is indeed very serious and must be severely punished."

As a senior military official, he knew some of the real situation. After denouncing Napoleon, he changed the subject without leaving a trace:
"However, he was still very young, and like every young man, he was eager to make achievements, and he also wanted to teach the damn Austrians a lesson... In the end, the incident was stopped and did not cause much damage."

The 70-year-old general glanced at Joseph quietly and said, "Your Highness, in fact, there are many officers who are just like him and hope to capture Vienna in one fell swoop. And everyone is convinced that our army has the ability to defeat the entire Germany at the same time.

"Your Highness, I have no intention of questioning your decision, but I think it is a waste to throw Mr. Bonaparte into prison. Perhaps he can be punished to atone for his crimes on the battlefield. For example, in Portugal..."

He had witnessed Napoleon's genius in command on the Italian battlefield and he really valued his talent. If someone else had done something like this, he would definitely have ignored it.

Joseph paid no attention to Napoleon's affairs, but instead noticed another remark made by the old general, and asked:
"You just said that many officers wanted to continue the attack on Austria?"

"Indeed, Your Highness."

"Can you tell me who they are?"

"This is true for both the Italian Front and the Rhine Front..." Dimobin immediately added, "To some extent, I also agree that Austria should be weakened as much as possible, Your Highness."

Joseph couldn't help but frown.

I thought the officers were too rational.

To be honest, given that the French military is clearly much stronger, anyone would be overwhelmed.

If I had not known about Emperor Napoleon's ending in advance and had not been influenced by the later concept of "diplomatic balance", I might have really led my troops eastward and held a military parade in Vienna.

Therefore, there must be many people in the army who are currently doubting whether they should retain the Austrian strategy.

This matter must be taken seriously.

It is an advantage for an army to dare to fight and want to fight, but if it cannot be controlled, the harm will be even greater than having no ambition.

Just like Dongying during World War II, it was dragged down by the navy and the army, sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of war, and eventually dragged the country down with it.

Joseph breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that educating officers and soldiers in terms of ideology and concepts, and letting them know the strategic policies of the General Staff in a timely manner, must be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Well, isn’t this the political commissar system that played a huge role in the Soviet army in the future?

In fact, in history, during the Napoleonic era, "political commissars" were stationed in the army to promote republican ideas to the soldiers and supervise aristocratic officers. This was the most primitive political commissar. Of course, the Soviet political commissar model is not suitable for the current French army. For example, it strictly controls the thoughts of soldiers and often interferes with military command. These must be improved.

But the political commissars during World War II led by example, boosted morale, and interpreted the central government's strategy to the soldiers, playing a huge role in winning the war.

The political commissars of the Eastern Army did a good job in this regard. They were often not in the role of "supervisors", but rather friends and mentors of the soldiers.

How to ultimately create the "political commissar" that best suits France still requires detailed planning, but this system must be incorporated into the military.

It just so happens that we are going to promote the "second military reform" next, which will become the core content of the reform.

Joseph collected his thoughts and decided to solve the problem of the army being too excited first, otherwise there was a possibility that the army would "go it alone" again.

Oh, there is an old general who needs to be dealt with.

He said to Dimobin: "General Dimobin, do you know about falcons?"

"Yes, Your Highness." The latter nodded, "My friend, the Marquis de Montmorency, has several of them."

"Okay." Joseph held up two fingers, "Suppose you have two falcons.

"One of them is very agile and has sharp claws. It will definitely catch any rabbit that flashes past it. But it has a disadvantage. It will fly around randomly from time to time and even attract troublesome things like beehives or skunks.

"The other one is very ordinary, flying slowly, and it takes three strikes to catch a rabbit. But it is very obedient and will stand still on your arm until you give it an order.

“Well, you’re going to go hunting now, but you can only take one.

“What would you choose?”

Dimobin was silent for two seconds, then sighed softly: "I understand, Your Highness, everyone will choose the second one..."

Joseph nodded and said, “As to why we should cease fire with Austria, I will explain it at the military parade next week to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the founding of the Paris Police Academy.

"You go back first."

After Dimobin bowed and left, Joseph began to work on the plan for the "French version of the political commissar".

In fact, what he didn't tell the old general just now was that he would choose the first falcon and then "train the falcon" well.

Once its ambition, arrogance and disobedience are all overcome, you can take it back to the hunting ground.

Of course, if it doesn’t work after “surviving” it, you can only throw it in a cage and let it fend for itself.

……

1794 8 Month 23 Day.

The 40th birthday of French King Louis XVI is approaching.

Today, His Majesty the King’s birthday has become a “carnival and entertainment day” for all Parisians, especially after it was suspended for a year due to the war last year, people’s enthusiasm is even higher.

(End of this chapter)