The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 696 Prince Mo attacks France
Belgian-French border, Mons.

This is a very important border town. Most of the residents speak French. There is a dense water network and convenient transportation in the area. There is an important coal-producing area nearby, so the industrial base is very good.

When Li Xingtai crossed the snow-capped mountains and launched a surprise attack on the Khanate of Kokand, the frightened Prince Lu of the Dayu Dynasty of the Seres Empire and Prince Mo Zirong of Belgium of the Holy Roman Empire finally met their day of judgment.

The Girondists, who held real power in France but were unable to govern the country well and could not even carry out a deep revolution, revealed the bourgeois nature of greed, profit-seeking and short-sightedness.

They chose to start a war when all work had come to a standstill, the people were complaining about the chaotic situation, and their support for them began to decline.

The Girondists felt that there were two benefits. The first and most important one, of course, was that they could use war to divert attention.

The people's dissatisfaction with the chaotic situation and the radicals' complaints that they are not radical enough are shifted to conflicts between ethnic groups and between countries.

Secondly, you can use war as an excuse to monopolize power and crack down on dissidents, especially the latter one. We are at war now and if you still oppose us, then you must be an accomplice of the enemy and have been bribed by the enemy to cause sabotage.

Finally, the target of the war was chosen to be the Holy Roman Empire, Queen Antoinette's natal family.

This would not only allow them to seize Belgium from the Holy Roman Empire to export revolution and obtain resources, but also demonstrate to the revolutionary masses their determination to oppose the corrupt aristocracy.

You see, I have taken direct action to sever the ties between France and the Holy Roman Empire. This shows that the revolutionary determination is great and the will is firm.

Poor Mo San Ge, in the chaos, his Belgium was used as a punching bag.

The Girondists quickly found some Belgians in Paris who were expelled during the war when Mozart took control of Belgium, and established a Belgian government belonging to the people.

Then a large number of military officers were sent to serve as military advisers to the Belgian government.

However, since these exiled Belgians did not have much power at all, the soldiers of the newly established Belgian government were all French soldiers. They were not even required to change their uniforms and were almost completely out of the question.

However, neither the frightened Mo Zirong nor the complacent Girondists had expected this.

The French army, which launched these four attacks in an attempt to capture Belgium in one fell swoop, suffered an unprecedented defeat.

On April 1792, 4, the French government impatiently unilaterally declared war on the Holy Roman Empire.

On April 4, the French army attacked Mons, Marcham, Tournai and Quiévrain in Belgium in four directions.

At this time, although Mo Zirong participated in the Vienna Declaration of King Frederick William II of Prussia and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II on the condition of persuading the Hungarians to nominate Francis II again, he obtained semi-independent status.

The declaration also clearly stated that it would intervene in the riots (revolution) in France, and after the meeting, both Prussia and Austria quickly began to mobilize.

But no one expected that the French revolutionary government would be so violent. Without waiting for the three parties that issued the declaration to intervene, they actually took the initiative to attack.

The frightened Mo Zirong gave Wang Wubing full command to resist the French invasion, while constantly asking for help from Prussia and Austria.

As a result, the reinforcements did not arrive, and something shocking happened.

First, in Guillevrin, the 6,000 French troops stopped attacking after being bombarded by large-caliber artillery on the city wall for a long time. The soldiers refused to attack the city under the artillery fire and insisted on waiting for their own artillery to arrive before attacking.

This left Liu Guoqing, who was in charge of the defense, completely baffled, because there were only a few cannons on the top of the Guievlin city wall. Let alone 6,000 troops, even 600 troops might be able to climb to the top of the city wall against these old antique cannons that could not adjust the angle.

So much so that the commander had no intention of defending the city, but had already given up on Guiévrain in his heart, and was ready to lead 800 cavalrymen to conduct a few guerrilla attacks to delay the French attack for a while, thus completing the mission.

Liu Guoqing, who didn't understand the situation, waited for another two days and found out that it was not that the French army was being pretentious, but that they simply didn't want to fight.

So, taking advantage of this mentality, Liu Guoqing led 800 cavalrymen to launch a sudden attack on the morning of the fifth day of the French siege.

He did not choose how many French soldiers to kill, but instead used bombs and kerosene to maximize the impact.

Sure enough, just as he had judged, the French army had no intention of fighting at all. As a result, when chaos arose, the French soldiers immediately dropped their weapons and ran away. The siege of Quiévrain was lifted immediately.

Liu Guoqing resisted the urge to chase and kill the French soldiers, and instead led the cavalry to support Markan. Then the French troops here did the same, and they dispersed without much resistance.

After seeing that the other two routes were defeated, the French army in Tournai chose to approach the French camp in Mons.

This war that broke out on all sides in France inexplicably became the Battle of Mons.

On April 4, riots broke out among the French troops in Tournai as they retreated towards Mons.

During the break, some officers and soldiers wanted to escape, while others, infected by revolutionary enthusiasm, blamed the commander, Brigadier General Theobald de Dillon, for retreating to Mons after only a small-scale battle.

They accused Brigadier General de Dillon, who came from an aristocratic family, of being bribed by the Belgian Prince, Mo Zirong, and of deliberately not resisting and deliberately leading the army to Mons.

Brigadier General De Dillon felt very wronged, because it was not his fault that the army was completely unable to fight, and the retreat was decided by everyone at the meeting. How could it become his problem now?

However, before Brigadier General De Dillon could open his mouth to refute, the officers and soldiers started to make a commotion. They quickly dragged Brigadier General De Dillon out of the room, beat him to death without saying a word, and killed some officers around Brigadier General De Dillon.

Then, the officers who killed their general carried the body of Brigadier General de Dillon and marched through the small town where the temporary camp was located, loudly announcing to other soldiers that the nobles who colluded with the Austrians had been executed and that the revolutionary army must fight back.

The result was contrary to expectations. A large number of officers and soldiers who were unwilling to fight ran even faster when they saw this.

The officers who killed Brigadier General De Dillon were dumbfounded. They were also afraid that this act of rebellion would be punished, so they simply ran away.

The result was that of the 8,500 French troops in Tournai, only 2,300 arrived at the main force of the French army in Mons with almost no combat experience.

In just five days, 70,000 French troops attacked from four directions, and only about 45,000 people were left in Mons.

Of the more than 20,000 missing people, only 200 to 300 were killed in battle, and the rest were either killed by their own people or escaped.

On May 5, a confused Mo Zirong arrived in Mons. His 2 Belgian troops, mainly composed of the three guards of King Lu, Hungarian cavalry and Croatian infantry, actually launched a counter-encirclement of the French army.

Well, counter-encirclement might be a bit of an exaggeration, but at least it was a confrontation.

I challenged France alone, and that was it?
Mo Zirong couldn't believe it at all.

Seeing the French army's poor performance, the Prussian and Austrian armies immediately attacked.

The Prussian-Austrian coalition army of 35,000 men was commanded by Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Prussian Field Marshal, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and brother-in-law of King George III of England.

The battle started immediately, and it was another one-sided crushing battle.

The 45,000 French troops were attacked from both sides by the 35,000 Prussian and Austrian troops and the 25,000 Belgian troops, a total of 60,000 troops, but they collapsed after only two hours.

Fortunately, the Prussian-Austrian coalition was complete garbage. Austria had only a symbolic 500 people, and the main force was 2,000 Prussian veterans.

The rest consisted of a large number of Prussian and Austrian-controlled Holy Roman Empire troops, Hessian mercenaries, and the territorial militia brought by the Duke of Brunswick. Seeing the French army collapse and flee, these scumbags immediately rushed into the French camp and began looting various supplies, even fighting over a piece of clothing. Few pursued them.

Even if they were pursued, the pursuit would stop as long as the French were willing to throw away their beautiful clothes and coins.

"Fuck your mother!" Mo Zirong cursed when he saw this. Is this still Europe? What the hell is going on?
The guys pursuing them acted like bandits, and the fleeing government troops simply ran away when they saw the enemy. Are they still the European powers?
If it were in China, among these tens of thousands of people, thousands would probably be executed by military law, and all the officers would have been beheaded.

"My king, let's stop chasing and withdraw our troops back to the city!" Wang Wubing came over in time to dissuade Mo Zirong who seemed to want to order a pursuit.

"Don't chase after desperate enemies, lest they turn around and attack us, right?" Mo Zirong always listened to advice. He gave up the idea of chasing and asked Wang Wubing.

"No, the French army has collapsed. It is unlikely that they will cause us much casualties."

But Wang Wubing shook his head, indicating that this was not the case, and without waiting for Mo Zirong to continue asking, he gave the answer directly.

"Your Majesty, our strategy has always been to avoid becoming the first target. If we pursue them now, we'll only kill two to three thousand people, but the hatred we create will be too great. We might be targeted by the French in the future.

Besides, there's something wrong with these French troops; they don't seem to want to serve the revolutionary government, so why should we kill them? They might even become our allies in the future."

"Okay, then let's withdraw our troops." As he said that, Mo Zirong looked at the so-called Prussian-Austrian coalition forces who were still fighting for the spoils with disdain and spat fiercely.

"Poor country bumpkins, a mob!"

. . . .

Why did the French army become like this?

After retreating back to Mons, Wang Wubing began to summarize to Mo Zirong, "Your Majesty, judging from the situation on the battlefield and the information we have received, the French mob government has completely destroyed the country from top to bottom.

This chaos has penetrated deep into the army. According to information gathered by the Jinyiwei's Western Special Department, now in France, only the troops that express their willingness to accept the command of the Girondists can receive military pay. It is common for the rest to not receive pay for three or four months.

At the same time, in France, unscrupulous merchants were hoarding goods, buying low and selling high, cheating and deceiving people, and there were frequent thieves in the countryside. Agricultural production had declined by nearly 30% compared to before the chaos. Famine was occurring everywhere, or at least there was widespread hunger.

These soldiers, firstly, don't get their pay, and secondly, they can only get two full meals in the barracks, but their families are starving. How can they have much fighting spirit? "

Mo Zirong opened his mouth in surprise. He really didn't know that even the French army had reached this point. Prince Mo smacked his lips.

"No wonder, it's a miracle that such an army can be deployed!"

"Besides this, there is another important issue." Viscount Moritz Kruger, the Right Sima of the Prince of Lu, continued:

“That is, in the French army, officers of aristocratic origin account for a large proportion. Now the mob government is liquidating the aristocracy, causing a large number of officers to leave the army or even be arrested.

For example, in the 12th Division of Tournai, senior officers were basically cleared out, a large number of middle-level colonels were also missing, and the highest commander of 8,500 people was actually a brigadier general.

It is said that when Brigadier General De Dillon convened a military meeting, a bunch of lieutenants sat below him, and his orders were directly issued to the captains. If such an army could fight, it would probably take God's help.

"It's easy to destroy, but difficult to build!" Mo Zirong sighed. As a monarch, he naturally disliked the French Revolutionary Government and the French Revolution.

"These mobs think they can save the country by eradicating all the nobles, and that they can make a living from freedom, equality, and fraternity. Little do they know that the most precious thing in this world is stability."

After hearing Mo Zirong's words, the ministers below naturally agreed. Isn't stability good? Of course it is, but it is better for the nobles, because in this way they can be the superior people for generations, forever and ever.

Cao Zhenyong, the Chinese ambassador to the West and currently the prime minister of Lu, smiled and praised Mo Zirong and his son.

"Besides this, the contributions of the king and his son are also there. When the crown prince left, he advocated for reducing taxes and levies and showing broad favors.

The extremely evil Archbishop Huenbrusk of Liege was sent to Vienna, and his house was confiscated to support the elderly and weak.

Therefore, the nobles in Lu’s territory dared not oppress the people too much, and the people were able to live in peace and contentment. As a result, they were loyal to the king and rarely rebelled.

In fact, it’s not really flattery. The gap in governance capabilities between the East and the West is really quite large.

Mo Zirong, under tremendous pressure, punished the nobles and treated the common people kindly, and soon resolved a considerable part of the class contradictions in Belgium.

Therefore, Belgium at this time is much more stable than in history. Even if there are problems, people basically hope that Mo Zirong will solve them instead of causing riots.

No matter what, even if the emperor is a good person and is just deceived by his subordinates, it is a placebo. At least it is better than the despair of knowing that the emperor is a bastard and causing civil unrest.

Even the Marquis de Lafayette, who was almost unable to stay in the revolutionary government, said this with envy.

"If Prince M had been the King of France, this country would have been saved by God and would not have ended up like this."

"Then should we take advantage of the chaos in the French army to continue the attack, or even enter Paris?" After hearing Cao Zhenyong's compliment, Mo Zirong looked at his ministers happily and asked.

But soon, he reacted immediately and waved his hands repeatedly, "No, we can't continue. Don't provoke the French."

Mo San Ge said seriously, "France's soldiers are just unwilling to fight, and the command system has been completely destroyed. It's not that the mob government has lost support, nor is the country doomed.

After so many years of the influence of the Enlightenment, freedom, equality and fraternity have already penetrated into the hearts of the people. If we force them further, it may lead to them becoming more united.

If the Girondist government had promoted junior officers with revolutionary enthusiasm to high positions and recruited fresh Frenchmen who had received land in the land distribution into the army, the fighting capacity would have been quickly restored.

This is the advantage of having a long history, you can find a reference for everything.

When Europeans still didn't understand what kind of new class the French Revolution had created, Chinese people like Mo Zirong were very keenly aware of it.

The revolutionary government of France created a new class of good family members from the Han and Tang dynasties.

These French middle peasants, who had divided up the land of senior clergy and nobles and were deeply influenced by the Enlightenment, had far higher revolutionary enthusiasm than the city dwellers and were eager to protect their hard-earned land and relative political equality.

Now the French revolutionary government has not discovered this class, but if the external stimulation is too great, causing them to try all kinds of desperate measures and pull out these good French people, then with France's size and industrial capacity, it will be a force that can sweep across the world.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Cao Zhenyong was sincere this time and was not flattering at all.

“Therefore, the most important thing at the moment is to use the prestige of victory to tell the people of France that mob government is unpopular and only the king can restore order.

As long as they are still willing to support the king, then all past events will be forgiven, and the king will only punish some extremely evil rebels."

"Yes, we can also prepare a batch of food to help the people in French cities solve their food and clothing problems first. We can even purchase it directly from France. As long as the food prices stabilize, everything will be easy."

The King of Lu and his ministers, with their minds opened, had a heated discussion, and it seemed that there was a glimmer of hope for the chaos in France.

(End of this chapter)