The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 698 The Bourbon Dynasty, End

Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, commander of the joint armies of Holy Roman Emperor and King of Prussia, formally issued a declaration to the inhabitants of France.

The city of Paris and all its inhabitants, without distinction, must immediately submit to the King, who shall enjoy complete power and complete freedom.

If the Tuileries were forced or insulted, if the slightest violence or the slightest outrage was done to their Majesties, the King, the Queen, and the Royal Family, if guarantees were not immediately provided for the King’s safety, protection, and liberty.

Then all these people, the citizens of Paris, will receive an exemplary and never-to-be-forgotten revenge.

The coalition will completely overthrow and execute the current rebellious government in Paris and its personnel, and will inflict the brutal punishment that the rebels responsible for the attack deserve.

Mo Zirong was silent for a long time as he held the freshly-made document called the Brunswick Declaration, which was issued in the name of the Allied Forces and signed by Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Prince Mo then said to his wife, Archduchess Maria Elizabeth: "This is simply giving the mob instructions, almost telling them to attack the Tuileries Palace.

Poor Louis and Marie, they were still waiting for the Allied forces to rescue them, but they didn't know they had already been sold out!"

"Maria, take the children and leave. Return to Vienna. I don't think Belgium can be defended. If Vienna is also in danger, then go to Transylvania. It must be safe there."

"No, Karl, things are not out of control yet. The children and I will stay here with you." Archduchess Maria Elizabeth rejected her husband's proposal. She shook her head and sighed.

“How wonderful it would be if there were fewer fools and ambitious people in this world. The foolish Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Brunswick pushed things out of control. They harmed King Louis and little Marie, and also us.

We paid everything for the Kingdom of Belgium, and we are about to lose it.”

Mo Zirong felt very uncomfortable. He thought he had chosen a prosperous foundation for himself to live out his retirement in peace, but before he could even sit down, he encountered this once-in-a-millennium event.

However, Mo Zirong shook his head and said firmly: "We will not lose Belgium, because my brother, His Majesty the Great Emperor Guangzhong will not allow us to lose Belgium.

Aze should have met his grandfather by now, and soon, a lot of help will arrive."

Of course, Brother Mo San could not have imagined that after the French Revolution, which was rare in a thousand years, an anomaly like Napoleon would quickly rise.

Just as Mo Zirong began to prepare for retreat and strengthen the training of the Belgian army to cope with the upcoming storm.

As he had predicted, the Brunswick Declaration caused great outrage in Paris and throughout France.

Some people in the Girondist government, which had already lost its direction, took the opportunity to fan the flames, making the situation even more out of control.

In August 1792, National Guards from various provinces gathered in Paris, ostensibly to commemorate the fall of the Bastille, but in reality they were there to express their dissatisfaction with the current situation.

This was also the result of the more radical Jacobins within the National Assembly forcing the Girondists in power to become more tough.

Radicals hung banners outside the National Assembly that read:

'Will you allow foreigners to spread like a torrent of destruction across your homeland?
They are ravaging our harvest! They are destroying our homeland with fire and slaughter! In short, they are conquering you with chains stained with the blood of your dearest ones!

This undoubtedly made the French more directly aware of the danger they faced.

The accumulated anger finally reached its peak on August 8.

The revolutionary masses of the Paris Commune and the National Guard Alliance from Marseille and Brittany formed a new National Guard and marched towards the Tuileries Palace where Louis XVI and his family lived.

Didn’t the Brunswick Declaration say that if anyone dared to cause the Tuileries Palace any damage, Paris would suffer an unforgettable punishment? Thousands of National Guards sang war songs.

In that case, let’s take down the Tuileries Palace!

At this time, there were still some people around Louis XVI. Many nobles who did not have time to escape formed the Royalist Party. They guarded the Tuileries Palace day and night to protect their flag - King Louis XVI and his entire family.

This was the last hope of the nobles who did not leave, because once the banner of Louis XVI fell, they would definitely be the next to suffer the misfortune.

Therefore, at this time, there were still more than 900 Swiss Guards, more than 900 National Gendarmerie, 2,000 National Guards, and royalist members with more than 200 Knights of St. Louis as the core force in the Tuileries Palace, with a total of more than 5,000 people.

Although they were short of ammunition, they were still able to ensure the king's safety.

But Louis XVI made another huge mistake. The king, who was already frightened by the revolutionary wave outside, listened to the persuasion of people with ulterior motives and believed that only the National Assembly could protect him.

So before the National Guard started the attack, Louis XVI and his family hurriedly left the Tuileries Palace under the cover of a few guards.

After learning that the king had left, the Knights of St. Louis and most of the royalist members dispersed on their own, their mentality exploded. They would work hard to protect their lives in the days to come.

The second to leave were the National Guards, who were legally bound to protect the king, and more than fifteen hundred of them went straight to the National Assembly.

The third group to leave were the national gendarmes, who were originally rebels and therefore had no intention of protecting the king. In fact, a large number of them turned around and joined the attackers and showed them the way.

At this point, there were only a few hundred National Guards and more than 900 Swiss Guards left in the Tuileries Palace.

And when the attackers attacked the palace, the remaining National Guards stationed there happily received them and had no intention of defending the palace at all.

Finally, the only ones left were the French Swiss Guards, who blocked the stairs in their red uniforms and refused to budge.

The attackers called upon them to surrender, to which the Swiss replied that they would not lay down their arms unless legally disarmed by order of the king.

Then the battle began. Although the Swiss Guards were brave, they were extremely short of ammunition, and soon the muskets in their hands became wooden sticks.

Although Louis XVI sent an order to disband the Swiss Guard, he was unable to control the situation.

In the end, the 930-man Swiss Guards collapsed, more than 600 were killed, and all the nobles and male attendants and guards in the Tuileries Palace were slaughtered. Only the palace maids and servants escaped.

With the fall of the Tuileries Palace and the destruction of the Swiss Guard, Louis XVI completely lost any military support and his fate was no longer in his control.

At the same time, the revolution began to transform into a real mob politics, which also caused panic among the members of the National Assembly, so that there were a large number of vacancies in the National Assembly and they had to be filled.

The Girondists only realized at this time that things seemed to have gone too far and everything was developing in the direction that the Jacobins expected. They tried to cool down the situation, but the anger of the riot was still rising and the situation was completely out of control.

On September 9, the September Massacres, which symbolized the complete transformation of the revolution into riots, finally arrived. The masses, who had turned from revolutionaries into mobs, rushed into almost all prisons and killed all the prisoners inside.

They included political prisoners imprisoned during the Great Revolution, such as aristocrats, senior clergy, reactionary military officers, etc.

The most famous victim was Queen Antoinette's close friend, Princess Marie Louise of Savoy.

This French Princess and Princess of Savoy, who returned to France from abroad to be with her best friend after hearing that Queen Antoinette was imprisoned, was tortured to death by the mob, and her head was chopped off and paraded through the streets on a pike.

Of course, among these prisoners, there were also a large number of petty thieves, but they were all killed indiscriminately.

However, the bloody turn of the revolution into riots did not dampen the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses, but instead made them even more fanatical.

In early September, when the anti-French coalition forces began to advance into France from Belgium, the Girondist government recruited nearly 60,000 volunteers at one time at the Champ de Mars in Paris.

At the same time, after Rochambeau resigned, the Marquis de Lafayette, frightened by the riots, fled, and Luckner was too old to command the army.

Their three corps were reorganized into the Northern Corps and the Central Corps, and their combat effectiveness was restored after a large number of low-level officers were promoted.

On September 9, the anti-French coalition forces captured the Longwy Fortress, an important town on the northwest border of France.

In fact, it is not accurate to say that it was a capture, because there was not much fighting at all.

Afterwards, Duke Ferdinand commanded the coalition forces to continue advancing, approaching Verdun, the gateway to the northwest of Paris, while the French army retreated to defend near the Argonne Forest.

However, facing the Verdun fortress which was so close that it seemed that it could be taken with a single charge, Duke Ferdinand, the commander of the anti-French coalition forces, hesitated.

Because the entire command system of the coalition forces from top to bottom was so chaotic that even logistical support was difficult to provide.

At this time, the size of the coalition forces reached an astonishing 130,000 people.

Among them were about 10,000 experienced Prussian troops, all composed of Prussian veterans. The Austrian army numbered about 8,000, of whom 3,500 were elite soldiers from Vienna, and the rest were volunteers.

Including the Hessian mercenaries, there are about 40,000 vassal troops in the Holy Roman Empire system. They all obeyed the call of the Holy Roman Emperor. Their composition is very complex. Many of them are equipped with muskets and their combat effectiveness is very average.
In addition, there is a 40,000-strong French expatriate detachment, which is composed of a large number of French people abroad who were used by French aristocrats, royalists who fled to the country, and some overseas colonial soldiers and mercenaries.

Their composition is more complicated. Many people join the army just for the money, and some even join the army simply to rob.

The rest were Mo Zirong's three guards of King Lu, numbering 6,000 men, and Duke Ferdinand's own Brunswick militia, numbering 6,000 men.

In addition, there were more than 20,000 civilian laborers hired from various places, who were only responsible for the transportation of food, fodder and ammunition.

Anyway, I don’t know what others think, but Wang Wubing, the commander of the three guards of Prince Lu, felt a headache just by looking at the composition. This is not a coalition force, but a group of rabble!

The composition is so complicated that only if Han Xin were resurrected and Li Weigong were still alive could they unite them and form a fighting force.

At least if Wang Wubing were to choose, he would rather streamline the troops and only take 13,000 people than command an army of 130,000 that sounds powerful but is actually a mess.

Although Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, was not a fool but an excellent commander with many battle experiences, he was too old.
The Duke was already fifty-eight years old, and his physical and mental strength had declined, making him unable to undertake such heavy work.

Therefore, before the anti-French coalition captured the Longwy fortress, the so-called 130,000-strong army had already lost control.

The vanguard of 20,000 men had already occupied the Longwy fortress, and some of the rear men were still in Mons and had not yet set off.

The Belgian army led by Wang Wubing (the three guards of King Lu) did not listen to his command at all. Even their logistics were separate. They would only contact him when fighting.

The military discipline of the Shinra feudal states was extremely poor, and wherever they went, there would be robbery, rape, and even loss of life.

Some of the French immigrants who were originally planning to take advantage of the war to rob were of course not idle. They also participated in the robbery, but they did not go as far as the Shinra army.

As the advance progressed, this atmosphere began to affect the Prussian and Austrian armies. These two elite troops became jealous and began to participate in small-scale looting.

At this time, the French Overseas Chinese Detachment seemed to suddenly remember that it was foreigners who were robbing their citizens and compatriots. Of course, it was also possible that it was because foreigners robbed too much, causing their interests to be damaged.

The French detachment began to stop the looting of foreign troops, and fights broke out between the two sides, even to the brink of a gunfight.

Commanding such an army, Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, had long lost the ambition he had when he first made the declaration. He could only make adjustments like a tinker.

As a result, he was caught off guard and his own Brunswick militia revolted. What did it mean? Outsiders could rob, but his confidants had to suffer in poverty?

By the time Duke Ferdinand had basically sorted things out, the fleeting opportunity for war had already been missed.

During the few days that the anti-French coalition forces were delayed, volunteers from Paris and a large number of armed French civilians who spontaneously organized to defend their motherland arrived at the front line.

At this time, Charles du Moritz's Northern Corps and François Kellermann's Central Corps, totaling 50,000 people, had been deployed in place.

In fact, this war could no longer be fought. The anti-French coalition forces were in chaos, while the French army had completed basic reconstruction, and its combat effectiveness had recovered a lot thanks to revolutionary enthusiasm and the expulsion of invaders.

But Duke Ferdinand could not have such a disappointing retreat, so on September 9, the anti-French coalition continued to march towards Verdun.

However, due to internal strife, only two regiments with less than 3,000 people out of the 40,000 French detachment followed the main force. When they set out, a large-scale dysentery broke out due to poor military hygiene.

As a result, out of the 130,000-strong army, the anti-French coalition, which in ancient China could boast of having 300,000 troops, was left with only about 40,000 troops by the time it arrived at the Verdun fortress.

The French army was also a little weak. Seeing the Allied forces coming in full force, they chose to retreat again and gave Verdun to the Allied forces.

After taking down an important fortress without a fight, Duke Ferdinand finally regained his confidence.

But he turned around and believed the rumors spread by French commander Kellermann that the French army was retreating in a panic, and ordered a quick pursuit.

On September 9, the Allied forces made a forced march to bypass the French army in the front and blocked the French army, which was rumored to be retreating in a panic, near Valmy.

Duke Ferdinand then carefully designed a surprise attack plan, but unfortunately, the French commander Kellermann had already noticed this.

When the Allied forces of more than 10,000 men quickly approached the French vanguard, which consisted of more than 20,000 Paris volunteers, the French army, which had been prepared, immediately bombarded the Allied vanguard with heavy artillery fire.

The main force of the coalition vanguard was Duke Ferdinand's own Brunswick militia.

They were already dissatisfied because they were restricted and could not rob much, and when they were bombarded by French artillery, they retreated in a hurry.

Duke Ferdinand was helpless as the surprise attack failed. He could only push forward the battalion headquarters as quickly as possible. The Allied artillery concentrated its fire and began to bombard the center of the French army that had completed its formation.

The French army was also a little dizzy from the fierce artillery fire and began to lose its formation.

At this moment, Kellerman took out his military cap with the revolutionary emblem, put it on, drew his command knife and shouted:

'Long live France! Long live the nation!'

The soldiers were infected and shouted "Long live France! Long live freedom!" together, and soon stabilized their position.

The Allied soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment, frightened by the revolutionary enthusiasm of the French army, and retreated in a hurry, unwilling to go to the battlefield again.

Most of them were ordinary people. They did not have much aversion to the so-called riots, nor did they have much interest in rescuing the King of France. Therefore, they had no desire to fight at all.

So, both sides started bombarding again. The Duke of Brunswick selected thousands of elite soldiers to prepare for another encirclement, and the French commander Kellermann also selected more than 5,000 people to bypass the left wing of the coalition forces.

Seeing that the other side was well prepared, both sides tacitly agreed not to really launch a strong attack.

In the afternoon, Duke Ferdinand encouraged the Prussian veterans to set an example in the name of the King of Prussia, and the Allied forces launched another attack.

But even so, when the Prussian army launched an attack at 1 p.m., they were bombarded by artillery and lost more than 100 people. They refused to move forward and retreated on their own.

This is more than just a lack of desire to fight, it is a sign that the entire army is out of control.

Even at this point, Duke Ferdinand still lacked the determination and courage to use strict military law to demand of his soldiers.

Wang Wubing said nothing, only shook his head and said to his adjutant: "Tell Duke Ferdinand that our troops are guarding the key bridge and cannot leave."

Wang Wubing originally advocated that the Lufan Army should only play an auxiliary role until the situation became clear. Of course, he would not use the Lufan Army, which already had few people, to take the lead under such circumstances.

In fact, Duke Ferdinand knew that he could not continue the battle even without Wang Wubing notifying his men, because few of his men were really there to fight.

Coincidentally, it rained heavily the next day, so both sides simply called a truce. The coalition forces retreated to a small town where they had gathered previously and began to confront the French army.

Ten days later, September 9.

Because the army was isolated and deep in the enemy's territory, the entire logistical supply line was about to be cut off by the French who volunteered to expel the invaders. The elderly Duke Ferdinand directly announced the withdrawal of the troops.

The awkward and hilarious Battle of Valmy is over.

The battle lasted only one day and ended in silence for ten days. More than 500 Allied soldiers died in artillery fire, and more than 300 French soldiers died. Neither side even engaged in infantry combat.

Wang Wubing kept his promise and led the three guards of King Lu to guard the key bridge for retreat, covering the retreat of the coalition forces.

This avoided the tragedy in history where the Allied forces were chased all the way during their retreat and suffered nearly 10,000 casualties.

But when the coalition forces finally retreated to Longwy, there were not many people left, because most of them left on their own and never returned to Longwy.

When the news reached Paris, the people cheered loudly because this was the first time that they defeated a foreign regular army without relying on aristocratic officers and with an army composed almost entirely of civilians.

So much so that the next day, the French National Assembly voted to abolish the French empire and the First French Republic was established.

The Bourbon dynasty is, in fact, destroyed!
(End of this chapter)