Chapter 458 The dedication of the music teacher
In the Battle of Silesia, both sides often fought with large corps of 100,000 men, which made Joseph aware of the urgency of expanding the size of the Guards Corps.
After all, no matter how powerful you are in combat, it will be difficult to win against an enemy four or five times the size.
Therefore, he just used this windfall to attract a group of soldiers, and at the same time, it also boosted the morale of the Guards Corps.
Joseph looked at the remaining three carriages, pondered for a moment, and ordered:
"The rest should be deposited in the French Reserve Bank first. I will use it to purchase the military academy after I return."
This is something he has wanted to do for a long time.
Currently, there are 12 top military academies in France. However, except for the Paris Military Academy, they are not large in scale.
For example, the military academy of Brienne, the emperor's alma mater, has only a hundred students in the school. Other military academies are basically the same.
However, these military academies were previously used to train aristocratic officers, and the number of students was limited, so this scale is completely sufficient.
The small scale is a good thing for Joseph, and the acquisition price will not be too expensive.
In addition, most military schools are affiliated to a certain local corps and are usually located on the military campus, so there is no situation where the school is unwilling to be acquired - the military campus is under the management of the General Staff.
Joseph wanted to use 2 million francs to "buy out" at least 10 top military academies and then carry out complete restructuring.
At the very least, civilians must be able to enter the military academy.
Of course, some privileges may have to be reserved for the nobles in the early stage, such as admission without exams. After all, they paid a large amount of tuition.
Civilian students with excellent grades or extraordinary talents can enjoy free tuition.
After that, the scale of the military academy will be expanded and merged, so another amount of money will have to be invested.
However, when these military academies are restructured according to the Paris Police Academy model, Joseph will be able to continuously obtain a large number of high-quality soldiers, and will also be able to fundamentally solve the problem of aristocrats controlling the army.
The sound of artillery in the distance gradually became sparse, and Joseph knew that this should be the beginning of the decisive battle between the main armies of both sides. He looked at the gold coins again, signaled Kesode to bring his horse, and then went straight to Marshal Lacy's field command post.
On the high ground to the east of Bald Village, Marshal Lacy came up to Joseph with a smile, raised his hat and saluted, then gave him a telescope, pointed at the battle line below and said:
"As you might expect, the Prussian defense is very weak. Our heavy artillery blasted away the first line of enemy infantry, and now the boys are attacking the second line."
He took a cup of coffee from the attendant and handed it to Joseph: "Your Highness, drink a little to warm yourself up. If everything goes well, we can capture the fork in front of the woodland today."
Joseph saw in the telescope that a large number of Austrian soldiers were surrounding the Prussian army from three directions - there was no suspense in the battle.
The fork in the road that Lacy mentioned was the last place suitable for the corps to deploy. After capturing it, the elite Austrian skirmishers were able to quickly clear out the small defenders.
Marshal Lacy continued in a high-pitched tone: "Your Highness, we will go straight to the city of Lignitz. We will be able to hold a celebration banquet there at the end of the month."
Joseph thought: "Your Majesty Marshal, I suggest you leave the city of Lignitz alone."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"We are in the south of Lignitz, and the city is on the north side." Joseph said, "Instead of running a long distance, it is better to attack Breslau directly." Breslau is the capital of Silesia, located east of Lignitz. Starting from the town of Fordham, the distance to Lignitz and Breslau is basically close.
Marshal Lacy immediately laughed and shook his head: "Your Highness, this is too risky. Breslau has a strong fortress. If we cannot break it in a short time, Ferdinand will probably build a strong fort near the city of Lignitz. defense. By then, we may be in a situation where neither Lignitz nor Breslau can get it.”
Joseph looked at him and said:
"If you were the Duke of Brunswick, would you dare to bet that Breslau Fortress would not be quickly breached by 60,000 to 70,000 enemy troops?"
Marshal Lacy fell into deep thought. The garrison of Breslau should not exceed 4,000. Even if Ferdinand urgently increased his troops, there would only be 10,000 at most.
The battlefield is changing rapidly, and no one can guarantee whether there will be any surprises in the fortress in the face of an attack by more than six times the Austrian coalition.
Once Breslau is lost, it means that more than 80% of Silesia is lost - by going down the Oder River from Breslau, it is easy to capture the provinces of Oberon and Ratibor.
That guy Ferdinand certainly doesn’t dare to bet!
…
Vienna.
A salon is being held in a luxurious villa southwest of Vienna.
Baron Walter was obviously in a good mood, he drank a lot of wine, and he was already feeling a little dazed at this time.
"Ha, that's all government propaganda." He said carelessly to the young nobles beside him, "I know the inside story. Yes, the inside story, let me tell you, the situation in Silesia is not what the newspapers say at all. so good."
"Uh-" He burped, "Don't tell anyone. In fact, the coalition forces have been in a stalemate with the Prussians in Lignitz."
The noble young people looked at each other and said in surprise:
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course, I heard it from the Minister of War." Walter suddenly laughed, "Did you know that even the French Crown Prince was surrounded by the Prussians in the Oberon area? Haha."
He took another sip of wine and continued: "That idiot only brought more than 10,000 people with him. He left the camp without authorization and was surrounded by 30,000 Prussian troops. Marshal Lacy wrote a letter to His Majesty the Emperor specifically for this. In my opinion, the French guy should have been captured or even dead by now, haha, what a joy!”
He seemed a little drunk. He grabbed a young nobleman who usually ate, drank, and gambled with him, and said proudly: "Frank, that bitch's backer is finally gone, hahaha! Wait until she returns to Vienna with the army. , let’s see how she can escape from my grasp... Uh--, her little face, tsk tsk, I have never forgotten it..."
While he was laughing wantonly, the musician sitting in the corner playing the piano turned pale, his hands were shaking slightly, and he played several wrong notes in a row.
The musician was Bazel. And he knew very well that the "bitch" Walter was talking about was Camelia, whom he had always dreamed of.
He gritted his teeth, thinking that his student had finally found his lifelong destination and would become an upper-class nobleman in Paris. However, he did not expect that God seemed to be jealous of her and let the French crown prince die tragically on the battlefield...or be taken to Potsdam. it's the same.
In short, she lost her protection.
Bazel glanced at Baron Walter with cold eyes, and that bastard would not let her go.
He huddled in the chair in pain, feeling like his heart was about to break.
Suddenly, Walter's burst of laughter shocked him.
He sat up straight suddenly, his hands shook even more, but his heart became surprisingly determined: No, we must not let the flowers of Vienna fall into the hands of the devil! Without the French Crown Prince, let me solve all dangers for her!
(End of chapter)