Chapter 344 War and Military Expenditure
In addition to its military superiority, Mysore was a very wealthy country.
Thanks to trade with Britain, Mysore exported a large amount of cotton, tea, spices, indigo, and sugar, bringing a lot of wealth to the nobles, which could provide sufficient material guarantee for the country's war.
To paraphrase a later line, Lafayette had never fought such a wealthy battle.
Of course, the opponent he faces is also more powerful - not to mention Britain, which is currently the most powerful country in the world. The East India Company has a standing army of more than 3,000 people in India, which can be mobilized to about 6,000 if necessary. If troops are mobilized from the British mainland, they can have 10,000 troops in three to four months.
In addition, the princely states under British control and Britain's Indian allies can also provide a large number of troops, with the number reaching up to more than 200,000. Although the combat effectiveness of these Indian soldiers is far inferior to that of Mysore, the ants that kill the elephants are definitely a big trouble, especially since these princely states can also provide logistical support to the British army, which is an important factor affecting the direction of the war.
Therefore, the most important order Joseph gave to Lafayette was to ask him to unite the local Indian states as much as possible, at least to win them over and not surrender to the British.
At the end of the 18th century, Britain's control over India was far less powerful than it was in the 19th century. The Indian states it fully controlled did not exceed one-fifth of India's total area, and most of them cooperated in the form of alliances.
The princes of these feudal states were very greedy and could easily be bribed by profit.
Lafayette and Salah got on the carriage one after another after talking about the situation of the ministers' meeting just now.
Lafayette suddenly remembered something and took out a colorful ribbon from his pocket and showed it to Salah: "Oh, Tipu Sultan also named me 'Umda'. There seems to be a canonization ceremony at noon the day after tomorrow. , I wonder if you are free to attend?”
Umda is the highest-ranking military title in Mysore, which shows that Tipu Sultan attaches great importance to Lafayette.
Salah smiled and nodded: "Congratulations, Lord Marquis, I will definitely not be absent from this kind of thing."
…
Southern Netherlands.
Eastern suburbs of Brussels.
Tens of thousands of soldiers wearing red military uniforms and white tights lined up in a long and narrow marching column, meandering on the dark green grass to the sound of drums.
The red queue stretched to the hills in the distance and disappeared into the light mist.
Not far from a twelve-pounder cannon pulled by eight horses, two officers, surrounded by guards, were riding slowly abreast.
The handsome man walking on the left wearing a golden double-breasted red military uniform with two dark blue ribbons on his chest, thick black eyebrows, and a tall nose is the current Governor of Hanover, Karl II.
He was muttering very fast at this time: "The guys in the Southern Netherlands Parliament are a bunch of idiots.
"Now that the Austrian army has not been completely driven out, the French are involved again, and what are they doing? They are focused on fighting for control of the Parliament...
"This even affected the deployment of the army. More than 8,000 Dutch soldiers were just idle in Ghent, watching us fight the French. "Especially the one named Onk. Those soldiers have been resting for more than a month, and he actually wants them to rest until the end of the year... He might as well let them retire in Ghent. "
General Karel Van Bronckhorst, the commander of the Dutch Volunteer Army in a blue military uniform, nodded helplessly and said: "Who says it's not the case? But Unter's prestige in the Southern Netherlands Army is extremely high at the moment. And since their last defeat at the hands of the French, their army has been very willing to rest. Unter's order is exactly what they want."
Karl II glanced at the army beside him and snorted coldly: "After defeating the Austrians, I will definitely suggest to His Majesty the King to merge the Parliament of the Southern Netherlands with the Parliament of the Netherlands."
Bronkhorst was immediately delighted when he heard this. Although Britain had always secretly promised to promote the unification of the Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands, the Hanoverian commander who was now leading the army from the front—in fact, he represented the will of the United Kingdom— Saying it himself made him feel more hopeful.
He hurriedly flattered Karl II, and then hesitantly said: "Marshal, tell me, after you defeat the French and Austrian armies, will the French continue to invest more troops in the Low Countries?"
As a Dutchman, he would naturally be worried about France, a giant neighbor. After all, Louis XIV almost destroyed the Netherlands decades ago.
Karl II smiled disdainfully: "I remember that you are a shareholder of the Bank of Amsterdam, right? Then you should be very aware of France's current financial situation."
As an old financial empire in Europe, the Netherlands has its own banking business throughout Europe, especially in France. More than 40% of France's foreign debt is owed to Dutch banks.
General Bronkhorst nodded: "Yes, I do know something. France's debt is still over 2 billion livres."
Naturally, he didn't know that although the total amount of French debt had not changed much, Joseph had already replaced a large part of it with low-interest debt through the previous operations during the banking industry tsunami, and the financial pressure was greater than before. to reduce.
Karl II looked at him and said: "You know, France maintains an army of more than 20,000 people in North Africa to guard against possible attacks from Algiers and Tripoli.
"At the same time, they have 30,000 troops in Silesia and 20,000 in Luxembourg. The cost of these troops stationed overseas is very high. France can no longer support the consumption of more troops, otherwise it will not wait until they are separated on the battlefield. If we win or lose, the country’s finances will collapse first.”
Bronkhorst also nodded in agreement. Karl II continued: "France has less than 120,000 standing troops. Currently, they have more than 70,000 troops stationed everywhere. Unless there is a large-scale recruitment of troops, there will not even be enough troops to maintain order in the country."
He pointed to the southeast: “So, as long as the French army in Luxembourg is defeated, the fighting in the lowlands will be completely over.
"And our superior force will be able to complete this task very quickly."
While the commanders of the Hanoverian and Dutch armies were talking loudly, at the border between Luxembourg and Liege, Leo was looking at Lefebvre with a bitter face: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, my friend, maybe we should rest for a while." Better."
After the last pursuit battle in which he defeated more with less, Lefebvre had been promoted to lieutenant colonel.
"General, look, your reinforcements have all arrived." Lefebvre smiled and gestured towards the Austrian military camp in the distance, "You can't betray His Majesty the Emperor's trust, can you?"
In order to draw the attention of Prussia and Hanover to the Southern Netherlands, Joseph II sent 8,000 additional soldiers to Leo. At this time, he already had nearly 10,000 troops in his hands.
(End of chapter)