I Am the Crown Prince in France - Chapter 693

Chapter 692 Let’s start the second stage directly

After giving instructions about the “Optical Signal Tower”, Shapp withdrew first, while Joseph talked to Berthier about preparations for war.

“You may have heard that at the Stuttgart meeting, the British openly and openly criticized our country.

“Following this trend, war may break out at any time.”

Berthier nodded solemnly: “Yes, Your Highness. The General Staff has reached a similar conclusion and has been making preparations.”

“So, where does the General Staff think the British will take action?”

“First of all, it must be a comprehensive naval blockade.” Berthier said, “Our country’s trade with the Americas, the Far East, and even the Mediterranean coast will be seriously affected.

“The situation will be more serious than during the Seven Years’ War. Moreover, this time the Dutch fleet is likely to be under British command.”

Of course, in this era without radar, a so-called comprehensive blockade is impossible.

France also has the second largest navy in Europe. It can still conduct some trade by covering its own merchant ships on certain routes, but the total volume will inevitably drop significantly.

Joseph comforted the Chief of General Staff: “I can assure you that at least in the Mediterranean, it is impossible for the British to be unruly.”

As a military boss, Berthier naturally heard about the steam battleship and nodded immediately:

“This will give our army a huge strategic space…”

He quickly returned to his own work:

“The British army is simply not enough to challenge us, so they will definitely rely on Prussia, Hanover and Saxony to send troops together.

“Britain and Hanover can mobilize about 100,000 troops. Prussia’s mobilization limit is close to 200,000.

“Judging from the current situation, Austria’s attitude is also very worthy of vigilance. They can mobilize more than 250,000 soldiers.

“The more likely attack route is to cross the Rhine from Coblenz and attack the Verdun area in our country. And go south from the Southern Netherlands to Lille. There will even be dangers in the direction of Italy…”

Berthier briefly introduced the strategic judgment of the General Staff, and then talked about preparations for war:

“Your Highness, the 5th, 6th and 7th Royal Infantry Divisions, the 12th Royal Skirmishers, the 6th and 11th Royal Dragoons, and the 3rd Royal Cavalry Regiment have all been formed.

“The reorganization of the Royal Guards Corps is also nearing completion.

“At present, the New Army under the general staff has a total of 71,000 people. This number can increase by about 3,000 by the end of the year.”

According to Joseph’s request, France’s new army has carried out a comprehensive division-regiment-battalion model reorganization since the beginning of the year – consistent with the Emperor’s era.

This has been repeatedly proven in history that the organizational structure that is most suitable for this era can be copied directly.

In fact, in less than five years, all European countries will undergo similar reorganizations.

The Chief of General Staff continued:

“As for the old army, it still maintains a size of about 90,000. However, standardized training has basically been completed, and percussion guns have been popularized in terms of equipment. Some of the better legions are even equipped with bulletproof inserts.”

The size of the old army has been greatly reduced from the 120,000 soldiers two years ago. This reduction is mainly due to checking the vacancies and absorbing outstanding soldiers into the new army.

As for the “standardized training” formulated by the General Staff, it is only slightly stricter than before, and it is far from the training intensity of the Guards Corps.

After all, they are soldiers under the traditional military nobles. It is impossible for them to keep up with the training pace of the new army – at least not because of their physical fitness. The noble master cannot provide them with high-quality food to maintain their health.

But even so, the training volume of the French old army has exceeded Europe, and even the British lobster soldiers cannot compare with them.

But they are at the bottom of the contempt chain of soldiers in France…

While Berthier was talking, Perna suddenly appeared outside the door with an anxious look on her face.

Seeing that the Chief of General Staff was also present, she had to pace back and forth, but did not disturb their business.

After a while, Joseph noticed her figure and hurriedly signaled Berthier to pause and looked towards the door:

“What’s the matter with you?”

The female doctor walked in quickly and said anxiously:

“Your Highness, Camelia’s situation seems not to be good…”

Caribbean Sea.

Santo Domingo.

In the original parliament building in Port-au-Prince, the new commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Marquis Cunningham, sat at a table with a sullen face – all the chairs here had been dismantled and moved – and looked at the man next to him who was reading a press release. The staff officer waved his hand:

“That’s it, no one cares about it anyway.”

He has not fought a decent battle since taking over from Brand to command the battle in the Caribbean a month and a half ago.

Before his expeditionary force passed Bermuda, Saint-Domingue President Auger announced that he would leave the capital, Port-au-Prince, with all his members and enter the Duarte Mountains to continue presiding over government affairs.

Yes, this new government, which was only established a few months ago, took the initiative to go into exile in a gorgeous way.

Joseph had long expected the situation in Saint-Domingue at this time – Britain was still the most powerful country in the world, and if it was determined to deal with the black governments in the Caribbean, the latter would have no power to fight back.

He remembered that in history, most similar new regimes would fight the invaders with all their heart, and then, defeated in disgrace, they would go into exile.

On the contrary, once these governments start to go into exile, they will become the nightmare of the empire, causing the latter to fall into a situation of long-term consumption.

There is no other reason. The imperial army can’t find a target to fight, and can’t retreat. Even if the soldiers just bask in the sun every day, the military expenditure will be lost like a flood.

What’s more, the locals can’t help but cause trouble for you.

So Joseph’s strategy for Saint-Domingue is to skip the hard stage and start “exile” directly.

In the few months since the establishment of the Republic of Saint-Domingue, all blacks on the island have been freed, and plantation owners have also been compensated-the compensation is still from the 300,000 pounds funded by the Duke of Leeds.

Then, Auger ordered the evacuation of Port-au-Prince, and a large amount of food and ammunition were scattered and stored in Mount Duarte, enough for one or two years.

Duarte is a large mountain range in the central part of Saint-Domingue, occupying nearly one-third of the island’s area, with sufficient space for roundabout maneuvers.

The last presidential decree of Auger before leaving Port-au-Prince was to call on the people of the country to resist the British invaders.

So, the Marquis Cunningham sat in Port-au-Prince for nearly 50 days. All he did was listen to the casualties of the army attacked and call on people from all walks of life in Saint-Domingo to come to the capital to re-elect the parliament in the newspaper.

But the white people here were all French and ignored the British officers’ solicitation. The black people, with bloodshot eyes, only wanted to kill the British soldiers.