Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

On the second day after the surrender ceremony, Duke of Brunswick, accompanied by 400 soldiers — including dozens of cavalry, and two cannons to demonstrate a “complete formation” — returned to Prussia under the escort of the French Army.

Meanwhile, Joseph also left Diekirch to return to Paris.

The war situation in the Rhineland no longer required his involvement.

Under Massena’s heavy siege, the Cologne Fortress being occupied by the French Army was only a matter of time.

Once Cologne was controlled, the entire Rhineland region would be completely severed from Germany. Places like Gael, Aachen, and Cléver, without reinforcement from the Allied Forces, would only have the outcome of surrender.

Currently, Joseph is contemplating how to end this war and start digesting the spoils of war.

From Cléver and Cologne in the north to Manheim in the south, France has had great gains in this battle.

Including the entire Rhineland, the West Bank of the Rhine River will entirely be in France’s possession.

In other words, the French people’s long-cherished “natural borders” have been realized.

If managed well, France would be able to defend along the Rhine River in the future, doubling the strategic security of the nation.

This will benefit France’s descendants in the long run!

If a strong nation emerges around France in the future and intends to invade France, it must first face the formidable Rhine River.

Moreover, France no longer needs to exhaust resources building a Maginot Line.

The enemies shouldn’t think about attacking France by bypassing through Belgium — now Brussels is also French territory.

Of course, truly absorbing the West Bank of the Rhine River is by no means an easy task…

While Joseph was lost in thought as he gazed out the window, Lefevre, sitting across in the carriage with a bandage on his forehead, spoke: “Your Highness, do you really intend to release the surrendered Prussian soldiers?”

Lefevre was injured in the siege of Rhodeshausen — a cannonball had thrown his horse, and as he fell, the impact caused his head to hit a stone — so Joseph had him accompany his convoy back to France for recovery. After all, his “Gemstone XI” was far more comfortable and faster than the military’s standard carriages.

Joseph nodded: “If Duke of Brunswick can persuade Prussia to exit the Anti-French Alliance, it is completely acceptable.

“Actually, I was originally planning to send Mr. Talleyrand to Potsdam to negotiate releasing prisoners as a condition to gain Prussian neutrality.

Lefevre considered: “Your Highness, but what if Prussia breaks its promise and reintegrates these troops into the war against our nation…”

Joseph smiled: “You need not worry. To Prussia, France is merely a distant opponent.

“Whereas Austria is their enemy right under their nose.

“If Prussia has only a small usable force left, they will surely use it against Austria.

“Even if William II doesn’t want these 40,000 prisoners back, I will have to forcibly send them back to him.”

Lefevre is good at warfare but not so skilled in international politics, so he asked puzzledly: “Why is that?”

Joseph said: “We must maintain a balance between Prussia and Austria until we’ve completely defeated the British.

“Prussia lost more than half of its domestic forces in Luxembourg, and most of them were elite units.

“If Austria united with Sachsen, Bavaria, and other nations to launch an offensive against Prussia, Prussia might be utterly defeated. In which case, Austria would truly dominate all of Germany.”

Lefevre clenched his fist and said aloud: “Your Highness, why don’t we directly invade Vienna? Let Austria forever lose the ability to unify Germany!”

Joseph smiled and shook his head: “Believe me, occupying Austria does no good for France. It would only create a powerful enemy for us.”

He was well aware that historically, Napoleon did exactly what Lefevre suggested.

The French Army swept through the German states, subdued Prussia in Beiping, and annihilated Austria in the east, appearing mighty and indeed capturing substantial war gains in a short time.

But what was the result?

In the national awakening of the nineteenth century, it was almost a delusion to genuinely annex the vast Germanic Region. The Germans would certainly become united in opposition and expel France from the Germanic Region.

In this process, the previously fragmented German states no longer distinguished between being Prussian or Bavarian; everyone would fight under the banner of the German populace against the French Occupation Army.

Eventually, Germany moved towards great unification, and a powerful Germany emerged.

Perhaps later on, a “Iron Chancellor” or art academy dropout will launch a challenge against France, and an entire generation of French youth will be ground on the battlefield.

Even if France were lucky enough to repeatedly suppress the Germanic Region’s resistance, a vast France stretching from the eastern Atlantic Ocean to the Balkans would inevitably alert Russia.

Russia would immediately set aside its grievances with the Ottoman Empire and join forces to “assist” the Germans in restoring their nation.

Thus, the international situation Napoleon faced when he decided to sweep through the Germanic Region was already predetermined.

Many have said Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was a strategic blunder that led to complete failure. If he had seized the opportunity to stabilize and settle his occupied Germanic territories and maintained peace with Russia, things would have been different.

But in fact, that situation was impossible to occur.

Even if Napoleon did not advance into Moscow, once Russia caught its breath, it would certainly deploy forces towards Germany — Russians would never sit idly by as a unified France emerged across Western Europe and Central Europe.

Therefore, for France, the best strategy is to maintain the fragmentation of the Germanic Region and exacerbate the rifts between the various states.

As they continue their internal conflicts, France can leverage “mediation” to gain benefits.

Then, focus all efforts on dealing with England, the troublemaker.

If England is not supporting from outside of Europe, France on the European Continent would have no adversaries, and after long-term gradual advancements, there might be the possibility of reliving Rome’s magnificent glory!

As Joseph’s convoy reached Verdun, local postal officials delivered a letter sent from the Palace of Versailles via Sap Signal Tower.

The letter was written by Archbishop Brienne, and the core message was just one sentence — the preparation work for the “Iberian-Apennine Summit” is complete, and it only awaits the Crown Prince’s return to Paris to open immediately.

Joseph smiled.

This summit was designed as the starting gun for forging his own camp.

Yes, rather than plundering some wealth in occupied territories, which breeds resentment, this is the best way to gain war profits!

The British can rely on their own financial resources and control of maritime trade to rally the Anti-French Alliance.

Then France can use the victory from this war to form the Anti-English Alliance!