Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Southern Netherlands.

In the southern suburbs of Brussels, the encampment of the Hanoverian expeditionary force.

"At last, here!" Charles II declared with full confidence as he tapped a small town southeast of Brussels on a military map, his voice loud, "We will form an encirclement around the French and ultimately annihilate them. Then we will march south to support General Blucher..."

A few officers in front of him exchanged embarrassed glances. Eventually, an older general spoke up cautiously:

"Marshal, your deployment is indeed impeccable. However... the current state of our soldiers, I’m afraid, isn’t quite suited to launch a full-scale counterattack."

The other officers immediately nodded in agreement—

Just half a month ago, Charles II had assembled an army of 30,000 men and a large amount of logistical supplies to deliver a thunderous blow to the French Army’s positions.

However, no sooner had the Hanoverian Army left their base than the French appeared like ghosts near Antonov.

The Southern Netherlands National Guard defending Antonov, though nearly 4,000 strong, lasted less than half a day before they were completely routed. It wasn’t that the French Army was formidable, but rather that the South Netherlanders were just newly conscripted and had less than two months of training; they were bound to crumble upon meeting a regular army.

Alarmed, Charles II hurriedly called off the southern offensive and gathered his troops to reinforce Antonov. If this position were to be lost, the French could attack Brussels from the north without any hindrance.

By the time the Hanoverian main force had marched north, the Dutch Army and South Netherlands Army to the south of Brussels were immediately ambushed by the French, losing two villages that were critical positions.

Afterwards, Charles II spent more than ten days under the bombardment of French cannons, suffering over a thousand casualties before he finally recaptured those two villages and stabilized the defense line.

After such trials, the Hanoverian Army was left demoralized, and without two or three months of rest, could barely organize a decent offense.

Yet at such a time, their Marshal was planning something like a "full-scale counterattack."

Charles II did not blame the officer who had raised objections; instead, he looked around at everyone with a smile, his tone proud:

"If nothing unexpected happens, in at most half a month, the French will need to withdraw a large number of their troops back to their own country. We must prepare in advance for such an opportunity."

Ignoring the astonished looks of the officers, he pointed to the map again:

"Now I will arrange the operation to support the Prussian Army."

He had just begun to speak when the voice of an attendant came from the door:

"Marshal, Speaker Vandernoot has arrived."

The smile on Charles II’s face broadened immediately; he gestured with a wave of his hand:

"Please let Speaker Vandernoot in. My generals could use some good news."

Indeed, Vandernoot had already informed him of the riots stirred up by the "Free Alliance Committee" in France, and it was for this reason he had begun planning the counterattack against the French Army.

Moreover, he had learned from his own intelligence channels that the South Netherlanders were doing well, and that the French Royal Family was being overwhelmed by the uprisings in the northwestern provinces.

Vandernoot’s visit at this time was likely to bring him the good news that the French had decided to call back their frontline troops to their country.

As the door to the war council room was pushed open, Vandernoot entered in a rush, about to say something but then noticing a room full of high-ranking Hanoverian officers.

He paused, then performed a chest salute to Charles II and stammered:

"Marshal, I, um, have something I’d like to discuss with you in private."

"Oh, there’s nothing that can’t be said in front of my loyal subordinates," Charles II said with a smile as he gestured to the officers, "And I’ve already explained the situation to them."

"Ah? You know about the situation?!" Vandernoot was surprised. Continue reading at

Seeing his troubled expression, Charles II hesitated before asking:

"What ’situation’ are you referring to?"

Vandernoot, anxious, stepped forward and said in a low voice:

"Our people have been massively arrested in France, the French people have conducted public trials, and rebellious peasants have all gone to watch the trials...

"In short, our plan has failed."

"What? Failed?!" Charles II seized his arms and exclaimed, "Didn’t you say the operation was foolproof, and that the French people would withdraw within half a month?"

He was very clear about the state of his own forces; if the French Army did not return home, his counter-attack would be suicide.

Vandernoot nodded stiffly: "I swear to God, we had indeed made sufficient preparations, who knew it would turn out like this..."

In fact, it wasn’t that his plan was not meticulous, it was more that he lacked an understanding of France’s new police system and was still acting on the capabilities of the old police.

If there had not been a police reform, the Reims peasants, armed with thousands of flintlock guns and led by a large number of Southern Netherlanders "revolutionaries," could have destroyed the town hall during the first riot. The riots would then quickly spread, plunging the entire province into chaos. The situation in places like Lille would have been roughly the same.

Moreover, with young nobles incited to "defend the nobility’s interests" clashing with the rioting peasants, chaos could even sweep through half of France.

Vandernoot had dispatched over 200 revolutionary elites and invested a large sum of money, so he naturally had ample confidence that his plot would cripple France.

Only, his people had encountered Joseph’s reformed police force.

The more than 500 police officers in Reims fearlessly faced the rioters’ stones and bullets, forming lines to push into the crowd, dividing the rioters into several sections, and using riot control equipment to disperse them.

In the first two riots in Reims, the police suffered more than 70 casualties, but a well-established police training system allowed the Reims Police Department to promptly call in hundreds of police trainees as reinforcements and to maintain the highest level of readiness for nearly half a month.

Such a sense of responsibility for law and order, loyalty to the government, and high morale were beyond that of not just the old-style police, but even some armies.

It was relying on the outstanding performance of police in the northwestern provinces that a vast storm was dissipated into nothingness. It could be said that a similar situation in Austria or Prussia would have caused a hundred times more damage than in France.

Charles II, still unwilling to accept defeat, repeatedly confirmed with Vandernoot. After the latter provided more details, Charles finally waved the officers out of the conference room with a sallow face:

"Everyone out. Oh, and what you’ve just heard must not be mentioned to anyone."

"Yes, Marshal."

...

Paris.

The day after the public trial of the Southern Netherlands spies concluded, Joseph received a report from the diplomatic department saying that the English Foreign Minister had requested to postpone the talks originally scheduled for the day after tomorrow by five days.

Jospeh looked at the document in his hand and couldn’t help but reveal a smile: "He must need some time to figure out how to deal with this awkward situation."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!