I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 345: Hero of France
Leo, the commander-in-chief of the Austrian Army in the Southern Netherlands, looked even more bitter.

Along with the reinforcements, a secret letter from Joseph II came to Luxembourg, asking him to try his best to drag the French army into the battle with Prussia and Hanover, and to lead the enemy into the Luxembourg area if necessary.

However, through the time Leo had been in contact with the French army, he knew better than anyone how cunning these French were.

They were encouraging themselves to have a decisive battle with Blücher all day long, but they set up their camp behind the Austrian army and began to build breastworks, a simple defensive fortification, along the border between Luxembourg and Liege, as if they were ready to defend Luxembourg to the death.

Previously, Leo had delayed for nearly half a month using the excuse of insufficient troops. With the arrival of Joseph II's 8 reinforcements, he was pushed to the brink of a knife by both the emperor and the French.

He looked at Lefebvre again, and said pleadingly: "My dearest friend, you will certainly reinforce me when I fight the Prussians, right?"

He had seen the fighting power of Lefebvre's regiment, especially the pursuit battle, when more than 2000 French soldiers beat nearly 5000 soldiers of Altmann's corps and made them flee in panic. If he had his help, perhaps he could have fought against Blücher's 1 troops.

Lefebvre was waiting for this, but he looked very embarrassed: "I am very happy to help you, General. We have forged a friendship with blood on the battlefield. But you know that I cannot mobilize the army without permission. To be honest, I have received orders to station along the De Freitier Mountain."

"But……"

Before Leo could continue to beg, Lefebvre approached his old friend very considerately and whispered, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in Clervaux. Perhaps you can go and ask him. His Royal Highness is a kind-hearted person and easy to talk to."

……

Clervaux, northern Luxembourg.

The scene on both sides of the road was quite desolate. When the Prussian army retreated from here, they took away all the supplies they could find. Not only were all kinds of livestock "requisitioned", but even some people's bed sheets and quilts were taken away as bandages.

Joseph was looking at the Luxembourg farmers passing by the car window, but he was worried about military spending.

This morning he received a report from Briand in Paris, which detailed the expenses of the French troops in various places during this period.

Among them, the Tunisian troops were stationed the longest and had spent 450 million livres.

Although the French troops in Silesia and Luxembourg were only mobilized for about a month, the total expenditure had reached tens of millions of livres due to the fierce fighting.

This was before taking into account pensions for wounded and dead soldiers and the large amount of supplies provided by Joseph II to the French army in Silesia.

If pensions are included, military expenditures during this period would be around 1700 million livres.

It's only been over a month.

Joseph frowned slightly. He knew very well that in order to achieve his strategic plan for the Southern Netherlands, the war might last for half a year or even a year.

The military expenditure required is definitely more than 1 million livres.

You know, France spent 8 billion livres in eight years to support the American War of Independence! And in the first few years, it was just "volunteer troops" fighting small battles. The real large-scale intervention began in 13 when Count Rochambeau led 1780 French troops into the United States, and until the independence of the United States in 6000, the annual military expenditure exceeded 1783 million livres.

War is a money-eating beast in any era.

Although victory in the war will bring huge dividends, France will need to invest a huge amount of money in advance.

If the operation is not done properly, the French finances, which have just crossed the line of life and death, may fall back into the abyss.

How to raise military funds?
According to the conventional practice of this era, it is generally to borrow money from banks or private lenders, or issue war bonds, and increase war taxes. Joseph couldn't help but sighed softly, these are all pitfalls.

The first two methods would place a heavy interest burden on the national treasury - the interest rates of such extremely risky wartime loans could even be as high as 40% or more.

Raising taxes is even more harmful. He had just tried his best to suppress the enthusiasm of the people in the old district to play the Bastille dungeon, and he didn't want to ruin all his efforts because of high taxes. Moreover, Louis XV had already raised the military service tax, and it had not been cancelled after the war.

In his mind, he went over all the methods used by later generations to raise large amounts of funds in a short period of time.

The first thing that comes to mind is paper money.

It just so happens that the "banknotes" of the French Reserve Bank have not yet been officially announced as the only common currency in France, so they can use this wave to issue more of them.

Moreover, doing so is beneficial to France's current economic situation - French industry is in a stage of rapid development, and appropriate inflation at this time can stimulate consumption and is conducive to the sales of goods.

Then he thought of the French Commercial Insurance Company. The insurance industry in later generations became an important pillar of the financial system.

However, at the end of the 18th century, the insurance industry had not yet developed, and apart from marine insurance, there were only fire insurance and home insurance.

The market is too small...

When Joseph thought of this, he suddenly laughed and shook his head.

Isn't your thinking rigid?
A small market means a large market gap! If users have no demand, then guide them to generate demand.

If the insurance industry can be promoted, then the military expenditure for one or two years will not be a problem at all. There will even be surplus funds to invest in industrial construction.

He immediately took out a pen and paper and quickly wrote on the small wooden table in the carriage: Health insurance...

Commercial insurance...

Financial insurance...

Soon, Joseph's convoy stopped near the Guards camp in the north of the town. A team of soldiers on guard immediately ran over and lined up in front of the Crown Prince's carriage to greet them.

From the soldiers' heads held high and their backs standing straight, one can see how high their morale is at this moment.

Joseph smiled and nodded to the soldiers, then asked a major who came to greet him to take him directly to the wounded camp.

A farmhouse on the outskirts of the city has been temporarily rented out as a field hospital. Together with the tents set up between the buildings, more than 300 wounded soldiers are being treated here.

Perna was busy running back and forth with the nurses when she heard that the Crown Prince had come. She knelt down and saluted Joseph from a distance, then was called away by the shouts of the wounded.

A large number of Luxembourg locals were hired to help. Luxembourg is located at the junction of France, Germany and Nepal, and the people here are all language masters. Most of them have mastered three foreign languages ​​since childhood, so there is no obstacle for them to come to work.

At the same time, they don't have much opinion on who rules the country.

When the wounded saw the Crown Prince coming, they all struggled to stand up and salute, but were stopped by the accompanying officers. Instead, Joseph saluted them earnestly with his hat raised, and said sincerely: "You are the heroes of France. France is honored by your sacrifice and dedication!"

(End of this chapter)