I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 458: The Music Teacher's Devotion

The large-scale battles in the Silesian Campaign, in which both sides had large armies of 10 men, had made Joseph realize the urgency of expanding the size of the Guards Corps.

After all, no matter how strong your fighting ability is, it is difficult to win when facing enemies that are four or five times your number.

Therefore, he took advantage of this unexpected windfall to attract a group of soldiers and at the same time boost the morale of the Guards Corps.

Joseph looked at the remaining three carriages, hesitated for a moment, and ordered:

"The rest should be deposited in the French Reserve Bank first. I will use it to purchase a military academy when I return."

This is something he has wanted to do for a long time.

There are currently 12 top military academies in France, but except for the Paris Military Academy, none of them are large.

For example, the Brienne Military School, Napoleon's alma mater, had only about a hundred students. The other military schools were basically the same.

However, these military academies were previously used to train aristocratic officers, and the source of students was limited, so this scale is completely sufficient.

The small scale is actually a good thing for Joseph, as the acquisition price will not be too expensive.

In addition, most military academies are affiliated with a local corps and are usually located on the army's parade grounds, so there is no situation where the school is unwilling to be acquired - the army's parade grounds are managed by the General Staff.

Joseph wanted to use 200 million francs to "buy out" at least 10 top military academies and then carry out a thorough reform.

At the very least, civilians must be allowed to enter military academies.

Of course, in the early stages, some privileges may have to be reserved for the nobles, such as admission without examination, after all, they have paid a large amount of tuition fees.

Civilian students with excellent academic performance or extraordinary talents can enjoy free tuition.

After that, the plan is to expand the scale of military academies and merge them, so more money will have to be invested.

However, once these military academies are restructured according to the Paris Police Academy model, Joseph will be able to obtain a large number of high-quality soldiers continuously, and will also be able to fundamentally solve the problem of aristocrats controlling the army.

The sound of artillery fire in the distance gradually became sparse, and Joseph knew that this should be the beginning of the decisive battle between the main armies of both sides. He looked at the gold coins again, signaled Ksode to bring his horse, and then went straight to Marshal Lacy's battlefield command post.

On the high ground east of Balde Village, Marshal Lacy came up to him with a smile, raised his hat to Joseph, and then handed him a telescope, pointing to the battle line below and said:

"As you expected, the Prussian defense is very weak. Our heavy artillery has blasted open the enemy's first infantry line, and now the boys are attacking the second line."

He took a cup of coffee from the waiter and handed it to Joseph:
"Your Highness, drink something to warm yourself up. If all goes well, we can take the fork in the road before the woodland today."

Joseph saw through the telescope that a large number of Austrian soldiers were surrounding the Prussian army from three directions - the battle was no longer suspenseful.

The fork in the road that Lacy mentioned was the last suitable place for the corps to deploy. After taking it, the elite Austrian skirmishers could quickly wipe out the small group of defenders.

Marshal Lacy continued in a high voice, "Your Highness, we will go straight to the city of Liegnitz. We will be able to hold a celebration banquet there at the end of the month."

Joseph thought, "Your Excellency Marshal, I suggest that we leave the city of Liegnitz alone for now."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"We are in the south of Liegnitz, and the city is in the north." Joseph said, "Instead of a long raid, it is better to attack Breslau directly." Breslau is the capital of Silesia, located east of Liegnitz. Starting from Fordham, the distance to Liegnitz and Breslau is basically the same.

Marshal Lacy immediately laughed and shook his head:
"Your Highness, this is too risky. Breslau has a strong fortress. If we cannot break through it in a short time, Ferdinand will probably build a strong defense line near the city of Liegnitz. By then, we may end up in a situation where neither Liegnitz nor Breslau can be taken."

Joseph looked at him and said:
"If you were the Duke of Brunswick, would you bet that the Breslau Fortress would not be quickly captured by 60,000 to 70,000 enemy troops?"

Marshal Lacy fell into deep thought. The garrison of Breslau should not exceed 4. Even if Ferdinand urgently sent more troops, it would be at most 1.

The battlefield was changing rapidly, and facing the attack of the Austrian coalition forces that were more than six times their size, no one could guarantee that there would be no accidents in the fortress.

Once Breslau was lost, it would mean the loss of more than 80% of Silesia - it would be easy to capture the provinces of Oberon and Ratibor by going down the Oder River from Breslau.

Ferdinand definitely wouldn't dare to gamble!

……

Vienna.

A salon is being held in a luxurious villa southwest of Vienna.

Baron Walter was obviously in a good mood. He had drunk a lot of wine and seemed a little dizzy at this moment.

"Ha, that's just government propaganda." He said to several young nobles beside him carelessly, "I know the inside story. Yes, the inside story, let me tell you, the situation in Silesia is not as good as the newspapers say."

"Uh..." He burped, "Don't tell anyone, the coalition forces are still in a stalemate with the Prussians in Liegnitz."

The noble young men looked at each other and said in surprise:
"Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course, I heard it from the Minister of War." Walter suddenly laughed, "Did you know that even the French prince was surrounded by the Prussians in Oberon? Haha."

He took another sip of wine and continued:
"That idiot only brought more than 1 people with him. He left the camp without permission and was surrounded by 3 Prussian troops. Marshal Lacy wrote a letter to the Emperor for help. In my opinion, the Frenchman should have been captured or even dead by now. Haha, it's really gratifying!"

He seemed a little drunk, and pulled a young nobleman who usually ate, drank, whored and gambled with him, and said proudly:
"Frank, that bitch's backer is finally gone, hahaha! When she returns to Vienna with the army, I wonder how she can escape from my grasp... uh - her little face, tut tut, I've never forgotten it..."

Just as he was laughing wildly, the musician sitting in the corner playing the piano turned pale and his hands trembled slightly, so much so that he played several wrong notes in a row.

The musician was Bazel, and he knew very well that the "bitch" Walter was talking about was Camelia, whom he was obsessed with.

He gritted his teeth, thinking that his student had finally found her lifelong destination and would become an upper-class aristocrat in Paris. However, he did not expect that God was jealous of her and let the French prince die tragically on the battlefield... or be taken to Potsdam, it would be the same.

In short, she lost her protection.

Bazel glanced at Baron Walter with cold eyes, and that bastard would not let her go.

He curled up in his chair in agony, feeling as if his heart was about to break.

Suddenly, Walter's wild laughter startled him.

He sat up straight, his hands trembling even more, but his heart became surprisingly firm: No, the flowers of Vienna must not fall into the hands of the devil! Without the French prince, let me solve all the dangers for her!

(End of this chapter)