I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 633 French Rapid Reaction Force

Led by the officer, Lützker climbed up the hill and saw that representatives from Austria, Britain, Bavaria and other countries had gathered there. A major in Baden military uniform was pointing down the hill and saying something loudly to everyone.

"Gentlemen, this 'Resolute Will' joint military exercise is held to practice how France and Pakistan can defend themselves when trade routes within our country are attacked. It is not targeted at any country."

This speech was naturally drafted by Joseph. The Baden officer was just reading it out.

The officer signaled the guards to distribute binoculars to the negotiators and continued, "This exercise is a mixed operation of 1800 soldiers from the Baden Royal Guard and 4 soldiers from the French Royal Guard.

"The exercise troops will be divided into the Blue Army and the White Army, and will conduct a week-long offensive and defensive exercise around Karlsruhe. The exercise subjects include: town defense, outflanking counterattack, pursuit counterattack..."

Lützke's face turned a little dark. 5 French troops suddenly came here to conduct exercises. Who could not see their intentions?

Coupled with the name of the exercise - "Resolute Will", it is just short of hanging a sign in the trade negotiation hall that says "France is unhappy, France is angry."

There was another burst of dense artillery fire from the foot of the mountain, causing a sharp pain in Lutzker's eardrums.

He raised the telescope he had just received and looked down the mountain. He saw, amidst the dust and smoke, a large group of soldiers in blue or white uniforms were marching back and forth in extremely neat formations, stopping from time to time to fire a few rounds of volleys.

Between the infantry ranks, the "White" horses dragged more than a dozen cannons and flashed through the smoke.

These artillerymen moved very quickly, and in a flash they arrived at the right side of the "blue side" infantry line, and then skillfully set up the artillery positions. The officers also began to measure and calculate.

In just three or four minutes, the cannons had completed all preparations, quickly loaded, and aimed at the "blue" infantry within reach.

At this moment, Lützke's heart was gripped for those infantrymen, as if he would see their flesh and blood torn apart by the horrific artillery fire in the next moment.

However, thousands of hussars from the "blue side" suddenly emerged from behind the infantry, formed into a neat arrow formation at an extremely fast speed, and rushed towards the enemy's artillery positions.

At the same time, the artillery of the "Blue Team" also appeared near the high ground not far away. More than ten cannons spewed flames at the same time, tearing a gap in the "White Team" infantry formation.

But the "white" infantry was extremely tenacious - the rear team quickly moved the "corpses" of their companions away and stood in the position of the "sacrificed" soldiers, and then raised their guns and fought back at the command of the officers...

Tens of thousands of soldiers, cannons, and horses were mixed together on the open ground in front of them. The roar and shouting were endless. The thrilling and murderous scene made Lutzker's scalp tingle and his heart beat wildly.

In fact, he didn't know much about military affairs, but the French army's swift actions, neat formations, and orderly command made him see at a glance that this was an extremely powerful elite army.

This was also specially arranged by Berthier for an amateur like him - the negotiators this time were basically all laymen in the military - 4 troops were crammed into this narrow area of ​​only 5 kilometers long and wide, and the two sides of the exercise directly fought face to face, which was extremely fierce. In addition, there was no need to talk about any tactics, just watch the blood boiling, so these negotiators were instantly stunned.

After an unknown amount of time, the negotiator from Salzburg suddenly said angrily: "These Frenchmen who are showing off their might only have tens of thousands of troops. They think they can scare us with this..."

Baron Heinemann, the Augsburg negotiator, put down his binoculars, glanced at him meaningfully, and shook his head, saying, "Viscount Schon, didn't you notice the most terrifying thing about this exercise?"

"What did you want to say?"

Baron Heinemann sighed and said, "Do you remember when the proposal to have Britain join the Rhine-Seine Treaty was put forward?" "Count Fredericks proposed it a month ago," Viscount Schauen said without hesitation.

Heinemann nodded. "The French military exercise was obviously aimed at the vote on this bill. In other words, it took France only 20 days to gather 5 troops and reach the south bank of the Rhine."

When Shao En heard this, his expression suddenly froze, and he frowned and stopped talking.

Lutzke also frowned.

You know, it takes about a week for the news of Salzburg's proposal to reach France. Even if France decides to conduct the exercise immediately...

He subconsciously said: "So, it only took them more than 20 days to complete the assembly of the army..."

Baron Heinemann sighed again: "No, Mr. Lutzker, if the troops doing the exercise were the French Royal Guards, they would have probably only taken three or four days to complete the assembly."

"What? How is this possible?!"

"The French Guards are usually stationed near Paris," Heinemann said. "It takes at least 20 days to march from Paris to Karlsruhe. So they only have three or four days to assemble."

All the negotiators looked at him at the same time, with shock in their eyes.

It took only three or four days to assemble an army of 5, with cavalry and artillery. The French army's mobilization capabilities, speed of action, and efficiency in mobilizing logistical supplies were simply heart-pounding!
A comparison can be made when Austria launched the Silesian War, which took it a full month and a half to barely complete the assembly of 6 vanguard troops.

Of course, no matter how successful Joseph's military reforms were, it would be impossible for the Guards Corps to complete the assembly of 5 troops within four days.

He just played some tricks here.

The French army that came to Baden this time actually consisted of only 2 soldiers from the Guards Corps. After receiving the order, they took a week to assemble, and arrived in Baden after 5 days of high-speed march with almost no baggage.

At the same time, 2 troops were drawn from the old army stationed near Lorraine and Verdun, and rushed to Baden with logistical supplies.

Since these places were very close to Baden, they had more than half a month to assemble and prepare.

During the exercises, the old army only needed to stand in infantry lines to fill the scene, and all the quality "performances" were performed by the Guards Corps.

But the negotiators on the hillside could not see the difference. They just thought that France sent 20 elite troops from Paris to the south bank of the Rhine in more than 5 days.

After more than an hour, the "Strong Will" military exercise entered a pause and rest period.

The negotiators on the hillside returned to the Karlsruhe Palace one after another with solemn expressions. However, the rumbling sound of the cannons just now seemed to still echo in their ears, making it impossible for them to calm down and think about the trade agreement.

(End of this chapter)