Chapter 783 - 783 691 Lets Just Start the Second Phase

Chapter 783: Chapter 691: Let’s Just Start the Second Phase Directly Chapter 783: Chapter 691: Let’s Just Start the Second Phase Directly After giving instructions regarding the “Optical Signal Tower,” Sharp withdrew, while Joseph discussed the preparations for war with Bertier.

“You may have heard already, at the Stuttgart conference, the British openly accused France without any pretense.

“Given this trend, war could break out at any moment.”

Bertier solemnly nodded, “Indeed, Your Highness. The General Staff has come to a similar conclusion and has been accelerating preparations.”

“So, where does the General Staff believe the British will make their move?”

“First and foremost, there will be a full naval blockade,” Bertier responded. “Our trade with America, the Far East, and even the Mediterranean coast will be severely affected.

“The situation will be more serious than during the Seven Years’ War. And this time, the Dutch Fleet is very likely to come under British command.”

Of course, in an era without radar, a so-called full blockade was impossible.

France had the second largest navy in Europe and could protect its merchant ships on certain routes to continue some trading, but the overall volume was bound to plummet drastically.

Joseph reassured the Chief of General Staff, “I can assure you that, at least in the Mediterranean, the British will not be able to act unimpeded.”

As a military big shot, Bertier was naturally also aware of the news about the Steam Battleship and nodded, “This will give our forces a huge strategic advantage…”

He quickly returned to his own duties, “The British army is nowhere near strong enough to challenge us, so they will definitely rely on the cooperation of Prussia, Hanover, and Saxon to deploy troops.

“England and Hanover can mobilize an army of around 100,000. Prussia’s mobilization limit is close to 200,000.

“Given the current situation, Austria’s attitude is also very concerning. They can deploy more than 250,000 soldiers.

“The more likely invasion routes would be across the Rhine River from Koblenz, targeting the Verdun area in our country, as well as advancing from the Southern Netherlands towards Lille. There is even the possibility of danger coming from the direction of Italy…”

Bertier briefly presented the strategic assessment of the General Staff, then spoke about the state of preparations:

“Your Highness, at present, the Royal Infantry Fifth Division, along with the Sixth and Seventh, as well as the Twelfth Regiment of Royal Light Infantry, the Sixth and Eleventh Regiments of Royal Dragoons, and the Third Regiment of Royal Cavalry have all completed formation.

“The reorganization of the Royal Guard Corps is also nearing completion.

“Currently, there are a total of 71,000 soldiers under the General Staff. This number could increase by another 3,000 or so by the end of the year.”

According to Joseph’s requirements, France’s new army had undergone comprehensive division-brigade-battalion restructuring since the beginning of the year, keeping consistent with Napoleon’s era.

This was a structure repeatedly proven through history to be most suited for the era, which could simply be copied directly.

Indeed, in less than five years, all European nations would undergo similar reorganizations.

The Chief of General Staff continued, “As for the old army, it still maintains a strength of about 90,000. However, they have essentially completed standardized training, and the Auguste-style Caplock Gun has been universally adopted in equipment. Even several of the more outstanding corps have been equipped with bullet-proof inserts.”

The old army, compared to the 120,000 soldiers two years ago, had greatly reduced in scale; this reduction was mainly due to clearing up empty positions and absorbing the better soldiers into the new army.

The “standardized training” set by the General Staff for them was only a little more stringent than before, still far from reaching the training intensity of the Guard Corps.

After all, they were troops under the traditional military nobility and simply couldn’t keep up with the training pace of the new army—their physical fitness wouldn’t allow it. The Nobles couldn’t afford to provide them with quality rations.

Nevertheless, even so, the training volume of France’s old army had already surpassed all of Europe, including the British Lobster Soldiers.

Yet, they were at the very bottom of the soldiers’ disdain hierarchy in France…

While Bertier was speaking, Perna suddenly appeared at the door with an anxious expression.

Upon seeing the Chief of General Staff was present, she paced back and forth on the spot without interrupting their serious conversation.

After a while, Joseph noticed her presence and signaled Bertier to pause, looking towards the door, “Is there something you need?”

The female doctor hurried in, saying urgently, “Your Highness, Camellia’s condition seems not to be good…”

Caribbean Sea.

Santo Domingo.

Inside the former Parliament House in Port-au-Prince, the newly appointed Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Marquis Cunningham, sat with a sullen face on a table—the chairs were all dismantled and removed—and waved his hand dismissively at an aide reading a press release beside him, “Whatever, it’s not like anyone cares about this anyway.”

Since he took over command of the Caribbean battle from Brand one and a half months ago, he had yet to fight a significant engagement.

His expeditionary force hadn’t even passed Bermuda when President Oreal of Santo Domingo announced, taking all Congress members with him, that the government would continue to operate from the mountains of Lasalle.

Indeed, this government, established just a few months ago, had strikingly chosen to go into exile voluntarily.

Joseph had long anticipated this turn of events in Santo Domingo—the British remained the strongest nation, and if they were determined to deal with the black government in the Caribbean, the latter had no power to resist at all.

He recalled from history that new governments like these often fought back with all their passion against invaders, then ended up disheveled and driven into exile.

However, such governments, once they began their exile, would turn into a nightmare for empires and get caught in a long, draining conflict.

The reason was simple: the imperial armies had no tangible targets to strike, yet couldn’t retreat, and even if the soldiers did nothing but soak up the sun each day, the military costs flooded out like a deluge.

Moreover, the locals are bound to cause trouble.

Therefore, the strategy Joseph laid out for Santo Domingo was to skip the head-on clash and go straight to “exile.”

During the short months since the establishment of the Saint Domingue Republic, all blacks on the island had been freed, and plantation owners had received compensation—the compensation money even came from the 300,000 British Pounds provided by the Duke of Leeds.

Subsequently, Oreal ordered the emptying of Port-au-Prince, with substantial quantities of food and ammunition dispersed and stored throughout Lasalle Mountain, enough to last for one or two years.

Lasalle was a significant mountain range in the central part of Santo Domingo, occupying nearly half of the island, providing ample space for maneuvering.

Oreal’s last presidential order before leaving Port-au-Prince was to call on the entire population to resist the British invaders.

Thus, Marquis Cunningham spent nearly 50 days sitting idle in Port-au-Prince, his only business being to hear about the casualties from attacks on his forces and calling in the newspapers for the people of Santo Domingo to come to the capital to re-elect Congress.

But the white locals were all French and paid no heed to the British officer’s recruiting efforts; the black locals, with blood in their eyes, only sought to kill British soldiers.