Chapter 895: 803: Information Warfare in the 18th Century

Chapter 895: Chapter 803: Information Warfare in the 18th Century

“Occupied Leuven?” Dawu was the first to react, immediately exclaiming with surprise, “Then Prussia and Austria will be unable to deploy troops directly to Southern Netherlands.”

Lefevre immediately echoed, “They’re left with only one route from the north via Scheveningen to get around to Brussels.”

Dawu contemplated the Crown Prince’s earlier words and added, “This also means that the Duke of York cannot retreat eastward to Gelderland. He’s practically a lone army!”

Indeed, the Duke of York still had Holland behind him, but everyone automatically disregarded it.

The Dutch could at best provide supplies for the Allied Forces, but their army was hardly worth mentioning—the most elite Dutch soldiers were under Davidoivich’s command, and in previous battles, they were among the weakest performers. Moreover, those ten-plus thousand troops were currently holed up in the western city of Ghent, completely cut off from the Duke of York.

Joseph nodded, “And we, on the other hand, can recruit reinforcements from the Walloon Region and the Flemish Region.

“Then we will continue advancing northward to The Hague, perhaps even Amsterdam.

“At the very least, we must conquer the northern territories of the Flemish Republic to ensure Brussels’ future stability.”

The officers present were immediately invigorated; His Highness was planning to directly invade Holland! This was a grand feat reminiscent of the Sun King’s era!

Yet at the same time, they felt a bit apprehensive.

After all, their forces were at a disadvantage, especially with too few French Soldiers, meaning any proactive attack would be quite risky.

Lefevre, ever cautious, suggested, “Your Highness, perhaps we should wait for the new recruit camp in Paris to finish basic training and deploy around 5,000 additional troops here to ensure our safety.”

Joseph shook his head lightly, “You need only trust the Flemish forces.

“As long as we reach Antwerp, we will quickly gain over ten thousand Flemish soldiers.

“When the time comes to attack Holland, they’ll be even more fervent.

“We can arm them with the weapons captured from the Austrian Army, and the logistics will primarily be handled by them.

“As for the new recruits from Paris, send them all to Italy. The pressure over there is still incredibly high.”

France’s population advantage made it relatively easy to conscript over 2,000 new recruits each month.

Additionally, recent victories in both the Southern Netherlands and Italy had significantly boosted public enthusiasm for joining the military.

However, Joseph did not wish to send undertrained recruits to the battlefield as cannon fodder, nor did he want excessive conscription of able-bodied men to harm domestic production, so he deliberately controlled the number of new recruits.

Though France, having completed land and tax reforms, might not reach the explosive recruitment speeds of the First French Empire in history, it could still comfortably conscript about 7,000–8,000 recruits monthly.

Just as Joseph finished speaking, a military officer quickly entered the tent and handed a military report to Lefevre, whispering, “General, this just arrived from Freiburg.”

Lefevre opened the report, scanned it briefly, and turned to Joseph, saying, “Your Highness, Wilmze led 30,000 Austrian troops southward five days ago. It seems they intend to reinforce Mantua.”

Thanks to the 4 million francs France spent constructing a dense network of Sharp Signal Towers—with the southernmost reaching the Alpine Pass and the northernmost extending to Namur in central Southern Netherlands—updates on Austrian troop movements reached Joseph almost without delay.

Out of those five days, four were spent smuggling the intel out of Freiburg—Austria’s westernmost territory—which, though adjacent to France, was separated by the Black Forest Mountains. For the intelligence bureau to relay the information in just four days was already highly efficient.

The officers in the tent all turned their gaze toward Joseph. Mula showed a shocked expression, “Your Highness, you really predicted it; the Italian Front Army urgently needs reinforcements.”

Lefevre furrowed his brow and continued, “It seems the Austrians are determined to retake Milan.

“Wilmze personally heading to Italy means sending only a few thousand recruits to Colonel Bonaparte won’t suffice.”

Joseph narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who currently commands the Austrian Army in Freiburg?”

Lefevre glanced at the report, “It’s Count Baye von Latour, Your Highness.”

“Him.” Joseph tapped his fingers lightly on the table, deliberating, “It seems we’ll need to revise our operational plans.”

Latour ranked among Austria’s top-tier commanders; historically, he played a significant role in the Rhine Campaign. However, he was no match against Moro.

Lefevre asked cautiously, “What do you mean, Your Highness?”

Joseph’s gaze shifted toward Mantua Fortress, Austria’s last stronghold on the Italian Peninsula. His finger tapping suddenly ceased, and he decisively commanded, “Reassign Moro’s Royal Third Infantry Division to the Italian Front Army, along with three Royal Cavalry Artillery Battalions. Oh, and also send those thousands of new recruits all to Colonel Bonaparte.”

Everyone was momentarily stunned.

They were discussing reinforcing the Italian Front Army, but His Highness was sending an overwhelmingly strong reinforcement!

The Royal Third Infantry Division was the core force of Moro’s army—if it was transferred, how would the battles around Basel be fought?

Lefevre quickly protested, “Your Highness, isn’t this too risky? If Latour attempts to forcefully cross the Rhine, Moro’s forces will…”

Joseph nodded understandingly, “I fully understand your concerns.

“But this time, we must fully leverage our information advantage to create synergy along the entire front line.”

Lefevre and the others exchanged bewildered glances. “Information advantage”? “Synergy”? They understood the individual words but were unclear on their combined meaning.

Joseph, noticing the officers’ expressions, didn’t find it surprising.

After all, there was no concept of information warfare during this era, so he patiently explained, “We have the Sharp Signal Machine, allowing communication between different front armies to take at most three to five days. Meanwhile, the enemy needs at least twice that time.”

He was actually being conservative here. If troops were within France, internal communication through signal towers often took less than half a day, primarily depending on the time it took for cavalry to deliver messages from frontline command to the towers.

Joseph continued, “I suspect that once the Italian Front Army launches its offensive, the Emperor of Sanctum will likely continue deploying reinforcements from Freiburg to Mantua.

“In that case, Moro’s forces will face no pressure and could even mount counterattacks.

“If Latour doesn’t send forces to Italy but instead presses forward into Basel, Moro can retreat from the Rhine River defense line entirely and fall back to Lorraine.

“In this scenario, Austria’s troops in Italy will certainly be defeated by Colonel Bonaparte.

“Afterward, he can either besiege Mantua Fortress or bypass it entirely, heading directly north to Venice.

“Meanwhile, we can draw soldiers from Massena’s army to defend Lorraine.

“The key point is, no matter how the enemy maneuvers their forces, our communications will outpace theirs, allowing us to respond more quickly and concentrate our attacks on their weak points!”