Chapter 471: The Frustrations of Leopold II
The early spring wind bent the wild grass outside the village of Jülich, revealing the massive crowd gathered below the slope.
An Austrian officer at the front pointed toward the distant French camp, loudly rallying his troops, "Let's show those French dogs what we're made of!"
The seven or eight hundred Austrian soldiers behind him immediately responded with a thunderous shout, "Teach those bastards a lesson!"
"Make them pay!"
However, as they reached the top of the slope, they all suddenly came to a halt.
On the open ground outside the French camp stood twice as many French soldiers, forming a semi-circle and watching them with cold smiles.
"You..." The Austrian officer swallowed hard and pointed at the French captain who had arranged the fight. "You brought this many people? That's just cowardly!"
The French captain took a few steps forward and smirked, "If you're scared, go back."
His words were met with roars of laughter from the French soldiers.
The Austrian officer straightened up, trying to maintain his composure, "Who's scared of you? Fight us with the same number of men!"
The French captain took out a pocket watch and opened it. "Fine, I'll give you two hours. Let's see how many men you can gather."
The Austrian troops returned to their camps and described the arrogance of the French. The Austrian soldiers, who had initially been reluctant to fight for fear of punishment, became enraged and headed toward the open ground outside the French camp.
Two hours later, nearly 2,000 Austrian soldiers were staring smugly at the visibly nervous Frenchmen. At their officer's command, they charged forward.
The French captain, seeing this, let a smile slip across his face and shouted to his soldiers, "There are too many of them! Retreat!"
The French troops scrambled back to their camp in disarray, but many were caught by the Austrians and suffered a few blows.
The news of the victory quickly spread back to the Austrian camp, encouraging even more soldiers to join in or come to watch the spectacle.
An hour later, over 3,000 Austrian soldiers gathered outside the French camp, mocking and taunting the battered French soldiers who cowered inside, relishing the chance to vent their frustrations.
But then, the sound of approaching hoofbeats filled the air. Before the Austrians could react, they saw Marshal Lacy leading his personal guard and a large cavalry unit towards them at full speed.
Lacy had received a "report" early in the morning that some soldiers were planning to take revenge on the French over the punishments from the last brawl. Having been reprimanded by Leopold II for the previous incident, he immediately returned from the front lines at Breslau to personally address the situation.
Now, seeing what was happening, he gathered the involved soldiers from both sides. Shortly after, Berthier arrived and quickly reported the number of injured French soldiers—over 420.
Marshal Lacy eyed the French soldiers suspiciously, noticing that they didn't seem too seriously hurt.
Berthier, with a dark expression, said, "The injured have been sent to the field hospital. Marshal, your men came to our camp to cause trouble and injured so many of our soldiers. You must severely punish them!"
Lacy, equally grim-faced, glared at his men and nodded firmly, "Rest assured, I will show no mercy!"
Leopold II, busy with the electoral vote for the Holy Roman Emperor, frowned as he read the report on the French and Austrian soldiers' brawl. He couldn't help but feel a wave of irritation.
The report stated that those involved on the French side had already been sent back to France for reorganization, including those punished for the previous incident. As a result, Kellermann's corps in Silesia was now down to half its original strength.
He recalled the finance minister's recent report, which highlighted that the French army's supplies in Silesia were consuming nearly twice as much as the Austrian army's. The Hungarian troops that had just arrived in Liegnitz had even seen their rations reduced because of this.
"These pampered French... and they still can't behave themselves," Leopold II muttered, rubbing his forehead. He'd heard that the French soldiers insisted on boiling their water before drinking it.
Just then, his aide handed him a letter that had just arrived from Paris.
Opening it, Leopold saw that it was from the French Prince, expressing strong protest against the Austrian soldiers for beating French soldiers.
Yes, the incident had occurred in the French camp, and since it was the French who were beaten without retaliating, this served as evidence of Austrian misconduct.
The artillery captain who had provoked the Austrians had been placed there under Berthier's orders, following Joseph's instructions. Before the brawl began, he had instructed his men to run away as soon as the fighting started, without fighting back.
As a result, only about 50 French soldiers were injured, and all of them were lightly wounded. However, with Berthier's men counting the injured and the chaos in the French camp, it was easy to exaggerate the numbers.
In the letter, the Prince expressed his dissatisfaction with the Austrian soldiers' lack of discipline and suggested that the French and Austrian forces should be separated temporarily for discipline and reorganization.
Later that afternoon, the anti-French ministers led by Baron Walter began to stir public opinion, accusing the French army of poor discipline, which they claimed was severely affecting the allied forces' combat effectiveness.
Frustrated by all these issues, Leopold II finally sent a reply to Joseph, agreeing to temporarily withdraw the French troops from Silesia for reorganization.
This also conveniently freed up supplies for the newly arrived Hungarian corps.
On April 19, 1790, the last of the French troops withdrew from Silesia, starting their journey back to France.
Paris
In the carriage, Joseph looked at Berthier's report on the French army's withdrawal from Silesia and couldn't help but smile contentedly.
He had thought it would take more incidents to convince Leopold II to send the "troublemakers" away, but things had gone smoother than expected.
It likely helped that the Hungarian nobility had given Leopold significant support after the reforms were canceled, boosting his confidence.
Now, Silesia had become a "private matter" between Prussia and Austria. France could sit back and watch, selling supplies to both sides.
If this international situation held for a few more years, catching up to Britain's power wouldn't be just a fantasy for France.
Joseph then thought about Perna's role in the recent events, wondering if she deserved a medal. He didn't notice that across from him, Camellia was blushing deeply, preparing something in secret.
(End of Chapter)
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