Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 1504 - 1410: The Eastern European Meat Grinder

Chapter 1504: Chapter 1410: The Eastern European Meat Grinder

The few people sitting by the dock immediately fell silent.

Jager frequently visited Southern Germany and knew Austria was extremely resistant to France due to their defeat, so they certainly wouldn’t allow the Swiss Federation to join the "Stuttgart Trade Agreement."

After a while, a warehouse-owning merchant gritted his teeth and said, "Which bastard decided to join the Swiss Federation!"

"The lords of the Congress cannot sell us out for their Holy Rome Emperor!"

Someone stood up: "That’s right! Let’s go to the market square and demand the Congress repeal..."

The market square, known as the "Red House," was the location of the Basel Congress building.

The person proposing to protest at the Congress received no response, and he quickly slumped back down.

All of them had personally witnessed the scene a month and a half ago when hundreds of soldiers suddenly emerged, surrounded the protesters, and fired shots to disperse them.

Before that, the entire state’s military and police force in Bern had fewer than 200 people; the troops that came to suppress them were clearly newly summoned by the Congress.

How could they, mere merchants and sailors, be a match for the Congress’s minions...

At this moment, a middle-aged man in a deep gray flax jacket with a sharp look came up beside Jager, sized him up, and took off his black felt hat, saying, "Excuse me, aren’t you Mr. Nils Jager?"

Jager glanced at him and waved his hand: "I’m not interested in the ’Steamship Association.’ You see, I don’t even have the money to pay the membership fee."

"You’ve misunderstood..."

"I also don’t need a captain."

The man in gray took a step closer: "I have a business that needs your help."

Jager frowned and waved his hand: "Sorry."

He knew well enough that if someone sought him out privately instead of going to the Shipping Association, the cargo must be contraband.

He was already planning to sell his ship, and didn’t want to get into trouble in these last few days.

The man in gray whispered, "Mr. Marti sent me."

Jager was taken aback and signaled for him to come to an open space, asking, "Where is it being shipped? What cargo?"

Marti was one of the main organizers who pushed for Basel’s alliance with France last time, and he had considerable influence among the citizens.

"Shipping back some... uh, dangerous goods from Esslingen."

Jager shrugged helplessly: "It’s not that I don’t want to help, but you know, if it were from Buchhorn it would be fine, but the smuggling team is very strict with inspections of goods coming from the north."

Buchhorn is a port city on the north shore of Lake Constance in Austria, northeast of Switzerland. Esslingen is a city in Wurttemberg, subjected to Southern Germany’s market tariffs.

The man in gray nodded: "You needn’t worry, someone will handle the smuggling team issue."

Jager backed away while saying, "Don’t deceive me, this could land me in prison."

The smuggling team directly answers to the "Council of Seven" of the Congress.

But the man in gray spoke with confidence: "I won’t hide it from you, there’s a big figure in the Congress providing support."

Over ten days later.

Jager was personally steering his "Red Violin" river cargo ship, nervously gazing at the waters ahead, his palms sweaty.

He couldn’t believe that Mr. Marti had actually procured over 400 Flintlock Guns from Wurttemberg!

Those things were now piled in his hold.

Several times along the way he considered just dumping them into the Rhine River. If discovered by the smuggling team, it wouldn’t simply be a matter of going to prison, he would be hanged.

But when he thought of what Marti might be attempting, he convinced himself—if Marti managed to control the Congress, then maybe he could avoid financial ruin.

Over an hour later, Jager could already see the lighthouse outside Basel Port through his binoculars, and soon enough, a smuggling team’s boat "as expected" appeared on the southern side.

The lightly armed oar and sail ship with several Six-pound Cannons clearly spotted the "Red Violin" and turned towards it, causing Jager’s heart to leap into his throat.

However, when the two vessels were still two or three hundred meters apart, the smuggling team’s ship suddenly slowed down, watching as the "Red Violin" slowly passed it on the port side.

Yes, although Frenno and other Members of Parliament’s influence was not as strong as the "Council of Seven," they had been around Basel for many years, surely they had their own connections.

Previously, negotiations regarding the Swiss Federation in Zurich had almost reached an end, and when they were feeling desperate, a mysterious person informed them that they could seek help from Wurttemberg.

Afterwards, they met with an advisor from the Wurttemberg Royal Family, who expressed willingness to provide weapons and funding to help Basel "escape Vienna’s" control.

As for Wurttemberg, since allowing Russian and Austrian troops passage during the last Anti-French Alliance war, it had been troubled by its "stain." Upon receiving Talleyrand’s hint, they immediately dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the Basel intervention endeavor.

That night, Frenno’s steward personally led a group to the dock to load hundreds of wooden crates onto carts, transporting them to the villages south of Basel.

...

Northeastern city of Poland, Mogilev.

At the Polish Army’s frontline headquarters, General Mokronovsky pointed to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River on the map, excitedly speaking to Kosciuszko:

"Marshal, this is a perfect opportunity for us to break through the Russians’ defenses!

"I suggest mobilizing the Lithuanian reserves from Vilnius to Mogilev; this time we can definitely push the frontline directly to Smolensk!"

General Madaliniski beside him appeared very cautious: "Marshal, we cannot easily trust those Russians. This might just be one of Kutuzov’s traps..."

Mokronovsky immediately interrupted him: "You are being overly cautious. Currently, our forces are on the offensive all along the Dnieper River. Even if the Russians intend to ambush, we can completely adjust the focus of our attack to Mozhili or Orsha after some probing."

General Madaliniski coldly replied: "We have already lost too many soldiers in previous fierce assaults. We must not take risks so easily again!"

His words instantly garnered the agreement of several officers, but Mokronovsky still had many supporters on his side.

Since last autumn, tens of thousands of Polish troops had been continuously attacking Kutuzov’s Dnieper River defense line.

Although Russia was engaged on two fronts in the Transcaucasia and Dnieper regions, resulting in Kutuzov never managing more than 80,000 troops, more than half of which were newly conscripted recruits, he relied on a steadfast turtle defense strategy to keep the Polish Army consistently at bay on the west bank of the Dnieper River.

During this time, they even launched several effective raids against the Polish Army through the fortress in Kyiv on the west bank.

In less than three months of battle, the Polish Army had suffered over ten thousand casualties.

As the harsh winter set in, the Polish Army’s offensive paused for a while, followed by the muddy conditions caused by spring rains.

It wasn’t until May that Kosciuszko resumed