Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 559 - 470: The Anxious Leopold II

The chill breeze of early spring bent the wild grass outside the village of Jullay, revealing the mighty crowd beneath the slope.

The Austrian officer at the forefront pointed to the distant French camp and boomed to lift the spirits, "Let the French people taste our strength!"

The seven or eight hundred Austrian soldiers behind him immediately responded in unison, "Teach those mongrels a lesson!"

"Make them pay!"

However, when they arrived at the top of the slope with great momentum, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.

In the clearing outside the French army camp, there stood a group of Frenchmen, twice their number, forming a semi-circle, and sneering at them.

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"You..." The Austrian officer swallowed his saliva, pointing at the French Corps Commander he had agreed to fight, "You brought so many people, that’s downright despicable!"

The Corps Commander took a few steps forward, smiling, "If you’re scared, then run back home."

His words immediately drew laughter from the French soldiers.

The Austrian officer stiffened and retorted, "Who’s scared of you? Fight us with an equal number of men!"

"Being able to gather so many men is my ability," the French Corps Commander glanced back, "You can go back and call for more, but I’m afraid the cowardly Austrians don’t have the guts to come."

"Hmph, it’s just a matter of numbers? There are plenty of Austrian warriors!"

The French Corps Commander pulled out his pocket watch, flipping open the lid, "Fine, I’ll give you two hours. Let’s see how many you can bring."

Several Austrian officers returned to their quarters and related the French’s arrogant behavior. The Austrian soldiers, originally reluctant to fight for fear of punishment, were instantly angered. They rushed carelessly towards the clearing outside the French camp.

Two hours later.

The nearly two thousand Austrian soldiers looked triumphantly at the now visibly nervous Frenchmen. At the officer’s command, they surged forward en masse.

Seeing this, the French Corps Commander’s lips curled into a smile, and he turned to shout to his troops, "They’ve got too many men, retreat!"

The French men scrambled back towards the camp, though many were still caught by the Austrian soldiers and couldn’t escape being struck a few times.

The news of their victory in the fight quickly spread back to the Austrian camp, inspiring even more soldiers to come to watch the action or join in.

Almost an hour later, over three thousand Austrians blocked the entrance to the French camp, laughing scornfully at the battered and swollen-faced enemy cowering inside, venting out their previous grievances.

At that moment, intense hoofbeats sounded in the distance. Before the Austrian soldiers could react, they saw Marshal Lacy leading his guard and a large force of cavalry thundering towards them.

Lacy had received a "report" early that morning about soldiers seeking revenge on the French for previous fight-related punishments.

Having been recently reprimanded by Leopold II for this very issue, he had personally led a detachment back from the front at Breslau. And now, he witnessed the scene before him.

Soon, both factions, with bowed heads, were gathered together. Then Bertier arrived quickly and rapidly had his subordinates tally up the number of injuries amongst the French—more than 420 wounded.

Marshal Lacy eyed the French fighters with suspicion, sensing that they seemed to be relatively unharmed.

Bertier, with a gloomy 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. You must administer severe punishment!"

Lacy’s face also darkened as he glared fiercely at the troublemaking soldiers, nodding, "Rest assured, I will not show any leniency!"

...

Leopold II, who was busy with the matters of the Electoral Prince’s voting, frowned upon reading the report about the brawl between French and Austrian soldiers and couldn’t help feeling irritated.

The number of personnel involved from both sides had actually reached tens of thousands—following the French Army’s precedent, if anyone in the unit participated in the brawl, all officers were to be punished, which involved a large number of people.

The report stated that the punished French soldiers had all been recalled to their country for reorganization. Along with the ones previously sent back for brawling, the Kellermann Corps left in Silesia was now only half its original size.

He remembered the report submitted by the Finance Minister a few days ago, which stated that the supply consumption of the French Army in Silesia was almost double that of the Austrian Army of the same number.

The newly arrived Hungarian troops in Legnica had their logistics supplies squeezed as a result.

"These pampered French people, still so restless…"

Leopold II rubbed his forehead, recalling how he had just heard that even the French soldiers needed to boil their water before drinking.

Just then, his attendant handed over a letter that had just arrived from Paris.

Leopold II opened it to find it was from the Crown Prince of France, mainly containing strong protests against the beating of French soldiers by Austrian troops.

Yes, the incident occurred in the French Army’s camp, and it was the French soldiers who were unilaterally beaten—thus, it was the Austrian soldiers who came looking for trouble!

The artillery battalion commander who had provoked the Austrian soldiers was exactly the one Bertier had arranged under Joseph’s direction.

Before the brawl began, he had already instructed his soldiers to run at the first sign of conflict and not to fight back.

Because they ran quickly, there were less than fifty injured French soldiers, all with minor injuries. However, since Bertier’s men were the ones counting the casualties, and it took place in the French camp amid chaos, naturally, the numbers were whatever he said they were.

In the letter, the Crown Prince of France expressed dissatisfaction with the discipline of the Austrian soldiers, suggesting that the French and Austrian armies should be separated temporarily to reorganize their military discipline.

In the afternoon, Walter, who had gathered ministers opposed to France, also began to create public opinion—naturally, they claimed that it was the French Army’s discipline that had deteriorated, seriously affecting the combat efficiency of the Allied Forces.

In the end, Leopold II, troubled by a series of unfortunate events, replied to Joseph agreeing to allow the French Army to temporarily leave Silesia for reorganization.

This would also conveniently free up supplies needed for the newly dispatched Hungarian corps.

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On April 19, 1790, the last of the French troops pulled out of Silesia and began their journey home.

...

Paris.

Inside the carriage, Joseph, looking over Bertier’s arrangements for the French Army’s withdrawal from Silesia, couldn’t help but reveal a contented smile.

He had originally thought it would take several more disturbances before Leopold II would agree to "send away the plague," but the withdrawal of the French Army had been agreed to so swiftly.

It must have been because the Hungarian nobles, due to the cancellation of reforms, had provided substantial support to the Emperor, giving him confidence.

Now Silesia had become a "personal feud" between Prussia and Austria, allowing France to easily sit back and watch, then sell supplies to both sides.

As long as such international circumstances could be maintained for a few years, France’s catching up with England’s national strength was not a fantasy.

Joseph also thought of Perna’s contribution to this event and pondered whether he could award her with a medal or something, but he didn’t notice that sitting opposite him, Camellia’s cheeks were flushed red as she was getting ready for something.