Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 530 - 441: Stubbornness and Conservatism

"Your Highness, what suggestions do your generals have for this plan?" Leopold II asked hesitantly.

Though not well-versed in military matters, he had at least attended a military academy for two years, and the combat plan proposed by the Crown Prince of France seemed too aggressive to him.

Joseph smiled and said, "My opinion is their opinion."

"Very well, I understand," Leopold II nodded after sipping his wine, "I will seriously consider your plan and suggest that Marshal Lacy fully cooperate with you."

"We will surely emerge victorious," Joseph toasted, "To the Franco-Austrian Alliance."

"To the Franco-Austrian Alliance."

As Joseph and the Holy Roman Crown Prince discussed the Silesian campaign, in a corner of the ballroom, a pair of malicious eyes shot daggers at Camellia standing behind him.

"Damn whore!" the owner of the eyes cursed under his breath, "I will make sure you, and your French master, pay the price!"

This man was Baron Walter, the cousin of Leopold II’s wife. Following the incident of false accusation, he was confined by his furious brother-in-law for over a month and had only recently regained his freedom. Moreover, he had lost 150,000 florins over the incident, which was almost his entire fortune.

Actually, he could have endured all these, but the memory of being ruthlessly mocked by his fellow scoundrels for boasting about the girl who couldn’t escape his grasp, and then finding himself the laughingstock, made him infuriated every time he thought about it.

After he cursed to himself, Walter slumped down in dejection. All of Austria was depending on the French to achieve a breakthrough in Silesia—at this point, not just he, but even his brother-in-law had to be polite to the young man.

He did not know that Camellia would be attending, and now, with no desire left to participate in the ball, he took the opportunity to slip out of the hall.

...

Silesia.

The southwest border of Legnica.

The Austrian Commander-in-Chief Marshal Lacy carelessly passed the letter just received from Vienna to the officer next to him, frowning as he spoke:

"The French know nothing of war. And yet the Crown Prince expects me to cooperate with them!"

General Wilmze took the letter with a look of surprise, quickly scanned it, and then smirked disdainfully:

"They must be mad to concentrate all the cannons at Ferhlabi!"

Naundorf took the letter from him, frowning immediately:

"Moving all the cannons to the west side will leave our forces without defense capabilities along the lengthy front. Before we can even commence our attack, the Prussians will have broken through our lines and even marched into Koniggratz!"

Ferhlabi was on the western side of the Prussian-Austrian front lines, while Koniggratz was an Austrian province adjacent to Silesia.

Indeed, according to Joseph’s battle plan for Silesia, the first step was to end the stand-off between the cannon batteries of the Prussian and Austrian forces.

On the extensive front line, both the Prussian and Austrian sides had deployed over two hundred cannons each. Under such circumstances, even the bravest troops determined to suffer heavy casualties would find it difficult to break through the enemy’s defense.

This was perfectly acceptable for Prussia, which was focused on securing Silesia. But for the attacking Austrians, such a scenario would be a colossal failure.

So after discussing with Bertier, he decided to gather the cannons spread across dozens of kilometers of the Austrian battle line and concentrate the firepower to breach the Prussian defense.

Once a gap in the Prussian Army was "chiseled" open, the Guard Corps could take advantage of its ability to outflank and penetrate, rushing into Legnica from behind and drawing the Prussian troops to intercept.

At that time, the Austrian main force could choose to strike where the enemy’s main forces had departed, amassing their troops to launch a surprise attack and devour those artillery positions.

As for Naundorf’s concern that "the Prussians might attack first", not only was there a delay in intelligence gathering on the Prussian side, but even if they truly launched an offensive, it would actually be beneficial for Austria.

If the Prussian Army left their cannon defenses, the Franco-Austrian Army would have the opportunity to strike at their living forces. They could even adopt a "fortress besieged" strategy to draw out more Prussian troops.

Joseph had great confidence in the Guard Corps’ ability to engage in direct combat. As long as the difference in troop strength wasn’t too great, the Guard Corps could swiftly rout any Prussian unit.

Of course, this battle plan seemed far too risky in the eyes of the Austrian military. After all, old-school officers like Lacy, whose thinking was still stuck in the times of the Seven Years’ War and who had not studied the campaigns in North Africa or the Southern Netherlands in detail, would definitely conclude that it was impossible to consolidate the defense line. Moreover, Lacy was originally more adept at defensive warfare, and this current situation was his preference.

Three days later.

In the Austrian Silesian Army Headquarters, Joseph looked helplessly at the officers of the general staff:

"So, does anyone have any suggestions now?"

At the recently concluded Franco-Austrian military meeting, Marshal Lacy had completely rejected Joseph’s operation plan, and his attitude was very determined.

Lefevre shook his head and said, "The Austrians actually plan to concentrate a hundred thousand troops to forcefully attack Carpathia."

"Unless the Prussians are so dull that they ignore the movement of tens of thousands of men, such an attack will only lead to needless casualties."

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Someone suggested, "Or perhaps we could exert pressure on Lacy from Vienna?"

Bertier sighed, "I fear that won’t be easy to accomplish. Marshal Lacy’s prestige within the Austrian military is very high, and unless His Majesty Joseph II personally orders it, it is difficult for others to command him."

Everyone fell silent. Currently, Joseph II was only lucid for one or two hours a day and was entirely unable to speak.

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"You just mentioned prestige?" Suddenly, something occurred to Joseph as he looked at Bertier, "I do remember a general who commands great respect in the Austrian Army."

"Are you referring to General Leao?"

"Exactly."

Joseph nodded, reflecting:

"We must break the current deadlock. And General Leao is the only Austrian officer unaffected by Marshal Lacy’s influence."

Joking aside, General Leao was the hero who turned the tide and reclaimed the Southern Netherlands, leading his troops into Brussels and driving Vandernoot to the Netherlands.

Of course, all this was the result of Joseph deliberately "creating a star", but the Austrians unaware of the truth had already hailed him as the "Netherlands Spears".

"But Your Highness, Leao’s command ability..." As Lefevre, who had worked with Leao on numerous occasions, was all too familiar with his limitations, "Frankly speaking, he might have difficulty taking on any serious responsibility."

Joseph nodded, then glanced at the map on the table: "However, sometimes a general who can’t defeat the enemy has his merits.

"As long as he remains Austria’s ’Netherlands Spears’, I believe he can stir up the stalemate in Silesia."