General Würmser's bitter struggle
"Yes, he should be in the Hall of Mirrors by now. It seems you also admire this talented musician."
Vitoluca added, thinking that the Crown Prince of France was somewhat resistant to the topic of "having fewer mistresses," and quickly tried to cover it up. "Oh, by the way, His Majesty and I have already discussed it, and we will at least prepare a dowry of 1 million Florin for Clementine."
"She is our most beloved daughter, and we hope she can live happily in Paris..."
One Florin is roughly equivalent to 2.5 Livre, which is definitely a very generous dowry.
When Joseph heard her start talking about dowries, he was immediately speechless, and sighed inwardly, "My goodness, Clementine is my cousin! Your own family name is also Bourbon [Note 1], so you're practically a close relative. If I were to marry your daughter, all my descendants would probably be born with intellectual disabilities and deformities..."
"Actually, I think Vienna is better than Paris. It's mild in winter and cool in summer, and full of artistic atmosphere." Joseph didn't know how to change the subject, but just then his eyes caught sight of a spring gushing out of the window, and he exclaimed, "Oh, that must be the spring that His Majesty Matthias admires?"
Matthias was a Holy Roman Emperor in the 17th century. He came across a sweet spring and was so fond of it that he built a Hunting Palace there, which was the precursor to the Schönbrunn Palace.
Vitoluca frowned inwardly, sensing that the Crown Prince of France seemed reluctant to discuss his marriage to Clementine.
"That's not the Beautiful Spring, my dear, it's in the Royal Gardens."
She took a deep breath and continued with a smile, "We are all from the noblest and closest family. If you have any complaints about Clementine..."
"Cough cough cough--" Joseph thought to himself, "My dissatisfaction stems from the fact that we're 'family'! Are you determined to finalize the marriage today?"
He pretended to bend over and cough violently, waving to Eman: "This damn Pneumonia, cough cough, please get me some medicine."
The latter was taken aback. Hadn't His Highness's Pneumonia not flared up for a long time? But he reacted quickly, stepping forward to support Joseph, and at the latter's signal, pushing through the crowd and heading towards the lounge.
Vitoluca watched Joseph's retreating figure, a look of confusion on his face.
In the following days, apart from discussing trade agreements with Leopold II and Austria officials, Joseph used Pneumonia as an excuse to decline all banquets and social engagements, avoiding Clementine's mother, Vitoluca, as much as possible.
After the framework of the France-Austria-Germany Trade Agreement was roughly agreed upon, he immediately bid farewell to Joseph II and fled back to Paris.
Vitoluca accompanied the Honor Guard to see Joseph off to a place a few miles southwest of Vienna, but he didn't get to say much more to him— the Crown Prince of France's Pneumonia seemed to be quite serious, as he coughed violently whenever he spoke.
She frowned as she recalled the information she had gathered about Joseph's love life over the past few days. The Crown Prince of France only had one woman by his side: a female doctor, three years his senior, of humble origin, who preferred to dress in men's clothing. Besides that, he had virtually no other women. Why was he avoiding marriage with Clementine?
You see, Leopold II was already set to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, and his daughter's status was absolutely worthy of him.
She turned to her husband and whispered, "My dear, Crown Prince mentioned anything about the engagement?"
Leopold II recalled for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Trade agreements are very important, and that's what we usually discuss. Occasionally we'll talk about hunting or shipbuilding, but we rarely touch on matters of the heart."
Vitoluca frowned again, then suddenly pulled Leopold II aside, his expression serious. "You must have a serious talk with your sister about Clementine's marriage. It would be best to set the wedding date in the form of a formal letter of credence."
May 2, 1789.
More than 17,000 Austria soldiers and 3,000 Bavaria soldiers left Luxembourg, an exclave in the West Austria, and marched along the border with France toward Liège, a border town in the Southern Netherlands, a few dozen kilometers away.
Inside the Carriage at the front of the procession, a general with graying temples but a calm and capable look in his eyes gazed out the window and casually asked the officer beside Carriage, "Lieutenant Colonel Haydn, how far are we from Liège?"
The latter quickly took out a map to check it, then turned to say, "General, it's less than 3 li away. If we march normally, we should arrive by tomorrow afternoon."
The "ri" he was referring to is Auli, which is approximately 20 kilometers.
The old man in the Carriage was General Würmser Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Army. He nodded and asked, "Has any news come from Muzil's Corps?"
"Not yet, General. But according to their message yesterday, they should have entered Longuen by now."
Longuen is a city north of Liège, bordering Brabant to the west, and serves as a link between the two rebellious cities. Muzil led a lightly armed legion with only a small amount of logistical supplies. According to General Würmser's plan, they marched Forced March, bypassing Liège, and went straight to this strategic location to block the Brabant Rebels from coming to support Liège.
At the same time, this place could also serve as an early warning for the Prussian Army — Longuen was an essential route for the Prussian Army to advance south.
Everything was proceeding according to plan. Just as Würmser was about to draw the curtains, he suddenly remembered something and instructed the officer, "Oh, right, send someone to contact the France and have them transport the supplies for three days from now to the South Liège. By then, we should have already occupied that area."
"Yes, General!"
Lieutenant Colonel Haydn raised his cap in salute, turned his horse, and rode off to deliver the order to the messenger.
General Würmser drew the curtains and smiled at General Ernst Bavarian Army commander sitting opposite him, "The Marquess of Wahlstatt's army was still in Cologne yesterday; he certainly didn't expect us to arrive in Liège so quickly."
The Marquess of Wahlstatt is none other than General Blücher, the Prussia general who led troops to intervene in the Dutch Patriots' Party. He is currently serving in the Duke of Brunswick's vanguard corps.
Ernst nodded in agreement. "Even if the Prussian Army Forced March immediately, they will encounter Colonel Muzil's ambush at Longuen. We have at least a week to deal with the rebels in Liège."
Thanks to logistical support from France —which, of course, France claimed was merely a routine trade in grain and iron— the Austrian Army carried almost no Logistics and Baggage, allowing them to march at an extremely fast pace and arrive in the Southern Netherlands earlier than the Prussia were closer in distance.
General Würmser leaned back in his chair, looking quite relaxed. "You overestimate those rebels. According to the intelligence sent a few days ago, they only have fewer than 4,000 men, and most of them are farmers who have never fought a war. It shouldn't take that long to defeat them."
"My plan is to surround Brabant before the Prussia arrive. If the Duke of Brunswick insists on intervening in this war, you will be in charge of the encirclement, and I will lead the main force back to fight the Prussia."
→
In truth, his battle plan was very reasonable.
The Prussia, rushing to reinforce the Brabant rebels, would likely be less vigilant. The Austrian Army would then have a good chance to ambush them. Even if they were unlucky and failed to ambush them, they could at least choose advantageous terrain as the battlefield for the decisive battle.
General Würmser then brought up the "rumor" he had heard. "Do you know anything about His Majesty Ottodor's plan to exchange Lower Bavaria for Southern Netherlands?"
General Ernst said, "It seems the France were involved as notaries to ensure neither side breaches the agreement. So there's a good chance the territorial exchange will be completed this time."
"Then after the rebels surrender, you won't need to return to Munich," General Würmser laughed. "You can go directly to Brussels to greet His King. After that, you'll be promoted at least two ranks."
In their view, the rabble of the Southern Netherlands were nothing more than walking soldiers, and the fighting would be over by the end of the month at the latest.
While they were envisioning the future, 5,000 soldiers of the Austrian Army Muzil's Corps were in a predicament in Longuen that was causing them great distress.
A cavalry scout discovered people making spiked roadblocks near a village. Just as they were about to question them, a priest with a pitchfork and dozens of farmers blocked the road.
The cavalry captain smiled contemptuously and ordered his men to line up and prepare to charge through these suicidal rabble.
Based on his experience, when the warhorses were still more than Domi away from those people, they would be so frightened that they would hide everywhere.
Eleven cavalrymen lightly pulled on the reins, urging their horses forward, and then simultaneously drew their Saber.
Just as they were preparing to launch their attack, a burst of gunfire rang out from behind. A horse was hit in the thigh and fell to the ground along with its rider.
The priest immediately roared and charged forward with wide eyes, followed by the peasants who, armed with sticks and farm tools, surged toward the Austria cavalry.
The Austria were momentarily flustered, not expecting these lowly people to dare to launch an attack.
In the short time it took to hesitate, the priest with the pitchfork had already rushed to within seventy or eighty meters of them.
The cavalry captain hastily swung his sword forward and shouted, "Forward! Jog!"
"Run!"
"Prepare for battle!"
Ten cavalrymen charged toward the ragged peasants like savage beasts. When they were less than ten meters away from the priest at the front, just when they thought the priest would dodge his warhorse, he raised his trident and thrust it at them.
The cavalryman opposite the priest moved with practiced ease, flicking the reins to the left, gliding past the pitchfork, and then lightly slicing the priest's chest with his Saber, the blade protruding and spraying blood.
Encouraged by the priest, the peasants behind them also did not back down and used their rudimentary weapons to attack the Austria cavalry.
However, the gap between them and professional soldiers was too great. They paid the price of seven or eight lives, but only managed to slow down the cavalry.
Without the priest's guidance, the remaining farmers were finally demoralized by the blood and corpses, and began to drop their farm tools, shouting as they fled into the bushes on either side.
Just as the Austria cavalrymen were about to breathe a sigh of relief, gunfire erupted again from behind, this time at a much closer distance than before.
The cavalry captain turned his head and his expression immediately turned serious. There were Louis XVI or seventeen men carrying Flintlock Gun, lined up in a Horizontal Formation, blocking their retreat.
He gritted his teeth and ordered his men to turn back and report to the main force. But the farmers who had just fled turned back, wielding their farm tools and glaring at them menacingly...
Half an hour later, most of the Austria cavalrymen were killed by Flintlock Gun and clubs, with only one man escaping the village severely wounded.
At the same time, Muzil's Corps had just chosen their Camp and was pitching their tents when suddenly hundreds of Southern Netherlands rushed out from a dry riverbed not far away, opened fire on the Austria, set several fires haphazardly in the camp, and then, as darkness fell, disappeared into the riverbed.
By the time the Austria caught up, the other side had already escaped using their familiarity with the terrain.
Although the attack only killed about a dozen Austria soldiers, it forced them to remain on high alert all night, preventing them from getting a proper rest.
Similar situations occurred everywhere in Longuen, where Protestantism priests took on the heavy responsibility of organizing civilian attacks on the Austrian Army. They had only received two thousand Flintlock Gun from the Netherlands half a month earlier, yet they dared to launch attacks everywhere, much to the annoyance of the Austria.
To deal with these ever-present raids, Muzil's Corps marched at a snail's pace, finally reaching the vicinity of Longuen's city three days later.
The cavalrymen Colonel Muzil sent to deliver a message to General Würmser, except for one who got lost, were all intercepted and killed by the Rebellion. Even when Würmser led his main force into battle against the Liège rebels, he was still unaware of Longuen's situation.
In Liège, however, the situation for the Austria was not as optimistic as expected.
On a high point, General Würmser watched through his Telescope as the Southern Netherlands Rebels crumbled instantly under the Skirmisher Charge, and a smile crept onto his lips.
This rabble had absolutely no combat experience and set up their line formation on a sloping hill, attempting to defend from a high vantage point.
However, the Austrian Army launched a strong attack from the left side of the slope, which is the side with higher terrain in the horizontal direction.
The Southern Netherlands, already at a disadvantage in terms of equipment and manpower, were unsurprisingly defeated.
General Würmser had just ordered his cavalry to pursue the routed enemy when the Southern Netherlands suddenly disappeared into the woods not far from the low hill.
He frowned immediately, feeling nauseous as if he had swallowed a fly—a similar scene had occurred the day before yesterday. Those rebels were clearly very familiar with the terrain, and by the time his cavalry caught up, they had already scattered and fled. In the end, he only managed to capture less than two hundred rebels.
Although he won a great victory in this World War I, nearly a day had passed from deploying his troops to probing attacks and finally breaking through the enemy lines.
After the battle is over, we'll need to rest and regroup. We won't be able to continue marching until at least noon tomorrow.
He had been delayed by these despicable Southern Netherlands for three whole days, and was still nearly ten kilometers away from the town of Liège.
Yesterday, the France sent representatives to inquire why the supplies shipped to the South Liège were not accepted and were mostly seized by the rebels.
[Note 1] Maria Vitoluca is the daughter of Carlos III and the younger sister of the current King Carlos IV of Spain. Both the Spanish Royal Family and French Royal Family families are of the Bourbon family and are closely related by blood.