The day after the surrender ceremony ended, Duke of Brunswick, with 400 soldiers—including several dozen cavalry and two cannon, to demonstrate that his "organization remained intact"—returned to Prussia under French Army escort.
At the same time, Joseph left Diekirch and returned to Paris.
There was little left in the Rhineland campaign that required his attention.
With Massena's heavy forces besieging Cologne Fortress, its capture by the French Army was merely a matter of time.
Once Cologne was under control, the entire Rhineland would be completely cut off from Germany. Without Allied Forces reinforcements, places such as Geldern, Aachen, and Cleves had only one possible outcome: surrender.
What Joseph now had to consider was how to end this war and begin digesting its gains.
From Cleves and Cologne in the north to Mannheim in the south, France's gains in this war were immense.
Including the entire Rhineland, the West Bank of the Rhine was now wholly in France's hands.
In other words, the "natural borders" the French had dreamed of were now a reality.
If managed well, France could defend itself along the Rhine River in the future, multiplying its strategic security.
This was a tremendous achievement that would shelter generations of French descendants!
Even if a powerful nation emerged around France in the future and sought to attack it, it would first have to confront the insurmountable barrier of the Rhine River.
And France would no longer need to exhaust its people and squander its wealth building some Maginot Line.
Nor could enemies hope to circle through Belgium to attack France—Brussels was now French territory as well.
Of course, truly swallowing the West Bank of the Rhine would be far from easy...
As Joseph gazed out the window in a daze, Lefebvre, seated across from him with a bandage around