I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 185

< The Age of Steel >

When a battle concludes, the victorious side enjoys the privilege of assessing the damage.

In reality, the defeated side barely has the *yoyuu* [Japanese word for ‘leeway’ or ‘room’] to properly assess anything.

If the victorious side also suffered significant damage, the atmosphere would be somber, but the French camp was practically in a festive mood.

They didn’t move immediately after winning the great victory, but that wasn’t because of heavy casualties.

Rather, it was because the results far exceeded expectations.

“So, to summarize, our casualties are less than 10%, with fatalities being less than 1%.”

“Yes. I didn’t believe it myself and told the Marshals to double-check. But the results were the same.”

Commander-in-chief Napoleon, as well as Berthier, who assisted him, initially suspected that the achievements were being exaggerated.

However, none of the current Marshals would dare to do such a thing in my presence.

More than anything, the captured supplies and the number of prisoners indirectly showed how great a victory France had achieved.

“Everything is good, but the number of prisoners is too high.”

“The problem is that the number of prisoners is still increasing. The retreating Prussian army was thoroughly routed by Murat…”

“That’s what I’m saying. Well, that means the Prussian army is beyond recovery, so it doesn’t matter if it takes a little longer.”

“I’m almost sorry I can’t see how the Prussian king will react when he receives this report.”

So far, it has been confirmed that over 20,000 Prussian soldiers have been taken prisoner.

The number of deaths is estimated to be similar, so about 40% of the troops have been lost.

In addition, the number of heavy artillery pieces captured by our side is 200, and about 100 enemy flags have fallen into our hands.

Conversely, the number of damaged flags on our side is not even three.

Normally, losing more than 20% of one’s forces is considered annihilation, but the Prussian army far exceeded that level.

At this point, it would not be an exaggeration to call it devastation rather than annihilation.

They lost more than 40,000 troops, and above all, they lost all their cannons to us, so how can they continue the war?

It is impossible to recover the troops, and even if they did, it would be impossible to fight again.

There are no cannons, the commander-in-chief level is dead or injured, and the cavalry is now virtually non-existent, so even the god of war can’t do anything with this.

It means that even the phrase ‘I still have twelve ships left for the god!’ cannot be said [referencing a historical anecdote about a naval defeat].

In effect, the war is over.

Having judged so, Napoleon now passed all decision-making power to me.

“Prime Minister, what are you going to do now? Shall we push north and occupy Hanover as it is?”

“No. That side is already finished, so there’s nothing more to gain even if we bother to go there. Actually, I knew we would win, but I didn’t know we would smash the enemy to this extent… I need to adjust the plan a little.”

“Actually, I didn’t expect this either. Above all, I never imagined that the 1st Corps led by Massena would have zero casualties.”

“Ah, that must have been a bit embarrassing.”

The reason why it took some time to grasp the situation was not only to accurately determine the damage and achievements of our troops.

Deep down, Napoleon was most concerned about an important axis of the Allied forces.

The presence of the British army had suddenly disappeared.

“Massena said for sure that he had never fought the British army, right?”

“Yes. Looking at the deployment, Massena’s 1st Corps should have been facing the British army. But in fact, the 1st Corps joined the center without much fighting. In fact, there were no troop losses at all.”

“That’s a strange thing.”

Where did the British army, which was clearly in place before the battle began, go?

It would make sense to say that they mistakenly thought there was something that wasn’t there from the beginning, but another testimony bothered me to dismiss it like that.

“Massena said he clearly heard the sound of cannons firing from the place where the British army was presumed to be. So at first, he thought they were fighting another corps, not themselves, and was thinking of going around to the side to support them.”

“But when he went back, there was no one there… so he hurriedly joined the center…”

“When I heard that far, I thought another corps had fought the British. But none of the Marshals said they had fought the British. I thought Massena was mistaken, so I even sent an investigation team, but the traces of firing cannons were clearly left. It seemed like they had shelled on a fairly large scale.”

Then who did the British fight and get defeated by?

No one on this side fought them, so did they have an internal conflict among themselves?

But looking at the direction in which the cannons were fired, that shouldn’t be the case either.

“Well… then there’s only one possibility that comes to mind, but this is such an absurd level of being mean that I can’t say for sure.”

No. If it’s England, not another country, wouldn’t that level of nasty behavior be possible enough?

Looking at the attitude that England showed to the South during the [American] Civil War, it wasn’t an entirely impossible inference.

However, if that’s really the case, it means that England is properly aware of our power, so we need to be prepared in our own way.

“By the way, we should give appropriate rewards to the commanders and soldiers who have achieved amazing feats this time… Do you have anything in particular in mind, Prime Minister?”

“Don’t worry about that. The position of Marshal of France is as good as promised to you, who led this war to victory.”

“Thank you. But looking at this battle alone, there are others besides me who have shown outstanding performance.”

“That’s right. We must give appropriate rewards to Murat’s unit, which made a great contribution to completely annihilating the Prussian army. And after all…”

Those who made the greatest contribution in this battle that no one can deny.

I have a pleasant worry about how to establish the status of the 2nd Corps led by Davout.

It’s natural to put them in the front row during the victory parade or give them generous bonuses, and what kind of event should we hold to keep them talking about it for a long time?

After thinking for a while, I came up with a good idea and spread out the map in front of the table.

“Anyway, the Prussian army is as good as finished, so they won’t even dare to stop us even if we advance, right?”

“Yes. We have already won this war.”

“Then let’s send a messenger to the King of Prussia. To make a peace treaty.”

“You mean to sign the surrender declaration.”

“Yes.”

I nodded and pointed to the place where the Prussian capital was with my finger.

“We should at least show our soldiers who led the war to victory what Berlin looks like, shouldn’t we?”

The show is better the more splendid it is.

The best place to put an end to this war is, after all, the most meaningful place for the opposing country.

What if they say they don’t like it because it’s humiliating?

If you don’t like it, keep fighting the war as it is.

With this one word, the Prussian side will be silenced.

Anyway, there is no choice for them now.

※※※

About 25 km southwest of Berlin, the capital of Prussia, is a city called Potsdam.

This city, which began to develop slowly from the end of the 17th century, reached a clear heyday during the reign of Frederick the Great.

And this city is also a very familiar name to those who have learned modern and contemporary history or world history.

At the end of World War II, after Nazi Germany’s surrender, the Potsdam Conference, where Allied leaders discussed the end of the Pacific War, was held here.

Of course, the future Potsdam Conference will be recorded as an event in which Prussia signed a humiliating surrender document to France.

“Wow~ is that the Sanssouci Palace or something?”

“It’s a palace built by the Prussian bastards, but the name is taken from our French.”

“If those rustic German bastards want to build such an artistic palace, they will naturally be influenced by us. Isn’t that right?”

“By the way, the day will come when guys like us will be walking around such a wonderful palace. I’m glad I believed in the Prime Minister’s words and fought hard.”

The 2nd Corps led by Davout had the honor of entering Potsdam at the very forefront of the French army.

Not only that, but I was escorted and entered directly into the Sanssouci Palace, where the armistice talks would be held.

This palace, built by Frederick the Great and used by him personally, has considerable significance for the Hohenzollern royal family.

Discussing humiliating armistice negotiations here would have been a significant blow to Prussia’s pride.

In particular, the reaction shown by Joseph II, who boarded this meeting almost as a free rider, was very dramatic.

He came out of the palace garden and joined me, with a bright smile as if he had everything in the world, and strode towards me.

“Oh, brother-in-law. You’ve finally arrived. Come on, let’s go in together.”

“You could have waited inside, but why did you bother to wait outside?”

“France and you are the main characters of this meeting, so I can’t shamelessly act like the owner. I am very satisfied just to be able to stand side by side with you.”

Joseph II was so friendly that I wondered if this person was such a bright character.

The solemn atmosphere and dignity as an emperor that I felt when I saw him before were nowhere to be found.

Of course, I understand.

If you were to pick the most threatening enemy to the Habsburg royal family, it would undoubtedly be Prussia.

The defeat suffered during the Seven Years’ War not only dealt irreparable damage to the Holy Roman Empire, but was also constantly eating away at the country.

Even Theresa, the empire’s most beloved leader, could not overcome this.

Joseph II, who loved his mother more than anyone else but suffered from a strange sense of inferiority, had accomplished what his mother had not.

Of course, he achieved this without lifting a finger, but isn’t it the nature of this industry that a person who rides a bus is happier than a knight?

In a group project, I got an A+ without doing anything, but my name is at the top.

The feeling that Joseph II is feeling is exactly similar to this.

“The decisive battle was won by us, France, but from the beginning, this war was between the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia. The reason why Prussia fought a short-term battle with us was because they feared the great army of the Empire coming up from the south. So it can be said that the Empire indirectly helped our victory.”

“I don’t know what to do because you say that. This is really, I am convinced again that supporting Marie and your marriage was the best thing I did in my life. I really don’t know what would have happened if my mother had continued to oppose it at that time.”

“If you consider that far, it can be said that the reason why this situation was created was thanks to His Majesty’s wise decision at that time. In fact, it must not have been an easy decision to entrust the princess of the Habsburg family to me, who was an illegitimate child even though I was a prince of France.”

In fact, some nobles in the Imperial Diet, who were only proud, had been criticizing Theresa’s decision until recently.

Because it was such a successful marriage alliance, they couldn’t say anything openly, but they were grumbling behind their backs.

And Joseph II was naturally well aware of this fact.

He shook his head, jumping up and down, as if he was worried that I might be upset by this fact.

“There will always be those who don’t know the subject and babble. Of course, from now on, I will take responsibility and punish those who put such nonsense in their mouths, so you don’t have to worry about it at all.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t have it in mind from the beginning.”

“Still, the fact that such words come out itself is an act of degrading the dignity of the Empire. I have to sweep away those who are thinking of slandering the benefactor of the Empire. How can those who can’t even thank the Empire’s benefactor be called nobles?”

I feel like he’s trying to build up something using me as an excuse, but I feel strangely uneasy.

The story of an illegitimate child is highly likely to be the very story he brought up last time to block the source.

I had a premonition that there was a 99% chance that it was related to the next emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Was bringing up the story of marriage a planned action to bring the topic this way?

Then I can’t just let it happen.

It’s good to be an emperor, but the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire is like being the leader of a hopeless team project made up of hopeless brothers.

It is a true group of despair where half of them do nothing, and half of them do nothing and even interfere with the project.

Send our child to a place like this?

I have no intention of doing so, so I deliberately changed the subject to another topic.

“But has Your Majesty specifically planned what demands to make of Prussia?”

“Of course. First of all, we must bring the Saarland unconditionally to keep our promise to you. And the Ruhr area you mentioned? I’m thinking of demanding that too.”

“That side can use the waterways of the Rhine River, so it has been a fertile land since before. Moreover, according to our investigation, it is also the best mining area, so they will never let go of that side either.”

“What can I do even if I don’t like it? No matter how much I resist, we can just forcibly suppress and occupy it with force.”

That’s certainly possible, but what we’re aiming for is not such a coercive method.

If we’re just going to eat it for a while and throw it away, we can use that method, but then there’s no point in mobilizing the Empire, which is in the same cultural sphere, to do the work.

In addition, unlike the Saarland, which briefly shined in the 19th century and then declined, the Ruhr is a key area that is still the largest industrial area in Europe to this day.

We have to stick a straw in and suck it as long as possible.

“In the long term, this region will play a very important role in the alliance between the Empire and us. So, let’s take it as smoothly as possible. There is a way.”

“You seem to have a good idea, tell me. I will fully cooperate.”

“There are three main areas that the Empire needs to take this time. Northern Bavaria, Saarland, and the Ruhr area, which have been on Prussia’s side until now. If you’ve heard this far, you’ll immediately get a sense of it. The two electorates that will be most anxious right now. If we tell Hanover and Saxony not to hold them accountable and cooperate in the Empire’s taking of the Ruhr, how will they react?”

They will probably welcome it with both hands and put more pressure on Prussia than anyone else.

It is not only about getting the Ruhr in hand, but also about completely breaking up their alliance centered on Prussia.

Whether it was a satisfactory proposal, Joseph II, who was smiling happily, suddenly turned his gaze to the black soldiers guarding my back.

“Black people who have escaped from slavery show off their stronger combat power than anyone else and make achievements, and escort the Prime Minister of the Great French Kingdom… Seeing this sight, I realize that the times are definitely changing.”

“Yes. Starting with this meeting, people will realize that a new era, different from what they have been, is coming. It’s also a historic moment to end a century right now.”

People often called this war the great war that decorated the end of the 18th century.

Most of the media companies that reported on the outbreak of the war decorated the headlines with such expressions.

But ending an era also has the meaning of ending, but it also symbolizes the opening of a new era.

Now, Joseph II and others can only draw abstract pictures, but not me.

At least I could accurately say what the new era of earth-shattering changes would look like.

From the beginning, all these wars were a process to prepare for that change.

Nouvelle France accumulated huge cash through the Civil War and succeeded in building the form of an industrial city surrounding the Great Lakes.

The French mainland has acquired the best mine supply sources, Saarland and Ruhr, following Alsace-Lorraine.

In addition, there is a huge amount of reparations to be extracted from this war, so no matter how much investment is made, there is no burden on this side’s finances.

Decisively, the patent period that guaranteed the profits of the steam engine made by James Watt is about to expire.

When that happens, many technicians will start to improve and use the engine in their own way.

The maturation of science and technology and the preparation of a system that can utilize it to the extreme are perfectly intertwined.

England and other European countries will be watching France’s national power because of this war, but it doesn’t matter.

Much faster than they imagine, I will go out to a level that cannot be compared with anyone.

I. This Louis Christian will usher in a new era in the truest sense of the word, with steel and steam covering the whole world.

< The Age of Steel > End