Chapter 632 French Rapid Reaction Force

Chapter 633 French Rapid Reaction Force

Lützke climbed up the short mountain under the leadership of the officer, and saw representatives from Austria, Britain, Bavaria and other countries gathered here. A major wearing a Baden military uniform was pointing down the mountain and loudly saying something to everyone. .

"Gentlemen, this joint military exercise 'Steadfast Will' is held to practice how France and Pakistan can resist when trade routes within our territory are attacked. It is not targeting any country."

This rhetoric was naturally drafted by Joseph. Officer Baden was just following the script.

The officer motioned to the guards to distribute the binoculars to the negotiators, and continued: "This exercise will be conducted by a mixture of 1,800 soldiers from the Baden Royal Guards and 48,000 soldiers from the French Royal Guards Corps.

"The exercise troops will be divided into blue and white armies and will conduct a week of offensive and defensive exercises around Karlsruhe. The exercise subjects include: urban defense, outflanking and counterattack, pursuit and counterattack..."

Lützke's face turned a little dark. 50,000 French troops suddenly came here to conduct exercises. Who could not see their intentions?

Coupled with the name of the exercise - "Strong Will", it is almost as good as hanging a sign in the trade negotiation hall saying "France is not happy, France is very angry".

Another intensive sound of artillery came from the bottom of the mountain, which made Lutsk's eardrums sting.

He raised the telescope he had just obtained and looked down the mountain. Amidst the dust and smoke, large groups of soldiers in blue or white military uniforms were shuttling back and forth in extremely neat formations, stopping from time to time for a few rounds. Round salvo.

Between the infantry formations, "White's" horses dragged more than a dozen cannons and flashed through the smoke.

These artillerymen moved extremely fast and arrived on the right side of the "Blue's" infantry line in an instant, and then skillfully set up artillery positions. The officer simultaneously began to measure and calculate.

In just three or four minutes, those cannons had completed all preparations, loaded quickly, and aimed at the "Blue" infantry that was close at hand.

At this moment, Lützke's heart was twitching for those infantrymen, and it seemed that the next moment he would see the sight of flesh and blood being torn apart by the terrifying artillery fire.

However, thousands of hussars from the "blue side" suddenly emerged from behind the infantry, lined up in neat arrow formation at extremely fast speeds, and roared towards the enemy's artillery positions.

At the same time, "Blue's" artillery also appeared near the high ground not far away. More than ten cannons spit out flames at the same time, tearing a gap in the "White's" infantry array.

But the "White" infantry was extremely tenacious - the rear team quickly moved away the "bodies" of their companions, stood in the position of "sacrificial" soldiers, and then fired back at the officer's order...

Tens of thousands of soldiers, artillery, and war horses were mixed together in the open land in front of them. There were constant roars and shouts. The thrilling and chilling scene made Lützke's scalp numb and his heart beating wildly.

In fact, he didn't know much about military affairs, but the French army moved quickly, the queues were neat, and the command was orderly. He could tell at a glance that this was an extremely powerful elite division.

This was also specially arranged by Berthier for laymen like him - the negotiators this time were basically military laymen - 50,000 troops were crammed into this narrow area with a length and width of only 4 kilometers, and the two sides of the exercise directly They were strangled face to face, which seemed extremely fierce. In addition, there was no need to talk about tactics, and the blood boiled with excitement, so these negotiators were instantly restrained.

I don't know how long it took, but the negotiator from Salzburg suddenly said angrily: "These arrogant French people only have tens of thousands of troops. They want to scare us with this..."

The Augsburg negotiator Baron Heinemann on the side put down his telescope, glanced at him meaningfully, shook his head and said: "Viscount Schorn, haven't you noticed the most terrifying thing about this exercise?"

"What do you want to say?"

Baron Heinemann took a breath and said, "Do you remember when the motion for Britain to join the Treaty of the Rhine-Seine was proposed?"

"Count Fredericks proposed it a month ago." Viscount Shawn said without thinking.

Heinemann nodded: "This French military exercise is obviously aimed at the vote on this bill. In other words, France only took more than 20 days to gather 50,000 troops and arrive on the south bank of the Rhine River."

When Shao En heard this, his expression suddenly froze, and he became sullen and stopped making any sound.

Lützke also frowned.

You know, after Salzburg proposed a motion, it took about a week for the news to reach France. Even if France immediately decides to conduct exercises...

He subconsciously said: "So, it only took them more than 20 days to complete the army assembly..."

Baron Heinemann sighed again: "No, Mr. Lützke, if the French Royal Guards Corps is conducting the exercise, then they probably only took three or four days to complete the assembly."

"What? How is this possible?!"

"The French Guards Corps is usually stationed near Paris." Heinemann said, "It takes at least 20 days to march from Paris to Karlsruhe. So there is only three or four days left for them to assemble."

All the negotiators looked at him in unison, with shock in their eyes.

It took three or four days to complete the assembly of a 50,000-strong army, complete with cavalry and artillery. The French army's mobilization ability, speed of action, and efficiency in mobilizing logistics supplies were simply heart-stoppingly high!

The comparison is that when Austria launched the Silesian War, it took a full month and a half to barely complete the assembly of 60,000 vanguard troops.

Of course, no matter how successful Joseph's military reform was, it was impossible for the Guards to complete the assembly of 50,000 troops within four days.

He just played some tricks here.

In fact, there were only 25,000 Guards soldiers in the French army that came to Baden this time. After receiving the order, they took a week to complete the assembly, with almost no baggage, and arrived in Baden at a high speed for 14 days.

At the same time, 23,000 people were drawn from the old army stationed near Lorraine and Verdun, carrying logistical supplies to Baden.

Since these places are very close to Baden, they have more than half a month to assemble and prepare.

During the exercise, the old army only needed to line up in infantry lines to fill the scene, and all the quality "performances" were completed by the Guards.

But the negotiators on the hillside could not see the difference. They just thought that France had sent 50,000 elite troops from Paris to the south bank of the Rhine in more than 20 days.

More than an hour later, the "Resolute Will" military exercise entered a pause.

The negotiators on the hillside returned to the Karlsruhe Palace one after another with solemn expressions. However, the rumbling of the artillery just now seemed to still echo in their ears, making it impossible for them to calm down and think about the trade agreement.