Chapter 644: Peaceful Wallonia in the Southern Netherlands

Chapter 645 The peaceful Wallonia region of Southern Netherlands

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As Franz II opened the financial report, his brows immediately wrinkled.

He raised his eyes and looked at Baron Turgut: "Our debt has reached 110 million florins?"

According to Austria's propaganda, the total debt is only more than 70 million florins. Although Francis II had access to real data when he was crown prince, he did not care about it.

Baron Turgut nodded helplessly and said: "I'm afraid that's the case, Your Majesty. You know, His Majesty Joseph II's reforms were met by the nobles... cough, which made the finances a little tight. After that, we invested a lot in the Silesian War. Military spending, then last year’s Serbian rebellion…”

Francis II replied angrily: "Then our trade encountered competition from the French."

"That's true. Last year, our country's trade revenue fell by more than 7 million florins."

Francis II looked at the long series of zeros after the debt figure on the report, and suddenly felt guilty and said: "Given our country's poor financial situation, shouldn't we be too tough on foreign affairs? I mean, if we really want to go to war, we military spending may be unsustainable.”

Baron Turgut recalled His Majesty the Emperor's scornful aura at the meeting just now, and couldn't help but secretly shake his head.

He took a deep breath and said:

"Your Majesty, the French's finances are even worse. Their debt is 800 million florins."

Franz immediately showed a confident smile: "You are right, so we should never show weakness to the French!"

Baron Turgut took the opportunity and said: "Your Majesty, our country has been experimenting with banknotes for several years. If it can be fully promoted, it will play a great role in improving the finances."

"Paper money? Well, I know, both the British and the French are doing it." Franz II waved his hand, "I will be busy with the coronation in the past few months, let's wait until the coronation is over."

He turned to the third page of the financial report and suddenly asked with some surprise: "Why do we have to pay so much to the Poles for military expenditures to suppress the Serbian rebellion?"

Military expenditures for counterinsurgency totaled 9 million florins, of which more than 6.5 million were spent on the Poles.

Baron Turgut said: "Your Majesty, you know that the Hungarian nobles do not care about Slavonia. Therefore, the Polish army led by General Kosciuszko is actually the main force in suppressing the rebels."

He coughed dryly: "Well, actually, we still owe 1.5 million florins in unpaid soldiers' salaries."

"For the Polish soldiers?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Francis II seemed a little unhappy: "Let these Poles go back and mobilize the Royal German Legion to Slavonia to quell the rebellion."

Baron Turgut was startled. The cost of deploying troops from Vienna to counter the rebellion was much higher than that of the Poles. Otherwise, the Polish army would not have been hired in the first place.

But he immediately thought that the rebellion had been compressed to a very small scale and should be over soon, so he bowed and said: "Yes, Your Majesty. I will convey your will to the Military Council."

Francis II added: "As for the salaries of those soldiers, we have been protecting Poland from being annexed by the Russians, so they are also obliged to eliminate the rebels for our country."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Turgut didn't think it was a big deal. After all, for a weak country like Poland, what can we do if we owe them a little payment?

…

Southern Netherlands, Wallonia region.

Several carriages with carriages covered with black cloth stopped in the northern suburbs of Mons.

The driver glanced at the setting sun and was about to call the people on the bus to unload the goods when he heard a whistle sounding around him. More than 30 police officers emerged from the dilapidated farmhouses and bushes, blocking all roads.

The driver and the dozen or so people who got out of the car looked at each other, quickly drew out the flintlock rifle in the car, hid behind the car and shot at the police.

But the policemen were obviously well-trained and did not panic at all. Instead, they gathered together and launched several rounds of volleys under the command of their superiors.

Sawdust flew from the carriage. Less than half of the people in the car were killed immediately.

Then, the policemen rushed forward with guns fixed with bayonets.

The battle ended in just a few minutes. Except for three people who knelt down and surrendered, all the people in the carriage were shot to death.

A policeman stepped forward and lifted the black cloth on the carriage, revealing neat wooden boxes inside. Several of the boxes had holes made by bullets, revealing the black flintlock guns inside.

Not long after, two police officers reported to the commanding officer: "Sir, there are a total of 120 British Brown Bess flintlock guns. No gunpowder and bullets were found."

The police officer's heart trembled. Fortunately, there was no gunpowder, otherwise the shooting just now might have caused an explosion.

He waved his hand and said: "Take it back for interrogation and be sure to find the ammunition as well."

At the same time, in a small town south of Gant, the police raided a secret stronghold where a meeting was taking place and arrested more than 40 people from inside - these people were plotting an armed riot.

Outside the city of Namur, the police intercepted an armed squad of more than 80 people who was sneaking into the city. After a fierce battle, they all were shot dead or arrested.

Similar situations unfolded across the Wallonia region. A large number of militants armed with flintlock rifles intended to cause chaos, but were beaten by the fierce Wallonia police and were unable to fight back.

Southern Netherlands.

Middleburg.

A British intelligence officer put the loss report on George Kevin's desk with a grim face and said in a deep voice: "Almost all of the more than 200 people were lost. The plan can only be temporarily suspended."

The assistant of the British Foreign Secretary frowned: "Captain Pickering, you have been making arrangements for half a year, but there is not a single place that can cause chaos as planned?"

The intelligence officer lowered his head and said: "The police in Wallonia are not only extremely numerous, but also have combat capabilities that are not inferior to the army. We fought more than 80 people in Namur against 50 policemen, and were defeated by the enemy in just ten minutes."

Kevin frowned even deeper.

According to Lord Grenville's plan, the British intelligence department recruited armed thugs in the Flemish region of the Southern Netherlands - there were many remnants of the Brabant riots there, and it was easy to recruit people - and then sneaked into the Walloon region to attack the Dutch-speaking residents there.

Yes, although the Walloon region is mainly French-speaking, there are still many people who speak Dutch.

If the plan is successfully implemented, they will then publicize in the Flemish region that "the thugs in the Walloon region are persecuting Dutch-speaking residents." Under their instigation, the Flemish region, which mainly speaks Dutch, will inevitably rush to the Walloon region for revenge.

With the British secretly providing weapons and equipment, this conflict will be extremely tragic, and the entire Southern Netherlands will fall into chaos.

However, what the British intelligence department did not expect was that the police in the "undefended" trade zone of Wallonia were so difficult to deal with.