#842 - front
Joseph nodded, holding the girl's slender fingers, and after another farewell, he turned and got into the carriage.
埃芒 signaled the escort to depart, and Camellia, along with several maids, jogged over from a distance with the Crown Prince's luggage, cooking utensils, and such—all of which she had brought from Paris.
Joseph watched as the maidservant put the things into the carriage behind, hesitated for a moment, but then saw the doctor小姐 gracefully walk to the carriage and wink at her: "I'm leaving His Highness to you during this time."
"Yes, please rest assured, I will make His Highness's life as comfortable as it would be in the Palace of Versailles." The maidservant nodded earnestly and hugged Perna, "I hope the war ends soon, and everyone can return to the Palace of Versailles."
As the carriage began to move, a rapid "clatter" sounded from the road to the north, a carriage sped over, and then was stopped by a team of the Crown Prince's guards.
Fouché got out of the car first, followed by Sander, who looked nervous.
The two came to Joseph, and the Director of Intelligence bowed first: "Your Highness, I brought Mr. Sander. We arrived in Brussels at noon, only to find out that you had already left."
Sander also hurried forward and bowed: "Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince…"
Joseph glanced at the marching column that had already gone far away and gestured to the two of them: "Get in the car, we'll talk as we go."
The guards raised the Crown Prince's flag, fluttering in the wind, and the convoy started again.
In Joseph's carriage, Sander put his hands on his chest and said to Joseph earnestly and eagerly: "Your Highness, please believe me. I didn't take a single cent from that Bolton guy, and I didn't reveal anything to him, I swear!
"I really didn't report this to the Intelligence Bureau, that's my fault.
"But you know, I'm from Birmingham, and the Intelligence Bureau will most likely investigate me because I've been in contact with a fellow villager with ulterior motives, which will seriously affect my research work…"
Joseph smiled and gestured to the desserts on the wooden table: "Don't be nervous, try these maple apple pies, they were made by the Queen's pastry chef, you should like them.
"I have always trusted you, just like sailors trust their compass. I asked you to come here, not to question you…"
Sander breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said: "Your trust is more important to me than air. Oh, if that damn profiteer comes to me again, I'll tie him up and send him to the Intelligence Bureau!"
Joseph waved his hand with a smile: "No, no, actually, I need you to contact Mr. Bolton as soon as possible."
"Ah? Contact?"
"That's right. You have to gain his trust." Joseph pointed to the dessert again, "Aren't you really going to have some? Just help me out, the Queen sent too much.
"If necessary, you can even reveal some unimportant technologies to Bolton. Then, you have to go to England, and Mr. Fouché will send someone to cooperate with you. You have to do this…"
After Joseph finished speaking, Sander, who was holding the apple pie, had already widened his eyes: "Your Highness, is this, is this going to work?"
"It definitely will." Joseph leaned forward, "After you come back, I will personally help you propose to Countess Gzavier."
An hour later, Sander and Fouché got out of the car halfway and went straight back to France.
……
Because there were many old troops in the team, the LeFebvre Legion's marching speed was not fast.
Joseph's convoy chased the vanguard from the rearguard, and finally arrived at the Ardennes Plateau one day ahead of the main force.
Just past the city of Bastogne, Joseph could already hear the rumbling of artillery fire from the east from time to time.
Then the convoy encountered the reconnaissance cavalry of the Massena Legion.
Ardennes Plateau.
In Wiltz, at the French army headquarters, Massena heard the report from the rangers and exclaimed: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is coming to the front line?!
"God, this is impossible? It's too dangerous, we are surrounded by nearly 100,000 enemy troops!"
But after the rangers told him that the Crown Prince was approaching Winseler, Massena hurriedly turned around and lay on the map again.
After a while, he instructed Saint-Hilaire: "You personally lead the cavalry battalion and spare no effort to push the enemy troops in Grosby 1 kilometer south, their artillery may hit the Eschdorf position."
"Yes, Commander."
"Wait, send some more troops to the Weilerbach side as well. Be careful of Ferdinand suddenly launching an attack from there…"
After Massena made a series of deployments to the defense line, he himself immediately rushed to Eschdorf. That is the core of the French army's defense line in the southern part of the Ardennes Plateau, and it is also the position that the Crown Prince is going to inspect.
……
Three kilometers southeast of Eschdorf, behind a breast wall, infantryman Auror supported his firelock and peeked at the Prussian army over there.
It's very quiet, but you can't take it lightly. After all, the intervals between enemy attacks have been shortening these days.
He tugged at his collar to block the wet and cold wind.
Although it was only early winter, the minimum temperature in Luxembourg had already dropped below zero due to Europe not yet emerging from the extreme climate.
"I wonder how long we have to stay in this ghost place?" Auror complained to the soldiers beside him, warming his hands, "The company commander told us before that we were here to beat up the Prussian-Austrian coalition and get military merits…"
His fellow villager André spat out the grass leaf in his mouth and echoed: "But the result is that we have been surrounded and beaten for more than half a month!"
No mistake, one song, one hair, one content, one look, one look!
"My sister wrote to me a few days ago asking me how many German bastards I killed…"
"Hey, if only we were in the Second Infantry Regiment. I heard they won a victory in Neuerburg, destroying at least three Thuringian regiments."
"I heard it was five…"
"Ah—I've had enough, I don't want to shrink here for a moment!"
"Me too…"
"What are you yelling about?" A sergeant walked over and glared at them, "Have you checked your guns and ammunition?"
The soldiers stood at attention and said: "Yes, Sergeant, we have checked it several times!"
"We, just want to launch an attack on the enemy."
"Yes, that way we can get more military merits…"
"Don't worry, the counterattack is coming soon." Although the sergeant said this, he didn't have any confidence in his heart.
He suddenly remembered something and smiled: "By the way, 'Miss Delvaux's banquet' is coming to our battalion today. People from the Seventh Battalion said yesterday that they made stewed beef with mashed potatoes."
The soldiers cheered when they heard this.
The only thing that could make them happy on this cold plateau was the time to improve their food once every 5 days.
The so-called "Miss Delvaux's banquet" was the "Flying Kitchen" invented by Camellia, but the soldiers gave it a more intimate and caring name.
Due to the insufficient number of battlefield dining cars, each battalion had to wait 5 days for the dining car to serve them once.
But even this frequency could instantly bring back the decline in morale caused by the uncomfortable weather and the enemy's siege.
