#870 - Recalling the Roman Era

Chapter 866: Reminiscing About the Roman Era

As Minister of Finance, Brienne did not show any concern about the huge expenditure, but instead seemed quite excited: "The military expenditure is indeed very high, Your Highness, but it is absolutely necessary."

"I have spoken with Duke Broglie, and we both believe that if the war goes well, we may be able to completely conquer the German region in at most two years, or even a year and a half!"

"Our army will eventually reach the Vistula River…"

Joseph immediately covered his forehead; the Vistula River was already on the Polish border. Was the Prime Minister planning to swallow Western and Central Europe in one gulp?!

He looked at Mirabeau and Vergniaud with questioning eyes.

The two immediately nodded in agreement.

Joseph couldn't help but sigh.

He had been with the army all this time and thought that this kind of war frenzy only existed in the military, but now it seemed that even the French cabinet had been overwhelmed by the previous series of great victories.

Well, France is indeed a martial nation.

Looking at it this way, Napoleon's blood rushing to his head in history, and fighting all the way to Moscow, should also be the result of the whole country pushing together.

But Joseph knew very well that this kind of military-only doctrine was a very dangerous concept.

He looked at Brienne seriously and said, "Why should we occupy the entire Germany?"

"Why?" Brienne was stunned for a moment, and said as a matter of course, "Our army is invincible, Your Highness, now is a good opportunity to let the glory of France shine on the entire Europe!"

Joseph shook his head slightly: "Do you think our national strength is enough to support us to do this?"

"Of course…"

Joseph interrupted him: "No, Archbishop Brienne, it's far from enough.

"I believe that if we use all our national strength, our brave army may be able to defeat all the major opponents in continental Europe, until we occupy Berlin and Vienna."

A flash of ecstasy immediately flashed in the eyes of Brienne and others, but they heard the Crown Prince change his tone:

"But that is not what we need at the moment.

"Please always remember that in the competition between countries, war is only one of the determining factors, and politics, economy, and culture jointly affect the final victory or defeat.

"What we want are real territories, provinces that identify themselves as French and are loyal to the King of France, rather than a bunch of constantly rioting 'problem areas'.

"Occupying Germany will only cause our country's finances to be constantly consumed in maintaining the security of the occupied areas. Please don't forget that before that, we have almost exhausted our national strength due to large-scale wars.

"The final result will only be one, that is, the riots will drag down our country's finances, and eventually we will have to withdraw from those places."

There was one thing Joseph didn't say, and that was that this kind of occupation would accelerate the national awakening of Germany, and eventually promote the unification of Germany.

And history has proved that Germany will become France's nightmare for more than a century, and several times interrupt France's extremely important development opportunities.

Brienne and Mirabeau looked at each other, and asked with some doubts and unwillingness: "Your Highness, but currently General Masséna's troops are rushing to Switzerland and attacking Bavaria from there.

"General Berthier's heavy troops are gathered in Koblenz and can cross the Rhine at any time to occupy the North Rhine. At the same time, the Napoleon Legion is also attacking Mantua fiercely…"

"And these troops are constantly advancing according to your orders, isn't this going to launch a full-scale attack on Germany?"

Joseph couldn't help but smile and waved his hand: "You probably misunderstood my strategic intention."

He motioned to Emmanuel to bring the map and place it on the table, and moved his finger down the Rhine River: "Natural borders, gentlemen, this is our most practical goal at present."

The so-called "natural border theory" refers to the fact that the most perfect territory of France should be: no matter which direction it extends from, it can find a natural barrier.

The Pyrenees Mountains in the south, the Alps in the east, and the long coastline in the west.

Therefore, since more than a hundred years ago, French politicians have believed that the Rhine River is the border given to France by nature.

Mirabeau continued: "Your Highness, we have already obtained the west bank of the Rhine."

"Only occupied," Joseph corrected him, "not really obtained yet."

He looked at the several important ministers in front of him: "In the next few years, our country's most core task is to integrate the Rhineland into France.

"And the attack on Bavaria and the stationing of troops in Koblenz are all for the safety of the Rhineland.

"Oh, I will discuss this matter in detail with you at the cabinet meeting the day after tomorrow.

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"As for the direction of Northern Italy, we mainly want to increase our control over there and completely squeeze Austria out.

"Of course, before that, Mantua will serve as a trap to constantly consume Austria's strength."

Brienne still struggled a bit: "Your Highness, are we going to stop at the west bank of the Rhine forever?"

Joseph looked at the vast European continent on the map and smiled: "When the Rhineland can be used as our forward base, when Italy becomes our backyard, when our country has the entire North Africa, and when our national strength is looking down upon the entire Europe, maybe we can try it."

A thought suddenly popped into his mind. If there really is such a day, the area controlled by France, except for the Ottoman area, is already very close to the Roman era…

Northern Italy.

Mantua Fortress.

Beaulieu looked at the countless French troops retreating like a tide, and was so excited that he almost burst into tears.

He had been besieged by Napoleon in this ghostly place for more than a month, and could only eat the salted meat stored in the fortress every day, as well as the sour wine, enduring the continuous artillery fire of the French army, and almost abandoned the fortress to surrender several times.

Fortunately, the Wurmser's army finally broke through the French defenses and arrived here.

And that damn Napoleon was also very sensible, and didn't dare to confront the army at all—Wurmser's army had more than 30,000 people, and later His Majesty the Emperor transferred 10,000 troops from the direction of Switzerland, plus the Argentau's army that retreated to the fortress, and the defeated soldiers he had gathered one after another, the total strength had reached more than 70,000.

However, Napoleon only brought 50,000 troops, as well as more than 10,000 Sardinian troops with low combat effectiveness, and had to divide more than half of the troops to Verona in the north to intercept the reinforcements sent by the empire.

However, General Wurmser cleverly divided his troops into three routes, quickly bypassing Verona, making the French army on the north side useless.

And the 25,000 French troops near Mantua also quickly retreated under the threat of Wurmser's army.