Chapter 788 Bishop Minoffel
After thinking for about a minute, the representative of the Orthodox Alliance signed the document and stamped it with a seal symbolizing the supreme power of the Orthodox Alliance.
After returning to Lucerne, the representative handed over all his powers to the then State Secretary Konstantin Siegvoort.
A month later, tax collectors from the Liberal Alliance began to enter the states of the Orthodox Alliance to prepare to take over state taxation.
Only then did the states of the Orthodox Union discover that their state representatives had actually sold their states' fiscal and taxation powers to their enemies.
When angry people began to search for the representative, the latter had already arrived in the United States and lived a wealthy and leisurely life.
Of course, this money naturally came from the alliance's reserve fund, and half of the money raised for the war was directly taken away.
In order not to alarm the bank, the representative specially found a French black marketeer to help. The intermediary fee was already close to one million Swiss francs.
This incident directly put the Orthodox Alliance into a passive situation, but fortunately, it was only a personal signature of the state representative and not recognized by the states.
Naturally, the power of fiscal and taxation is related to the livelihood of each state, so it is not easy to give up the power of taxation. Therefore, the tax officials of the Free Alliance have been rejected. No state in the Orthodox Alliance is willing to give up its power of fiscal and taxation.
This situation cannot continue forever. The Orthodox Alliance proposed a negotiated solution, but the Free Alliance obviously did not want to negotiate. When the former thought that things would continue to be stalemate, the latter issued an ultimatum.
"If both parties cannot reach an agreement, then the Federation will declare the Orthodox Alliance unconstitutional."
When things have developed to this point, both sides have understood that a war is inevitable. The Free Alliance has notified the British ambassador before, so the news of the Swiss Civil War is already on its way to Britain.
In addition, the Freedom Alliance has also made many deployments, and has been intensifying its troops over the years. Although it did not meet the expectations of veteran Dufour, it still managed to create an army of 130,000 people, but the equipment was ridiculously poor.
In order to ensure victory, the Free Alliance will seal various mountain passes while the great powers intervene, and at the same time send fleets to intercept all ships on Lake Geneva and Lake Constance, waiting for the British to deal with the great powers.
But before that, the Free Alliance must win the war, otherwise everything will be in vain.
The Orthodox Alliance was much more chaotic. In addition to a group of idiots who naively thought that the Free Alliance would come to Lucerne (the nominal capital of Switzerland at this time) to negotiate, there were also Jesuit priests from the Papal States who were causing trouble.
That's right! Pius IX came again, and this time he sent the strongest general in the Papal State, Bishop Minofil the "Invincible".
This man only participated in three battles in his life. One was to wipe out an army of unbelievers who desecrated the holy city. In fact, he was a criminal gang composed of only three people.
Another time was the elimination of an evil witch and her evil army, which was actually an old woman and her five sons who couldn't pay taxes.
The last time, and the greatest victory achieved by the Papal States in recent years, Bishop Minofil the "Invincible" led a Papal State army of half a million people (actually 20,000) to put down the rebellion in San Marino.
Note: At that time, the permanent population of San Marino was 4,300, and fewer than 200 people participated in the rebellion.
Constantin Sigvot has admired the "Invincible" for a long time, and Bishop Minofel also decided to show his hand.
"Bring the defense map!" Pastor Belit on the side immediately offered it respectfully, and Bishop Minofel just looked at it twice before saying.
"Garbage! Garbage! It's all garbage! As timid as a rat! Short-sighted as a rat! How can such a rat lead you to victory?
Tell me who that trash commander is? I must put him to shame. "
As soon as Bishop Minofel said this, the senior leaders of the Orthodox Alliance immediately hesitated. Minofel already knew this and said with a smile.
"You are still young, and war requires experience.
Setting up defenses is indeed a bit too naive, but you don't have to feel ashamed, let alone be afraid, because I, the "Invincible" Minofel, am here, and I lead you to victory on the orders of Pope Pius IX.
As long as I'm here, don't worry! "
After Bishop Minofel finished speaking, the expected sounds of admiration and admiration did not ring out, and everyone in the combat command room looked strange.
"What's going on? Don't you believe me?"
The new state representative Konstantin Sigvort pointed to the side awkwardly.
"We did not make this defense map."
"Who is that?"
"Archduke Karl of the Austrian Empire."
"Crazy Carl?"
"No, the one who fought with Napoleon"
Minofel was speechless for a moment, then burst into laughter after a long silence.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Bishop Minofel, why are you laughing?"
"I laugh at Archduke Karl for being a famous general, but he only knows how to stick to the old ways and doesn't know how to adapt. No wonder even Napoleon can't defeat him."
In fact, theoretically speaking, such outrageous remarks will be ignored, if not ridiculed.
However, the reality is that there are very few people in the entire Orthodox Alliance who understand military affairs. They are either bishops or nuns, or some businessmen and lawyers.
Except for Pastor Belit and Captain Ulrich Salis, who had studied in Austria, the other senior leaders of the Orthodox Alliance not only did not refute Bishop Minofel's words, but also showed signs of joy.
Everyone praised the name of the "Invincible", as if this man could have pressed France to the ground and rubbed him if he had been born decades earlier.
The most exaggerated performance was by a nun named Brandi, who actually knelt down and began to pray.
"Please lead us to a glorious victory!"
Soon, the people in the room were either infected by it or under pressure and knelt down to pray.
Bishop Minoffel did not sell the lawsuit.
"To win, we must be brave, firm, and fearless of sacrifice!"
"Yes, Bishop."
"Don't interrupt, I haven't finished yet." Minoffel said and walked towards the map.
"Look! Here! Fribourg is the key!"
Fribourg should be regarded as an enclave of the Orthodox Alliance. It is surrounded by the forces of the Free Alliance, but in terms of terrain, it should be easy to defend and difficult to attack. It has its own natural barrier and only needs a small number of troops to block the valley entrance.
This is a microcosm of Switzerland. As long as the road is blown up and defended, the attacking party will really have no way to do it for a while.
But that's not what Minoffel wanted to say..
"We should concentrate our forces here and take the initiative to attack in order to achieve the goal of centering the attack."
"But our forces are not as strong as those of the separatists." said the new State Representative Constantine Sigwart.
"Stupid! It's not the number of soldiers that matters, but whether they are pious. As long as we have God in our hearts, the weapons of those villains can't hurt us!
And those villains will definitely take the approach of encircling us from all sides when facing our isolated army of Fribourg. As long as we focus on a breakthrough, we can win!
Once the enemy's defense is exposed, we can go north along the Salin River and take their lair directly.
I want to tell you that attack is the best defense!"
Minoffel's theory is indeed much more exciting than Archduke Karl's contraction strategy. Everyone couldn't help but applaud and sigh that the bishop is worthy of being the most powerful general in the history of the Papal States.