Chapter 789: Assistance? (Part 1)

The new state representative Constantine Sigwart signed the decision to support the state of Fribourg with the support of representatives from various states.

It was a week later when the news reached Archduke Karl. In fact, this was also instructed by Minoffel. After all, the former was an Austrian archduke. If he really had a dispute with himself, it might destroy the harmony within the alliance.

"Archduke Karl, this is what happened. Bishop Minoffel completely disrupted your deployment and took away a large number of troops and supplies to Fribourg."

Captain Ulrich Salis repeated the story in detail and said apologetically. He was afraid that the old general would just quit. After all, Bishop Minoffel's previous arrangements were in vain.

Captain Ulrich Salis was temporarily serving as the field marshal of the Swiss Orthodox Alliance at this time, because the Orthodox Alliance was really lacking in commanders, which had nothing to do with studying in Austria.

Minoffel took away two-thirds of the troops of the Swiss Orthodox Alliance in one breath. Archduke Karl was not angry, but on the contrary, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Because the quality of the Swiss army is too low, most of the 100,000 troops of the Orthodox Alliance are farmers and unemployed craftsmen.

Because the Orthodox Alliance lacks officers, lacks a sense of crisis, and lacks supplies, most of these soldiers have never fired a gun, let alone systematic training.

Moreover, these soldiers have obvious regional characteristics, are seriously divided among each other, are afraid of public wars, are brave in private fights, are difficult to command, and often disturb the people.

"Except for the security and logistics troops, he can take them all away."

Marshal Ulrich Salis thought he had heard it wrong.

"This is not good."

"There's nothing wrong with it. They can't help much except wasting food here."

Marshal Ulrich Salis thought Archduke Karl was talking in anger.

"Archduke Karl, don't worry. I will do my best to recruit another army for you. I promise. We have asked for help from neighboring countries, and I believe that help will arrive soon."

The reality is that the Orthodox Alliance did send a signal for help to surrounding countries, hoping that the great powers could provide military support, but the armies of the great powers were threatened by the Free Alliance.

Joseph Roy said that if the armies of the great powers dared to enter Switzerland, the Free Alliance would blow up all the passages leading to the outside world in Switzerland.

At the same time, the letter from Britain also arrived, reiterating Britain's position, that is, it did not want any country to interfere in the Swiss civil war.

In fact, at this time, the Free Alliance launched a war in the name of asking the Orthodox Alliance to fulfill its promise of unified taxation, not to annex the other party.

This directly bypassed the "Agreement of 1843" initiated by the Austrian Empire, which stated that "the inviolability of the neutrality of the Swiss Confederation will be respected only if the 1815 Treaty is not violated.

If the Swiss Confederation cannot strictly abide by the content of the treaty, Austria will have the right to withdraw its previous commitments."

Among them, the French were the first to respond to the Swiss Orthodox Alliance. Louis Philippe's behavior was not only to gain the upper hand, win over allies, but also to please the church at home.

Louis Philippe hoped to win over Switzerland as an ally. After all, at this time, the old rival Austria in the German region and the coastal lowlands had already taken advantage, and the Kingdom of Sardinia in Italy was also his in-law.

So Switzerland became an important target for competition. After all, if France and Austria really went to war one day, and all three routes were unilaterally open to Austria, then this war would be too difficult to fight.

However, after being threatened twice by Switzerland and Britain, and the Austrian Empire did not make much move.

The French cabinet began to weigh it seriously. After all, if France sent troops at this time, would it be considered a destruction of the Vienna system of 1815?

Therefore, Soult was more hesitant than Louis Philippe. The former just wanted to retire gloriously, did not want to cause any trouble in his later years, and did not care about any bullshit honor, as long as he did not lose his integrity in his later years.

However, the current situation is that he may lose his integrity in his later years if he is not careful. In history, it was Guizot who strongly advocated supporting Switzerland, but this guy was still in North America at this time and naturally could not participate in this incident.

The cabinet of the July Monarchy was silent. No one wanted to be the first bird to stand out, but everyone knew that if Switzerland continued to lean towards the Habsburgs, then what awaited France was the end of three-way collapse.

Finally, a young officer named Charles expressed his opinion.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, and all the respected cabinet members. France cannot lose Switzerland as an ally"

"Do you need to say this?" A cabinet member interrupted rudely. The Bonapartists were always an outlier in the July Monarchy, but in the final analysis, the dynasty itself was an outlier.

The young officer was not as enthusiastic as an ordinary young military attaché, but analyzed the situation like a seasoned politician. Of course, everyone knew all this, so I won't go into details.

Finally, he gave his own suggestion.

"We can also form a volunteer army like the Austrians did."

"Who will lead the team?"

The cabinet member said again, because this kind of non-governmental behavior may not be recognized by the government, and may not even get a pension.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to go. Long live France!"

The cabinet member had to shut up. After all, it would be best if someone was willing to go to such a life-threatening thing.

Louis Philippe couldn't help but take a closer look at the young man named Charles. He was also the one who handled crisis public relations when the German delegation visited.

The former patted the latter on the shoulder and said.

"You are both civil and military, and you are really a role model for the younger generation of France. If you come back alive, I will promote you to general."

Theoretically, Louis Philippe did have this power at this time, but it was just a matter of whether he would use it and whether the military would accept it.

Although the scene of being ordered to go deep into the enemy's territory alone was very touching, the IQ of the French commander at this time was also touching.

For example, they wanted to send a batch of weapons to help the Swiss Orthodox Alliance, but if they left Nazjatar in Switzerland, they would not only have to pay taxes to the King of Prussia, but after they left Nazjatar, the weapons would be confiscated by the states of the Free Alliance.

At the same time, the French command also studied the transportation of supplies and weapons from Lake Geneva in Switzerland. After all, heavy artillery and the like were too slow to go through the mountain roads of Nazjatar.

As a result, France's weapons and material assistance to the Orthodox Alliance became an aid to the enemy. The most important thing was that Dufour finally got the heavy artillery he had been dreaming of.

Note: At that time, Switzerland's weapons level was very low, and it could only produce some simple smoothbore weapons. After all, the quality of iron was extremely poor, and there was often a risk of explosion.

Of the 15,000 volunteers, only Colonel Charles' 1,200 successfully sneaked into Switzerland.

Although there were many French people in Switzerland, they were basically Protestants, and their living habits and accents were different. It was easy for the locals to distinguish them from the French.