The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 921 The Final Battle of France (Part 2)
As the flames of war began to spread into French territory, the French Empire began a full-scale mobilization under Napoleon's orders.

The citizens of Paris formed the Paris National Guard, and other places followed suit, with large quantities of weapons being distributed from warehouses to civilians.

With little need to worry about food and supplies, the French Empire increased its military strength from around 200,000 to over 500,000 in just half a month.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these are mostly untrained militiamen; in reality, besides Da Yu's 40,000 troops, the Prussian, Austrian, German states, and Swedish armies in the anti-French coalition were also roughly the same.

Some French militias are even more effective because they have a large number of veterans.

As a revolutionary base area in Europe, the French people have a wealth of experience in dealing with such matters.

After all, since the French Revolution, and even since Louis XIV, it had become commonplace for France to be besieged by European countries.

However, the French people's resilience in the face of adversity did not bring about much change to France's grim international situation.

As Napoleon retreated to Metz to prepare for the Battle of Lorraine, dramatic changes were taking place all around the French Empire.

First, in the north, Qin Dingyang, with only 20,000 men, realized that he could not defeat the hundreds of thousands of Walloons entrenched in Mons, southern Belgium, in a short time, so he immediately changed course.

Qin Dingyang armed tens of thousands of Belgian militia to defend Brussels, then turned around and led his men north to fight the Netherlands.

You idiot, Belgium has hundreds of thousands of French-speaking Walloons, but the Netherlands doesn't.

At the end of September, Qin San led a large army north to support the uprising militias of Middlesbrough and The Hague. With the rise of the Greater Dutch national consciousness, they were warmly welcomed by the Dutch.

By October 3, Qin San had more than 10 men under his command and was advancing on Amsterdam.

Previously, Napoleon had appointed his fourth brother, Louis Bonaparte, as King of the Netherlands. This man was the father of Napoleon III, who restored the Bonaparte dynasty in history.

However, after taking office, Louis Bonaparte foolishly considered himself the King of the Netherlands and refused to implement Napoleon's Continental System policy. In the end, he was deposed by Napoleon, and the Netherlands was annexed by France.

After becoming part of France, the Netherlands' overseas trade was almost completely cut off, and the Dutch, who relied on commerce to build their nation, fared even worse than the Belgians.

A massive number of citizens were impoverished overnight, and calls for the expulsion of the French army and the restoration of national independence rose and fell.

At this time, the French army in the Netherlands, led by Major General François Cornan, numbered only 20,000 men and was in a state of panic.

The reason Major General Cornan is still able to control the situation is simply because the French army has frightened the Dutch and they haven't realized that they can defeat the French army by rising up in resistance.

On October 5, in an effort to win over the hearts and minds of the Upper Netherlands from William V, Prince of Orange, Mary of England, the wife of Maurice, landed in The Hague, escorted by four English warships.

Princess Mary was accompanied by 700 members of the Xia Guard.

This was the last of Princess Mary's armed forces. She handed these seven hundred men over to Qin San and made a declaration to the Dutch people in The Hague.

In her declaration, Princess Mary encouraged the Dutch people to rise up and fight, so that all Dutch-speaking ethnic groups could unite to establish a Greater Netherlands Kingdom, in order to gain national survival space in a Europe surrounded by wolves.

Princess Marie Antoinette's declaration revealed to the world the greatest achievement of the French Revolution.

It fostered the formation of nationalism in Europe and greatly challenged the old legal system that relied on blood ties to rule as kings.

This prompted European kings to begin prioritizing the interests of their nation over those of their families.

These words greatly shocked the Dutch people.

Because over 70% of the population of the Lower Netherlands, which is Belgium, is Flemish, and they speak Dutch as their native language, they are essentially of the same ancestry as the Upper Netherlands, so there is a natural basis for them to form a single country.

Subsequently, Princess Mary appointed Qin Dingyang as Marshal of the All-Nederland National Salvation Self-Defense Army, which made Qin so happy that he almost snot dripped from his nose.

After being brutally beaten by Napoleon north of Budapest, Qin San not only lost confidence but also became basically hopeless about his future.

Who would promote a defeated general who was appointed as the transport captain, who lost more than 10,000 men (40,000 were lost at the time, but most of them were not killed or captured by the French army, and more than 20,000 later successfully returned to their unit), and almost pushed the entire war into the abyss?

But at this moment, Qin San and Qin Dingyang felt the possibility of their careers taking off again.

He gave Princess Mary a grateful look, then led the incited and howling Dutchmen to attack Amsterdam.

Princess Mary watched Qin Dingyang's departing figure with an unusually firm gaze.

This historically unknown princess, after being away from the British Isles for a long time but left with thousands of elite troops, became deeply involved in English politics and, under the tutelage of George III, transformed into a competent politician.

If she were a man, the throne of England would almost certainly be hers.

Princess Mary, a master of political games, was convinced that only by helping Mo Gongze in his career and by also gaining some power herself could she ensure that her son, George Mo Houzhen, could smoothly ascend the throne of the Great Netherlands.

Otherwise, it would be too foolish to just wait on the British Isles for Mo Gongze to fulfill his promise.

On October 7, Princess Mary's declaration swept across the Netherlands like a hurricane.

The Dutch, ravaged by the French army and yearning to establish a Greater Netherlands, came from all directions to submit to them.

By October 9th, Qin San had over 10 Dutch militiamen under his command. Although their fighting ability was average, this represented an unstoppable popular will.

The most obvious example is that when attacking Amsterdam, the outer city didn't even need to be attacked.

These Dutchmen, dressed in tattered clothes and wearing tattered wide-brimmed hats, called out to their friends and acquaintances at the foot of the city, and immediately summoned the Dutch soldiers on the city walls.

Although General François Cornan had 20,000 troops, fewer than 3,000 of them were French. Knowing that the situation was hopeless, he offered to surrender to Qin Dingyang if he was given decent treatment.

On October 11, under the protection of Qin San and Qin Dingyang, Princess Mary of England entered Amsterdam and announced the establishment of the All Netherlands Self-Defense and National Salvation Military Government, formed a military government parliament, and personally served as the Grand Speaker.

The first order issued by the military government was to send troops to arrest Prince William V of Orange and his family, who had landed in Rotterdam, and then secretly imprison them.

The liberals in England disliked Princess Mary very much and deliberately sent the Prince of Orange and his family to the Netherlands at this time to embarrass her. However, they did not expect that it would actually help Princess Mary.

Queen Xia, who had already begun her descent into political ruthlessness, easily dealt with her most threatening rival.

After dealing with the Prince of Orange's family, with the support of Princess Mary, Qin Dingyang, as the Marshal of the Dutch Self-Defense and National Salvation Army Government, selected 30,000 men in the Upper Netherlands and conducted preliminary joint training with his own 20,000 troops, ready to march south and attack the Walloons at any time.

Meanwhile, Arthur Wells, Duke of Wellington, led 60,000 British troops (including 30,000 British Indian troops) to land on the Brittany peninsula in western France. They encountered little resistance and headed straight for Rennes, a major western city.

Marshal Francisco of Spain recruited 20,000 Spanish soldiers, who, with the support of the second fleet of the Da Yu, landed in northern Italy.

This army was led by Mo Gongbo, the younger brother of Mo Gongze, because although Mo Gongbo was an illegitimate child, his mother was a princess of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

This makes him a very special illegitimate child whose parents were both top-tier nobles, and whose status was not low even in Europe.

Mo Gongbo was full of vigor. While his elder brother Mo Gongze was making his mark across Europe, he was about to shed his status as an illegitimate child and start his own career.

Fifteen years ago, his uncle, King Carlo Emanuele IV of Sardinia, promised that if Morgonb could help him restore his kingdom, he would give Morgonb the city of Nice as a reward and make him the Grand Duke of Nice.

Although his uncle has been dead for over a decade, his cousin Vittorio Emanuele IV, who has succeeded him, still upholds this promise. "Your Majesty, my brother, please rest assured, although the Spanish fighting strength is average, we still have 1,500 Seres marines and 2,500 Wenzhou soldiers."

They are all the best soldiers; this restoration of our nation will surely succeed.

The people of Wenzhou have finally found their comfort zone. Twenty years ago, Mo Gongbo, who held the title of Earl of Dongping in Dayu, was noticed by Qiu Dingbang, a local tycoon from Wenzhou.

This guy passed the military examination, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the navy, and finally responded to the policy to expand colonies in Southeast Asia, but he lost everything due to poor management.

Although Qiu Dingbang went bankrupt, he still held great prestige in the Wenzhou area and believed that Mo Gongbo was a rare find.

Under his influence, a large number of Wenzhou people have placed their bets on Mo Gongbo, and now they have more than forty large ships and more than three thousand warriors, making them the backbone of the Sardinian Kingdom.

Meanwhile, with the support of the Great Yu, King Ferdinand IV of Naples landed in southern Italy again, assembled an army, and began his march toward Rome.

Mogongbo quickly captured Genoa because he had a large and sufficient army.

He commanded 20,000 Spaniards, 4,000 Dayu mercenaries, and 10,000 men from the Kingdom of Sardinia.

It was quite easy for such a large force to attack an Italian city with almost no French troops.

In early October, Mogambo recaptured the Pietèmont region of the Kingdom of Sardinia and then marched on Milan.

Napoleon's adopted son, Prince Eugène Boarne of Venice, led an army of 60,000 to stop them, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle outside Milan.

The Spanish were indeed unreliable. After their blood-and-gold empire fell from its position as the world's hegemon, it was as if it had been paralyzed and suffered a stroke.

The 20,000 Spanish troops were badly beaten by an equal number of Italians outside Milan. Although they did not collapse, they were basically on the defensive.

Mo Gongbo was stunned. Damn it, this guy is Italian!
Since the decline of Venice and Genoa, their fighting strength has never been good, yet these Spaniards were still defeated so badly.

"My lord, these Spaniards are no hope; they have lost their ambition."

They might grit their teeth and fight against the French at home, but once they left their homeland, they became listless and aimless.

The big spender, who was also Mo Gongbo's brother-in-law, Qiu Dingbang, shook his head speechlessly, but then a smile crept onto his face.

"But these Spaniards will kill the Italians. Let's ignore them and let them get beaten up by the Italians."

Mo Gongze surveyed the battlefield and understood what Qiu Dingbang was planning: to have the Spanish lure out the most determined Italians from the battlefield, then eliminate them, and the battle would be won.

In the distance, Napoleon's stepson, Prince Eugène of Venice, also sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't call back his elite Italian troops in a short time.

After many years, the Italians finally found the feeling of slaughtering everyone. More than 20,000 Italian infantrymen, bayonets in hand, chased and killed the Spanish all over the mountains and fields, and had long since lost their organizational structure.

At the height of their excitement, they failed to notice that they had followed the Spaniards into a valley.

Two cannon shots rang out, and the Wenzhou soldiers, who had been prepared, stormed in from behind the Italians, trapping more than 10,000 people in the valley.

The people of Wenzhou have historically been known for their ferocity, forming another aspect of the Zhejiang people along with those from neighboring Jinhua and Quzhou.

Qiu Dingbang was worried that his investments over the past ten years would go down the drain again, so he personally took the lead in directing the battle, completely risking everything.

The Italians had never seen such a killing machine before. They couldn't stop him and could only desperately stab the Spaniards in an attempt to escape the pursuit.

But the valley narrowed as they went deeper, and the Spanish had nowhere to escape. In desperation, they began to fight back desperately in order to survive.

This put the Italians in a difficult position, sandwiched between two groups with no way to escape.

Two hours later, despite his best efforts, Prince Eugène Boarne of Venice was unable to rescue the more than 10,000 people. Instead, he was severely repelled by the Da Yu marines and the Sardinian army.

In the valley, blood stained the earth red, and severed limbs were everywhere. Only a few thousand Italians remained trapped, and they could do nothing but kneel in the blood and pray.

Eugène Boarne could hear the deafening cries from two kilometers away. Knowing he was powerless to help, he chose to lead his troops in retreat.

Seeing this, Mo Gongbo did not fall for Milan's initial plundering, but instead seized the opportunity to pursue and relentlessly pursue them, leading to another major battle between the two sides in Piacenza.

After a day of bloody fighting, Eugène Boarne was defeated and escaped with only a few thousand cavalrymen. At least 20,000 Italian soldiers were killed or captured.

In this battle, apart from the Italian Guards who were with Napoleon, almost all of the elite troops in northern Italy were wiped out, and the route through which Napoleon extracted large amounts of food and supplies was successfully cut off.

On November 9, 1814, the main force of the anti-French coalition, commanded by Maurice, did not stop because of the cold winter, but was prepared to give Napoleon no chance to catch his breath.

The two sides then engaged in fierce fighting along the Metz-Nancy line in northeastern France.

Napoleon personally commanded the operation and mobilized a large number of militia, so the battle did not turn into a disadvantage.

However, when the French started betting their life savings, Prussia and Austria also went all in.

If they don't go all in and get defeated again, they're definitely in for a world of hurt.

On November 12, both Prussia and Austria reinforced their troops by 30,000 each, and the 30,000 Hungarian cavalrymen that Mogongze had had Reinstein recruit by selling everything he owned a few months earlier also arrived.

The Allied forces numbered 370,000, far exceeding the French forces of 260,000. The fighting became increasingly fierce, and both sides faced severe supply difficulties, essentially holding on through gritted teeth.

Napoleon and Li Xingtai both adopted the same tactics.

Napoleon deliberately targeted the weak, launching a brutal attack on the Prussian army, which suffered tens of thousands of casualties on November 13 alone.

Li Xingtai did the same, focusing his attacks on French militia and Italians.

On the same day that Napoleon brutally defeated the Prussian army, he annihilated three divisions of the Italian Guards in the French army at Salanburg, northeast of Nancy, essentially erasing the presence of Italians in the French army.

The two sides then clashed at the walls of Nancy, where the French suffered a Pyrrhic victory, losing over 20,000 of their 70,000 troops. They only managed to repel Li Xingtai's forces thanks to the large-caliber artillery of Nancy.

Li Xingtai lost more than 5,000 of his 30,000 troops, and with ammunition supplies running out, he had no choice but to retreat.

From November 9th to November 15th, the two sides had been fighting fiercely for six days and were both starting to tire, so the battlefield entered a brief period of calm.

But at this moment, Napoleon received news that chilled him to the bone.

The British army, led by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, has captured Le Mans and continues its advance, now only about 100 kilometers from Paris.

Napoleon quickly selected 70,000 elite troops to return to the capital, ordering Davout to defend Metz and Marmont to defend Nancy.

He told them that he would defeat Arthur Wellesley within half a month and would definitely be back in twenty days at most.

As long as the two of them can hold the Metz-Nancy line, victory will still belong to France, because the French army is fighting on its own soil and has much better supplies of materials and men.

(End of this chapter)