In the Emperor of Holy Ro’s palace, a group of Austrian ministers all bowed their heads in silence.
Everyone knew the situation was lost, but no one wanted to be the first to ntion "surrender."
The young man behind Kobutsel suddenly leaned forward and asked, "Your Highness, how many troops do we have left?"
Archduke Karl glared fiercely at tternich and said coldly, "The troops withdrawn from Vienna, combined with the soldiers continuously gathering at the front lines, we can muster at least 50,000 before the French Army arrives."
Indeed, when Franz received his warning half a month ago, he didn’t even consider strengthening Vienna’s defenses but decided to flee the capital imdiately.
Lauel, under his orders, led the Vienna garrison in a diversionary attack against Gerard’s contingent, surrounding Vienna.
Gerard, with only 20,000 soldiers, had to relax surveillance on other areas to deal with Lauel, allowing Franz II to utilize this opportunity to escape successfully from Vienna’s northwest direction through the "Forest Wall"—a hilly area spanning dozens of kiloters, growing dense with trees.
tternich imdiately shrank back behind Kobutsel. He knew Archduke Karl didn’t have 50,000 troops, but such a number was already small enough.
Sure enough, Franz II’s expression beca tense. He first glanced at his brother, and finally, his gaze fell on General Lauel: "Do you think we have a good chance of holding Presburg?"
The latter kept his head down and only after a long while did he softly say, "If... the Russians are willing to reinforce, maybe... we could hold out for a few months."
This ti, Franz II noticed that the commanders of the England and Russia alliance had not co to Presburg, just as he was about to inquire, Kobutsel said: "I will imdiately go to Saint Petersburg to seek help from the Tsar, but now Kutuzov’s corps is heading towards Zrenjanin."
Franz II was imdiately stunned.
Zrenjanin is southeast of Presburg, clearly indicating retreating towards Russia. By the ti Kobutsel returns from Saint Petersburg, he’ll likely have been pushed to Hungary by the French Army.
There were five or six minutes of silence in the hall before the Foreign Minister, Little Kobutsel, finally broke it: "Your Majesty, the British envoy delivered a ssage this morning, saying they could leverage the North Arican situation to negotiate favorable armistice terms for us."
Count Speelman, the Minister of the Interior, imdiately added: "We need ti to regroup our forces, and before that, it wouldn’t hurt to engage in ceasefire negotiations with France..."
The other ministers all expressed their agreent.
Seeing this, Archduke Karl could only leave in fury.
...
June 30, 1799.
The representatives of France and Austria comnced armistice negotiations at Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna.
Unlike before, the guards standing outside Schonbrunn Palace were all dressed in white military uniforms, carrying 1798 model rifled guns, French soldiers.
"No, you are mistaken." Little Kobutsel tried to maintain a strong deanor as he told Talleyrand, "Our country has not completely failed. His Majesty the Emperor will lead 100,000 loyal soldiers to defend Presburg.
"France will be mired in an endless quagmire of war!"
Talleyrand ignored him, rely tossing the draft armistice agreent in front of him, calmly saying: "You know, if Her Majesty the Queen weren’t concerned about her kinship with His Majesty Franz II, General Surt would have already surrounded Presburg.
"Oh, by the way, a friend told that Presburg’s army only has 40,000."
Worry surfaced in Little Kob’s eyes because the French were right about the numbers. In reality, Presburg not only suffered from insufficient manpower but also lacked artillery—most heavy weapons had been abandoned during the Austrian retreat.
At this mont, the British envoy, Sir Wicken, behind him, said loudly: "Archbishop Talleyrand, I must be frank, if your country hopes to keep the Louisiana Colony, you need to withdraw from Austria."
Little Kobutsel, as if grabbing a lifesaver, promptly added: "The war indemnities also need to be lowered. Our country can accept no more than 20 million florins. Additionally, we cannot pay indemnities to Baden and Venice."
Earlier, Talleyrand had ntioned the terms of the French armistice, the second being that Austria should pay indemnities to France, Baden, and Venice, amounting to 70 million, 6 million, and 9 million florins, respectively.
Of course, Venice no longer had a governnt, so their reparations were claid by France on their behalf.
Hmm, a total of 85 million florins, equivalent to 210 million francs.
Talleyrand furrowed his brows and, as instructed by the Crown Prince, shook his head: "We do not care about the safety of the North Arican colonies; my answer to your demands is ’impossible.’
He didn’t wait for the Austrian Foreign Minister to say anything else and got up to leave: "That’s it. If the armistice agreent is still unsigned in three days, General Surt will continue to advance eastward."
...
East Atlantic, Bay of Biscay.
France’s Fourth-level Battleship "Long Handle Hamr" surged forward with the wind, swiftly navigating through the waves.
It had repeatedly avoided approaching British fleets along the way, enduring 66 days to finally reach European waters.
On the foredeck, Baron Leotar, the Governor’s Assistant of Saint Louis Louisiana, enjoyed the fresh sea breeze and said to the Major officer beside him, "By the way, have you heard? The Crown Prince sent General Surt to launch a surprise attack on Els, reportedly capturing it in just a few days."
The latter smiled wryly: "Where did you get that information? From my professional perspective, even with an army of hundreds of thousands, it’s impossible to breach Els Fortress in a matter of days."
"Uh, I heard it from a rchant while resupplying at the Azores," Baron Leotar waved it off, "But however you look at it, our army still holds absolute advantage, doesn’t it?"
"Indeed," the Major nodded, then focused on sipping his wine.
Baron Leotar had to continue with another topic: "You previously ntioned that Lieutenant Colonel Napoleon originally intended to annihilate all the Arican Army?"
"That’s right, I was beside him at the ti." The officer beca more talkative when discussing the battle, "Later, the Governor sent an order from the Crown Prince, and the Commander ordered the natives to halt."
"Ahem," Leotar lightly coughed to remind him, "You shouldn’t use that term."
"Oh, sorry, ’indigenous people.’
The Governor’s Assistant continued to ask: "Were you confident at the start of the war?"
"Confidence?" The Major shook his head, "Absolutely not. Anyone with only 2,000 soldiers, nearly half of whom were worthless Spaniards, and a few thousand natives, would find it hard to believe they could defeat 7,000 Arican militian."
He suddenly showed an expression of reverence: "But the Commander managed it. When he ordered the whole army to retreat, we all thought he was a cowardly fool..."
Leotar knew he was about to recount stories of campaigning with Lieutenant Colonel Napoleon but did not interrupt him, because in the days of drifting at sea, having soone to chat with was enough, even if it was about topics already ntioned dozens of tis.
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