Wickham didn't expect Prince Frederick to be waiting for him in person at the entrance of the Army Department, because the identities of the two were too different! However, the effect was indeed sensational, and many of the staff of the War Department who had just been about to go home were looking this way, and they were not sure what the relationship between this young young major and His Royal Highness was.

Wickham didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly walked over and bowed to His Royal Highness the Prince, and asked, "Your Royal Highness, why are you here in person?" ”

Prince Frederick waved his hand and said with a nonchalant smile: "It was my negligence before, because my coachman didn't know Major Wickham, anyway, I just finished my errand, so I stopped by to have a look." ”

The royal family of Europe and the royal family of China are completely different styles, and the Chinese royal family grows up in the courtyard of the deep palace all the year round and does not show up a few times a year. But at this time, members of the European royal family often showed their faces in public, and they were not so mysterious in the eyes of the people.

For example, the members of the British royal family basically hold important positions and often go to the battlefield to command operations, which is not a waste wood that knows nothing. It is precisely because of the more face-showing that the upper circles in London have long been familiar with the royal family, and even if they meet, they just salute respectfully. Therefore, when Frederick planned to come over to pick up Wickham in person, there was no condescension pressure in his heart.

Wickham was not pretentious, and after asking His Royal Highness the Prince to get into the carriage first, he also boarded the luxurious carriage pulled by four white Andaluan horses. Prince Frederick, like his brother Prince of Wales, is a person who likes to enjoy, so the interior of this carriage is simply blinding the Wickham 24K titanium dog's eyes!

The roof of the carriage was covered with several layers of Lyon silk, and the delicate embroidery on it already represented the highest level of embroidery in Europe at this time. The floor of the carriage was covered with a thick Persian carpet, and when you stepped on it, it was almost as if you wanted to sink into it, and I didn't know how many layers this extravagant prince had laid. The saddle is covered with Lancastershire's wine-coloured flannel, and inside is a thick layer of velvet that makes it soft to make.

The most frustrating thing is that the entire wall of the carriage is covered with soft and shiny otter fur! Wickham dared to assert that such a carriage, even if the value of the four thoroughbred horses was not included, it would never be worth more than seven thousand pounds, and it was simply a luxury car among luxury cars!

Wickham did not shy away from looking at the interior of the carriage and praised sincerely: "Your Royal Highness, this is really a stunning and beautiful carriage, which is really in line with your noble status. ”

The carriage that Wickham is using now is left over from the time when Viscount Ainos sold the house, although the carriage is not bad, and William Edward also painted Cheng Liang's black paint on the outside after getting it. But compared to Prince Frederick's super luxury car, it is simply a scumbag-like existence!

In these days, rich and powerful men like to compete with others on the carriage, the thoroughbred and the mistress, and Prince Frederick is no exception. After listening to Wickham's admiration, the prince said happily: "This carriage was lost to me by the Count of Provence of France a few years ago when I was playing greyhound racing. The thought of that guy's painful expression made me feel so happy. These arrogant French didn't suffer a big loss at my hands in the end, haha......"

The Count of Oprence was the younger brother of King Louis XVI of France and the monarch of Louis XVIII, who later restored the Bourbon family of France. When the French Revolution broke out, the boy of the Count of Provence slipped away fast enough to save a small life, and his somewhat stupid brother of the king was unlucky, not only did he and his wife lose their heads, but even his daughter was gang-raped by the mob in Paris, which was really miserable.

Remembering the great rout of the anti-French coalition in Belgium, Prince Frederick's smile froze on his face, this time he was disgraced on the European continent, if it weren't for the support of his father and brother, it is estimated that the parliamentarians who were afraid of chaos in the world would have found him trouble.

"Alas, what if the greyhounds can beat the French, in the end it is not that they can't keep the Dutch lowlands. Major Wickham, you haven't seen that scene, those French guys are all like crazy, charging straight at bullets and bayonets, like a bunch of puppets who are not afraid of death! Oh God, they must have been seduced by Satan! Frederick was also a wonderful man, and he didn't shy away from the fact that he had lost the battle.

Wickham was afraid of offending the prince by talking nonsense, so he said in a thoughtful tone: "Your Royal Highness, the defeat in the great battle a few months ago has nothing to do with you, and besides, the army of our Kingdom of Britain has not suffered much loss, has it?" ”

Unlike his older brother, who loved the arts and the arts, Frederick was a soldier and single-handedly promoted the overhaul and reform of the British Army a few years later! So Wickham plans to take out some dry goods, otherwise the name of the poet alone will not attract much attention from the prince.

"Oh, what do you think of the defeat at the Battle of Fleuruz, Major Wickham?" Frederick was interested in seeing how Wickham's views differed from those of his military staff.

Prince Frederick's military career has always been smooth, in his youth he studied military command and tactics with Frederick the Great in Berlin, Prussia, and then became a colonel at the age of nineteen, and was promoted to major general at the age of twenty-two.

But Frederick knew that this was because he was a member of the royal family, and that it had nothing to do with his three-legged cat's commanding talent. However, it is precisely because of this that Prince Frederick does not dare to be careless, and often listens to the opinions of others to make up for his own shortcomings.

Seeing that the other party was interested, Wickham began to talk eloquently: "There are many factors that affect the victory or defeat of the war, such as terrain, troop composition, generals' decisions, weather conditions, logistics and morale, etc., and the defeat of the Battle of Fleurluz also has a lot to do with these factors. ”

Hearing this, Prince Frederick was slightly disappointed, because these things were some clichés, and there was nothing new, and any officer with formal military training could not know better.

Just as he was about to change the subject, Wickham continued: "Of course, I don't want to talk about this with Your Highness today, I want to discuss the issue of joint operations with Your Highness. ”

Seeing that the other party's interest was aroused, Wickham continued: "I think no one knows better than Your Highness what kind of army the anti-French coalition army that participated in the Battle of Fleluz was. That was a ragtag force of a Dutch army, an Austrian army, and a small number of British troops! ”

"Each of the armies involved in the war had its own chain of command, and the supreme commander of the Dutch army and the supreme commander of Austria were in principle equal. So the question arises, do you think that the Dutch generals will obediently obey the command of the Austrian generals, Your Highness? Or will the Austrian general obey the command of the Dutch general? This is obviously impossible. In other words, when the war was going on, it was impossible to achieve the coordination and cooperation of the participating units of the coalition forces and form a whole force to fight through the French army. ”

This is not a non-existent thing, because the anti-French coalition forces appear to be numerous and powerful on the outside, and their military flags cover the sky and the sun, but in fact they do not belong to each other, and there are many internal contradictions. Later, in the Battle of Waterloo, the British army led by the Duke of Wellington was miserably defeated by the Prussian army. The British directly withstood the all-out onslaught of the main French forces, while the Prussian army arrived belated, several hours later than originally planned. If it weren't for the fact that the British army led by the Duke of Wellington did not suffer enough casualties and held their positions to the death, the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo might have been rewritten.

Frederick's eyes flashed with a glint of essence, and some vague thoughts were suddenly clarified by Wickham's words: "Major Wickham, then how do you say you want to integrate the scattered forces of the coalition forces?" He knew that since Wickham had said that, there would be a solution to the pit, and that was where he was concerned.

Wickham did not dare to sell himself in front of Prince Frederick, so he threw out the theory of joint operations of later US imperialists: "This is easy to say, but difficult to say." If the Kingdom of Britain can take the lead, on the basis of the military alliance with Russia, Prussia and Austria, establish a joint command on the European continent, and integrate all the forces of the allies participating in the war into the framework of the joint command. When the coalition forces are fighting, they are only under the command of a single command system. ”

"Of course, each ally can send a general to form a joint chief of staff to draw up a practical battle plan before executing the campaign. At the same time, a temporary joint command can be set up according to the theater of operations to command all armed forces in the area under unified command, which can be disbanded immediately after the end of the war. However, the difficulty is that the country leading the establishment of such a military organization must have a strong military force stronger than that of the countries of the European continent, and with the current military strength of the Kingdom of Britain, it is obvious that this condition cannot be met. ”

Wickham remembered the later NATO led by Uncle Sam, which has demonstrated its efficient operation in many wars since the Cold War. If the European anti-French alliance had been able to do that, the war against France would have dragged on for 20 years, because France's comprehensive national strength could not match that of the whole of Western Europe.

Frederick's eyes lit up, and he quickly realized the value of Wickham's suggestion, which could be said to be quite advanced, if the command system described by Wickham could be established, then the anti-French alliance combined with the military strength of many European continental powers would extinguish the fanatical revolution in France in a short time and restore the original order and stability on the European continent.

Frederick patted Wickham on the shoulder and said with satisfaction: "George, your idea is so brilliant, I think you are too condescending to be a small auditor in the Quartermaster Division of the War Department." ”

Wickham was thrilled to hear Prince Frederick call him directly by his Christian name, George, and this intimate title showed that Frederick had initially accepted and recognized him, and not just out of curiosity about the poet's talent.

However, Wickham will not get carried away, he needs to create a calm image in front of the prince: "Your Royal Highness, this is just my initial idea, the real difficulty is how to convince the countries in the anti-French alliance to integrate the coalition and recognize the leadership of our Kingdom of Britain." You know, Prussia and Austria are very conceited about their own strength, and it will be difficult for them to unconditionally accept the command of other generals. ”

In the early days of the war against France, Britain was even just a supporting role, and the major powers on the European continent did not take Britain seriously, after all, no matter how strong the British Royal Navy was, it couldn't go ashore, right? This awkward situation will not change until Napoleon sweeps across the continent, because the British pay for the military expenses of the major European powers, and then the other powers will recognize British leadership.

Prince Frederick nodded approvingly: "George, your concern is not unreasonable, but this is something that the Foreign Secretary should be worried about. We only need to report this idea to His Majesty and the gentlemen of the Cabinet, and wait for the good offices of the Royal Government, for we are only soldiers. ”

Just as the two chatted more and more speculatively, the luxury carriage slowly stopped on the side of the road, and the manservant escorting the car behind him opened the door quickly and said respectfully: "Your Royal Highness, Madame Abel's apartment has arrived. ”

Frederick picked up the triangular hat and put it on, jumped out of the carriage and said to Wickham: "George, Madame Abel is a charming lady from France, and I believe that Madame Abel is empathetic, and has prepared a sumptuous French meal for us. After speaking, he squeezed his eyes.

Wickham knew in his heart that this Madame Abel from France was probably Frederick's mistress. Although the English upper class did not play as extravagantly as the aristocracy of continental Europe, keeping mistresses was not a big problem among the aristocracy. Wickham took a look at his surroundings, and although the neighborhood was located in London's West End, it was not the extravagant style of the rich and aristocratic quarters. If you want to come to this neighborhood, it is probably a gathering area for the new class such as lawyers and doctors.

Frederick chose to place his mistress here, probably because he didn't want to be too conspicuous, after all, his wife was a serious Prussian princess, and he couldn't do too much.

As soon as the two of them reached the door of the carved iron fence, a woman in a fiery red tugmet and a wide-brimmed lace hat greeted them with a group of servants. Fiery red is a very difficult color for a woman to control, but a fiery red dress makes this woman very charming, like a rose blooming in a secret garden, which makes people shine.

There was no need to guess, Wickham thought to himself that this beautiful young woman was definitely what Frederick called Mrs. Abel.

Mrs. Abel greeted Frederick warmly, and said in a glutinous voice: "Oh, baby, as soon as I hear the sound of the carriage, I know that you are coming, are you having a good day, my darling?" ”

Although Mrs. Abel's behavior may seem a little uncourteous, it is precisely because of this that Prince Frederick likes to hang out with her. Because when Madame Abel called him baby, he could forget his royal identity for a moment and unload the burden from his body.

Probably because of Wickham's presence, Prince Frederick smiled a little awkwardly: "Of course, today is a wonderful day, especially when I see you, little baby." Come, baby, let me introduce you to my friend, George Wickham, the genius poet who has a great reputation in London. ”

For the pair of greasy men and women in front of him, Wickham intuitively felt that the sky was rolling, and it was too disobedient for the incomparably noble Prince Frederick and the future Duke of York to be called a little baby.

Wickham controlled his smile well and lifted the brim of his hat to Lady Abel, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Abel. ”

Mrs. Abel covered her cherry mouth and laughed a few times: "Oh my God, Mr. Wickham, you are now famous in London, and many unmarried ladies in London are asking if you are married......