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In the Bavarian royal palace in Munich, after a speech in the central square, Brion summoned all the henchmen of the Rhine Army for an emergency council. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Dressed in a splendid military uniform, Brion sat comfortably on the throne of the king's office, just like the Bavarian kings of the past, as majestic as a natural ruler. Among the eight division commanders under the Rhine Army, except for the Baden Army commanders Sirte, Ney, Suchet, and Marmont, who were absent because they led the army to garrison the border of the Austrian Empire for military deterrence, plus some core officers of the staff formed a small cabinet in Brion's forces, and all the generals stood respectfully beside Brion.

There is no doubt that the small cabinet symbolizes the core general class of Brion's power, and its members are naturally composed of veteran generals who have followed Brion for a long time and outstanding military talents of the young Zhuang faction in the French military circles. There are many such examples, such as Nala and Joebel, who were promoted by Brion when he integrated the new army of Baden, and the four division commanders of Sirte, Ney, Suchet, Marmont and Bessière, as well as Colonel Lampard of the General Staff. Brion has always promoted officers regardless of their background, and there are only two indicators under normal circumstances, the first is military merit and ability, and the second is absolute loyalty to Brion, but Brion sometimes attaches more importance to absolute loyalty, and does not hesitate to promote some reckless and mediocre people who will only charge into battle.

However, it is no exaggeration to say that the senior officers of the Rhine Legion system should be the youngest in all of Europe. For example, Brion was only twenty-seven years old as the supreme commander, but the average age of the division commanders under the regiment was also about twenty-eight years old, and most of them were born in 1769, just like Brion. The oldest of them, Bernadotte, the commander of the 1st Division, was only 33 years old, and the youngest Davout was only 25 years old.

Because of the general youth of the officers and their excellent military talents, the small cabinet helped Brion a lot in battle, and even implemented the battle plan without Brion seeing it in a few cases. In addition to the auxiliary effect in the military, it also provokes a large part of the workload in the handling of political affairs. For example, the post-war treatment and restoration work in many German cities and the setting up of local temporary administrations have become provisional governments under Brion.

Speaking of which, Brion is the supreme leader of the Rhine Legion after all, and there is no need to do some things by himself, on the contrary, he must always give his subordinates some free space to exercise their ability to do things. If the emperor of a country really works hard in everything, even if he is a generation of Ming monarchs, and the country is flourishing because of his appearance, then what about a hundred years later? This puppet government, which has no brains and only obeys the orders of the leader, will quickly be paralyzed after losing a strong monarch, and this is the tragedy of strongman politics.

Brion glanced around, and saw that all the generals had gathered before he slowly spoke: "Since the beginning of the Austro-French War, Your Excellency has conquered cities and fought bloody battles with the Austrian army, until Munich, and tens of thousands of troops from the Rhine have approached the Austrian border. You and I can also say that Brion has been through thick and thin. Now, with the end of the Austro-French War approaching, I wonder which gentleman among you would not want to live this military life any longer, and I will certainly arrange for him a good position in the Directory. I do what I say!"

The generals of the Rhine Legion looked at each other and remained silent. Brion blinked his eyes and smiled with satisfaction: "Then everyone is willing to continue to firmly support me and stand with me through thick and thin?"

As soon as Brion's words fell, Davout saluted a French military salute and said without hesitation: "Duke, I, Davout, was originally just an ordinary cavalryman, and I was fortunate to follow you for more than ten years, all the way to the position of commander of the third division of the Rhine Army. Even if you want to restore the Bourbon dynasty, Davout will be the first to serve you. ”

Seeing that Davout had taken the lead, Bernadotte glanced at him dissatisfiedly, and then cast a supportive glance at Brion. Although Nala, Rubert and Bessier of the Baden Legion on the side have only been with Brion for a short time, their loyalty to Brion is still obvious to all. After the two division commanders of the Rhine faction expressed their positions, they also expressed their absolute support.

Although Sirte's three divisions were still stationed on the Austrian border and did not return, Brion had no doubts about Sirte's loyalty, and besides, the Baden Corps was originally Brion's private army and should have been ordered by Brion.

Briand nodded and said, "I think the people of Bavaria should know about my support. I may be disobedient to the French government, but as the Duke of Baden, the lord of the German region, and with the support of the Rhine Army, I think I have an obligation to revive Bavaria. I can 。。。。。。 as long as the people want ”

"Become the king of Bavaria?" Davout said excitedly.

Brion smiled and shook his head: "It's not that simple, I'm going to merge the occupied areas of the Rhine Legion, including the Duchy of Baden, the Helvedi region, the Duchy of Württemberg, and Bavaria, into one country. I want to be the king of Germany, not just Bavaria. ”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and these generals who had been following Brion for a long time naturally knew that Brion had a great appetite, and it was not surprising that they could swallow even the whole of Bavaria. But they never imagined that Briand's ambitions would be so great that they would go so far as to annex all of South Germany.

You must know that Helvedi, Württemberg, Baden, and Bavaria are already rare large vassal states among the vassal states in southern Germany, but the merger of these four vassal states in one go is almost equivalent to the unification of the entire southern Germany, and will be replaced by the rise of a German power, and then the German region will present a situation of being divided with Prussia and Austria.

Brion sat on the throne of the German king as the leader, and as the saying goes, if one person attains the Tao, the chicken and the dog ascend to heaven, Bernadotte and other ministers will naturally be happy. But a very real question is still in front of everyone's eyes, even if Briand has the strength to merge with South Germany, but can this throne sit firmly?

"Since the mission of the French Revolution was to bring democracy and freedom to the whole of Europe, popular support was essential to the regime. I believe that the people of Bavaria naturally support me for the German throne, but the attitude of the rest of the region is not yet clear. I hope that within a month there will be a poll of opinion in all parts of South Germany, and as long as the more than 4 million people of South Germany have no opinion, I will be able to ascend to the throne. ”

Brion looked at MacDonald coldly: "This matter will be handed over to you, and you must do it as soon as possible." In addition, Skynet has recently been asked to strengthen local security, and if any Rhine soldiers do not follow discipline and commit any crimes, they will be killed on the spot without reporting to the command. There must be no mistake at this time!"

MacDonald nodded in agreement: "This subordinate naturally understands, but if the duke rashly becomes king, I am afraid that at least three European powers will be the first to turn their faces." ”

"You say France, Austria, and Prussia? That's a problem. Brion couldn't help but touch the mustache on his face and fell into thought.

The question of Austria and Prussia, since Brion intended to be king, naturally had already considered it. After all, the sudden unification of South Germany and the division of the world with Austria and Prussia will inevitably be suppressed by the two major European powers even if they have no intention of seizing the hegemony of the German region. As for Austria's current vitality and inability to fight again, the impact is naturally not in Briand's consideration.

Although Prussia's army was not as good as that of Frederick the Great, it was still a European military power, and Brion had to think about how to deal with Prussia's 200,000 elite army. Perhaps, with a certain amount of diplomacy, such an unnecessary war could have been avoided.

However, the biggest headache for Briand was the attitude of the First French Republic, although Briand was a German prince, but he was also only the commander of a French front. Although Brion had a heavy army and installed a large number of royalists in the central directory to support him, among the five governors, in addition to Barras, the four governors of Sières, Carno, Le Tourne, and Le Belle were all in the Briand camp. But Briand's public claim to be king is not legitimate, which is basically equivalent to committing treason, and must have caused a great sensation in France. If Sières could not control the situation, or simply fell into the ground, Briand would not only be ruined, but also suffered a concerted crusade against hundreds of thousands of French troops, which would inevitably turn into a French civil war.

The French Civil War is no joke, you must know that if such a big battle continues, more than half of France's current total of more than 300,000 troops may be wiped out.

Brion thought a little distracted, until he was patted by the commander of the reserve brigade on the side, Desai, and said: "Most of the Directory supports my royalists, as long as there are no accidents, there should be no problem." I will write two letters at once, one to Monsieur Languedot, the president of the House of Five, asking him to stabilize the House of Five Hundred in the near future. The other letter was sent to Monsieur Carno, the Governor, asking him to consult immediately with Sières and others, to get a firm grip on the central government, and to strengthen the security forces in the Paris area in the near future. It would be bad if the Governor Barras took advantage of the situation and rallied forces against the government, or even staged a coup d'état. ”

MacDonald said: "In this case, I will immediately send additional personnel from Skynet in Paris, and in the event of an accident, I will immediately protect the important people and leave, and report the news here as soon as possible!"

Brion nodded sternly: "Our negotiations with Austria are imminent, since this depends on Austria's attitude towards this new kingdom." ”