A member of the royal family of the Austrian Empire is in Switzerland, a hero who once fought against Napoleon is in Switzerland, and an element of instability is at the center of this storm.

This would explain the sudden change in strategy of the Orthodox Alliance, but it is by no means good news for France.

"Archduke Karl in Switzerland."

This message may actually reveal multiple meanings:

Austria wants a unilateral end to the Swiss Civil War?

Austria wants more benefits?

Austria and the Orthodox Union came to some kind of agreement?

Austria already actually controls the Orthodox Union?

Austria wants to monopolize Switzerland?

Baron Pasquière did not dare to continue thinking, but it was not wise to tear his face with Austria, or to start a war directly to seize territory.

Louis Philippe's bottom line was to cede the cantons of Aargau and Valais, but that now seems a little too whimsical.

At this time, he remembered Metternich's previous words, and the other party seemed to want to ask for a bribe.

"Your Excellency, we in France are willing to cede the canton of Aargau again, and we are also willing to settle your debt problem in Oxenhausen and finance you for another million francs to rebuild the estate."

To be honest, this bribe is not small, at least much higher than that given to Russian Prime Minister Illarion.

But the problem was that the French bid too low to meet the psychological expectations of Austria and Metternich.

According to Franz's plan, the negotiations need to be delayed a little longer.

Metternich naturally knew what to do.

"Let me think about it, you wait for my news."

Baron Pasquière still wanted to fight for it, but the other party had already issued an eviction order, and he couldn't say anything more, so he could only send the news back to Paris as soon as he left.

On the other hand, Switzerland.

Dufour's offensive was not going well, as most of the battlefields were very unfavorable for the Free States Alliance, or which side was attacking which side was unfavorable.

The terrain is narrow, the troops are not easy to deploy, and the strong defenses are difficult to destroy, in fact, it is not that those fortresses are really strong, compared to the new concrete structure, it is still much worse.

The main problem was the lack of heavy artillery and the monotony of the offensive mode, the 12-pounder field gun, which in the eyes of the Swiss was already considered a heavy artillery.

But in fact, the 12-pounder cannon may not be able to show off its might in the North American battlefield at this time, and the siege artillery of the major powers is generally above 24 pounder.

At the same time, Dufort also lacked offensive means, and chose to detour every time he couldn't beat it, but every detour would be blocked by Grand Duke Karl like a hanging, and then it was a big defeat.

Dufort once suspected that the other party would use witchcraft, because his several extremely covert attacks were intercepted by the enemy, which was simply impossible, unless there were spies in his headquarters.

If they never see the observation hot air balloon floating in the sky, then such doubts will always exist.

In addition, the muddy roads made it difficult to maintain supplies, and the morale of the soldiers who could not survive the attack for a long time dropped significantly. This is fatal for recruits, who are not well fed and clothed, and lose a fight.

Dufort was not a brutal man, but at this moment he had to resolutely enforce military law and show his determination to the officers and enlisted men, otherwise the situation would become out of control.

However, if all the soldiers who escaped every day were shot, then he was afraid that he would become the Robespierre of Switzerland, so he could only follow an ancient military law, that is, eleven slashes.

However, this did not scare anyone at all, and Dufort could only ask for more reinforcements and supplies, which he hoped could use to kill the Orthodox Alliance.

It has to be said that Joseph Loy was a qualified leader, and he insisted on trusting the veteran despite the fact that almost all the Free States opposed the continued appointment of Dufour.

But it is unlikely that the free cantons will continue to pay and send people, but there are just two Orthodox cantons that have surrendered, especially in the canton of Fribourg, which has a large number of disbanded Orthodox Union soldiers.

Thus, Josef Løy, in the name of the Confederation, demanded that the cantons of Fribourg and Zug assume the obligation of war, which was in fact an order.

Now that these two states had surrendered, they were lambs to the slaughter, and Joseph Lowy soon raised an army of 100,000 men for Dufour.

However, Augustin Keller's defeat in the canton of Schwyz had a significant impact on the Swiss Confederation, and the top brass of the canton of Zug initially surrendered because they did not want the war to reach their homes.

Now that Augustin Keller is dead, the promise not to let them go to the front has been nullified, and the result is that not only has to recruit a large number of young men into the army, but also has to pay for the war and its homeland has become a battlefield.

Several high-ranking people in the canton of Zug did not dare to go out, for fear of being scolded to death by their hometown fathers.

In addition, Tanner Amhed's guerrillas were not wiped out, and they took advantage of the difficult terrain of the mountains to make Frey Holosey's army unwieldy.

Ordinary local forces and militias were no match for the guerrillas, and Frey Holosai's main force was too big to target and move too slowly, forcing the opponent to wander back and forth on its own territory.

Tanner Amhead's combat style is the most common mercenary mode, fight if you can beat it, run if you can't beat it, and pick soft persimmons to pinch.

But because the raids were on official warehouses, the local population often chose to turn a blind eye, and the war took a turn for the worse and worsened, and Tanner Amhed's guerrillas became idols.

The revelation of Frey Holosey's lies, coupled with his long lack of achievements, made the Swiss Confederation increasingly distrustful of him, and he himself became more and more manic.

As a result, it is not uncommon to whip soldiers and then bend them into tricks, and even go up and down, the army is like bandits, and the bandits are like the army.

Lucerne State Command, Grand Duke Karl sat down in a rocking chair and took a nap. Sigismund, the captain of the guard, used iron tongs to make the fire as warm as possible.

If it weren't for the sand table in the middle and the map on the wall, it would be hard to believe that this was the High Command of the Orthodox Alliance.

In fact, Dufour's army was not very mobile in the first place, and the cold weather of winter limited it to death.

Konstantin Sigwater and Ulrich Salis were very busy, because they never thought that the army would be so consuming supplies.

Despite the opposition of Archduke Karl, the two expanded the original 40,000 troops to 100,000, but the front line did not collapse, and the logistics were about to collapse first.

The Swiss region is sparsely populated, barren and does not have a high war potential, but due to the implementation of compulsory conscription and mercenary traditions, it can mobilize far more soldiers in a short period of time than the average country.

However, the huge contrast between the two can quickly deteriorate the situation.

However, this is not Archduke Karl's concern, because the situation of the other side will be worse than that of the Orthodox Alliance.

What really cares about him is what the chess players behind the scenes want to do.

(End of chapter)