The waters of the Rhine were still flowing quietly, and the Prussian and German allies had set up a fortified defensive line on the east bank of the Rhine.

But there has not been much movement on the French side so far, the French have not yet arrived, and Prussia is naturally not in a hurry, and the mobilized forces and equipment in the rear are constantly converging on the front line through railways and canals.

In the front command, Moltke personally introduced his battle plan to William I and others: "This is Alsace and Lorraine, Metz and Strasbourg are separated by the Vosges Mountains, the French have the railway capacity in Strasbourg, according to the analysis of the data of our General Staff, there is no way to complete the full movement of the French army, so Metz in the northwest will share this pressure, and the French army will also be divided into two parts, if we take the initiative to attack, we will also be affected by the Vosges Mountains and disperse the main force, This is obviously not good for us, so I advocate that it would be easier to defend against the French on the banks of the Rhine. ”

William I asked, "How is the state of the troop assembly now?" ”

"At present, the active army of Prussia has been assembled, and the rear conscripts are being called up from all over the country, but it will take some time for the states to go, and the Third Army in the south, the main Bavarian force has not yet reached the front." Moltke said.

The Prussian army had a very smooth exchange of information, thanks to their telegraph network. Founded by Werner von Siemens, the "father of German electricity", Siemens created the most advanced telegraph network for Prussia at the time, allowing the General Staff to grasp the exact location of armies, divisions, and regiments down to the hour. After the last Franco-Prussian War, Prussia pushed for the spread of the telegraph network throughout Germany, and with the help of the Customs Union, the South German region was also popularized.

"Austria didn't know for what reason it moved the main forces from the northern border areas, so this time we mobilized more forces from the east to deal with the French, and we waited for the French to come and throw the net." Moltke said excitedly.

From the winter of 1868 to 1869, Moltke began to work on a plan for the war against France, so for his personal point of view, Moltke waited too long for this day.

In fact, as early as soon after the establishment of the North German Confederation, Moltke was trying to take the initiative to start a war against France, because at that time France was in the process of replacing the new Chasebo rear-loading rifle, this rifle far surpassed the German rifle in performance, and if France completed the reloading, its combat effectiveness would rise to a higher level.

However, Bismarck at the time strongly objected: "If we take the initiative to declare war on France, it will become a war of aggression and warmongers, and not only the French will have the same hatred, but other countries will not support our actions, not even within the North German Confederation." ”

This dragged on, and the result was that in 1870 Bismarck humiliated the whole of France with a single telegram, and the French were so enraged that they declared war on Prussia with a hot head.

After the French declaration of war, Moltke urgently ended his vacation, organized the Prussian army to start mobilization according to the plan, and equipped and transported 300,000 soldiers to the border within 18 days.

"Austria still needs to be on guard, I don't believe they will be reconciled to the defeat last time, but so far, I have not heard the Austrian government express its position, which is really a little uncertain about their plans." William I said.

"It is also possible that they are afraid of public opinion in the German region, and the Austrians know that they can do nothing, whether they support France or not, and they cannot stop Prussia's actions in the southern German region, and now the only thing they can do is to let France defeat us completely without making a move, so as to prevent us from unifying the German region."

The reason is very clear, if Austria makes any move to intervene in the Franco-Prussian War and France wins, Austria will become a "German traitor", and if Austria really intervenes, it may not be able to defeat Prussia, Prussia can call Italy to attack Austria from the north to the south, and Tsarist Russia will also take action.

……

The gloomy weather in Paris represented the mood of Napoleon III, who, after declaring war on Prussia, found himself deceived by his men.

The speed of the build-up of French troops is not ideal, compared with the Prussian compulsory military service system, France is more focused on professional soldiers, if you talk about individual combat ability, under normal circumstances, professional soldiers are definitely stronger than compulsory soldiers.

There is no doubt about the combat capability of French soldiers, but now France is facing a situation of perennial colonial wars, which has led to the dispersion of French forces.

Beginning with Napoleon III, France pursued a policy of maverick neutrality in Europe, a lesson learned from the siege of the Napoleonic era.

Unable to exert its strength in Europe, France quickly brought its colonial rivalry to Britain, while Napoleon III also actively cooperated with the British, such as the Crimean War, which had little to do with French interests, and the Anglo-French alliance in the Far East.

In addition to cooperating with the British, France itself also went to the war in Mexico (which supported Massimiliano and interfered in Mexico's internal affairs), Southeast Asia, North Africa and many other colonies. At the same time, under the personal manipulation of Napoleon III, the Kingdom of Italy was born, which dealt a blow to the Austrian Empire, allowing Prussia to challenge the Austrian Empire, and the previous Crimean War, which severely damaged Tsarist Russia.

The abolition of the two formidable enemies of the war against France by the French was undoubtedly a great victory, and although the new Kingdom of Italy severed the traditional French route of expansion, it was not a big problem.

Colonial activity led to the dispersion of French power, and it took time for colonial forces to be transferred back to mainland France, and now that the war machine had been launched, it was too late to say anything more.

The most important thing is that France has always had its own ambitions for the land of the Rhine, so there has always been a large number of French troops on the German-French border, which can be temporarily assembled, although the number is not as good as the German Union, but France, has always been the existence of one enemy and two, and the generals are also full of confidence, since the military said that there is no problem, so Napoleon is not in a hurry. What really made Napoleon III angry was the logistics department.

"You bunch of waste, the front-line troops have waited for so long, and you haven't even sent the supplies to the front? Do you want to let the soldiers of the empire compete with the Prussians on an empty stomach! ”

"Your Majesty is angry, there is a reason for this, the declaration of war is too sudden, and our system cannot operate at full capacity at the moment, after all, the front line suddenly gathered more than 100,000 troops, and the consumption of materials required is extremely large. The logistics department is already coordinating with the railways to get more trains to get supplies to the frontline. ”

"In other words, you have never planned for a war in the German region? Didn't start reacting until the war came? Napoleon III rebuked.

The emperor was furious, and the people below were silent, looking at these wine bags and rice bags in front of him, Napoleon was eager to send them to the front line immediately to serve as cannon fodder.

After calming down his emotions, Napoleon III said: "I don't care what method you use, I must ensure that the supply of materials to the front line is in place within ten days, if it can't be done, then everyone in the logistics department will not have to do it, everyone will send me to the front, and use the materials you have prepared to fight the Germans." ”

After training the logistics department, Napoleon turned around and began to reprimand the intelligence department: "And you, where are the troops?" You even told me that I don't know, probably, maybe these words? That's what your intelligence services are capable of? ”

"Your Majesty, the main reason is that the overseas troops are too scattered, the distance is far away, the sea can only transmit information by boat, and it takes a lot of time to go back and forth, North Africa and Rome are close to each other, and I am afraid that other regions will not be able to contact without ten days and half a month."

"Then you should know something about the enemy! Until now, I haven't figured out the size and composition of the Prussian army? ”

"The country of Prussia cannot be speculated by common sense, everyone knows that all the people of Prussia are soldiers, and it is not surprising how many soldiers are taken out, if you add the German states, this workload is too difficult for our department, and we are simply not enough."

The intelligence services have passed the blame away, the government departments are all virtuous, Napoleon III is angry in his heart, and there is nothing he can do with them, he knows very well that the enemy is in Paris, not Berlin, and the other two royal families and republicans are hoping that something will happen to them.

(End of chapter)