In the blink of an eye, in August, Napoleon's original plan to mobilize 400,000 French troops to fight against Prussia was completely ruined due to inadequate pre-war preparations and logistical factors.

But from the moment the decision to declare war was made, there was no turning back, and if he had known that the government departments were so unreliable, Napoleon III would never have declared war so hastily a month ago.

At present, France has 230,000 troops deployed in Alsace and Lorraine, while the German coalition on the other side of the river has numbered 420,000, more than 40,000 more than in history because of the transfer of some troops from the Austro-Prussian border.

The French army was organized into two offensive corps and a reserve corps, one was deployed near Metz in Lorraine, with a total strength of 128,000 men, led by the French Emperor Napoleon III and Marshal Bazin, which was the main force of the French army, known as the Rhine Army, the other was deployed on the right side of the Fuge Mountains, near Strasbourg in Alsace, under the command of General McMahon, with less than 40,000 men, and a reserve was left in Chalon, west of Lauraine Metz.

"This is the Vosges Mountains, the Rhine Corps is near Metz on the north side of the mountains, and General McMahon's Charon Corps is near Strasbourg on the south side, the Rhine Corps is the main force, under my personal command, our goal is here - Frankfurt, and by capturing Frankfurt, we can separate the North German Confederation from South Germany, and the task of the Charon Corps is to coordinate the actions of the main force, and only by pressing down the South German countries first, can we focus our energy on Prussia." Napoleon, dressed in military uniform, described his battle plan to the generals of the French Rhine Corps in the headquarters.

Frankfurt was more than 200 kilometers northeast of Metz and Saarbrücken, conquering here, Baden and Württemberg in the south were surrounded by French troops, and at the same time, from Frankfurt to the north, it could threaten the mainland of western Prussia and Nuremberg in Bavaria to the southeast and southeast. This was supposed to be a pre-emptive offensive deployment, with plans to concentrate forces to quickly cross the border and advance towards Frankfurt, cutting off the link between North and South Germany, forcing the South German states to remain neutral and defeating Prussia with all their might.

"Your Majesty, the battle plan is feasible, according to the mobilization ability of Prussia in the last P-Austrian War, Prussia plus the German coalition army should be able to take out at least 300,000 troops to deploy on the east bank of the Rhine, fortunately, Austria contains Prussia, otherwise Prussia's eastern front troops are also mobilized, and our situation is even more terrible, although the imperial soldiers are more experienced and combat effectiveness than Prussia, but in the face of nearly twice as many enemies, we still have to be careful." Marshal Bazin said.

Franois Achille Bazaine (13 February 1811 – 23 September 1888) was a mercenary and became Marshal of France in 1864. During his 40-year military career, France was known for his incredible bravery.

François Achille Bazin was born at Versailles, the son of a mathematical and bridge engineer whose father presided over the construction of several bridges in Petersburg at the invitation of Tsar Alexander I. Unable to receive financial support from his family, he failed to pass the entrance examination to the Polytechnic School, and in March 1831 he entered the 37th Infantry Regiment. Louis Philippe, who was still an equal, was first king at the time. In January 1832 he joined the Foreign Legion as a mercenary and in 1833 he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. During the First Carlos War in 1833, he completed a military mission to Spain, wounded in the right leg in battle, and was awarded a medal for his bravery. In 1835 he served again in Algeria and in 1837 he was promoted to captain. Later, he served in the Ministry of Intelligence, where he fought against the Algerian national hero Abdou Qadir in the Sahara Desert, and pursued him fiercely, forcing him to retreat to Morocco, where he was wounded again in the wrist in 1845. After Abd al-Qadir's capture in 1847 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, in 1850 he became colonel, and in June 1852 he married his first wife, Maria Juana of La Soleda, at Versailles. In addition to this, he participated in the Crimean War, the Franco-Sardinia War against Austria, and the French War of Intervention in Mexico, so he can be said to be an old acquaintance of Massimiliano I.

Bazin said this, and indeed no one refuted it, looking at all the wars he participated in, they were typical of fighting more with less, especially Mexico, which belonged to fighting on someone else's land, and Mexico was far from France itself.

As a general, Bazin's command ability is not outstanding, the only advantage is that he is brave enough, and he takes the lead every time, so he is often wounded, and he is recognized as a warrior in France.

The French "warriors" have said that the French soldiers are heroic, so what else is there to say, that is, to press the Prussian army to fight, with one enemy and two.

"We have no way out, this time the opponent is not the European countries of my uncle Napoleon the Great, but the German region that he once trampled underfoot, and even the Austrians are not involved, so we have a good chance of winning, let Prussia and Germany see the horror of France again, long live France!" Napoleon III agitated.

……

"If my expectations are correct, the goal of France must be to cut off our ties with the South German region, and the most likely goal to achieve this goal is to occupy the Frankfurt area, so Napoleon III must strike first in order to achieve this goal, so our men should always pay attention to the movements of the French on the West Bank, and the front-line troops should first avoid direct war with the oncoming French army, and first withdraw to a favorable position to consume the morale of the French army."

While Napoleon III was discussing the offensive plan with his staff and generals, Moltke was also analyzing the movements of the French and their solutions with the Prussian generals.

……

The Franco-Prussian war is about to break out, and the war in East Africa has been going on for more than ten days, for East Africa, the experience of this war of conquest is very unfriendly, subject to logistical reasons, seriously slowing down the speed of movement, the second war of conquest, with Mbeya as a base, logistics can barely keep up.

This time, the newly occupied Zambian region of East Africa has not been developed, and the food output is basically negligible, so the military rations and supplies need to be sent to the front line from the rear through the poor transportation in the Zambian region.

Although the progress is relatively slow, it is steady, and I can advance one or twenty kilometers every day.

……

Rome.

"The French have withdrawn?" The Austro-Hungarian envoy to Rome asked.

"Yes, the last French troops withdrew from Fiumicino today, and the number of French troops stationed in Rome was not large, only more than 3,000 people, and now the French military camp is completely empty."

"Very well, I will go to the Pope at once, and persuade him to sign an agreement with Austria, and this time we will give Italy some color if we have nothing to do."

"Don't you need to inform General Karl and let him cooperate with the operation!"

"No, it's not yet time for our troops to show up, otherwise what if it scares the Italian government and makes them afraid to act? You go back and tell General Karl to continue to lurk, and we will take him by surprise when Italy makes a move against the Papal States. ”

The envoy continued: "I will go to Rome first, persuade the Pope to accept Austria's protection, and then make the news public, the Italian government will definitely be anxious, and they will definitely strengthen their forces in Venice to guard against our interference, and on the other hand, they will directly send troops to Rome, so that everything will settle, but they will never think that we still have a strange soldier in Rome, as long as the empire gets the pretext for war, then it will be logical to send troops to Italy, and Italy will be the invader at that time, And we are the guardians of the order that keeps the peace. ”

(End of chapter)