Chapter 803 War of Attrition

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

This can explain why the Legitimacy League suddenly changed its strategy, but it is definitely not good news for France.

"Archduke Karl is in Switzerland."

This message may actually reveal multiple meanings:

Austria wants to unilaterally end the Swiss Civil War?

Austria wants more benefits?

Austria and the Legitimacy League have reached some kind of agreement?

Austria has actually controlled the Legitimacy League?

Austria wants to take Switzerland alone?

Baron Pasquier did not dare to think further, but it was not a wise move to tear his face with Austria or directly start a war to grab territory.

Louis Philippe's bottom line is to give up the two states of Aargau and Valais, but now it seems a bit too whimsical.

At this time, he remembered what Metternich said before, and the other party seemed to want to ask for a bribe.

"Your Excellency, we in France are willing to give up the Aargau Canton again. At the same time, we are willing to solve your debt problem in Ochsenhausen and provide you with another one million francs to rebuild the manor."

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

But the problem is that the French offer is too low, which does not meet the psychological expectations of Austria and Metternich at all.

According to Franz's plan, the negotiations need to be postponed.

Metternich naturally knows what to do.

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

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

On the other hand, Switzerland.

Dufour's attack was very unsuccessful, because most battlefields were very unfavorable to the Free State Alliance, or whichever side attacked was unfavorable.

The narrow terrain made it difficult for troops to deploy, and the solid defensive facilities were difficult to destroy. In fact, it was not that those fortresses were really strong, but compared with the new concrete structures, they were still much worse.

The main problem was the lack of heavy artillery and the monotony of the attack mode. The 12-pound field gun was considered a heavy artillery in the eyes of the Swiss.

But in fact, the 12-pound gun was not necessarily able to show off its power on the North American battlefield at this time, and the siege guns of major powers were generally above 24 pounds.

At the same time, Dufour also lacked offensive means. Every time he couldn't attack by force, he chose to take a detour. However, every time he took a detour, he would be blocked by Archduke Karl like a cheat, and then he would be defeated.

Dufour 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 was a spy in his command.

If they could not see the observation balloon floating in the sky, then such doubts would continue.

In addition, the muddy road made it difficult to maintain supplies, and the morale of the soldiers who could not attack for a long time dropped sharply. This was fatal for the recruits. If they were not well fed and well dressed, they would lose as soon as they fought.

Dufour was not a cruel person, but at this moment he had to resolutely enforce military law and let the officers and soldiers see his determination, otherwise the situation would become uncontrollable.

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

However, this approach did not scare anyone at all. Dufour could only ask for more reinforcements and supplies. He hoped to use supplies and people to pile up the Orthodox Alliance to death.

It must be said that Joseph Roy was a qualified leader. When almost all free states opposed to continuing to employ Dufour, he still insisted on trusting the veteran.

But it was unlikely that those free states would continue to pay money and send people, but there happened to be two Orthodox states that had surrendered, especially Fribourg, which had a large number of disbanded Orthodox Alliance soldiers.

So Joseph Roy asked Fribourg and Zug to assume war obligations in the name of the federation, which was actually an order.

Since these two states had surrendered, they were lambs to be slaughtered. Joseph Loy quickly raised another 100,000-man army for Dufour.

However, Augustin Keller's defeat in Schwyz still had a significant impact on the Swiss Confederation. The leaders of Zug initially surrendered because they did not want the war to spread to their homes.

Now that Augustin Keller is dead, the promise not to let them go to the front line has also been invalidated. As a result, Zug not only has to recruit a large number of young and strong men to join the army, but also has to pay for the war expenses, and their homes have become battlefields.

Several senior officials in Zug dared not go out, for fear of being scolded to death by their hometown elders.

In addition, Tanner Amherd's guerrillas were not eliminated. They took advantage of the complex terrain of the mountains to appear and disappear, making Frei Holose's army unable to use their strength.

Ordinary local troops and militias are no match for the guerrillas, and Frei Holose's main force is too big and moves too slowly, forcing the other side to roam back and forth on their territory.

Tanner Amheed's fighting style is the most common mercenary mode. He fights when he can win, and runs away when he can't. He only picks on the weak.

However, since the attacks were all on official warehouses, local people usually chose to turn a blind eye. In addition, the war took a sharp turn for the worse, and people's lives became worse and worse. Tanner Amheed's guerrillas became people's idols.

Frey Holose's lies were exposed, and coupled with his long-term lack of achievements, the Swiss Confederation became increasingly distrustful of him, and he became increasingly manic.

As a result, it was not uncommon for soldiers to be whipped and then forced to confess, and some even led to the same trend, with the army acting like bandits and the bandits acting like the army.

At the headquarters of Lucerne, Archduke Karl took a nap in a rocking chair. Captain Sigismund used tongs to make the fire as hot as possible to make the room warmer.

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 highest headquarters of the Orthodox Alliance.

In fact, Dufour's army was not very mobile, and the cold weather in winter restricted it even more.

Constantine Sigwart and Ulrich Salis were very busy, because they never thought that the army would consume supplies so much.

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

Switzerland has a sparse population and barren land, and does not have a high war potential, but due to the implementation of the compulsory conscription system and the tradition of mercenaries, it can mobilize far more soldiers in the short term than ordinary countries.

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

However, this is not what Archduke Karl cares about, because the situation of the other side will be worse than that of the Orthodox Alliance.

What really concerns him is what the chess player behind the scenes wants to do?