Chapter 256: Marching in France

"So many?" Xiao Jie frowned. It is quite difficult to resettle more than 2 million refugees. Although it is still possible to resettle those refugees with the current strength of Iberia, Xiao Jie is unwilling to consume his strength to this in vain. But if these refugees are left alone, I don't know what trouble will happen. Xiao Jie is in a dilemma. If these people can support themselves, they must make some contributions to the development of Iberia. After thinking about it, Xiao Jie said: "Let's do this. With the development of the economy, there are more and more newly opened factories in various places, and labor shortages have occurred in many places. We can select people from refugees who are capable of working and let them support themselves and their families through their own labor. This will greatly reduce government fiscal expenditure."

"This is a good idea!" Folbeck agreed after hearing this.

"Your Highness, can we select some soldiers from those refugees?" Eck also made his suggestion. Xiao Jie's current force is composed of the 88th Legion composed of the French and the 1st and 2nd Legion composed of the Iberians. But Xiao Jie's future development will be mainly France. Recruiting some French soldiers now will be very beneficial to future development.

After listening to Eke's suggestion, Xiao Jie's eyes lit up, but then he was a little worried. Because Napoleon had been in a military military over the years, many young and middle-aged people in France had died on the battlefield, and most of the remaining people in the country were old, weak, sick and disabled. "General Eke, can you select good soldiers from those refugees?" Xiao Jie asked with some uncertainty.

Eke naturally knew what Xiao Jie was worried about and replied: "Don't worry, His Highness the Crown Prince. It is not too difficult to select more than 100,000 suitable soldiers from two million people. Besides, the total number of refugees is still increasing now, so there should be no problem."

"We need to recruit soldiers again? We have enough soldiers. If we increase them, we may have a fiscal deficit this year." As soon as we heard that we would form a new army, Falbeck's face suddenly turned dark.

"This is also impossible. I believe you know how critical the current situation is. If we are not fully prepared, I am afraid that it will be difficult to cope with future development. Prime Minister, please rest assured that I will bear all the funds for forming a new army this time and will be included in the fiscal budget next year." Xiao Jie quickly explained.

After hearing Xiao Jie's statement that he had to solve the funding problem himself, Falbeck did not continue to get entangled in this issue.

"Then what size of the legion we want to form?" Eck asked. On these issues, Xiao Jie usually takes the idea, and then he executes it according to Xiao Jie's wishes.

Xiao Jie thought about it and now Iberia has nearly 500,000 troops. If an oversized army is formed, it will be unbearable in finance. So he replied: "Follow the scale of the 1st Iberian Army, the number of the new army will be set as the 89th Legion. In addition, we must do a good job of review, so we should not let other countries sneak into the army." Xiao Jie specifically instructed that now Iberia's military technology is far ahead of other countries. If these technologies are stolen by others, the Iberian army's advantage on the battlefield will no longer exist.

Eck nodded, indicating that he would pay attention to this issue.

In early May, Napoleon came to the southern part of the Netherlands and urged the legions to build new lines of defense. He mainly relied on three relatively large cities, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels, to build three lines of defense. If the anti-French alliance can break through the last three lines of defense of the French army, they can drive straight into France.

After compulsory recruitment, men over 15 and under 45 were forced to be recruited into the army by Napoleon. In just over ten days, a total of 200,000 people were recruited. I can't believe how many of these people who have not received military training can be left after the war. In addition, Napoleon also made a final reorganization of the army. He divided all the veterans who had been on the battlefield into the Guards, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th legions, and the Imperial Guard with only 10,000 left in order to exert their maximum strength. The 200,000 new recruits were all reorganized into the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th legions, building defense lines while training, so as to strive by the beginning of the war, they had learned to shoot and some simple tactical actions.

Another problem that troubles Napoleon is that these recruits can only guarantee that each person can fire a rifle, and there are very few heavy weapons, and a legion only costs twenty or thirty cannons and heavy machine guns. Xiao Jie considered that if Paris was lost, the equipment in the Andresci arsenal would definitely be stolen by the anti-French alliance, so he secretly transported the machinery and equipment to Zaragoza in northern Iberia, preparing to set up a new arsenal there. Later, although Napoleon discovered Xiao Jie's intention and stopped it, the equipment for making artillery and heavy machine guns had been transported away, and only the equipment for making bullets remained in the arsenal. Other arsenals in France could only produce old-fashioned artillery, which made Napoleon think that Xiao Jie did this on purpose, with the purpose of making him lose the war, so his resentment towards Xiao Jie was deepened a little.

In mid-May, the rest of the anti-French alliance began their attack. After discussion, Kutuzov, Clausewitz, Wellington and Grand Duke Chary invested 200,000 troops in the first round to attack the French army's first line of defense. Napoleon deployed the Guards, the 1st, 2nd, and 5th legions, three veterans and one new recruit, and Marshal Dawu was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the first line of defense. It can be foreseeable that Napoleon attaches importance to the first line of defense.

The fierce battle lasted for more than a week. On May 23, the anti-French alliance was still unable to break through the French first line of defense. At this time, Clausewitz proposed a new tactic, and he proposed that the British navy escort an army to land in the rear of Rotterdam to achieve the effect of front and rear attacks. Kutuzov and others adopted Clausewitz's suggestion and decided that the army would be the British team, which was very experienced in landing operations. As if to avenge the previous shame, Wellington offered to personally command the army.

On May 27, with the help of the British Royal Navy, Wellington successfully avoided the attention of the French team, led nearly 30,000 British troops to land in Dortrecht, and launched a fierce attack on Dortrecht. Dortrecht was an important fulcrum for the French first line of defense and other French troops. Since it was at the back of the first line of defense, Dawu deployed the 5th Corps, which was not strong in combat. However, under the fierce attack of the British team, the 5th Corps collapsed in less than two hours, and the French first line of defense was attacked by the French army. On May 31, the French army's first line of defense collapsed, Dawu led less than 50,000 people to break through. The other French troops were either killed or captured. Even the commanders of the 1st and 2nd Corps of the French army, Benardot and Marmont, entered the prisoner-of-war camp of the anti-French alliance.

The first line of defense was broken by the anti-French alliance, and the French army suffered heavy losses. Napoleon's last elite lost near-term losses in Rotterdam, and the development of the war was increasingly unfavorable to Napoleon.

Starting from June 8, the Anti-French Alliance organized 200,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on the French second line of defense. Napoleon deployed the 3rd, 4th, and 6th legions and the remaining troops retreated from the first line of defense. Compared with the first line of defense, the Second Line of Defense was even worse. After only one week of support, it was broken through by the Anti-French Alliance. This time, more than 100,000 French troops retreated only 50,000 people.

On June 20, the anti-French alliance launched its final attack on Napoleon, and they put all the 300,000 troops of reputation into the battlefield. Napoleon led his last army: the Imperial Guard, the 7th, 8th, and 10th Army and the remnants retreated from the two front lines of defense. A total of 180,000 people fought bloody battles with the anti-French Allies in Brussels and surrounding areas. Although the French resistance was very brave, it was at the end of Napoleon.

After the elite Imperial Guards were defeated because they were outnumbered, the 7th and 8th Legions, which were all composed of new recruits, immediately collapsed. The entire defense line immediately collapsed. As a last resort, Napoleon issued the final order to retreat. During the retreat, Napoleon was unfortunately hit in the abdomen by a stray bullet and was seriously injured. The army was all handed over to Marshal Davu, and Marshal Bessier escorted Napoleon back to Paris.

On July 2, the anti-French alliance forces entered France and the war burned into French territory. Marshal Dawu gathered the remnants in Amiens, an important city in northern France, and launched a final protest.
Chapter completed!