In mid-1798, the Palace of Duille, Paris, the capital of the French Empire.

"Your Majesty, the newly formed Sardinian Legion and the Italian Legion have been fully equipped.

According to the original plan, the Sardinian Legion reorganized a total of 20,000 people and the Italian Legion reorganized a total of 30,000 people.

In addition, we have reorganized 5,000 sharpshooters and 5,000 guard cavalry to supplement the consumption of each army in the last war."

Li Wei nodded slightly as he listened to the report of the Army Minister.

This was the last 60 points of glory on the book of the total war system, and the army of 60,000 trained.

As for the Sardinian Legion and Italian Legion in the French Foreign Corps, like the French Defence Force, the main body is guard infantry, with only a small number of sharpshooters and guard cavalry. The only difference from the French Defence Force is that the officers and soldiers in the foreign Corps are all from prisoners of war during the Italian expedition.

During the battle of expedition to the Italian Peninsula, although the armies of various states in the Italian region did not fight against Livi's French Defence Force, when the French Defence Force swept across the Italian Peninsula, a large number of Italian state troops who surrendered without fighting became prisoners of war of the French Defence Force.

These prisoners of war were carefully selected, and the young and strong were brought back to the French land, which was the source of the Italian army.

Among them are many captured officers at all levels.

These Italian prisoners of war also praised the food and clothing of the French Defence Force prisoner camp. The food and clothing cost is the same as the French Defence Force!

You should know that although the military pay of the French Defence Force is only used to fool people on paper, their food, clothing, housing and transportation ranks first among European powers.

This is to ensure that the French Defence Force can maintain its peak physical fitness at all times.

The Li Wei government has spent a lot of money on this.

Of course, the French Defense Forces can rank among the best in European military in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, which has a lot to do with the fact that European countries generally do not pay attention to the lives of soldiers in this era...

The army of European powers in this era generally had a tradition that the lives of officers and soldiers were distinguished.

The officers spent all day long, and even during the war, there were special orders responsible for their food, clothing, housing and transportation.

It fully demonstrates the dignity of a nobleman.

In contrast, the life treatment of soldiers is just better than that of the ancient Eastern countries...

This does not include Tsarist Russia in Eastern Europe and the gray animals in Tsarist Russia, that is a waste of money!

Many of the officers of Tsarist Russia dared to owe the soldiers' military pay during the war!

In other words, the gray animals in Tsarist Russia were all serfs, and their living needs were very low. As long as they had a full meal and had a warm military uniform, they were willing to join the army and fight. It didn't matter whether the military pay was sold for the Tsar for 20 years, but they had not seen a single soldier!

Of course, this did not hinder the Tsarist Russian soldiers' yearning for war.

It is precisely because they have no income during peacetime that they are eager for war.

Only when war occurs will the Tsarist Russian army have the opportunity to rob and supplement the household income!

Why is the Tsarist Russian army the last of the military discipline of this era?

It is because the treatment of the soldiers of the Tsarist Russian army was so poor that their only source of extra money was through war robbery!

Therefore, wherever the Tsarist Russian army passed, it was a place where locusts passed, and the women couldn't close their legs...

It is not difficult to understand that European countries call Tsarist Russia a country of barbarians.

This has little to do with the geographical location of Tsarist Russia. Sweden is also in Eastern Europe. Why haven’t I heard many countries say that they are barbaric countries?

To put it bluntly, Tsarist Russia's bad reputation was created by their army.

Of course, Tsarist Russia just didn't care.

Unlike the prisoners of war in the Kingdom of Sardinia who were forcibly escorted to Paris, Italian prisoners of war were basically fooled by the treatment of prisoners of war camps.

After the Italian prisoners of war entered the barracks for training, it was too late...

By the end of the training, both Sardinians and Italians had been brainwashed to become a true soldier who was not afraid of death.

The Li Wei government formed a French Foreign Corps separately, with the main purpose of solving the problem of linguistic and cultural unfamiliarity between the occupying forces and local people when controlling different countries and regions in the future.

Even if nationalism is not yet thriving in this era, regional xenophobia is widespread, especially in areas with different languages ​​and cultures. If it is forcibly occupied, only if the enemy forces simply incite and fund it, guerrillas will emerge one after another.

Even if the combat effectiveness is not as strong as that of the booming nationalism, it is enough to make the occupying army suffer a lot.

Li Wei looked at the Foreign Minister and the Director of the General Administration of Military Intelligence and asked: "How is the war between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of Spain going on?"

The Foreign Minister took the lead and said: "Report to His Majesty, King Carlos IV of the Kingdom of Spain is organizing celebrations in Madrid, and the Spanish Army has successfully occupied Lisbon, the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal.

Since the London government has never sent troops to land in the Kingdom of Portugal, all the large and medium-sized cities in the Kingdom of Portugal have fallen into the hands of the Spanish army, and only some remote towns are still resisting.

However, with the support of the London government, the colonial government of the Kingdom of Portugal in South America announced that it had separated from the Kingdom of Portugal, which was controlled by the Kingdom of Spain, and was unwilling to accept the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Spain's colonial government, and announced the establishment of the Kingdom of Brazil.

The governor of the Kingdom of Portugal in South America was supported by the British as the king of Brazil.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Brazil is actively preparing for war, intending to invade the South American colonies of the Kingdom of Spain, which were exhausted by nationalist rebels everywhere.

The London government intends to rely on its naval advantages to cultivate its own thugs in South America and disintegrate the American colonial system of the Spanish Kingdom.

At the same time, the London government is discussing plans to seize the Philippines with the Washington government. The London government incites the Washington government to send troops to seize the Philippine colonies of the Kingdom of Spain.

It was just that the Washington government's main energy was in the Westward expansion movement, so it never agreed to the London government's plan.

The Americans were wary of the British, and the negotiations between the two sides were not pleasant..."

After the Foreign Minister finished his official news, Manid, Director of the General Administration of Military Intelligence, stood up and began to reveal the information obtained by the spies from the General Administration of Military Intelligence on the Ilibyan Peninsula (the peninsula where the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal are located).

"Your Majesty, although Carlos IV of the Kingdom of Spain defeated the Kingdom of Portugal, the situation in the country was not good.

For this war, Carlos IV raised taxes four times, and a large number of Spanish aristocratic bureaucrats took the opportunity to fill their pockets, which caused many Spanish people to be consumed and oppressed by this war and lost everything they had.

In addition, the Kingdom of Portugal only lost its capital. The Portuguese royal family arrived in the British Isles under the protection of the British fleet and established an exile government. With the help of the British, they remotely controlled the guerrillas in the Portuguese region to resist the Spanish occupation forces.

These Portuguese guerrillas were supplemented by the British, and the Spanish army was in full swing and doing all kinds of evil in the Portuguese area, which made the Portuguese guerrillas fight very fiercely.

So far, the Spanish Army has been able to conquer the major cities and transportation points, and the vast townships have all fallen into the hands of the Portuguese guerrillas.

It is precisely because of the harassment of these Portuguese guerrillas that the Spanish occupying forces have been in a state of blood loss. The war seems to be over on the surface, but the Madrid government's military expenditure is not a penny, and the war tax on the Spanish people shows no sign of being reduced.

The Spanish Kingdom was already full of grievances, and the national finances even raised foreign debts. If the Spanish royal family had not obtained high-interest loans from a group of Jewish financiers from somewhere, the national finances would have collapsed completely now.

The Spanish army that occupied the Kingdom of Portugal did not receive the full military pay at all, so the Spanish army soldiers could only take the initiative to go out to rob and compensate for their own consumption, which further enhanced the strength of the Portuguese guerrillas and led to the increasing cost of occupying the Kingdom of Portugal.

As a result, a vicious cycle has been formed.

This time, Carlos IV of the Kingdom of Spain held a celebration in Madrid, in order to appease the hearts of the people and to use this false victory to appease the resentment of the people.

Unfortunately, Carlos IV and his cabinet government were too simple. Many Spanish people had already starved to death. No matter how great the victory was, they could not fill their stomachs, and the Madrid government was in danger.

Carlos IV's celebrations have made the hungry Spanish people in many areas believe that Madrid has enough food, and groups of refugees are moving towards Madrid from all directions!

I would like to ask Your Majesty to be prepared to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Spain, otherwise the ally of the Kingdom of Spain should not last long...

It was precisely because the London government saw this that it did not urgently send troops to land on the Ilibyan Peninsula. The London government intends to waste the Spanish Kingdom alive!"

Manid also worked as a foreign minister for a while, sitting in the position of Director of the General Administration of Military Intelligence and having a lot of external information, so Manid's understanding of the international situation is no less than that of the current foreign minister.

Even because I see more than the foreign ministers, my views are more practical.

"The Invincible Armada of the Kingdom of Spain is still very useful. I really can't watch Carlos IV fall, otherwise it would be difficult to find such a fool ally if he replaced a king or even a Spanish regime."

Li Wei responded deeply.

"Your Majesty, then do we want to change our original combat plan?"

The Army Minister on the other side asked cautiously.

“Why change it?

Including the French Foreign Legion, we now have nearly 300,000 active troops and can withstand combat on both sides.

What's more, as long as we defeat the Holy Roman Empire, the strongest opponent on European land, the Spanish Kingdom will not be afraid even if it breaks out in a revolution and establishes a republic."

Li Wei said confidently.

"Your Majesty, although our army can bear the heavy responsibility of fighting on both sides, our logistics will find it difficult to undertake fighting on both sides for a long time.

Unless this two-line battle does not require the French mainland."

The Minister of Logistics jumped out and reminded him at this time.

"Isn't the huge amount of wealth obtained from the last expedition to Italy enough to support a long-term war?"

"Your Majesty, the consumption of fighting on both sides is not just one plus one, and many of the large amount of wealth plundered last time are used to restore and promote the domestic economy and meet the basic survival needs of most people. If you only undertake the attack on the Holy Roman Empire according to the original plan, you can naturally last for one or more than two years.

But if we fight on two fronts, we may only have to bear half a year at most. If we exceed half a year, we will have to increase the war tax again. By then, the pace of economic and agricultural production that the French Empire is recovering will surely be broken."

Li Wei understood that his financial ability was impossible to be comparable to that of these professional ministers. After hearing the other party’s advice, he had to give up his plan to occupy the Central European region for a long time.

I still have to eat rice one by one...

"At most half a year, it is definitely not enough for us to occupy Central and Europe, and it is even more impossible for us to maintain war relations with many states of the Holy Roman Empire for a long time.

And judging from the results of the first London meeting, once we take action, Tsarist Russia will definitely join in. Tsarist Russia will not allow a behemoth to appear in his west, and our expansion has aroused the Tsar's vigilance.

Therefore, it is impossible to defeat the Holy Roman Empire in a short time.

In this case, the original combat plan was changed from long-term occupation to supporting the vassal states.

Just follow the Belgian Kingdom model.

We don’t have to provoke traditional European aristocrats and royal families. At that time, I will ask the executors of the Lindenwan Plan to cooperate with us."

"Your Majesty is wise!"
To be continued...