18th century total war

Chapter 277 Occupying Hesse
After Napoleon arrived at the outskirts of the Fortress of Kassel, he was not in a hurry to attack, because the gate of the Fortress of Kassel had already been closed, and it was densely packed with militiamen wearing civilian clothes and holding muskets, and dozens of cannons were arranged on the fort. above.

Since the Principality of Hesse dares to go to war with the French Empire, it has naturally already deployed defense fortifications in the capital. However, the Principality of Hesse, which originally wanted to take advantage of its local combat advantages, bite a piece of meat from the French Defense Forces and gradually consume the strength of the French army, failed. Annihilated by the First Regiment of the First Division, which was much smaller than them...

When the news spread to Kassel along with the rout, the family of the Duke of Hesse stayed up all night and were busy running away!
This is why the Duke of Hesse was able to flee with his family property as soon as he learned that the French army had arrived.

There was no way, what the French Defense Forces did in Italy and the Piedmont region of the Kingdom of Sardinia was too brutal for the aristocracy.

The nobles killed by the French Defense Forces in Italy and the Piedmont region of the Kingdom of Sardinia are close to the sum of the nobles killed during the French Revolution!

Noble blood has never been so cheap and humble!
Originally a symbol of noble noble blood, it has become a gold coin in the eyes of the French Defense Forces, with its own shining attributes. The French Defense Forces have not spared any nobleman, as if in the eyes of the French Defense Forces, as long as they are nobles, they are rich...

The French Defense Forces have such a bad precedent. How dare the Duke of Hesse and other nobles stay in Kassel and wait for the French Defense Forces to catch them?

Now that even the main force has been wiped out, the nobles of the Principality of Hesse dare not die to the end...

Not to mention the aristocratic class in Kassel, even ordinary middle-class families were trembling. Many wealthy middle-class families followed the noble carriage and fled with their families and floating wealth.

It's a pity that in this era, the whole family flees and competes for financial resources. Not to mention ordinary civilian families, even middle-class families, most people do not have the financial resources and courage to escape.

Because the income of middle-class families mainly relies on self-employed shops, workshops or their own professional income.

No matter which type it is, it is doomed that these middle-class families cannot leave the city where they live!
Once they leave the city where they live, middle-class families with little savings will lose all their advantages, and they will spend their small savings in another city within a few days...

As for relying on knowledge to obtain new jobs, it only exists in an ideal state. After all, the high-income jobs in every city are fixed, which is different from the bottom jobs.

For example, if a lawyer of yours goes to another city to become a lawyer, what will the lawyers in that city think?
This is blatant job grabbing!

Unless you are a strong dragon, don't blame the local snake for being ruthless!

And the profession of lawyers is considered a high-income group even among the middle class (lawyers in this era are much scarcer than lawyers in the 21st century), and most middle-class people simply cannot meet the income standards of lawyers.

If it is the kind of middle-class small bosses with fixed shops, they will not be able to survive outside the city where they live. Without shops, these small bosses will have to start from scratch.

Let alone this era, even in a harmonious society in the 21st century, how difficult is it to start from scratch?
In the 21st century, failure in starting a business is a big deal and going home to work is a big deal, but in this era, failure in starting a business is the fate of the whole family to starve to death!
When the wealthy middle class leaves the city where they live, they will immediately be reduced to the civilian class, while the ordinary middle class will be reduced to refugees if they leave the city where they live!
This is the society of the 18th century!
Because of this, there are many aristocrats who fled in Kassel, but very few middle-class people fled, and even many small nobles from poor families did not dare to escape.

The title of nobility is valuable in this era, but at least it has to be upscale. If it is just a baron or even a gentleman, the title is really just a title...

A person with a truly prestigious title must at least be an earl. For those with a lower title to enter the upper class, you need a strong family background or a relatively good personal network.

The city of Kassel was busy fleeing, and the city defenses gradually disintegrated, but Napoleon leisurely let people set up artillery positions.

Even if the main force of the Principality of Hesse is defeated, the city of Kassel cannot be captured by less than 2000 people.

After all, Kassel itself is a fortress city, and it is built on high ground. The terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack is selected. In addition, Kassel has abundant strategic materials and a large number of militias armed with a young and strong population. As well as some of the regular troops who stayed behind, if there was a fight, Napoleon's entire regiment would probably be wiped out.

The gap in the number of troops and artillery between the two sides was too great.

Napoleon's artillery, including mortars, did not exceed ten, and he had no ability to attack tough battles.

After all, what Napoleon led was just an ordinary infantry regiment.

Real artillery units are generally deployed in division-level teams.

If Napoleon had a division under his command, it would be easy to take down Kassel.

It's a pity that Napoleon only had an infantry regiment lacking artillery.

Even the guard cavalry was temporarily borrowed from Niza by Napoleon, just to wipe out the main force of the Principality of Hesse.

The scene of the French Defense Forces setting up artillery positions in the suburbs is naturally impossible to hide from the defenders in the city.

When the defenders in the city learned that the Duke of Hesse and all the ministers had run away, and even the senior officials of the city government were few, they completely lost their confidence in resistance.

If it weren't for the heavy killings committed by the French Defense Forces in the Piedmont region of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Italian Peninsula region, which made everyone in the middle class in Kassel feel insecure, it is estimated that Kassel would have opened the door to surrender .

The top officials of the city government are gone, but the middle and lower levels of the city government are all the so-called middle class. They don’t want to experience another Italian-style family destruction...

The remaining mid-level and low-level officials of the city government collectively believed that they could never open the door to welcome surrender without reservation, and that they must fight for their future.

As a result, a new municipal committee was established with extremely high efficiency, and some middle-level officials became the temporary decision-makers in Kassel, taking over the Kassel defenders and city defense militia that had lost their generals.

Then, the new municipal council begins to fight for its future - they send peace messengers to Napoleon's troops!
Fighting is the last and most helpless option for the Kassel Municipal Council. Although the French Defense Forces are brutal, their combat effectiveness is even more 'ruthless'!
Even the big shots of the Principality of Hesse have run away. How can these little people who can't run away dare to fight the French Defense Forces to the end?
Even these members of the Kassel Municipal Council do not intend to retain the Principality of Hesse, but only want to preserve their positions and lives.

They cannot lose their positions, which are their jobs. Without their official positions in the city government, wouldn't they immediately become ordinary civilians?
No matter how small an official is, he is still an official!

It was no surprise that Napoleon waited for the peace envoy sent by Kassel.

If Kassel didn't send out an envoy for peace, and just kept slamming to death, Napoleon would have to think carefully.

The only advantage Napoleon has over Kassel now is the morale of the army. If the soldiers and civilians of Kassel are really united and fight to the end, Napoleon will not be able to defeat him even if he dies on the city walls of Kassel!
Napoleon's goal was not to loot the Principality of Hesse. This time, the strategic goal was to defeat the Anti-French Alliance, establish the peripheral Rhine Alliance as the eastern defense circle of the French Empire, and then allow the French Empire to have enough energy and guarantee to solve the western Iberian Peninsula. chaos.

Since a defense circle is being established, it is naturally impossible to completely wipe out the occupied area. There is no way to establish a stable defense circle in the occupied area with a collapsed economy!
You can't send a large number of French Defense Forces to garrison.

It would be better to just send an army to occupy it for a long time!
Li Wei needed to establish the eastern defense circle because of insufficient troops. How could it be possible to send a large army to occupy here?

Therefore, this time, Li Wei asked the First Army to minimize damage to the local area. Except for the cities that are stubborn and stubborn, the other occupied cities must adopt a soft policy of supporting the puppet government.

This was Napoleon's confidence in persuading Kassel to surrender.

Napoleon was well aware of the thoughts of European cities and nobles in this era. As long as the lives and properties of opponents were guaranteed, no one was willing to continue the war.

To put it bluntly, the European war of this era is not popular to kill all.

"I can agree to your conditions. For the long-term peace of Hesse, I will not only ensure the safety of the lives and property of the people of Kassel, but also be willing to ensure the safety of the lives and property of all Hesse citizens.

However, the Hessian nobles and people who have fled are not within the scope of my protection. Since they have chosen to escape, it proves that they are still enemies of the French Empire, and the French Empire will never show mercy to its enemies! "

Napoleon promised with a smile on his face.

"My lord colonel, what do you plan to do with the City Council of Kassel?
Don't get me wrong, sir. The current Kassel City Council was temporarily established and was elected by the people of Kassel. It is not a lackey of the Duke of Hesse. "

According to the peace envoy of the Kassel City Council, the city council has been transformed into a democratically elected legal cloak...

Popular elections have a long history in European society. The earliest place of origin was Greece, and it was called citizen elections at that time.

It later evolved into an aristocratic electoral system, and reached its peak during the Roman Republic. The Roman Senate was actually the electoral system.

The most famous one in modern times is the aristocratic election system of the United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. The United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania has created a historical precedent. All kings are elected by aristocrats!

And the nobles also have veto power!

Unsurprisingly, this electoral system caused the rapid decline of the Polish-Lithuanian United Kingdom. There are no other reasons. Different nobles have different interests. Relying on the electoral system to control the country, most resolutions will be supported by some nobles and opposed by others. , and finally achieve nothing...

The result is that the powerful United Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania is often in a situation where the power of the central government is left behind. The nobles in the United Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania basically play their own way, and even occasionally civil strife breaks out and attacks each other!

Even when facing foreign enemies, there will be nobles from the United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight...

With such a disunited electoral system, how could the United Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania not be destroyed?
The United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania has also become a typical failure of the aristocratic electoral system, and it has been nailed to the pillar of historical shame for future generations to warn.

However, because the electoral system seems to respect human rights very much, the rulers of many European countries like to use popular elections to win over public opinion, which is actually a gimmick.

It was not until the outbreak of the French Revolution that popular elections became a reality.

During the French Revolution, the committee system elected at all levels of local government also became popular in European countries.

At this time, the Municipal Council of Kassel, the capital of the Principality of Hesse, had the shadow of imitating the French Municipal Council. It’s not that they admired the political system during the French Revolution, but that they could unite the majority of people in a short period of time.

In a group without strong decision-makers, this committee system in which everyone sits on an equal footing is undoubtedly the most trouble-free.

Better than no government at all!
Napoleon did not point out the 'elected lie' in the mouth of Kassel's summation envoy, so there is no point in doing so.

"I believe in the choice of the people of Kassel. As long as the gates of Kassel are open to the French Defense Forces, the city government of Kassel will definitely select personnel from the current municipal council in the future. If the people of Hesse are willing, a The republic is not impossible."

The peace envoy sent by the Kassel City Council looked overjoyed after hearing this, and then made a request to leave a paper treaty agreement.

This is of course to prevent Napoleon from talking nonsense...

As long as there is a paper contract, if the French Defense Forces really break their promises, the French Defense Forces will no longer have credibility to persuade them to surrender in the future.

Napoleon, who had no intention of looting the Principality of Hesse, naturally signed the paper treaty without hesitation. However, Napoleon could only represent himself, and many contents in the treaty were reserved. The final decision-making power belonged to the French Emperor Livy.

After the two sides signed the terms of peace, all the militia and regular army at the head of the city of Kassel left, the city gate was opened, and the defenders of Kassel came out in a fish line. received by the Wehrmacht.

Subsequently, Napoleon sent a company of the French Wehrmacht into Kassel, and after confirming that there was no danger, he let the large troops pour in.

The citizens of Kassel, who were originally on tenterhooks, soon relaxed when they saw that the French Defense Forces entered the city without any crime.

The Kassel City Council, which had reached a settlement with Napoleon, also sent people to the streets to appease the hearts of the people.

With this, the Battle of the Rhine enters the next stage!

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(End of this chapter)