In Flanders Field:
(Charles François Dumouriez POV)
You studied the maps closely as the spring rain poured onto the dikes and countryside of the Netherlands. The dikes had been secured quite quickly, the destructive tactics that could have flooded the entire region, and your army dealt with.
The Dutch forces that were still fighting your onslaught were… well, they were few and far between, their morale shattered, their organization, nonexistent. Any leadership that may have been able to organize a defense, were prisoners in his camp or fleeing with their king to Prussia, to cower like dogs, their punishment their destroyed honor, their lost homes, and the humiliation of being beaten.
The Austrian forces, what little that survives Amiens and your rampage through the Low Lands, were routed to Austria proper. You had let them go because you could not spare the forces to give chance, not with the… Dutch needing to be quelled.
You had remembered in the histories that the Netherlands used to be part of the French kingdom, their identity not different from the French.
They would become part of the French dominion again. Perhaps it was an ambition to leave a legacy… Mayhaps you knew that the wars started with the foundation of the republic, and the death of Louis was only the beginning.
You knew that France was indefensible with its current borders. The Prussians could march through the Netherlands and nothing could stop them. Not without forcing battle, not without allowing them to March into France.
The Rhine was a much better location to defend from. A boundary that could be fortified… a boundary that could repel most attacks from the east.
Perhaps… you could make preparations.
"General." A colonel saluted as he appeared before you. "The King is within our Grasp… shall we take him?"
"No… let him run… we have more pressing matters to attend to. Make sure the others know my orders."
"What orders sir?"
You pointed at the river Rhine. "We are building a wall Colonel… a wall of water and canon. A wall, where the Prussians will not pass."
AN: A little hint on what exactly our favorite general is doing.
Hint: Kicking All the Ass!
