"Your Majesty, you also know that regardless of General Ferdinand's ability, whether in terms of identity or seniority, His Royal Highness William V of the Netherlands is much deeper, even if it is not the Netherlands, our British will send His Royal Highness Augustus of York Palace to serve as the commander of the British ** team of the allied forces, so ............."
Although Geon did not continue, William knew very well what Geon wanted to say, knowing that whether it was compared with William V or Augustus, Ferdinand's title was not obvious and his military achievements were not prominent!
Even if Ferdinand had won a victory over the Austrian army in Silesia, it was not a great victory, so how could a Prussian general be above the hereditary Dutch consul and the second son of the English king.
It is precisely with this kind of thinking that Ge Ang feels very difficult.
To tell the truth, before he said this to Geon, William's heart was also very entangled, he also knew that this condition he offered must be opposed by the British and the Dutch, although in the coalition, Prussia sent the most troops, but there was no commander who could convince everyone.
"Your Majesty, it's better to be like this, the commander of the coalition forces is still in your name, but the actual command can be handed over to General Ferdinand, and at the same time, we in Britain will also grant General Ferdinand the rank of Honorary General of the British Empire, and I will also persuade the Dutch to give General Ferdinand the same treatment, so it may be acceptable!"
After thinking for a while, Geon gave William this explanation.
It can be said that at present, this explanation of Ge Ang is undoubtedly the best way.
In the previous battle, because William did not follow the tactics discussed with William V before, William V was pierced with a thorn in his heart.
If William had insisted on letting Ferdinand be above William V this time, although William V had no effective way to deal with the Prussians, it would certainly be inevitable to drag his feet.
"Well, I can accept your opinion!"
When Ge Ang heard this sentence from William's mouth, Ge Ang's heart completely relaxed.
He then bowed and left William's tent, where he needed to persuade William V to accept the agreement between the British and the Prussians.
Immediately after Gourne left, William summoned Ferdinand.
When Ferdinand learned that William would leave 50,000 Prussian troops under his command to continue the attack on France, and that he would be the de facto final commander of the coalition forces, Ferdinand said with a look of sincere trepidation: "Your Majesty.
How can you be so trusted!
” "Ferdinand, you don't have to be humble, I also thought carefully about keeping you here, your qualifications are there after all.
Only let you lead the Prussian army.
I will be relieved to leave the army here, and I am not at ease with the rest of the people!
” "The minister will be loyal to death!"
After hearing the oath from little Ferdinand's mouth, William nodded and smiled: "Ferdinand, I don't need you to die, you just need to fight the battle for me!
You don't have to worry about the logistics of the army, the British are solely responsible, and if the British repent, you have the army in your hands anyway.
You also know what to do.
In short, I will only tell you two points, one is to try to preserve the strength of our army on the premise of winning the war.
The other is to beware of the Dutch, you know?
” Hearing William's exhortation, little Ferdinand nodded and said: "The minister understands!"
When Ferdinand the Younger responded, William let him out of the tent.
In William's plan, the royal guards were to return to Prussia with him, so that the fourth, sixth, seventh, eleventh, and twelfth were left in the coalition.
The Fourteenth Prussian Division also had two Imperial Divisions, with a total of six thousand troops in eight divisions.
Originally, with the addition of the royal guard, the Prussian army alone was as high as 110,000 people, but now with many fierce battles with the French army, the strength of the Prussian army has also been consumed a lot, regardless of the two imperial divisions, the Prussians alone have paid the price of nearly 30,000 casualties in the Austrian Netherlands.
Because of the distance between Prussia itself and the Austrian Netherlands, these armies could not be replenished, so the divisions were all in a state of discontent.
Under these circumstances, William planned to bring the 4th and 6th Divisions back to Prussia, leaving the 7th, 11th, 12th, 14th, and two Imperial Divisions with a total of nearly 50,000 men in six divisions.
In William's mind, such a force should be absolutely sufficient for the war in France.
In mid-June 1793, William officially led more than 20,000 Prussian troops back to Prussia in Brussels, and the ashes of nearly 13,000 Prussian soldiers who died in the Austrian Netherlands were accompanied by William's nameplate.
Before leaving Brussels, William announced to all the soldiers of the army that a huge monument to the martyrs would be erected next to the triumphal arch, which would be erected for all the fallen soldiers in this war, and all the soldiers who gave their blood and lives for Prussia would be paid tribute to the Prussian people!
It took more than 200 wagons to collect the bodies of the fallen soldiers and the nameplates of all the soldiers.
Through the mediation of the British government envoy Geron, William V promised Ferdinand of Prussia that he would effectively control the actions of the entire coalition army, but William V also made his request, that is, the Netherlands could send another 10,000 soldiers to join the coalition army, but after a complete victory over France, Britain must transfer control of all the Austrian Netherlands except Prussia to the Netherlands.
For this reason, after thinking about it, Ge Ang also made his own conditions, that is, there was no problem in handing over these areas, but in addition to the Netherlands to send 10,000 monarchs to join the coalition army again, the Netherlands must also provide nearly one-third of the logistics materials for the coalition army to ensure the supply of the coalition army, and at the same time, the Netherlands must give Britain another sum of up to 400,000 pounds as the price for the purchase of the Austrian Netherlands, which was supposed to be ruled by the British.
Wilhelm V agreed to Gourn's offer, and after both sides took what they wanted, the atmosphere in the coalition army became harmonious again, and William V assured Britain and Prussia that the Netherlands would do their best to serve the coalition and would not secretly pull the coalition behind!