Chapter 859: The Coup
The Duke of Brunswick frowned, muttering anxiously, "Seventy thousand French troops are besieging Cologne. Once it falls, they could cross the Rhine at any moment to strike Düsseldorf.
"Between Düsseldorf and Brunswick, there are no natural barriers left to defend. Beyond that lies Magdeburg..."
Magdeburg was situated just west of Potsdam. If the French reached that point, it would be virtually impossible to save either Potsdam or Berlin.
"What do you think we should do?" Wilhelmine pressed.
"Withdraw from the Anti-French Coalition immediately," the Duke declared. "I have spoken with the French Crown Prince before. I could tell that he is still hesitating."
"Hesitating about what?"
"The primary direction of the French offensive," the thin old man said, his voice urgent. "If we can reach a ceasefire agreement with the French before Cologne falls, their armies will be diverted to the southern Rhine to threaten Bavaria and Austria.
"Furthermore, the French have promised that as soon as we exit the Coalition, they will release our captured soldiers. We cannot afford to lose those forty thousand veterans. Without them, we will lose our leadership position in North Germany."
The Duke of Brunswick quickened his pace. "I must go and speak with Prince Heinrich..."
Brunswick turned back. "But I must persuade them."
"I am in favor of a ceasefire," Wilhelmine said abruptly. "His Majesty will certainly listen to me. However, that is only provided the pro-war faction doesn't get to him first."
The Duke looked at the woman in surprise.
Before returning to Potsdam, he had heard rumors that the King's physical and mental state had been deteriorating due to unrestrained gluttony and alcoholism over the past six months. Most state affairs had reportedly been handed over to his mistress.
Judging by her tone, the rumors were likely true.
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "What do you intend to do?"
Wilhelmine lowered her voice. "If you want a swift ceasefire, you must ensure that Prince Heinrich and Baron Friedrich are removed from the center of power."
Brunswick's pupils constricted. "That... how could that be done?"
"Sir Auguste and Count Schulenburg will support me."
The old man was shocked once more.
August von Hardenberg was a rising political star in Potsdam who held the King’s high regard and managed the Prussian judicial system. Schulenburg was the assistant to the Foreign Minister.
Two powerful ministers were already in Wilhelmine's camp!
The royal mistress glanced at the Duke. "With the support of you and the military, even Prince Heinrich won't be able to stop me."
Cold sweat beaded on Brunswick's forehead.
Prince Heinrich was the most powerful minister in Prussia. Toppling him was nothing short of a coup.
But a ceasefire was essential. Only by reclaiming those forty-three thousand captured soldiers could the losses of the Luxembourg campaign be mitigated, ensuring his own standing in the army remained secure.
He bowed slightly to Wilhelmine. "I will give it serious consideration, Madame."
As he turned to leave, she added, "One more thing. Julie must also leave Sanssouci Palace."
The old man paused, then nodded. "I understand."
Julie von Voss was William II's third mistress. While she didn't interfere in politics herself, the Voss family was a force to be reckoned with in the Prussian bureaucracy.
Wilhelmine was seizing this opportunity to clear out all her rivals at once.
Two days later.
The Prussian Foreign Minister, Ewald Friedrich, was indicted on charges of embezzlement. Foreign affairs were temporarily placed under the full authority of the assistant to the Foreign Minister.
Shortly thereafter, a large number of wounded soldiers and their families appeared on the streets of Potsdam to protest, demanding their pensions. Prussia had suffered a string of defeats, and its military budget was nearly exhausted, leaving over ten thousand disabled soldiers without their promised compensation.
Then, somehow, word leaked out that the failures at the front were due to chaotic logistics and rampant corruption under the management of Prince Heinrich. Public outrage exploded instantly.
Prince Heinrich found himself unable to defend his reputation.
The Prussian bureaucracy suffered from systemic corruption—an unavoidable issue for any old-world administrative system of the era. A rigorous investigation into the massive financial flows of military logistics was bound to turn up significant graft.
Ultimately, all those discrepancies would be blamed on him as the head of logistics. Moreover, he truly had pocketed a substantial sum during the procurement process.
A massive uproar swept through Sanssouci Palace. Wilhelmine quickly issued an edict in William II's name, sternly reprimanding Prince Heinrich and ordering him to remain at home for self-reflection.
With the two leaders of the pro-war faction fallen from grace, calls for a ceasefire soon flooded Sanssouci Palace.
A few days later, Count Schulenburg was appointed as the ceasefire negotiator and set out for Paris.
***
The Cologne Fortress.
The entire world seemed filled with the relentless thunder of cannons and the piercing whistle of shells flying overhead.
Captain Zimmerman of the Austrian Ore Mountains Army pointed at the corpses near the fortress battlements and shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Move them out of the way! You lot, get the shells over here. Hurry up!"
Dozens of Austrian soldiers scrambled to drag away the bodies, gathering scattered artillery tools and pushing the 18-pounder cannon back into its firing position.
In another battery thirty meters to the left, soldiers saw them rushing back and forth and waved frantically, screaming, "Get down!"
"Don't get so close to the embrasures!"
"Watch out!"
However, the deafening roar of the cannons drowned out their warnings. The men of the Zimmerman Company stopped in confusion, shouting back, "What did you say?"
At that moment, Zimmerman's adjutant let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground.
Everyone turned to see a saucer-sized hole in his chest, from which dark red blood was gushing out.
Zimmerman was furious. Leaning over the stone battlements, he cursed into the distance, "Damned Frenchies! I'll send you all to hell..."
The rest of his sentence was cut short. His body jerked backward as a lead ball pulverized his face, shattering it like a clay doll dropped in a shop.
Only then did the men of the Zimmerman Company finally hear the shouts from the neighboring battery: "Stay away from the gaps!" and "Stay down!"
Before they could react, several more bullets whistled through the gaps in the battlements, striking them with lethal precision.
The Austrian soldiers looked out in terror. With such high accuracy, could the main enemy force be launching an assault?
Instead, they caught only a glimpse of a dozen figures in white uniforms, darting back and forth through the withered grass below the fortress.
As those figures completed their reloading in a few quick motions and raised their rifles toward the wall, seven or eight more Austrian soldiers who were still peeking out fell dead on the spot.
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