Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 939 - 847: Fragile Alliance

October 22, 1793.

The long-prepared surrender ceremony in Luxembourg was officially held in Diekirch.

This place is more than 20 kilometers away from the actual surrender location of the Allied Forces, Rhodeshausen. However, Rhodeshausen is too desolate, so the General Staff decided to hold it in Diekirch, the second-largest city in Luxembourg.

Journalists from various countries who were invited had already occupied the best positions on both sides of the road, and artists, sensing a business opportunity, dispatched many painters, setting themselves up to record this historic moment.

Behind them were over 5,000 spectators. It should be noted that Diekirch has less than 30,000 residents in total, and the city was almost empty at this moment.

At ten o’clock in the morning, amidst the mixed music of organ, cornet, recorder, and military drums, several Prussian black eagle flags appeared in people’s vision.

Although the blue-grey uniforms of the Prussian soldiers were tattered and torn, they carried flintlock guns and marching backpacks on their backs. Their formation was very orderly, even maintaining the spacing of a parade, looking nothing like a defeated army.

This was partly because the Prussians excessively emphasized formation training—more than 70% of their daily training involved formation drills, resulting in a deeply ingrained muscle memory in the soldiers.

On the other hand, it was Joseph’s requirement. He wanted to showcase the "might" of the Prussian Army. The stronger the enemies appeared, the more striking the contrast would be with their surrender.

The surrendering columns were very long, taking over an hour, escorted by more than a thousand French cavalry, to arrive fully at the ceremony venue.

In fact, there were only over 7,000 Allied soldiers; the rest had long been dispersed into various prisoner camps. Otherwise, more than 40,000 people crowded here would easily lead to chaos.

Subsequently, wearing a crisp hussar uniform and a dark blue tricorn hat, Joseph, accompanied by a group of French officers, walked onto the oak platform in the center of the venue.

The music around instantly became louder, and the tune switched to the solemn and majestic "Long Live Henry IV."

The crowd erupted in a tsunami of cheers, "Long live the Crown Prince!"

"Glory to the Crown Prince!"

"May Jesus protect the Son of Divine Favor..."

"France is invincible!"

Most of the people here were Luxembourgers, who were under Austrian rule three to four years ago, but that did not prevent them from fully embodying the role of French people at this moment.

Indeed, France was too powerful, and being French felt exhilarating!

Fortunately, the Luxembourgers had an outstanding "talent for languages," needing to master German, French, and Luxembourgish from a young age, so there was no stutter when they shouted.

Joseph raised his hand to signal the military band to pause.

Just as everyone thought he was going to deliver a speech about the "glory and strength of France," they heard the Crown Prince loudly say, "Let us observe a three-minute silence for the French warriors who sacrificed in this battle. It was their supreme courage and perseverance that defeated the enemy. May their souls rest forever in peace in heaven."

All around, it went silent instantly, with everyone following Joseph to cross their fingers and bow their heads in a praying posture.

The eyes of the French soldiers present were all red. They were mourning their fallen comrades and were also moved that France had not forgotten their contributions.

After the moment of silence ended, Joseph did not make any other speeches but merely nodded to Bertier beside him.

The latter immediately shouted, "Commence the ’Ceremony of Surrendering the Sword’!"

A Prussian quasi-general slowly walked up the wooden platform with a solemn expression. He removed the brass sword with an eagle head engraved on the hilt from his waist, bent down, and handed it to the Crown Prince of France.

The French officers below the stage instantly began whispering, "Who’s the person going up to surrender the sword?"

"Don’t know, but it’s obviously not Ferdinand."

"It seems to be Baron Molen, the Commander of the Ukmark Corps."

"Where is Ferdinand? I’m sure General Massena captured him."

"Maybe he was seriously injured..."

At this moment, standing below the wooden platform, wearing a simple black suit with the brim pressed low, the Duke of Brunswick gratefully looked at Joseph, exhaling slowly in relief.

His mind couldn’t help but recall the heartfelt words the French Crown Prince had said to him three days ago.

Joseph had said righteously, "The failure of this war is not your responsibility at all. On the contrary, your excellent command and fearless courage demonstrated the outstanding military capabilities inherited from Frederick the Great.

"If it weren’t for Franz II suddenly transferring Count Cléfart’s 30,000-strong army to the Southern Netherlands, our army would face an extremely difficult war—at that time your troops were still at an absolute advantage, and I had little chance.

"It was Austria’s selfish and shortsighted behavior that ruined the victory you could have obtained.

"I have always maintained my respect for you and for the brave Prussian Army. Therefore, I believe you should not be subjected to the humiliation of the surrender ceremony."

At this moment, the French Crown Prince had indeed fulfilled his promise, preserving his honor.

Of course, Joseph did this not out of admiration for this old Prussian general but to maximize the division of the Prussian-Austrian alliance. These two countries, originally having fundamental interest conflicts over being the hegemon of Germany, were forcibly united to declare war on France by England.

As long as the opportunity is seized, it is not difficult to break apart their alliance.

Historically, Prussia was one of the most active countries to exit the Anti-French Alliance.

Moreover, the Duke of Brunswick had enough seniority in the Prussian military but relatively limited capability. If he returned to Prussia with dignity, he might continue to command the Prussian army.

This way, Blucher, the "mad dog" and fanatic who "never lets go once he bites," would have no opportunity to rise—Joseph had already received news last week that Blucher had miraculously evaded the French pursuit and escaped back to Prussia.

On the oak platform covered with a red carpet, Joseph took the brass sword handed over by Quasi-General Molen and touched the broken sword tip three times on his right shoulder.

This was a customary ritual representing the Prussian Army’s complete abandonment of resistance and transferring control of the army to the victors.

The broken sword tip was a gesture of face-saving by the victors, indicating "Honor preserved, only the blade is broken."

Nearby, the drumbeats sounded again intensively. The crowd erupted into cheers even more intense than before.

In the open space in front of the platform, Prussian soldiers began to throw their weapons and equipment into the wooden fence, creating rhythmic "bang bang" collision sounds.

Before long, flintlock guns and backpacks were piled like a small mountain, with black gun barrels reflecting the sunlight, filled with a murderous atmosphere.

At this moment, the journalists and spectators finally realized that this mighty Prussian army had been thoroughly defeated by the French, by the Crown Prince holding the enemy’s sword on stage.