Comes the title of a missive from the player representing the King of Prussia:
Hasn't Blucher received my orders to do nothing of the kind? Stories of an Austrian 'victory' at Bautzen are grossly overinflated, not to say misleading, and what we are seeking is a truce, at least, with the French, and certainly not for our trusty General Blucher to risk our army in an engagement with Oudinot or anyone else. If dear Francis can demonstrate that he has won a decisive action, and that the French are in full retreat across the Rhine, or if wonderful Alexander can prove the same, well then, that is a different matter, but the excuse that communications have been severed cannot now hold, surely, we are perfectly capable of issuing instructions to Blucher not to provoke an encounter.
More interesting is the reply from the Emperor, what does he say?
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Haugwitz was quick to chime in:
Somehow, Euerer Majestaet, I seem to have all the substance of the latest despatch snipped off, and only your own remarks to go by.
It does however sound as if Stein and his circle have been at work,
trying to confuse your Majesty's policy with that of wild Muscovite
Alexander and the August Habsburger again and sending out conflicting
instructions, perhaps under the seal of Royal Headquarters itself, which
in time of war is surely a capital offence, if those responsible can be
discovered. Poor hapless Bluecher-we know how politically inept he
is-has fallen in their snares and may have to be replaced, if he cannot
follow true direction.
And what news from the French side-that you are so right to ask about!
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To which came the reply from the Prussian monarch (partly in player mode):
Once again we have been thinking along exactly the same lines - if Blucher cannot follow instructions properly, he will have to be replaced. Does anyone have any suggestions for a suitable (timid, inept, bungling) replacement for him? Scharnhorst is of course still around but surely the natural choice would be Gneisanhau, who will set about building fortifications in the middle of nowhere as was his wont. Or Yorck? Or Kleist? Any of these would prove more incompetent than Blucher, I have little doubt.....All provided of course it's fair and reasonable to see Frederick dithering, in the absence of a substantial Allied victory, which Tim and I certainly do think is right, and of course also that old Vorwarts can be prevented from forcing a major action, which I suppose depends on communications and a lot of other factors.
The more I consider this scenario though,
the more amazingly interesting it seems. The possibility of a
Franco-Prussian rapprochement (which surely the Emperor would be mad not
to accept) eventually maturing into a fully-blown alliance by 1815,
seeing battles between Franco-Prussian forces and Austrian-Russian ones,
with Britain caught awkwardly in the middle this time - James' point
about the forces of progress - and numerous German states scrabbling to
take sites - Bavaria, for instance, where would she stand now? Napoleon
could well end up being on the throne until he dies (which of course
James believes would not have been until 1850 at the earliest as he was
poisoned by a distant ancestor), and we have a whole series of extremely
interesting counterfactual battles.
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Actually as Game Meister I was rather enjoying the crazy political banter and the wild ideas posted by these Prussian player schemers ...
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then came a reply from the Haugwitz player:
I think the question with Bluecher was who was advising
him-historically he is said to have appreciated his inadequacies in
staff and administrative work and to have left the planning and strategy
precisely for that reason to Scharnhorst and the other capable men, so
if we could get rid of the men who were there historically and replace
them with someone more suitable (as you so rightly observe, Euerer Majestaet, someone umsichtiger, if not zaghafter)
then the old man himself would probably either fall in line, not quite
knowing what else to do, or fall out with them big time, and get sacked
that way. It is a pity in that case that Grawert, a thoroughly plausible
commander for the main Prussian Army, if not chief of staff for alte Vorwaerts, is on his vital mission to the French general headquarters, but if this is not working out he'd be our man.
And indeed, it is not long since Napoleon bestrode the puny world
like a colossus, who would have guessed even after Russia that his whole
project had but two years more to run? Why are we not talking to him?
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In fact this was the GM's reply:
Stop it?
Heck no this is entertaining.
We are witnessing a 'possibility' in the time.
> France goes north - was a Bonaparte plan.
> Austria makes common cause with Blucher & Silesia corridor of attack.
> Prussia starts getting cold feet.
> Schwartzenberg becomes bogged down in military matters, neglecting
keeping a close enough eye on the Monarchs, who then start mucking
everything up!
What a debrief this will have!
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Then came back a reply from the Prussian monarch player, with an interesting twist on the situation:
I'm very glad you agree. Initially I wasn't very excited about the campaign, as it seemed 'on tram lines' but once one introduces the possibility that the Prussians might get cold feet - and that Blucher might find himself out of a job - the whole scenario seems mighty interesting indeed, whether with the Prussians neutral (as after all they have been before) or even as French allies (which would make for the most fascinating wargames).
Back in London I wonder whether Castlereagh's spies - we will remember he had 'the best spy network in Europe' - will be informing him of the Prussian cold feet at the Imperial level. I'm not sure at this point that the British can do much about it, though, does anyone have any thoughts?
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There I shall end this point in the action, we are just now after the Austrian Triumph at Bautzen and the Prussians are getting cold feet, considering negotiating with Bonaparte and have troubles with their top soldier being relentless.
The final question posed here is a good one, what information could the British have at this point? What would the do? What could they do about a rapprochement in progress between Prussia and France?
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