Eavesdropping (1)

Having been advised by Franz that the French were having a conference in the town hall Ilse accompanied him to the hall and entered through the servant’s entrance. Franz led her up the back stairs and after checking no one was watching they entered a broom cupboard. At the back Franz flicked a lever which opened a door to a small chamber. Turning to Ilse he said “From here you can hear everything that is said in the council chamber, but be careful the wall is very thin and you could be heard if you are not careful.” With that warning he left Ilse to eavesdrop on the French commanders.

Gradually the French Senior officers arrived, and finally the Representative en Mission Laine.

“Ah Representative, I see you have arrived with a large item from Paris” stated the General.

“Yes a motivational aid, I had hoped we could use it on the local nobility, but they have all fled, such a shame. Now what are your plans General?"

”Right. Citizens, we have achieved the first crossing of the Rhine, however unless other armies succeed we will be trapped and destroyed by the Imperial forces. To avoid this fate and assist the other armies we must manoeuvre and distract the Kaiserlijks from their role of covering the river. Now if we consider the map we can see the main Imperial Army is to the south which makes any move in that direction unwise so we cannot conquer the rest of Pommaine as easy as it has been so far.”

“Now to the east is the Landgravate of Ishirwelt, this is tempting but if we head that way we will be unable to support other operations and risk being cut off entirely”

“So north is the real prize, the Frundsberg Frei Stadt, with wealthy cities, and if we understand correctly it has committed most of its forces to the Imperial cause elsewhere. Yes Colonel Dwizok?”

“These are the same Frundsbergers who fought so well when we crossed at Stonew”

“Good point Colonel, they will fight hard, but there are limited numbers of them and in our attack at Stonew we allowed them to concentrate against our inadequate numbers who could cross at one time”