Fox of France

The first to attack was the Austrian infantry. They lined up in a neat line, walked in neat steps, and approached the French army's position under the command of the drumbeat.

The French artillery began to fire. Shells kept flying into the lines of the Austrian army, making small gaps in the lines of the Austrians. However, the additional soldiers stepped up immediately, and the front line returned to its original state in a blink of an eye. This made the bombardment just like throwing a few pebbles into a pond. Although there were a few ripples, the pond was still a pond.

"General, the enemy doesn't have many cannons." Beside the Duke of Brunswick, a young officer in his twenties put down his binoculars and said to the Duke of Brunswick.

"Ah, Karl, you have noticed this too." The Duke of Brunswick nodded, "The French shouldn't lack cannons, but the French army has a lot of desertions, especially the technical arms. I'm afraid What they lack is not cannon, but well-trained artillery."

By this time, the Austrian infantry was not far from the French trenches. The French also started crackling and firing. The Frenchman's shooting was messy and irregular, and the shooting effect was not very good.

"The distance they fired was too far, and they could hardly form a salvo. They obviously lacked training." The Duke of Brunswick commented, "The French army, with the heart of the royal family, is unwilling to fight us. So they can only Rely on those mobs, those mobs have a bit of courage, but war is not about courage alone... Hehe... Well-trained gentlemen can always easily defeat those mobs, no matter how many they are. Well, This attack by your country's army may achieve good results."

The French fire was not enough to stop the advance of the Austrian army. On the contrary, the inefficiency of their attacks gave the Austrians encouragement. And in order to advance to a closer distance before the French fired a shot, the rhythm of their drums was accelerated.

"Maybe, before the French take the next round, we will be able to charge up." The young Duke Karl was thinking this way, straightening up on his horse and looking forward.

But at this moment, he saw a flash of light suddenly appearing on the French position in front, just like stars suddenly appearing on the ground. Then he saw that there were suddenly many huge gaps in the line of the advancing Austrian army-this was no longer throwing a few pebbles into the pond, but a group of meteors smashing into the pond!

"What is this? What happened?" Duke Karl was so surprised that he didn't understand what was wrong for a while.

The Duke of Brunswick also quickly raised his binoculars and looked towards the place where the light was shining just now.

Those places where there was a sudden flash just now, now there are clouds of gunpowder smoke rising. Seeing the shape of the gunpowder smoke, the battle-hardened Duke of Brunswick judged that it was the cannons firing shot. From the place where the gunpowder smoke rises to the line of the Austrian army, the distance is no more than sixty or seventy meters. I really don't know how those despicable Frenchmen hid these cannons so that they didn't even notice them before they fired.

Napoleon jumped up excitedly looking at the Austrian army that was thrown into chaos by a volley of dozens of his cannons. Then he muttered to himself again:

"Admirable! Really... really magnificent! War, how beautiful you are! How pale all other human arts are in comparison with you! Minerva, you are the most beautiful goddess I really don't understand why anyone would refuse to award you the golden apple!"

At this time, Napoleon can indeed express the feelings of secondary cancer patients with advanced secondary cancer, because at least in a short period of time, the mission of his artillery is over.

Just now his artillery, on the official battlefield, for the first time played a beautiful artillery ambush. Although he led the "Red Army" before, he has played similar tricks more than once in confrontation exercises. But on the real battlefield, this is indeed the first time.

The French cannons were not placed directly on the ground. They dug deep and longitudinal trenches in the ground. , The cannon was hidden in the trench from the beginning, all the parts were under the trench, and when looking from the front, nothing could be seen at all. In front of the cannon, there was a sloping earth slope. When the enemy approached, a group of artillerymen pushed the cannon loaded with shells up the slope. At this time, the barrel of the cannon is exposed to the ground, and it can be fired at the enemy. After the first shot, these cannons will retreat down the slope by themselves under the action of recoil, and disappear in the sight of the enemy. In fact, if necessary, these cannons can continue to fire on the locals in this way.

But in this battle Napoleon's cannons had only to fire this salvo. Because this round of salvo is also a signal. After this round of volleys, those French volunteers in blue uniforms will hold bayonets and launch a full-scale countercharge against the enemy. Take advantage of the chaotic formation of the enemy army and completely defeat them!

Before the fog of war brought about by the salvo of cannons had completely dissipated, a blue tide rushed out of the trenches on the French side, in a mess, and at the same time rushed towards the Austrians without hesitation.

The French Volunteer Army lacked training. If everyone lined up to shoot, they probably would not be the opponents of the Austrians. But at this time, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Austrians' front line was completely messed up, they rushed forward. Today, skills and queues cannot be used, and courage and numbers have become the masters of the battlefield. The Volunteer Army, which had a clear advantage in numbers and courage, defeated the Austrians in such a melee almost instantly. Those Austrians who moved slower were directly stabbed to the ground by a few bayonets; those who were smarter threw down their weapons, turned around and ran, and the French chased them all the way until the Prussian cavalry came out to rescue them. He stopped the pursuit and retreated.

The previous experience of fighting the French skirmishers also made the Prussian cavalry not dare to chase the French. Seeing that the French gave up their pursuit, they quickly retreated.

In this round of attack, the coalition forces were smashed in front of the French defense line. The Prussians were okay, they only lost a little cavalry in the initial battle, but the Austrians suffered very heavy losses. In this round of attack alone, they left more than 600 corpses. And their morale was hit so badly that they were unable to launch any more attacks for a whole day afterwards.

Now the Duke of Brunswick is in a dilemma. His army is no longer able to drive the French army through offensive operations. The Austrians were terrified, and the Prussians were not much better-although they were not the ones who suffered huge losses on the battlefield, they also saw with their own eyes how the Austrians were defeated in front of the French defense line. It is the same if they ask themselves instead of themselves. So now, they are generally afraid of war.

In addition, during this period of time, the march was difficult, supplies were difficult, and the soldiers did not have enough to eat and did not sleep well. The reason why they can barely maintain morale is nothing more than two factors: first, they have been winning all the time, and they have not lost much in the battle; Get enough rewards in a rich city.

But now, with heavy losses on the battlefield, the first factor was out of play; and if the French army in front of us could not be defeated, it would be impossible to enter Paris, so the second factor was also over. In this case, it is not bad if the army can still maintain the appearance of an army. The Duke of Brunswick even suspected that if he forced the soldiers to continue attacking, they might mutiny directly.

But on the other hand, he could not continue to stalemate with the French. His logistical supply has always been a big problem, first dragged down by heavy rain and mud, and then constantly harassed by various French volunteers. After being defeated on the battlefield, the intensity of these harassments naturally became greater, so that logistical supplies became more and more difficult.

Rationally speaking, the best choice for the coalition forces at this time is to retreat. However, in military terms, retreating before the enemy is more difficult and dangerous than attacking. If it is not done well, the retreat will turn into a rout, and then it will become a rout. A recent example is like the inexplicable defeat of the French in Belgium not long ago; a farther example is like the Battle of Feishui in the Eastern Great Eater. Both are good examples of a retreat and then it's all over.

Therefore, the Duke of Brunswick also did not dare to retreat. The Prussian-Austrian coalition forces suddenly fell into an extremely dangerous situation, and it can even be said to be on the verge of destruction.

But Du Mourier, who had won the battle, also had his troubles. The victory of the defensive battle immediately set those people in Paris on fire. All kinds of demands urging him to destroy the enemy as soon as possible came from Paris constantly. It seemed that he could really wipe out all the Germans with just one order.

"Damn it! Those guys in Paris don't understand!" Dimouriez couldn't help complaining to Joseph, "I have some guys who don't even walk neatly in my hands. They may be used in defensive warfare, but It is used for offensive operations, and it is to attack an enemy whose strength is not much smaller than ours, it is simply to die!"

"Paris has been very restrained." Joseph replied, "They still only send requests and suggestions, not orders. This is already very difficult."

"I know," said Dumouriez. "Some guys just want to see me make a fool of myself. They're worried... how many stupid things they'd do if Cano didn't stop them! Well, Joseph, you don't know what to do now situation, any suggestions?"

In fact, Joseph is not helpless. He knows that because of political reasons, what Paris needs most at this time is to see the invading army driven out of France, and the Prussian-Austrian coalition forces actually hope to retreat-this is completely There is room to operate. However, this matter is politically incorrect, why did Joseph tell Dimouriez?

"General, there is nothing I can do about this situation, because what we have to deal with this time is our government and parliament-they are much more difficult to deal with than the Austrians and Prussians." Joseph replied.

"You are right, Joseph." Dumouriez frowned, "but I must find a way."

Part-time writing, the time is really tight, coupled with the baby bottle hand (maybe including brain damage), the writing is also slow. In addition, I have been busy recently, I have a second baby at home, and I am renovating the house - of course, the above are all excuses, mainly because of laziness. Well, setting up a flag can be regarded as supervising oneself. On Friday, if the first order can exceed 1,000, except for Saturdays and Sundays (with children), there are more than 6,000 words every day.