Fox of France

At noon, the Anglo-Prussian army began to rest for a while-after all, no one is hard-working, and everyone needs a little rest-at the same time, it is also possible to pull up the conscripts or mercenaries who have just arrived.

Yes, to take this unexpectedly tough fortress. The British have spent money to hire several groups of mercenaries. Although it is no longer possible to buy mercenaries in Italy, in Germany, you can still spend money to get some mercenaries.

At the beginning, the British hired about 10,000 German mercenaries, but it didn't take long for these mercenaries to accuse the British of being liars and failing to explain the difficulty and danger of the task to them. They strongly demanded that the employment contract be terminated, or that the wages be increased by five times.

The British were naturally unwilling to spend too much money, so they promised that the originally hired mercenaries would not have to perform offensive missions. Of course, therefore, their wages are cut in half. The first batch of mercenaries immediately agreed.

After appeasing the first batch of mercenaries, the British went to hire a new batch of mercenaries. This time they learned a lesson, instead of allowing the mercenaries to slowly adapt to the battlefield situation, they put them in the barracks at the back where they could not see the battlefield, and strictly managed them to prevent them from coming in and out at will, preventing them from Too much contact with other people. When it's time to use them, just drag them up from behind, and then... Then this batch of mercenaries will never ask for a salary increase or termination of the contract.

The British imparted their experience to the Prussians selflessly, and the Prussians, who were distressed by the continuous disobedience and even mutiny of the army, were immediately inspired. They also established an isolation barracks a little farther back, and sent the newly mobilized soldiers there first for closed storage, so as not to be exposed to some unnecessary information, which would pollute their thoughts and reduce their combat effectiveness.

In this way, when it is closed enough to be used, it is dragged out for one-time use, and the vacated isolated barracks can just be used to house the next batch of conscripts.

Of course, this also brings up two problems.

The first problem is that the conscripts lack training. However, in such offensive operations, the speed of death between well-trained and untrained soldiers is actually not much different, so at this time, this is not a problem.

The second problem was that the time interval between each wave of British and Prussian attacks had to be extended. Because they have to wait for the previous batch of consumables to run out before they can bring the next batch of consumables over. Otherwise, let these consumables with weapons in their hands witness how the previous batch of consumables are used before going to the battlefield, I am afraid that there will be problems immediately.

The increase in the attack interval will of course give the French more preparation time, which is obviously not good for the attacker. However, the connection between Highland No. 1 and other French troops has been cut off anyway, and what the coalition forces have to do now is to consume their ammunition. The pace is a little slower, but it's not unbearable.

So the battlefield was temporarily quiet for a while. Everyone also seize this time to have a meal quickly. Because for many people, maybe this is the last meal.

Napoleon's army had already eaten, and moved to the north of the Anglo-Prussian coalition forces. Now the soldiers are resting on the spot, preparing to launch a decisive attack in the near future.

At this time, the cavalry sent to communicate with Joseph had also returned. Returning with the cavalry was General Murat.

"Joachim, welcome back to the team. How are you doing, are you happy with my brother?" Napoleon said.

"Not at all, I was almost smothered to death," replied Murat, "General Joseph Bonaparte is of course a great military strategist, but... especially in meetings, it's really... you see Looking at his dejected and moaning way, he thought we were being hooked by the British and Prussians! What I can't stand is that every time he has a meeting, no matter who comes up with any new suggestions, he There's always going to be a line: 'Sure, that sounds good, but don't make a mess of it!' It's really..."

"Okay, Joachim, cheer up, now you're back!" Hearing Murat say this about his brother, Napoleon was obviously very happy.

"Well, by the way, what's the situation over there?" Napoleon asked again after patting Murat on the shoulder reassuringly.

"The situation is very good. I don't know how many enemies died. I have never seen so many dead people." Murat said, "I can smell the low morale of the enemy army with my nose. In fact, only relying on Verdun The defenders, I think they can be defeated with a counterattack now. If the general is not too cautious..."

"Joseph is not cautious, but has a dark mind and a big appetite. Otherwise, what do you want us to do? Counterattacks can indeed repel the enemy, but what we need is not to repel them, but to annihilate them." Napoleon said, At the same time, I thought in my heart: "Guys with bad brains just can't do anything, even Joseph can't make them smarter! Doesn't he know that his complaint is denying the meaning of our actions?"

"Well, Joachim, did Joseph ask you to bring any news?" Napoleon continued to ask.

"General, General Joseph Bonaparte asked me to send you a message, as long as his side..."

According to Joseph's meaning, it was his troops who launched a full-scale counterattack first. Joseph felt that his counterattack would definitely attract the attention of the enemy, and then Napoleon could attack from the flank.

"I still need him to teach me when to attack? But... let's do what he said this time." Napoleon said finally.

So just twenty minutes after the British and Prussians put those mercenaries and conscripts who knew nothing about the cruelty of war into the battle, the French army, which had been on the defensive, began to launch a counterattack across the board. The French opened fire with full firepower, firing at the coalition forces with various weapons. At the same time, they counterattacked towards Highland No. 1 from several other directions, as if they wanted to restore contact with Highland No. 1 in one fell swoop.

Regarding the actions of the French army, the British and Prussian troops were not panicked at first, because they actually had some preparations for the large-scale counterattack of the French army. The location of Height No. 1 is so important that the French will not fail to see it. If they still want to ensure the integrity of the front and defend the fortress, then they will definitely find a way to get in touch with Height No. 1. Especially after several days have passed, the French army must have a new commander.

Therefore, at the beginning, they only regarded this as expected. Even when they found that the French army's attack was quite fierce, they just regarded it as a manifestation of "our French friends are in a hurry".

But soon, they discovered that the French army's attack strength exceeded their expectations, and they were a little bit unable to resist. So the Duke of Brunswick made a move that he has always regretted since then. He put in more troops to withstand the counterattack of the French army, and even, if possible, took the opportunity to expand the army when the French army retreated. own area of ​​control.

As a result, when he had just mobilized the new force to launch a counterattack, someone suddenly reported that the cavalry had discovered the main force of the French army in the north, and the number was huge and countless.

The news fell like a bolt of lightning to Marshal Brunswick and the other generals. Now the armies in their hands, especially those with the most combat effectiveness, have been put into defense and counterattack operations. Although some reserves have been retained, the reserves are only used to prepare for known changes on the battlefield. Moreover, the strength of the reserve team cannot be too large, otherwise it would be a waste of combat power. Therefore, the reserve team in the hands of the coalition forces must not be able to deal with the French Italian army that is about to kill them.

For the current plan, the only way is to forcefully drag the army out of the stalemate battlefield quickly. Of course, doing so is very risky. If the organization is not good, the French army that detours from the north will not even be used to kill them. But at this time, the Brunswick Field Marshal had almost no other possible options.

"Let the cavalry go to confirm the news. In addition, let all the troops prepare to withdraw from the battle. Let General Blücher take his cavalry and prepare to delay the French army coming from the north." The Duke of Brunswick issued an order .

Blücher led the cavalry over there, but the Duke of Brunswick had no confidence in how much he could play with the cavalry of more than a thousand in his hands.

Just want to shrink back in the battle, how easy is it? As soon as the coalition forces made a slight contraction, the French army rushed forward again screaming. Moreover, the French army's counterattack was organized quite flexibly, and it was obvious that highly experienced officers were in charge of commanding.

Without the pressure brought by Napoleon's Italian Army, the Duke of Brunswick would still be able to reorganize the army into an organic organization and withdraw. But when the Italian army was about to kill him, he didn't have time to do so. He had to muster as many troops as possible and break away from the battle before the Italians came.

What's more, at this time, the cavalry returning from the north had confirmed again and again that Napoleon's army was approaching rapidly. Brunswick estimated the situation and finally made a final decision: "Order, all troops, but everything, break away from contact with the enemy and return to the barracks."

This order caused great confusion in the army - but it was inevitable. The retreat quickly turned into a rout. Many troops that were too deep were cut off by the counterattacking French army before they could retreat, and fell into siege. Many more armies were routed in retreat, disorganized and disorganized.

In the end, the coalition forces that followed Brunswick back to their barracks did not even have half of the total number. More troops were either killed by the French or captured by the French, and more did not know where they went. . They wisely did not return to the barracks, and the French did not bother to catch them for the time being.