Five hundred and ninetieth nine chapters Franco-Prussian War
Just when the situation was extremely unfavorable to Carl, Alexander led his army to appear on Carl's flank. Franz, who had exhausted his means, naturally could not withstand the attacks between Alexander and Carl.
Graz's battle ended with Franz's failure, and Franz himself was captured by Alexander. After escorting Franz back to Vienna, the southern Austria, which had lost its backbone, was conquered by Alexander.
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On April 1, 1793, the main force of the coalition vanguard resisted the outskirts of Antwerp. At this moment, the French army built a large number of fortifications in the outskirts of Antwerp. Starting from the outskirts of Antwerp, the French army implemented a scorched earth policy in this area, and all residents were moved westward.
At the same time, all trees and houses were burned down, and all rivers and water sources were polluted by the French army.
In order to maintain the needs of the 130,000 troops, a large number of transport teams were organized in the Netherlands, but for the huge coalition, the help these transport teams could provide was very limited. In this case, William had to divide his troops.
Twenty thousand British troops and the 7th Prussian Division went south under Ernst's leadership.
Looking at the complicated fortifications in the distance, William said to William V beside him:
"Your Highness, I have decided to attack these fortifications, and for our common interests, I believe that every member of the coalition should make certain sacrifices!"
"Your Majesty the King, you are the supreme commander of the coalition forces, and I support any means you have used in the war!"
With the support of William V, William nodded and ordered to the officers around him:
"The First Division of the Holy Roman Empire, the Fourth Division of the Prussians, 10,000 Dutch troops and 10,000 British troops were ready immediately. The First Division of the Empire and the Fourth Division of the Prussians were the first to launch fortifications on the enemy's defense line.
, Ten thousand Dutch troops reunited and 10 thousand British troops launched the second round of attacks!”
Under William's order, the troops that were soon called to the name were removed from the list.
After the army was assembled, William nodded to the messenger beside him, and then a huge horn sounded on the battlefield, and the two divisions rushed directly to the defense line built by the French army.
At this moment, Napoleon was in the city of Antwerp. When he learned about the arrangement of the alliance forces outside the city, Napoleon immediately ordered:
"Be sure to block the first round of the enemy's attack, and then before the second round of the enemy's attack, the departments outside the city will give up fortifications and withdraw back to the city!"
There were rumbling artillery sounds on the battlefield. The number of artillery gathered on the battlefield this time can be said to be unique in European history. The entire coalition carried more than 800 artillery pieces, which were enough to bring all the land outside Antwerp.
Bang all over.
Under the attack of coalition artillery, the French fortifications were destroyed in large quantities, and the French army naturally suffered a large number of casualties. This scene caught Napoleon, who was always paying attention to the battlefield, was a little off guard. Although he knew that the coalition was carrying a large number of artillery, he did not
Thinking of William making such a big deal, you should know that the amount of ammunition fired by more than 800 cannons is quite terrifying. Once the cannon is fired, a thousand taels of gold is not just empty talk.
But if Napoleon knew that most of these artillery and shells were assisted by the British, I wonder what he would think.
William had reached an agreement with the British when he led the army. William hoped that the British could provide 300 artillery pieces and more than 20,000 artillery shells. For this reason, the British also specially measured the caliber of the Prussian guns to make artillery shells.
Originally, the British would not have agreed to William's request so easily. After all, the cost of these artillery and shells was really expensive, but the British's desire for revenge overcame this difficulty because the expeditionary force was wiped out.
The upper and lower parts were holding their breath and eager to seek justice from the French.
The British Empire was rich. After so many years of maritime overlords, the wealth accumulated by Britain was enough to shock everyone. Of course, this actually conforms to Britain's consistent definition of war, that is, to take money to make others die.
In less than two months, the supplies were prepared and transported to the Netherlands by the British, which made William secretly alert to the British while praising the efficiency of his work.
According to Napoleon's idea, the fortifications outside the city had to withstand several rounds of attacks by the coalition forces, but under such powerful artillery fire, the coalition forces then launched only one round of attacks and mostly the fortifications outside the city were
After taking it down, he did not suffer much casualties.
Seeing that things were impossible, Napoleon immediately led the main army in Antwerp and left Antwerp.
After recapturing Antwerp, William immediately ordered the army to inspect the city of Antwerp. In William's opinion, Napoleon must remain very vigilant when evacuating Antwerp so decisively, otherwise, if something unexpected happened, wouldn't he ruin his reputation for life?
Sure enough, in the subsequent inspection, the coalition forces found a large amount of tincture oil and gunpowder in the city of Antwerp. These things were originally intended to be useful when the coalition forces entered the city of Antwerp, but because of Napoleon's eagerness to retreat and the speed of the coalition forces was really good.
It was too fast. So the French army had not had time to ignite these things.
Napoleon retreated directly to Nicolas. On the various defense lines east of Nicolas, all the French troops withdrew their troops. In Napoleon's view, the coalition forces had such a large scale of artillery and then scattered their troops to guard them.
Each line of defense is really a waste. It is better to concentrate all the troops on the line of defense of Nicolas and Brussels. With the strongest fortifications and elite troops built, there is no hope of resisting it.
After winning the first round, William was not proud. He knew that facing an opponent of Napoleon's level, he would only make him die even worse.
After conquering Antwerp, there was also good news that made the coalition forces breathe a sigh of relief. The water source in Antwerp was not too late to be polluted because the French army was eager to retreat. This means that the water source in Antwerp can be used.
, To some extent, this greatly relieved the pressure on the coalition forces.
According to the investigation by intelligence agencies, Napoleon deployed an army of 30,000 in Nicolas, and 20,000 in Brussels. In the area between the two points, the French army also deployed an army of 20,000 in mobile troops.
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Just as William was studying the map hard, a bad news came to William. Thirty thousand French reinforcements had arrived in Brussels, and 30,000 Spanish troops were on the way.
Once the 30,000 Spanish troops arrive, it means that the total French army will reach 110,000, and the number of troops is only 20,000 less than that of the coalition forces.
Don’t think that the advantage of 20,000 people seems to be great. Don’t forget that the French army is in a gesture, and the current French army can be called local warfare.
"Where has Tip Ferdinand been?"
William asked, looking at Hornder beside him.
After William led his army back to Brandenburg, Buel applied to William for retirement. Considering that Buel was already in his sixties, he was in his battle at Bratner.
Zhong Buel's ear was seriously injured, which caused his hearing to be greatly affected later, so William accepted Buel's request.
Of course, in order to commend Buel's contribution to the Hohenzollern family over the years and his diligence in allegiance to the royal family, before Buel retired, William specially promoted Buel. Now Buel is no longer an earl but
Marquis is now, and his marquis can be hereditary.
In addition to the title, William also rewarded Buel with a large estate and 10,000 gold coins. Before Buel left, he formally elected Horned as his heir, and for the sake of Buel's respect, he added Horn
Ende has performed well over the years, so William agreed to Buelle's request, and Hond became the new royal chief and commander of the royal guards.
After taking office, Horned's first mission was to lead the royal guards to follow William to participate in the attack on the French. Of course, in addition to these open titles, Buel also handed over the royal intelligence agency to Horned
, officially completed the mission of the royal chief.
"Your Majesty, Xiao Ferdinand has arrived in the Hanover area and is here day and night under your order!"
Hearing Hornder's answer, William nodded and stood up and walked two steps and said:
"Honder, where did Hans hear news about Swallow?"
"Your Majesty, according to the news sent by Marquis Hans, because Napoleon has been busy deploying combat against the coalition forces during this period, the swallows were unable to get close to Napoleon at all, and the French army's surveillance on the swallows has been further strengthened during this period."
Upon hearing this news, William frowned
"The kingdom spent so much money, was it because it raised a bunch of waste!"
Hearing William's curse, Hornder quickly lowered his head.
The Swallow did indeed lurk to Napoleon before, but at that time everyone in Prussia thought that Napoleon and Louis XVI were about to break, so the Swallow's task was to lurk. After all, the existence of a Napoleon who broke with Louis XVI had a great future for Prussia.
benefit.
But who would have thought that Napoleon would actually go out to fight under the order of Louis XVI and wiped out the British Expeditionary Force. This move directly made Prussia feel threatened. Therefore, William immediately ordered the intelligence agencies to find a way to deal with Napoleon immediately.
Carry out assassination.
Who would have thought that the opportunity would be gone as soon as it passes. Now the secret son of Prussia cannot get close to Napoleon at all, so how can he talk about assassination?
But being angry is useless. Sometimes a conspiracy can indeed play an unexpected role, but many times, victory or defeat is still a battle-decision.
So after calming down, William began to consider the current war against the French army.