Chapter 320: Fierce Battle in Luxembourg

Chapter 321 Fierce Battle in Luxembourg

The first release of this book provides you with a reading experience with no wrong chapters and no out-of-order chapters.

"Are they reinforcements from Vienna?" the staff officer on the side asked the question that Blücher was most concerned about.

A hussar immediately shook his head and said:

"No, sir, the flag should be Leo Legion."

Blücher couldn't help but frown slightly. Leo should have less than two thousand soldiers left in his hands. Where did he suddenly get thousands of people?

His staff officer obviously thought about the same problem and said sideways:

"General, could it be that he brought out all the defenders in Luxembourg City?"

"That number is wrong..." Blücher said half a sentence, but couldn't help but remember something, and hurriedly signaled to the staff to get a map, and asked the hussars to point out the location where the enemy was found on it.

When he saw the cavalry in charge of reconnaissance pointing due north of Dikish, his eyes suddenly froze: "

No, the Austrians are trying to run away! Leo should have not only mobilized the garrison of Luxembourg City, but also the troops from the surrounding cities. "

"Run?" the staff officer said in surprise, "Why did he..."

Blücher showed a sneer:

"I guess he wants to bypass us and use all Luxembourg's forces to sneak attack Liège. If he succeeds, we will have to temporarily abandon Luxembourg City and return to the west to chase him.

"This bought him time for reinforcements from Vienna."

"General, shall we intercept him?"

"It's not just interception." Blücher, who always liked to rush and fight fiercely, immediately told the messenger, "Cancel the rest and the whole army will assemble immediately.

"Order Crystal's regiment to continue attacking Dikirch. After taking Dikirch, he will go straight to Luxembourg City. If I am not wrong, there should be no defenders there."

"Yes, General." The herald quickly recorded.

Blücher pointed with his finger at a hill on the northeast side of the map:

"Have Eichendorff drag the cannon up there and set up a position."

If Leo's troops want to go to Liege, they will definitely pass by there. As long as a cannon is set up halfway up the mountain, the Austrians can be hit head-on.

Blücher continued:

"The Altmann Army immediately marched eastward and must intercept the Austrians.

"The cavalry follows the enemy and continues to harass them to slow them down, but no forceful attack is allowed without my order."

He raised his riding whip proudly and looked extremely confident:

"I will personally lead the main force to give Leo a severe blow from the side! The next step will be a 'performance' of the cavalry chasing and defeating the enemy."

Regardless of whether Leo plans to escape or to sneak attack Liège, his morale is currently strong and his military strength is absolutely superior, so he can kill them right here.

Silesia is where he made his achievements, Luxembourg is not worth his time.

It's just that Blücher didn't notice that his deployment stretched the Prussian army into a long line from west to east, with its flanks completely exposed to the south.

…

On the narrow path less than ten kilometers east of the main Prussian force in Luxembourg, Austrian commander Leo looked nervously at the middle-aged man beside him:

"Major Lefebvre, your scouts have just discovered traces of the Prussian hussars."

He glanced at the slowly marching team sideways: "

Normally, the Prussians would catch up quickly. And we have less than 4,000 people here..."

Lefebvre smiled:

"If that's the case, you have accomplished a great service, General."

"But," Leo looked behind him and swallowed hard, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's main force is still in Dikixi. Before he arrives, there is no way we can hold on."

Yesterday afternoon, he learned that the Prussians were approaching the town of Wenssele. Just when he was frightened, he suddenly heard the news that His Royal Highness the Dauphin of France had personally led an army of 20,000 troops to come for reinforcements. At that time, he almost cried with excitement.

He had already received the order from His Majesty the Emperor and knew that the French army would come, but he never expected that it would come so quickly - according to the news sent from Vienna, the French army should have set off from Verdun two days ago, and the troops were from there. It usually takes about 5 days to reach the town of Dikirch.

Little did he know that with the terrifying marching speed of the French Royal Guards, the two-day rush march covered more than 50 kilometers!

Then, Leo almost cried again.

This time it was scary.

The French Dauphin's first order when he saw him was for him to immediately lead his troops to maneuver towards Blücher's left flank and set up defenses near a low hill there.

Blücher brought a total of 17,000 Prussian soldiers and nearly 5,000 Dutch rebels, but he only had about 1,600 men left.

What's the difference between this and a lamb running into a pack of wolves?

Then the French Dauphin told him that a legion would be sent to cover him.

Just as Leo was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the crown prince's order to transfer a regiment and a battalion, a total of 2,200 soldiers to accompany him to "die".

Less than 4,000 people provoked more than 20,000 Prussian troops. What else but death? !

After that, he was escorted almost all the way by Lefebvre to the east side of Blücher's army, and then he found Prussian hussars appearing.

Lefebvre seemed very confident:

"Don't worry, His Highness will definitely arrive in time."

Before Leo could say anything else, he added:

“The main force of the Guards Corps was ‘hiding’ in the distant town of Dikirch to avoid Prussian reconnaissance.

"According to the plan of the General Staff, the Prussians are now completely unable to realize that there is a French army nearby that is capable of destroying them.

"When their attention is all on us, thunder will fall on their heads!"

"But," Leo said with a bitter face, "Your Highness is still more than a day's journey from here..."

"No, at most half a day."

...

The Altmann Infantry Regiment of the Prussian Guards, as well as a skirmish battalion and five cavalry squadrons accompanying them, almost ran at full speed to intercept the "fleeing" Austrians in front.

Altmann did not bring artillery, and those bulky guys would seriously slow him down.

And there was no need for cannons to deal with those vulnerable Austrians.

In the previous few months, his legion had fought with the Austrian army several times, winning more and losing less, especially after entering Luxembourg, it was like crushing dry withered and rotten.

"You lazy things, hurry up!" He shouted at the soldiers beside him, "Don't force me to whip you with a horsewhip! "

In fact, in order to speed up the march, his legion formation has been completely dispersed. In this less than 10 kilometers, the number of soldiers who have fallen behind is nearly one-tenth.

But in order to intercept Leo's army, this is acceptable.

A hussar ran towards him and shouted to Altmann:

"Lieutenant Colonel, the Austrian army is not moving!"

The latter hurriedly took the map and, under the instructions of the scout, looked at the low mountain two kilometers away to the east.

It was a hill less than two kilometers wide, with dense forests on the north side and an inverted V-shaped open space in front.

He immediately snorted disdainfully:

"These guys found that they couldn't escape and were ready to fight."

He signaled the staff to put away the map:

"Although they picked a good battlefield, it can't stop us.

"Order, Bischof's regiment is lined up in front, and the skirmisher battalion will attack from the hillside on the south side, trying to disrupt the Austrian formation."

The messenger urged his horse to leave, and Altmann was instructing the cavalry captain on how to attack the Austrian defense, but suddenly heard the sound of hurried horse hooves.

He glanced at the cavalry captain in surprise, and the latter immediately shook his head to indicate that it was not his people, and then there was a scream from the side and front.

A signalman rode in and said anxiously from a distance:

"Lieutenant Colonel, the Austrian cavalry attacked our front team, and Captain Jonas is commanding the company to resist..."

Altmann and the cavalry captain looked at each other, both of them were full of disbelief.

The Austrians dared to take the initiative to attack!

Altmann immediately shouted:

"Schlosser, chase them immediately! Perhaps this is still an opportunity to break through the Austrian defense line in the chaos."

The cavalry captain immediately turned his horse away with a dark face, calling out to his cavalrymen loudly.

Hundreds of meters away, more than 300 cavalrymen of the Guards Corps in Austrian uniforms rushed past the Prussians from the side. With the impact of the gallop, the cavalry only needed to hold their sabers horizontally, and the blades easily cut through the bodies of the Prussian infantry.

Almost instantly, a "border" made of blood appeared in front of Altmann on the left. Captain Jonas was desperately commanding the soldiers to line up, but the infantry line that had just taken shape was immediately rushed to pieces.

The "Austrian" cavalry drew an arc in the distance, quickly formed a team, and then rushed towards the Prussian army again.

At the front of the queue, a young man with curly hair and a little fat had excitement in his eyes. He carefully controlled the speed of the horse and kept the same speed as his teammates on both sides. His hand had already touched the handle of the saber uncontrollably.

"Jog..."

"Sprint!"

With the order of the cavalry commander, the curly-haired young man squeezed the horse's belly hard and raised the saber diagonally upward. The sturdy Arabian horse under his crotch panted loudly and rushed towards the Prussians with unstoppable momentum.

Yes, although he was only a "new recruit" who had only joined the Guards for a few months, he was able to control one of the top dozen horses in his cavalry battalion.

Unlike the Champagne Corps where he used to be, the Guards Corps only assigned war horses according to personal ability and merit.

He was awarded this purebred Arabian horse by the battalion commander personally for his almost perfect scores in daily assessments and his amazing performance of slashing three targets with a sword when crossing an obstacle.

Although he was only the son of a minor official, he had an amazing affinity for horses. After only being a cavalryman for more than two years, he mastered extremely proficient riding skills.

The sound of horse hooves beat his nerves rhythmically like a war drum, and everything around him seemed to slow down, giving him a wonderful feeling of being able to control everything.

There were still 50 steps to the trembling infantry holding flintlocks in front.

40 steps...

10 steps!

The curly-haired young man noticed the gap of more than three meters between several infantrymen with his sharp eyes. He immediately pulled the reins lightly, lowered his head and stabbed into the gap. At the same time, he swung his saber and cut off half of the chest of the Prussian on the right side diagonally.

Warm blood splashed on the hind legs of his warhorse, and more sprayed all over the body and face of the Prussian infantrymen next to him.

Those infantrymen were shocked by the smell of blood and their eyes widened. They tried their best to wipe the sticky blood off their faces and suddenly became a mess.

Behind the curly-haired cavalry, other guards cavalrymen immediately discovered the gap and rushed over.

As the knife flashed, the gap in the Prussian queue became larger and larger, and fifty or sixty infantrymen were "cut" off from the defense line.

Immediately, the Guards Cavalry circled around the isolated soldiers several times, and then fled away again. As a whole team, there were no Prussians standing there.

Just these two simple attacks caused the Altmann Legion to lose nearly a company of infantry. Officers, soldiers, and orderlies were mixed together, and it was obvious that they could not form an effective defensive formation for a while.

The cavalry commander of the Guards Corps urged his horse to catch up with the curly-haired young man who was running at the front. He raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder. He said with a smile on his face:

"Well done, Murat! If you can have such a beautiful breakthrough into the enemy camp again, I will go back and help you apply for a medal!"

Murat also grinned:

"You can just apply for a medal for me. Oh, I want a silver medal of fleur-de-lis, not a copper one. Because in this battle, I was able to kill at least 10 Prussians! Maybe 20, who knows?"

There was good-natured laughter from the side. Everyone was all too familiar with the bragging ability of this young man from Guyenne - such as how he fought with five soldiers in the Champagne Legion and won. Or being pursued by 6 girls at the same time, and finally marrying none of them in order not to make them sad.

The cavalry commander smiled and patted his shoulder again:

“I know you’re not bragging, like that time you chopped down three targets.

"Oh, remember to save your horsepower, otherwise your horse may not be able to accompany you to complete 10 kills."

"Don't worry, it's very strong. It's almost as strong as mine."

There was another burst of laughter all around.

As the cavalry of the Guards Corps quickly formed their team again and rushed towards the Prussians, a group of cavalry in light blue military uniforms rushed from behind them.

The Guards Corps did not bother, turned their horses' heads and left quickly - they had already spent too much energy just now, and it was not appropriate to engage in a head-on fight at this time. And their mission is to stall for time.

After all their struggles, it took the Altman Legion a full hour and a half to regain order and begin to march towards Leo's position.

When Altmann saw the Austrian infantry lines in the telescope, he gritted his teeth and roared:

"Let Bischof launch a strong attack immediately! Schlosser, be careful on both wings of the infantry. The Austrian cavalry is somewhat capable."

Just as Major Bischoff ordered his soldiers to form an infantry line, and was about to launch an attack, he suddenly heard the sound of a horn from the Austrian army on the opposite side, and then the crooked infantry line started to move.

Head straight towards them!

Bischoff's eyelids twitched. Are the Austrians crazy? How dare they launch an active attack with such a small number of people? !