Chapter 756 This is the surprise

Chapter 757 This is the surprise

9 kilometers south of Uccle, French soldiers in white uniforms are lining up in an orderly manner.

Strangely, the clothes of more than 4,000 soldiers on the northernmost side are light gray, which is obviously the uniform of Walloon police.

Yes, the "French army" that was intimidating Count Radesky outside the town of Mavergne at this time was actually Walloon police in French uniforms.

They were no longer able to continue fighting after yesterday's defeat, but they could still stand in line.

This is why Count Radesky kept reporting to Prince Cobourg that the main force of the French army was ready to attack the town of Mavergne at any time.

Joseph used this method to hide more than 4,000 French soldiers.

Then, he ordered the Royal Fourth Infantry Division to march overnight.

The Fourth Division finally arrived in Wavre at three o'clock in the morning - even such a top-notch force in Europe, after marching for half a night, thousands of people fell behind.

This morning, Joseph asked Lefebvre to lead 13,000 soldiers who still had strength to quickly march north and launch an active attack on Prince Coburg's troops.

From Prince Coburg's point of view, the 6,000 French troops in the Wavre area were besieging Count Radetzky, and he should have maintained a fierce offensive and occupied Wavre in one fell swoop.

And he never thought that he would suddenly be attacked by tens of thousands of French troops.

Lefebvre's eyes swept across the faces of the soldiers with dark circles and tired looks, and he sighed in his heart.

These guys traveled 25 kilometers during the day yesterday, walked 8 kilometers overnight, and only slept for 4 hours at night. This morning, they continued to walk 9 kilometers to get here. You can imagine how much physical exhaustion they had.

He waved his whip, galloped past the soldiers, and shouted:

"Yes, I know everyone is very tired, and maybe even standing like this is a bit strenuous."

He turned sideways and pointed his whip to the east: "But the enemy is equally exhausted. They have been marching since this morning to reinforce the Radetzky Corps, and now even their formation has become extremely messy.

"I want you to hold on and let those Austrians know what a real man is! Let them watch in horror how you crush them completely with your iron will!"

He suddenly drew out his sword, raised it above his head, and said proudly: "You are the Guard Corps of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! You are the best soldiers on the European continent! You will overcome everything! "

Yes, although it has been reorganized into the Royal Fourth Army, the soldiers are proud of the "Guards" and still call themselves this in private.

When they heard the "Guards", the soldiers immediately raised their heads, and excitement and enthusiasm replaced the original fatigue in their eyes.

Lefebvre turned his horse's head and rushed to the Austrian army in the east: "In the name of the Crown Prince! Defeat them!"

Tens of thousands of soldiers immediately followed with a thunderous roar: "In the name of the Crown Prince! "

Their bodies seemed to have forgotten their fatigue, and they marched to the beat of the drums, striding towards Prince Coburg.

Of course, this was also the result of their daily high-intensity physical training. Otherwise, no matter how much they were motivated, it would be useless if their bodies could not hold on.

But the French New Army would practice 5-kilometer weighted running at any time, so they could still "squeeze" out some physical strength at this time.

In comparison, the Austrian soldiers only marched less than 10 kilometers this morning, and their physical strength had been consumed.

Prince Coburg's response was timely. In the process of the French army rushing through the last 3 kilometers, he had gathered 5 infantry regiments and completed the battle array on the west side.

Lefebvre had no choice. The terrain around Brussels was flat. 3 kilometers is the shortest distance that can be undetected by the Austrian scout cavalry.

In fact, if Prince Coburg was not in a hurry, he would have to keep a distance of at least 6 kilometers to avoid being discovered.

But given the chaos caused by the Austrian army's rapid march, 3 kilometers is enough to hide!

The first to attack the Austrian army was not Lefebvre's cavalry or infantry, but artillery.

Although Joseph did not bring any cavalry artillery this time in order not to disperse the offensive forces on the Rhine line, the marching speed of the Royal Infantry Artillery Battalion was not slow at all.

10 6-pound cannons began firing 500 steps away from the Austrian army. This is almost the maximum effective range of these guns.

However, at this time, there were many cavalrymen in front. All the Austrian soldiers were running around. With the shooting level of the Royal Artillery Battalion, there was no need to worry about hitting the target.

As the shells passed by one after another, screams were heard in the Austrian army. In addition to the more than 7,000 soldiers who had already completed the formation, the other soldiers who were still gathering towards the military flag were more chaotic due to the lack of officers' restraint and the killing of shells.

On the side of Prince Coburg, most of the artillery was still in the back of the team, and only 3 guns could fight back at this time.

More than ten minutes later, 12 French infantry columns appeared in front of the Austrian infantry line under the cover of the skirmisher battalion and began to accelerate the charge.

"Stand still, don't move!"

The Austrian officers shouted desperately, but the shooting of more than 600 French skirmishers alone caused their line formation to waver.

Then, the French columns came to a position about 100 steps away from the line formation, stopped, and began to spread out into a horizontal line.

In just half a minute, several horizontal columns of more than 100 meters appeared in front of the Austrian infantry line. At the same time, the skirmishers tacitly filled in between the horizontal columns to fill the gap in firepower.

"Forward!" Following the order of the officer, the horizontal column composed of 6,000 French infantry followed the sound of the military drum and pressed towards the opposite line array.

When the two sides were 60 steps apart, the Austrian army finally couldn't hold back and took the lead in launching a volley.

Thirty or forty French soldiers were hit by bullets, but under the protection of bulletproof inserts, only less than 10 people were actually injured.

The rhythm of the French military drums also accelerated, and the horizontal column rushed forward 12 steps, and then at the order of the officer, they raised the percussion gun at the same time.

"Aim-"

"Shoot-"

The dense fire covered the entire horizontal column. Due to the closer distance and the higher shooting level of the French army, blood and flesh splattered on the Austrian line array, and hundreds of people fell to the ground.

"Load——"

In fact, there was no need for the officers to order. The French soldiers were almost driven by muscle memory, and they quickly performed the actions of holding the gun, loading the powder, and pounding the gun.

Because the loading skills were more proficient, and the loading steps of the percussion gun were originally fewer, when the Austrian soldiers finished loading and just raised their guns, the French soldiers followed closely and aimed at them.

You know, they just walked 12 more steps!

The two sides fired two or three seconds apart, and tens of thousands of lead bullets crossed each other.

The bulletproof inserts once again showed great value.

More than 150 Austrian soldiers were shot and killed, while the French soldiers only had about 40 casualties.