Chapter 801: Unexpected Gains

Chapter 802 An unexpected gain

Sihaik waved to the major officer beside him: "Luca, how far is it to Leuven?"

The latter was stunned for a moment, looked around, and hesitated: "Six miles... or maybe eight miles?"

Sihaik, an amateur, had not even dispersed the scout cavalry, so he really didn't know where he was at this time.

Sihaik nodded, leaned close to Luca Sihaik's ear, that is, his nephew, and whispered: "How do you think we can occupy Leuven?"

"Occupy?" Luca shrank his neck and glanced at the soldiers beside him, "Just with us?"

He was just a lieutenant before, and his uncle promoted him to major as soon as he was promoted to brigadier general. But the command ability of the two of them combined is not as good as that of a major.

Sihaik followed his gaze and saw several soldiers with tattered uniforms, without even blankets and hats, moving forward listlessly.

The soldiers under his command were all from the Austrian army that was defeated by Joseph. After their surrender, they received limited logistical support. Some soldiers changed into the uniforms of the Walloon police, while others were still wearing their original uniforms.

Luca whispered, "If you really want to fight with Lieutenant Colonel De Zweiher, we may have to surrender again..."

De Zweiher was the Austrian officer in charge of garrisoning Leuven.

Sihek glared at his nephew fiercely, and was about to scold him, but suddenly thought of something, and his eyes swept over the soldiers in tattered uniforms again, and he pondered, "You mean surrender? Well, maybe it's a way..."

Luca waved his hand hurriedly: "This is absolutely not possible! Uncle, let's go back directly."

He knew very well that if his uncle and nephew surrendered to Austria, they would die. Their previous act of surrendering to France would most likely cause the Austrian emperor to convict them of treason.

Besides, his uncle is now a brigadier general, and he is also a colonel. If he leaves the protection of the French, all this will become a bubble.

Sihak smiled triumphantly: "No, I really want to surrender to De Zweih.

"Pick out 300 reliable soldiers for me immediately, let them change into Austrian uniforms, go quickly!

"Oh, wait, give them 10 florins each."

"Ah?" Luca opened his mouth wide, but after seeing his uncle raise his whip, he nodded hurriedly, "Yes, General!"

After his nephew left, Sihak asked someone to summon a captain named Vermeer and gave him careful instructions.

This Vermeer is the most capable officer in his "surrender army", but this person is not very obedient to him, so he usually doesn't want to associate with him.

But now he must use this company commander.

At 5:30 pm the next day.

A group of defeated soldiers of the "West Male Corps" appeared outside the city of Leuven.

These people claimed to be a force transporting logistical supplies for the Duke of York, but because the coalition forces were defeated by the French army in Mechelen, they were driven here.

Lieutenant Colonel De Zweiher had heard some news from Mechelen before. Seeing these soldiers wearing tattered Austrian uniforms, speaking Dutch, and in a state of disgrace, he allowed them to enter Leuven without any doubt and sent them food and wine.

Several officers among the "fleeting soldiers" began to tell the defenders how the coalition forces were defeated and that 60,000 French troops had pushed the front line into the Netherlands. The Leuven defenders were terrified.

Another day later, Vermeer led 1,000 surrendered soldiers wearing Walloon police uniforms to the west of Leuven - he was just a company commander, and commanding 1,000 people was already the upper limit of his ability.

Lieutenant Colonel De Zweiher hurriedly lined up to meet the attack, but the "Duke of York's defeat" seriously affected the morale of his troops, and nearly 2,000 soldiers were actually being suppressed by the opposite side.

In the afternoon, the "fleeting soldiers" who had sneaked into Leuven set fire to the material warehouse in the city and began to spread the news that "tens of thousands of French troops are about to start attacking the city."

So, when the Austrian soldiers defending the city saw Schehertz's 3,000 troops in the distance, the last bit of resistance began to melt.

Even Lieutenant Colonel De Zweiher believed that what he saw was the vanguard of the "10,000 French troops".

After weighing the pros and cons, he finally gave up Louvain and fled to Herrell under the unanimous persuasion of his officers.

It was not until Vermeer sent someone to report to Schehertz that he had controlled Louvain that the latter was relieved and rushed to the city from 4 kilometers away from Louvain - he had been prepared before that if De Zweiher's army won, he would immediately turn around and flee with his nephew.

But he didn't expect that Louvain would be deceived so smoothly.

After holding a grand entry ceremony, Schehertz immediately sent someone to send the news of the "Louvain Victory" to the French Crown Prince.

Then he asked his nephew and Vermeer to stay in the city, and he took the guards to hide in a small village 2 kilometers south of the city, fearing that De Zweiher would bring people back.

…

Mechelen.

Joseph had just received the news that Gaillard had conquered Brussels in the morning, and in the afternoon he met the Flemish Legion and learned that even Leuven had been taken.

He was not surprised that the Walloon Defense Army could defeat the Dutch. The predecessor of the Defense Army, the Walloon Police, was trained by the Paris Police Academy, and its combat effectiveness was definitely not inferior to the regular army of Prussia, Austria and other countries.

But he was quite surprised that Scheik could occupy Leuven.

No mistake, one song, one post, one content, one look!

After Joseph asked in detail about the details of the Battle of Leuven, he was also secretly amazed.

Although Sihak is not good at fighting, he still has some tricks in his mind. It seems that Tain may not be his opponent in the political arena of the Flemish Republic in the future.

Joseph looked at the map on the wall. After accidentally occupying Leuven, he already had a certain strategic advantage in the Flemish region.

Leuven controls the passage to the east from Brussels.

In other words, if Prussia and Austria want to reinforce the Duke of York now, they can only go from Heerer through the Netherlands and bypass the north side of Antwerp.

The opportunity to counterattack the Anglo-Prussian-Austrian coalition has appeared.

Of course, before that, we must stabilize the control of Brussels. At the same time, the province of Ghent in the west must also be taken.

By then, only the province of Antwerp will remain in the hands of the enemy in the entire Southern Netherlands.

The Netherlands will no longer be safe.

"Your Highness, it's almost two o'clock." Emman appeared at the door and reminded quietly, "You have to attend the staff combat meeting."

"Okay, I'll go now."

Joseph left the tent and turned left. 30 meters away was the combat meeting tent - he had been staying at the front line only 3 kilometers away from Mechelen.

Lefebvre and others were talking excitedly, and it was obvious that they had also learned the news from Brussels.

Davout said loudly: "Next, as long as we hold on to Brussels, the enemy will not be able to gain anything in the southern Netherlands!"

Lefebvre smiled and nodded: "I just received news that Lieutenant Colonel Massena has made preparations for the general offensive in Diekirch, and the main Prussian force is to his northeast."

Diekirch is an important city in the central and northern part of Luxembourg, and it is also the decisive battle site selected by the French Rhine Front.