#846 - The attraction of the Dauphin

"Hmm?" Duke Brunswick glanced at the staff officer casually. "Please continue."

Scharnhorst hurried to say, "Marshal, our army has not strengthened its offensive in the past few days, but the French have suddenly collapsed. I'm worried this might be a trap..."

Duke Brunswick snorted coldly, "You are too cautious. It is common on the battlefield for the defending side to suddenly collapse after casualties accumulate to a certain point."

As he spoke, he waved his hand towards the endless open space in the distance, "This place can't even hide a flea. What tricks can the French pull off?"

Scharnhorst insisted, "Perhaps, we should slow down our offensive and strengthen the protection of our flanks..."

Duke Brunswick interrupted him impolitely, "My suggestion is that you need more courage."

The staff officer hurried a few steps, "Marshal, at least, increase the frequency and distance of reconnaissance..."

"Hmph, whatever you want."

Scharnhorst looked at the old marshal's back, sighed, and tried to persuade other senior officers.

It should be said that this chief of staff, who would later lead the Prussian military revival reform, had very keen insight and put forward suggestions that could save the Allied forces.

West of Buderscheid.

French temporary command post.

Masséna looked at the staff officer and frowned, "Are you saying that the enemy's offensive is weakening?"

"Yes, Commander," the latter said, looking at the battle report. "Moreover, the enemy's right wing is gathering its formation, seemingly to guard against our counterattack."

Saint-Hilaire added, "Not only that, but at noon today, Prussian hussars scouted around the east side of Wilz."

Masséna said, "Did Ferdinand see through our plan?"

Saint-Hilaire pondered and shook his head, "I think the enemy is just worried about being ambushed by our army."

Masséna's expression was solemn, "But the enemy's offensive speed will be slowed down because of this, and we may not be able to lure them far enough..."

The few were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't even notice they had walked to the Crown Prince's carriage—they were there to send the Crown Prince to Wilz, as the front line, where the enemy and we were intertwined, was currently too dangerous.

Joseph vaguely heard Masséna mention "it will be troublesome", so he asked, "Is there a problem on the battlefield?"

Masséna and the others turned their heads and saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and hurriedly bowed.

Saint-Hilaire spoke of the enemy's movements, and then said, "Your Highness, we must launch a counterattack before the Duke of York's army breaks through the northern defense line. But if the enemy's main force has not reached west of Wilz by then, they will easily withdraw from Luxembourg when counterattacked."

"It seems the Prussians are very cautious."

Joseph also frowned slightly. If this continued, a great victory would likely become a small one.

He suddenly had a flash of inspiration and looked at Masséna with a smile, "So, we have to give Duke Brunswick more motivation."

"Motivation? Do you mean?"

Joseph pointed at himself, "Do you think that if Duke Brunswick knew that the French Crown Prince was in Buderscheid, would he become reckless?"

"No, that's too dangerous!" Masséna and Saint-Hilaire were both shocked and shouted in unison.

Joseph waved his hand dismissively, "The Prussians have not yet gained the ability to harm me."

In fact, he had confidence in the new French army. If the Royal First, Second, and Fourth Infantry Divisions, plus the horse artillery battalion, couldn't protect him, then there would be no need to compete for hegemony in Europe.

Masséna pleaded incessantly with a bitter face, but saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had already mounted his horse and galloped towards the southeast.

On the other side, Duke Brunswick was questioning Tauentzien and Blücher about the previous day's battle situation—the latter two had accepted Scharnhorst's suggestion and increased vigilance as much as possible within their authority, but this also weakened the offensive somewhat.

At this moment, a hussar officer, his face flushed, spurred his horse forward and shouted to Duke Brunswick, "Marshal, we saw the figure of the French Crown Prince on the front line!"

"What?" The latter stood up abruptly. "Are you sure it was him?"

"Yes, Marshal. Colonel Ziegler and the others have met him, and they all saw him with their own eyes."

Ziegler and the others were Bavarian officers who had attended operational meetings with Joseph as allied forces in the Southern Netherlands and were very familiar with Joseph.

Blücher was overjoyed and said, "The French Crown Prince must have come to the front line to boost morale in order to stabilize the defense line."

Duke Brunswick also waved his cane excitedly, ordered the hussars to continue scouting, and turned to the map, loudly ordering, "Let the two Bavarian infantry brigades cut off the French retreat from Bavaisne."

"General Blücher, you personally command the frontal attack and must break through the Buderscheid defense line before 3 p.m.!"

"Leave two regiments to surround Kautenbach. General Tauentzien, lead the right-wing corps to directly attack Wilz."

"The Austrian corps will serve as the reserve army..."

If they could successfully capture the French Crown Prince, it would win a strategic-level bargaining chip for the Allied forces and severely hit the morale of the French army. Even the French royal family might directly request a truce in order to protect their heir.

Scharnhorst watched the high-spirited Marshal, and although he felt that something was wrong, he couldn't possibly pour cold water on him in this situation...

An hour later, as Duke Brunswick's orders were conveyed, the Allied forces almost went all out and frantically pounced on the French positions.

Two days later.

Arlon, a border town west of Luxembourg.

It was now less than 7 kilometers from Bastogne in the Southern Netherlands.

Joseph looked at the red crosses marked all over the map, his face full of undisguised smiles.

The red crosses marked the current positions of the Allied corps. The most aggressive unit was near Arlon, and the rear guard had reached west of Wilz.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly that his attraction was really great enough.

He had only shown his face on the front line for less than an hour that day, and the Allied forces had launched a frantic all-out attack, attacking in multiple directions, obviously wanting to block all his retreats.

Joseph estimated that if he risked going to Duke Brunswick again, he might really cross the Our River and chase him into the Southern Netherlands.

But this was understandable, after all, even if other countries sent royal family members to the battlefield, at most it would be a嫡子(dí zǐ, son of the first wife) or a prince. The situation of a crown prince personally coming to the front line had never really happened.

Of course, he had also been in dangerous situations when luring the enemy in deep before. Once, the Prussian hussars were only about 1.5 kilometers away from him, but fortunately the Royal Hussar Battalion arrived in time and dispersed the enemy.

Joseph put away the map with a relaxed expression. The Allied forces had chased to such a deep area, and after Masséna launched a counterattack, there was no possibility for them to escape back to Trier.

And at this time, it had only been less than 4 days since he and Masséna had formulated the plan to lure the enemy in deep.

The Allied forces had chased here almost non-stop.