I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1002: The War in Silesia

three days later.

The soldiers on the Breslau Fortress yawned in the warm morning light, leaned against the parapets, and talked about their harvests and women at home.

It's not that they are slacking off. There are tens of thousands of troops ahead and the Oder River across the way, so there will be no war here.

A corporal turned around and was about to urinate outside the fortress when he suddenly froze and said to the soldier next to him: "I think I am dazzled. Is that a cannon?"

The other soldiers came over with a smile, but before they could look, they felt a tremor under their feet and two people were knocked down by the flying debris.

The belated roar of cannons finally reached everyone's ears.

"Alert! Enemy attack!"

The commander of the fortress looked through the telescope at the dense Austrian soldiers on the east side and the constantly flashing artillery fire, his face pale.

At least 4 Austrian troops were attacking the fortress from the back, while he had only more than 3 soldiers under his command.

Although the fortress's defenses were very strong, with such a large disparity in troop strength, it was easy for it to fall under the enemy's attack.

He hurriedly ordered the cannons previously pointed at the Oder River to be moved to the east, and then sent out several teams of messengers to ask Prince Hohenlohe for help.

Outside Liegnitz.

The Prussian army made very smooth progress. In less than two days, they had basically cleared the enemy's defensive forces outside the city and were preparing to launch a full-scale attack on the city.

Prince Hohenlohe looked at the Austrians retreating in the distance and smiled at Scharnhorst beside him: "I knew that Ludwig would attack our supply lines, but the Austrians obviously underestimated our fortresses.

"As long as there are 20,000 troops stationed there, I bet no one can capture that place."

After Prussia made the decision to attack Liegnitz, he ordered the reinforcement of the Breslau Fortress, which had now formed a large and three small circular bastions.

With 20,000 soldiers defending, Archduke Karl would not be able to break through even if he put all his troops into it.

Scharnhorst frowned slightly: "Your Highness, but why would the enemy do something that is obviously impossible?"

"He's risking everything." Prince Hohenlohe said disdainfully, "He can only bet that we won't be able to return to defense in time and seize Breslau, otherwise he won't have any chance of winning this war.

"Do you know why I have been asking the Taoenqien Legion to slow down its march?
"It is to enable him to return to Breslau as soon as possible when needed."

"But……"

Scharnhorst wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Prince Hohenlohe: "Once we occupy Liegnitz, we will immediately go west over the Sudeten Mountains and attack Prague.

"At that time, Ludwig will have no choice but to abandon Breslau and hastily withdraw to defend the country. Therefore, the fortress only needs to hold out for half a month, and there will be no accidents."

Scharnhorst couldn't think of any problem, so he saluted immediately and went to plan the deployment of troops for the attack on the city of Liegnitz with his staff.

The next day at noon.

Prussian General Taunchin was looking at the rushing waves of the Oder River through a telescope and was about to confirm the situation of the ships at the ferry with his staff when he vaguely heard the sound of gunfire coming from the south.

He frowned immediately: "Send someone to see what happened?"

Before his hussars set out, a messenger came to him in a panic and reported: "General, our right wing was attacked by the enemy. There are at least tens of thousands of people..."

Tao Enqien's face froze: "How is this possible?" He turned to the herald and shouted: "Quick, let the cavalry battalion hold back the enemy!"

However, as soon as his cavalry left, more than 3,000 Austrian cavalry attacked from the direction of the Oder River and instantly dispersed his front army - the Prussian army was in a state of rapid march at this time and could not form a defensive formation at all.

Immediately, Archduke Karl personally commanded more than 10,000 infantrymen, following the cavalry, to pursue Taunchien's defeated army.

Tao Enqien was still in a daze until this moment.

According to his understanding, at this time a small half of the Austrian army should be defending Liegnitz, and the remaining 4 people should be besieging the Breslau fortress.

So where did these Austrians come from?

He never expected that Archduke Karl had given up on Liegnitz from the very beginning, and that the more than 1 people left in Liegnitz were all forced out of the city in the past few days, creating the illusion that there were still a large number of defensive forces in the city.

1 Austrian soldiers have been lurking in the upper reaches of the Oder River. Yesterday afternoon, Archduke Karl led thousands of elite troops of the Royal Moravian Corps and quietly crossed the river from the south, setting up an ambush position on the west bank.

The Taunchien Legion was quickly defeated without any preparation.

The pursuit continued until dark, until the Austrian Hussars' horses became exhausted and they were forced to stop.

At this time, the 20,000 soldiers brought by Tao Enqien no longer had any organized troops.

On the banks of the Oder River, Archduke Karl collected the battle summary submitted by his staff, without a trace of relief on his face, and ordered: "Order the engineering battalion to complete the construction of the pontoon bridge before daybreak.

"Leave Dittmar's Corps to continue to contain the Breslau Fortress. The main force will rush to Hirschberg tomorrow."

Hirschberg is an important town on the way to the Sudeten Pass from Liegnitz.

At this moment, although the Austrian army has won a great victory, its overall strength is still slightly weaker than the enemy.

If Prince Hohenlohe's army successfully crossed the Sudeten Mountains, there would be no troops in the entire Austrian territory that could stop him. Not to mention Prague, even Vienna might be lost.

Therefore, he had to find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the Prussian army in the Hirschberg area before the Prussian army passed through the Sudeten Mountains.

However, what Archduke Karl did not expect was that all his plans would not work.

When he marched quickly to Schweidnitz, more than 40 kilometers away from Hirschberg, he learned from the retreating officers in Liegnitz that the main force of Prussia was still resting in the city.

There was no other way. Prince Hohenlohe had been fighting so smoothly along the way that he felt the Austrian army had no power to fight back, so he ordered his soldiers to loot the city, which delayed the battle for three days.

Archduke Karl was no longer under the pressure of defending the Sudeten Pass, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He asked his staff to gather all officers and begin making arrangements in an orderly manner.

On the other hand, Prince Hohenlohe, who received the news that the Taunchien Army had been annihilated, fell into a panic.

It was obvious that he had seriously misjudged the Austrian troop deployment.

At this time, in the town hall of Liegnitz, he was frowning and looking at the map. After seven or eight minutes, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and said to Scharnhorst and others: "Although we have lost some troops, the goal of this war, that is, to capture Liegnitz, has been achieved.

“In general, we still have the upper hand.

"Next, we just need to hold on to Liegnitz, and Ludwig will have no choice but to launch a strong attack here."

(End of this chapter)