I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 698 "Civil War" (ask for monthly tickets!)

Chencine, a province of western central Poland.

In the middle of a march of hundreds of men, Herbert Schmitz hummed a new tune:

"Poland will always be strong!
As long as I am alive,

Whatever the enemy takes from here,
I regained them all with a knife!

Go ahead! Kosciuszko..."

It was the famous "Poland Will Never Perish", the future Polish national anthem, except that its author, Joseph Wybicki, renamed it "Poland Will Always Stand Strong" this time, and the word "perish" disappeared from the lyrics.

Historically, the Russian army had already surrounded Warsaw at this time. But for now, Poland's defense line is still on the eastern border.

Schmitz marched forward to the beat of the military drum, his fingers groping for the letter in his pocket.

It was a letter from his brother last week, saying that he had already set out for Poland with the legion and would be able to meet him soon and then join the glorious holy war together.

Well, his elder brother, Mort Schmitz, was a captain in the Royal Austrian Carpathian Regiment.

However, his status as an officer also limited him.

Herbert Schmitz himself had come to Poland from his hometown of Nowy Sącz more than half a month ago, and had been awarded the rank of sergeant in the "Holy Cross Legion", and was now rushing to the battlefield.

And my brother has just set out.

Perhaps by the time my brother met the Russian, I would have been promoted to a rank similar to his.

Herbert Schmitz imagined it with a smile on his face. The Crusades, what a romantic experience!
The army marched a long way and was estimated to have reached the outskirts of Warsaw. Suddenly, several horses caught up with the team from behind, and a Polish major shouted loudly: "Wait a minute! Stop!"

The commander, Major Ficotte, immediately signaled to the herald officer, the drumbeats changed awkwardly, and the soldiers stopped.

The Polish major and Ficotte exchanged a few words in a low voice. The latter's face suddenly turned pale. After hesitating for a moment, he jumped onto a large rock half a person's height and shouted in German: "Listen everyone, Major Charles Trock has something to tell you."

All the officers and soldiers immediately turned to look at him.

Trok spoke a few excited words in Polish.

Ficotte frowned, but quickly helped him translate:

"Unfortunately, our King... ahem, declared war on Poland a few days ago."

There was a sudden commotion among the soldiers.

Herbert Schmitz confirmed loudly in disbelief: "Sir, you said 'declare war'? Did I hear it wrong? Isn't it 'alliance'?"

"Yes, declare war." Ficotte nodded and cursed softly, "Damn it, it's just shit!"

Major Trok continued: "At this time, Austria's 2 troops are passing through Nowy Sącz and are expected to launch an attack on Krakow in 5 to 4 days."

Fikette translated helplessly.

And his team was already in an uproar: "Why invade Poland?"

"Surely this is not an order from His Majesty the King?"

"Which bastard is colluding with Russian heretics?"

"Is this how they repay the friends who helped us hold Vienna?"

This team was composed of volunteers from Austria who came to support Poland's holy war. They thought that the Austrian government would send troops to help Poland resist Russia, but they did not expect to hear such news.

Trok bowed deeply to everyone, and then said: "There are almost no troops stationed in Krakow, and we never expected Vienna to attack there.

"Therefore, Warsaw has to send all the soldiers it can mobilize to Krakow. And you are the most experienced team here. On behalf of His Majesty the King, I beg you to help us defend Krakow.

"For God's sake!"

Herbert Schmitz took a few steps forward with a gloomy face and shouted, "I'll go!" Immediately someone followed up and shouted, "I'll go too."

"I want to teach those idiots a lesson, too!"

"And I……"

Half an hour later, the team of more than 800 people turned southwest and headed towards Krakow.

Krakow.

Outside the town of Chebinya, south of the Tarnovsky Mountain silver mine.

An Austrian artilleryman slowly stuffed the shell into the muzzle. The loader used the pestle to randomly poke a few times, and then the igniter lit the fuse.

With a roar, the shell drew an arc and flew into the bushes on the east side.

The artillery company commander looked through the telescope and did not blame the gunner. Instead, he sat down on the ammunition box and let his men do their work.

Yes, they didn't realize they were going to fight the Poles until they entered Polish territory.

Before this, except for middle and senior officers, Austrian soldiers believed that they were going to fight the Russians on the Eastern Front in Poland.

Soon, General Wilmser's guards arrived at the artillery position as supervisors.

The eight cannons here fired for a whole morning, but only one shell hit the Polish position. The general was furious.

Well, the unlucky guy who shot the Pole was scolded by his comrades before. He was a little wronged, because his skills were poor and his aim was off.

After several artillerymen were whipped, a gap was finally created in the Polish position.

Then, Wurmser directly dispatched the Royal Grenadiers Battalion and took the lead in rushing into the Polish defense line.

The Polish troops, dressed in uniforms of various styles and colors, quickly retreated, completely abandoning the town.

Wilmser looked at the situation through the telescope and ordered the cavalry to pursue.

He originally thought that he would not encounter any resistance. After all, the Polish army in Krakow should only have a few hundred people.

However, there were at least two thousand soldiers blocking the town just now.

"General, it seems that this is just a mob organized by the Poles temporarily." The staff officer beside him also put down the telescope, "Maybe we can occupy the silver mine tomorrow."

Wilmser nodded: "Order the troops to enter the town. The technical academy there can excite the soldiers."

He was extremely dissatisfied with today's battle. The Royal German Infantry Regiment's two consecutive attacks were actually blocked by that group of mobs.

About an hour later, when he was discussing with his officers how to control the entire Krakow as quickly as possible, several artillery shots were suddenly heard in the distance.

He frowned. He did not order the artillery to join the pursuit. Why did they run so far?

After a while, two cavalrymen came in panic and reported to him: "General, Major Moret was ambushed in the west of the town, and three cavalry squadrons were defeated..."

Wilmser's expression suddenly froze. He was about to order the troops to withdraw when another ranger came to report that traces of enemy cavalry were found on the left wing.

This group of rabble actually has cavalry?

Wilmser suddenly felt that the situation was not good.

And his premonition was confirmed.

The next day, the Austrian army fought a tough battle with the Polish army in the town of Cebinia.

What Wurmser had not expected was that there were more than 2800 Polish soldiers here.

To be precise, only more than 800 of them were mercenaries recruited from Italy and Switzerland, and the rest were patrols from mining companies and armed miners.

(End of this chapter)