I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 842 The Attraction of the Crown Prince

"Well?" The Duke of Brunswick glanced at the staff officer nonchalantly, "Please continue."

Scharnhorst said hurriedly: "Marshal, our army has not strengthened its offensive in the past few days, but the French have suddenly retreated. I am worried that this may be a trap..."

The Duke of Brunswick snorted coldly: "You are too cautious. It is common for the defenders on the battlefield to suddenly collapse after the casualties accumulate to a certain level."

He waved his hand toward the endless open space in the distance, saying, "There's not even enough space for a flea to hide here. What tricks can the French come up with?"

Scharnhorst insisted: "Perhaps, we should slow down the attack and strengthen the cover on both wings..."

The Duke of Brunswick interrupted him rudely: "My advice is that you need more courage."

The staff officer followed closely: "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 later led the revival and reform of the Prussian army, had very keen insight and put forward suggestions that could save the coalition forces.

West side of the town of Budscheid.

French temporary command post.

Massena looked at the staff officer and frowned, "Are you saying that the enemy's offensive is beginning to weaken?"

"Yes, Commander." The latter looked at the battle report, "and the enemy's right wing is closing in, seemingly to guard against our counterattack."

Saint-Hilaire continued, "Not only that, at noon today, the Prussian Hussars went around to the east side of Wirtz for reconnaissance."

Massena asked, "Could it be that Ferdinand has seen through our plan?"

Saint-Hilaire thought and shook his head: "I think the enemy should just be worried about being ambushed by our army."

Massena's expression was solemn: "But this will slow down the enemy's attack speed, and we may not be able to lead them far enough..."

The few of them were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't notice that they had walked to the Crown Prince's carriage - they were here to take the Crown Prince to Wiltz, as the current front line where the enemy and our side were intertwined was too dangerous.

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

Massena and others turned around and saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and hurriedly bowed to him.

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

"It seems that the Prussians are very cautious."

Joseph also frowned slightly. If this continued, the big victory would probably turn into a small victory.

He suddenly had an idea and looked at Massena with a smile: "So, we have to give the Duke of Brunswick more motivation."

"Power? What do you mean?"

Joseph pointed to himself and said, "Do you think that if the Duke of Brunswick knew that the French Dauphin was in Budscheid, he would become desperate?"

"No, this is too dangerous!" Massena and Saint-Hilaire were both shocked and shouted in unison.

Joseph waved his hand nonchalantly: "The Prussians have not yet been able to harm me."

In fact, he had confidence in the new French army. If the 1st, 2nd and 4th Royal Infantry Divisions and the Cavalry Artillery Battalion combined could not protect themselves, then there would be no need to compete for hegemony in Europe. Massena kept trying to dissuade them with a bitter face, but he saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had already mounted his horse and galloped away to the southeast.

On the other side, the Duke of Brunswick was asking Taunchen and Blücher about the battle situation of the previous day. The latter two accepted Scharnhorst's advice and increased their vigilance as much as possible within their authority, but this also weakened the offensive.

At this moment, a hussar officer rushed over with a red face and shouted to the Duke of Brunswick: "Marshal, we saw the figure of the French prince at the front line!"

"What?" The latter stood up suddenly, "Are you sure it's him?"

"Yes, Marshal. Colonel Ziegler and his men have seen him. They have seen it with their own eyes."

Ziegler and others were Bavarian officers who had held combat meetings with Joseph as friendly forces in the Southern Netherlands and were very familiar with him.

Blücher said ecstatically: "It must be the French crown prince who came to the front to boost morale in order to stabilize the defense line."

The Duke of Brunswick also waved his cane excitedly, asking the Hussars to continue their reconnaissance. He turned to the map and shouted, "Let the two Bavarian infantry brigades block the French retreat from Bavigne.

"General Blücher, you will personally command the frontal attack. We must break through the Budscheid Line before 3 p.m.!

"Leave two regiments to surround Kautenbach. General Taunchien will lead the right wing corps to attack Würz directly.

"The Austrian Army as a reserve..."

If the French crown prince could be captured successfully, it would win a strategic bargaining chip for the coalition forces and deal a heavy blow to the morale of the French army. It is even possible that the French royal family would directly request an armistice in order to protect their heir.

Scharnhorst looked at the high-spirited Field Marshal from the sidelines. Although he felt that something was wrong, he could not go up and pour cold water on him under such circumstances...

An hour later, as the Duke of Brunswick's order was passed down, the coalition forces almost came out in full force and rushed madly towards the French positions.

Two days later.

Arlanges is a border town on the west side of Luxembourg.

It is less than 7 kilometers away from Bastogne in the southern Netherlands.

Joseph looked at the red crosses marked everywhere on the map, with an unconcealable smile on his face.

The red cross represents the position of the coalition army corps at this time. The most aggressive unit was near Arlanges, and the rear guard had reached the west of Wirtz.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly that he was really attractive.

Less than an hour after he showed up at the front line that day, the coalition forces launched a frenzied all-out offensive, attacking from multiple directions, obviously trying to block all his routes of retreat.

Joseph estimated that if he ventured to show up in front of the Duke of Brunswick again, he might really cross the Aure River and chase him into the Southern Netherlands.

But this is understandable. After all, even if other countries send royal family members to the battlefield, at most it would be a legitimate son or a prince. There has never been a situation where the crown prince personally went to the front line.

Of course, he had been in danger before when he lured the enemy deep into his territory. 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 look. The coalition forces had chased to such a deep place that when Massena launched a counterattack, there was no possibility for them to escape back to Trier.

At this time, less than four days had passed since he and Massena formulated the plan to lure the enemy deep into their territory.

The coalition forces chased here almost non-stop.

(End of this chapter)