I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 861 The team disbanded

The behavior of the Austrian soldiers is undoubtedly very stupid in the eyes of people in the 21st century, but it seemed very normal in the era of line-up executions.

Given the accuracy of the flintlock rifle, it would take hundreds of shots to hit them through the gaps in the battlements.

So the soldiers were used to standing carelessly when facing the enemy.

A soldier reacted and shouted a warning: "Maybe it's a hunter!"

The soldiers of Zimmerman's company were about to squat and hide, but someone retorted: "Of course not, I didn't see their hammers just now."

The hunting rifles of this era, which were rifled rifles, were extremely difficult to load. One had to hit them hard with a hammer to force the bullet into the barrel.

The sergeant next to him also shook his head and said, "It's impossible for the hunters to fire that fast."

Just now, after their company commander was shot, a second wave of bullets came less than 20 seconds later. Normally, it takes at least 40 seconds to reload the jaeger rifle.

As the sergeant said this, he lay down on the parapet again, trying to look out to see what was going on.

Then the French hunter got the credit for the kill as he wished.

The Austrian second lieutenant at the nearby gun position came running over, waved his hands vigorously and shouted, "Get down, everyone get down!"

It was a little too late for him to speak, as five more soldiers were hit by bullets fired from below the fortress.

In just three or four minutes, Zimmerman's company lost 36 people.

The lieutenant shouted, "Didn't your superiors tell you the latest regulations? Stay away from the battlements, don't stand in the open, and squat as much as possible!"

The soldiers looked at Captain Zimmerman, who was lying in a pool of blood looking for the man.

Someone shouted, "The company commander didn't mention it...but why do you do this?"

"The French have a new gun that can hit us accurately at a hundred paces!"

"This, is this true?"

"Idiot! Of course it's true." The lieutenant shouted, "Otherwise why is the casualty rate of artillery so high?!"

From the second day of the French siege of Cologne, the artillery on the fortress, especially the artillery on the outermost line of defense, suffered more than 200 casualties every day.

You know, unless there is a cavalry raid, so many artillerymen will not be killed in a battle.

This time, the French chasseurs will rush to the vicinity of the fortress, take advantage of the blind spots of the cannons, and use the latest Auguste 1790 rifled rifles to snipe the gunners.

Because the new gun used a percussion cap to fire, its range was much longer than that of an ordinary chasseur rifle, making it difficult for the Austrian army to launch an effective counterattack against them.

The Austrian army was so frustrated by the attacks in the first few days that they sent a large group of infantry out of the fortress to drive out the French chasseurs.

But the French artillery was already waiting behind the chasseurs.

Whenever the Austrian infantry showed their heads, the artillery would greet them with grapeshot.

After doing this several times, the Austrian infantry suffered heavy casualties and had to temporarily issue an order requiring the artillery to squat as much as possible to avoid the opposing chasseurs.

But in this way, the cannon's shooting efficiency was terribly low.

The French army originally had more artillery than the defenders of Cologne - Massena mobilized all the Royal Artillery Battalion and the artillery captured in previous battles to the vicinity of Cologne, totaling more than 200 pieces - so it almost became a one-way artillery suppression.

After only 12 days of siege, the French had captured one of Cologne's four main fortresses, and the second one was already crumbling.

You know, these fortresses are interdependent. As long as one of them is breached, there will be a fire blind spot, and the difficulty of attacking the remaining ones will be greatly reduced.

The soldiers of Zimmerman's company were pale, thinking of their actions of looking out from the battlement just now, which was simply a suicide move. Then they suddenly understood why they had an infantry company to operate the cannon.

I'm afraid the artillerymen have been almost shot to death by the French chasseurs...

Thinking of this, they couldn't help but shrink their bodies tighter.

Until dark, the 18-pounder gun did not fire a single shell.

Dawn the next day.

An Austrian major arrived at the gun position manned by Zimmermann's company - these officers dared to appear on the fortress only when the light was dim.

"Boys, you have performed very well!" The major glanced at the listless soldiers and shouted in encouragement, "We have passed the most dangerous stage.

"Twenty thousand British reinforcements have landed in Hamburg and will arrive here in half a month.

“And General Blücher’s troops have also completed their rest and may arrive earlier than the British.

"You must have all heard of him. Yes, he is the Prussian general who successfully broke through the enemy's defenses and led the army back to the east bank of the Rhine despite the heavy siege of the French army!
"By then our army will have more than 6 troops, and the French will be stopped forever in front of the Cologne Fortress!"

Yes, now the coalition forces have regarded the ability to stop the French offensive as a rare victory.

Seeing the courage reappear in the soldiers' eyes, the Austrian major clapped his hands in satisfaction and pointed to the cannons around him: "Let those Frenchmen see how you are..."

He had just said halfway when he saw his staff officer jogging over with a panicked look on his face and whispering something quickly in his ear.

The major's eyes widened immediately and he said in a lost voice: "What? Prussia withdrew from the anti-French alliance..."

He ignored the panicked soldiers and turned to run towards the fortress's headquarters.

In less than an hour, the news that Prussia and France had reached an armistice agreement spread, and the entire Cologne fortress was filled with grief.

Although there was not a single Prussian soldier here, the defenders' firepower suddenly weakened several levels because of this news.

On the bottom floor of the fortress, the major finally saw the report that had just been delivered.

It said: Prussia officially announced its withdrawal from the anti-French alliance the day before yesterday and withdrew all its troops back to its homeland.

Prussia recognized French rule over the Guerden region and recalled all administrators there within a month.

Prussia will no longer pursue any policy hostile to France...

France promised to waive war reparations and release all Prussian prisoners, except important officers...

The fact that Joseph did not want war reparations was not because he was generous. It was because Prussia had no money to lose. Forcing the Prussians to pay reparations would only carve a deep hatred for France in their hearts.

"These perfidious Prussian bastards!"

The major angrily slammed the document on the table and growled, "We can defend Cologne even without them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard more frequent gunfire from the fortress.

A staff officer pushed the door open and rushed in, gasping for breath: "The French have occupied the middle embankment!"

The middle dike is the second wall of the fortress and also the strongest one.

Although there is another line of defense further inside, due to the narrow space, it cannot hold out for long under the bombardment of artillery.

The major rushed out of the door. There was a secret passage in the fortress, which allowed him to move to the north side of the fortress and go to another fortress to continue fighting.

(End of this chapter)