I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 903: Ingolstadt Annihilation Battle

Western Austria.

Linz.

"Your speech was really wonderful." Ney raised his hat to Moreau. "If you hadn't joined the army, you would have become an excellent lawyer."

At nine o'clock in the morning, their army easily occupied this important border town after firing more than a dozen shots.

Then, in front of many Linz citizens in the square in the city center, Moreau gave a passionate speech to the soldiers on "Capture Vienna".

"Thank you for the compliment. I did study law at the University of Rennes..."

He curled his lips, "But I didn't get a degree. Well, the biggest gain in college was leading my classmates to fight against those untouchables... uh, I mean the citizens near the school, so I practiced my ability to command combat."

"You are truly a genius. You learned how to command an army from fighting!"

"Ah, let's not talk about this." Moreau coughed lightly and said, "Please assemble the troops immediately. We still have to capture Perge before dark."

"Perger?" Ney's eyes widened. "You don't really want to attack Vienna?"

Perg is a small town east of Linz and the only way to Vienna.

"Of course not." Moreau gave him a sly smile. "Anyway, the Bavarians are definitely not that fast. Going deeper will make our performance more realistic."

Four hours later, the Moreau Corps entered Perge, collected some food, and then left from the east side of the town.

At dusk, the French army quickly turned around and headed towards Bavaria again along a wasteland.

……

Central Bavaria.

Ingolstadt.

General Dernberg, commander-in-chief of the Bavarian Army, watched his soldiers drive a group of Baden prisoners out of the city with a relieved smile on his face.

He signaled his staff to bring a map and began to estimate the French army's itinerary for the officers and make defensive deployments.

According to the latest news from Vienna, the French Moreau Corps discovered that their retreat was cut off when they penetrated deep into the western suburbs of St. Polten, and then retreated in a hurry.

St. Polten is a small town less than 40 kilometers away from Vienna.

Before this, Austrian General Auersperg had led the Vienna Corps and other troops totaling more than 7 people to march westward in advance.

They will arrive in Regensburg, east of Ingolstadt, in three days.

After that, the Bao-Au coalition forces only need to wait for the French army to return here and they can immediately launch a pincer attack.

Just as the Bavarian soldiers leisurely packed up their spoils and were about to head to the designated defense position, a burst of artillery fire suddenly came from the south.

Dernberg frowned and said to the cavalry officer beside him: "It should be the French fleeing soldiers nearby who are launching a sneak attack. Let's go and take a look at the specific situation."

"Yes, General."

However, before the officer set off, two cavalrymen who were responsible for the outer perimeter security came galloping over in panic and shouted:

"A large number of French troops appeared on the south side!"

"A large number?" Dernberg's eyes fixed, and he asked, "How many people are there?"

"It's not clear yet, General, there are at least seven or eight thousand people!"

Dernberg was stunned: "How is it possible? The Moreau Legion has just passed Passau. Where did these Frenchmen come from?"

Little did he know that Moreau had only been in Perge for a while before he hurried back to Bavaria. The so-called French troops that appeared near St. Polten were just a dragoon company he had sent out, which fired blank shots outside the city.

The officer next to him hurriedly asked: "General, what should we do now?" Dernberg hesitated for a moment and judged that this team of French troops probably came from Baden to clear the supply line.

With more than 20,000 soldiers on our side, we should use our superior numbers to eliminate these French as quickly as possible to avoid being attacked from both sides when Moreau returns.

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered a group of officers: "The Freising Corps and the Lanchart Corps will deploy to the two wings, and the cavalry battalion will attack the enemy from the rear along the Danube. The Munich Guard Corps will be responsible for the frontal attack.

"Try to defeat the enemy before they complete their defensive deployment!"

……

Moreau listened to the ranger's report and kept making marks on the map.

Soon, he turned to look at Ney: "It seems that the Bavarians are about to launch a full-scale attack on us?"

Ney raised his eyebrows. "God bless you, that's great. I was worried that they would stay in Ingolstadt and defend it.

"So, should we focus on breaking through their left wing or their right wing now?"

He had absolute confidence that he could defeat the Bavarian army in an offensive battle, even if the enemy had thousands more troops than his own.

The troops they brought this time included thousands of people from the Royal 3rd Infantry Division and the Royal Artillery Battalion.

When he saw the daily training of these directly subordinate armies in Alsace, he knew that they were definitely the elite among the elite. To deal with the Bavarian army, which was only ranked second-rate in Germany, was simply like an eagle bullying a chick.

"No, don't be impatient." Moro stopped him, smiled and shook his head, "Except for the dragoons, the entire army will retreat two kilometers."

"what?"

"Why do you think Dernberg took the initiative to attack?"

"because……"

"He thinks we are no match for him," said Moreau. "He probably thinks we are a ragtag army and didn't do any detailed reconnaissance."

Ney really didn't expect that the enemy commander's level would be so poor, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that this was the only possibility.

In fact, commanders like Wurmser and the Duke of Brunswick are indeed inferior to the geniuses of the French army's "golden generation", but if they were placed in other small countries, they would definitely be like military gods.

People like Dernberg are the normal level for commanders of small countries.

Moreau's order was quickly passed down and the French army began to retreat in an orderly manner.

The Bavarian army had always believed that the French had fewer troops than their own, so when they saw the French retreat, they immediately concluded that they had been defeated.

When the left and right wings of the Pakistani army began to rush to pursue, they were afraid that the credit would be snatched away by others.

The cavalry battalion that attacked from the outside didn't even care about their formation and rushed forward at full speed.

Soon, the two wings of the Bavarian army were disconnected from the center, and the faster right-wing Freising Corps was more protruding and had already chased to the north bank of the Danube.

Moro looked at the chaotic formation of the Pakistani army through the telescope. His usual dandy smile disappeared from his face. He said to the messenger in a very serious tone:

"Order the 3rd and 4th Skirmishers to launch a counterattack on the enemy's right wing.

"Ney's corps cut in between the enemy's center and right wing, then expanded northwards to launch a counter-encirclement.

"Oh, now it's time for the dragoons to take action..."

On the battlefield, the French army, which had been "retreating", suddenly stopped.

The Bavarian cavalry battalion at the front was first hit by French infantry bayonets and volley fire, and then neat French cavalry formations appeared behind them on the side.

(End of this chapter)