Interlude on the Battlefield

As Hohenzollern Development Company underwent a major reorganization, the battlefield in Schleswig was in a stalemate.

After the main force of the Danish army successfully retreated to Flensburg, the new commander of the Danish army began to direct the Danish cavalry to delay the advance of the allied forces.

In order to pursue the retreating Danish army and counter the harassment of the Danish cavalry, the Prussian cavalry continuously launched attacks, and the two sides began a chase across the vast snowfield.

Using villages, forests, farmlands, and scattered buildings, the Danish cavalry appeared and disappeared unpredictably, often emerging from unexpected directions to attack the German allied forces.

In some narrow terrains, the Danish cavalry could even annihilate small units of the allied forces, causing trouble for them.

The allied commanders began to grit their teeth at the Danish cavalry. With a command from headquarters.

The main force of the allied cavalry, which had been prepared for a long time, finally entered the fray.

In the previous positional battles, it was not the cavalry's domain, and the cavalry officers could only watch their infantry colleagues earn military merits.

Now they could finally showcase their skills on the battlefield. The cavalry forces quickly assembled and launched an attack.

Facing several times their number of allied cavalry, the Danish cavalry began to falter. The Danish cavalry general ordered his troops to fight and retreat.

Due to their familiarity with the terrain, the Danes could always find a breakthrough point. Although the allied cavalry had a numerical advantage, they found it difficult to completely annihilate the Danish cavalry.

The allied cavalry commander became ruthless and began to disperse his troops into several columns, pursuing the Danes separately.

As long as they could delay the Danish cavalry's retreat, they could heavily damage the Danish cavalry forces.

With their numerical advantage, the allied forces quickly discovered the movements of the Danish cavalry. After communicating with the relevant units.

The allied cavalry quickly seized the opportunity and located the Danish cavalry, leading to a brutal encounter battle.

The Prussian and Austrian cavalry, who had been galloping across the European continent for many years, were clearly tough opponents.

Whether it was equipment, horses, personnel quality, or experience, the allied forces clearly held the advantage.

Led by a battle-hardened Prussian cavalry general, the allied forces easily countered the enemy's tactics.

The allied cavalry commanders, especially those from the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, possessed superb command skills.

On the snowfield, they launched a full-scale charge against the Danish cavalry. In just half an hour, the Danes lost more than half of their forces.

The Danish cavalry general had to order a retreat, but the allied forces clearly had no intention of letting them go.

The fleeing Danish cavalry was heavily damaged again by the allied cavalry during their retreat, with only a small portion escaping to Flensburg.

Shortly after the allied cavalry achieved a great victory, the main infantry force also arrived, and the allied forces launched the Battle of Flensburg.

On the 7th, the Danish army, feeling the difficulty of resistance, withdrew from Flensburg and returned to Danish territory. The allied forces pushed their front line to the Danish border, and the war came to a temporary halt.

On February 18th, the Prussian army occupied Kolding. The Danes attempted to form new defensive lines using all available buildings and terrain, but time was too short, and it was impossible.

However, the Austrians provided assistance to the Danes. Schleswig was already completely under the control of the allied forces. The Austrians did not want to advance further, and a temporary ceasefire was formed between the two sides.

The Austrian Empire had joined the war passively in the first place because they understood that even if the Austrians did not join, Prussia and the German Confederation could have defeated Denmark.

However, if Austria did not join, it would inevitably lead to Prussia's expansion of influence in the German region.

Austria could then be abandoned by nationalists. Moreover, at this time, Prussia voluntarily ceded leadership of the war and shared it equally with Austria.

Bismarck even used the Duchy of Holstein as bait to lure Austria into participating in the war. After the war, Austria would gain control over the Duchy of Holstein.

Guided by this situation and interests, the Austrian Empire entered the war. Now that Schleswig had been recovered, the Austrian Empire no longer wished to expand the scope of the war.

While Prussia and Austria were negotiating, the allied forces rested on the Danish border.

Kane, an ordinary Austrian farmer, was conscripted by the lord of his village when the war broke out.

Kane participated in the Battle of Kingdom Mountain, subsequently experienced the Battle of Flensburg, and was now resting in a temporary position on the Danish border.

The soldiers around him were acquaintances from Kane's village or neighboring villages, and the officer leading them was the village chief.

"Kane, do you have any cigarettes left?" asked a villager.

Kane lay on a dirt mound, his hands behind his head, his head resting on his arms, his legs crossed, and his eyes looking at the sky. He replied, "No, I finished them yesterday."

"Sigh, I wonder when this war will end. I don't know how my family is doing either," lamented another colleague of Kane's.

"Young lads, don't worry. The scale of this war is nothing. When I joined the imperial army to resist Napoleon, the scale of war then was truly terrifying. It was a sea of people, stretching as far as the eye could see. We could only charge forward with our comrades," said the village chief.

The village chief was an old man who had participated in the anti-French wars in his youth.

"Uncle Morey, how do Napoleon's troops compare to the Danes?" Kane called out the village chief's name and asked.

"Napoleon! He was a truly remarkable figure. Even before I joined the battlefield, I knew his great name."

Morey recalled thoughtfully and continued, "At that time, I thought Austria was the most powerful country in the world, but His Majesty the Emperor's army was still defeated by Napoleon. I only learned later when I enlisted that all the countries in Europe had united to defeat Napoleon, the usurper."

Morey revealed all that he knew. Of course, as an old farmer, Morey had also heard a few words from his superiors when he was young.

"Back then, the war was much crueler than it is now. France was at its zenith. Rumor had it that Napoleon's officers could use sorcery, and under the influence of sorcery, the French soldiers would charge forward without fear of death!" Morey paused, pulled out a cigarette from somewhere, lit it, and took a puff.

"My unit clashed with the French in a place called Garidon (fictional). The French, under Napoleon's leadership (actually other French officers), charged at us." Morey took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"The French on the other side seemed to be throwing their lives away. My comrades around me fell one by one. Some lost an arm, some lost a leg, and the most unfortunate didn't even have half their face left!" Morey seemed to be reliving that distant war.

"Fortunately, reinforcements arrived in time. We saw that there was strength in numbers, and we managed to drive the French back. Back then, there were battles every day, and the faces of the people around me would change every few days. Fortunately, I was lucky and survived..."

Morey recounted his experiences from his youth, and the young men around him listened intently to his "story."

Awaiting the arrival of a new war.