Counterattack

Around noon, the British and Prussian troops began a temporary rest—after all, no one is made of iron and everyone needs a short rest—and at the same time, they could bring up the conscripts or mercenaries who had just arrived.

Yes, in order to take this unexpectedly tough fortress, the Britain have already spent money to hire several batches of mercenaries. Although they can no longer buy mercenaries in Italy, they can still afford to bring some over from Germany.

Initially, the Britain hired about 10,000 Germany mercenaries, but it didn't take long for the mercenaries to accuse the Britain of being liars who hadn't clearly explained the difficulty and danger of the mission. They strongly demanded the termination of their employment contracts or a five-fold pay increase.

The Britain, naturally unwilling to spend too much money, promised that the mercenaries they had originally hired would not have to perform offensive missions. Of course, their wages would be halved as a result. The first batch of mercenaries immediately agreed.

Having appeased the first batch of mercenaries, the Britain hired a new group. This time, they learned from their mistake and instead of allowing the mercenaries to gradually adapt to the battlefield, they placed them in a remote camp, out of sight of the fighting, and strictly managed them, preventing them from leaving freely and avoiding excessive contact with others. When they were needed, they were simply dragged up from the rear, and then... and this batch of mercenaries would never ask for a raise or to terminate their contracts.

The Britain generously shared their experience with the Prussia, who were troubled by constant insubordination and even mutinies within their army. Prussia were immediately inspired. They also established isolation camps a little further away, sending newly recruited soldiers there for safekeeping to prevent them from being exposed to unnecessary information that could corrupt their minds and reduce their fighting capacity.

This way, the area can be sealed off until it's needed, then pulled out and used all at once. The resulting quarantined barracks can then be used to house the next batch of conscripts.

Of course, this also raises two issues.

The first problem is the lack of training among the conscripts. However, in such offensive operations, the rate of death for well-trained and untrained soldiers is not significantly different, so this is not a problem at this point.

The second problem was that the time intervals between each wave of attacks by the British Army and Prussian forces had to be increased. This was because they had to wait for the previous batch of consumables to run out before they could bring the next batch. Otherwise, if these consumables, armed with weapons, witnessed how the previous batch of consumables was used up before even entering the battlefield, problems would likely arise immediately.

The increased intervals between attacks would certainly give the France more time to prepare, which is obviously disadvantageous for the attackers. However, since they had already cut off Hill 1's connection with other French Army, all the Allied forces now needed to do was deplete their ammunition. A slightly slower pace wasn't unacceptable.

The battlefield fell silent for a moment. Everyone took the opportunity to eat quickly, because for many, this might be their last meal.

Napoleon's army, however, had already eaten and moved to the north flank of the Anglo-Prussian Allied Forces. The soldiers were now resting in place, preparing for a decisive attack soon.

By this time, the cavalry sent to contact Joseph had returned. General Murat also returned with the cavalry.

"Joachim, welcome back to the team. How are you doing, having a good time with my brother?" Napoleon asked.

"Not at all, I was almost suffocated," Murat replied. "General Joseph Bonaparte was certainly a brilliant military strategist, but... especially in meetings, it was... looking at him so dejected and sighing, you'd think we were the ones being fished by the Britain and Prussia! What I couldn't stand most was that every time someone made a new suggestion in a meeting, he would always blurt out, 'Of course, that sounds good, but please don't cause any trouble!' It was truly..."

"Alright, Joachim, cheer up, you're back now!" Napoleon was clearly pleased to hear Murat say this about his brother.

"Well, by the way, how's the situation over there?" Napoleon asked after giving Murat a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"The situation is very good. I don't know how many enemies have died; I've never seen so many dead," Murat said. "I can smell the enemy's low morale. In fact, I think we could crush them with a counterattack right now, relying solely on the defenders of Verdun. If it weren't for the general being so cautious..."

"Joseph isn't cautious; he's just ruthless and greedy. Otherwise, what would be the point of having us here? A counterattack could indeed repel the enemy, but what we need is not just to repel them, but to annihilate them," Napoleon said, while thinking to himself, "Those who aren't bright are hopeless; even Joseph can't make them any smarter! Doesn't he realize that his complaint is negating the significance of our actions?"

"Hmm, Joachim, did Joseph send you with any message?" Napoleon continued to ask.

"General, General Joseph Bonaparte asked me to pass on a message to you, as long as he..."

Joseph intended for his troops to launch a full-scale counterattack, Joseph that his counterattack would draw the enemy's attention, allowing Napoleon to then launch an attack from the flank.

"Do I need him to tell me when to attack? But... this time, I'll do as he says," Napoleon concluded.

So, just twenty minutes after the Britain and Prussia had committed their mercenaries and conscripts, who knew nothing of the brutality of war, to the battle, the French Army, who had been on the defensive, launched a full-scale counterattack. The France opened fire on the Allied forces with all kinds of weapons. At the same time, they launched a counterattack on Hill 1 from several other directions, seemingly trying to restore communication with Hill 1 in one fell swoop.

Initially, the British Army and Prussian troops were not alarmed by the French Army actions, as they had actually made some preparations for the large-scale French Army counterattack. The France couldn't have been unaware of the crucial location of Hill 1, and if they wanted to maintain the integrity of their front lines and hold the fortress, they would certainly try to establish contact with Hill 1. Especially since several days had already passed, the French Army must have had new commanders.

So at first, they took it as expected, and even when they found the French Army attack to be quite fierce, they just thought it was a sign that "our France friends are getting anxious."

However, they soon discovered that the French Army attack was more intense than they had anticipated, and they were finding it difficult to withstand. So the Duke of Brunswick made a move he would later regret: he committed more troops to hold off the French Army counterattack, and even, if possible, to expand his controlled territory while the French Army were retreating.

Just as he had gathered his fresh troops to launch a counterattack, someone suddenly reported that the cavalry had spotted the main French Army in the north, a force so large that it was countless.

The news struck Marshal Brunswick and his other generals like a bolt of lightning. Their troops, especially their most combat-ready units, were now engaged in defensive and counter-offensive operations. While some reserves were maintained, these were only for anticipated battlefield contingencies. Furthermore, the reserves couldn't be too large, otherwise it would be a waste of their fighting strength. Therefore, the Allied reserves were certainly no match for the French Army and Italian Legion that were about to advance.

The only option now is to quickly pull the army out of the stalemate on the battlefield. Of course, this is very risky. If not organized properly, the French Army could be routed by the French Army coming from the north, even without the French flanking maneuvering out. But at this point, Marshal Brunswick had almost no other options.

"Send the cavalry to confirm the news again. Also, have all troops prepare to withdraw from the battle. Have General Blücher take his cavalry to delay the French Army coming from the north," the Duke of Brunswick ordered.

Blücher then led his cavalry over, but the Duke of Brunswick had no confidence in how effective his mere thousand-odd cavalry could be.

But retreating during battle is easier said than done. The French Army charged forward again with renewed ferocity. Moreover, the French Army counterattack was organized with remarkable flexibility, clearly commanded by highly experienced officers.

Without the pressure from Napoleon's Italian Legion, the Duke of Brunswick could have reorganized his troops and withdrawn. But with the Italian Legion about to strike, he had no time to do so. He had to gather as many troops as possible and disengage from the battle before the Italian Legion arrived.

Moreover, the cavalry returning from the north had repeatedly confirmed that Napoleon's army was rapidly approaching. Brunswick assessed the situation and finally made his final decision. "Order all troops, without regard to anything else, to disengage from the enemy and retreat to their camps."

This order caused enormous chaos in the army—but it was inevitable. The retreat quickly turned into a rout. Many troops that were positioned too deep into enemy territory were cut off from their retreat by the counterattacking French Army and were surrounded. Even more troops were routed during the retreat, losing their organization and falling into complete disarray.

The Allied forces that finally retreated to their camp with Brunswick numbered less than half of their total strength. Many more had been killed or captured by the France, and the whereabouts of France rest were unknown. They wisely did not return to their camp, and the France, for the time being, had no time to capture them.