Valmy (3)

The Austria infantry launched the attack first, advancing towards the French Army positions in neat ranks and with synchronized steps, guided by the beat of drums.

The French Army artillery began firing. Shells flew continuously into Austria lines, creating small gaps. However, reinforcements quickly filled the gaps, and the lines were restored in the blink of an eye. This made the previous shelling like throwing a few pebbles into a pond; although it created ripples, the pond remained a pond.

"General, the enemy doesn't have many cannons either," a young officer in his twenties said to the Duke of Brunswick, putting down his binoculars.

"Ah, Karl, you've noticed that too," the Duke of Brunswick nodded. "Logically speaking, the France shouldn't lack artillery, but desertion is rampant in the France army, especially among technical troops. I'm afraid what they lack isn't cannons, but well-trained artillerymen."

By this time, the Austria infantry were not far from the France trenches. The France began firing in response. France shooting was chaotic and disorganized, and the results were not very good.

"They fired from too far away, and barely managed to form a volley; clearly, they lacked training," commented the Duke of Brunswick. "The France army, loyal to the monarchy, is unwilling to fight us. So they can only rely on those mobs, who certainly have some courage, but war isn't just about courage... Heh... Well-trained gentlemen can always easily crush those rabble, no matter how many there are. Hmm, your army's attack might just yield some good results."

The French Army firing was insufficient to halt the Austria advance; on the contrary, their inefficient attack emboldened the Austria. Moreover, in an effort to close the distance before the France could fire another shot, they quickened the tempo of their drums.

"Perhaps we'll be able to charge in before the France even get a turn," the young Duke Karl thought to himself as he straightened his horse and peered ahead.

But at that moment, he saw a flash of light appear on the French Army lines ahead, like stars suddenly appearing on the ground. Then he saw huge gaps suddenly appear in the advancing Austria army's lines—this was no longer a few pebbles thrown into a pond, but a swarm of meteors crashing into it!

"What is this? What happened?" Duke Karl was so surprised that he didn't immediately understand what was wrong.

The Duke of Brunswick quickly raised his binoculars and looked towards the spot where the flash had just occurred.

Where the light had flashed just moments before, plumes of smoke were now rising. Upon observing the shape of the smoke, the seasoned Duke of Brunswick immediately recognized it as cannons firing shrapnel. The distance from the smoke to the Austria army's lines was no more than sixty or seventy meters. It was truly baffling how those despicable France had concealed these cannons so well that they hadn't even noticed them before the firing began.

Napoleon jumped up in excitement as he watched the Austria army, thrown into chaos by a volley of fire from his dozens of cannons. Then he muttered to himself:

"Fantastic! Truly...truly magnificent! War, how beautiful you are! Compared to you, all other human art seems so pale! Minerva, you are the most beautiful goddess! I truly do not understand why anyone would refuse to award the golden apple to you!"

Napoleon could indeed indulge in his delusional fantasies at this point, because, at least for the time being, his artillery duties were over.

Just now, his artillerymen executed a brilliant artillery ambush for the first time on a real battlefield. Although he had led the "Red Army" in similar maneuvers in combat exercises before, this was indeed the first time on a real battlefield.

The France didn't place their cannons directly on the ground. They dug deep, longitudinal trenches, concealing the cannons within them from the outset. All components were beneath the trenches, making them completely invisible from the front. In front of the cannons was a sloping earthen ramp. As the enemy approached, a group of artillerymen would push the loaded cannons up the ramp. The cannon barrels would then emerge from the ground, ready to fire. After each shot, the cannons would recoil and slide back down the ramp, disappearing from the enemy's sight. In fact, if necessary, these cannons could continue firing in this manner.

In this battle, Napoleon's cannons only needed to fire this one salvo. This salvo served as a signal. After it was fired, the French Volunteer Army in their blue uniforms would charge with bayonets drawn, launching a full-scale counter-charge against the enemy. Taking advantage of the enemy's disarray, they would utterly crush them!

Before the fog of war brought about by the salvo of artillery fire had completely dissipated, a blue tide suddenly surged out of the trenches on the France side, chaotic and relentless, crashing headlong into the Austria.

The French Volunteer Army were poorly trained; if they had been lined up and shot, they would likely have been no match for the Austria. But at this moment, taking advantage of the Austria lines being completely disorganized, they charged forward. Now, skill and formation were no longer relevant; courage and numbers became the dominant forces on the battlefield. With a clear advantage in both numbers and courage, the Volunteer Army almost instantly crushed the Austria in this chaotic melee. Those Austria who were slower were simply stabbed to the ground by bayonets; the more agile ones threw down their weapons and ran, pursued by the France until Prussia cavalry came to their rescue, at which point they stopped their pursuit and retreated.

The Prussia cavalry's previous experience fighting the France skirmishers also made them hesitant to pursue the France. Seeing that the France had given up the pursuit, they quickly retreated.

In this round of attacks, the Allied forces suffered heavy losses against the French Army. The Prussia fared relatively well, losing only a few cavalry in the initial battle, but the Austria suffered enormous losses, leaving behind more than six hundred corpses in this single attack. Their morale was severely damaged, to the point that they were unable to launch any further attacks for the rest of the day.

The Duke of Brunswick is now in a dilemma; his army is no longer capable of driving out the French Army through offensive operations. The Austria are terrified, and the Prussia are in no better shape—although they haven't suffered heavy losses on the battlefield, they have witnessed firsthand how the Austria were utterly defeated by the France defenses. They ask themselves if they would have done the same. So now, they too are generally afraid of war.

In addition, the march had been arduous and supplies were scarce, leaving the soldiers hungry and sleepless. The only reason they could barely maintain morale was due to two factors: first, they had been winning battles with minimal losses; second, they believed that once Paris captured Paris, they would reap sufficient rewards from what was said to be the richest city on the Europe continent.

But now, with heavy losses on the battlefield, the first factor was no longer effective; and if they couldn't defeat the French Army before them, they couldn't advance into Paris, so the second factor was also rendered useless. Under these circumstances, it was already a miracle that the army could still maintain the appearance of an army. The Duke of Brunswick even suspected that if he forced the soldiers to continue the attack, they might simply mutinied.

On the other hand, he could no longer maintain a stalemate with the France. His logistical support was a major problem, first hampered by heavy rain and mud, and then constantly harassed by various France Volunteer Army. After suffering setbacks on the battlefield, these harassments naturally intensified, making logistical support increasingly difficult.

Rationally speaking, the best option for the Allied forces at this point was to retreat. However, militarily, retreating in front of the enemy is far more difficult and dangerous than attacking. If not handled properly, a retreat can turn into a rout, and then into a complete collapse. A recent example is the inexplicable defeat of the France in Belgium not long ago; a more distant example is the Battle of Fei River in the Eastern Great Eater Nation. These are all good examples of retreats that ultimately led to utter ruin.

Therefore, the Duke of Brunswick was also hesitant to retreat. The Prussian-Austrian Allied Forces suddenly found themselves in an extremely dangerous situation, one that could even be described as annihilation.

But Dumouriez, despite his victory, also had his troubles. The defensive victory ignited the fervor of Paris people in Paris. Demands urging him to quickly annihilate the enemy poured in, as if he could wipe out all the Germany with a single command.

"Damn it! Don't those guys in Paris know anything?" Dumouriez couldn't help but complain to Joseph. "I have a bunch of guys who can't even march in formation. They might be good for defensive battles, but for offensive battles, especially against an enemy that's not much smaller than us, it's just sending them to their deaths!"

"Paris has been very restrained," Joseph replied. "They've only sent requests and suggestions, not orders. That's already quite commendable."

"I know," Dumouriez said. "Some guys just want to see me make a fool of myself. They're worried... if it weren't for Carnot stopping them, they'd probably do a lot of stupid things! Um, Joseph, do you have any advice for the current situation?"

Joseph wasn't entirely without options. He knew that, for political reasons, Paris desperately needed to see the invading forces driven out of France, while the Prussian-Austrian Allied Forces desperately wanted to retreat—there was definitely room for maneuver. However, this was politically incorrect. Why did Joseph tell Dumouriez?

"General, there's not much I can do about this situation, because we're dealing with our own government and parliament—they're much more difficult to deal with than the Austria and Prussia," Joseph replied.

"You're right, Joseph," Dumouriez frowned, "But I have to come up with a solution."

Writing part-time is really tight, plus I'm clumsy with baby bottles (maybe even a bit brainless), so I write slowly. Plus, I've been busy lately, with a second baby and house renovations—of course, these are all excuses, the main reason is just laziness. Okay, let's set a goal, a way to keep myself accountable. If the book goes live on Friday and gets over 1000 first-day subscriptions, I'll update twice a day, 6000 words or more, excluding Saturdays and Sundays (when I'm with the kids).