In fact, the Austrian Imperial military had not been particularly surprised by Franz's order. Albrecht had even already led his troops to stand by at the Saxon border.
To the Austrian military, Saxony's trap was not all that terrifying. After all, no matter how exquisite the scheme, it still needed strength to back it up.
A Venus flytrap could never catch an eagle, no matter what. Besides, the Prussian army had only just entered Saxony. Even if they had planned it all beforehand, they could not possibly have constructed a truly lethal trap in such a short time.
Three hundred thousand was, in the eyes of the Austrian Imperial military, a number the Kingdom of Prussia could never swallow.
In fact, Albrecht believed those three hundred thousand men were enough to sweep across North Germany. But to be safe, he had still had General Gablenz bring another hundred thousand as reserves.
Prussia's interior had long since been infiltrated beyond recognition by Austria. Cross-referencing the intelligence currently available led to the conclusion that Prussia had only two hundred and fifty thousand troops in Saxony.
Of those, fifty thousand were stationed in the Ore Mountains as bait, meant to lure the Austrian army into a frontal assault.
Traditionally, the Ore Mountains were the unavoidable route north from Bohemia, and their terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The Austrian army would certainly be unable to take them swiftly. At that point, the elite Prussian troops would thrust into the Austrian rear, cut off their retreat, and prevent reinforcements from arriving.
All that would remain was for the main army to complete the encirclement.
There was nothing wrong with this tactic in the traditional sense, but times had changed. The Austrian army could now bypass the Ore Mountains to the west