Three days later.
The soldiers atop Breslau Fortress yawned in the warm morning sunlight, leaning against the battlements as they chatted about the harvests and women back home.
It was not that they were lax. Tens of thousands of troops stood at the front, with the Oder River between them. There was no way fighting could reach this place.
A corporal turned around, about to piss outside the fortress, when he suddenly froze and said to the soldiers beside him, "I... I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. Are those cannons?"
The other soldiers walked over with laughs, but before they could even crane their heads out for a look, the ground beneath them shuddered, and two men were knocked down by flying rubble. Only then did the belated roar of cannon fire reach their ears.
"Alarm! Enemy attack!"
The fortress commander peered through his telescope at the dense mass of Austrian soldiers to the east and the ceaseless flashes of artillery fire, his face turning ashen. At least forty thousand Austrian troops were attacking the fortress from the rear, while he had only a little over three thousand soldiers under his command.
Although the fortress's defenses were extremely strong, such a vast disparity in forces could easily lead to its fall under the enemy's fierce assault.
He hurriedly ordered the cannons that had previously been aimed at the Oder River moved eastward, then dispatched several groups of Messenger Officers to seek help from Prince Hohenlohe.
Outside the City of Liegnitz.
The Prussian Army's advance had gone extremely smoothly. In less than two days, they had largely cleared out the enemy's defenses around the city and were preparing to throw their full strength into storming it.
Watching the Austrians in the distance retreat in an unending rout, Prince