Fierce fighting in Luxembourg

"Are they reinforcements from Vienna?" asked the staff officer beside Blücher, voicing the question that concerned him most.

One of the Hussars immediately shook his head and said:

"No, sir, judging by the flag, it should be the Leo Legion."

Blücher frowned slightly. Leo should only have less than two thousand soldiers left. Where did he suddenly get several thousand men?

His staff officer had clearly thought of the same problem, and turned his head to say:

"General, could it be that he led all the garrison troops out of Luxembourg City?"

"The numbers aren't right either..." Blücher said half a sentence, then suddenly remembered something, and quickly signaled his staff to bring a map, and then had the Hussars point out the location where the enemy was spotted.

When he saw the scouts pointing directly north of Diekirch, his gaze sharpened:

No, the Austria are trying to escape! Leo must have taken more than just the garrison from Luxembourg City; he must have brought troops from the surrounding cities with him.

"Run?" the staff officer asked, somewhat surprised. "Why would he...?"

Blücher gave a cold laugh:

"I suspect he intends to bypass us and launch a surprise attack on Liège with all of Luxembourg's forces. If he succeeds, we'll have no choice but to temporarily abandon Luxembourg City and turn west to pursue him."

This bought him time for the reinforcements from Vienna.

"General, should we intercept him?"

"It's not just about interception." Blücher, who always preferred a fierce and aggressive approach, immediately told the Orderly Officer, "Cancel the rest period, and assemble the entire army immediately."

"He ordered Christel's regiment to continue the attack on Diekirch. After capturing Diekirch, he was to take Luxembourg City directly; if I'm not mistaken, there should be no defenders there anymore."

"Yes, General." The Orderly Officer quickly wrote it down.

Blücher pointed to a hill on the northeast side of the map with his finger:

"Have Eichendorff drag the cannons there and set up positions."

Leo's troops, heading towards Liège, would inevitably pass through that area. Setting up cannons halfway up the mountain would deliver a devastating blow to the Austria.

Blücher continued:

"Altman Legion immediately Forced March, determined to intercept the Austria."

"The cavalry will follow behind the enemy and continue to harass them to slow them down, but they are not to launch a full-scale attack without my order."

He proudly raised his riding whip, appearing extremely confident.

"I will personally lead the main force to deliver a crushing blow to Leo from the flank! What follows is the 'performance' of the cavalry pursuing the routed enemy."

Whether Leo intended to escape or launch a surprise attack on Liège, his morale was high and he had an absolute advantage in troop strength, making it the perfect time to annihilate them here.

Silesia is where he can make his mark; Luxembourg is not worth his time.

Blücher failed to notice that his deployment stretched the Prussian Army into a long line from west to east, completely exposing its flank to the south.

On a narrow path less than ten kilometers east of the main Prussia force in Luxembourg, Austria Commander Leo looked somewhat nervously at the middle-aged man beside him:

"Major Lefebvre, your scouts have just spotted the Prussia Hussars."

He glanced at the slowly marching column, which was veering sideways:

Normally, the Prussia would catch up quickly. And we only have fewer than 4,000 men here...

Lefebvre, however, smiled.

"If that's the case, you've done a great service, General."

"But," Leo looked behind him, swallowing hard, "His Highness the Crown Prince's main force is still in Diekirch. We simply cannot hold out until he arrives."

Yesterday afternoon, when he learned that the Prussia army was at the Winceler Town, he was filled with fear and anxiety. But then he heard the news that His Highness the Crown Prince of France was leading 20,000 troops to reinforce him. He was so excited that he almost cried.

He had already received His Majesty the Emperor's order and knew that the French Army would come, but he never expected them to come so quickly. According to the news sent from Vienna, the French Army should have set off from Verdun two days ago, and it usually takes about five days for the troops to travel from there to the town of Diekirch.

Little did he know that, with the terrifying marching speed of the French Royal Guard Legion, they covered more than 50 kilometers in two days of Forced March!

Then, Leo almost cried again.

This time, I was scared.

The first order the Crown Prince of France gave him was to immediately lead his troops to Blücher's left flank and set up defenses near a low hill in the vicinity.

Blücher brought a full 17,000 Prussia soldiers and nearly 5,000 Netherlands Rebels, while he only had about 1,600 men left.

What's the difference between this and a lamb running into a pack of wolves?

The Crown Prince of France then told him that he would send a legion to cover him.

Just as Leo was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the Crown Prince order the deployment of a regiment and a battalion, a total of 2,200 soldiers, to "die" with him.

Less than 4,000 men provoking over 20,000 Prussian Army —what is that if not suicide?!

After that, he was almost escorted by Lefebvre to the east side of Blücher's army, where he then discovered Prussia Hussars.

Lefebvre, however, seemed quite confident:

"Don't worry, His Highness will definitely arrive in time."

Before Leo could say anything more, he added:

The main force of the "Royal Guard Legion" hid in the remote town of Diekirch to avoid Prussia reconnaissance.

"According to the General Staff's plan, the Prussia are currently completely unaware that there is a French Army nearby capable of destroying them."

"When their attention is all on us, thunder will fall upon them!"

"But," Leo said with a pained expression, "His Highness is still more than a day's journey from here..."

No, at most half a day.

The Prussia Guard Corps' Altman Infantry Regiment, along with an accompanying Skirmisher Battalion and five cavalry squadrons, rushed towards the fleeing Austria at almost breakneck speed.

Altman did not bring Artillery; those cumbersome machines would severely slow him down.

And there's no need for cannons to deal with those easily defeated Austria.

In the preceding months, his legion had clashed with the Austrian Army several times, winning more often than losing, especially after entering Luxembourg, where they swept through the enemy like dry leaves.

"You lazybones, hurry up!" he roared at the soldiers beside him, "Don't force me to whip you!"

In fact, in order to speed up the march, his legion's ranks had completely broken up, and nearly one-tenth of the soldiers had fallen behind in this less than 10-kilometer journey.

However, this is acceptable in order to intercept Leo's Army.

A Hussars galloped towards him and shouted to Altman:

"Lieutenant Colonel, the Austrian Army have stopped moving!"

The latter quickly took the map and, under the scout's instructions, looked towards the low hill two kilometers to the east.

It was a small hill less than two kilometers wide, with dense forest on the north side and an open area shaped like an inverted V in front.

He immediately snorted dismissively:

"These guys realized they couldn't escape and prepared to fight."

He gestured to the staff officer to put away the map:

"Although they chose a good battlefield, that cannot stop us."

"Order that Bischoff's regiment form ranks at the front, Skirmisher Battalion launch an attack from the southern slope to disrupt the Austria formation."

The Orderly Officer spurred his horse away, and Altman was instructing the cavalry captain on how to break through the Austria defenses when he suddenly heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats.

He glanced at the cavalry captain in surprise, who immediately shook his head to indicate that he was not one of his men, and then a scream came from the side front.

A communications soldier rode up at full speed, and said anxiously from a distance:

"Lieutenant Colonel, Austria cavalry have attacked our vanguard, and Captain Jonas is leading the company in resistance..."

Altman and the cavalry captain exchanged a glance, both their faces filled with disbelief.

The Austria actually dared to launch an attack!

Altman immediately roared:

"Schlosser, chase after them immediately! This might still be a chance to break through the Austria defenses in the chaos."

The cavalry captain immediately turned his horse away with a dark expression, loudly calling to his cavalrymen.

Hundreds of meters away, more than three hundred Imperial Royal Guard Legion cavalrymen in the Austrian Army swept past the Prussia at high speed, and with the momentum of their charge, the cavalrymen only needed to Saber their sabers to easily slice through the bodies of the Prussia Infantry.

Almost instantly, a blood-red "border" appeared to Altman's left front. Captain Jonas was desperately directing his soldiers to form ranks, but the Infantry Line that had just begun to take shape was immediately shattered.

The Austria cavalry drew an arc in the distance, quickly formed ranks, and then charged towards the Prussian Army again.

At the very front of the column, a slightly chubby young man with curly hair, his eyes gleaming with excitement, carefully controlled his horse's speed, keeping pace with his teammates on either side. His hand had already involuntarily reached for the hilt of his sword.

"Jogging..."

"Sprint!"

At the cavalry commander's order, the curly-haired young man spurred his horse and raised his Saber diagonally upwards. His sturdy Arabian Horse horse let out a heavy panting sound and charged towards the Prussia with unstoppable force.

Yes, although he was just a "new recruit" who had only joined the Royal Guard Legion a few months ago, he was able to ride one of the dozen or so of the best horses in his Cavalry Battalion.

Unlike his previous Champagne Legion, the Royal Guard Legion only assigned warhorses based on individual ability and merit.

Based on his almost perfect scores in daily assessments, and his amazing performance of cleaving three targets in half while clearing an obstacle course, he was personally awarded this purebred Arabian Horse horse by the battalion commander.

Although he was just the son of a minor official, he had an amazing affinity for horses and mastered extremely skillful riding techniques in just over two years as a cavalryman.

The sound of horses' hooves pounded rhythmically on his nerves like war drums, and everything around him seemed to slow down, giving him a wonderful feeling of being in control of everything.

They were 50 paces away from the trembling Infantry holding Flintlock Gun.

40 steps...

10 steps!

The curly-haired young man's sharp eyes noticed the gap of more than three meters between several Infantry. He immediately flicked the reins, ducked down and plunged into the gap, and at the same time swung his Saber, slicing off half of the Prussia's chest on the right.

Warm blood splattered on the hind legs of his warhorse, and even more sprayed all over the bodies and faces of the Prussia Infantry beside him.

The Infantry, startled by the smell of blood, widened their eyes and frantically wiped the sticky blood from their faces, instantly creating chaos.

Behind the curly-haired cavalryman, the other Royal Guard Legion cavalrymen immediately spotted the gap and surged forward.

As the blades flashed, the gap in the Prussia Team widened, and fifty or sixty Infantry were "cut" off the defensive line.

Immediately, the Royal Guard Legion cavalry circled the isolated soldiers a few times before retreating again, regrouping, and there were no more Prussia standing there.

These two simple attacks alone caused Altman Legion to lose nearly a company of Infantry. Officers, soldiers, and messengers were all mixed up and obviously unable to form an effective defensive formation in the short term.

The cavalry commander of the Royal Guard Legion spurred his horse to catch up with the curly-haired young man leading the pack, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a broad smile:

"Well done, Mura! If you can make another brilliant incursion into enemy lines, I'll apply for a medal for you when we get back!"

Mura also grinned:

"Just apply for a medal for me directly, oh, the Silver Iris Medal, not bronze. Because in this battle, I'm sure I'll kill at least 10 Prussia! Maybe 20, who knows?"

Good-natured laughter came from the side; everyone was all too familiar with this lad from the province of Guyenne's ability to boast—for example, how he fought and won against five soldiers in the Champagne Legion, or how he was pursued by six girls at the same time, but ultimately didn't marry any of them to avoid hurting them.

The cavalry commander chuckled and patted him on the shoulder again.

"I know you're not bragging, like that time you cut down three targets."

"Oh, remember to conserve your horse's power, or it might not be able to help you achieve 10 kills."

"Don't worry, it's very robust, almost as strong as me."

Another burst of laughter erupted around them.

As the Royal Guard Legion cavalry quickly regrouped and charged toward the Prussia, a group of cavalrymen in light blue uniforms charged from their flank and rear.

The Royal Guard Legion did not linger, turning their horses around and quickly departing—they had already expended too much energy and were not suited for a direct confrontation. Besides, their mission was to buy time.

After all that commotion, it took the Altman Legion a full hour and a half to restore order and begin their advance towards Leo's position.

When Altman saw the somewhat disorganized Infantry Line of the Austria through his Telescope, he gritted his teeth and let out a low growl:

"Have Bischoff launch a full-scale attack immediately! Schlosser, be wary of the Infantry's flanks; the Austria cavalry are quite capable."

Just as Major Bischoff ordered his Corporal to form Infantry Line and was about to launch an attack, he suddenly heard bugle calls from the Austrian Army opposite him, and then the crooked Infantry Line began to move.

They charged straight at them!

Bischoff's eyelid twitched. Had the Austria gone mad? How dare they launch an attack with such a small force?!