Dutch-Prussian War

Five kilometers south of Amstelveen.

Outside the brightly lit Prussian Army camp, Andre was directing soldiers as they unloaded two cannon barrels from the horses' backs.

Since this was a light cavalry raid, they could not carry heavy cannons. Andre had brought small 1-pounder cannons weighing less than two hundred jin, which a single horse could carry on its back.

He had not even brought gun carriages. He simply dug pits in the ground and propped the cannon barrels at an angle inside them, never expecting to hit the Prussian Army at all.

Load the gunpowder, load the shot, light the fuse.

Two thunderous blasts rang out, and the Prussian camp immediately descended into chaos.

By the time the Prussians finally identified the direction of the attack, they had promptly gathered more than a dozen cannons to return fire.

But Andre had already tied the 1-pounders back onto the horses and, under cover of night, headed south toward Utrecht.

Duke of Brunswick, Commander-in-Chief of the Prussian Army, did not sleep soundly all night. He was greatly puzzled as to why the Dutch, who had been beaten without any ability to fight back, would take the initiative to provoke them.

At dawn the next day, he sent cavalry to search the surrounding area carefully. Only after confirming there were no enemy ambushes did he order the army to continue advancing toward Amsterdam.

Yet at that very moment, the Prussian vanguard was being ambushed by the Dutch.

Although the Prussian Army had not expected the enemy to attack proactively, the troops trained by Frederick II possessed extremely high military discipline and almost immediately launched a counterattack.

The Dutch remained as helpless as ever. After losing some twenty men, they began to scatter like rats with their heads in their hands.

Blücher, commander of the Prussian vanguard, reacted with exceptional speed. He immediately led his troops in pursuit and soon reached the eastern shore of Abcoude Lake.

Before him stretched a Dutch Infantry Line several li long—an infantry tactic most commonly used in the eighteenth century. Every soldier stood one to three paces apart, with thousands or tens of thousands arranged in neat straight lines, usually three or four ranks deep, standing ramrod straight and taking turns firing muskets at the enemy.

Blücher sneered inwardly. So this was the Dutchmen's purpose? Use routed troops to lure me into advancing rashly, then snipe at me here?

Hmph, you underestimate the quality of Prussian soldiers far too much! He immediately gave the order for the entire army to halt its pursuit and form an Infantry Line on the spot, while the Cambuur Battalion and an additional company would assault in Column formation.

The Prussians moved with remarkable speed. More than four thousand soldiers completed their formation in only twenty minutes.

Over 2,300 men formed a Horizontal Formation one kilometer long, facing the Dutch Infantry Line. Behind them stood dozens of Columns formed by 800 soldiers, ready at any moment to strike the enemy line.

Nearly two hundred Cavalry waited on standby at both flanks.

The organizational discipline and operational capability they displayed alone sent a chill down the Dutchmen's spines.

As a Bugle Call sounded, the War Drums in the Prussian Army beat out a rapid rhythm. The Company Commanders almost simultaneously waved forward, ordering the attack.

At the same time, several 4-pounder Cannons positioned among the Prussian lines began to roar.

As the Prussian soldiers continued advancing to the beat of the drums, the infantry lines of both sides drew ever closer. Under the assault of cannonballs, some Dutchmen had already begun to show signs of retreating, but their officers quickly forced them back with saber points.

When the two armies were roughly 100 meters apart, flashes of fire began to burst from the Dutch line. The Prussians, however, acted as though the other side were merely setting off fireworks, continuing to advance in orderly steps.

Prussians constantly fell in the formation, yet they did not so much as furrow their brows. They kept advancing until only 60 meters remained between them, when the Prussian drums abruptly stopped.

Raise your guns, take aim—fire!

As the officers issued command after command, the Prussian soldiers expertly unleashed a volley. More than a dozen gaps immediately opened in the Dutch line, and panicked cries rang out everywhere.

Once both sides began exchanging fire, the vast difference in their military discipline became apparent.

For every five volleys fired by the Prussians, the Dutch could fire only three. Moreover, the Prussians moved in perfect unison, with nearly the entire line firing at once, while the Dutch fire came sparsely and unevenly. Quite a few soldiers, nervous with fear, fired carelessly without even aiming.

After the Prussians had fired more than ten volleys, gunpowder—

Smoke blanketed the entire battlefield, and the Dutch began to retreat as a whole.

Seeing this, Blücher did not hesitate. He ordered, "Columns, attack!"

"Yes!"

To a distinctively paced drumbeat, more than forty Prussian Columns charged fearlessly through the firelight, while their own Infantry Line advanced another ten paces.

More than a dozen charging Prussian soldiers immediately fell, but they were using Column formation. The soldiers at the front took the bullets, while their comrades behind continued forward at a jog.

The Dutch Infantry Line was quickly smashed apart. The soldiers fled in panic, but their officers soon reined them in and had them spread out in orderly fashion toward the east and west, avoiding the Prussian spearhead.

Blücher surveyed the battlefield through his Telescope and pointed west. "Cavalry, pursue."

"Yes!"

His judgment was sharp. Vorst was commanding on the eastern side, while the western side was clearly in far greater disarray.

Blücher himself led the main force onward. At this pace, they could take Amstelveen today.

However, just as all the Dutch soldiers had withdrawn from the frontal battlefield, rapid cannon fire suddenly erupted from the Prussian Army's forward flank.

Several enormous iron balls shrieked through the Prussian line, trailing a mist of blood through the air. One iron ball struck the ground and rolled more than forty meters farther, crushing off a commander's lower leg before finally coming to a stop.

Blücher's eyelid twitched. From the sound of the fire, there had to be at least a dozen Cannons, and they were clearly of no small caliber!

After days of Forced Marches, he had brought only five 4-pounder Cannons. They were almost instantly suppressed by the enemy artillery fire.

The Prussian Army's momentum immediately stalled. Blücher hesitated, glanced at nearby Amstelveen, then gritted his teeth and ordered one and a half battalions from the reserves forward...

Duke of Brunswick had led the main Prussian force for only two hours when he heard dense cannon fire from the north. He could not help frowning slightly—their Cannons were all with him. Blücher had only five cannons; it was impossible for him to make such a commotion.

That meant they were Dutch Cannons?

But he had wiped out their Artillery half a month ago. Even if they could somehow acquire Cannons, they had no artillerymen.

After all, Artillery was the hardest branch to train. Without several years of grueling practice and solid mathematical foundations, one might fire dozens of shots without hitting anything even once.

As Duke of Brunswick was puzzling over this, a Messenger came galloping over in frantic haste, reporting that a large number of Dutch Cavalry had appeared near Utrecht.

Duke of Brunswick's heart tightened. Utrecht was his logistical base; the daily Provisions and supplies were transported from there to the front. It absolutely could not be lost.

What exactly were the Dutch trying to do?

As an experienced commander, he quickly sneered and shook his head. He held an absolute advantage in troop numbers—why should he follow the enemy's rhythm?