The Battle of Sadova was the key battle that decided the Austro-Prussian War, and it was the first large army battle on the European continent after Napoleon I, although the fierce fighting between the two sides lasted only more than 7 hours, but the intensity of the war was unimaginable.

Due to the high number of Prussia's own soldiers, and the new rifles allowed soldiers to use covert means such as lying and kneeling to reload, the casualty rate of soldiers was greatly reduced, and only more than 10,000 people were killed at the end of the whole battle.

On the Austrian side, due to the backwardness of individual weapons and the brief disorder during the retreat, the casualty rate was much higher than that of Prussia, and the death toll was 50,000 after the war.

Sixty thousand people were killed in seven hours, and countless people were wounded, and such a battle could be described as tragic and unprecedented in Europe at that time.

First of all, this is not the total casualty of the entire Austro-Prussian war, it is only the death toll in just seven hours, which was very rare before the First World War.

Secondly, this was not a civil war like the Qing Dynasty's suppression of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom, and in the years when the Winged King was fighting, the enemy and us expelled the people to death.

In the Middle Ages, warfare was like this, where the commander always led a group of loyal elites, and then these elites were protected and used as the last attacking force.

On the one hand, these elites have to fight the most tragic battles, and on the other hand, they are also the main source of grassroots officers.

The 100,000 army recorded in the history books, it is estimated that there will be 10,000 such elites, and if you have a million troops, such elites will not exceed 100,000.

If you really have 100,000 loyal veterans of a hundred battles, then it's good, your force is enough to change the dynasty. A very realistic example is the Manchu Qing Dynasty, how many people entered the Eight Banners? This is actually a top secret within the Manchus, and later historians studied it for a long time, and finally came to the conclusion that 200,000 Manchus entered the customs and settled in the Central Plains.

But let's not forget that it was not only the soldiers of the Eight Banners who formed the Manchu army at that time, but also the Mongols who had to fight, the Koreans who had been gathered, the Han army bannermen, and the soldiers who surrendered from the Ming Dynasty, which also accounted for a large part.

In this way, the actual strength of the Eight Banners of the Pure Manchurian is not even 100,000.

Looking back at the just-concluded Battle of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the strategy and tactics implemented by Hong Xiuquan and others are typical of the fortified Qingye. Often, after the army has passed, the entire population of the city is completely encapsulated, and then a wooden stick is given to let these 'dead soldiers' go to the city.

And the only purpose of these 'dead soldiers' is to consume the enemy's living force before the commander invests in the elite, it doesn't matter if he wins or not, but his core elite can't be missed.

Xiao Lotian used to watch movies and television dramas, and he could often see that in the most tragic war, a group of generals begged the commander to withdraw his troops, and what was a sentence that his subordinates often said at this time?

"Ask the master to leave us some seeds..."

Of course, it can't be those 'dead soldiers' with wooden sticks, only veterans of a hundred battles, only the most loyal elites, they can be regarded as seeds.

To put it more simply, as long as the 10,000 elites in your hands are not lost, it will take less than half a year for an army of 100,000 to easily gather. Three-legged toads are hard to find, and there are too many two-legged living people.

From Xiao Letian to Shi Dakai to Xiao Hexin and others, their intuitive impression of the Battle of Sadowa was tragic, so tragic that they couldn't bear to look at it directly.

In just seven hours, 50,000 elites died in battle, this is not a coerced common people, these are all veterans who have served at least ten years of military service, this is the vitality of an imperial army...

50,000 veterans, even if their future promotion space is only as high as the squad leader, it is still an army of more than 500,000 people, but it is swept away today.

And now, instead of resting and licking their wounds, William I and Prince Karl will continue to expand the results of the war, wanting to become a fat man in one bite, and even Austria wants to take it down, isn't this dizziness or what?

Not to mention that Bismarck and Old Moltke didn't agree, even Xiao Letian, a foreign guest, didn't agree... It's so easy for me to tie up with your German chariot, and if you don't drive it well for a few years, you want to overturn it now?

Xiao Lotian turned his head and looked at the battle statistics report spread out on the military map, the ink on it had not completely dried, and it looked like the staff had just been counted.

Since Xiao Lotian was able to participate in this high-level meeting, then he had the right to look at these top-secret numbers, and he glanced at the report and knew that there was no big difference between this battle and the casualty rate in his memory.

"Majesty... His Royal Highness... I'm sure you've read the battle damage report, and you've been fighting for years and you should be able to understand what the numbers mean...... Yes, I admit that Prussia has been trained in a militaristic state for a hundred years, and the national military is already the top in Europe......"

"I also know that behind Sadova's more than 200,000 troops, the kingdom can still gather 600,000 or even 1 million or 2 million reserve soldiers, and Prussia's military strength has not been fully excavated, and it must be Prussia who will win..."

Xiao Letian first holds the king and the crown prince, and the higher he holds it, the worse he will fall... Sure enough, when William I and Prince Karl heard Xiao Letian's praise, their faces eased significantly.

But Xiao Letian immediately changed his words, "However, I also want to remind the two of you that the reserve is always a reserve, and the active soldiers who can participate in this national war are all the elite of the elite, every soldier here is a priceless treasure, maybe a soldier buried here for a long time may be the battalion commander and regiment commander in the imperial army in the future, it is not impossible..."

"With 10,000 dead and countless wounded, isn't such a casualty rate worthy of your majesty's vigilance? Isn't it worth cherishing the fact that Prussia has carefully saved up this essence? Please don't forget that Prussia's real enemy is not in the southeast, but in the southwest..."

"Don't you think about it and leave some vitality for a larger-scale national war in the future?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone present changed color, and the people who could stand in this room were all human spirits, and they never thought that Xiao Letian would be able to say such a thing, how could he know about Prussia's most secret war plan? How did he know that Prussia already had a very detailed war plan against France?

William I and Karl subconsciously straightened their backs, their eyes full of incredulity. Looking at the surprised eyes of the king and the crown prince, Xiao Letian knew that the iron should be struck while it was hot, and now he could only take them down in one go.

"You want to defeat Benedek, you want to make Vienna the king's domain, you want the Habsburg baton to be in the hands of His Majesty......? I believe in the power of Prussia, and I know you will succeed, but have you ever thought about what you have to lose?"

"Benedek still has 150,000 troops in his hands, and 100,000 troops on the southern front against Italy, if we force these people into mourners, how much will it cost us to win?"

"Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph did not ascend to the throne by intrigue like Napoleon III, but he was the proper heir to the Habsburgs, and the right to inherit the throne was clean, and there was no question ......in Austria from the nobles to the commoners."

"It is conceivable that the closer our troops are to Vienna, the greater the pressure we will have to face, and there will always be a tipping point that will make the entire Austrian people angry, if we ignite the flame of Austrian nationalism with our own hands, I am afraid that we will be the first to burn..."

Xiao Letian frowned, his voice became deeper and lower, and the distressed expression made the people in the room extremely depressed.

"You think this is the end of it? No way, who is Franz Joseph's queen? is Sissi... Known as the most beautiful woman in Europe, she has the title of Queen of Hungary on her head... The Hungarians love her as much as their own eyeballs..."

"If our troops are directed at Vienna, will Princess Sisi sit idly by, will she see her husband become a prisoner of war? When the time comes, Hungary will definitely raise an army to support Austria, and do not forget that Princess Sisi has been advocating the merger of Austria and Hungary into one empire..."

Speaking of this, Xiao Lotian took a few deep breaths and reorganized the language.

"The difficulties facing Prussia do not end there... Prussia is a country in the heart of Europe, and it has always been under siege, with Denmark, Finland, and Norway to the north, France to the south, Austria to the east, Poland and Russia to the northeast, and to the west, the only outlet to the sea is still under the threat of the British..."

"This unreliable geographical environment is very unfavorable for Prussia, when we concentrate our forces in one direction, we always have to worry that there will be an enemy in the rear to attack us, and fighting on two or even three fronts is not a nightmare but a cruel reality..."

"Gentlemen, there are no outsiders here, and we can open our skylights to speak brightly, and in the future when we are engaged with the French, by whom will our rear and flanks be covered? If you want to wash away the shame of Jena and teach Napoleon III a hard lesson, then you must make allies from now on, and you must not covet small profits for a while..."

"Okay, that's what I'm going to say, the truth is already on the table, how to decide or ask His Majesty the King to make an idea..."

William I was sweating when Xiao Lotian said this, he couldn't sit still anymore, he got up from his chair and wandered around the room like a sleepy beast.

At this time, Bismarck finally escaped from his big killer weapon and made up for the last sword.

"Your Majesty, if you insist on going your own way, then please accept my resignation..."

Note: As an aside, in the Austro-Prussian War, the Austrian emperor was called Franz Joseph, and his daughter-in-law was the famous Princess Sissi, who should know this name after the 70s, and many people should know it after the 80s.

And it was because of the love of the Hungarians that Hungary and Austria were united in 1867, which is often mentioned in history books.

With the help of his daughter-in-law, Franz Josef became the co-emperor of Austria and Hungary, and this is how the Austro-Hungarian Empire came about.

In addition, the beauty of Princess Sisi is undoubted, she is known as the most beautiful woman in the European royal family, which is indisputable, but the fate of this woman is very miserable, and she finally died in assassination.

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, the first time to see the genuine content!R405