These shells, which were falling in a very high curve and therefore almost impossible to form an effective ricochet, were the important weapons that Joseph had prepared for Napoleon that would once again change the position of artillery - the shrapnel. At first, Joseph had a lot of thoughts, trying to get past this thing and get a high-explosive bomb directly. But he immediately encountered several problems:

The first problem is the stability of the shells, and the high-explosive shells must ensure that the fuse hits the ground, which requires the best rifled guns. But rifled guns in turn require a lot of steel, and steel in turn needs ......

But it's really not possible, and it's not impossible to stabilize with a rear wing. But then there are two more problems, one is the reliability of triggering the fuze, which does not seem to be easy to solve in a short period of time; There is also an old problem, which is the insufficient production of gunpowder and explosives. So, shrapnel that requires less explosives is an alternative. But even this alternative once again changed the position of artillery in the war.

After the advent of the Mini rifle, the artillery fell into a very awkward situation - attacking with solid shells, unable to hit the scattered stragglers; When attacking with shotguns, the effective range of shotguns fired by cannons is not as long as that of Minnie rifles. As a result, the cannon has changed from an offensive weapon that can be placed at the forefront of the battle formation to a support weapon.

However, the advent of shrapnel allowed the advantage of range to return to the hands of artillery.

A shrapnel is actually a tin bucket filled with shotguns. It was fired out by the cannon and then blasted open at the right height, so the shotguns inside rained down. It was a winged shotgun that, with the support of a specially made cannon capable of firing at a forty-five-degree angle, could shoot farther than a solid cannonball. Coupled with the curved trajectory, it can even be used to cross obstacles and hit targets behind them.

In addition, shrapnel can also play a special role in tactics, that is, partitions. When the soldiers on both sides of the front line have already begun to fight in close quarters, normally speaking, artillery is useless. After all, this is not a game, the artillery fire sent by our side, and it is not a fireball with the ability to distinguish friend and foe dropped by the mages in the game.

But at this time, the army equipped with shrapnel can use the shrapnel to cross the position where the fierce hand-to-hand combat is taking place, directly hit the enemy in the back row, and hinder the reinforcement of the enemy army. And if, in the struggle for key positions, our army's reinforcements continue to be reinforced, but the enemy's reinforcements are overwhelmed, then the outcome of the battle will naturally lose suspense.

The French army's shrapnel was smashing on the heads of the reinforcing Russian troops, compared to the previous broadsword mines, these things falling from the sky were actually more like hailstones, and those unfortunate Russian soldiers who were covered were also knocked down like wheat under the hail.

In such a situation, Suvonov also had to give the order to retreat, but the retreat at this time was really very difficult. In the end, less than one-fifth of the soldiers who attacked could be withdrawn.

In this battle, the Russian army lost almost 8,000 people, although this number does not seem particularly large compared to the total number of the Russian army of nearly 60,000, but these people are combatants, in fact, the combatants in an army generally account for about half of the number of troops. For the Russian army of 60,000 people, the loss of 8,000 people is not a small number.

What's more, these 8,000 people are still the most elite part of the Russian army, in a sense, this battle can be said to have completely knocked out the offensive capability of the Russian army. Now the Russian army no longer has the strength to attack the positions of the French.

What's worse is that this battle has broken the confidence of the Russian army. In the face of the technology of "the first in France and Europe" and perhaps even "the first in the world", the Russian army is full of frustration from top to bottom. Even the old marshal complained in private: "Why is there such a big gap between our country's science and technology and France?" How do we fight! Later, the old marshal wrote to his friend's grandson, encouraging him to study mathematics, physics and chemistry well, and in a letter to become a scientist in the future:

"Alyosha, I know you would prefer to be a general. But your grandfather and I both felt that you were actually more talented in science. Moreover, learning science well and letting Russia have one more scientist will help Russia much more than becoming a general. You must know that science and technology are the first combat ......"

The Russian army has lost confidence, and the Austrian army naturally goes without saying. They already had a severe phobia of Napoleon, and this time it was the Russians who were beaten - because of the low morale after facing Napoleon, the Austrians could not take on the offensive task at all. Even the Russians, after careful observation of the condition of the Austrians, unanimously concluded: "These men cannot be used in the most difficult stage of the breakthrough, otherwise they may become a visible weakness that the enemy exploits." ”

So this time the Austrians were not beaten, but they watched the whole process of how the Russians were beaten. In this battle, the Russians showed a clear surpassing of the Austrians in their tactical level and will to fight, and the Austrians also saw this very clearly. The result? Russian A went up, and the Russian came back lying down. The Austrians, having watched the French beat the Russians, grew more and more frightened, and their morale dropped even worse than that of the Russians.

Although the Russians no longer had the courage to continue attacking the fortification, they still had the courage to continue to confront the French and conduct defensive operations, but the Austrians did not even have the courage to conduct defensive operations. For several days, Austrian generals approached Archduke John, hoping that he would propose to withdraw his troops as soon as possible.

Although Archduke John is not a little good at the army (in fact, it is mainly due to the lack of ability to adapt on the spot), but he still knows the basic truth, and he knows very well that in the current state of the coalition army, it is impossible to retreat safely in front of the enemy. If you really retreat, you will be pursued by the French all the way, and most of the army will collapse.

He also knew that it was impossible for his generals not to understand these truths, and even these generals had made such demands that were not in line with military principles, which showed the extent to which the morale of the Austrians had collapsed.

"Grand Duke, we can propose to the Russians that we divide the barracks into two places, and our army will move to the northeast and set up another camp. So that if the French attack, we can support each other from different angles. And then, taking advantage of the fact that the Russians were not paying attention, we quickly ran ...... "some shameless guys, who even came up with such tricks."

In order to appease them, Archduke John had to say to them: "Now that the English and Prussians have won a major victory in the north, the French will probably send Napoleon's army back to defend Paris." As long as we hold out for a little longer, the French will probably have to retreat. And if we run first, the Russians will not run? Then everyone runs, and in the end no one can run away! ”

Archduke John's prediction of the situation was quite accurate, and on the same day that Napoleon repelled the general attack of the Russian army, the Anglo-Prussian army also launched a general attack on Liège. Despite the heroic resistance of the French army, their attack made significant progress, capturing several important positions, and the French defense at Liège was close to collapse, and the fall of Liège was almost certain.

Once Liège fell, there was no danger to defend all the way to Verdun. And once Verdun could not hold it, then Paris would be directly exposed to the enemy's attack.

Under such circumstances, the Directory desperately gave orders to Napoleon, asking him to return to defend Paris; On the one hand, he called on the people of Paris to rise up and organize a volunteer army, as they did in 1792, to defend the fatherland.

But the people of Paris did not stand up as they did in '92 – this is no longer the case. In the words of Aunt Sophie, a maid once hired by Joseph: "Before the revolution, I had no bread to eat; After the revolution, there was still no bread to eat - wasn't the revolution white? ”

Many of the members of the Directory, the members of Parliament, and the decent people made their fortunes. But for the common people, they did not get much real benefit, and for them, the revolution that made them throw their heads and spill their blood was really white leather. In that case, why should the people once again shed their blood and sacrifice for it?

Moreover, in '92, the Duke of Braunschweig issued a very untimely threat to massacre the city of Paris, which agitated the people of Paris and became the best mobilization order for the revolutionary government of the time. But nowadays, the well-behaved British and Prussians no longer say such things. Without their help, the Directory would not have been able to mobilize the people.

Fortunately, the conscription and mobilization mechanism that Kano has worked hard to establish for so many years has gradually improved a lot, and by relying on conscription, the Directory has produced more than 100,000 troops. But the ebb and flow of the Revolution began to show the consequences of its arrival - these soldiers, although in terms of military skills, were much better than the Volunteers of '92. But their morale is far from being compared with the volunteers in 92.

In this regard, Paris is indeed at stake.

In the afternoon of that day, Napoleon received a new letter from Joseph, which told him bad news for France, but good news for the Bonapartes: "The Anglo-Prussian army has conquered Liège, the French army has suffered heavy losses, and General Rubert has retreated to Verdun. ”

When Napoleon received the letter, he was overjoyed, and sent an envoy to the Russian-Prussian army to return the wounded to the Russians and ask the Russians for an armistice and peace talks.