As soon as he came out of the Capitol, Lucien turned on the hair dryer mode, and he found all the words that Napoleon used to count him, so as to show Napoleon the grandeur and beauty of the French language. Until Napoleon said angrily: "Lucien, I have found that in this world, to solve problems, you still have to rely on force, don't you say?" It's like those buzzing flies, if you talk to them well, they will jump around without knowing whether they are alive or dead; At this point, you should pull out your knife, stab them, cut their stomachs, pull out their intestines, and then circle their necks three times and pull them hard...... Immediately the world was purified. Lucien, don't you say? ”

So Lucien stopped talking. For Lucien knew that although Napoleon would not draw his sword, it was very logical to wield his old fist.

"I am a civilized man, and I must maintain my own manners, and I cannot fight with this barbarian, and I cannot meet with the barbarians...... "Lucien said to himself, and was satisfied with his spiritual victory.

Seeing that Lucien had relented, Napoleon entrusted Lucien with the affairs of Paris, and then led his army to Verdun.

Just as Paris was in chaos, at Verdun, the Anglo-Prussian forces resumed their tentative offensive. The results of the offensive were interesting: at first the French resisted very fiercely, and in almost any position, as soon as they were lost, the French immediately launched a counterattack to try to regain their positions. But even if the French recaptured their positions, when the Prussian and British troops re-attacked, they would find that the French defenses in this direction had not been effectively strengthened, but weakened to a certain extent. This is true even if the place has become the focus of repeated contention between the two sides.

"It's really like there's been a loss of unity of command. Well, General Joseph Bonaparte may not really be able to continue commanding, so the defense can only be organized by the officers defending the various positions. Therefore, in defensive operations in small areas, the French army performed quite well, but in the coordination of large areas, as well as in the use of reserves, because there was no longer a commander who could oversee the whole situation, it behaved extremely slowly. Well, what do you think? The Duke of Braunschweig asked the other generals.

Everyone agreed. But at this time, the liaison officer, Major George Cavendish, spoke: "Your Excellency, I think it would be better for us to be more cautious. ”

"Ah, Major, do you have any opinions?" The Duke of Braunschweig asked.

"One of my elders, well, is His Excellency the Duke of Norfolk, Governor of Ireland, who has given me some information he has learned about General Joseph Bonaparte."

"Go on." The Duke of Brunswick said. He is also in awe of this French commander who made him hit his head and bleed, so he is naturally very concerned about the information involving this person.

"His Excellency the Duke of Norfolk told me that he had been given some tactical tutorials written by General Joseph Bonaparte, which had been captured in Ireland, and by some of the Irish who had returned to us. Judging by these tutorials, General Joseph Bonaparte was a genius devil, sinister and cunning, and with no sense of honor at all. As long as he can achieve the goal, he never cares what means are used. So, for everything about him, the Duke of Norfolk reminded me to be very vigilant. I think we can organize an attack, but we must leave enough reserves and prepare a plan for retreat first. ”

"Of course. Well, Major, do you have that tactical tutorial here? The Duke of Braunschweig asked.

"That's right, you can't hide such a good thing." Blucher and a number of other generals also spoke.

"That's fine, I'll write to His Excellency the Duke of Norfolk when I get back." George, Cavendish agreed.

"Well, let's talk about the retreat and cover after tomorrow's attack fails. Well, both retreat and cover are the most important and technically demanding jobs, and which of you would like to take on this heavy responsibility? ”

So with the exception of Blucher, almost all the generals raised their hands.

This enthusiasm did not please the Duke of Brunswick, and in his opinion, it was a sign of obvious timidity. However, at this time, he could not express such emotions. So he took a deep breath and smiled, "It's good that everyone is willing to take on such a heavy responsibility." However, this task only requires one person, well, I'll designate it. Well, General Blucher, the task is left to you. ”

Everyone was a little disappointed with this arrangement, but none of them objected. Because in everyone's opinion, if this task cannot be entrusted to themselves, then it seems that leaving it to Blucher is also the next best choice.

Then everyone conducted an in-depth study of when they could retreat, how to ensure an orderly retreat, and how to cover each other in the retreat, until it was already late in the night, and the Duke of Brunswick said, "Ah, I didn't expect it to be so late. Alright, boys, cheer up, let's work on the last question: 'How to attack tomorrow', well, we're going to hurry, we're done with the discussion, go back and make arrangements, maybe we can get some sleep." ”

So everyone quickly completed the arrangements for tomorrow's offensive operation, and then went back to arrange tomorrow's retreat and attack, and then, because some officers were too responsible, they explained the retreat arrangements too carefully, and spent a lot of time, so they didn't have to think about sleeping anymore.

The next day, the Anglo-Prussian forces again launched an attack on the Verdun position. At the beginning, the attack was still the same as before, and the French behaved the same as the previous two days, with resolute counterattacks and slow movements.

Taking advantage of the "weakness" of the slow movement of the French army, the Anglo-Prussian army quickly mobilized more troops in key areas and launched an attack in a simple and crude way such as continuous shock. And the effect of the attack is surprisingly good. Although they had to pay huge casualties for each trench breached, they broke through four trenches in one day, and were finally stopped by the French in front of the fifth. Compared with some time ago, today's operation can be said to be very successful. This time, the distant heights were really close at hand.

Encouraged by this victory, almost all of them believed that God was indeed on their side, and that Joseph Bonaparte, the vile, evil, and terrible demon of defensive warfare, must have really been killed by bullets. If it weren't for the fact that there was no moon for most of the night, the morale of the British and Prussian officers (and the morale was high was limited to them) would have been eager to attack overnight. For, no matter how sluggish the French were, they would certainly have brought in their troops to strengthen the defense of this high ground in the evening.

At the meeting that night, General Blucher made a proposal for an offensive. He believed that the French army would definitely concentrate on strengthening the defenses of the heights, and focused all their attention on it. So it is better not to attack the heights directly from the front, but to make a detour from both sides.

"Tomorrow, we will put the main direction of the attack on both sides of the high ground, and launch a feint on the high ground first, and wait until the attention of the French is drawn to the front. Then we quickly turned the main direction of the attack to the flanks. Kill from both flanks and cut off the target high ground from the rest of the French position, as long as this is done, the remaining isolated high ground will be easy to hit. ”

This suggestion was endorsed by the majority of officers. But their discussion was interrupted by a counterattack launched by the French overnight.

The French counterattack in the evening was not small, but it was not very well organized. In fact, on such a moonless night, it was not suitable for a large-scale military operation, so the French counterattack quickly failed. The Duke of Braunschweig commented on this anticlimactic and chaotic night attack by the French: "Our French friends are in a hurry. ”

Early the next morning, the Anglo-Prussian forces launched an attack on the heights in accordance with General Blucher's plan. The situation was just as General Blucher had predicted, the defense of the heights itself was very strong, and the initial feints were defeated by a very well-configured defensive force. By ten o'clock in the morning, the Anglo-Prussian forces observed a further strengthening of the French forces on the heights. Believing that the feint had worked, they began to launch a large-scale attack on both flanks as planned.

In order to cut off the connection between the high ground and other positions before the French could react, the Anglo-Prussian forces used continuous wave attacks regardless of casualties, and in order to make the soldiers brave to the death, the Anglo-Prussian forces sent warlords.

With the encouragement of the Warlords, the Anglo-Prussian forces finally met from the left and right flanks before sunset, successfully cutting off the highlands from the rest of the area. Now all that's left is how to seize the high ground. Once this high ground was taken and the British cannons were dragged up, most of the battlefield was covered by British artillery fire. The gates of Verdun were opened. And considering the blow to the morale of the French army caused by the fall of such an important position, it is estimated that the battle in the future will be easier.

In the evening of the same day, the Anglo-Prussian army sent an envoy to the French army, which was still on the high ground, to persuade the French army to surrender. After all, if you want to fight hard, even if you fight hard under the conditions that you have already gained the advantage, and you don't pay thousands of casualties, I'm afraid you still won't be able to take this high ground.

In a letter from the envoy, the Duke of Braunschweig expressed his admiration for the bravery of the French army, and at the same time advised the French defenders that they had done everything they could and were worthy of France. So surrender is not something humiliating.

He also assured the French defenders on the heights that if they surrendered, he would ensure that their lives, property, and dignity would not be violated in any way. In order to guarantee their dignity, he did not even intend to ask the French army to hand over weapons, flags and command knives. All they had to do was hand over their positions.

However, the commander of the garrison on the high ground, Captain Filla, responded to the Duke of Brunswick's persuasion with one word. The word is: "Phew! ”