Austria thought that Napoleon might win again, so it wanted to join Napoleon's side.

At this time, Austria's power was very strong, Prussia could only provide 80,000 troops when it joined the anti-French alliance, and Russia could only exclude 150,000 troops, while Austria had 150,000 troops at this time.

But he was confident of his victory and did not need Austrian strength, so he continued to pursue the anti-French coalition forces, and at Bautzen, about 40 km east of Dresden, the two sides broke out again.

This time Napoleon won again, but at great cost, with more than 20,000 French casualties. Napoleon decided to take advantage of the victory and pursued, directly into Berlin, and the allied forces fought and retreated. On 22 May, the French routed the retreating Allied rearguard near Gritz.

In this battle, Napoleon's important general, Marshal Diloc, was shot and killed, a terrible news that greatly shocked Napoleon. He sat on a small stool outside the tent, his head drooped, his hands clasped together, and pondered for a long time, when the words of Dilloc, before he died, "I hope that the emperor will be victorious, and a peace treaty will be signed" affected him. At this time, Austria had been trying to mediate the war between the two sides, and Napoleon, who was not affected by the death of the war, agreed to Austria's mediation.

France, Russia, and Prussia accepted the Austrian mediation proposal orchestrated by Metternich and signed an armistice.

Napoleon also recognized that it was a bit risky to conclude an armistice at this time, and he said one hour after the signing: "If the Allies are not sincere about the agreement, this ceasefire will be fatal to us." ”

In fact, Austria did not want Napoleon to completely defeat the coalition forces, nor did it want the coalition forces to completely defeat Napoleon, because Austria understood that Tsar Alexander had the same ambition to dominate Europe as Napoleon, and had disputes with them over the Ottoman and Polish and Ukrainian issues.

Austria only wanted to use the opportunity of mediation to force Napoleon to make some concessions and gain a little advantage for itself, backed by its own army of 150,000 troops. Now that Napoleon had lost a lot, perhaps it was time to think about the terms of the Austrian alliance.

So, after the ceasefire, Metternich personally went to Dresden to meet Napoleon.

But as soon as they met, Napoleon rebuked Metternich: "Tell me, do you want to fight me?" That is to say, they are incorrigible people! The lesson did not work for them at all! The Russians and Prussians, in spite of the hard lessons learned, dared to attack me after the victories of the last winter, and I struck them hard. Do you want to be beaten too? Okay, you'll get beaten too. I have decided to meet you in Vienna in October. ”

Austrian Prime Minister Metternich was later named the most outstanding diplomat of his time, and with Napoleon's arrogance, he respectfully put forward the conditions of the last alliance with France.

Napoleon was furious again: "I know your secrets! You Austrians want all of Italy, your Russian friends want Poland, Prussia wants Saxony, and the British want Belgium and Holland...... If I give in today, you will demand all of this from me tomorrow. But in order to do so, you have to mobilize millions of people and shed the blood of generations. ”

Why could Napoleon not accept Austrian mediation, simply because of arrogance?

He explained to Metternich this way: "Your monarch is born on the throne and can return to his capital even if he is defeated 20 times. I can't, because I'm a soldier-turned-nouveau riche. Once I am no longer strong and no longer feared, my reign is over. Therefore, I need honor and glory, and I cannot appear before my people as an insulted person. I must always be great, glorious, and praised by the people. ”

In fact, Napoleon cared too much about his image, even if he went back, there was nothing, the French should love him, they would still love him, and those liberals who did not love him would still oppose him.

It was not his people who needed a noble emperor, but Napoleon's desire to rule the people with his own noble image.

To put it bluntly, it was the inferiority complex of his civilian nouveau riche background, which made him show too conceited and sensitive, and drove him into a desperate situation.

Metternich replied: "If this is the case, the war will never end, I just walked past your team, and your soldiers are some children. You have conscripted several times in advance, conscripting some people who have not yet matured into the army. When this generation is wiped out by the current war, do you still have to conscript in advance? Is it necessary to recruit younger people into the army? ”

Napoleon was furious, threw his three-cornered hat on the ground, and shouted: "You are not a soldier, you do not have the soul of a soldier, and I have the soul of a soldier." You do not live in barracks, and you are not accustomed to despise your own lives and the lives of others when necessary. And for me, what is 200,000 people? The French, the French people whose lives you want to save here, are not going to complain to me very much. Indeed, I lost 200,000 men in Russia, 100,000 of whom were excellent French soldiers, and I do deplore them. As for the rest, they were Italians, Poles, Germans. ”

Metternich still insisted on his terms, and Napoleon was furious and frantically exclaimed: "Ah, you still have to insist!" Tell me, how much did the UK give you to play this role against me? Well, let the war break out! Goodbye, we'll see you in Vienna! ”

Leaving the meeting hall without any results, Metternich said to Bertier, who was waiting outside the door: "I swear to you that your sovereign has lost his mind!" ”

In this way, Napoleon put Austria on the side of the anti-French coalition, and he reduced the number of allies by 15 and the enemy by 150,000.

At the same time, the British threw a lot of money and pulled Sweden into the anti-French camp.

The anti-French coalition also invited Tsar Alexander to General Moreau, the famous French general who had been expelled from France by Napoleon, at the suggestion of Swedish Crown Prince Bernadotte. General Moreau fought under Napoleon for many years and was well acquainted with Napoleon's methods of warfare.

When he arrived at the allied camp, his first advice to Alexander was: "Do not attack the part of the army where Napoleon himself was located, but only the marshals." ”

Later, the anti-French coalition developed a new tactic against Napoleon: no matter what the circumstances, they did not risk fighting the main force led by Napoleon himself; If you encounter the main forces led by Napoleon himself on the battlefield, you should immediately retreat and wait until the Allied forces have concentrated before coming to fight.