At this time, the Prussian army, several corps had already converged, formed a battle line, and were ready to attack the Prussian army, but the scouts suddenly found that they had lost the whereabouts of the main Austrian army.

The situation was immediately reported to the commander-in-chief of the Prussian army, Field Marshal Ron, who, while ordering the cavalry to continue the search for traces of the main Austrian army, gathered several corps. Although Field Marshal Ron was not good at commanding large battles, he quickly smelled an unusual smell like a hunting dog with many years of combat experience, and he immediately judged whether the reason why he lost the whereabouts of the Austrian army was that the Austrian army had already retreated south across the Elbe River.

Soon, the scout cavalry confirmed his assumptions: nearly 200,000 troops of the main Austrian army were found on the outskirts of Sadova.

Ron immediately decided to attack in the early hours of the next morning. He immediately sent Prince William, who was following behind, to lead the Fifth Legion and Prince Frederick Charles's First Legion to follow in a hurry, while at the same time the other three legions compressed their lines and moved closer to the Second Legion, which he personally led. Because of the urgent march, the cable telegraph could not be laid in time, and the battle order could not be transmitted by telegraph, so fast horses could only be sent to gallop to deliver the message.

In the early morning of the next day, the battle officially began. After the rain, the road in the town of Sadowa was slippery, but this could not stop the Prussian attack. The 3rd Prussian Army Corps on the right flank, under the command of Field Marshal Karl Shivalf von Biedfe, first launched an attack on the Austrian troops stationed on the outskirts of the small town of Sadowa. Subsequently, the 4th Army Corps under General August Karl von Goebpen also followed closely behind the attack.

At this moment, the 3rd and 4th armies of the Prussian army combined were only about 100,000 men, while this part of the Austrian army had as many as 120,000 troops. The Prussian army did not have an advantage, the Austrians had more artillery than the Prussian army to support in the rear, and a large number of cavalry on both flanks to cover it. Moreover, many of the artillery of the Austrian army were rifled guns, while the artillery of these two corps of the Prussian army was mostly equipped with smoothbore guns before, and it should be said that the chances of victory of the Prussian army at this time were not great.

But the Prussian army heroically began to attack. The Austrians also immediately returned fire, especially the Austrian artillery, and the heavy artillery fire was so heavy that the troops of Field Marshal Bidfeld on the right flank of the Prussian army could not raise their heads, and the troops of General August Karl von Goeben behind them could not rush into the range of rifle fire.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the defeated Saxon army on the left flank of the Austrian army began to retreat in an orderly manner to the high ground behind them, and condescendingly strafed the right flank of the Prussian army. Neither Marshal Biddefey nor General August Karl von Goebpen expected such a heavy Austrian firepower that they did not dare to attack on all fronts for a while, and fell into a state of local defense.

In the middle of the battlefield, the 80,000 troops of the Second Army led by Field Marshal Ron rushed into the jungle and attacked the Austrian army behind. The Prussian offensive was carried out in an orderly manner, fighting the Austrians village by village and house by house. Although the artillery firepower was inferior to that of the Austrians, the use of the jungle, with a degree of heroism and flexible tactics, each division of the Second Army maneuvered around it, and the two sides entered a stalemate.

At this time, deafening cheers rang out in the northern part of the town of Sadowa, but it was the reinforcements of the Prussian army - the Fifth Army led by Prince William finally arrived! In addition, the Prussian king Wilhelm Frederick Ludwig also personally led a small number of light cavalry to the outside of the town, and the 40,000 soldiers of the Fifth Army shouted the horn of Deutsche Viva at the same time, which shook the heavens and the earth, and the Prussian army was greatly demoralized, and the reinforcements captured the town of Sadowa in one fell swoop, and began to flank the main Austrian army from the left flank.

The commander-in-chief of the Austrian army, Marshal Benedek, was taken aback, fortunately he took defensive measures from the very beginning, built some fortifications in advance, and hurriedly organized the Austrian artillery to fire at the main force of the attacking Prussian army from a long distance, and occasionally fired smoke bombs at the concentration of Prussian troops, so that the Prussian army slowed down the attack.

Then, the Austrian artillery concentrated on the smoke area and carried out artillery bombardment, which caused great damage to the Prussian army. At the same time, because most of the artillery in the Prussian army was mainly front-loading smoothbore guns, although they returned fire, they were scattered and scattered, and they were far less convenient than the favorable terrain erected by the Austrian army behind the fortifications. And the dozens of imitation Krupp guns in the Fifth Army, although they are powerful, are still slowly crossing the river at the moment, and they have not had time to reach the battlefield at all. As a result, the Prussian army became a situation of being passively beaten, and from time to time soldiers were lost in the artillery of the Austrian army.

And although the Prussian army braved the artillery fire and rushed out of the smoke-shrouded jungle, it entered the rain of muskets and bullets of the Austrian and Saxon armies under the fortifications, and countless bullets kept firing, and thousands of Prussian troops fell in pieces.

At this moment, if the Austrian army launched an attack on all fronts, under the favorable situation on the other side, it would definitely be able to defeat the Prussian army in one fell swoop, but the conservative Marshal Benedek hesitated again and again, or missed this opportunity in vain, he just let the Austrian army hold its position and fight a defensive war of attrition with the Prussian army.

Half a day later, the artillery of the Fifth Army of the Prussian Army, as well as the main artillery of the other Second and Third Army Corps, arrived at the front one after another, and the Prussian Army quickly erected artillery and began to bombard the Austrian fortifications.

With the fierce consumption of artillery and artillery on both sides, the artillery strength of the battlefields on both sides became weaker and weaker, and at the same time, what everyone did not notice was that the armies on both sides were getting closer and closer, and in the end, it was suddenly discovered that the situation on the battlefield suddenly reversed, and the reason why the Austrian artillery became weak was not because the Austrian artillery was much less, but because the Austrian army had never trained the gunners in how to fight at close range, and the gunners still shot according to the old routine, and as a result, most of the shells flew over the heads of the Prussian army, Very few shells fell into the Prussian army.

On the contrary, the artillery crews of the Prussian army were well-trained, and the artillery was constantly adjusted in the process of advancing forward, although the rate of fire was not high, but it was fired fiercely and accurately, and fell into the Austrian formation, blowing up people on their backs, and the Austrians suffered heavy casualties.

The Austrians left the forest where the fortifications were located and went into the open plain. A division of the Fourth Army of the Prussian Army rushed into the forest, and as a result, there was an Austrian colonel leading a battalion in ambush in the forest, and launched a fierce attack of the Death Resistance, a division of the Fourth Army of the Prussian Army was caught off guard, with more than one-third of the casualties, but before the Austrian colonel had time to be happy, a dense rain of bullets came from the right side of the Austrian army, sweeping the entire forest, and the battalion of Okin suddenly suffered heavy casualties, and it was not long before it was completely wiped out.

But it turned out that the First Army led by Prince Frederick Charles arrived violently. The addition of more than 80,000 new Prussian troops to the battlefield turned the entire battle situation around, and the Prussian army clearly had an advantage in numbers and momentum.

The Austrian army was shaken at once, and seeing that the situation was not good, Field Marshal Benedek, who had always been steady and conservative, gave the order to retreat. But at this order, the whole Austrian army became briefly disorganized. At this time, the Prussian king Wilhelm Frederick Ludwig, who was watching the battle, saw a rare opportunity and directly asked Field Marshal Ron to launch a general attack.

Field Marshal Ron sent Lieutenant General Friedrich von Geertlingen, commander of the 1st Prussian Guards Division in the Second Army, to lead his troops into the Austrian artillery positions and slaughter the artillerymen in pieces.

The Austrians, who had lost artillery support, were even more difficult to resist and fled directly. And the 3rd and 4th Army Corps on the right flank of the Prussian army also switched to the counteroffensive at this moment. The Prussian soldiers rushed to the high ground and poured bullets and shells on the heads of the Saxon army, which was still dreaming, and the Saxon army learned that the Prussian army had ordered a retreat, but they were abandoned, and in desperation, all but half of the Saxon army also fled, and the rest became prisoners.

Soon, the Prussian army captured the village, where the main Austrian army was the headquarters of the fortifications, and the left flank of the Austrian army was also occupied. The Austrians, who had lost the cover of their wings, fled desperately like a flood that burst their banks, discarding all the logistical supplies, artillery and gunpowder that they could discard, and carrying only some rifles and ammunition.

At this time, Marshal Ron no longer hesitated, and ordered a general attack on the whole front, and the Austrian army was defeated like a tide, and it was out of control, so far, the decisive battle between the two sides around the town of Sadowa has been decided.