At about the same time, when General Franz secretly sighed, opposite, the 5th and 6th Infantry Regiments of the 3rd Army of the Praetorian Guards had begun their final battle. At the same time www.biquge.info the artillery units of the Third Army Corps of the Praetorian Guards, after withdrawing from the second front, did not re-form new artillery positions behind the third front. This gave the Imperial Army a great encouragement.

Previously, the number of Imperial troops killed by the shelling of Napoleon of the Hereford family was extremely large...... Of course, in fact, they lost their grenades and infantry. But it's still artillery, and only artillery has such a great deterrent. Long range, huge explosions, projectiles visible to the naked eye. All this makes artillery a well-deserved status as the god of war.

Therefore, if compared with lethality, the lethality of infantry is in no way inferior to that of artillery units. And even to some extent, artillery is not needed, and infantry units can support a campaign on their own. But if we talk about deterrence, then the infantry is by no means an opponent of artillery......

In this way, after seeing that the Hereford family had no intention of deploying artillery positions, the soldiers launched an attack with great pleasure. It's like before. Under the watchful eye of the officers and warlords, they attacked the last two infantry regiments of the Third Legion, and then, of course, dragged the tide of battle into close combat with heavy casualties.

"The opponent's melee ability is not weak. All the people were deceived. General Franz looked at the stalemate and thought to himself that the Hriford family's bayonet soldiers were in no way inferior to the average super-pikeman infantry. Especially in the last two years, the popularity of the new bayonet technique compiled by William and Duke Otto, as well as a group of knightly instructors of the Hereford family, has made the bayonet infantry of the Hereford family more capable of fighting than the super-long pikemen.

Compared to the more flexible and ferocious bayonet tactics of the former, the pikemen were too rigid and too monotonous in their offensive methods, which seemed outdated and outdated. Triangular in shape, with a length of more than 40 centimeters******** can be called the most ferocious and lethal individual weapon in the era of alternating hot and cold weapons. Worse is the numerical advantage.

On the one hand, it was after three volleys and grenade throws that the army lost too many casualties. On the other hand, it is because the number of soldiers in a company of the Imperial Army is not as good as that of the Hereford Family Army.

In a four-to-one ratio. The Imperial Army was armed with a large number of musketeers armed with muskets. These musketeers were not armed with such excellent weapons as bayonets. Usually in hand-to-hand combat, the musketeers were not able to play the slightest role. That is, each company of the Imperial Army had a quarter less hand-to-hand combat units than each company of the Hereford Army.

That's it. In the case that General Franz could hardly come up with another batch of sword and shield soldiers and great swordsmen. The Imperial Army organized two consecutive cluster charges of the size of twenty companies. They were all repulsed by the Hereford House Army.

Despite the absence of artillery support, the losses of the Imperial Army were much lower than in previous attacks. But the erosion of morale is quite severe.

Seeing that your own troops were pushed to this extent by the opponent in close combat with the advantage of artillery. No Imperial soldier could bear this feeling of loss and disparity - until finally, General Franz gave up his mind and ordered the artillery to fire rapidly at the risk of overheating and exploding the artillery, after which he concentrated the two remaining light cavalry regiments in his charge to make a charge. Only then did the situation finally open up.

"It's finally over. General Franz was somewhat relieved to see the Hereford family army, which was caught in close combat, with too many casualties and constantly retreating. He tried not to think about the next step, the prominent cuirassier regiment of the Hereford family, and also tried not to think about most of the other party, and the whole formation successfully retreated.

It's just once, but let General Franz be on par with the cheering Imperial officers around him. At great cost to them, three cavalry regiments, eight infantry regiments were crippled, and more than 10,000 soldiers were killed. Dozens of infantry and cavalry companies were wiped out...... Ignore the terrible price and look at the results -

At least, at least, at least. They took down three lines of defence from the Hereford family. Kill thousands...... of the Hereford Family Troops. Although at present, the Hereford family does not say that any regiment, not even the formation of each company, has not lost a single one. But, at least, not to mention the close to a one-to-four ratio of casualties. At least they won, didn't they?

"But if there were a few more victories like this, then the empire would not exist. General Franz sighed in his heart. At the same time, the idea of learning about the Hereford family was reinforced.

The idea was so strong that he put winning the war in second place.

"If the Hereford family is really that strong, then even if this war is lost, they won't lose much. And if we continue to do so, even if we win this war, nothing will change. He thought to himself - yes, indeed, that's it, if the Hereford family continued to fight in this way of preserving their strength, resisting layer by layer, and fortifying each other, then perhaps in the end, the Empire might still be victorious......

But the empire was to lose at least half of its forces for this victory.

To make matters worse, the victory won't hurt the Hereford family. The Hereford family, with an army of 60,000, is nothing even if they lose 10,000 or 20,000 troops. With a large number of reserve militias available, they can replenish the army in the shortest possible time. Then put it into the battlefield.

And what about the Empire. How are they going to replenish their army after they have lost tens of thousands? Do they still have enough money to hire enough mercenaries? Will they be able to resist the next counterattack from the Hereford family?

And don't forget that this war is not between them and the two forces of the Hereford family, and there is also the Protestant alliance led by Briton on the side. If the empire shows a little bit of decline, then they will definitely pounce as fast as they can like sharks that smell blood, and plunge the empire into a state of no return.

"Strategic blunder. From the beginning, we weren't supposed to fight the Herefords...... Compared to the Hereford family, who have always been conservative and neutral, the Protestant Union is our great enemy. This battle is doomed to be unwon, and will only weaken our strength. The Emperor expected to win the war, and the Hereford family was torn apart, and the entire Wende kingdom was merged under the direct rule of the Swabian family...... It can only be said to be a beautiful delusion. Damn it...... It's so damn good. ”

After thinking about all this, General Franz only felt that he had a terrible headache, and that he almost fainted with a feeling of dizziness - it was useless to think about it alone, and above all, he knew that even if he ran over now and told his emperor all this, the stubborn Kalman IV would never believe it.

No, even if Kalman IV had believed it, he would never have done what General Franz had proposed. He values his own power, his authority too much. He would never allow anyone to question his decision, even if he was actually wrong.

"It's terrible, it's terrible. General Franz thought to himself. He looked around, the cheers were not very loud, and the soldiers, who were almost exhausted, muttered to themselves in their hearts. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to hide it all.

He would not have told these words to Kalman IV. Because if he does, then he will be met with the wrath of the emperor, and worse than that, after this doomed battle, he will most likely be thrown out as a scapegoat and shield.

The emperor would throw all the reasons for his defeat on him, and would call him a traitor, a spy, a traitor. Deprive him of all honor and power. Then he was put to death without mercy.

Yes, he can definitely do such a thing. Today, the image of Emperor Kalman IV in the mind of General Franz is such a stubborn, old and stupid old fool.

That's it, General Franz made his decision. And when he thinks about it, the decisions he made could lead to the destruction of the entire empire and the demise of the Swabian family, to which he was loyal. General Franz felt a sharp pain in his heart.

In a sense, to hide all this and not to tell Kalman IV is already tantamount to betrayal to General Franz.

"Then what should I do next, Lord, help me. Amid the cheers of the crowd, General Franz was in agony as if he were terminally ill.

At the same time, the 3rd Praetorian Guard of the Hereford family was methodically retreating. As the commander, leaving the cuirassier regiment as an escort and the rear troops, Duchess Freya retreated without psychological pressure at all.

The 1st and 2nd Army Corps lost half of them, and the 3rd to 6th Army Corps lost nearly half. Plus the losses of cavalry units. The entire Third Army lost more than four thousand troops. The loss of troops was close to a third. This number is enough to see in this era. At least in the eyes of Duchess Freya, this is already a heavy casualty......

Recall this war. Despite the heroic battles of the Third Legion, it was unable to stop the swarming Imperial Army. Although Duchess Freya thinks she has done her best. But thinking about this result, she still felt unhappy for a while. The bravery of the Imperial Army was beyond her expectations. And although I don't want to admit it...... But, yes, General Franz's command skills were no less than she expected.