January 4, 1843

10 Downing Street, London, UK

The heavy news that the French army had sent troops to besiege Namur reached England, which relieved the Prime Minister and the Viscount of Melbourne.

"God forbid, those damn French guys are going to scare my heart out. Thankfully, the combat effectiveness of the German Confederate army was as low as ever.

Even though they had been planning for this day for decades, they still failed in the end. I would now like to see up close the faces of the kings and archdukes of Germany, but what we should do at this time is to immediately urge the Russians who are dragging their feet to go to war as soon as possible. ”

The rest of the cabinet nodded in agreement, but unfortunately the British commissioner, who had arrived in St. Petersburg to deliver the letter, was still on his way.

At this time, although the Netherlands joined the side of the German Confederation, the French army was advancing too quickly; If Namur was directly captured and then Liège, it would not only mean the recovery of Belgium, but also cut off the communication between the Netherlands and Germany.

And this made the Anglo-Saxons, who were proficient in the art of balance, have to sweat for the German Confederation, after all, if the latter loses too quickly, it will directly affect their strategic ambitions and money-making plans.

Belgium, outside Brussels

Although Leopold I had not yet signed his name to the armistice, Albrecht received the king with the highest courtesy. The other party is indeed a tough guy as rumored, and although he was captured, he is still full of confidence in the battle situation.

"Archduke Albrecht, I confess that your army is marching far faster than I expected. But have you ever thought that if the French army sends troops to cut off your rear road at this time, will you end up in the same fate as me in the near future? ”

"Your Majesty, you have been overwhelmed. Even more than 100,000 pigs were guarded in the Walloon area, and 20,000 French troops could not catch them in three days. ”

Albrecht was sure of this, for France had only one army to commit to the area in a week.

According to the information available so far, Prussia's strength in this area alone has reached two armies, and the total strength of Prussia will soar to about 150,000 men, including the one army invested by itself and other states in the near future.

Coupled with the fact that they had previously occupied most of the strategic points in Wallonia, it was even more difficult for the French to cut off the retreat of the German Confederation army.

What's more, his nephew repeatedly assured himself that as long as the plan to attack Belgium went well, France would not dare to attack.

Leopold I's opinion on the direction of the situation surprised Leopold I.

"Are you amusing me? How could there be hundreds of thousands of troops? Will all your soldiers fly? ”

Albrecht just smiled and replied.

"It's more interesting to uncover the mystery yourself." But before the words could be spoken, a herald hurried all the way over.

Because his pace was too fast, he didn't pay attention to his feet, and he accidentally tripped over the threshold of the camp and fell, and his face was covered with blood from the wound, and he looked embarrassed. The terrified-eyed soldier looked at the Belgian king in disbelief.

"I'll shy away. You talk. Leopold I smiled and got up, and it was clear to him what this had just happened. The enemy's disadvantages are definitely good news for oneself and the kingdom.

Albrecht glanced at the herald with great displeasure, he knew that the military situation that his men were about to inform was probably not good for his side, but he did not want to be discouraged, so he said indifferently to the adjutant.

"You just read it here, and you don't have to shy away from His Majesty."

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The adjutant took the document, but after just looking at it twice, he immediately lost sight of what to do, only to see fine beads of sweat oozing from his head, and pulled his neckline, and then leaned over and whispered to his boss.

"Grand Duke, I'm afraid the words on this report may be undignified to read."

Albrecht didn't have the energy to go around in circles with his subordinates, so he threw his coffee cup on the table in anger.

"Say so much to do, let you read it, just read it happily!"

"Yes! The Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Armies of the German Confederate Volunteers were all defeated in yesterday's battle, and His Excellency Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig, deputy commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, was trapped in Namur and was in urgent need of rescue. Report complete! ”

After hearing this, Albrecht almost fainted in front of his eyes, and the development of events was too much for him to expect.

This has to start from two days ago, the French army sang all the way, so that Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig could not hang his face, so he decided to gather a large army to encircle and suppress it.

At this time, his chief of staff, Moltke, was keenly aware that his opponent was in full swing, and if the Prussian army took the lead, he would certainly not be able to resist it.

More importantly, the Austrians, who had been in the limelight since the beginning of the war, basically did not suffer any losses, and if there were any major mistakes on their side, I am afraid that it would be difficult to explain to the Berlin side.

So Moltke had the whim to use the Saxons as meat shields, and then the Prussian army would go up to cut the wheat. What's more, the morale of Saxony's Third Army was already in a strong state at this time, especially after the Austrian army marched all the way, and it also wanted to compare with it.

Unfortunately, the ideal was plump and the reality was skinny, and Moltke the Elder's plot was easily detected by General Fleiden of Bavaria, who made it clear to his colleagues that the Prussians wanted to weaken their German states by the hands of the French.

After learning the truth, the morale of the Saxon army instantly fell to freezing point, and they did not want to be cannon fodder for the Prussians, so they excused themselves from the war under the pretext that the soldiers were not adapted.

Then the Prussian envoy was ordered to rush to the camp of the Bavarian army, and General Fleiden of the Fourth Army of the other side was an old fritter, of course, he knew the intention of the comer, but he did not refuse directly, but cried poor, and asked for more money, food and equipment.

Although the Prussian side felt that it was a bit of a loss, it was better than being cannon fodder themselves.

So Moltke the Elder devised a jealous and dangerous plan of encirclement and suppression, and he was going to use the Bavarian Fourth Army to withstand the French attack in the front, and then let the Fifth Army of Hanover lead a ragtag army to outflank from the right flank, and the Saxon Third Army led a ragtag army to outflank from the left flank.

In the end, the Prussian Second Army completed the final blow on the French army, and surrounded the lone French army with the strong strength of six corps.

This tactical gamble has a lot of ingredients, but once it is executed, the benefits are also huge.

Historically, Moltke Sr. has often developed this kind of military adventure strategy, but if you analyze it in hindsight, you can see how dangerous and flawed his tactics were.

His tactics often require strong execution, but who would have wanted to wait until the encirclement and suppression of the Bavarian army began to stand still, and let the French break through their own defenses.

The French army, which had been driving straight in, directly caught the Prussian army by surprise, and then the Fifth Army of Hanover, which came to the rescue, was dispersed by the latter's rout.

A great rout ensued, and the rest of the ragtag armies of the German Confederation were drawn into the rout. Faced with a mountain of defeat, the Bavarian and Saxon armies naturally did not want to repeat the mistakes of the past.

As a result, the French army, which numbered only 20,000 men, gained a lot, not only defeating the encirclement army of the German Confederation, but also successfully besieging the main forces of the two Prussian armies in the city of Namur.

Like a cascading reaction after touching a domino, even the Austrian officers and soldiers in charge of garrisoning the fortress of Liège were shocked and had to send people to Vienna overnight to ask for help.

(The fortress of Liège was east of Namur, that is, the rear fortress of the German Confederation)

Wallonia, a suburb of Namur

To tell the truth, Jean Durde was cautious at first, but after a series of victories in the past few days, he felt a little fluttering, and felt that he could be compared to the soul of France like Napoleon, and maybe he would go one step further to become Julius Caesar who united Europe.

But while the German Confederation's armies were vulnerable, the proud general faced a new problem: logistical supply difficulties.

However, in his eyes, this is not a big problem at all, because Napoleon the Great had already set an example with practical actions - because of food to the enemy.

After figuring it out, Jean Durde immediately ordered his soldiers to loot in place. You must know that many soldiers at that time participated in the war not to get military salaries, but to rob.

After all, the income obtained through the latter channel is far from being comparable to the pitiful military salary, not to mention the opportunity to do some things that you usually dare not do.

As a result, the people of Wallonia were in mourning. The soldiers of the German Confederate Volunteers who had previously crossed the border still regarded them as Luxembourgers or Austrian Netherlanders.

In addition, Archduke Albrecht took the lead in buying supplies with money, so the generals of the armies of other states were also embarrassed to openly contradict and maintained relative restraint.

However, the newly victorious French army did the opposite, without any restraint or scruples, and they ravaged the region as victors and laid the groundwork for future defeat.

Of course, until this time Jean Durde did not know how many people there were in the German Confederate volunteers.

(End of chapter)