Outside the village of Escondido, the harassment of the Austrian cavalry greatly weakened the firepower and strength superiority of the American troops in the village.

The billowing black smoke rising from the direction of San Diego made the US military even more panicked, after all, no matter what era, once the army has no logistics supply, it will become a chicken, a dog, this is an almost unchangeable law.

Robert Stockton, as a good commander, naturally knew what this meant, so he immediately ordered the storming of the village of Escondido, and only in this way could victory be achieved at the negotiating table.

However, Robert Stockton overestimated his troops, and the Austrians in the village of Escondido immediately began to organize a counterattack after noticing that the American firepower was weakening.

The elite units of the Austrian army were concentrated on the eastern flank, where the US defense was relatively weak, and bullying the weak with the strong was not a clever tactic, but just a conventional war idea.

However, practical use on the battlefield requires strong discipline and execution, which is naturally inseparable from training and education in peacetime, as well as the personal ability of the commander.

As a matter of fact, the ideological education of the army in this era was very backward, and all the contents were summed up in just two words: "obedience", and the means adopted were sticks, whips, and torture.

Ludwig von Benedek, the supreme commander of the village of Escondido at this time, was not of aristocratic origin, his father was a doctor, and his mother was the daughter of a shoemaker.

So although Benedek graduated from the Maria Theresa Military Academy in 1822, he was only a colonel until the Italian War of 1848.

The Maria Theresa Military Academy was basically the Austrian equivalent of the Whampoa Military Academy, providing the empire with a large number of high-ranking officers.

Although Ludwig von Benedek served as a backdrop for Moltke in the Austro-Prussian War, he even almost became the backstabber after the defeat of the war.

But it has to be said that he was actually the better of the "young" generation of generals in the Austrian Empire, and there were many reasons for his failure.

For example, as the person in charge of the Italian side, he has a limited understanding of the northern battlefield, his position is too low, he is not able to command his subordinates, his concept of artillery and infantry is backward, his opponent is too good and his military technology is strong, etc.

Precisely after the formation of the California Military District, Archduke Carl Ferdinand complained about the lack of good officers under his command, and Marshal Radetzky recommended Ludwig von Benedek to the War Ministry.

However, the Count Latour, the Minister of War at the time, valued his origin, believing that Benedek was neither a nobleman nor a Hungarian, and his loyalty could not be guaranteed, so he refused to reward him for promotion.

Then Franz came up with a compromise and sent Ludwig von Benedek to California as a colonel.

Count Latour personally valued the opinion of Archduke Franz very much, and he was deeply influenced by the old god of Rauscher, and he readily agreed to see Franz as an ordinary person at all.

Later, Archduke Carl Ferdinand felt that Benedek was indeed an excellent soldier, but in fact, in a sense, the two had similar ideas, both of them were defensive generals.

So the former promoted the latter to his adjutant and part-time chief of staff, which made the latter's status rise rapidly, and finally became the commander of the village of Escondido at this time.

An excellent general, he has keen insight and intuition, as well as excellent organizational skills.

On the other hand, the command of the US military at this time was extremely chaotic, and there were as many as 16 brigadier generals alone. Lieutenant General Robert Stockton is naturally aware of this weakness.

So each of them was in charge of their own area, which seemed to be in order, but in fact, after the war began, the arrangement was completely chaotic.

Due to the huge gap in the quality of the soldiers on both sides, coupled with the Austrian army's occupation of advantageous terrain, the American army suffered huge casualties, and at first it was able to rely on high morale.

However, with the protracted siege, and the delay in the arrival of the reserves, and even the transfer of some of the troops responsible for the siege, some keen officers have already realized that something is wrong.

So they began to retreat, and the emotions of the officers were easily transmitted to the soldiers.

Coupled with the tenacity of the Austrian army, the various units of the US army began to "humble" themselves. The result of this "humility" is that the already impenetrable encirclement network is full of loopholes, and it also strengthens Benedek's resolve.

The American troops, who were slowly advancing on the east side, suddenly noticed that the Austrian gunfire had stopped, and just when everyone was puzzled, a brigadier general of the American army suddenly laughed and said.

"Haha! The Austrians are out of bullets! Arrest that royal duke! That's a lot of money! Warriors of America! It's time to live the American dream! Get rich in one day today! ”

As soon as the American soldiers heard this, they immediately rushed forward like chicken blood. But instead of gold and banknotes, they were greeted by bright fireworks.

Suddenly, a large number of rockets were fired from the ruins of the village, and the dense explosions continued to sound, and the American troops who had just been imposing were instantly beaten into deflated eggplants, leaving only the corpses and the screams of the people who were shot in the vicinity.

The Austrians began to come out of the ruins, and the American troops hiding in the corners became even more confused.

"Is this going to come out and surrender?"

Soon the Austrian soldiers lined up and marched towards the Americans, with a few sparse lines of skirmishers at the forefront.

At this time, the US army was seriously deficient in artillery, coupled with the fact that the eastern flank was its weak link, as well as the training quality of the US army.

They poured all their firepower on the skirmishers, and the Austrian skirmishers did not lose much, but the Austrian brigade was already close to the American line.

"Raise the gun!"

The muzzles of the black holes of the Austrian soldiers were all raised.

"Aim!"

"Shoot!"

The American soldiers, who had no queue at all, did not suffer much loss under the platoon gun, but the pressure was too great.

The American soldiers were reluctant to go out and fight hard, hoping that they could use their bunkers to fight back, just like the Austrian army had done before.

However, the latter did not continue to choose to shoot at the American troops hiding behind cover, but chose to charge with bayonets.

Then, to the surprise of the commanders on both sides, the American army collapsed almost immediately, and a few elites also collapsed after falling into close combat.

In fact, Benedek is just testing, and his main force has not yet come up. The U.S. military felt that the Austrians' actions were tantamount to suicide, and the two sides should be drawn into a continuous war of attrition.

As a result, the lack of bayonet training in the US army, coupled with the morale and poor military discipline that was already on the verge of collapse, made many soldiers not even want to resist symbolizing a shot.

They just want to get out of this hellish place immediately, they are here for gold, for survival, not to die.

At this time, the superiority of discipline and training of the Austrian army was manifested, and even this suicidal charge would not hesitate to carry out by these Austrian soldiers who had crossed the sea.

Under the influence of one another, a sudden rout swept the American army.

(End of chapter)