The artillery positions were completely suppressed, which was a very big disadvantage in this period.

As a famous general, Grouchy naturally understood that his plan to attack half-way was bankrupt. He did not bother and immediately chose to retreat, after all, artillery is too precious, and it is too much of a loss to exchange with the infantry of the coalition army.

So at this time, the French army, which still had the upper hand, actually retreated, which made the coalition soldiers very excited, and the remaining French troops lost the cover of artillery fire and could only fight and retreat, and some people kept running over the slope to escape, and the victory of the war seemed to be close at hand.

However, this was just a death trap set by Grouchy for the Coalition forces, and the French soldiers on the other side of the slope were already in good fight, waiting for the hot-blooded Coalition soldiers to rush over and shoot them.

In fact, although the formation of the French army was scattered, it was not an orderly retreat, and the counterattack was also very organized.

This is the anti-slope tactic that Grouchy learned from the British, in fact, the ancestor of this thing was the Frenchman Lafayette, who used this tactic to beat the British in North America.

It's just that later the British learned and beat the French to the brink in Spain, especially the column tactics that the French were proud of.

However, the French army behind the slope waited for a long time to meet the expected coalition soldiers, and at this time, the dragoons of the coalition army bypassed the slope and went straight behind the French army.

The most feared of this anti-slope tactic was to attack from both sides, and soon the elite French army had to choose to surrender.

Grouchy didn't understand why the other party would easily crack his tactics, and even when he left the battlefield, he couldn't stop looking back.

That's when he discovered the secret, several huge hot air balloons hanging in the sky, they were the eyes of the coalition forces.

"Damn! It's a tactical hot air balloon! ”

Grouchy scolded, but it was useless at this point, but although he lost the first battle, he should be safe to protect himself.

As Grouchy withdrew his troops to his carefully constructed camp, he sent people to ask why the coalition forces had launched a surprise attack.

To be honest, he didn't expect the morale of the Allied forces to be high enough to cross the river under artillery fire, let alone the Austrian artillery to be so accurate.

Tactical hot air balloon This is one of the artifacts used by the French to hang Europe, but then the French army gradually forgot about it, and I didn't expect that today it would be used by the Austrians to teach a lesson.

Grouchy thought that next time he would bring some hot air balloons with him, he would be able to save face.

The first thing he did when he returned to the camp was to write to Louis Philippe, who wanted to tell His Majesty what had happened here.

"It is not my fault that the Austrians launched a despicable and shameless sneak attack on our army, resulting in the capture of thousands of soldiers, and it is really a traitor who has sabotaged our army's logistics.

Rest assured that Your Majesty the King still has the strength to fight, and that all our soldiers are willing to die for France."

Before Grouhi's letter could be written, an explosion rang out in the air.

Albrecht had been waiting for this day for a long time, and Franz had to fight a battle to let the French know that it hurt, so that Louis Philippe would not change his mind, and the Prime Minister's negotiations would be more certain.

Therefore, Albrecht directly ignored Grouchy's questioning, the former directly ordered the attack, with hot air balloons as a guide, and the Austrian artillery could always carry out key strikes on important targets of the French army, which greatly weakened the combat power of the French army.

Rockets were even more terrifying than artillery, and the overwhelming rockets turned the French camp into a sea of fire.

Without the assistance of artillery, go straight to the infantry decisive battle, which is like catching someone else's fist with your face, and it will be difficult to win unless you are Luffy.

The French army could only be forced to abandon the camp and retreat again, but the battle was still not over, and the road was intercepted several times, and the losses from the front and rear were naturally not small.

The pursuit did not end until late at night, and by the time the French were out of battle, there were less than 20,000 men of 60,000.

Of course, the vast majority of them were scattered or captured, and the actual death toll was not high.

The coalition side took more than 20,000 prisoners, killed more than 1,700 and wounded more than 5,000.

However, when the coalition forces released the war report, they also included the civilian casualties of Alsace-Lorraine as a result of the fighting and the bloody suppression.

The numbers are quite frightening, with 18,000 dead and more than 30,000 injured.

The next day in Paris was a wonderful one, and Louis Philippe received the delegation of the German Confederation in the early morning. At this time, the latter happened to receive a report that the French had not fulfilled their agreement to withdraw their troops, much to the displeasure of Metternich and the members of the German delegation.

"Your Highness Louis Philippe, what about your sincerity? Our German coalition troops retreated, and why didn't your army leave? ”

Louis Philippe was momentarily speechless, but when he opened the Paris Daily, it was full of Grouchy's rhetoric.

Louis Philippe quietly handed the newspaper to Prince Metternich, who frowned when he read it, he did not expect the French to be so belligerent.

Metternich handed the newspaper to the rest of the delegation, and after reading it, their expressions were mixed, but listening to the cries outside the window, it seemed that the French people were very supportive of the war.

The vast majority of politicians in the German Confederation did not want to clash with France, and the purpose of sending troops was purely to deflect domestic contradictions and satisfy the demands of the nationalists, but in any case the negotiations were somewhat weaker before they began.

Louis Philippe was very happy, he could see the worry on his face, which made him feel that it was Germany, not France, that needed peace.

However, soon the battle reports from the front came one after another, and Louis Philippe's attitude changed from arrogant to panicked, especially the letter that seemed to be righteous and resolute at this time was simply ironic.

In the morning, Paris was full of Grouchy's rhetoric, and in the evening it turned into sad news of defeat.

So the finger was pointed at the inventor of history, and Louis Philippe roared with rage.

"Grouchy! Why are you there! ”

Grouchy was still writing his third letter at this time

Here I have to talk about the Bonaparte faction at this time, although these people are under the banner of Napoleon, but they turn a blind eye to several heirs of the Bonaparte family, but they are not afraid to expand their own power.

Even former enemies, as long as they are famous enough, they will also absorb them, such as Marshal Grouchy.

However, at this time, three defeats in one day not only lost the face of Louis Philippe, but also the face of France.

Louis Philippe had to accept the "benevolent" agreement proposed by the German Confederation in exchange for peace.

The German forces then withdrew from Alsace-Lorraine again as agreed, and returned the French prisoners and equipment.

Eventually, the French attributed the defeat to the incompetence of their commanders, and Grouchy followed in Napoleon's footsteps and was exiled to the French islands in Central America.

The reasons were malfeasance, disobedience, and the stupidity of Louis Philippe to cry.

(End of chapter)