On the east bank of the Tiseno River, the forward headquarters of the Italian Corps of the Austrian Empire.

"The French are still so arrogant. We are almost twice as many troops as they are, and they dare to withdraw their troops from the front."

A veteran staff officer who had experienced the war against France said, but his words were immediately questioned by a colleague.

"Could the French have done it on purpose? Our intelligence indicates that their food will not last for several months.

Could it be that they are trying to lure us into a decisive battle before we run out of food?"

This was not unreasonable, because with the end of the fighting in other theaters, the French army was in a state of total contraction, so the Austrian Empire could mobilize more troops to the Italian battlefield.

In addition to the troops of the Austrian Empire itself, there were a large number of recruits, as well as volunteers from the German states, who gathered more than 400,000 troops along the Tiseno River alone.

Just to clean up the 120 tons of excrement produced by the soldiers every day, a hundred dung trucks and three hundred workers were needed.

Fortunately, the barracks were not far from the farm, but soon the septic tanks in the nearest villages were full, and the cleaners had to travel further to sell the waste.

Most of the scavengers in the army were Irish refugees whom Franz had taken in, and who could only do this simple and easily despised job because of the language barrier.

But for the vast majority of Irish refugees, it's a paradise life, and at least they don't have to worry about starving.

Irish brigades were also organized in the Austrian army, but the officers were mostly Austrians.

Most of the junior officers of the Austrian Empire have learned how to communicate with the soldiers without language in long-term practice, so language is not a problem, but they still have to learn thirty words on the battlefield.

"A decisive battle? Do they dare?"

The old staff officer, who had experienced the war against France, had never encountered such a rich battle, and he really didn't know how to lose.

"In the past month or so, the French have built a large number of fortifications on the other side of the river, and with the existence of the Tizuno River, it is not so easy to fight it."

"You coward! How many French troops are there on the other side!"

"You reckless! There are a lot of people who have a fart! The enemy has the upper hand! They're waiting for us to take the bait!"

"That's enough!" Marshal Radetzky stopped, and the quarrel of his subordinates.

"This time it should be Archduke Franz's infiltration tactics that worked."

Although Radetzky has not yet received information, he still has his own judgment.

It's just that this sounds unbelievable to the staff officers.

"How is that possible. Your Excellency Marshal, we have sent no more than 10,000 volunteers, how can we make such a big move on the French?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. A sergeant, under the false name of a commander, he is not even qualified to stand on the chessboard."

"It is true that we have sent less than 10,000 volunteers, but in southern Sardinia there are tens of thousands of Sardinian troops and a million inhabitants.

With the right timing, an ant can influence the whole picture. What's more, he's not an ordinary ant.

Looking at the bounty offered to him by the French, I am afraid that you all together are not as small as a fraction of the others.

The enemy's assessment is often the most true."

The staff officers were silent, and indeed they were not even eligible to be rewarded.

"And we have no time left, and on August 1, 1848, there will be a formal truce between the two sides. If we can't take advantage of the moment to strike the French hard, we'll have to watch them retreat."

"But Your Excellency, what about the enemy's trenches and fortifications? If the troops crossing the river do not stand their ground, then a great rout awaits us."

This time, it was the old staff officer who had participated in the war against France who said the sad words, and Marshal Radetzky patted the old brother on the shoulder.

"Old man, times have changed. The airboat force has been deployed, and they will clear the way for us."

"Oh my God! No kidding! Your Excellency, you really believe

Those balloons? How many words of truth do those gods have in their mouths?"

In fact, the Austrian Empire was also skeptical about such things as airships, and they really doubted that these slowly rising balloons were really as powerful as the Pope boasted, and many people even thought that this was a hoax created by Archduke Franz and Pius IX.

Due to the lack of basic technology, the speed of the Austrian Empire's airships at this time was only six kilometers per hour in windless conditions, and it usually took more than a minute to fly 100 meters. And even the stupidest, thinnest, and slacker soldier doesn't take a minute to run a hundred meters, so many officers doubt that this weapon can be used in real combat.

"I believe it." Marshal Radetzky said categorically.

"Look at the new rockets of the Empire, and look at the Congreve rockets in our warehouse, what is the difference between the latter and the former and the lit sticks?

And then look at the steel guns and lever-operated rifles, which we couldn't have imagined in the past.

As Archduke Franz said, we have to believe in science."

Seeing that the old marshal had already made a decision, the staff officers had no objections, and were only studying the best plan of attack.

However, the armistice and peace talks between France and Austria were unexpected by many people, after all, the Austrian army had not yet entered France at this time, and they always felt that the actions of both sides were a little too hasty.

Early the next morning, all the artillery and rockets of the Italian corps of the Austrian Empire fired at the French positions on the opposite bank.

A devastating rain of bullets fell on the French position, splattering dirt and blood, and a French officer stepped forward to try to stop the soldiers running around, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the explosion.

A heavy rocket fell into the trench, and in an instant the entire platoon of fighters was blown to pieces, and the scene of blood raining down made the survivors lose the will to resist on the spot.

The Austrian artillery used all the new flowering shells, which were much more deterrent than the big iron balls of the past, especially the shock caused by the successive explosions made people feel extremely desperate, as if they were in the middle of an earthquake.

The storm of the end of the day gradually subsided, and the smell of gunsmoke and burnt fire was everywhere, as well as a disgusting stench.

In fact, during the shelling just now, Marshal Radetzky deliberately asked the artillery to focus on the French toilets.

Whether gunpowder and dung have anything to do with it, the answer is that explodes the stars.

Shells flew into the manure pit and ignited the methane, and the huge explosion sent the excrement in the pit soaring into the sky, creating a small rain in the next few seconds that crackled down on the nearby French troops.

Some people were even buried alive in the trenches by these sticky objects that fell to the ground, and the stench soon spread through the French positions, and people could not open their eyes.

Some French officers tried to direct their troops to fill the front line, but they inhaled the disgusting gas and retched.

But soon their mouths could not be closed, as countless monstrous beasts in the sky were slowly closing in on their positions, and the Austrian army on the other side of the river began to cross the river in full force.

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