Chapter 298 Rochefort Final Battle (Please Give Me Monthly Tickets During the Double Period)

Chapter 299 Rochefort Decisive Battle (asking for monthly votes during the double period)

"Send a victory message to Vienna, the Liege rebellion has been quelled. General Wurmser raised his hand tiredly to the staff officer beside him, "His Majesty the Emperor must be getting impatient."

He then looked at the Austrian soldiers who were marching into the city of Liege: "The two regiments responsible for the main attack today will stay to rest, and the others will set off immediately and must arrive in Varem before tomorrow afternoon. "

Varem is the only way to South Brabant, more than 40 kilometers away [Note 1].

Six days after entering the Liege Province, the Austrian army, which was constantly harassed by the rebels, finally captured the city of Liege and achieved the first great victory since the war began.

However, General Wurmser was not happy at all. This was much slower than he expected. Now most of the Prussian troops have arrived near Brussels.

In other words, his plan to besiege the Brabant rebels and try to ambush the Prussians was no longer feasible.

And in today's battle against the Liege rebels, he still failed to eliminate the main force of the rebels. About 3,000 rebels decisively abandoned the city and fled to Varem. He killed and captured in Liege. The rebels in Long are less than 800.

In addition, the situation in Long is also very bad - three days after the news of the loss of Musil's army, he realized that something was wrong and sent a cavalry company north to check the situation. The cavalry finally returned yesterday and reported that Musil had not yet occupied Long.

General Wurmser forced himself to cheer up. As long as he could defeat the Prussians in Brabant, all this would be nothing.

He took the reins from the attendant and was about to climb on the horse, but suddenly saw a scout cavalry galloping over, and he frowned immediately.

Because the cavalry came from the south, and the enemy should be in the north now.

The scout saw the commander-in-chief 20 meters away and immediately shouted loudly: "Emergency military situation! Rochefort found rebels, at least 5,000 people! "

General Wurmser's pupils shrank. How did the rebels run to the south?

Rochefort is only two days away from Luxembourg, and Luxembourg is the only way to transport supplies from Austria or France.

If Luxembourg is attacked by the rebels, his logistics supply will immediately be in trouble.

He looked anxiously in the direction of Brabant, hesitated again and again, and finally sighed hard, and said to the herald: "All troops assemble and march to Rochefort. Oh, let Colonel Musil abandon Long and go to Waremme immediately to prevent the rebels from escaping back to Brabant. "

"Yes, General!"

Just as the Austrian army complained about the formation going south, outside the city of Namur not far northwest of Rochefort, the Prussian commander-in-chief, the Duke of Brunswick, was riding his horse past the endless Prussian army column, waving his hand and shouting: "Everyone, move your damn legs! As long as you arrive in Rochefort before tomorrow, the glorious victory will be yours! "

As an old man over seventy years old, he is definitely still strong.

He had been galloping like this for nearly twenty minutes, and kept shouting to boost morale. Finally, he and his horse were exhausted and stopped panting.

Marquis Blücher rode up from behind and handed the kettle to the Duke of Brunswick: "Marshal, drink some water. Rochefort just sent a message that the Dutch are ready, with a total of more than 12,000 people."

The latter raised his head and took a few sips of water, with a smile on his lips: "Where did the lawyer named Van der Nott get so many people?"

"The Dutch sent 200,000 gold shields and a lot of weapons. The Dutch quickly armed a large number of citizens."

200,000 Dutch guilders is equivalent to 2.5 million livres, which shows the great support of the Dutch for their fellow Dutchmen.

Blücher said hesitantly: "Marshal, is it really not dangerous for us to give up Brabant? The Austrians are only three days away from there. "

The Duke of Brunswick shook the reins and said calmly: "The old guy Wurmser never dared to take risks. Even if Brabant had no soldiers, he would not give up Luxembourg to attack there."

Two days later, the Austrian army arrived at the outskirts of Rochefort, and then General Wurmser received a report from the scouts that at least 20,000 Prussian troops and tens of thousands of Dutch rebels were found in the southeast.

General Wurmser's heart tightened immediately. The marching speed of the Prussians far exceeded his expectations. He originally thought that he would only face the rebels, but he didn't want to fight a decisive battle here.

Fortunately, his rich experience in commanding the army for many years prevented him from neglecting reconnaissance, thus avoiding the embarrassment of being ambushed.

He immediately took out the map to check, pointed to a flat open area in front of the side, and said to the staff in a deep voice: "Deploy the troops here immediately. Let Winkler take his skirmishers to set up outposts first, and beware of Prussian raids. "

"Yes, General! "

However, when the Austrians began to line up at the position designated by Wurmser, 15 cannons suddenly appeared in front of the Prussian army and began to launch a fierce bombardment on the Austrian army.

The Winkler Corps was the elite of the Austrian army. It stood firm at the forefront of the open area despite the bombardment. Behind them, the line infantry was encouraged and began to quickly line up outside the range of the enemy's artillery.

The Prussian artillery fired 30 rounds, but because the skirmishers led by Winkler were scattered, they only killed more than 200 people. The Prussian vanguard was unable to directly attack the main force of the Austrian army under the threat of the Austrian skirmishers.

General Wurmser finally waited until his main force was fully deployed, and immediately ordered the artillery to start fighting back - Winkler's corps was his trump card, and every death made him feel distressed.

The two sides fired at each other for a while, and Wurmser finally noticed in the telescope that the front of the Prussian position seemed to be a linear formation composed of Dutch rebels.

He was immediately overjoyed. The Duke of Brunswick actually made such a low-level mistake - using such an untrained amateur army to take charge of the most important front battlefield. Once they were broken through, it would cause the collapse of the Prussian army as a whole!

Wurmser decisively said to the herald: "Order Schroeder to attack the enemy's line immediately! Let Berg's grenadiers also press forward, and the cavalry should pay attention to protecting the two wings."

"Yes, General!"

[Note 1] In the 18th century, the Southern Netherlands, which was later known as the Brabant region of Belgium, was divided into two large areas, north and south. North Brabant includes Brussels, is slightly larger in area, and belongs to the Dutch-speaking area. South Brabant is smaller and belongs to the French-speaking area. North and South Brabant together are the most prosperous core area of ​​the Southern Netherlands.