Chapter 1020: Close the Door and Beat the Dog

Hundreds of French bodies were lying in disorder on the narrow road, most of them were killed by bullets and rockets before they could put up a decent resistance.

Because of this, after breaking through three times in a row, Ramosilier did not figure out how many enemy troops were blocking the road.

Such a tentative attack usually does not destroy morale, but it is a major blow to the defenders who were forced to stay.

Looking at their comrades who had gone and returned, the soldiers who were forced to stay behind were full of contempt.

They did not believe that the enemy behind them could be more brutal than the German coalition in front of them. Looking at the broken walls and the mountains of corpses and blood, they were really a group of guys who did not know how to appreciate their blessings.

The soldiers under General Gaine looked at the so-called main force with contempt and jealousy.

"Why are we the last ones?"

Finally, an old soldier spoke out everyone's voice, and this sentence was like a piece of iron, branded in the hearts of the soldiers who were at the end.

"We fought for our country, crossed countless battlefields, and our boots were covered with mud from different countries. Every time we charged forward as generals, and won glorious victories for France again and again.

But why? When the horn of retreat sounded, we, the most loyal and bravest soldiers, were the last to leave the battlefield? Why?

While we were still fighting for our country, those young people were still playing in the mud!

We used rifles with riflings that had to be smoothed, ate biscuits that had been stored for decades, our clothes were tattered, and our shoes were worn out.

And those new recruits had brand new weapons, wore bright and beautiful uniforms and carefully polished leather shoes, and had vegetables and canned food for every meal!

When we were sad about the months of overdue military pay... , but they laughed at us for not being noble enough! But I don't think this is funny, because without money, our families will starve to death!

This is unfair! This is not what we deserve! No one asked us if we were willing, and this is not democratic! We are required to obey orders, and there is no freedom here!

Brothers! We have been deceived! "

(The recruits the veterans refer to are actually those military academy students and officers who have been promoted with money.

At this time, it is not uncommon for countries to pay for military positions, especially for countries with poor financial conditions such as the Second French Republic. "Selling officials" can well alleviate the financial crisis and the problem of insufficient officers.)

The veteran's words immediately resonated with the soldiers at the rear, and many people began to become indignant, but the French military's supervisors were not vegetarians.

"No nonsense!"

The veterans who were whipped by the whip cried and howled, but General Gaine who stayed behind felt the crisis.

You must know that things like military spirit and morale are the most difficult to grasp, and are also the factors that are most likely to affect the combat effectiveness of the army.

An army with strong will and high morale can often achieve amazing results without fear of strong enemies, while an army with weak will and low morale can often create some more outrageous results or become the background of some legends.

For example, Fu Jian, who broke the river with a whip, led a million troops to personally fight (another saying is 1.12 million), but was frightened by the words "the Qin army was defeated" and left millions of corpses lying on the ground, and the Fei River was blocked.

(Fu Jian was the third king of the Former Qin during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.)

A similar example is the Yinjin War between the Wei Wuzu and the Qin Army. The tyrannical Qin raised the whole country's troops to face the first batch of Wei Wuzu after Wu Qi's reform. The Qin Army was still beaten violently despite the ten-fold difference in military strength.

Of course, General Gain would not cite these classic battles in the East. Lamosilier understood the former's concerns, but he really could not treat them equally. After all, he was a general and a bureaucrat.

Lamosilier knew that what he should do most at this time was to lead the army to break through quickly, after all, there were General Gain and the supervision team.

However, this was destined to be a war that would make him unhappy. The breakout troops were driven back again, for the same reason as before, that is, the enemy's firepower was strong.

In addition, they brought back a worse news. The enemy was cutting down trees and moving stones to set up roadblocks.

There is no doubt that the German coalition wanted to trap the French army in Salbourg, but Lamosilier still did not think that the coalition had the ability to do so.

After all, the number of blocking troops behind Salbourg could not be too large, and those temporary positions made of wood and stones were not very strong. As long as he turned the artillery around, all problems would be solved.

However, doing so would further anger the remaining troops, but he could not care so much now.

The breakout troops supported by artillery immediately made progress, but intimidated by the power of the enemy's rockets, they chose to establish strongholds on the periphery first and then break through the blockade bit by bit.

Lamosilier was furious when he learned about the situation.

"Damn it! You are a bunch of rubbish without any sense of honor! The Germans are coming, they will turn you into eunuchs and send you to the colonies, and let those blacks kill you one by one."

A huge shadow loomed over the front battlefield in the hearts of every French soldier, and the soldiers who were fighting on the ground suddenly stopped their actions.

A large number of UFOs suddenly appeared in the sky. They were neither birds nor clouds, but a group of huge monsters made of wood, ropes, and cloth.

There were people in the belly of the huge monster, and those people looked down at the tiny humans below like gods. The unyielding French soldiers aimed their guns at the behemoth in the sky, but all their efforts seemed so weak and ridiculous.

However, such disrespectful behavior seemed to anger the gods and monsters in the sky. Objects with white smoke fell from the sky, followed by violent explosions and screams.

With the appearance of the airship troops, the morale of the French army finally collapsed completely. Ordinary soldiers had no idea what was flying in the sky. Was it a god? Or some mythical monster?

They didn't know, they just wanted to escape from here.

The officers were also shocked, but they were sure that it was not a monster in the sky, but some kind of man-made aircraft, which should be similar to a hot air balloon in principle.

But those officers, like ordinary soldiers, were helpless in the face of these monsters. What they could think of, those soldiers had already done, and it was proved to be futile.

Panic spread immediately in the army. As the first soldier abandoned his position and turned to flee, the second, third, and more soldiers soon began to flee.

The officers had not yet recovered from the huge shock. After all, after they could not think of a solution, their first choice was to surrender, rather than continue to resist or continue to think.

Generally speaking, countries like Austria are relatively principled. Officers and nobles can be treated preferentially as long as they surrender, at least they don't have to worry about their lives.

But ordinary soldiers don't think so. After all, in the long-term propaganda of the French government, it is common for Austrians to capture slaves and send them to the territory of the Crown of St. Stephen to be serfs, or directly sell prisoners of war to Arabs, or even black chiefs.