Chapter 462: Encounter by Chance
Switzerland, somewhere in the mountains.
The first batch of tactical hot air balloons sent by the Empire has arrived, but these treasures are still too advanced for the Swiss who stay in the mountains all year round.
Moreover, the Austrian professionals who know how to operate these big guys will not be easily sent to other countries.
So these professional tactical hot air balloons can only serve as some fixed observation posts, but for Archduke Karl, it is enough, which is exactly what he urgently needs.
Archduke Karl really wants to find out the secret paths taken by those mountain people. If someone asks for directions, most of them will not tell the truth, so the best way is to observe by yourself.
Soon he found a place called Karen Valley. Although it has never been taken seriously, Archduke Karl has concluded with his intuition for many years that this is the main battlefield in the future.
At the other end of the valley, General Henry Dufour is observing with a telescope. This is the door to victory in his mind that can end the war as quickly as possible.
This winding and deep path is small enough to be almost ignored. It is not recorded on all maps on the market, and it is rarely mentioned in historical documents.
No one thought that he would attack from here, because the Free Alliance had advantages in manpower and equipment, so choosing to attack Lucerne head-on was the most reasonable choice.
Of course, this ideal state often only exists in theory, and frontal combat is bound to be accompanied by heavy casualties, but such a victory is not what Dufour wants.
And Lucerne will be the key to this war, because Fribourg, which belongs to the Orthodox Alliance, cannot be defended no matter what. Although the latter is surrounded by mountains, it is also well connected.
Dufour does not believe that the enemy on the opposite side will block all the mountain roads, because it took the Swiss hundreds of years to dig them out, and even when Switzerland was conquered by Napoleon's French army, they were reluctant to blow up these mountain roads.
And even if they wanted to blow them up, they couldn't blow up all the roads in a short time. Even if they really dared to fight to the death, what would the people of Fribourg eat at that time?
Without these roads, they would not even have salt, and they would overthrow the dregs of the Orthodox Alliance without fighting the locals.
In fact, Dufour had no doubt that the Free Alliance would win in the end, but he just wanted to end this meaningless war at the lowest cost.
Because both on paper and in actual combat power, his side was far stronger than his opponent. The only thing the Orthodox Alliance could count on was foreign aid, and both France, Germany and Austria were all the territory of the Free Alliance.
From the perspective of the situation, the Orthodox Alliance was in a state of being sandwiched, and only in the Ticino Canton close to the northern Italian region could it receive assistance from the outside world.
But in fact, the local conservative forces had been infiltrated by the liberals. Although the people still supported the former, the local government leaders had completely turned to the latter.
So once the war started, the Orthodox Alliance in Switzerland would be completely surrounded by the Free Alliance. If the former wanted to retake the Ticino Canton, it had to take the St. Gotthard Pass first.
The St. Gotthard Pass was a natural barrier. At the beginning, hundreds of Swiss militias had defeated tens of thousands of elite troops of the Holy Roman Empire here. It was not an exaggeration to describe it as a one-man defense against ten thousand men.
Although Switzerland is mountainous and difficult to attack, as long as Lucerne is captured, the Legitimacy Alliance can survive except for Valais, and other states can only choose to surrender.
Because Lucerne is the gate of the Legitimacy Alliance, once it is lost, the remaining states can only be slaughtered. But in the eyes of the "pacifist" Dufour, it is better not to fight if it is not necessary. But whether it is fighting or peace, he needs more soldiers and a large number of artillery.
At this time, the Free Alliance has only 50,000 troops, which is far from enough. Not long ago, Dufour had proposed to the government to expand the army to 150,000, because only in this way can it provide effective deterrence.
However, the problem of artillery shortage has not been improved. Now the Swiss army has less than 50 artillery pieces, most of which are still in the fortress of the Legitimacy Alliance.
Dufour's proposal is to provide 500 new artillery pieces, of which no less than 200 eight-pound guns should be provided, so as to ensure sufficient firepower.
But this is obviously too much, because the French, the model of European artillery in the same period, were only equipped with about 1,000 artillery pieces.
Moreover, the main artillery of the French army is still the six-pounder, with a maximum range of 1,300-1,500 yards, a rate of fire of 1-2 rounds per minute, and a gun weight of about 1,500 pounds. Although they were all made in recent years, the technology and materials used are still almost the same as those in the Napoleonic era.
On the other hand, the situation of the Legitimacy League, that is, the Swiss Catholic League, is somewhat worrying. Pastor Belit and General Ulrich Salis are not very popular at the Vienna Military Academy.
This is not because the Austrian side does not support the Swiss Legitimacy League or deliberately makes things difficult, but these two guys are really useless.
Franz did not expect a charlatan like Belit to fight, but he did not expect that General Ulrich was the best of the best. It’s okay that he is impulsive and irritable, because there are many generals in history who are good at attacking because of their hot temper.
But this guy is not like that. When he is angry, he is neither impulsive nor sober, but chooses to play badly.
He could drink when there was wine, and could get drunk even if there was no wine, just water. This made the Austrian generals want to send this guy to medical school to study his body structure in detail.
As for the unexpected military talent of the priest Belit, his talent is reflected in the soldier who executes the orders of his superiors, not as a commander.
This charlatan has excellent infiltration and mountain warfare skills, and is proficient in gunmanship, knife throwing, and close combat, but these are of little use to the commander of an army.
Next is the Swiss army trained by the Austrians. These guys are also shocking. It is an understatement to say that they are extremely undisciplined. There is no discipline at all.
It is hard to imagine that these are the descendants of the world-famous Swiss mercenaries. Although there are many mountains there, the final decisive battle will most likely be decided by the line of guns.
The loose formation is very easy to be defeated by the sudden appearance of enemy cavalry, and once it is defeated, it is almost impossible to regroup.
However, Franz is not worried about this problem at all, because although many modern equestrian competitions are held in Switzerland, it was a completely different scene in the 19th century.
Switzerland has only 35,000 horses, and most of them are draft horses.
Although these horses are huge, they are not fast and are not suitable for riding. They are usually used for plowing or pulling goods.
That's right, in fact, Europe rarely uses oxen for plowing. Most countries use horses for plowing.
(If you watch a lot of foreign movies, you should remember the scene of using horses to open up wasteland in the movie "War Horse".)
By the way, Prussia had nearly three million horses at that time, which was basically the same as the total number of horses in France, which was 2.8 million.
Back to the point, in short, the Austrian generals were worried too much this time. The war in Switzerland was unlikely to encounter the same large-scale cavalry charge as on the European continent.
And in Switzerland, where there are mountains and rocks everywhere, it is not difficult to find a breastwork. What's more, compared with a quick battle, it is a situation that all spectators like to see that the two sides can stalemate for a while.
Franz is no exception.