Chapter 864 Giovanni
In fact, the officers and soldiers of the Royal Dragoon Regiment had been holding their breath for a long time. They could only dismount and fight on foot in such streets, which was enough to hold their breath.
In order to reduce casualties, Franz let the regular army hide behind the barricades. This was understandable in his opinion. After all, in the eyes of later generations, it was not shameful to let the other side take the initiative to give up heads. It was quite cool.
But the soldiers at that time did not think so, at least those who had been instilled with some so-called honor ideas since childhood did not think so. They just felt that it was too shameful to be suppressed by the militia.
At this moment, they had been waiting impatiently.
"Let the Italians see our courage!"
Colonel Monta rolled up his sleeves and drew his saber, and then was pressed back to his seat by Franz.
"How can a commander lead the charge?"
"Your Highness! Now we are competing for which side has higher morale. As long as we press forward, even if I die, the other side will lose!
And don't you still have you here?"
Colonel Monta tried to explain the rationality of his behavior, which made Franz helpless.
"How dare I promote you?"
"You want to promote me?" Colonel Monta asked in surprise.
"Isn't that the point? I'm telling you not to die!" Franz was too tired to complain about the other party's brain circuit.
"Oh"
On the other hand, on the battlefield, hand-to-hand combat is more disadvantageous than rifle shooting. The most important thing is that the Venetian insurgents and rebels have not only been suppressed by the firepower of the Austrian army, but their morale has long been on the verge of collapse.
What's more terrible is that although they were shooting at the Austrian army hiding behind the barricades before, they couldn't be timid in terms of momentum, so most of them had just fired a round at this time.
In this era, even a skilled shooter would take more than 20 seconds to fire a rifle, not to mention these militiamen and small fish.
So the rifles in their hands are not even as good as fire sticks. In addition to the gap in training and physical fitness between the two sides, there is only one result of such hand-to-hand combat, that is, being slaughtered unilaterally.
99% of the insurgents had not received formal bayonet and fighting training, and the training level of Fabio's rebels as Fernando Lizzi's troops was naturally not very high.
More importantly, most people did not have time to put on their bayonets before the two sides came into contact. With the sound of bayonets entering the flesh, the rebels screamed, and the morale of the rebels collapsed almost in an instant.
The rest was to drive the ducks away. The rebels ran in front and the Austrian army chased behind. However, there was also something puzzling, that is, no one surrendered.
This is not their fault. After all, the battlefield was so chaotic that if someone ran, everyone would follow. Besides, the Austrian army did not have the habit of shouting "surrender and not kill".
In fact, even if they shouted, the other party might not understand, and even if they understood, they might not believe it. After all, Daniele Manin and the group of Jesuit members under Pius IX had already portrayed the Austrians as the apostles of the devil.
A quick victory was completely within Franz's expectations. After all, if they could not win quickly and continued to consume like this, supplies would become a problem.
The bullet consumption of lever-action rifles far exceeded Colonel Monta's expectations. Other things such as rockets and grenades are easy to use, but the consumption is also very alarming.
Even if each person rides two horses, the ammunition load that is more than ten times that of traditional privates cannot withstand such consumption.
Before the mid-19th century, a private soldier in Europe usually had 60-80 rounds of ammunition, but it was slightly different between countries. The French soldiers had the most ammunition, usually carrying 100 rounds of projectiles, and the Russians had the least, usually only 10-15 rounds.
The Austrian Empire had a very different ammunition load due to the different styles of each military district, but according to the Austrian drill manual of 1821, a standard private soldier should carry 30 rounds of single-headed bullets and 15 rounds of shotgun shells.
That's right! Austrian soldiers carry shotgun shells because it doesn't require much training to hit the target.
In fact, before the Austro-Prussian War, including the American Civil War, a soldier could usually fire 10 to 20 rounds of bullets in a large battle, which was already very good.
Even the 15 rounds of bullets of the Russians were barely enough in theory. The standard ammunition in the Austrian Empire's drill manual was more than enough.
But that was only for traditional troops. Franz's troops had a much higher firing frequency and speed than traditional troops, so he had the confidence to go straight to Huanglong.
However, the corresponding consumption of bullets was also very amazing. Even if the veterans did not shoot randomly, it was easy to fire a hundred bullets in an hour in battle.
It was no wonder that when Franz proposed a new type of high-rate weapon that could change the situation, the officials of the Ministry of War shook their heads.
In fact, high rate of fire means greater consumption, more supplies, and more money.
In fact, this problem was exposed in Galicia before, but fortunately the baggage troops were right next to them, and the battle ended quickly without any major problems.
This time, each soldier carried eight kilograms of bullets alone. If it was not a cavalry with two riders but an infantry, it would be exhausting on the march.
Although the logistics support troops of this army were all draft horses, the previous marching speed was too fast, and the draft horses dragging supplies were not war horses after all.
As a result, the two sides were somewhat out of touch. Theoretically, the baggage troops would arrive within an hour, but what if something happened on the way?
Franz didn't want to gamble, so the battle in Venice had to end as soon as possible, but there were still people who wanted to create surprises.
The bombardment before the charge happened to hit Daniele Manin and Fabio, which directly led to the collapse of the rebels' command system.
In fact, even if they didn't collapse, they couldn't do anything, but General Fabio didn't think so. He stopped the student leader who was about to run away in advance.
"Why run! They have come out of their turtle shells! Now is a good opportunity for us to counterattack! Stop them all! Drive those rubbish back!
In close combat, we have the advantage of numbers!
Giovanni! If you win this battle, you can have whatever you want! I promise you! You will become a hero of Venice! No one will dare to look down on you! You can do anything and deal with anyone you want to deal with!"
"You promise?"
"I promise!"
The young man took a deep breath.
"Shoot!"
The classmates around him were all surprised, and even the captain of the warlord under Fabio was a little stunned.
But with a hearty laugh, General Fabio said: "You are a genius! You are amazing! What are you still standing there for? Shoot! Kill these cowards who don't obey orders!"
At this time, the student soldiers and the soldiers of the supervision team realized that they did not shoot before because they were shocked by the scale and momentum of the deserters.
At this time, the highest commander came forward, and most importantly, there were orders from others, so they might feel better.
So the gunshots rang out, and the crowd was finally stopped.
"Those who retreat will die! You rush back! Capture Franz, and you can get whatever you want in Vienna! Charge!"
After Giovanni finished speaking, other student soldiers and members of the supervision team also shouted.
The decline was stopped abruptly. It must be said that the Venetians have created a miracle at this time, but will this miracle really continue?