Napoleon II Reborn Chapter 86

At 10 o'clock in the morning on October 1, after King Friedrich William III of Prussia declared war on France, the 50,000 Prussian troops that had already been prepared crossed the border and launched an attack on Murat's Duchy of Cliff and Berg. After a fierce attack, Murat, who had less than 20,000 troops, quickly retreated under the powerful attack of the Prussian army, and finally had to retreat to the Wesel Fortress to stand for reinforcements, but the Wesel Fortress is a newly built fortress. It is not very strong, and there are still many places that have not been completed, so it is in danger under the attack of the Prussian army and is in danger of being broken through at any time.

Napoleon was angry when he was suddenly attacked by Prussia, and he clamored frantically in the Tuileries Palace to erase Prussia from the map of Europe. On October 2, the French Parliament passed the motion to declare war on Prussia with a 100% approval rate. On October 3, the legions stationed on the border began to rush towards Prussia. But they were still at least five days away from the battlefield. By the time they arrived, Fort Wesel might have already been destroyed, and Murat had already become a prisoner. Then he is probably the first captured marshal in the history of the empire.

The French army closest to Fort Wesel is the Third Army stationed in Cologne. They immediately went to rescue Murat after being attacked by Prussia, but they would not arrive until October 4 at the earliest. Without encountering the interception of the Prussian army, whether it can last until that moment depends on whether God bless Murat. But very unfortunately, on the afternoon of October 3, Marshal Lanz's Third Army encountered 50,000 Prussian troops when they arrived in Dusseldorf. Relying on advanced weapons, the Third Army eliminated at least 13,000 opponents at the cost of 5,000 people, but they could not completely defeat the opponent, which forced the rescue of Mulla to stop.

In fact, the French army closest to Murat is the army of King Louis of the Netherlands, but he has less than 20,000 people. In addition, he has to follow Napoleon's order to defend the long coastline of the Netherlands. It's already stretched. In addition, Louis didn't like Murat, an "outsider" who was competing with them for the throne. Even if he had enough troops, he would die. It would be nice to have one less powerful competitor.

In the end, the Wessel Fortress was breached by the Prussian army on October 5, and more than 10,000 French soldiers defending the Wessel Fortress were all killed or captured. However, Murat escaped with his own soldiers in disguise the night before breaking the city. It is estimated that the breach of Fort Wesel has a lot to do with the abandonment of the city by the general. On the afternoon of October 7th, Murat finally escaped to Marshal Lanz, but because of running for his life in the past few days, the appearance of Prince Murat today is no different from that of a beggar. On October 12, Murat returned to Napoleon's army. Napoleon forgave him for losing his territory and let him continue to lead his cavalry corps in battle. After resuming her duties, Murat swept away the previous decline and became arrogant again.

During this period of time, the battle situation has undergone great changes. First of all, Britain declared war on France on October 6, and sent a naval fleet to attack French ports and blockade the French coastline. On October 7, Russia also declared war on France, and the 300,000 expeditionary force that had already been ready to go in the morning rushed westward, and it was estimated that they could enter the battlefield by October 27 at the latest. With its powerful mobility, it is estimated that it can reach the battlefield around October 20. On October 8, France also formally declared war on Britain and Russia. On October 9, under strong pressure from France, the Rhineland Alliance also declared war on Prussia, Great Britain and Russia. The whole of Europe was once again spread by war.

On October 8, the Third Army of Marshal Lanz was attacked on both sides by the Prussian army after the fortress of Wesel and the Prussian army that had previously confronted the Third Army. Retreat to Cologne and join Marshal Marmont's Second Army from Frankfurt, and continue to maintain a confrontation with the Prussian army. The previous 100,000 Prussian army also had only more than 70,000 people left after two wars. Quite, the battle situation reached a stalemate.

On October 8, when the Lanz and Prussian armies were fighting fiercely, Napoleon's army had successfully assembled in southern Germany, including the Guards, the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Armies and the newly reorganized army. Xiao Jie's 88th Army. However, what made Xiao Jie very depressed was that Napoleon and his generals did not believe in the combat effectiveness of the newly reorganized 88th Army, and unanimously demanded that the 88th Army be responsible for the protection of the French army's transportation line. It made Xiao Jie want to cry without tears, and finally encountered a war and wanted to show his skills, but who knows that he was put on such an errand.

"Jealousy, they must be jealous of our 88th Army's strong fighting power, they are afraid that we will steal their credit." Xiao Jie said to a group of officers under him.

His officers also deeply agree with Xiao Jie's analysis. They are all young men of blood, and they are thinking about going to battle for the country to kill the enemy, but they did not expect that the final order of the command was to guard them. The transportation line, that is, serving as the reserve team of the French army with the Imperial Guard, don't mention how depressed I am.

In order to protect the long transport line, Xiao Jie's legion was divided into pieces. The legion headquarters and cavalry regiment, artillery regiment and transport regiment were in Würzburg, the 1st regiment was in Kitzingen, UU reading www.uukanshu.com the 2nd The regiment is in Bad Mergentheim, and the 3rd regiment is in Ehrenbach, which means that Xiao Jie now only has half of the regiment in his hands, with more than 10,000 people.

On October 9, Napoleon led an army of more than 180,000 people from the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Armies and the Cavalry Corps to the northeast to Jena, Naumburg, and Leipzig, looking for the Prussian army to fight. It is hoped that the main force of the Prussian army can be destroyed immediately, and then go straight to the Prussian capital Berlin. He would have the cowardly King of Prussia, Friedrich William III, kneel before him and kiss his toes like a dog.

As early as September, Napoleon wrote in a top-secret letter to his brother, King Louis of the Netherlands: "Mobilize your army, mobilize all your strength...hold your borders, and I will go straight to the Prussia, march into Berlin!" It can be seen that he has long wanted to use force against Prussia, whether or not Friedrich William III first declared war on France, this war between France and Prussia is impossible Avoided it.

At this time, the Prussian army in front of Napoleon's army consisted of two legions and an independent army. The two armies were commanded by the Duke of Brunswick and Prince Hohenlohe respectively, while the Independent Army was commanded by General Rachel. The total strength of the Prussian army is 140,000. Behind them there are 60,000 people of General Franz who are ready to assist them at any time, but 40,000 of these 60,000 people are improvised local troops. In general, although the Prussian army has a slight numerical advantage, in terms of combat effectiveness, the French army still has the advantage. Not to mention that behind them are the Guards Corps and the 88th Corps as reserves.

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