I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 446: Opportunities for detours must be earned

Marshal Lacy could not persuade the French Crown Prince at all. After all, the Crown Prince was not under his command and his status was much higher than his. So he had to immediately report the situation in a letter to Vienna.

The next morning, General Kellermann led his army past the Prussian position with great ceremony, saluted politely to their opponents, and then marched to Ratibor.

On the Prussian side, the Duke of Brunswick looked at the French army's backs gradually receding through the telescope, frowned, and said to himself:
"There are more than 20,000 troops, and judging from their direction, they are definitely heading towards Ratibor."

He suddenly put away the telescope and said to General Drissen beside him:

"We have seriously underestimated Leo's importance to Austria! Lacy is willing to sacrifice the troops on the front battlefield to rescue him."

General Krokov, commander of the Prussian cavalry, said:
"Marshal, we can take this opportunity to concentrate our forces to break through the Austrian defenses!"

The Duke of Brunswick was silent for a long time before he shook his head and said:
"The risk of launching a large-scale offensive on the front battlefield is too great. I think the success rate of killing Leo is obviously higher. We only need to dispatch more troops than the Austrians!"

At the same time, in the tent of General Maurice, commander of the Silesian Front in Saxony, an official who came from Dresden to deliver supplies was giving him advice very seriously:

"Do you know that there are news reports all over the country about Leo being captured? It is said that Leopold II is going crazy!"

He had just received money from a businessman the day before yesterday. It was said that the latter had a grudge against Leo, so he paid a large sum of money to persuade General Mosley to kill that Austrian bastard.

Of course, the so-called Saxon merchants were members of the French Intelligence Service.

It's a duty to repay a favor, and this matter is not a big deal. I'm just delivering a message. It's General Morris's business to decide what to do.

"But I heard that Leo was just surrounded, not captured." He smiled. "Now the whole of Europe is paying attention to Leo's situation. If you can help in capturing him, you will become famous."

As he was speaking, an officer entered the tent and whispered something in Morris's ear.

The latter narrowed his eyes immediately, and the officer told him that at noon today, General Pedrison, Duke of Brunswick, led nearly 3 soldiers to Ratibor.

Morris made a quick decision and said to his official friend:

"You are right. I should go to Ratibor."

That afternoon, the Duke of Brunswick could not resist the Saxon commander's constant pleading and agreed to send 7 Saxon troops to reinforce General Elwin.

On the other side, General Ernst, commander of the Bavarian Army, looked at Berthier and nodded:
"It is indeed as you said. General Leo's condition is very dangerous."

After the rebellion in the Southern Netherlands was suppressed, Archduke Karl Ottoor of Bavaria no longer had any intention of exchanging the place - the Southern Netherlands was devastated by war, and at the same time, the Wallonia region was involved in the interests of the French, and it no longer looked like a place where the Burgundy dynasty could be established.

Therefore, Ottodor has always wanted to withdraw from the Austrian-Prussian Alliance, or at least did not want to continue to get involved in the trouble between Prussia and Austria, but he was worried about offending Austria, so he still maintains an army of more than 6 people fighting in Silesia.

General Ernst naturally knew what his king meant, and at this time he felt that Ratibor was a good opportunity.

If he could take part in rescuing Leo, an important figure in Austria, and then ask him to speak well of him in front of Leopold II, Bavaria might be able to withdraw from Silesia.

The next morning, he personally led the main force of the Bavarian Army and quietly rushed to Ratibor. In this era of extremely backward communications, as long as he kept a low profile, leaving the station for a week or two would not alert Marshal Lacy. At this time, the only people in the entire Silesia surrounding area who did not focus on Ratibor were Joseph and his Guards Corps.

"Your Highness, Breslau is ahead." Berthier pulled back the reins and pointed to the place where the river disappeared into the hills in the distance. "Look, that's the Bull River."

Joseph was not very impressed with the topography of Silesia. He took out the map and compared it with the map. Then he nodded and said:
"Let the chasseurs expand the search area. The Prussians may not necessarily take the shortest route."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Berthier gave a few instructions to the herald and urged his horse to catch up with the Prince and others.

Yes, they are inspecting the battlefield at this time.

The Guards Corps left the Liegnitz front the day before and in less than two days, it marched quickly to the junction of Oberen and Breslau on the east side.

Although this is Prussian territory, almost all the Prussian troops that can be mobilized have been transferred to Ratibor, and they did not encounter any enemies along the way.

Of course, Joseph's actions were also extremely risky.

This is the heartland of Silesia. If the Duke of Brunswick reacts at this moment and immediately dispatches troops to cut off the Guards Corps' retreat to the west, they can be surrounded in less than half a day.

But Joseph knew that the Prussians' attention was on Ratibor, and the remaining energy had to be focused on the Liegnitz front, so his quick entry would definitely be safe.

Most importantly, the Guards Corps was extremely mobile, considering the efficiency of the Prussian Army today.

Even if the garrison discovered any signs of the Guards, by the time they reported it to the Duke of Brunswick and the latter sent troops to intercept them, the Guards might have already "finished their work" and evacuated.

After carefully checking the situation on the preset battlefield, Joseph and the officers of the General Staff returned to the camp and repeatedly discussed the specific combat plan. Until dusk, the Prussian army still had not arrived here.

The Driesen Corps left Liegnitz three days ago. The Guards Corps set out half a day later than them, but arrived first and waited for them here for another half a day.

Around 10 o'clock the next morning, the rapid hooves of the hunting cavalry stopped outside the staff tent. A cavalryman jumped off the saddle and said to the oncoming legion:

"Prussian troops have been spotted, 4 kilometers to the northeast. There are at least of them."

It’s not that the Guards Corps’ reconnaissance efforts were not strong enough, but mainly to avoid being discovered by the Prussians, so the hunting cavalry were not dispersed too far.

In the tent, Joseph and Berthier smiled at each other: "Finally they are here."

"Yes, they march really slowly."

The combat order was quickly issued to each company, and then the entire Guards Corps was mobilized.

Unlike the raid patterns of other European armies, the cavalry artillery of the Guards Corps, under the cover of cavalry, crossed the infantry battalion and rushed straight towards the Prussian army.

(End of this chapter)