New Shun 1730

As soon as five o'clock arrived and day broke, the Prussian army officially set off.

Frederick II was on his horse, with a gloomy face, and said to the staff of the observation group in Dashun: "Gentlemen, the situation is very unfavorable. The Hungarian cavalry obviously discovered the problem of our camping, and keenly seized the opportunity. I hope they can all be defeated.”

"Fortunately, with the help of the goddess of luck, my cavalry discovered the movements of the Austrians. Prince Dessau is an excellent general. He will hold on at Chatusitz. As long as we hold on until nine o'clock, there is still a possibility of victory."

"I can hear that the Lord who sent you here, the Lord Marquis, you respect him very much. And it was he who commanded the battle against the Mongols with many cavalry. If it were him, what would he do now?"

As he asked, he controlled the war horses and led more than a thousand elite Guards Cavalry and Grenadier Cavalry to gallop quickly towards Chatusitz.

As the king and commander-in-chief, he needed to go there first to boost morale and let the soldiers there know that the king did not run away like the last battle of Morwitz.

Only in this way can the soldiers of the Prince of Dessau's Corps be allowed to hold on until the main force arrives. This is to stabilize the morale of the troops, boost morale, and let the soldiers know that the commander-in-chief has not escaped and everything is still under plan.

The following main infantry will march in formation and catch up as soon as possible.

Since Frederick II asked this question at this time, Dashun's staff of course had to answer, especially the old subordinates who had been there for many years. When Liu Yu came, he was told not to lose the military power of Dashun. At this time, he himself It's merciless.

"Your Highness the King, with all due respect, if Marquis Whale leads the army, he will never let the two legions be so far apart when camping when there is insufficient cavalry and they are deep into the enemy's hinterland."

"In fact... as a member of the staff, Marquis Jing does not need to personally make arrangements for camping and marching. If such low-level mistakes in camping occur, members of our staff will be shot directly. Of course, it is impossible This happens."

At this time, Prussia still had a staff department, but it only had a "munitions director" modeled after Sweden, who was mainly responsible for logistics. The responsibilities of the staff department were not yet clear.

The general staff here in Dashun had to formulate camping plans and marching routes, and what they said was true. At least if the Qingzhou Army faced such a situation, it would never have made such a big mistake regarding the camping issue.

Dashun's staff mocked a little, then continued: "In the past, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty asked Wei Guogong about the art of war, and he talked about offense and defense."

"Our ancient military strategist Sun Wuzi once said that those who cannot win must defend, and those who can win must attack."

"However, the beauty of using the art of war lies in being single-minded. The offensive and defensive momentum can be transformed into each other."

"As for offense and defense, Li Weigong said: Offense is the transformation of defense, and defense is the means of offense. Both are for defeating the enemy. But some people only have a superficial understanding of the art of war, and they say that defense means lack of strength and offense means more than enough strength. This is They don’t understand the true meaning of offense and defense.”

"Li Weigong said that the conversion between offense and defense is an important condition for victory. A truly famous general must understand that offense is the transformation of defense and defense is the means of offense, instead of simply understanding that insufficient troops mean defense and surplus troops. Just attack.”

"So, if the Jinghou Marquis uses troops, he should switch between offense and defense."

"Use the cavalry of our formation to attack rather than defend. While the Austrians are not yet stable, we rely on the cavalry's tactical mobility to arrive at Chatusitz in advance and storm the Austrian flanks."

"This seems to be an attack, but in fact it is to gain time to complete the arrangement of the defensive formation, delay the battle time, and allow our main force to arrive."

"These cavalry that are attacking the Austrians will be abandoned. They are unlikely to win, and may even be driven off the battlefield, but because they have bought time, the main force of infantry can be deployed. If the main force of infantry can be deployed, there will still be A glimmer of hope.”

"The attack of the cavalry is for the defense of the whole army; and the defense of the whole army is for the attack when a fighter appears in the future."

"This is the formation stage. As for when the fighter planes will appear and when they will switch from defense to offense, it depends on the battlefield sense of the battlefield commander."

"Relying on cavalry attacks to defend and gain time means giving up cavalry and considering the need to complete the entire battle without cavalry support in subsequent battles."

"When Jinghou attacked Junggar, he relied on infantry to sweep the flanks, column marches to maneuver, and hollow squares as anvils to complete the division and encirclement."

"The main purpose of a battle is to eliminate the enemy's physical strength. If the people and the land are lost, they can be recovered; if the people and the land are lost, the land will be lost sooner or later. The best result of the battle is a war of annihilation."

"When the enemy has the advantage of cavalry and our own cavalry wants to take the initiative to attack and send them away, how to fight a battle of annihilation is a test for the commander."

"And all of this is based on the enemy's mistakes."

Frederick II listened carefully to the explanation of Dashun's staff, especially the legendary Li Weigong's words, "Offense is the transformation of defense, and defense is the means of offense."

At least on the current battlefield, what Staff Dashun said coincided with his.

Yes, in the current situation, we can only send cavalry. Send the cavalry out and send a defeating attack to buy time for the main force to arrive.

The Austrian cavalry is very powerful. The cavalry in his hands is definitely not able to tear open the Austrian front line. Moreover, the Prince of Dessau Corps in Chatusitz has only more than 5,000 infantry, which is barely enough to hold the line. It is impossible for him to follow the cavalry to attack.

If the cavalry tears open the front line, it will be in vain if the infantry does not follow up. Moreover, the Prussian army is already short of cavalry, but now there is no other way, so it can only be like this.

The opinions are so consistent, and the person who said these words is just a staff officer on the Dashun side. Frederick II probably knows what the staff officer on the Dashun side means. It is a bit like the quartermaster general, but not quite. Even the staff officer can understand the conversion of "attack and defense". What level are the real famous generals on the Dashun side?

The staff officer on the Dashun side said that they can only rely on the Austrians to make mistakes, which also hits the heart of Frederick II. The Austrians have too much advantage, not only in terms of manpower, but also in the advantage of the first move, and the disadvantage brought by their mistake in camping yesterday. If the other side does not make a mistake, this battle will definitely be lost.

Frederick II has made his choice.

If he doesn't dare to bet that the Austrians will make a mistake, he can only abandon Prince Dessau's legion, abandon 9,000 soldiers, flee Bohemia, preserve his strength, and plan to defend Berlin. Admit defeat quickly, be a small country honestly, and don't think about Silesia.

If he dares to bet that the Austrians will make a mistake, he can only do as Dashun's staff said, go all in at the beginning, throw out all the cavalry, buy time for the main force to deploy and the arrival of reinforcements, and wait for the Austrians to make a mistake. Once the bet is lost, Berlin may be gone, and he will have to abdicate.

Now he is gambling, and there is no way out.

Looking at Chatusitz in the distance, he drew a cross on his chest with the title of "Protestant Savior" inherited from his father, praying that the Austrians will make a huge mistake in the upcoming battle.

Seven o'clock.

The Guards Cavalry and Grenadiers led by Frederick II arrived at Chatusitz first, and the Austrians on the opposite side had already begun to line up.

When Frederick II encouraged morale and conveyed the order of cavalry assault to buy time with the sacrifice of cavalry, the staff of the Dashun Observation Group looked at the Austrian army in the distance and couldn't help shaking their heads.

The three staffs exchanged a few words in Chinese and came to an almost unanimous conclusion.

Is the Austrian commander mentally ill?

Either get up early and set off at four or five o'clock, because it is impossible to march in the dark, and there is no need to worry about the main force of Prussia coming to support.

In three hours, can't we eat up these 9,000 people? If we eat up these 9,000 people, won't the war be over? Prussia has lost a legion, so can't we just run away?

As a result, we have been dawdling until now to prepare for the attack, and the damn Prussian reinforcement cavalry has rushed over.

From five to seven o'clock, it's a whole hour.

If we start fighting early, even if Frederick II is ready to send cavalry to buy time, he won't be able to make it.

Or, if we find that there is no chance of sneak attack and no chance of eating alone, then what's the point of fighting?

Just retreat.

This is in Bohemia, you still have the advantage of cavalry, and the Hungarian light cavalry far superior to Prussia can constantly harass, sneak attack, and attack logistics.

Prussia will definitely take the initiative to seek an opportunity for a decisive battle, so doesn't the choice of the battlefield belong to you Austria?

This broken place is full of hills, and you can't fully play your cavalry and manpower advantages.

Choose a plain, with superior manpower and absolute cavalry, and the other side is eager to fight, so this battle can't be fought casually?

Originally, you were thinking of a sneak attack, but if the sneak attack failed, you changed to a strong attack and a decisive battle. How capable are you to complete the redeployment of troops in just a few hours without the assistance of the staff?

Or, whether you don't sneak attack or take the initiative to retreat, at least send out the cavalry to bypass, block, and delay the march of Prussia's reinforcements.

As a result, Prussia's two-hour march was not hindered at all. What's going on? With such a huge cavalry advantage, if you delay it a little, the infantry's march of three or four hours will be delayed to six or seven hours. Isn't this enough for you to capture Chatusitz and eat up the nine thousand Prussians?

After the Dashun staff exchanged ideas, they shook their heads and thought that Prussia had almost no chance of winning, but now it seems that the outcome is unknown.

At this time, the Prussian cavalry had already begun to form a team. It seems that the cavalry must be sent away to buy time.

One of the three whispered, "Even if Prussia wins, it is estimated that it will not be able to fight in the future. If all the cavalry are sent away in one wave, and this battle is won, what's the point of fighting the next battle? As long as Austria is not turned into an annihilation battle, as long as the cavalry advantage can be used well, even if it loses or is turned into a rout, Prussia will be finished."