Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Three days later.

The soldiers on the Breslau Fortress were yawning in the warm morning light, leaning against the parapets and chatting about the harvest and women at home.

It wasn’t that they were slack; with tens of thousands of troops at the front, and the Oder River in between, there was no way there would be any battle here.

A corporal turned, preparing to relieve himself outside the fortress, but suddenly froze and said to the soldier beside him, “Am I seeing things, or is that a cannon?”

The other soldiers laughed and came over, but before they could lean out to look, they felt a tremor underfoot, and two of them were knocked down by the flying debris.

The belated roar of cannon fire finally reached their ears.

“Alert! Enemy attack!”

The commander of the fortress, looking through his binoculars at the densely packed Austrian soldiers on the eastern side and the continuously flashing artillery fire, turned pale.

At least 40,000 Austrian soldiers were attacking the fortress from the rear, while he had only a little over 3,000 soldiers under him.

Although the fortress’s defenses were incredibly solid, such a large disparity in numbers made it easy for it to fall under a strong enemy assault.

He hurriedly ordered that the cannons previously aimed toward the Oder River be moved to the east and dispatched several couriers to seek help from Prince Hornlow.

Outside the City of Liegnitz.

The Prussian army’s progress was going very smoothly; in less than two days’ time, they had essentially cleared the outer defenses of the city and were preparing to fully assault it.

Prince Hornlow watched the Austrians retreating in the distance and smiled at Scharnhorst beside him, “I knew Ludwig would attack our supply line, but the Austrians clearly underestimated our fortress.

“As long as there are 20,000 troops stationed there, I dare wager no one could take it.”

After Prussia made the decision to attack Liegnitz, he had ordered the Breslau Fortress to be strengthened, which had now formed a large ring fortification with three smaller ones.

Even if Archduke Karl pressed all his troops, he couldn’t break through there with 20,000 soldiers defending it.

Scharnhorst frowned slightly, “Your Highness, but why would the enemy attempt something clearly impossible?”

“Desperate gamble,” Prince Hornlow said dismissively. “He can only bet that we won’t return to defend in time and can seize Breslau; otherwise, he won’t have a chance to win this war.

“Do you know why I always have the Taunqian Corps slow down their march?

“It’s so they can return to Breslau as soon as needed.”

“But…”

Scharnhorst wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Prince Hornlow, “Once we occupy Liegnitz, we’ll immediately head west over the Sudeten Mountains and launch an attack on Prague.

“At that time, Ludwig will only be able to abandon Breslau and hastily retreat to defend his homeland. So, the fortress only needs to hold for half a month; there will be no surprises.”

Scharnhorst could not think of anything wrong, so he saluted and went to the strategists to plan the deployment for the strong attack on the City of Liegnitz.

Noon the next day.

Prussian Taunqian was looking through his binoculars at the rushing waves of the Oder River, ready to confirm the condition of the ferry boats with his staff, when he faintly heard the sound of gunfire and cannons from the south.

He frowned immediately, “Send someone to see what’s happening?”

Before his hussars could set out, a courier came hastily to report to him, “General, our right wing has been attacked by surprise. At least ten thousand…

Taunqian’s face stiffened, “How is this possible?”

He quickly turned to the order officer and shouted, “Quick, let the cavalry camp hold off the enemy!”

However, just as his cavalry set out, over 3,000 Austrian cavalry attacked from the direction of the Oder River, instantly scattering his front troops—the Prussian army was in a forced march and couldn’t form up for defense.

Soon after, Archduke Karl personally led over 10,000 infantry, following behind the cavalry, launching a pursuit of Taunqian’s routed troops.

It wasn’t until this moment that Taunqian was still dumbfounded.

According to his understanding, half of the Austrian army should have been defending Liegnitz, and the other 40,000 were besieging the Breslau Fortress.

So where did these Austrians suddenly emerge from?

He had never realized that from the beginning, Archduke Karl had abandoned Liegnitz, leaving over 10,000 in Liegnitz to press outside the city over the past few days, creating the illusion of a large defense force in the city.

Meanwhile, 17,000 Austrian soldiers had been lying in wait upstream of the Oder River. Yesterday afternoon, Archduke Karl had secretly led several thousands of elite Royal Moravian Legionaries across the river from the south, laying ambush positions on the west bank.

The Taunqian Corps was swiftly routed in unpreparedness.

The pursuit went on until nightfall, stopping only when the Austrian hussars’ horses were exhausted.

By this time, the 20,000 soldiers Taunqian had brought were no longer in any organized units.

On the banks of the Oder River, Archduke Karl collected the summary of results submitted by the staff officer, his face showing no sign of relief, as he ordered, “Command the engineer corps to complete the pontoon bridge by dawn.

“Leave the Dieterma Corps to continue containing the Breslau Fortress. The main force will head to Hirschberg tomorrow.”

Hirschberg was an important city connecting Liegnitz to the Sudeten Pass.

Although the Austrians had won a major victory, overall, they were still slightly weaker than the enemy in numbers.

If Prince Hornlow’s troops were truly to cross the Sudeten Mountains, there would be no forces capable of stopping him within the entire Austrian territory. Not only Prague, but even Vienna might be at risk.

So he had to seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack in the region of Hirschberg before the Prussian army crossed the Sudeten Mountains.

However, what Archduke Karl did not anticipate was that all his plans would not be used.

When he arrived urgently, marching towards Schwednitz, over 40 kilometers from Hirschberg, he learned from the officers retreating from the City of Liegnitz that the Prussian main force was still resting in the city.

It couldn’t be helped; Prince Hornlow had had such a smooth campaign that he felt the Austrians had no fight left in them and ordered the soldiers to loot the city for three days.

Without the pressure to defend the Sudeten Pass, Archduke Karl breathed a sigh of relief and instructed the staff to gather all the officers and began to organize systematically.

On the other side, Prince Hornlow, who received the news of the complete annihilation of the Taunqian Corps, fell into panic.

It was evident he had made a grave miscalculation regarding the Austrian forces’ deployment.

At present, in the city hall of Liegnitz, he was frowning at the map. After a good seven or eight minutes, he finally exhaled and said to Scharnhorst and others, “Although we’ve lost part of our forces, our war objective, that is to seize Liegnitz, has been achieved.

“Overall, we still hold the advantage in the situation.

“Next, we just need to firmly defend Liegnitz, and Ludwig will have no choice but to launch a strong attack here.”

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