Chapter 846: 754: The Savior

Chapter 846: Chapter 754: The Savior

The Austrian soldiers within the city were shocked, but their vision was obstructed by their own comrades; some even had their heads trampled by fleeing troops jumping down from the walls. For a moment, they were unable to fire effectively.

In the midst of this brief chaos, several French Army columns had already charged close to the city walls.

An Austrian officer shouted frantically, “Idiots, get out of the way! Fire, fire! Drive them back!”

Under his command, gunfire finally erupted from behind the battlements, and a dozen French soldiers fell to the ground in response.

However, within seconds, those soldiers rubbed the places where they’d been hit, got back on their feet, picked up their guns, and continued shouting as they strode quickly towards the walls.

After over a year of preparation, the direct corps of the French Army was now fully equipped with bullet-proof inserts, especially the soldiers in the front rows of the charge, who carried the “reinforced” version of the inserts.

As long as they weren’t hit in the head or neck, getting shot from a distance of 40 paces would basically pose no life-threatening risk.

The “resurgence” of the French soldiers threw the Austrian soldiers into further disarray, and the gunfire from the city became increasingly sparse.

The two fastest French columns had already reached the base of the walls; some soldiers spread out to provide suppressive fire while others began scaling the low walls…

General Lefebvre, still coordinating artillery bombardment against the walls, suddenly noticed that chaos had erupted on the Austrian eastern flank.

A moment later, a messenger arrived on horseback and shouted, “General, Major Davout has already breached the city!”

Lefebvre smiled and shook his head—this young Davout fought with such ferocity that he had broken through the enemy’s defenses without even using the artillery.

He immediately ordered the troops to redirect their movement east and followed Davout’s breach to enter Wavre.

The city was strewn with the corpses of Austrian soldiers, but the buildings hadn’t suffered severe damage. At this moment, the residents were all hiding in their homes, too afraid to come out, making the streets eerily quiet.

Lefebvre was pondering where the enemy’s primary defensive focus might be when another messenger arrived to report that Davout had already seized the iron ore warehouse in the city’s center…

At the temporary French command post outside Wavre, Jiaya’er stared at the Crown Prince of France in astonishment. “Your Highness, did you say the Flemish uprisings in Landen, At, and other areas have already been quelled?”

Joseph replied calmly, “I sent people to handle them as soon as we entered the Walloon Region. Judging by the timeline, it should be resolved by now.”

Jiaya’er quickly said, “But such matters shouldn’t disperse your valuable forces.”

Joseph smiled and shook his head. “Just three companies. Nothing worth worrying about.”

Indeed, Joseph had sent just over 300 soldiers to stabilize the situation in the Walloon Region.

This was also why he initially dared to instruct the Walloon Chamber of Commerce to ignore the uprisings and concentrate the police forces against the Austrian Army.

Following Joseph’s orders, the Chamber of Commerce directed city officials to evacuate in advance to avoid the destruction of the uprisings.

When the French Army arrived, they gathered local residents to join the army in attacking the rebels.

The Walloon people held deep hatred towards the Flemish instigators of the uprisings. As long as the French Army suppressed the rebels with firepower upfront, the Walloons would charge forward like beasts and tear the rebels apart.

Especially since the rebels didn’t receive the expected support from the Austrian Army and instead heard that the French Army had already entered the Walloon Region, their will to resist crumbled entirely.

Under such circumstances, sixty or seventy French soldiers could pacify an entire city’s uprising.

Joseph had a deeper intent behind these arrangements: to establish the French Army’s prestige in the Walloon Region.

The Walloon citizens expelled the rebel scum and reclaimed their peaceful lives under the leadership of French soldiers. To them, the French soldiers were heroes, saviors.

If anyone suggested integrating the Walloon Region into France at this moment, it would undoubtedly receive unanimous support.

While discussing the matter of suppressing the uprisings with the Crown Prince, Jiaya’er watched as an officer knocked on the door and entered, standing at attention before the Crown Prince. “Your Highness, General Lefebvre has breached Wavre. He estimates the battle will be concluded within two hours.”

Jiaya’er was stunned, his eyes wide in disbelief. It had only been an hour and a half since the Crown Prince issued orders to attack the Austrian forces.

To put it into perspective, over the past few days, the 10,000 Austrian troops had taken three whole days to barely breach the city when facing 4,000 Walloon police officers.

And now, despite their numerical disadvantage, the French Army was demonstrating an utterly terrifying combat power!

Two hours later, calm gradually returned to Wavre.

Jiaya’er felt slightly unreal as he led the Walloon police officers into the city to rest before nightfall.

At 6 PM, Jiaya’er, being the person most familiar with the area around Wavre, was invited to attend the French Army’s tactical meeting.

Inside the temporary meeting chamber, a captain serving as a staff officer briefed the attendees in front of a map, detailing the intelligence gathered by the cavalry scouts: “Currently, all enemy forces within Wavre have been cleared out.

“Radetsky’s main force, numbering around 6,000, has retreated to Mafnie Town, 9 kilometers away.”

Count Radetsky had completely underestimated how quickly the French Army would arrive. Thus, the Austrian forces stationed north of the city were in disarray, frantically trying to enter the city when Lefebvre’s forces mounted their attack, which led to their near-immediate collapse.

Radetsky had reacted relatively swiftly, ordering his elite grenadier battalion and a scattered troop to cover the retreat. Supported by the dimming daylight, he succeeded in withdrawing his main force.

Nevertheless, in merely half a day, he had lost over 4,000 troops at Wavre.

The staff officer continued, “The general staff estimates that Marshal Josias’s main force will arrive in Mafnie Town by tomorrow afternoon, with a strength of approximately 40,000 soldiers.”

Josias was the name of Prince Coburg.

Lefebvre frowned and addressed the logistics staff officer, “When can the Fourth Infantry Division arrive?”

The officer promptly replied, “Barring unforeseen circumstances, they should reach Wavre by midday tomorrow.”

Lefebvre let out a breath of relief and turned to Joseph. “Your Highness, the enemy will certainly rush to reclaim Wavre City. I propose setting up an ambush here using Wavre as bait.

“Specifically, let Mr. Jiaya’er’s police force defend the city while we position our main forces southwest of Mafnie Town. When Josias’s core troops head toward Wavre, we attack their flanks and rear.”

Davout immediately added, “We could also seize Mafnie Town at the same time, cutting off the Austrian retreat.”

Joseph didn’t immediately respond but instead lifted his eyes towards the map. “Based on the Austrians’ marching speed, the Josias Army should currently be near Yukler.”

Lefebvre instinctively nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Joseph squinted slightly. “Tell me, if you were Marshal Josias, what would you think our next move would be?”

Lefebvre thought for a moment and replied, “He’d likely think we plan to hold Wavre.”

Wavre was a key passage south of Brussels. Simply holding the location would block the Austrians from advancing further south to Namur.

Joseph nodded. “Then let’s ensure he guesses wrong.”