The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 883 The Blood-Red Danube (Part 1)

In June 1809, the Austrian Empire was essentially ready.

On June 12, Emperor Joseph I of Austria, along with his family and relatives of important figures in the Austrian Empire, secretly traveled to Pozzoni, which later became the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava.

The reason Joseph I went to Pozoni in secret was that the Austrian Empire had been weakened too much in the treaty following the Battle of Austerlitz.

Although Upper Austria, including Salzburg, to the west of Vienna was not formally ceded, it was essentially under French control.

Under French control, a large number of small Holy Roman Empire states that were dependent on France replaced the Austrians here, while the French army also stationed troops in nearby Munich to support these small states.

In other words, the area west of Vienna is basically under French control, and the French army could reach Vienna within three days if they wanted to.

This is the biggest reason why the Austrians had to mobilize all their forces, and also the reason why Austria believed it when Mogonze revised the Treaty of Erfurt between Russia and France, claiming that France and Russia would partition Austria.

Because that's the reality: France was indeed using the Confederation of the Rhine to constantly erode Austrian territory, and Tsarist Russia was also eyeing Bohemia.

Mo Gongze rode on his warhorse, leading ten thousand soldiers toward the battlefield.

Upon seeing his banner, large numbers of Austrian Landwell infantrymen, dressed in simple clothes and carrying old-fashioned smoothbore flintlock muskets or even matchlock muskets, immediately made way for him.

Landville, in Austrian German, means "defender of the homeland," and refers to a militia. In Chinese terms, it would be equivalent to a "united soldier" or "righteous soldier."

Although Franz I told Mogonze that the empire only had 60,000 troops, these 60,000 were the elite regular troops that Austria could currently mobilize.

In fact, Austria made a desperate gamble this time, conscripting at least 120,000 people, including militias like Landwell.

When the Landvilles on the roadside saw that it was Mogongze himself under the flag, they immediately cheered. Many of them even bowed respectfully before cheering.

Nationalism is such a strange thing. To outsiders, it seems that Mogölze is clearly elevating the status of Hungarians and trying to split the empire. Austrians should be very disgusted with him or even oppose him.

In reality, however, in the hearts of the Austrians, Moggenberg was second only to the Emperor and Archduke Karl, ranking third below them.

Because in the eyes of the Austrians, Mogonze was not a Hungarian at all; he was Queen Theresa's favorite grandson and a key member of the Habsburg family who grew up in Queen Theresa's arms.

As for his Seres royal lineage, doesn't that further prove Prince Ferdinand's noble lineage?

The Seres Empire is far to the east; having Seres blood would be even better, as it would bring more benefits to the Austrians from the east.

Under this view, many Austrians believed that Mogonze was not leading the Hungarians to independence, but rather making efforts to keep the Hungarians within the empire.

Prince Ferdinand was working to reconcile the nation, not to divide it.

Many people even believe that even if the Kingdom of Hungary split from the Austrian Empire, these Austrians will still go to Hungary to do all sorts of things, and there won't be much difference from before.

Of course, this is partly true. In the Kingdom of Hungary controlled by Mogonze, there were quite a few Austrians, and many of his civil and military officials were also Austrians.

Half an hour later, Mo Gongze arrived at his cousin Archduke Karl's command tent, which was only twelve kilometers away from Vienna. It could be said that if the battle was lost, Vienna would fall for the second time.

"Ferdinand, you've finally arrived. Our plan is half complete. Napoleon Bonaparte has indeed led his army in pursuit."

Upon seeing Mo Gongze arrive, Grand Duke Karl was visibly pleased. Mo Gongze, looking at the much thinner Grand Duke Karl, remarked with some emotion:

"My cousin has sacrificed too much for the empire, and the people of Austria have also made too many sacrifices. We must win this battle so that Napoleon will never dare to underestimate us again."

Mo Gongze said this because the war between Austria and France had actually started two months earlier.

In April, the Austrian Empire officially declared war on France and launched feint attacks from Poland and Italy to lure France into believing that Austria would still focus its main battleground in southern Prussia, around Munich.

Napoleon indeed thought so, and that's how he orchestrated things. Archduke Charles went all out, leading his army to attack Bavaria, a loyal ally of the French Empire.

Napoleon then led his army to the rescue, and a clash broke out between 150,000 troops from both sides in the town of Ekmir in Bavaria. The French army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, while the Austrian army was defeated and suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

The Austrian army then retreated to its homeland, pursued closely by the French army, and a second battle ensued around Ebersberg Castle in Bavaria.

The two sides were essentially evenly matched this time, with the French army achieving its strategic objectives at the cost of over 7,000 casualties.

The Austrian army suffered nearly 6,000 casualties, but also lost a batch of supplies and was "forced" to retreat to Kölnburg, only 12 kilometers from Vienna, for a final defense.

"Ferdinand, all of the Empire's major armies have now appeared on the battlefield, including your Hungarian Sibiu Cavalry Division and Buda Cavalry Division, which have suffered some casualties."

I think there's no more realistic battle in the world than this; Napoleon must have thought this was our entire force.

Archduke Karl and Moggenberg's plan was simple: Archduke Karl would lead the entire army of the Austrian Empire to fight France in a real battle.

If they can win, then the Austrian army can go in themselves and end the war directly.

If they can't win, they can retreat to the vicinity of Córno-sur-Côte d'Azur to lure the French army there, and then send 20,000 Anxi troops as a surprise force to deliver a fatal blow to France at a crucial moment.

“We have received information that the French army will cross the river near Ebersdorf, to our southwest, and they have already built a bridge there.”

Archduke Karl pointed out the crossing point for the French army on the map to Maurice. This place, called Ebersdorf, originally housed a Habsburg family hunting and recreation palace, which was later used as a military camp.

In the river directly opposite the military camp, there are some islands that are the best places for large troops to cross the Danube, which has a large volume of water.

"The Anxi Army of the Seris Empire is currently secretly hiding somewhere in Pozoni (Bratislava), just over a hundred kilometers away from here. Even if they come at full speed, it will take them at least three days."

The arrival of the Anxi army in the Austrian Empire was kept top secret.

For the past six months, Mo Gongze had been mixing the Anxi army with his Xia Fan Three Guards army, taking advantage of the fact that Europeans were not good at distinguishing Chinese faces to hide the Anxi army.

Meanwhile, France's infiltration of Austria was limited, and Napoleon did not place particular importance on intelligence; at least, the French were unaware when Archduke Charles led the Austrian army out.

Napoleon had a large number of Germans who had defected to him, and he was not very clear about the situation in Vienna, let alone the fact that he had to go through Budapest to find out the intelligence on the Anxi army.

Therefore, Napoleon knew that Mogongze had received some aid from his father's country, the Seres Empire, but he thought it was probably just a normal supplement to the Xia Fan Three Guards.

After all, this kind of retirement-replacement situation has occurred many times in the past twenty years.

"I'll give you five days. The Austrians need to hold out for their empire. You should let the Seres Empire's army rest well so that they can deliver the final blow to the French when they arrive on the battlefield in high spirits."

Archduke Karl's voice was low as he tried to hide the worry on his face, because if they lost this battle, Vienna would fall once again.

Most importantly, the Austrian Empire had little left to use for peace negotiations, and if this were to happen again, it might become the Electorate of Vienna.

“Karl, I am also an Austrian. I will stay, and my personal guard will stay to fight alongside the Imperial army.”

As for the Anxi army, they have a great commander who will surely arrive on time. Mo Gongze made the decision to stay.

He didn't really care much about the Austrian Empire, but the Habsburg family absolutely could not fall.

This ancient family, which once ruled half of Europe, is the most important symbol of Mogungze's identity in Europe, and it cannot be easily destroyed by the French.

"Alright, then let's fight side by side and make Napoleon Bonaparte suffer a great loss this time!"

Exhausted, Grand Duke Karl's eyes showed emotion. He reached out and patted Mo Gongze on the shoulder, speechless.

6 month 15 day.

The Austrian army received accurate intelligence that the French army had determined the crossing point, which was near the former site of the Ebersdorf Palace, and that the crossing had already begun.

Archduke Karl immediately issued an order to rush to the scene and intercept the enemy. The Austrian army was divided into four legions, totaling 105,000 men, and rushed to the battlefield at top speed.

6 month 16 day.

The French army did indeed cross the river here; in fact, about 30,000 of them had already crossed.

This French army occupied the villages of Aspern and Esslin on the north bank of the Danube River, and used the open space between the two villages as the landing site for the French army.

Attack while the river is halfway across!

Grand Duke Karl and Mogongze exchanged a glance and simultaneously determined their battle plan.

The so-called "attacking while the enemy is crossing" does not mean attacking them while they are still crossing the river. That means defending the terrain and not killing many people.

"Attack while the enemy is crossing" refers to launching an attack when the enemy's number of troops crossing the river is close to half, or after most of their elite troops have crossed the river, in order to wipe out the enemy's crossing force.

“I think 30,000 men is about right; that’s the limit we can handle,” Archduke Karl said first. Although the Austrian army has improved significantly, three against one France is about the limit. Any more than that and it wouldn’t be a matter of attacking halfway across the river, but rather being defeated by less than half of their forces.

"Let half of them pass!" Mo Gongze slammed his right fist into his left palm. "If only 30,000 pass, even if we annihilate them all, it will be difficult to seriously damage Napoleon."

Moreover, we may not be able to completely annihilate the French army, because they have a fleet on the Danube, while we only have some merchant ships.”

Archduke Karl thought it made sense and gritted his teeth and agreed. As a result, the Austrian army, which had already arrived at the battlefield, waited until the next day before launching their attack.

6 month 17 day.

Austrian vanguard General von Schiller, with 20,000 troops, suddenly launched an attack on the French army in Aspern.

The French army numbered only a little over two thousand in the village and was quickly driven out of Aspern.

But this is normal, because the high ground of Aspern Village can only accommodate two or three thousand people, and it is not easy to defend unless one has a very strong will to fight.

Sure enough, in the ensuing mass assault launched by Marshal Masséna's French forces, the several thousand Austrian troops stationed there could not withstand the attack and were driven out.

An hour later, the Austrian army deployed 30,000 men, with 3,000 men as the core unit, and launched a continuous attack on Aspern village in ten waves.

Austrian artillerymen lined up their cannons more than a thousand meters away and bombarded the village of Aspern. The tactic was very simple: after the cannons bombarded the infantry, the infantry would charge, and when they could no longer charge, the cannons would bombard them again, and then the infantry would charge again, and the cannons would bombard them again.

The French army used the same tactics; Masséna also divided his more than 10,000 troops into five or six groups, rotating them in shifts to defend.

However, the French army only had half the number of artillery that the Austrian army had when they crossed the river, so their firepower was still somewhat inferior.

Similar to the village of Esslin, the Austrian nobleman Prince Rosenberg led 15,000 men to attack French Marshal Jean Lannes. Due to the confined space, there was no room for opportunism in the battle.

The Austrian troops, dressed in black uniforms, advanced into the village with a dense human wall, guided by drumbeats and flags, displaying courage and decisiveness far exceeding the French's expectations.

The French troops under Marshal Jean Lannes, who were defending, were in a similar situation. This unit had a high proportion of veterans, and they fought behind the breastwork against Austrian troops who outnumbered them three to one, repelling Austrian attacks on multiple occasions.

As the fighting intensified, the French and Austrian troops, situated between the villages of Aspern and Eslin, were also forced to become increasingly involved in the battle.

Napoleon arrived at Lobo Island in the Danube River. Although he clearly felt the Austrian army's strong offensive capabilities and fighting spirit, he was still unwilling to believe that the Austrian army had undergone such a complete transformation in just over three years.

"Don't panic! The Austrians are just as weak as they were at Austerlitz. Keep crossing the river, and we will surely defeat them!"

Encouraged by the emperor, the French army sang war songs and continued fighting.

After delivering his morale-boosting speech, Napoleon astutely identified the dominant factor on the battlefield: the Austrian army's more than three hundred cannons.

This was almost the entire number of artillery pieces in Austria, and shells were being fired like they were free. In just two hours, the Austrian army fired at least 20,000 shells.

The village of Aspern was riddled with holes from the bombing, and more than 80% of the breastworks painstakingly built by the French army were rendered useless.

"Send the cavalry, send the great King of Hussars, Lassalle, to seize the Austrian artillery positions," Napoleon decisively ordered.

Fifteen minutes later, the famous King of Hussars, Jean-Antoine Lasalle, led five thousand men from four cavalry regiments of the Fourth Army, heading like ghosts toward the Austrian artillery positions.

Archduke Karl immediately ordered General Carl von Vincent's cavalry division to intercept them, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides a few hundred meters from the artillery positions.

Lasalle truly lived up to his reputation as the king of hussars. He used two regiments of cuirassiers and one regiment of hussars to block the Austrian general Vincent's cavalry, while he personally led a regiment of hussars to attack from both sides.

Lasal and his hussars yelled and attacked relentlessly with pistols and sabers, not even using carbines.

With his graceful movements and fierce attacks, Vincent's Austrian cavalry suffered heavy casualties and were quickly divided and defeated.

Subsequently, other French cavalrymen arrived to provide support, and more than 7,000 cavalrymen chased after the scattered Austrian cavalrymen and charged onto the artillery positions.

But here, the French cavalry encountered great trouble. The artillery positions were not defended by Austrian troops, but by six thousand men from the Central and Left Guards of the Xia Fan.

"It's the Seres! The Seres infantry were hiding here!" someone shouted.

Lasalle went forward to take a look and saw that the Seres infantry, wearing belts, had formed a hollow square to protect the Austrian artillery in the center of the square.

"Hussars, go first and draw the enemy's volleys!" Lasalle shouted, and thousands of hussars immediately began to circle the square formation frantically, their carbines firing continuously as they adopted a fierce offensive posture.

‘Boom boom boom! ’

Before Liu Rongqing's infantry could fire, the Austrian artillery, who were extremely tense in the square formation, opened fire, unleashing a hail of bullets. However, the enemy was still hundreds of meters away, and they barely hit any of them.

"Enemy cavalry is coming! All troops, prepare for a volley!" Liu Rongqing had no time to scold the Austrian artillerymen; he could only swallow the bitter pill himself.

Sure enough, no sooner had he shouted than the French cavalry charged fiercely towards him.

In front of them were not hussars, but more than two thousand cuirassiers. They wore beautiful breastplates, carried three- or four-meter-long lances, and their horses' hooves pounded the ground like drums.

'boom!boom! '

The Xia army infantry only had time to fire two volleys at 80 meters and 60 meters before the French army arrived. Although they suffered considerable losses, they still managed to break into the infantry formation from at least four directions.

But when it crashed in, it was like hitting cotton; it didn't penetrate immediately.

The Xia army infantrymen howled and frantically plunged their bayonets into the bodies of the French warhorses. As those in front were shot down, those behind immediately took their place.

The hussars who had come with the cuirassiers arrived immediately. They raised their pistols and began firing, while the Xia infantry also drew their revolvers. The two sides began exchanging chilling bursts of fire at each other from a distance of more than ten meters.

One French cavalryman fell from his horse and was immediately riddled with bayonets; another hussar had just knocked down a Xia infantryman when he was shot seven or eight times and was beyond dead.

"Use revolvers! Use revolvers! We'd rather die than retreat!" A captain from Dingxi, Gansu, was pierced through the chest by a spear but was still shouting.

After shouting, he mustered all his strength and lunged at the nearest warhorse, grabbing its leg and pulling down a cuirassier who had broken his lance and emptied his pistol.

The surrounding soldiers rushed forward and immediately stabbed the French cavalryman to death. When they looked again, the captain had already died on the spot with his eyes wide open.

This scene gave Lasalle a chill down his spine.

On the battlefield, the French cavalry had broken through the infantry squares, but the infantry did not retreat. Instead, they retreated slightly and tightened their squares.

Even those Seres infantrymen who were wounded or outside the formation for various reasons fought desperately despite being at a significant disadvantage.

"Retreat, then charge again! We must crush the enemy!"

Seeing that the cavalry was entangled in a fierce battle with the infantry, Lasalle immediately ordered the cavalry to retreat and charge again, using their tall warhorses to repeatedly ram the infantry squares.

But as soon as the French cavalry retreated, the Xia army infantry square, which had been heavily compressed, suddenly sprang out and launched a fierce attack on the cavalry.

When the French cavalry broke free and prepared to turn around and charge, the Xia infantry, under the command of the war drums, quickly formed their squares again.

Lassalle knew he had met his match, and he once again commanded his cavalry to charge. But this time, the Xia army infantry were more resilient. No matter how the French cavalry trampled them, not a single person deserted. They fought on with one heart and one mind.

What a joke! Who the hell would dare to desert in the face of battle?!
The soldiers of the Xia Fan San Wei were either from respectable families or trained by various military families, including many sons of samurai families from the Eastern Islands.

Everyone's background is crystal clear; you can trace it all back to their home.

If they flee, it won't just be his own problem, but his whole family, even his entire clan, will be disgraced. No one will dare to marry his sisters, no one will dare to marry his brothers, he will be spat on on the street, and his ancestral tablets will be thrown out of the ancestral hall.

Thus, Lassalle's cavalry and Xia army infantry were entangled here for forty or fifty minutes. More than four hundred French cavalrymen were killed on the spot, and two or three thousand were wounded. Xia army infantrymen were almost all wounded.

Lassalle could only lead his cavalry in retreat, as the Austrian Liechtenstein Cuirassier Regiment was on its way to provide support.

As night fell, the two sides had left behind more than five thousand corpses in the first day of fighting, with the villages of Aspern and Eslin strewn with bodies.

Austrian soldiers rested outside the village among the corpses of French soldiers, preparing to launch another attack at dawn.

On the south bank of the Danube, Napoleon was shocked by the fighting power of the Austrian army, but he was also relieved.

The Seres infantry, which even Lassalle couldn't break through, must have been Prince Ferdinand's elite guard.

As long as they are not hiding anywhere on the battlefield, or are not rushing from somewhere to encircle us, then this battle can still be fought.

(End of this chapter)