The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 884 The Blood-Red Danube (Part 2)

A light drizzle dampened Di Feihu's face, waking him from his deep sleep. This martial arts master from Ziwei Village in Dingzhou, Hebei, had historically passed the imperial examination for the title of martial arts champion.

Unfortunately, in this timeline, he was encouraged by his fellow villagers to venture to Europe before he could even participate in the martial arts examination.

However, even if Di Feihu knew he would become the top martial arts scholar, he might not necessarily regret coming to Europe.

People from Hebei aren't good at business, nor are they particularly skilled at being officials, but if you're talking about acquiring a piece of land, building a watchtower, setting up a horse ranch, and acquiring some weapons to become local tyrants and landlords, they're really interested.

Throughout history, the heroes of Hebei have favored this model, from the Warring States period to the mid-Ming Dynasty, producing countless powerful fortified villages.

It wasn't until the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, after Liu Liu and Liu Qi caused trouble, that the court spent a lot of effort to suppress them, and the tradition began to decline. When the Manchus came to power, they eradicated it completely, and the Hebei people's habit was finally suppressed, leaving only the practice of martial arts.

However, during the Great Yu Dynasty, not only did Beijing's status decline, but the court also had a need to use Han cavalry from Shanxi and Hebei to intimidate and control the southern and northern deserts. They also liked to transfer people from Hebei and Shanxi to Anxi and Beihezhou, and this trend quickly revived.

Di Feihu bent over, carefully stepping over one mangled corpse after another in the dim moonlight, exploring step by step. After walking about three or four miles, he stopped in a patch of low but dense bushes.

"Brother, here you go. Eat a few when the fighting starts to get better so you can kill the enemy." His younger brother, Di Feibiao, handed over a few rice balls coated in a thick layer of grease made from lard and sugar, along with Di Feihu's signature ghost-head broadsword.

This was a task that Di Feihu took the initiative to undertake. He took advantage of the darkest hour before dawn to call over all the officers in the team who were second lieutenants and above.

"Look ahead, the enemy forces in Aspern Village were able to hold onto the village because of their retreat and rotation."

They would retreat and be replaced after withstanding a wave of attacks, and they would also leave the village to take shelter when our artillery was bombarding them.

This tactic is very effective, but it cannot be used by anyone other than elite troops, because even the slightest hesitation could mean they haven't reached their designated positions before our army launches its attack.

Di Feihu picked up a small stone and drew a few lines on the ground. “Our mission is to rush out when our army is not bombarding with cannons but with rocket launchers, and scatter the French army during their troop rotation. Then we will block the French army from entering until our army sets up cannons in the village before we can retreat.”

Mo Gongze was far more ruthless than Grand Duke Karl. When it came to risking everything, he was not stingy at all. The Xia Fan Three Guards were his precious possessions, but he was still willing to use them to "block the gun hole".

Aspern village is a high point, and the ultimate purpose of occupying it is to set up cannons to bombard the enemy, which is why the French and Austrian armies repeatedly fought a tug-of-war here.

Whoever loses Aspern village will be bombarded, with nowhere to hide.

“More than half of our four hundred men may die before we can complete the mission, or we may all die and still fail to complete it.” Di Feihu said to the officers, “If we die, then it’s all over. We can come back in eighteen years.”

If they survive and complete the mission, officers of the rank of captain and above will receive at least 1,000 mu of land and 15 tenant households, while soldiers will receive at least 500 mu of land and 5 tenant households. This is the reward given by the King.

Upon hearing his brother's words, Di Feibiao quickly chimed in, "These estates are all on the western coast of the Black Sea; Wallachia and Bessarabia are wonderful places!"

It's warmer than Hebei in winter and cooler in summer. In autumn and winter, there's a light drizzle, so you don't have to worry about watering your winter wheat.

If you miss home, you can take a boat across the Black Sea to reach Liaodong, and beyond Liaodong is Anxi, where there are Han Chinese everywhere.

"Such a wonderful place! Let's build our fortified villages all together, each family owning thousands of acres of land, with tenant farmers to help us. Life would be indescribably wonderful! We'd die happy!"

The western coast of the Black Sea is indeed a treasure trove. Winter temperatures are above freezing, while summer temperatures average only 23 or 24 degrees Celsius. Rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year, and the land is fertile and livable.

Those who followed Di Feihu were mostly from Hebei, with some from Henan and Shanxi mixed in. Their lifestyles and dreams were similar.

Upon hearing Di Feibiao's words, dozens of officers nodded in agreement, and some soldiers who squeezed over also had their eyes light up.

When Di Feihu saw that the time had come, he magically pulled out a palm-sized portrait of Guan Yu from his pocket.

"Since we are all brothers who have been through thick and thin together, let's make a vow in front of Lord Guan that after this battle, the surviving brothers will take care of the wives, children and elderly parents of the dead brothers."

If you have children, especially sons, we'll look after them until they turn eighteen, to prevent the family property from being taken away or squandered.

If you only have daughters, we'll not only take care of you until you're eighteen, but we'll also arrange for you to marry into a family and have your grandchildren take your surname, ensuring your family line continues.

If you have no children and are willing to give them to your brothers in your hometown, then you can adopt your brother's son.

"Since there are no brothers in our hometown, we'll adopt our son into your family, ensuring your lineage continues!"

"Commander, you're so kind. We'd sell our lives to the King and go through fire and water with you!" As soon as Di Feihu finished speaking, the officers responded in hushed tones.

What is this? This is the courage drug for Chinese officers!
While European frontline troops were still using opium as a courage booster, Chinese frontline troops had long been using a similar "spiritual courage booster."

Of course, this is also a major reason why, despite the current size of the Great Yu Dynasty, the Imperial Guards and the Capital Garrison still only number around 300,000. Any more would simply be unaffordable!
Around 4 a.m., as dawn was breaking, the battle continued, and it was still extremely fierce from the very beginning.

The French army found it hard to accept defeat at the hands of its repeated adversaries, while the Austrian army felt that retreating even a step would mean the loss of their country. Neither side had any reason to back down.

Today was even more brutal, as the Austrian army had almost run out of artillery shells yesterday. The French army's crossing of the river was hindered, and the riverbanks could not accommodate too many troops, resulting in supply disruptions.

The two armies abandoned the extravagance of firing tens of thousands of artillery shells yesterday and instead began to organize large-scale bayonet assaults, which were extremely bloody.

At 5 a.m., the Austrian army recaptured the village of Aspern. Subsequently, under the personal command of Masséna, the French army drove the Austrian army out with a small force.

Half an hour later, the Austrian army arrived again, and this time the French offensive slowed down considerably.

Because the French army had suffered heavy bomb depletion, Lassalle's cavalry had also failed to recover in yesterday's bloody battle with the Xiafan infantry.

Archduke Charles astutely recognized the French army's weakness in firepower and immediately increased his forces to launch a fierce attack.

Because the French army didn't have many bombs, it was impossible for them to inflict heavy casualties on the Austrian army quickly, and the Austrian army's numerical advantage could finally be brought into play.

Marshal Masséna, the French commander, also sensed the change in Austrian tactics, but he had no good solutions.

If the French troops were to withdraw now and bombard the Austrian troops with artillery, the most likely outcome would be that the Austrian troops would chase the French out of the village, and they might never be able to push back.

He could only collect all the bombs to supply the army in Aspern village while simultaneously drawing troops from the western perimeter.

And this side was exactly where Di Feihu and his men were hiding.

In the village of Aspern, there is an exceptionally sturdy granary. It is located behind a hill in the village and is built of huge stones. It was built by the Habsburg family two or three hundred years ago when the Ottoman Empire besieged Vienna to store grain.

More than 7,000 Austrian troops stormed into the village, while more than 1,000 French defenders fought desperately to hold them off, relying on the granary.

Vast numbers of Austrian Landville soldiers, or militiamen, armed with old rifles and axes to destroy obstacles, charged forward, howling as they went. They were there to clear the way for the regular army.

The French troops, positioned on higher ground, relentlessly bombarded them, leaving them mangled and bloodied. The area surrounding the grain silo was filled with the corpses of Austrians and the screams of the wounded on the verge of death.

But the French were even more afraid, because the Austrian militiamen they had killed were meaningless; the real attackers were hiding.

Sure enough, two hours later, more than 10,000 French and Austrian troops gathered in the small village of Aspern. When the French bombs began to fail to reach their targets, the Austrian troops launched a human wave bayonet attack.

The French army was only two-thirds the size of the Austrian army and was already exhausted. Most of them were quickly driven out of the village, with only a few climbing to the top of the granary to hold out.

But this also fueled Masséna's fighting spirit. This top commander of the French army sent out all his reserve forces, including at least two regiments of the Old Guard.

It's just hand-to-hand combat; the old French Guards were never afraid of it.

With the addition of the French Old Guard, the Austrian army, which had already occupied 70-80 percent of the village of Aspern, began to suffer repeated defeats.

This is pure meat grinding.

The same thing happened in the village of Aislin on the other side. Prince Rosenberg's Austrian army attacked the village many times, but was still driven out by the tenacious Lana.

Archduke Karl was sweating profusely in his command post, because the current offensive was the largest offensive the Austrian army could launch.

By now, the Austrian army has suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and with the wounded included, nearly 30% of the troops have lost their fighting capacity.

Moreover, these 30% were relatively elite troops within the Austrian army. In contrast, the French army had already crossed the river with over 60,000 men, and they were still crossing continuously, with fresh troops constantly increasing.

In the historical Battle of Aspern-Aislin, Grand Duke Karl did not have Mogongze and the Anxi army, so his appetite was much smaller.

He launched his attack after the French army had only 20,000 men crossed the river, but now the number had exceeded 60,000, so the pressure on the Austrian army was immense.

Now, all of Grand Duke Karl's hopes rest on Mo Gongze's elite assault troops, namely Di Feihu and his men, and most importantly, on the Serisanxi Legion.

At 2 p.m., the French and Austrian armies had been fighting for nearly ten hours. Most of the soldiers were exhausted, and the French army began to gain the upper hand because nearly 80,000 French troops had crossed the river, including at least 20,000 to 30,000 fresh troops.

At 3 p.m., although Masséna had not yet completely driven the Austrian army out of Aspern, the Austrian army in Esslin was already exhausted. More than 20,000 men were being pushed back by the French army and were constantly retreating towards the middle of the two villages.

Napoleon, observing from across the Danube with a telescope, immediately realized that the time to turn the tide of the war had come.

Under his orders, Marshal Jean-Lana led his 20,000 French troops and Marshal Nicolas Udino's 15,000 reserves in a fierce attack on the Austrian army in the center.

The Austrian army, which was already in retreat, could not withstand the attack and was forced to retreat repeatedly. Among the 35,000 French troops, Marshal Udino's 15,000 fresh troops were particularly brave.

Soon, the French army tore a huge gap in the middle of the Austrian army. If they continued to cut forward from there, they would surely be able to cut the Austrian army in two, and the battle would be over.

From his command post on the mountain, Archduke Karl watched as the French army surged forward madly, advancing a kilometer in half an hour. The gap between them was widening, and he knew that the final moment had arrived.

"Your Highness, the 1st Division of the Belgian Army is under your command. Give the order!" At the most critical moment, Mo Gongze sent over his last remaining troops.

The Xia army always referred to itself as the Belgian Prince's Army in front of Europeans, and the First Division of the Belgian Army was the most elite of the three guards of the Xia army, the Left Guard.

"Liu, I welcome you to the 4th Line Infantry Regiment of the Germans. Let's fight the final battle together!"

After Archduke Karl finished speaking, Xia Fan's Left Guard, wearing a modified red mandarin duck battle jacket with a belt and a black flying saucer helmet, joined the German 4th Line Infantry Regiment, which was dressed in all-white uniforms and wore a black top hat.

The 4th Infantry Regiment was entirely composed of Austrians, whose ancestors were mostly warriors who rose to power with the Habsburg family. They were the Austrian Emperor's personal guard and the last reliance of the empire.

"Austrians, for the eternal existence of your empire, charge!"

Archduke Karl mounted his warhorse, personally waving the flag of the Austrian Empire, and rode on the left flank of the army, shouting in unison. The red-clad Xia Fan Left Guard and the white-clad German infantry responded in unison.

Then, they crashed directly into the French army, which resembled a blue ocean.

Gunfire thundered, bombs flew everywhere, the cold glint of bayonets pierced through flesh and blood, and blood splattered all over the land.

The Austrians howled; they had nowhere to retreat and were fighting to the death to save the empire.

Just then, in the village of Aspern, Massena finally drove all the Austrians out of the village.

He was about to direct the French army to pursue and force the Austrian artillery back when he set up cannons in the village of Aspern.

Just then, a series of strange cries rang out in the sky, and countless long, spear-like objects with thick smoke trailing behind them flew over with screams.

"Damn it, those are rocket launchers, those damned British!" Massena shouted, and quickly ordered the French troops in the village to retreat.

At that very moment, Di Feihu's troops, who had been lying in ambush in the bushes for ten hours without eating or drinking a drop of water and who dared not move before the French sentries withdrew, suddenly launched an attack.

They were wearing clothes stripped from French corpses, carrying large swords, and holding revolvers in both hands. They emerged from the bushes like lightning.

Di Feihu quickly swallowed two fist-sized rice balls, drank a sip of lightly salted water, and felt his body begin to recover rapidly after running only a few steps.

Meanwhile, the French troops in front of them were retreating from the village in a panic, mistaking Di Feihu and his men for their own.

"Do it!"

Di Feihu roared and fired his two revolvers in rapid succession.

Because they were so close, Twelve immediately killed four French soldiers. Then he drew his greatsword and charged into the retreating French army, hacking and slashing them.

The French soldiers had no idea what was going on. Some even saw people in their own uniforms wielding swords and wanted to go up and explain.

The four hundred men were like a meat grinder, showing no mercy when they attacked. At this distance, even if the French soldiers were prepared, their bayonets would be no match for these four hundred martial arts masters, mainly from Hebei.

Moreover, such sharp-bladed attacks are particularly bloody and can often cause great panic in a very short time. This is what happened to the French army. They were already retreating, but this surprise attack turned their retreat into a rout.

Di Feihu led four hundred men, launching surprise attacks and maneuvers through the French troops, managing to drive several thousand French soldiers back to their camp on the riverbank.

The French soldiers in the camp were also unaware of what was happening. They only saw large numbers of their own men killing each other and were confused about which side to help.

They only screamed in terror when the broadsword struck them.

These shouts would wake up the wounded who were resting during rotations, or even those in field hospitals.

These people were even more unaware of the situation and thought the army had been defeated. They immediately panicked, crying and running around in a panic. Some even became extremely stressed and opened fire on anyone who approached them for their own safety.

This is called a tantrum, which is essentially a stress response in people under extreme fear, just like a cat's stress response. Once in this state, it is impossible to soothe the person from the outside.

Although the riot occurred in the afternoon, not at night, it was still difficult to control. Even a powerful commander like Massena was powerless to stop it. He didn't even know what had happened and could only guess that the Austrian army had sneaked in.

He could only close the gates of the military camp that had not yet been affected, strictly prohibiting any outside soldiers from entering, no matter who they were.

However, this cannot continue. If this goes on for too long, the Austrian army will take advantage of the gap to occupy Aspern village, and then set up cannons to bombard his camp directly, and he will lose the battle.

Fortunately, Napoleon once again keenly noticed the situation, so he quickly ordered Major General Jean Rappe, a valiant general who had just crossed the river, to lead more than a thousand members of the Imperial Guard to handle the matter.

Jean Rapp was a brave and experienced fighter. Instead of rushing into Marshal Masséna's camp, he went directly to the village of Aspern.

Because he knew that the enemy's purpose in raiding Massena's camp was still to capture Aspern village, which was called attacking what the enemy had to defend.

This tactic worked. Di Feihu, who was originally planning to cause more trouble for the French army, immediately stopped fighting when he saw French soldiers heading towards Aspern village and turned to go into the village as well.

The two sides clashed directly at the village entrance. The French soldiers raised their rifles to fire from a distance, but a captain from Mengcun Village, Cangzhou, Tianjin Prefecture, Hebei Province, led a dozen men carrying bombs and charged forward.

The French troops came in columns. The first few men fired and shot down several Xia soldiers, whose bombs then fell on their heads.

The area was not open, so the French troops could not deploy. They could only send grenadiers rushing over to throw bombs at each other; they could not fire volleys.

Instead of charging directly, Di Feihu circled to the left up the slope and then charged down the hillside to engage the French in hand-to-hand combat. They had no rifles and few bombs, so they could only fight hand-to-hand.

This sudden attack caught General Jean-Lapp off guard, and because he was at the forefront, he was even entangled by Xia's soldiers.

The two sides engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat at the entrance of a village where one side was a slope and the other a tributary river.

Di Feihu cut down one French soldier after another, and as he was fiercely cutting down the next one, his broadsword got stuck in the French soldier's shoulder and he couldn't pull it out. It turned out that the broadsword, which was made of fine steel, had already been dulled.

The old French guard also became ruthless. He endured the excruciating pain and grabbed the large knife that had cut into his shoulder, shouting for his comrades behind him to shoot and kill Di Feihu.

At the critical moment, Di Feihu roared and pushed the French soldier, along with his broadsword, into the stream. He then quickly pulled out a long dagger and rammed it into the arms of the French soldier who was raising his gun. The dagger stabbed wildly, causing the French soldier to bleed profusely.

"Big Brother!" Di Feibiao shouted anxiously from behind, because three more French soldiers were rushing over from a distance.

He didn't care about anything else, he lit the bomb in his hand and tackled the three French soldiers to the ground from his high position.

With a loud 'boom,' Di Feibiao screamed as half of his left arm and most of his right hand flew into the air along with the two French soldiers' lives.

"Biaozi!" Di Feihu shouted with bloodshot eyes, and killed the French soldier who was not killed by the explosion with a dagger.

But he had no time to attend to his brother groaning on the ground, because more French soldiers were coming from afar.

"Retreat! Retreat into the village, to the granary!" Di Feihu shouted, directing his troops toward the village. He had no time to care about his younger brother lying on the ground.

He stared intently at the French general in the distance, having witnessed his guards pull the trigger and shoot Di Feibiao on the ground.

At 4:30 p.m., Di Feihu withstood two attacks by Jean Rapp, leaving only a little over 100 men in the 400-man force.

Jean Rapp was also somewhat exhausted, and his more than a thousand French Imperial Guards (Old Guard) had lost two or three hundred men.

This was the most formidable opponent he had ever encountered, and Jean-Lapp couldn't help but feel somewhat discouraged. If the Seris Guard was all of this caliber, they truly deserved to rule over most of the world.

Because France only had 30,000 to 40,000 such elite troops, while the Seres Empire was said to have 300,000 to 400,000.

A long, drawn-out horn sounded, a sound unique to the Great Yu Dynasty, because European horns were not this loud.

Jean-Lappe saw a large white flag with a gold and orange sun and moon design. The Prince of Belgium had arrived with his last guard, while General Masséna's soldiers were still in the distance.

"Retreat!" Jean-Lapp knew he had failed; he couldn't hold the village. But as soon as he gave the order, shells came whistling through the air.

However, these were not large cannons or giant cannons, but rather a few one-pound cannons equipped by the Xia Kingdom. These small cannons, along with their carriages, weighed only fifty or sixty pounds, and could be pushed by a single soldier.

The violent shockwave knocked General Jean-Lappe to the ground. Just as his guards were about to help him up, Di Feihu and his men rushed out from the granary.

They quickly cut off the French troops, successfully forcing Jean Rappe and his few dozen men into a side alley.

After a few minutes of pursuit, Di Feihu caught up with the French soldiers from the side with a few leaps, killing them one by one with a knife. Di Feihu killed three more people. Seeing his ferocity, the rest of the French Guards scattered.

In despair, Jean Rapp drew his sword, and the two roared as they charged forward.

One minute later, General Jean-Lapp's sword was chopped off by the giant sword, and then his head flew into the air!

At that very moment, the defeated armies of Marshals Jean-Lana and Nicolas Udino were driven back by Archduke Karl, and Marshal Masséna knew that things were beyond saving.

He quickly ordered the French troops in the camp to board the ships, burning any supplies that couldn't be carried, in an effort to retreat before the Austrian army could set up cannons in Aspern.

He himself led his elite troops to meet Jean Lannes and Nicolas Oudinot. The French army had crossed the river with a total of 80,000 men. Even if they were defeated, they could not afford to lose too many men at once.

If all 80,000 men were to perish here, the capital of the empire would face immense danger. Marshal Masséna, who was on the front lines, saw this even more clearly than Napoleon.

The French army has probably lost seven or eight thousand men, but this is still bearable. The best course of action now is to retreat to the south bank of the Danube as soon as possible and try to defeat the Austrians in the next battle.

(End of this chapter)