Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 219: The First Battle is in Sedan (Part 2)
On the morning of September 15, 1613, Prince Condé, commander of the French Army's front line, accompanied by his guards, climbed the north tower of Sedan Fortress.
Henry, 25 years old this year, is the third generation Prince of Condé. As a branch of the Bourbon royal family, this family has the right to inherit the throne. In other words, when foreign enemies invade, there is no need to worry too much about his loyalty.
In the historical perspective, this prince was obedient and fearful when facing King Henry IV of France. However, as a man, he was still responsible - Henry IV coveted the beauty of his wife, and as a subject, he could not resist. But in order to protect his wife, he even gave up his title and fiefdom and ran away with his wife.
After the death of Henry IV, he initially faced the death-seeking behavior of Louis XIII and the widowed mother of the orphan, Queen Dowager Medici, and proposed many excessive ideas. Then, after being imprisoned by Queen Dowager Medici for several years, he suddenly learned his lesson and became a loyal dog of the Bourbon royal family.
Of course, the military talent of the 9th Prince of Condé (Duke of Bourbon) could not be compared with that of his son, the Magnificent Condé, who later became famous and was known as one of the two greatest French commanders of that era. But in the current France, he was already the best candidate that Henry IV could send to command such a large army after comprehensive consideration.
Because the transcript of the interview with Spanish Philip has been spreading rapidly within France in recent months.
At this time, France was still in the transition period from the Middle Ages to a modern country. Few nobles were educated, and even fewer could think independently. There were even fewer elites who had awakened to the national consciousness early, like Henry IV and Richelieu.
Therefore, Philip's propaganda had a great impact on the Catholic nobles in various parts of France. Because of this, the King of France had to send the Prince of Condé, who had royal blood, to take charge here.
"Your Highness, why are you here?"
"Haha, Your Excellency the Duke, since you are here, why can't I come?"
The so-called Duke refers to the current Duke of Sedan, Auvergne, whose talent is also average. But his second son, Turenne (1611-1675), the future Viscount of Turenne, was praised by Napoleon in the historical plane as the greatest commander in French history.
"This is my fiefdom. The shameless Spaniards want to take it. Of course I will fight to the death."
"This is a fortress that concerns the survival of France. As a prince of the country, I must perform my duties conscientiously."
"I have fought for His Majesty the King all my life, and I am confident that I can stop the Spaniards on my own."
"Oh, sir, if age had any use, we should send the oldest man in France to lead us."
Seeing the two men fighting for the supreme command again, the two adjutants beside them were a little embarrassed. However, this embarrassment did not last long, and soon, the soldiers on the city wall began to get restless.
"Your Highness, Your Excellency, the Spaniards are coming."
"Swish!" The quarrel stopped, and the two commanders quickly opened their telescopes and began to look towards the city.
The telescope did not show the expected forest of spears. On the contrary, there were some spearmen wearing half-plate armor, but only a thin layer in the front row of the entire Spanish army. Behind this thin layer of spearmen, there were all musketeers without armor, and their uniforms were all double-breasted cotton gauze.
Behind the musketeers, the engineers were working hard to lay the planks, and behind the engineers were various packhorses struggling to pull cannons of various calibers forward...
As the Spanish army gradually approached, Henry and Auvergne put down their telescopes one after another. When their sight was no longer limited to the small hole, the three Spanish divisions, plus the artillery battalion directly under the headquarters, a total of 50,000 people, made the French officers and soldiers on the city wall feel greatly shocked.
European countries at this time were still in the process of transitioning from medieval feudal states to modern nation-states. In the ruling systems of various countries, there were all kinds of nobles and fiefdoms. So don't think that Zhu Youdong was ready to gamble everything for the reconstruction of the Ming Dynasty Yellow Book Library. Now these European countries basically have no concept of the Yellow Book Library!
In the absence of a complete household registration system and the beginning of the industrial revolution, the mobilization capacity of these countries was actually very poor. Many of the so-called "determining the fate of the country" wars, the total number of participants on both sides may not exceed 50,000...
Under the repeated warnings from the time traveler from Osman, King Henry IV of France felt that he had taken Spain very seriously, and he sent 40,000 troops into the Sedan fortress - all of them were French soldiers! In Henry IV's view, this was a huge military force that France had never assembled before, and it was not impossible to go out and fight the enemy in the field if necessary.
However, after seeing such a strong opponent lineup today, Henry and Auvergne in Sedan Fortress completely gave up the idea of fighting the opponent in the field.
"Your Excellency the Duke, how many cannons are there in the fortress now ?"
"Twenty twelve-pounders, and five eighteen-pounders. Plenty of shot and powder."
"Uh..." Henry pointed slightly at the Spanish artillery team in the distance: "The enemy's artillery is probably no less than fifty, right?"
"That's true, but your highness has been completely transformed into a newly developed cement bastion. There are three layers of walls, each of which is ten meters high. With so many artillery pieces, the Spanish have absolutely no other way to deal with such a perfect fortress except to lay siege for a long time."
"I hope so."
Before the two of them could say a few words, the Spanish army under the city wall stopped about 2.5 kilometers away from the city wall - this was beyond the maximum range of the artillery on the city wall.
Then the Spanish army continued to line up in the order of the first row of pikemen, followed by the flintlock soldiers, and then the artillery, forming a formation ready for a field battle at any time.
However, beyond these soldiers, Henry and Auvergne clearly saw through the telescope that countless people without armor quickly appeared behind these soldiers, and then they began to swing their hoes vigorously according to the commands of the engineering officers!
The emergence of bastions meant that before the fundamental improvement of gunpowder formula, the shield was much stronger than the spear. As long as the defending side had a solid bastion with determined defenders and sufficient food, the attacking side had almost no other choice but to lay a long siege.
In order to solve the problem of conquering bastions in an era when black powder was popular, European military scientists racked their brains. In the historical plane, French Marshal and founder of the engineering corps, Sebastian Le Prestré de Vauban, brilliantly proposed the trench siege method, which was put into actual combat for the first time in 1673 and quickly conquered the Dutch stronghold.
The specific method is: first dig a circle of trenches around the bastion to be attacked, and pile the excavated soil towards the bastion. Then, based on this circle, continue to dig trenches diagonally towards the bastion. When the trenches reach a certain level, dig another circle of trenches. Then, based on the second circle, dig trenches diagonally again... Repeat this process until the city is captured!
In this process, the soil dug out when digging the trenches was facing the bastion, which naturally formed a low wall, naturally protecting the engineers digging the trenches. And as the trenches went deeper, due , the cannons on the bastions were almost useless. However, our cannons could rely on the trenches to move and shoot at close range...
Marshal Vauban spent his entire life in the military, but he never commanded a field battle, only fought sieges. He led his troops to attack 40 large bastions, all of which were conquered! The sieges he led were full of artistic beauty, so much so that King Louis XIV of France would always bring a large tour group of palace guards, princes, nobles, and ladies to watch the marshal's siege process...
Of course, it was 1613, and Marshal Vauban of the historical plane would not be born for another 20 years. This trench siege method was of course created by the officer Rudolf, who traveled through time.
In short, the Ottoman invaders gave France a solid fortress of cement and bastions, while the Spanish invaders brought the trench siege method into being ahead of schedule.
As non-travelers, the French in the fortress certainly didn't know what the other side was going to do. But for Prince Condé, who had basic military qualities and a certain battlefield acumen, he instinctively felt that something was wrong.
Henry turned to his adjutant with concern and said, "Hurry up and send the light cavalry to Paris before the enemy completely surrounds us. Tell your Majesty that this battle will not be easy. We must invite our allies, even the Ottomans, to join us quickly!"
