Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 222 Morris of Nassau (Part 2)
In the historical plane, Maurice van Orange is known as the founder of modern professional armies in Europe. Military strategy, tactics, and engineering have all been greatly developed under his leadership. Therefore, his military accomplishments are beyond doubt.
Spain was preparing for the war against France based in the southern Netherlands, so in terms of logistics support, especially in the engineering corps, a large number of Dutch locals inevitably mixed in. Therefore, this intelligence concealment work might be okay for the French, but for the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands, it was really a big sieve.
Soon after Rudolf, the time traveler, came up with the trench siege method, Morris got some of the Spanish Army's engineering sketches. Although Spain had not completely surrounded the Sedan Fortress with trenches at that time, Morris's superhuman military talent allowed him to quickly see the power of this siege method: the Sedan Fortress would definitely not hold out for two or three years as everyone had expected in the face of this new siege method, and it would be good if it could hold out for half a year!
The total population of the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands (hereafter simply called the Netherlands) was only over two million, and it was a country where everyone engaged in business. Whether it was fighting a war or escorting overseas trade, it mainly relied on mercenaries. Facing the superpower Spain, it would have collapsed long ago without the help of Britain and France. Therefore, France could lose, but it must not lose so quickly.
Therefore, Morris quickly changed his previous strategy of watching the fierce battle between Spain and France and prepared to enter the game quickly.
Of course, facing the huge military force of Spain this time, the Dutch army of 10,000 is not enough to rescue Sedan. Therefore, although Maurice had long seen the danger of Sedan, in addition to preparing his army to go out at any time, he also contacted Britain and Denmark.
Britain itself was ready to join the game, not to mention him. As for Denmark, the former overlord of Northern Europe, Maurice said: If France collapses, the Netherlands will cease to exist. At that time, Denmark will face the blade of Spain. Your Majesty, if you don't send troops at this time, will you wait until all your allies fall and you have to deal with Spain, which has integrated the power of France and the Netherlands, alone?
So Denmark, which had originally been prepared to watch the show, had to send troops, and at once, 10,000 troops.
After receiving the 10,000 reinforcements, Maurice immediately marched south, catching the Spanish commander, Marquis Spinola, off guard.
However, Spinola had defeated the young Maurice many times in his early years, so this time, he led his army directly from Brussels to Breda, which was the border between the Netherlands and Belgium in later generations, to fight against Maurice.
However, Maurice at this time was no longer the young man he used to be. Thanks to his participation in the Dutch War of Independence since he was a teenager, the commander's command ability had been rapidly improving over the past few decades.
At the beginning of the battle, Maurice's horizontal formation gained an advantage over the traditional Spanish large square formation, which caused a gap in the dense and orderly square formation. Then Maurice led the cavalry to pretend to insert into the two square formations, forcing Spinola to send the third and final square into the battlefield. After that, Maurice did not hesitate to act as bait himself, luring the third Spanish square to advance quickly, thereby opening up a distance from the command center in the rear.
Finally, it was Frederick Henry who led 10,000 Danish reinforcements to attack from the side and rear from a long distance!
When the Danish cavalry's horses' hooves caused the ground to shake , Spinola knew that he had lost the battle.
However, he was still a veteran general, and he was not panicked at all. Instead, he ordered his headquarters to move forward quickly and ordered the three phalanxes in front to move closer to him. Soon, before the Danish army actually entered the battlefield, the Spanish army had already formed a joint force.
At this time, the advantage of the Spanish phalanx's dense strength was reflected: indeed, because the strength was distributed on all sides and too evenly, a considerable number of soldiers on the side were unable to output firepower during the attack. However, once the phalanx was besieged, it had thick spearmen distributed on all four sides, which allowed it to fire at full power, and the opponent would not be able to do anything with such a thick phalanx for a while.
Finally, the three phalanxes relied on each other and fought and retreated. At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Morris gave up the entanglement with the Spaniards and took the initiative to lead his troops to retreat.
…
"So Denmark has declared war on us, too?"
"Your Highness, Denmark has not officially declared war on us. These shameless Vikings! How dare they start a war without declaring war!"
"Hmm... " Rudolf, the time traveler, didn't care about the undeclared war: "Your Excellency the Marquis, how many troops did we lose in the battle of Breda?"
"More than 1,700 people were killed, missing, or captured. Nearly 2,000 wounded were rescued, of which about 300 were seriously injured and may need amputation."
"Oh, no, no, no. I will send my military doctors to check on your soldiers later. Believe me, most of the soldiers do not need amputation."
"I've heard that Your Majesty and Your Highness have miraculous drugs like penicillin and sulfa that can control infections. If Your Highness can open them up to them..."
"Your Excellency, it is impossible to use them freely. You know, our country cannot produce these things for the time being. The existing ones are all purchased from China in the East at a huge cost." After saying this, looking at Spinola with a somewhat bleak face, Rudolf sighed: "Your Excellency the Marquis is a loyal subject of the kingdom. In the early years, when the country was in financial difficulties, you spent all your family wealth to buy a large number of national bonds, and these bonds disappeared when the country declared bankruptcy. Although these things did not happen after the current Majesty Philip ascended the throne, His Majesty often told me that we cannot let a national pillar like you bleed for the country on the battlefield and ruin your family in the rear... In short, please submit two lists, one with less than 100 people, and sulfa is available freely. The other is with less than 10 people, and penicillin is continuously supplied."
"Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness! I will continue to serve Your Majesty until death, just as I have done before."
"Thank you for your loyalty. Next, please lead your army to retreat to Brussels for rest."
"Your Highness, what about Maurice?"
"After receiving the news that you were attacked, I have ordered the 9th Division of the New Army to withdraw from the south of Sedan. Then I will personally lead the 9th and 10th Divisions to meet Mr. Maurice of Nassau!"
And on the other side.
"Broeder, our casualties are counted."
"Um."
"Eight hundred and fifty-three killed, two hundred and eighty-five seriously wounded requiring amputation, and two thousand three hundred other wounded. In addition, we have more than four hundred prisoners."
"Yeah." Morris nodded and accepted the loss. He sighed, "It's a pity that the parliament didn't give us enough funds to buy penicillin in large quantities. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to amputate so many soldiers." After saying this, he said viciously, "The merchants in the Republic are all a bunch of bastards. Why can't their caravans sail to China to buy penicillin ? Our scientists are also a bunch of idiots. They already have the name of this drug, so why can't they research it?"
"Broeder, is this helpful? What should we do next?"
"Continue to the south and attract the Spanish Prince Rudolf to lead his main force to fight me in a decisive battle."
"Well... I mean, compared to our current strength... and the Danes' fighting power... I'm not saying they lack courage, but their equipment and tactical concepts are really terrible."
"It doesn't matter." Maurice stood up and walked a few steps, then whispered into Frederick's ear, "My brother, the French king is no fool. He is ready to join the war himself."
