Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 224: The Natives Should Not Be Underestimated
Maurice (born in 1567) had been in the military for 30 years, and he did not win every battle, and he suffered many defeats on the battlefield. However, as he himself said, he had never lost a battle when the forces of both sides were equal.
But today, he failed, and failed miserably.
His soldiers began to suffer continuous artillery attacks from the enemy when they were 1.5 kilometers away. When they were six or seven hundred meters away, they were shot in turns by the enemy's top muzzle-loading rifles: the half-body armor worn by his soldiers and the thick cotton pads under the deck could not prevent the enemy's projectiles from entering his soldiers' bodies.
After all, this army had followed Morris for many years. Although they were called mercenaries, they were actually private armies with high loyalty and battlefield discipline. Therefore, in such a tragic battlefield, they endured extremely high casualties and rushed to the front of the enemy.
However, facing the opponent's thin layer of pikemen, our pikemen could not break the situation in a short time. And our musketeers could not match the opponent's musketeers. After the two sides fought for about 40 minutes, the Danes in the coalition army could not hold on and began to retreat. Finally, the Dutch army also began to retreat... At nearly 11 o'clock in the morning, a loud shouting suddenly rang out from the coalition army, which had suffered heavy casualties. The formation of the entire army was scattered, and the coalition army was completely defeated!
"Blow the horn, cavalry, attack!"
After giving the order to pursue the enemy, Coutinho turned around and bowed to Rudolph with a sincere heart: "Congratulations, Your Highness. You defeated the prestigious Mr. Maurice in your first field battle."
"Hmm~~" He responded to the adjutant's flattery with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. Rudolf shook his head imperceptibly and sighed secretly in his heart: using the technology and tactics of the 18th and 19th centuries to bully the natives of the 17th century is really an unfair victory.
"Coutinho."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Inform our soldiers that the pursuit is limited to one hour. When the time is up, the entire army will retreat."
"Please forgive my ignorance, Your Highness. We have been unable to achieve a complete victory in the Netherlands for many years because we have been unable to inflict a devastating blow on Lord Maurice's army. Now..."
"Ah...it seems that I failed to educate you in the military academy." After a long sigh, Rudolf patiently explained: "Our most fundamental enemy is the French. Without the support of the French, the rebellion in the Netherlands would have been quelled long ago. So, even though Maurice has caused us too much trouble, if France is defeated by us, he alone cannot pose too much threat to us. And if France is not defeated, even if we kill Sir Maurice here, the Dutch will have a new commander to lead them to continue the rebellion."
"…I'm sorry to disappoint you, Your Highness. I will carry out your orders immediately."
…
At the evening of that day, Rudolf, who had entered the Liege Castle to rest, received the casualty report of the battle.
"Your Highness, our army suffered 335 casualties and over 950 wounded. The enemy suffered over 2,300 casualties and over 4,000 prisoners, of which over 2,000 were seriously wounded."
"Our casualties are actually over a thousand? In today's battle, the enemy didn't spend much time fighting us in close combat."
"Your Highness, the casualties inflicted on our army were mainly caused by the Danes."
"Ah, yes." As the first country in Europe to fully switch to rifled muskets, the Danes must have known this to European military researchers. The range of rifled muskets far exceeds that of smoothbore muskets. So, while the Dutch were still enduring the artillery charge of the Spanish army, the Danes could raise their guns and shoot at the Spaniards.
But that's it: a muzzle-loading rifle without Minié bullets has a very slow reloading speed in actual combat. Basically, after firing a round, you can only attach a bayonet to the back and charge with a bayonet.
"Your Highness, congratulations, this is a perfect victory. You are truly the greatest commander God has given to Spain."
"Tsk~~Coutinho, did you find anything in the woods west of the battlefield today?"
"I sent out a battalion of soldiers to search it carefully, but found nothing."
"You see , I can also make mistakes sometimes. I am not the greatest commander." Rudolf spread his hands and said, "We will do our best to treat the wounded, and then let the rebels pay for their ransom. The ransom will be higher, after all, our medicines are not cheap."
"Yes, Your Highness. What if the other party cannot pay the ransom?"
"Hahaha, who will dare to fight for the Dutch rebels in the future?"
"So that's how it is..."
Just when the young adjutant wanted to flatter His Royal Highness the Prince again, there was a hurried knock on the door.
"Your Highness, an urgent message from Governor Albrecht of Brussels."
With a "click", Rudolph moved the seat back forcefully and quickly took the letter.
After quickly reading it, he couldn't help but slap his forehead: This is trouble!
The one who causes trouble for the time traveler is the current King Henry IV of France.
After receiving the report from Prince Condé, Henry IV was very keenly aware of a problem: if even Sedan, a fortress that had become the strongest in Europe after the help of Ibrahim of Ottoman Empire, could not stop the Spanish, then even if he personally led the reinforcements and joined forces with the French army in Sedan to fight against the Spanish army, the chances of winning would be very low.
Then the old rogue made a prompt decision: Richelieu led the 20,000 mercenaries as a decoy, and he personally summoned 300 knights whose territory was in the Île-de-France (Greater Paris, the most trusted region of the French royal family), and with them as the backbone, he assembled about 3,000 musketeers. Then he rode two horses and rushed into the southern Netherlands from the direction of Decarbe-Calais.
The southern Netherlands is today's Belgium. The residents here are mainly Flemish (Dutch speaking) and Walloon (French speaking). Therefore, after the French entered here, if they wanted to hide, it would be much easier than the Spaniards who spoke a different language.
In addition, this area is close to France and far from Spain, so although this place is Spanish territory, the French have a great influence here.
This provided the best objective environment for Henry IV's guerrilla warfare.
Yes, it was guerrilla warfare. After realizing that he could not defeat Spain by either fortress defense or field battles, the king started guerrilla warfare without any guidance.
Moreover, this old rogue who had been in the military all his life was extremely good at seizing opportunities: when Rudolf led the new army to the north to fight against Maurice and the army of Marquis Spinola had not yet completely withdrawn, the French army, which had been divided into small groups, quickly regrouped outside Brussels and raided the largest warehouse of the Spanish army's logistics supplies!
More than 40 tons of ammunition went up in the air, and all kinds of medicines worth 50,000 silver coins were gone...
Looking at the letter sent by Governor Albrecht and learning about the heavy losses suffered by his side, Rudolf punched the solid wall: It seems that the natives of this era, who can leave their names in history, should not be underestimated.
