While General Frost's main force failed to attack the main force of the Austrian army, the resistance of Lana's troops had entered its fourth day.
Early that morning, Rana was inspecting the defense line.
The entire position was filled with an unpleasant stench of corpses. Because too many people died on the position these days, there was no time to clean the battlefield, so the corpses were all rotten and emitting a stench.
The French soldiers who were still guarding the position looked worse than the corpses. They were dirty, smelly, and their faces were covered in blood. They looked like ghosts who had returned from hell.
As Lana walked, he joked with the soldiers: "Pim, how are you? I didn't see you last night, so I thought you were glorious."
"Hunter, you are such a lucky guy, I have lost my fortune, but you are not injured at all!"
"Old John, poor old guy, may he rest in peace in heaven."
Most of the time, the soldiers responded tiredly. Occasionally, some who still had some energy left would ask Rana: "Boss, we have been blocking for three days. Today is the fourth day. How long do you want us to block, General?"
"
"Did the general win the battle? Why hasn't the news come yet?"
"When we go back this time, will there be many rewards?"
Rana responded truthfully to all these questions: "I don't know, but as long as we resist, the general will not treat us badly."
During these days of fighting, Rana always stood at the most intense place of the battle, at the front. The soldiers gave him a nickname, "The Immortal", because there were several times when Rana was the only one left in the entire position.
Secretly, the soldiers had already spread the word that Rana, like the General, was a thorn in the side of the God of Death.
In the past, soldiers used to wonder how a dyeing shop apprentice who joined the army not much earlier than everyone else could become the division commander of a big guy.
Now there is a new explanation for this matter: as the enemy of the God of Death, the General can naturally see who has immortality, so he reused Rana.
Led by such an immortal division commander, this group of people stayed here and blocked the attack of tens of thousands of Austrians.
Of course, the mountainous area and the castles left over from ancient times played a considerable role.
The walls of this ancient fortress were unexpectedly thick, and only part of it collapsed after being bombarded by Austrian cannons for several days.
The Austrian army tried to rush to the fortress from the collapsed part, but was forced back by the French army in hand-to-hand combat.
The Austrians had never seen such crazy hand-to-hand combat by the French army. They had almost no experience in hand-to-hand combat before this, and they were directly defeated by the French army.
And it crashed dozens of times.
Because every time the Austrians retreated, after a few of the leading officers died, they would rush back in a swarm, so not many people actually died. After another officer was replaced, they rushed up again.
The situation on the French side is much worse. After these days of fighting, the French army stationed here has lost 30%.
In this era, an army that has suffered a loss of 30% and has not collapsed is already an elite force.
If General Frost had not forcibly implemented the measure of washing wounds with alcohol, which greatly reduced the chance of injuries and attrition of the troops, the French army's losses would have been even higher at this time.
But now, this loss may not be sustainable, because the French army has run out of wine.
The injured people yesterday had no wine to wash their wounds, so the French army's losses yesterday were higher than those of the previous days combined.
In the medical clinic behind the French army, doctors are now doing their job with ease: amputating hands and feet.
In addition to running out of wine, the supply of ammunition is running out.
When Rana ordered the ammunition to be counted last night, he found that most of the army only had a few rounds of ammunition left, and the logistics team's baggage truck was already empty.
The ammunition brought by the transport team from Brescia this morning was divided equally among the entire army, and each person could only receive two rounds of ammunition.
Today the Austrian army continues to attack, and the French army may only be able to shoot for half an hour, and then they can only rely on bayonets to stop the Austrians.
When Rana inspected the position,
Someone asked worriedly: "Boss, what should we do after we run out of bullets?"
Rana glanced at the person who asked the question, tightened the bandage on his head with his hand, and then replied in a firm tone: "The order given to us by the General is to stay here. Since the bullets are gone, we can only use this
It’s up to you to fulfill the general’s orders.
"Of course, I won't force you. You have already done a good enough job. Even if you run away now, you will still be worthy of the title of warrior. So when you run out of bullets later, you can run away!
"But my choice is to stay here, pick up the bayonet, and charge against the Austrians! The Austrians have bullets. After killing them with the bayonet, grab the bullets and use them!"
Someone among the soldiers shouted: "They don't need so many bullets anyway! These cowards rushed up and retreated without even firing a few shots!"
The soldiers laughed heartily.
Lana also had a smile on his face: "Yes, that's what happened. In these days of fighting, I discovered that the Austrians are actually cowards. As long as they kill a few officers, they will flee!"
The soldiers immediately agreed with Rana's words with words like "Yeah" and "That's right", which sounded like heckles.
Rana continued: "Because I served as the captain of the training team before, I had many opportunities to meet with the general. The general said that our troops that have gone through the Great Revolution are different from the armies of other European monarchies."
A soldier below interrupted: "Of course it's different. We fought for three days under the leadership of a dyehouse apprentice!"
The soldiers all laughed.
Now dyehouse apprentice is no longer a contemptuous name among the soldiers. Rana used his bravery and fighting skills to turn this into a nickname among the soldiers.
Soldiers instinctively feel affection for this nickname because they were carpenters, painters, masons and other craftsmen before joining the army.
The revolutionary French army was composed of urban civilians, who had a natural, class-based affinity for the commander who was an apprentice in a dyeing shop.
Of course, Rana didn't understand this, but he didn't hate the nickname.
He continued to say to the soldiers: "Yes, the general looks down upon our enemies very much, saying that they are just a group of animals driven by the noble lord. As long as he kills the noble lord, he will collapse.
"Now I know that the general is right. The enemy has nothing to fear. Even if we run out of bullets today, we can still defend this fortress with bayonets!"
The soldiers cheered in agreement, and then someone shouted: "Long live France!"
So everyone shouted together: "Long live France!"
Everyone's face is filled with pride. This is true and heartfelt pride for their motherland and nation.
This is something brand new in Europe where kingdoms are everywhere, and it is something that no kingdom, whether they are liberal or conservative, has ever had.
A new thing called nationalism.
In the next few decades, France, the emerging nation-state, will reduce the size of the outdated armies of European monarchies.
**
The cheers of the French army floated along the wind to the Austrian military camp down the mountain.
The Austrian commander, Sir Ferdinand, frowned: "Listen!"
Sir's chief of staff asked in confusion: "What?"
"Listen to their cries!" Ferdinand said, "We have been on the offensive for three days, and our own morale is almost exhausted. uu Kanshu www.uukanshu.com I walked in the military camp and all I saw was
They have sad faces, but they still have such high morale!”
The chief of staff looked at the fortress on the top of the mountain: "Yeah, it's hard to understand."
Ferdinand: "I feel that the French army we are facing is a brand new thing that cannot be measured by our previous experience. I have participated in many wars, and the enemy forces I have encountered before, whether they are Prussian
Neither humans nor the Dharma King’s army showed such characteristics!”
Chief of Staff: "Is it because they are commanded by a dyer's apprentice and the commander above is a tanner?"
"God knows." Ferdinand shook his head, "In short, their army is different from ours. I have a hunch that together with their cobbler commander, they will make the whole of Europe tremble."
Chief of Staff: "Then... let's report this to Marshal Wumser?"
"No! How can you report this!" Ferdinand said angrily, "You can't report it like this. Just say that the French army facing our alliance has 15,000 people, just like before. The French army relied on fortifications to resist us.
Three days of attack, that’s it!”
Chief of Staff: "That's the same as yesterday."
In fact, this is nothing unusual, and it is much better than reporting that you were blocked by 5,000 French troops.
Just then, someone shouted: "Herald from Trent!"
"Bring it here," said Ferdinand.
So the messenger came forward to deliver the letter to the general.
"Let me see...retreat?"
The chief of staff immediately stepped forward: "What, are we going to retreat?"
"Yes, it seems that the marshal encountered a French army that was stronger than him... Damn it, the French concentrated their main force on the marshal's side. Now we can't report that we were only blocked by 5,000 people. Retreat, Chief of Staff
.”
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