Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 952 - 860: The Team Disbanded

In the eyes of twenty-first-century people, the behavior of Austrian soldiers is undoubtedly foolish, but during the era of firing squads, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Given the accuracy of the flintlock musket, it would take hundreds of shots to possibly hit them through the crevices of the parapet.

So, the soldiers were accustomed to standing boldly in the face of the enemy.

One soldier realized and loudly warned: "Maybe they are riflemen!"

The soldiers of Zimmerman’s Company were about to squat down to dodge when someone retorted, "Definitely not, I didn’t see their hammers just now."

In this era, a rifleman’s gun, that is, a rifled gun, was extremely difficult to load, requiring a hammer to force the bullet into the barrel.

The sergeant next to him also shook his head, "The firing speed of riflemen couldn’t be so fast either."

After their company commander was hit, the second volley of bullets came within less than 20 seconds. Normally, it takes at least 40 seconds to load a rifled gun.

Saying this, the sergeant leaned back on the parapet, trying to look and see for himself.

Soon after, the French hunters happily claimed a kill. fгeewebnovёl.com

Austrian Army sub-lieutenant at the adjacent gun position crouched and ran over, forcefully gesturing and ordering, "Squat down, everyone squat down!"

He was still a bit late, as five more soldiers were hit by bullets coming from below the fortress.

In just three or four minutes, Zimmerman’s Company had lost 36 men.

The sub-lieutenant loudly shouted, "Didn’t your commanders tell you the latest orders? Stay away from the parapet, don’t stand in open places, squat down as much as possible!"

The soldiers looked towards Company Commander Zimmerman, who had fallen in a pool of blood.

Someone shouted, "The company commander never mentioned it... but why do we have to do this?"

"The French have equipped a new gun that can accurately hit us from a hundred paces away!"

"Is this real?"

"Fools! Of course, it’s real," shouted the sub-lieutenant, "otherwise why is the casualty rate among our artillerymen so high?!"

Since the second day of the French Army’s siege of Cologne, the artillerymen on the fortress, especially those on the outermost defensive line, suffered casualties exceeding 200 every day.

Such a number of artillerymen wouldn’t die, unless there were a cavalry raid, after an entire battle.

This time the French hunters approached the fortress, using the dead angles of the cannons, and sniped the gunners with the latest August 1790 style rifled guns.

Because the new gun fired using percussion caps, its range was considerably longer than that of ordinary riflemen’s guns, making it difficult for the Austrian Army to mount an effective counterattack.

Being severely provoked for several days, the Austrian Army sent a large detachment of infantry out of the fortress to drive away the French hunters.

However, the French cannons were already waiting behind the hunters.

As soon as the Austrian infantry showed their heads, they were met with grapeshot from the cannons.

After several such encounters, the Austrian infantry suffered severe casualties and had to issue temporary orders, requiring the artillerymen to squat as much as possible to avoid the hunters’ shooting.

However, as a result, the efficiency of the cannon fire became unbearably low.

The French Army’s cannons outnumbered the Cologne garrison’s - Massena had assembled the Royal Artillery Camp and the cannons captured in previous battles around Cologne, totaling more than 200, resulting in almost a one-sided artillery suppression.

The siege had lasted only 12 days, yet the French had already breached one of Cologne’s four main fortresses, and the second was teetering on the brink of collapse.

These fortresses were mutually supporting; once one was breached, a blind spot in the firepower would appear, greatly reducing the difficulty of attacking the remaining ones.

The soldiers of Zimmerman’s Company were pale, realizing that their act of peeking outside from the parapet was akin to seeking death.

They suddenly understood why a company of infantry was tasked with operating the cannons.

Perhaps most of the artillerymen had already been shot dead by the French hunters...

Thinking of this, they compressed their bodies even tighter.

Until dusk, the 18-pound cannon hadn’t fired a single shot.

The next morning at dawn.

A major of the Austrian Army came to the artillery position under the responsibility of Zimmerman’s Company—only under dim light did these officers dare to appear in the fortress.

"Boys, you performed excellently!" The major scanned the disheartened soldiers, loudly encouraging, "We have passed the most dangerous stage.

"Twenty thousand British reinforcements have landed in Hamburg and will reach here in half a month.

"And General Blucher’s troops have completed their rest and may arrive even earlier than the British.

"You all must have heard of him. Yes, the Prussian General who heroically broke through the enemy blockade and brought the corps back to the East Rhine!

"By then, our forces will exceed 60,000, and the French will never advance beyond the Cologne Fortress!"

Now, the Allied Forces had considered holding off the French Army’s offensive as a rare victory.

Seeing the courage return to the soldiers’ eyes, the Austrian major satisfactorily clapped his hands and pointed to the surrounding cannons: "Show those French bastards how you..."

Halfway through his sentence, he saw his adjutant rushing over with a panicked expression, whispering rapidly in his ear.

The major immediately widened his eyes, exclaiming: "What? Prussia withdrew from the Anti-French Alliance..."

He didn’t have time to mind the stunned soldiers, and turned to run toward the fortress’s command center.

Within less than an hour, the news of the ceasefire agreement between Prussia and France had spread, engulfing the entire Cologne Fortress in lament.

Even though there wasn’t a single Prussian soldier there, the defensive firepower of the garrison suddenly weakened by several levels.

In the lower levels of the fortress, that major finally saw the freshly delivered report.

The report stated that Prussia formally announced its withdrawal from the Anti-French Alliance the day before yesterday and had withdrawn all troops back to its homeland.

Prussia recognized French control over the Gai’er Deng Region and would recall all administrative officials there within a month.

Prussia would no longer adopt any measures hostile to France...

France promised to forgo war reparations and release all Prussian prisoners, except important officers...

Not demanding war reparations wasn’t because Joseph was generous, but because Prussia couldn’t be squeezed for any benefits, and it would only imprint a deep hatred for France in the hearts of the Prussians.

"These treacherous Prussian scoundrels!"

The major angrily slapped the document on the table, growling softly: "Even without them, we can still hold Cologne!"

Just as he finished speaking, the gunfire on the fortress intensified.

An adjutant forcefully pushed open the door and burst in, gasping, saying: "The French have taken the Central Embankment!"

The Central Embankment was the second wall of the fortress and the sturdiest.

Although there was another line of defense further inside, due to the narrow space, it couldn’t hold out under the cannon bombardment for long.

The major dashed out, the fortress had secret passages enabling him to transfer to the northern side of the fortress to continue fighting at another fortress.