(Chapter to)

"Your Majesty, the 4th French Army has arrived in Kassel and defeated the Prussians of the two armies that came from Berlin yesterday. The 1st French Army has conquered Essen, and the 2nd French Army has captured Wuppertal. The 3rd Army moved forward to the Bochum area. The armies have basically completed the encirclement of the main Prussian army." Eck reported to Xiao Jiehui.

"Very well, order a legion to step up their actions and must encircle and annihilate the main force of Prussia in Dortmund. As long as the remaining 100,000 Prussian troops are eliminated, Prussia will have no power to fight back." Xiao Jie laughed.

"Yes, if this part of the Prussian army is wiped out, then Prussia will basically not pose much threat to us." Du Geer also echoed.

"Your Majesty, that's what I said. But I'm afraid that the Prussian army will give up Dortmund when they see that things cannot be violated. Clausewitz, the chief of staff of the Prussian army, is definitely a person who can afford to let go." Eck was a little worried Said.

Xiao Jie nodded. Although the Prussian army is basically in the encirclement now, the encirclement is too big and there are still many loopholes. If Clausewitz wants to escape, he really can’t take him. Method. "Order the French 4th Army to march towards Paderborn immediately, and prepare to cut off the retreat of the Prussian army to the east. Davout's main force of the French 1st Army immediately marched into Hamm to block the Prussian army's escape to the north. The 2nd Army and the French 3rd Army immediately attack Dortmund, and do not give Clausewitz a chance to escape." Xiao Jie ordered. At this time, he didn't know if such a remedy would work, so he could only do his best.

"It's good to do this. If Clausewitz doesn't react in time, we have great hope to wipe out these Prussian troops." Dugor agreed.

"How is the situation of the other legions? When will the Russian and Austrian troops be able to enter the battlefield?" Xiao Jie asked. Now it is certain that Prussia will fail again. The only variable in the war is Russia and Austria. If they can send troops to Prussia before the Prussian army is wiped out, then this battle will be very difficult to fight.

"The Second Iberian Army is marching towards Munich. The remaining 100,000 troops of the Kingdom of Bavaria are resisting with all their strength, but the effect is not great. If Austria does not send troops to help, the Kingdom of Bavaria may be difficult to survive the first ten days of next month." Dougal replied.

"The Russian army has set off now, but it only arrived in Vitebsk yesterday. Although they have reached the critical point of the battlefield and are rushing to Prussia with all their strength, they will never reach Prussia in less than half a month. The only variable is their The cavalry, if their cavalry throws off the infantry and rushes to Prussia with all their strength, it will only take about 5 days. However, according to the information we have obtained, among the 400,000 troops sent by the Russian army this time, there are only 60,000 cavalry. I think Kutuzov will never let the 60,000 cavalry take risks. If the 60,000 cavalry are eaten by us, the combat effectiveness of the Russian army will be greatly reduced. As for Austria, they have 4 legions dragged in Slovenia has also prepared 4 legions to go to Bavaria to eliminate the threat of the Iberian 2nd Army to Austria. Prussia is not considered for the time being. So we have enough time to eliminate Prussia before the arrival of the Russian and Austrian armies. "Eck said with a smile.

"This is the best." Xiao Jie nodded and said. "Is the loss of each legion great?" Xiao Jie asked. Up to now, there are almost 300,000 anti-French alliance troops annihilated and captured by the French army.

"The losses of all legions are less than 10%, and the casualties are about 15%." Eck replied a little lonely. Where there is war, there are casualties, but from the start of the war to the present, the French Army has suffered almost 50,000 to 60,000 casualties, which still makes Eck feel a little uncomfortable.

Sighing, Xiao Jie said: "After Prussia is settled, we can supplement the legions."

"By the way, Your Majesty. Now all countries are expanding their armies crazily. Especially Russia and Austria. Russia plans to increase its troops by another million, Austria is also preparing to expand another 10 legions, and Prussia is also actively preparing for new legions. We are Didn't we start to form several new legions immediately, otherwise as the war progresses, there will be a big gap between our military strength and the anti-French alliance." Dougal said suddenly.

For this question, Xiao Jie did not answer immediately, but thought for a while, and then said: "How many legions can our equipment and finances support us to form?"

"The armament is not a big problem. The ammunition in the warehouse is enough for us to form 8 legions. As for the finances, we are not very clear, but there is probably no problem in forming 4 or 5 legions." Eck replied immediately.

"Well, let's start the work of forming a new army immediately. The designations will be the 4th Iberian Army, the 5th French Army, the 6th French Army, the 7th French Army, and the 8th French Army. As for financial issues, I will go to Your Excellency Otov, if it is really not possible, the royal family will pay part of the military expenses first." Xiao Jie said.

Hearing that Xiao Jie agreed to expand the army, Du Geer and Eke were overjoyed. Then Eck and Dougal went down to prepare to go.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, just got the news that the two legions sent by His Majesty the King to support us were defeated by the French 4th Army in Kassel. I am afraid that we will not get reinforcements in a short time." Prussian 1st Army Corps General Hiram hurried into Clausewitz's office and reported to him.

"Where's the French army? What's their movement?" Clausewitz asked.

"Currently, the four French legions with nearly 400,000 people are advancing towards Dortmund. Especially the French 2nd and French 3rd legions, it is estimated that they will approach the city tomorrow at the latest. The French 1st legion is attacking north. Needless to say, I know they want to cut off our way to retreat to the north. And the French 4th Army is approaching here from the east." Hiram replied anxiously. 400,000 people, which is more than three times that of the Prussian army. In the past, one-on-one was no match for others, but now one-on-three, there is no way to survive.

"I am anxious that the commanders of all the legions will come to me immediately to discuss the next battle plan." Clausewitz said.

Hiram responded, and then went to worry about the others. In fact, in his opinion, this is a waste of time, but he also understands Clausewitz's difficulties. If the commanders of other legions do not agree, then he must bear the main responsibility after returning to Berlin. of. If everyone agrees to retreat, then his responsibility will be much less.

In less than half an hour, the commanders of the six regiments of the Prussian army gathered in Clausewitz's office. Clausewitz didn't talk nonsense, and said directly to everyone: "The current situation is also very clear to everyone. The strength of the four French legions is approaching Dortmund. Now our 6th Corps has only 130,000 people, and the opponent is our 3rd Army. Times. The two legions that came to support us have also been defeated by the French army, which means that we will have no reinforcements in a short period of time. Tell me what should we do next? Should we stick to Dortmund? Or...?"

Silence, there was silence in the office, no one expressed an opinion, although everyone wanted to say that they supported the retreat, but the first person who raised this opinion must be more responsible in the future, so no one is willing to be the leader Birds, Clausewitz is the same psychology.

After a long time, Hiram, the head of the 1st Army Corps, said: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, you can do whatever you want, and we will all follow your arrangements."

"Right? We all listen to His Excellency the Chief of Staff." Others echoed.

Clausewitz sneered in his heart. He knew that these people wanted him to take the blame, so he said deliberately: "That's good. For the sake of the kingdom, I decided that all the legions will stick to Dortmund until the last person in the battle."

As soon as he said this, everyone's expressions changed.

"Your Excellency Chief of the General Staff, the enemy is strong and we are weak now. If you stay in Dortmund, you will have to wait for death." The head of the 3rd Army said.

"So you mean we gave up on Dortmund?" asked Clausewitz.

"This, this." Of course, the commander of the 3rd Army Corps didn't dare to admit it. He sat down quickly and didn't dare to say a word.

Immediately, the office was shrouded in a weird atmosphere~lightnovelpub.net~ Now that the situation is already like this, it will only be more detrimental to us if it continues. I believe that no one will agree to stick to Dortmund. But everyone is unwilling to shoulder this responsibility. said Hiram, the head of the 1st Legion.

Although everyone thought so, no one said it.

"Well, if everyone agrees to retreat, then we will give up Dortmund, but the responsibility will be shared by everyone, so that no one will suffer." Hiram suggested.

"Yes, in this case, even if His Majesty the King wants to blame us, there are so many of us, and we won't receive any substantial punishment." Clausewitz first agreed.

Others also agreed one after another. Everyone still understands the principle that the law does not blame the public. If Friedrich William III really dealt with them all, who would lead troops to fight for him?

After that, Clausewitz ordered: "Everyone go back and prepare immediately. We will evacuate Dortmund in 3 hours." At the same time, Clausewitz also reported the situation on the battlefield to Friedrich William III, claiming that the French army In order to preserve the strength of Prussia, he had to order a retreat.