Without cavalry to charge out and eliminate the enemy's artillery positions, the musketeers could only withstand the enemy's artillery coverage head-on.
This wasn't an elimination drill, it was a parade of death.
What was even more unacceptable to Franz II was that Napoleon's French army was equipped with a full forty-eight cannons!
A force of about five thousand men equipped with forty-eight cannons, an average of one cannon per one hundred men?
Such a strategy was possible?
After all, the more than twenty thousand Habsburg allied forces in Astodorf City were equipped with only forty cannons.
Franz II was somewhat envious: "Where did those damned French frogs get so many cannons? Have those rose beefs really gotten mixed up with the French frogs?"
Frogs plus beef, what kind of dish is that? Fat beef and frog hotpot?
But it didn't make sense. Mad King George III was at most a madman, not an idiot. Not to mention whether England had so many cannons, even if they did, he wouldn't sell them to the French frogs, would he?
After thinking for a long time without any results, Franz II stopped dwelling on the issue and instead asked Zweig, "How long can the grain reserves last?"
Zweig was not worried about the city's grain reserves at all: "Don't worry, Your Majesty the Emperor, the city has enough grain for five days, and within five days, a new batch of grain will be delivered. Those French frogs outside the city cannot stay here for five days."
Franz II agreed with Zweig's analysis – the French frogs' cannon numbers were indeed a bit high, but more cannons also meant a faster consumption of shells.
Moreover, the grain consumption of five thousand men daily was not insignificant, which was a huge test for the logistics of the French frogs, and they might not be able to afford it.
The situation in Napoleon's army was also similar to what Franz and Zweig had predicted.
In just over half a day, Napoleon's army had consumed more than three hundred shells. If they continued to fire like this, perhaps three thousand shells wouldn't be enough.
Unfortunately, Napoleon never intended to besiege Astodorf indefinitely.
Military strategy dictates, "When ten times the enemy, then besiege them."
If he had two hundred thousand troops, Napoleon would have no hesitation in besieging Astodorf and eliminating Emperor Franz II of Austria, thereby ending the war.
If he had one hundred thousand or even fifty thousand troops, Napoleon would have chosen the tactic of besieging three sides and leaving one open, forcing Franz II to abandon the city and flee, and then he would have pursued the Austrian army.
Unfortunately, Napoleon only had a little over ten thousand troops in total, and it was impossible to completely seal off Astodorf.
Of course, after more than two years of training at the Great Ming Military Academy, Napoleon had sufficient methods to deal with the current situation.
The army of ten thousand men was divided into two routes. One route, personally led by Napoleon, blocked the city gate of Astodorf. The other route, led by Napoleon's confidant, attacked the weakly garrisoned Le Dondage City.
At the same time, the Duke of Auerstedt, Louis Nicolas Davout, who had also trained with Napoleon in the Great Ming, led his own Rhine cavalry brigade to patrol around Astodorf and Le Dondage, implementing a scorched-earth policy on Luxembourg and also blocking the supply routes to Astodorf.
Once the supply routes to Astodorf were cut off, Emperor Franz I of Austria and the twenty thousand troops in Astodorf City would become rootless duckweed, either fleeing as soon as possible or staying in Astodorf City to wait for death.
...
When the news of the全面开片 (full-scale conflict) in Europe reached the Great Ming, Zhu Jinsong was dumbfounded.
Although Louis XVI and George III had said before they left that they would pick a weakling to fight and establish the reputation of the "little broken pot" in Europe, Zhu Jinsong did not expect that the weakling Louis XVI and George III chose would be the Habsburg family.
This was somewhat impolite.
What was even more unexpected for Zhu Jinsong was that the war would begin in such a childish manner – the two sides declared war, but did not immediately fight. Instead, they officially started fighting only after the death of Arcsed Felson.
If there were any highlights, it would probably be the performance of Napoleon and Davout. The rest were simply negative examples of negative examples.
Of course, the full-scale conflict in Europe was not without its impact on the Great Ming.
After asking Ke Zhiming to briefly explain the situation in Europe, Zhu Jinsong turned his gaze to Geng Rui: "How is Prince Fifteen doing?"
Geng Rui replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Prince Fifteen has led his troops to flee west, and in three to five months, Gurkha can be pacified."
Zhu Jinsong was not surprised by this timeframe.
Gurkha was different from the eighteen provinces of the Han land, and also different from the situations in Us-Tsang and Dogan.
The eighteen provinces of the Han land were nothing to talk about; such territories, existing since ancient times, did not have any messy problems.
Us-Tsang and Dogan were a bit more troublesome because, before Chongzhen, the Great Ming had always implemented a suzerain system in these two places, meaning the Xuanweishi Commandery system. There were garrisons, but more reliance was placed on local chieftains for management.
As for the boastful claims by the "booi ah ha" (bondservants) that the Qing Dynasty had implemented such strong rule in these two regions, completely incorporating them into the mainstream Han territory, such nonsense was to be taken with a grain of salt.
The Qing Dynasty relied on chieftains, princes, and the policy of reducing population – similar to how they played in the grasslands, all under the guise of appeasing and controlling them. It was just that they were not as skilled as in the grasslands.
To put it bluntly, they were not united with the Qing Dynasty. They only maintained a superficial relationship, much like the Great Ming before Chongzhen.
Now, Zhu Jinsong was implementing the policy of "Gaitu Guiliu" (reform of local administration and return to central rule) in Us-Tsang and Dogan, establishing agricultural associations and redistributing land. This did not only affect the land in the hands of the local gentry and scholars, but also the power held by the princes and chieftains.
This was unacceptable to those princes and chieftains – for thousands of years, this land had been governed by princes and chieftains. Now, the Great Ming had come and demanded that the Emperor and officials of the Great Ming have the final say. If the princes and chieftains retained only their titles and no other privileges, how could that be acceptable?
And for Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, the princes and chieftains' desire to retain privileges was equally unacceptable.
If it was still their say after I occupied Us-Tsang and Dogan, then why did I come?
Therefore, the subsequent events were predictable.
When it came to fighting, especially ground warfare, the armies of the Great Ming were truly afraid of no one.
And then, the problems in Us-Tsang and Dogan were resolved.
However, the problem in Gurkha was even more troublesome than the problems in Us-Tsang and Dogan.
To the Gurkhas, the Great Ming army was like something that belonged in hell – although they were also ruled by Prince Fifteen, those "Jian Lu" (Manchus) were clever in these matters. If "A Hong" (a Manchu leader) became a lord of the upper three banners, could the servants of the lower five banners cause any trouble?
In comparison, the Great Ming army was somewhat out of touch. Upon arriving in Gurkha, they neither paid homage nor offered any special treatment. They immediately proposed to reform the local administration and redistribute land, which was problematic.
Therefore, it was easy for the Right Military Governor's Office to conquer Gurkha, much like an adult man fighting a chihuahua. The difficulty lay in how to stabilize the region after the conquest.
Regarding this issue, Zhu Jinsong simply chuckled and said, "Those who are willing to assimilate are easy to handle; they can follow the old regulations of the Joseon Provincial Administration Commission. As for those who are unwilling to assimilate… they will also follow the old regulations of the Joseon Provincial Administration Commission."
The old regulations of the Joseon Provincial Administration Commission meant first letting them rebel, and after their rebellion, arresting them as laborers. Zeng Cheng, Geng Rui, and other civil and military officials were all familiar with this process.
Zhu Jinsong continued, "The sooner the matter in Gurkha is resolved, the sooner the Great Ming can deal with the Ottoman Empire."
At this point, Zhu Jinsong's expression became somewhat grave: "Europe is in chaos, the Great Ming is about to move against the Ottoman Empire, and Tsarist Russia also covets Ottoman lands. Coupled with the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, it is likely that the Great Ming and Tsarist Russia will eventually fight."
"Also, we must find a way to drag that foolish crow (USA) into the fray, so that it has no opportunity to remain an observer."
In fact, the foolish crow was quite troublesome.
When Pearson and Louis XVI, George III, and others agreed before they left to pick a weakling to fight and establish the reputation of the "little broken pot" on Earth, the Great Ming chose the Ottoman Empire, Louis XVI and George III targeted the Habsburg family, and Paul I was even more ruthless, intending to deal with the Ottoman Empire first, then the Habsburgs.
Of course, the opponents chosen by others had no impact on the foolish crow. The foolish crow only needed to pick one near its own territory.
The problem was that after looking around, the foolish crow found something amiss.
To the north was Canada, seized by England from France.
Further north was the territory of the Russian Bear.
To the south… the small countries to the south were either Spanish colonies – Spain was currently allied with France.
Or they were Portuguese colonies – although Washington was confident of defeating Portugal, what about the military reparations owed to the Great Ming after beating Portugal? Would the foolish crow have to pay them?
Therefore, after choosing for a long time, the foolish crow could not find anyone to act against, which worried Pearson so much that he specifically sent Adams as an envoy to the Great Ming to explain the problem.
But then again, everyone else was engaged in conflict, and the foolish crow wanted to stand on the sidelines with a clear conscience?
What a dream!