Chapter 863 Charge
As the cry broke out, the Austrian soldiers began to cross the barricade. Someone saw Piernet trapped under the barricade. The soldier hesitated for about a second and raised the muzzle of his gun to free him.
Franz walked through the streets covered with corpses and blood, and he knew that this was just the beginning.
The barricades in Venice did not cause Franz too much trouble. Whether it was queuing to shoot or cracking turtle shells, it was not a problem for his troops.
The advantages of lever-action rifles over old-fashioned muzzle-loading muskets, even flintlock guns and matchlock guns are extremely obvious.
This can be seen from the ratio of casualties on both sides. The Austrian army suffered less than fifty casualties for more than an hour after the battle started, while before there were more than 500 rebel corpses in a street.
The fighting on the periphery soon reached the ears of Daniele Manin of the City Hall. The battle in the City Square had just ended, but this did not mean that he won, but that the loyalist soldiers temporarily retreated back to the military camp. .
What now faces Daniele Manin is a dilemma: continue to attack the remaining loyalists, or eliminate the new force.
At this time, there are three groups of forces loyal to Austria in Venice. If they are really gathered in one place, the rebels will not have to play.
Among these three forces, only Franz's reinforcements have no geographical advantage, and if the intelligence is true and Franz is in the army, Daniele Manin feels that as long as he catches Franz's reckless archduke, this will The war is over.
"Citizens! We are descendants of the Roman conquerors! We are God's chosen people! Fight for freedom and God! We must not surrender!"
"Long live! Long live freedom! Long live Pius IX!"
The sparse shouts in the square made Daniele Manin very unhappy, especially the words "Long live Pius IX". The old bastard only knew how to collect tithes, which in his opinion was simply disgusting.
In fact, if Franz can be caught this time, Daniele Manin is ready to try his hand at becoming the Governor of Wisney.
Thinking of this, he became energetic again and shouted.
"Our great Venice is now in an unprecedented crisis! The evil Austrians do not want us to be independent!
For this they sent their evil army and that evil prince!
But this is also our opportunity! Our military strength is ten times theirs! As long as we capture their evil commander, then we will win this war! "
Daniele Manin's analysis cannot arouse people's interest at all. At this time, the square is in a mess, with a large number of corpses left unattended, and many dying people pleading.
At this time Daniele Manin used his unique trick.
"The bounty for killing an Austrian soldier is 100 florins! Whoever catches Franz Joseph will be rewarded 10,000 florins!"
As the saying goes, if you are rewarded with a big reward, there must be a brave man, but this time there are very few candidates because the reward he promised last time has not been given yet.
In desperation, Daniele Manin asked the war team to drive the crowd towards the battlefield.
At this time, the rebel army, including the soldiers who defected from Austria, totaled less than 20,000. But Daniele Manin and the rebel leader Fabio are still confident. After all, according to the latest news, Austria's reinforcements are less than 5,000 people.
Soon the leading troops of both sides exchanged fire, and huge explosions occurred one after another, which made Daniele Manin a little uneasy.
His feeling stemmed from the previous attack on the port area. At first, Wisney's rebel army was unstoppable, but fell apart under the attack of naval guns in the port area.
The effect of hundreds of naval guns firing at the same time was simply devastating. At that time, Daniele Manin suddenly discovered that he was also a mortal.
That's why he wanted to use the Austrians' help to get rid of the Austrian navy, but a series of accidents backfired and made him a gambler.
That's right, Daniele Manin is now focusing everything on being able to quickly capture Franz and then use hostages to force the Austrian army to submit.
"Don't worry! Mr. Manin. The Austrians have been blocked by us in the barricades. It is only a matter of time before they surrender."
Fabio, the former deputy commander of the Austrian city of Wisney, said that after serving in the Austrian army for more than thirty years, he was very clear about the Austrian army's tactics.
At this time, the Austrian army still used the offensive tactics of the Napoleonic period, and they would continue to attack as long as they had a chance.
But what General Fabio didn't know was that Franz was very aware of the future trend of defending the strong and attacking the weak. The latter didn't care whether he was on the defensive, he only knew that his side had the advantage.
The Venetian rebels have been attacking frantically. Although Franz can directly push the front back, it would be better to shrink a little if fewer people can be killed.
So the Austrian army returned to the barricades and used obstacles to block the rebel attack. However, it was Franz's abnormal strategy that gave General Fabio the illusion that the Austrians were in trouble and they were about to withdraw.
At this time, Fabio even made the decision to divide his troops despite insufficient troops, just because he was afraid of letting the big fish Franz go.
However, the gap in training and weapons soon became apparent. The rebel soldiers rushed forward in waves and were harvested by various explosives and bullets.
In just one hour, Fabio's soldiers died in more numbers than in the past half month.
Bordeaux actually wanted to find a place for Franz to drink tea, but the latter was not that kind of traditional aristocrat. He didn't want to pretend to be calm, nor did he want to go to the front line to cause trouble. He just found a relatively clean room to quiet down. Observe.
The situation was completely one-sided. As long as the rebels passed the corner, they would be shot dead by Austrian soldiers.
At this time, the Austrian army, as the defender, not only occupied key nodes, but the snipers also occupied almost all commanding heights.
The rebels obviously had no countermeasures, and their firepower was also crushed by the Austrian army. Franz's light cavalry had much stronger firepower than the Venetian rebels and rebels.
But even so, the opponent still adopted an offensive strategy, which made Franz conclude that the opponent's commander must be a mediocre person.
In fact, this view is not entirely correct, because at this time, Napoleonic offensive tactics were popular in the military world, and not everyone could do it if they wanted to violate the authoritative template.
Seeing that the place was already covered with a layer of corpses, Franz felt that the time had come to counterattack, and he did not want to give the opposing commander a chance to reflect.
"Attack! Destroy them in one fell swoop! We will regain Venice today!"
Franz's words received an enthusiastic response from senior officers such as Colonel Monta.
"Yes! Long live the Austrian Empire!"
Colonel Monta put the whistle to his mouth and took a deep breath.
A sharp whistle sounded, and all the soldiers began to fix their bayonets. The rocket launchers and grenadiers (soldiers who used grenade launchers) on the side fired all their ammunition as quickly as possible.
Smoke filled the air, and then loud shouts of death rang out, and the Austrian army began to charge.