Chapter 867 Battle of the Ticheno River (Part 2)

Chapter 867 Battle of the Ticheno River (Part 2)

Moreover, before the first round of artillery fire ended, Marshal Radetzky ordered the entire army to press forward. He did not want to give the opponent a chance to regroup at all.

The reason why you wait for the other party to discover you is not because of arrogance, but because you want to eliminate the other party's vitality as much as possible.

At this time, the soldiers of the Sardinian army were crowded together like sheep, scrambling to escape to the other side of the river.

Among them, those who were trampled to death and fell into the river cannot be counted. However, squeezing together is also troublesome for the Austrian cavalry, because it is impossible for them to charge into the crowd, even if it is a chaotic crowd.

So the cavalry had to give up the credit to the infantry. However, the first batch came only with some hunters and skirmishers. Their main task was to harass, while the real large group of infantry was still marching quickly.

This is not because Radetzky is pedantic and refuses to let the infantry charge. On the contrary, this reflects the well-trained and disciplined nature of his soldiers.

Being able to maintain formation in the face of the enemy while advancing, this unit is undoubtedly an elite soldier in the traditional sense.

Soon the two sides came into contact, and the surrounded Sardinian army was pushed away layer by layer like cabbage.

The gunfire was very neat, like a conductor's band, but it was composing a chapter of death.

The army of the Kingdom of Sardinia did not last long, and the leading troops crossing the river chose to surrender. For the sake of safety, Eusebio directly ordered the destruction of the bridge and the two newly built pontoons.

This is the real reminder for the pawns who have crossed the river. Many of them were farmers, workers, craftsmen, and small businessmen before. They came here only after the king and the pope said that there was honor and wealth here.

The result was endless marches and endless toil, guns and death.

The faces of the surrendered Sardinian soldiers were full of confusion. What they wanted to know most at this time was "What are we doing here?"

But the corpses on the ground and the Austrian soldiers with guns brought them back to reality. They had no way of knowing their fate, so they could only put down their weapons and move forward one by one with their heads lowered.

On the other side of the Ticheno River, Eusebio was breathing heavily. He hadn't run so fast for a long time. He was almost crushed to death when he was on the bridge.

"It's a good thing the Austrians didn't cross the river."

Eusebio breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the remaining half of his army, and he smiled.

It's simply perfect. He not only completed the task of harming the revolutionaries, but also preserved his own strength. Although he lost the battle, his status will definitely rise again after returning to China.

But that was all based on the premise that the Austrian army could not cross the river. At this time, Eusebio felt that it was too wise to blow up the bridge.

Judging from the confrontation just now, this should be the preset ambush circle for the main force of the Austrian Empire. Fortunately, he allowed those unstable factors to cross the river first and thus saved his direct troops.

"I'm sorry, my lord. We did our best."

A cavalry officer fell to the ground, feeling guilty for his complete ineffectiveness.

"Look at it, young man. We did not lose. We succeeded in blowing up the bridge and stopping the Austrians from advancing. We are the real heroes!"

The cavalry officer was confused.

"Sir, we just escaped from the other side of the river..."

Eusebio shook his finger.

"No, young man. This is the territory of our Kingdom of Sardinia, not the other side. We guarded the country's gate and did not let the Austrians break in. This is our victory.

Now our battle has just begun! Telling everyone to cheer up! Be careful of the Austrians crossing the river at night! "

On the east bank of the Ticeno River, Colonel Anton saw that fortifications were being built on the other side of the river and immediately reported to Marshal Radetzky.

"Sir! The Piedmontese are really busy on the other side! Aren't they going to attack Milan?"

The old marshal smiled.

"That old boy Eusebio is afraid that we will fight him. He is still so timid after decades."

"Then let's go back and clean up the mess in Milan?"

Colonel Anton honestly hated the Italians in Milan. He didn't have much prejudice against the Italian soldiers in the army, but the citizens of Milan gave him a very bad impression.

Back then, Colonel Anton was imprisoned by his father because he dealt with two Italians who were openly conspiring to rebel. He was almost angered to death.

Fortunately, God opened his eyes and Vienna knew about this and dealt with the scum that deserved it.

Historically, the colonel was angered to death. From his point of view, it was to safeguard the law and the dignity of the country. However, at that time, Austria adopted an appeasement policy towards the Italian region, which was to try not to offend the interests of the local people.

This was not in line with Franz's values, so he slightly changed the history to save the colonel from an aggrieved death.

Marshal Radetzki looked helpless at his stupid son. With such an obvious deployment of troops before, even a slightly experienced officer would not have said such stupid things.

"We're not going back, let's go to Genoa."

"Huh? But this is more than a hundred kilometers away from Genoa!"

Colonel Anton couldn't help but exclaimed, Marshal Radetzky said with a smile.

"I'm not afraid at this age, so what are you afraid of?"

"But father, is it still too late?"

"There's enough time. Read more Sardinian newspapers. Their second legion just set off yesterday. It's possible that we arrived first."

The old marshal was still very humorous, but he heard sweat pouring from Colonel Anton's forehead, because they had marched from Milan before, and if they marched to Genoa again, the soldiers might not be able to bear it.

However, Marshal Radetzky was very confident in his battle plan and even more confident in his soldiers.

In addition, the accuracy of intelligence is also one of his sources of confidence. It would be difficult to conceal large-scale military mobilization.

But this time Carlo Alberto simply stopped hiding in order to build momentum and sent the troops out of the city with great fanfare. Other areas also followed suit.

Although this allowed the Kingdom of Sardinia and the liberals throughout Italy to see Carlo Alberto's sincerity, it also exposed their route intelligence.

For veterans like Radetzki, they can almost judge the opponent's marching speed from the distance between pigeon letters.

Three days later, the Sardinian army was defeated again by Genoa. However, Radetzky did not enter the city or even capture prisoners, but confiscated all their military supplies.

News of the two defeats came back to Turin one after another, and Carlo Alberto was furious. This was no longer a failure, but a shame.

Because they fought two battles, until now, the Sardinian military does not know who is fighting them, how many there are, and where the opponent is?

Both the north and the south said at the same time that they had encountered Radetzky's main force, and news came back from Milan that the Austrians were launching a general offensive against the rebels.

"Doesn't that Radetzky have three heads and six arms?"

On the other side, Franz of Venice shot more than a hundred officers in one go. This news was once declared a rumor by Vienna officials.