War naturally has its basic principles. The allocation and deployment of troops are extremely scientific. The same army cannot appear on the Eastern Front and the Western Front at the same time. The Prussian army is not a heavenly soldier or general, and they cannot fly.
The entire border between France and Germany is in the shape of a big number 7. Although the east line is not suitable for military use because it is blocked by the Rhine River, the key bridges and ferries must also be defended.
The Prussian army on this line of the Rhine must leave at least 30,000 to 40,000 people for defense!
The most important battlefield is the horizontal border in the north, which is more than 300 kilometers long. There are more than ten offensive places that can be broken through, and Saarbrücken and Walter are just the geographical ones. They are just the two best breakthrough points.
The remaining dozen or so strategic locations must be defended with heavy troops, because at this moment France is the main attacker and Prussia is the main defender!
According to the empirical analysis taken for granted by these French generals, the defensive side cannot accurately judge the attacking side's military strategy, so it needs to strictly guard and defend every important road that may be broken through.
After preliminary calculations, if we want to completely defend the border line of more than 300 kilometers, an army of 200,000 is the lowest number. Who makes the French army so powerful!
At least that's what these French generals thought!
Since this reasoning is simple, Prussia currently has a total of 300,000 troops on the border, and the remaining 100,000 is the main direction of the Prussian attack.
Wherever those 100,000 people appear, other areas must be weak links that can be broken through!
This analysis sounds very reasonable. It is no different from what is taught in the textbooks of military academies. The emperor, marshals and generals all believe it.
But the current war situation has given them a loud slap in the face!
How come there are hundreds of thousands of troops on Saarbrücken's western front and Walter's eastern front? Could it be said that the Prussians have mobilized more than 400,000 troops?
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible. Our powerful France has only mobilized 250,000 people until now. Will Prussia mobilize more than twice our troops?" The French Emperor paced back and forth in the conference room angrily.
"Someone must be lying, either you Frossard or McMahon! How could there be a hundred thousand troops on both fronts? Malpractice, this is malfeasance and treason!"
"I'm going to shoot you, shoot you!"
The King of France is going crazy. At this time, Frossard can't care about his colleagues. A dead Taoist friend cannot die a poor Taoist!
He stood up and ran to His Majesty the Emperor and knelt on the ground with a thump, "Your Majesty! I swear in the name of God, I really didn't lie. I really faced an army of more than 100,000 people!"
"Your Majesty, you are wise. You can understand the situation on the battlefield at a glance. More than 10,000 people in Saarbrücken did not surrender even when I was besieging nearly 40,000 troops..."
"Why is this? It's not because they know that there is a large army hiding behind them, so their morale is so high!"
"Now I understand that the previous bombing of the railway bridge and shrinking to avoid the war were all illusions. They were all deceiving me and greedy for success! They wanted to eat me up!"
"Fortunately, I ran fast and retreated to the Spicillin Heights in time, otherwise my second army would have been completely wiped out..."
At this point, Frossard actually hugged Napoleon III's leg, "Your Majesty! I retreated only after hearing the news of Walter's defeat! I was not the first to retreat!"
"There is really nothing I can do if I don't retreat. If I don't retreat, our Second Army will become the most prominent isolated part of the entire front, and it will definitely be surrounded by the enemy!"
"Then why don't you hold on to the Spicillin Heights? You have more than 30,000 elites in your hands!" Marshal Bazan roared from the side.
On the surface, it seemed that Marshal Bazin was scolding his men, but anyone with a discerning eye could understand that this was a reminder to Frossard.
Marshal Bazin's subtext is, 'Don't talk about Saarbrücken all the time. Now your crimes are mainly concentrated in the Spicelin Heights! You have to explain this problem clearly before you can pass the test! '
Be obedient and listen to your voice! At this moment, Frossard's life was on the line. His mind was very bright. He wiped away his tears and said, "Your Majesty, do you know who I met at Spisilin Heights?"
"I met Xiao Letian! He personally took his personal guards and climbed the cliff to sneak attack my headquarters!"
"No one expected that he had such an elite army, which pierced my castle like a sharp knife! After fighting hard all night, I really didn't expect Xiao Letian to show up!"
"What? Xiao Letian? Personally raid your Chinese army?" The Emperor's eyes were as big as eggs.
All the generals present could not believe their ears. Marshal Bazin stood up and pointed at his men and cursed, "Are you talking about fantasy? How could Xiao Letian do such a thing? Is he risking his life as a soldier?" ?”
Frossard burst into tears, "I know you don't believe it! I know you don't believe it... I brought Christopher from the Queen's Cavalry Regiment! You must believe his words!"
Queen Eugenie's Cavalry Regiment, this is the famous elite of the Guards, Christopher's words are certainly credible! When the regiment leader walked into the conference room smelling of gunpowder smoke, he immediately saw the life-saving eyes of the military commander.
"Christopher, tell His Majesty, was it Xiao Letian who appeared last night? Tell me quickly!"
Christopher took off his hat and held it in his arms, kneeling on one knee to His Majesty the Emperor. "Your Majesty, your loyal knight is back! I declare to you with the dignity of a knight that everything I said is true!"
"The night battle was chaotic. We didn't see Xiao Letian's face with our own eyes, but I'm sure it was him who raided our castle!"
"That crazy man actually arrogantly rang the bell in the bell tower in the heart of our 30,000-strong army. He was issuing a general attack order to the Prussian army down the mountain!"
"This man used his own life to boost the morale of the Prussians. At that moment, the tens of thousands of Prussians under the mountain went crazy, just like the Germanic barbarians back then, crazy and unstoppable!"
"And the fireworks released on the bell tower are completely beyond the capabilities of our European craftsmen. The red fireworks can actually explode into the sky like a bloody rose!"
"What an incredible skill! Except for the person with the highest level, I don't think anyone can have such qualifications!"
"What's more important is that after these many signal bombs exploded, three to four hundred signal bombs appeared in the northeast in response, and the entire northeastern sky lit up!"
"How could there be such a large-scale signal flare response without a 100,000-strong army?"
"Without the protection of a hundred thousand troops, how could Xiao Letian be so confident in taking such risks?"
"Your Majesty, he is the head of state of the Chinese clan. The place where this person is...how could it not be the place where the main force is?"
These words shocked everyone present. Napoleon III sat softly in his chair. "So... McMahon is lying? He deceived me?"
