In fact, neither Frossard nor MacMahon deceived the French Emperor. What really deceived him was the Prussian General Staff, the crazy Xiao Letian, and France's military philosophy that lagged behind the times.
After the war, Chinese military research institutes concluded that the Franco-Prussian War was actually a watershed between classical military art and modern military theory.
Even before the Franco-Prussian War, human wars had already entered the *Era, but military concepts were actually not much different from those in the Middle Ages.
The Franco-Prussian War was the prelude to a true military reform. From this battle, many military scientists understood what a large-scale roundabout was, what a large corps assembly was, what a high-speed railway network was, and what It’s called the Artillery Group Application…
The Franco-Prussian War was very wonderful. In this war, you can see the shadow of countless medieval battles, and you can also see the prototype of modern warfare.
Here you can see humans fighting for battles around medieval castles, and on the other hand you can see steam locomotives roaring and speeding under these castles!
You can see the charging soldiers lining up beating sixteenth-century marching drums, and even the trumpeter can play exciting music.
But what’s more, you can see the armies armed by the industrial revolution, shooting with heavy machine guns, this kind of medieval romance!
You can see the cuirassiers still charging with swords, and those tall Arabian horses still sweeping the battlefield, but at the same time you can also see how crazy the universal conscription system that relies on nationalism is.
The recruitment efficiency of the ocean can swamp all the professional soldiers in France. This is the first time in mankind that both sides have gathered millions of soldiers to kill in one battle!
Millions of combat soldiers are fighting, and hundreds of millions of people are providing support for the war. From today on, the war has completely separated from the point where victory or defeat was determined in ancient times, and has entered a cruel stage where the entire nation is determined to fight to the death.
It is a pity that Prussia and the Chinese took the lead in adapting to the development of the times, while France became a conservative and self-contained conservative!
They can understand the beneficial factors of the railway network for corps mobilization, but they think that benefit is not very important!
They can understand the blessing effect of new artillery on war, but they still stubbornly use bronze front-loading artillery!
They are very aware of the advantages of Prussia's universal conscription system, but they are unwilling to make the slightest change in their military system!
They know a lot. It can be said that all the Prussians are doing, the French understand the methods here... but they just can't do it!
It wasn't until the arrival of the war that they woke up from their dreams, and the arrogance they felt at the beginning suddenly turned into frightened birds when they first met!
The Prussian army is all compulsory soldiers, how come they have such a strong will to fight? You dare to attack like crazy even though you clearly don't have the advantage in terms of troops?
Why did the Prussian artillery fire so densely and fiercely? Why does it seem that the size of the army is only one division, but the density of artillery shells fired exceeds that of a corps?
Every fool knows that a commander cannot be trapped in a desperate situation, but why did Xiao Letian throw himself into a trap and lead his troops to Huanglong?
They can't understand all this, and can only find the answer from the old military drills, and the old military books can only give them one answer!
That's because the enemy's military strength far exceeds yours, which is why he behaves so abnormally!
In the Battle of Walter, the military strength comparison between Prince Carl and McMahon was actually only one to one. If they really decided to fight to the death, it was still unclear who would win and who would lose!
In the battle of Spicillin, the French army had an absolute advantage, but Xiao Letian's crazy behavior was frightened away!
The complacent French finally suffered. Perhaps it will be after the war is over and they calm down completely that they can understand that it is not enough to just shout slogans and rest on the laurels of the God of War Napoleon I!
It's a pity that few people can stay rational during the war, at least not Napoleon III!
When he judged that McMahon was lying to him, he became furious at the time, "This bastard, you ignored my trust in him. I gave him the power of the entire Eastern Front, but he deceived me like this!"
"Bazin! You go to Chateauneuf and capture him. You go to command the battle on the eastern front. You must block the Prussian army to the east of the Vosges Mountains. You must not let them merge with the Prussian army in the Spicillin Heights!"
Marshal Bazin sweated when he heard this. The troops on the Eastern Front were not close to him. They were all direct descendants of McMahon. If he changed generals on the battlefield, wouldn't he be courting death?
The marshal quickly said, "Your Majesty! The war is urgent now, and it is taboo to change generals on the spot! Besides, even if I go to New Castle now, I will be delayed for three days on the way. I am afraid that the battlefield will undergo major changes in these three days!"
"Why are everything being said now just speculation? What if McMahon is trying to trick the enemy? Maybe he wants to lure the enemy deeper!"
"Your Majesty, please don't make a decision in such a hurry! Give him three days and let us see his next move!"
The French Emperor still refused to give up. He still clamored to deal with the commanders on the Eastern Front. At this time, the Crown Prince couldn't stand it!
Eugène Bonaparte had been silent all this time. Now he walked up to his father and whispered a few words in his ear, "Father, the Eastern Front is full of McMahon's disciples. It's useless for you to let Bazin go!"
"McMahon now has more than 30,000 elite men in his hands. Now we have to use him to stabilize the morale of the army!"
"Whoever you want to punish, you have to wait until the war is completely over!"
The son's words reminded the French Emperor, and the old man blew his beard and glared and cursed, "Damn it! Give MacMa* the order to be crucified in the Vosges Mountains! You must not take a step back!"
"You can abandon Strasbourg if necessary! Anyway, nothing can happen on the Western Front. I want victory here!"
Seeing the French Emperor angrily leaving the conference room, the generals present turned pale and no one knew what to do. At this time, the Crown Prince pulled Marshal Bazin into a corner.
"Old Marshal, what is the current situation of the war? Tell me the truth!"
Looking at the crown prince's young face, the old marshal really couldn't lie to him. "Your Highness, the current war situation is very pessimistic! Your Majesty has always been stubborn that Prussia can't do it, it can't do it..."
"But these two battles remind us that Bismarck is well prepared for this war!"
"Now the war has reached our territory. The enemy's troops on the Western Front have been stationed in the Spicelin Heights. They are only 70 kilometers away from Metz!"
"If the enemy really has 100,000 troops as Frossard said, then our 100,000 troops currently stationed in Metz will not have the advantage in strength. This is the most terrifying thing!"
"In a one-to-one comparison of troops, don't we still have an advantage?" the crown prince said in shock.
