Chapter 93: Cossacks are here too

On the morning of October 20, after learning that Wellington had conquered The Hague, Bill, without waiting for all the soldiers on the ship to get off, directly led more than 5,000 people who had already landed on the ship to march towards Amsterdam. Although Bill was appointed as the chief of staff of the Expeditionary Legion in this expeditionary battle, he was still very dissatisfied with Wellington. Why did he go to India to fight in a few years and become promoted to general and was also appointed as the commander of the Expeditionary Legion. Bill believed that his strength and talent were not inferior to Wellington, and he had always been worried about this appointment. Therefore, after learning that Wellington conquered The Hague, he urgently needed a victory to prove himself.

At 3 pm, after five hours of rapid march, Bill and his army finally arrived in Amsterdam. However, the French defenders stationed in Amsterdam had already received news that the British army was about to attack and gathered all the French teams around to Amsterdam. By the time Bill led his army to resist, Amsterdam had gathered two regiments of 5,000 people. In terms of number of people, compared with the British army coming to attack, there was no disadvantage in terms of individual soldiers. Although they may be worse than the British army, it is not difficult to defend Amsterdam with the tall city walls they built with Amsterdam as the main body.

The one who decisively completed these pre-war preparations was Colonel Sain, the commander of the 4th regiment among the eight regiments stationed in the Netherlands. An old regiment commander in his forties. With years of experience, he knew that his regiment would definitely not be an opponent of the British army, so he contacted the 5th regiment stationed around Amsterdam overnight and asked them to gather all their troops in Amsterdam to deal with the possible attacks of the British army.

At 4 pm, after an hour of rest, Bill ordered the British army to start the first attack. However, due to their rapid march, the artillery was transported to only four gates due to transportation problems, and the firepower was seriously insufficient. It was impossible to provide firepower support for the infantry's attack. But in this case, Bill still forced the soldiers to start the attack.

The French army defending the city used the cannons mounted on the city to attack the British army. Although they were all old-fashioned cannons, the effect was quite good. The only four cannons in the British army could not suppress the French artillery bombardment, causing the British army to suffer heavy losses during the attack. When they got under the city wall, they had to face the high city wall, and they could not go up at all. Instead, they were shot countless by the French army on the city wall. They had to give up the attack.

During the first attack, the British army lost more than 500 people. After heavy losses, Bill finally woke up. He was able to become a lieutenant general and was appointed as the chief of staff of the Expeditionary Legion, which was obviously a bit real. Once he calmed down, he began to analyze his own disadvantages. The lack of heavy weapons was the biggest problem he faced. Attacking the city where low-ranking heavy troops was stationed under the cover of powerful artillery was simply seeking death. Before a solution was found, Bill had to station all his troops 10 kilometers from Amsterdam, and he no longer dared to attack rashly.

Bill ordered the troops left at North Wake to advance quickly towards Amsterdam and transported all the artillery to Amsterdam to attack the city with all their strength. But the troops left at North Wake didn't know what to do, because they received Bill's orders at the same time. The two of them arrived almost at the same time, and the content was exactly the same, both requiring the troops left at North Wake to take all the artillery to advance towards them. It turned out that on the 20th, Wellington also launched an attack on Rotterdam, but at this time, under the leadership of General Saen, Rotterdam had gathered three regiments of French troops. They built Rotterdam like an iron barrel with favorable terrain and other factors. After losing more than 2,000 people, Wellington had to stop and demand assistance.

The officer who stayed at North Wake received two orders and didn't know what to do, so he had to ask the two commanders separately. Wellington and Bill of course asked North Wake's army to advance like himself. In the end, Wellington and Bill had to return to North Wake again to resolve the dispute between them.

"General Bill, I heard that your attack in Amsterdam was not going well," Wellington teased.

"General Wellington, I heard that your attack in Rotterdam was also very unsuccessful. Not only did you not occupy Rotterdam, but you lost more than 2,000 elite soldiers from the Empire." Bill immediately replied.

"But I won the Hague at least, which is much better than some people who have not achieved anything." Wellington laughed.

"But you have lost nearly 3,000 people. If I were to command, I would never have lost so many soldiers." Bill said affirmatively.

The two of them became more and more powerful as they talked, and they couldn't help but start a fierce argument, and even brought out some old things to attack each other.

In the end, Admiral Bock persuaded the two of them to calm down and discuss what to do next. As Admiral Bock's naval fleet wanted to cooperate with this expeditionary army battle, except for the transport fleet returning to the country to transport materials under the escort of some ships, all other warships were left behind and blocked the entire sea area in northern France.

You should know that the fighter opportunity was fleeting on the battlefield, and the infight between Wellington and Bill had caused the British Expeditionary Legion to lose many opportunities to attack.

On the morning of the 22nd, Bock called Wellington and Bill together and said, "Did you discuss where the Expeditionary Legion are going to attack?"

Wellington and Bill looked at each other, snorted coldly, and turned their heads.

Bock sighed and took out a piece of information and said, "I don't think you have to hesitate anymore. This is the latest information I just obtained. The French Seventh Army Corps has begun to march towards the Netherlands. It is estimated that it will reach Rotterdam in 6 days." In fact, Bock was also very depressed. One of his dignified admirals is now in the center to mediate two army officers. What do you think is this?

"So fast?" Wellington was surprised after hearing Bock's words. He quickly took the information from Bock's hand and started to read it. He did not expect that the French army would react so quickly and sent troops into the Netherlands to participate in the war.

Bill was also a little surprised, but he didn't say much.

After the powerful enemy appeared, Wellington and Bill finally let go of the conflict between them, got together again, and discussed ways to deal with it. In the end, Bill compromised and agreed to attack Rotterdam south, leaving only a few restraining troops in the north.

On the 23rd, Wellington and Bill led more than 40,000 French troops to launch a fierce attack on Rotterdam, and almost all nearly 250 cannons were concentrated here. Although General Saen's defense line was well arranged, it still seemed crumbling under the strong attack of the British. A large number of British soldiers launched a desperate attack on the French positions in the accompaniment of the Scottish bagpipes.

Finally, on the afternoon of the 24th, the northern position in Rotterdam was lost, which eventually shook the entire defense line. In order to retain its strength, General Saen finally had to order the army to retreat. The British army also lost more than 4,000 people in the attack, and the French army almost lost a regiment. After this battle, Wellington no longer dared to underestimate the French army and ordered the troops to pursue the retreating French army fiercely.

General Saren retreated until Antwerp to stabilize the front. On the 28th, Sirte's Seventh Army rushed to Antwerp, and together with Saren's remaining troops and troops, blocked the British attack and launched a counterattack in time, completely repelling the British attack on Antwerp. At this point, Britain and France began to stalemate on the Netherlands front.

However, in the temporary French command of Berlin on the 23rd, the atmosphere seemed a bit depressing because an information about the Russian army was sent here this morning.

The vanguard of the Russian army, 50,000 Cossack cavalry, arrived at Boznan, an important western Polish city in western Poland on the evening of the 21st, under the leadership of the Russian commander Kutuzov. But what was strange was that they did not continue to march towards Prussia, but stationed there, making it difficult to figure out what they wanted to do.

"Gentlemen, the Russians are coming soon in September. Let's talk about what we should do?" Napoleon asked at the pre-war meeting held by the Command.

Since many legions are performing combat missions outside, not many people attending the meeting, only Bertier, Davu, Xiao Jie, Bessier and Rana.

Besier, the chief of the French general staff, spoke first: "Your Majesty, Marshals and Generals. I think the Russian army must have been stationed in Boznan because we eliminated the main force of Prussia in the Battle of Jena and the Battle of Alstadt, making them think that their Prussian allies have been completely defeated by us, and now they can only hide in the north and survive. And with their own strength alone, it is difficult for us to compete with each other. Moreover, there are only 50,000 Cossack cavalry that have arrived in Boznan, and their infantry will take at least a week to arrive. Therefore, they dare not launch a rash attack on us."

Everyone agreed with Berthier's analysis, and the Russian army's intentions were almost that way. Xiao Jie felt for the first time that the territory was too large in this era, and it was not a good thing. Just like Russia today, if you want to fight with France, you have to spend almost a month traveling across the European continent.

"Andrecy, do you have any opinions?" Napoleon asked.
Chapter completed!