Descending On France 1780
Chapter 355 - 348 Lasalle repels the Austrian army

Chapter 355: 348 Lasalle repels the Austrian army

The fierce battle continued for another twenty minutes.

Lasalle repelled three Austrian charges again.

The cavalry he brought was reduced to just a dozen men, all gathered around him, with no one intending to retreat.

At this point, everyone was seeing red, thinking of nothing but dying together with the enemy.

Lasalle climbed onto the first cart, its traces already broken by the cannons, its wheels half blown away, now paralyzed on the ground, losing its function as a cart.

Standing on the broken cart, Lasalle’s Dorman was half torn, and the buttons of his jacket had all fallen off, leaving it half-open, revealing the solid muscles underneath.

As soon as he climbed up, a cavalryman teased, "Boss, you really do look like Attila now."

Laughter erupted.

After all, the legendary Huns were barbarians, all bare-chested.

Lasalle laughed along with everyone, and after the laughter, he commanded, "Richard, you are the youngest, go deliver the order to the horse handlers and then retreat with them."

"Retreat?" Richard was shocked. "I can still fight..."

"Listen, kid," Lasalle interrupted him, "These horses are extremely important to the Republic, even more important than our poor lives as cavalry. You must return the horses to the Republic and spread the word of our bravery! This is a very important mission, even more important than continuing to fight here."

Richard bit his lip and then walked away silently.

Then Lasalle looked at the remaining people.

"I, Lasalle, am no stranger to death, including the glorious death on the battlefield, and the inglorious death on the guillotine. Today, it seems, is where I shall meet my end.

"Future historians might debate whether Lasalle’s sacrificing an entire cavalry regiment here had any meaning, maybe even fighting over the conclusion.

"Let those clever people worry about these things. We are warriors, and a warrior’s value is to die generously in the face of the enemy.

"Generous death is today!"

The cavaliers raised their horse swords and cheered.

At that moment, the enemy moved again.

This time, it wasn’t the infantry advancing in formation, but a group of artillerymen slowly pushing a cannon towards the bridgehead fortification.

Lasalle, watching the approaching cannon mouth, laughed loudly, "Hahaha, Napoleon, seeing this scene, would surely feel he has found a kindred spirit! They are going to deal with us using grapeshot!"

The cavaliers burst into laughter together, as if scornfully defying the enemy’s grapeshot.

The laughter reached the Austrians, making the gunners who were pushing the cannon hesitate, clearly slowing down their pace.

The commanding officer behind them shouted angrily, "Ignore them! They are just a few men left, at their last breath. Push forward, fire a shot to scatter them, and the merit is ours!"

Lasalle jumped down from the wreckage of the cart, saying to his remaining subordinates, "Take your positions, irrespective of what happens, it’s the last wave!"

The cavaliers immediately took their positions behind the broken barricade, each holding a picked-up spear.

However, Lasalle did not hide behind the barricade; he stood directly between them, facing the approaching enemy forces, planting his horse sword into the ground.

He did not utter any grandiose statements, but simply leaned on his sword, watching the approaching Austrians.

Just then, Richard, who had just left, ran back, shouting as he ran, "Colonel! Colonel, look quickly!"

Lasalle turned his head, just in time to see a tricolor flag climbing a distant hill.

On the tricolor flag was also painted the emblem of the troops, undeniably the military flag of Napoleon’s First Army.

Following the military flag, blue columns rolled over the hill, their bayonets glistening in the noon sun like a dense forest.

**

The first thing Napoleon did upon climbing the hill was to pull the reins to stop the somewhat excited horse and raise his binoculars to observe the situation.

Still excited, the horse shuffled its hooves, shifting constantly from side to side.

"Stay still, my dear," Napoleon murmured softly, "Let me see, my goodness, so few of Lasalle’s men are left."

He put away the binoculars, dismounted, and then grabbed the military flag from the hands of the flag bearer.

"Musicians! Beat the charge drum!"

At Napoleon’s command, the marching drums immediately switched to a rapid beat.

Napoleon, holding the military flag, took the lead and charged down the hill.

Seeing this, the already marching French soldiers immediately roared and sprinted along with Napoleon.

However, they had been on a forced march, and their physical stamina wasn’t as good as Napoleon who had been riding, and soon Napoleon took the lead ahead of the entire army, holding the military flag at the very front.

**

When Alvizi saw the tricolor flag, his heart sank.

"How are they so fast?"

Beside him, Brunswick, the Prussian commander, reassured, "It might just be a feint, the numbers can’t be large..."

Before he could finish, the Prussian Chief of Staff interjected, "But the military flag belongs to Napoleon Bonaparte’s First Army..."

"That must be a fake, a disguise!"

"But the enemy at the forefront seems to be a short fellow!"

"There are many short people, it’s not necessarily that little Corsican!"

While the Prussians were still deceiving themselves, Alvizi shook his head, "No, I have a feeling it is Napoleon. In fact, when I knew that Frost had stationed another favored one, Lasalle, to guard the bridge, I had a sense this might turn bad."

Austria’s Chief of Staff said, "If we gather our troops now, we might still be able to fight the French across the river."

Alvizi: "It’s too late, if this truly is Frost’s tactic, then it can’t just be one army coming; the main force of the French Army must be on its way, his military theory always emphasizes concentrating superior forces in a local area."

In fact, Frost had not yet systematically published his military theories, it was just some snippets that had spread, but that did not stop the Prussian and Austrian officers from treating it as gospel.

The Chief of Staff asked, "Then what should we do?"

Alvizi remained silent.

Duke Brunswick was also silent, his face bitter.

After all, surrendering was something nobody wanted to bluntly mention.

After a deadlock, Alvizi said, "Let’s see if we can retake the bridge first, after all, there are only a few cavalry left guarding it!"

**

When Lasalle saw reinforcements arriving, he immediately pulled out his horse sword and ducked into the side barricades.

The cavalry, originally hiding behind the barricades, were shocked: "How did you get in?"

"We’re about to win, I don’t want to die now!" Lasalle answered, and then shouted to others, "Take cover, don’t get hit by the cannon! It’s just a bit more!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Austria’s cannons fired.

The canister shots like deadly storms swept through the cavalry’s position.

Lasalle was still shouting, and a cannonball directly hit his left shoulder.

"Damn, I’ve been unscathed all this time, and now this?"

At that moment, the Austrian infantry began their attack.

Ignoring his recent injury, Lasalle popped his head out and yelled, "Brothers, charge!"

The cavalry were confused, what the heck, are you cowering or being reckless?

But the Austrians clearly thought Lasalle was being reckless, and they turned and ran.

Seeing this, all the cavalry joined the chaotic shouting ranks: "Charge!"

"Kill!"

"Fresh meat!"

"Alululululu~"

The Austrians ran even faster.