Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

McMahon was now telling Napoleon III about the march route. The Chalons Army was almost reaching Sedan, but it had not completely entered Sedan. They camped not far from the door in order to advance, attack, and retreat.

"We are in this position, easy to defend but difficult to attack. If we can fight a protracted war with Prussia, we still have hope of retaking Verdun. Moreover, we are fighting at home, the railway has sufficient transportation capacity, and the Prussian army has more troops than us. There are a lot of them, and their information is so tight that we don’t even know where they are. We shouldn’t go head-to-head with the Prussian army in this attack, otherwise even if we exchange one for one, we will still be at a loss.”

McMahon also told Napoleon III where to rescue Bazin, but Napoleon III was like a salted fish now, lying on the carriage. He was not in good health, and he heard a lot of professional terms, which made everyone confused. Stupid.

But he did hear the most important part. McMahon's talk about a protracted war, just drag it out. Prussia can't punch through France, then that's fine. He guessed that Bittenfeldt must have wanted to leave the rest to time. Attack immediately.

The enemy's mobilization may reveal flaws. Before that, we must ensure that we don't make mistakes and just don't move. If he wants to attack by force, the Prussians will lose their skin. If we are lucky, we can recapture Verdun.

But Napoleon III felt that this plan was not feasible. Old Mai, I understand what you are saying, but you have to consider the actual situation. Paris is in chaos now. If we can't win a big victory, the people will want us. fate.

And you said wait, when? You are handing over the initiative to others. There are hundreds of thousands of French troops on Bazin's side. If they delay any longer, they will all starve to death. From a war point of view, we should defend, and defense will definitely be fine.

But from a political point of view, if you don't fight, everyone will be finished. You have to fight quickly and achieve a big victory before you use your squatting tactics.

McMahon is also depressed. What kind of soldiers does he have? One or two of them are all new soldiers. You ask me to take these soldiers to fight the Prussian army. How is this possible?

At this time, Moltke's troops also successfully arrived at Verdun. Moltke knew that McMahon was a bit capable, but not much. He was a good general, but not good enough. He was average and could be used at this level. The total number of people in the Long Corps is estimated to be approximately [-].

As for McMahon, he can do it with more than [-], but not much more. The only general he has is Frossard, who is a little bit good, and the others are almost useless to be honest.

Moltke decided to force them out. He first released false news that Bittenfeldt was leading the army on a forced march to Paris. He would soon be able to forcefully cross the Marne River, hit Paris, and capture Eugenie.

McMahon was a little surprised, is it impossible? How could Bittenfeldt rush to Paris at this time? He had to send someone to take a look.

McMahon sent a reconnaissance team of more than a dozen people to see the situation, and it turned out that Bittenfeldt had really led the cavalry towards Paris.

This was Moltke's instigation. He asked Bittenfeldt to run all the way south and directly cross the Marne River. The show was to make a show. After crossing the Marne River, he immediately turned back and went directly to Dulans. The key was to cross first. The Marne made McMahon think that Bittenfeldt was heading straight for Paris.

On the other side in Paris, under the instruction of Moltke, it was revealed to the French newspaper Globe that Bismarck, the iron-blooded Prime Minister of Prussia, came to the battlefield in person, and the wartime command post was set up in Nancy, and a photo was attached.

Of course Tina was not in Nancy, she was in Metz, and the wartime command post was not in Nancy, but in Frankfurt.

But Eugenie, who had cut out all the telegrams from the front line, was shocked when she saw this newspaper. Finally, there was good news. Bittenfeldt ran all the way to Paris. He would probably be exhausted on the way, so I wouldn't be here again. By sending the garrison out, wouldn't it be possible to directly destroy the Prussian cavalry?

And the most important thing is that the arrogant Bismarck is in Nancy, which makes the people of Paris a little emotional. In the past few months, Eugenie's response to them has been perfunctory. The front line has not said anything. It is inexplicable. Ready to go to Paris.

Eugenie said that there was no problem at all. The Prussian army's attack was just a trapped beast still fighting. Our French army could easily defeat this Prussian army and let Europe recall the power of Napoleon's empire.

McMahon on the front line got the intelligence from Paris. He was quite happy because he finally got a piece of intelligence. For him, all aspects of intelligence were not a multiple-choice question, but a single-choice question.

It’s unclear whether it’s true or not, but there’s at least one piece of information, and now it’s up to McMahon whether he wants to believe it or not.

Napoleon III: "What? Bismarck is in Nancy. Come on, Old Mac. I want to see Bismarck kneeling at my feet!"

Well, if you don’t want to believe it, you have to believe it. The leader has spoken, so you have to believe it...

And the day after the intelligence was obtained, communications with the Army of the Rhine suddenly resumed. This shocked McMahon. Wasn't Bazin surrounded by the Prussian army? I couldn't get in touch for several weeks, why can I get back in touch now?

McMahon communicated with him twice via telegram, talked some nonsense, and confirmed that it was indeed Bazin on the other side.

After Manteuffel surrounded the Metz Fortress, he had been trying to persuade Bazin to surrender, but had yet to attack. Bazin repeatedly practiced Tai Chi with the Prussian army, and repaired the telegraph line under the cover of night. Only then did he finally rely on various methods to connect In order to connect the line, Bazan dug a tunnel for half a month before finally pulling out the line.

McMahon: "You're not really going to surrender, are you?"

Bazin: "How could it be? My troops are in good condition, but the supplies are not enough. After all, they have been surrounded for a month and a half. If you can bring some supplies in, then I can hold on."

Napoleon III was overjoyed. The Rhine Army was in good condition. Isn't this a good time to attack? We rushed directly to give the Prussian army a central flower, and everyone exploded together.

McMahon said, you idiot, we can't get through it. If this is a forced attack, Bazin may not die forever, but I will definitely be beaten by the Prussian army. You calm down first and let me think about it again.

McMahon estimated that Bazin could last about another month. This time was not enough for him to penetrate Verdun, but it was enough for him to take a detour. Now he would give up Verdun and go to Landstuhl to give Prussia a chance. The army came to look back and dig out.

The next day, news came from Paris that Bittenfeldt would most likely lead [-] cavalry to cross the Marne River, confirming the intelligence of Prussia's attack on Paris. After multiple confirmations, it seemed that Prussia really planned to attack Paris directly.

Well, this advantage is mine! I laughed at Bittenfeldt's lack of strategy. That old Mao Qi was so ignorant that he actually attacked Paris directly. Wouldn't this be a comeback?

Napoleon III: "I still think we should attack immediately..."

McMahon: "No, no, your Majesty, we should stay here, victory is in sight."