Chapter 684: Holy Alliance, Eliminate Heresy

Chapter 685 Holy Alliance, Eliminate Heretics

Franz II looked at the Minister of State in surprise:

"Why are there only more than 20,000 people? Is this what the Military Committee meant?"

It's no wonder that he asked this question. You know, Austria used 40,000 troops to suppress the rebellion in Slavonia, but only sent 24,000 troops to the national war against Poland.

Baron Turgut was a little embarrassed:

"Your Majesty, if our target is only the Lesser Poland area, these troops should be enough. You know, our financial situation..."

Franz II heard this and waved his hand impatiently.

In fact, Austria's financial situation at this time was not much better than Prussia's.

It also experienced the consumption of the Silesian War and had fought a battle in the Southern Netherlands before. Although the battle mainly relied on the French army, the logistics were borne by Austria. At present, the rebellion in Serbia has not been completely quelled.

The empire has been "bleeding" everywhere in the past few years.

In addition, the southern German market faced competition from France, and the income dropped sharply, and the treasury was already in turmoil.

This is also the reason why Francis II was eager to tear a piece of meat from Poland to recover.

However, the huge military expenditure pressure forced the empire to send more than 20,000 troops to attack Poland.

Baron Turgut continued:

"Your Majesty, Russia has attracted most of the Polish troops. The War Committee judged that we will not encounter too many obstacles."

As he was speaking, he saw the emperor's attendant coming over.

Franz II looked at his attendant and said, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, Count Schmalz, Marquis Androsch and some nobles have requested an audience."

"What do they want?"

"Uh, Count Schmalz seems to have mentioned that he would obey the call of the Holy See and send troops to participate in the holy war..."

The Holy Roman Emperor's face turned green and he shouted, "What holy war! That's just a rumor from the Poles! Tell them not to mention it again!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

In the corridor of Schönbrunn Palace, Count Schmalz was passionately speaking to a group of people waiting for the emperor to summon him:

"A hundred years ago, the 'Spear of God' helped the empire repel the pagans who besieged Vienna! Now, it's time for the new Crusaders to go to the Dnieper River to help them! Your Majesty will definitely agree to send troops."

He was talking about the end of the 17th century when the Ottoman army besieged Vienna. At that time, Pope Innocent XI formed the "Holy Alliance" to reinforce Austria, and the main force was the Polish Winged Hussars.

Someone immediately shouted:

"In the name of God!"

"Holy Alliance, eliminate heresy!"

However, the emperor's attendant came out with a stern face and scolded everyone:

"Please be quiet! His Majesty said that the so-called holy war is a Polish rumor, and no one is allowed to mention it."

A group of nobles were stunned on the spot...

North of Kiev.

Gornostapol.

General Smirnov, commander of the Ukrainian Corps, stared blankly at the cavalry in red uniforms and white wings on their backs, like surging magma, cutting into his infantry line from the side and rear without any hindrance.

The Cossack cavalry battalion he sent to block just now almost collapsed in front of this "magma", and then the flank of the Ukrainian infantry was exposed to the "magma".

"Winged cavalry?"

Smirnov murmured with a pale face. His soldiers have begun to collapse and flee.

"This... How is this possible?"

Just this morning, he was still discussing with his staff how to stop the Polish army that was harassing Kiev if it wanted to escape.

Yes, he didn't take the Polish army seriously at all.

Although the Poles in Mozyr were not afraid of death, they were always suppressed by the Russian army and had no power to fight back.

He always believed that as long as he could catch the Polish army in front of him, he could easily destroy them.

Who knew that just two hours ago, the Poles suddenly turned around and launched a fierce attack on him.

Smirnov was quite happy at first, thinking that he could get a military merit, and immediately ordered the whole army to attack and launch a counterattack.

However, what he didn't expect was that the combat effectiveness of this Polish army was extremely amazing-from training to morale, to equipment, it was not inferior to the Ukrainian Corps at all.

In fact, it was much higher.

Kosciuszko led the most elite troops in Poland, and their morale was undoubtedly high. They had fought with the Serbian rebels for more than half a year. Although the weapons used were the same Tula M1753 as the Russian army, they were produced under the guidance of French technicians. Both the accuracy and reliability exceeded the Russian original.

Moreover, the Polish army had 17,000 people, while the Russian army that came to intercept them had only 10,000 people.

As for Chaperov's Kiev garrison, it was still wandering around the city of Kiev due to lack of coordination with Smirnov.

Therefore, the Ukrainian Corps and the Polish Royal Third Division were somewhat unable to resist as soon as they came into contact.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Smirnov was about to retreat to the direction of Mozyr, when a winged cavalry of more than a thousand people suddenly rushed out from the lower reaches of the Teterev River.

Then, it became the current situation.

Lieutenant Colonel Madarinsky, commander of the Winged Hussars, was extremely calm. After passing through the Russian infantry, he immediately reorganized his formation and turned back to attack the Cossack cavalry that had just been dispersed.

Then, the Polish infantry line immediately pressed forward and completely defeated the Russian defense line.

Smirnov had no choice but to send all his reserve troops to the front, hoping to delay the Polish offensive. Then, the winged cavalry rushed back to the Ukrainian infantry who were assembling in a fierce manner...

Mozyr.

The town of Maretse.

Morkov drove his horse past the collapsed bell tower, and all he could see were wounded Russian soldiers - the bodies had been moved away, otherwise it would have looked even more miserable.

In order to capture this town, he lost more than 2,000 soldiers and more than 30 cannons.

He had previously risked pushing all his artillery to the front to bombard the Polish army hiding in the building, and indeed achieved good results. The Polish defense line quickly retreated.

However, a group of Polish stragglers risked their lives to attack his artillery position, and at the cost of all their members being killed, they destroyed more than 30 of his cannons.

"This group of Polish lunatics!"

Morkov's scalp tingled when he thought of the hellish scene he had just seen at the artillery position - more than 700 corpses covered the narrow artillery position, and almost every cannon was covered by dead Poles.

Fortunately, the town had fallen into his hands.

After a day of rest, he could launch a general attack on Mozyr.

At this moment, two blood-soaked rangers came running. When they saw Morkov, they didn't have time to stop, and they shouted in panic:

"Report, the Ukrainian Corps was attacked, requesting support!"