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Chapter 319: Flying Artillery

On France's wide, flat King's Highway, nearly twenty thousand French soldiers marched swiftly in an endless column, their voices raised in rousing songs.

Further back in the column, young Napoleon leaned intimately against a tall artillery carriage pulled by four horses, as if snuggling with a lover.

While others rode, he preferred to walk beside the carriage, just to observe and caress it from every angle.

It was the latest model of Horse Artillery Carriage, produced by Joseph's Gem Carriage Company.

Joseph had commissioned the trial production over half a year ago, and the first batch, totaling more than twenty carriages, had only been completed a few months prior. All of them were equipped to the Guards Corps.

These massive Horse Artillery Carriages, resembling elongated wooden cabins, were built based on Napoleon's later riding artillery, with some necessary improvements, of course.

The concept of horse artillery was created by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War.

Simply put, horse artillery meant equipping cannons and gunners with enough horses to tow them throughout their maneuvers, thereby multiplying the cannons' movement speed and significantly increasing artillery tactical flexibility.

However, early horse artillery suffered from many shortcomings. For instance, cannons constantly had to be unhitched and hitched to their horses, leading to excessively long preparation times.

Furthermore, horse artillery was not suitable for heavy cannons; typically, cannons weighing over 6 pounds were difficult to maneuver quickly with horses. A 12-pounder cannon required eight horses to pull it, and even highly trained soldiers struggled just to keep the horses in order, making it nearly impossible to move them any faster.

Thus, by the late 18th century, most nations still primarily fielded regular artillery, supplemented by only a small number of horse artillery units.

However, Napoleon, a genius with artillery, maximized the advantages of horse artillery, even converting entire army corps' cannons into horse artillery units.

He introduced numerous innovations in the application of horse artillery. For example, horse artillery would exploit its speed to rapidly advance, deliver several volleys directly into the enemy's face, and then quickly withdraw. Another tactic involved assigning horse artillery to cavalry battalions, allowing them to thunder along with the cavalry, shelling as they went.

In short, after him, the importance placed on horse artillery by various nations dramatically increased.

For now, however, Napoleon was merely a novice, practically drooling over the Horse Artillery Carriage.

Historically, Napoleon's horse artillery had two main core pieces of equipment: horse-drawn cannons and ammunition wagons.

The elongated wooden cabin Napoleon was currently fawning over was the ammunition wagon, later commonly known as a "Covered Wagon."

This contraption "integrated" all logistical support for the cannon. In battle, cannonballs and powder could be quickly pulled out, and when moving, they could be loaded back in quickly and hauled away by horses.

This was far more convenient and time-saving than Frederick's horse artillery, which used separate powder wagons, ammunition wagons, and tool wagons, all requiring horses to be hitched for movement.

And speed was the horse artillery's greatest advantage.

Joseph further improved the carriage by incorporating a parking brake, inspired by the structure of later cargo trucks. The cannonball and powder modules were redesigned with a pull-out mechanism, and the lids of the powder and cannonball boxes featured automatic latches — a robust and reliable design personally conceived by Louis XVI.

With these modifications, the cannon's preparation for firing was seven or eight seconds faster than the historical original.

Additionally, Joseph added six seats to the ammunition wagon for the gunners. Historically, soldiers were not allowed to ride on "Covered Wagons"; gunners had to run alongside on foot.

However, having a carriage and not riding it was something no one could tolerate. So, gunners would sit on the roof of the ammunition wagon, essentially on the sloped, French-style roof. While it was certainly uncomfortable for their rear, they had to endure it if they wanted to take it easy.

Joseph knew it was incredibly difficult to prevent gunners from riding, so he simply added seats for them, which at most meant adding one more horse. This also significantly increased the horse artillery's movement speed.

As for the cannons themselves, Joseph also made some improvements, primarily adding the type of coupling found between later train cars to the breeches.

Don't underestimate this change; it significantly reduced the time needed to hitch the cannon to horses when horse artillery units needed to relocate, and it simplified the operation.

A winch was also added to the cannon carriage.

When the cannon fired, the horses needed to be moved far away to prevent them from being startled. This meant a lot of time was wasted re-hitching the horses each time they switched between firing and moving.

Consequently, horse artillery in Napoleon's era invented a unique procedure: the ropes connecting the cannon to the horses were left extremely long, and not unhitched during firing. This allowed them to simply tighten the ropes and immediately move out when mobility was required.

Joseph took it a step further: he eliminated the need to even gather the ropes. The horses simply pulled the long ropes directly, and the gunners then slowly reeled them in using the winch on the cannon carriage.

This was truly the ability to strike and retreat!

Napoleon caressed the new Horse Artillery Carriage that utterly captivated him, his mind replaying the horse artillery tactics he had trained. A surge of excitement stirred within his heart.

'If these ingenious tactics and superb weapons could be used to equip the Corsican National Guard, their combat effectiveness would multiply many times over.'

He took a deep breath. 'It seems coming to Verdun this time was absolutely the right decision.'

The troops were about to reach Luxembourg, where they would battle the Prussians. 'I'll gain invaluable experience in real combat and grow into a true general!'

...

Wincrange, central-western Luxembourg.

Through his Telescope, Blücher watched as more than a hundred Austrian defenders in the town fled in disarray. He calmly told his orderly,

"Leave one battalion to garrison, everyone else rest for one hour here, then continue south. I want to capture Diekirch before tomorrow afternoon."

After crushing Leo's main force, the fighting had become remarkably easy, almost boring him.

Just like in the recent assault on Wincrange, he had only ordered a dozen rounds of cannon fire, and the defending Austrians had already fled.

It was foreseeable that tomorrow's attack on Diekirch would largely be the same. And after taking that city, there would be no further obstacles on the road to Luxembourg City.

Leo's forces likely had about 1,600 men remaining, while he commanded ten times that number. Taking Luxembourg City was a foregone conclusion.

His chief of staff suddenly spurred his horse over and handed him a scroll sealed with wax.

"General, this arrived from Potsdam four days ago."

Blücher broke the seal on the secret order, his brow furrowing slightly as he looked up at his chief of staff.

"The French have entered the war. Although General Driesen routed them at Liegnitz, this is a very dangerous signal."

He gave his reins a sharp tug.

"Order an accelerated march. We need to resolve matters here as soon as possible, then return to Silesia to reinforce the Duke."

Just then, two Hussars galloped up, calling out loudly to him:

"General, a large enemy force has been spotted 1 kilometer to the south! There could be several thousand of them."

Blücher froze at the news. 'Could it be Austrian reinforcements? How could they possibly arrive so quickly?!'