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Chapter 843: Simply Unstoppable

Soult felt as if everything were operating with the precision of his own pocket watch. The only downside was the strain on his men—they had been preparing for dinner, but now they had to cross the river before they could finally rest.

The east bank of the Zell River was deathly silent, save for a few flickering lights in distant hamlets. For a fleeting moment, Soult felt as if he were back near the Rhine.

The following day, the combined forces of Soult and Oudinot, totaling sixteen thousand men, began their advance toward the city of Trier.

Until that very moment, the entire Archbishopric of Trier remained blissfully unaware that France had launched a full-scale counter-offensive, and they were to be the first prey.

Soult gave the reins a gentle tug and turned to Oudinot, his eyes wide with astonishment. "Are you saying His Highness the Crown Prince personally rode before the Prussian lines to mock Ferdinand, all just to lure them into a trap?"

"It is God's honest truth. Colonel Masséna's own messenger told me himself," Oudinot replied, waving his riding crop as he spoke with animated fervor. "Ferdinand was so enraged that he ordered over three thousand Prussian Hussars to charge His Highness. But the Crown Prince led the Royal Third Cavalry Battalion in a counter-charge on the spot, scattering those Prussians like leaves in the wind..."

Oudinot had been on the west bank of the Sauer River at the time, so the news he had received was already second-hand.

In the hearts of the French soldiers, the Crown Prince surely hadn't just lured the enemy in; he must have done so with grand flair. Thus, Oudinot found it only natural to embellish the tale with details he deemed reasonable.

Soult's face was etched with reverence. "The Crown Prince's courage is truly admirable. Without a doubt, he is the soul of every French soldier!"

Oudinot crossed himself, then quickly shifted the conversation back to the deployment for the assault on Trier. "Our primary objective is the Trier Fortress."

"I have been there several times," Oudinot continued. "If the people of Trier have prepared their defenses, it will cost us dearly to take it."

Soult nodded in agreement. "And then there are the ancient Roman walls. Even a few hundred soldiers stationed there could cause us significant trouble..."

Just as the two were grimly discussing their strategy, two rangers galloped toward them. From a distance, they began shouting with excitement, "Colonel! Trier has surrendered!"

Soult and Oudinot exchanged looks of pure disbelief.

"Are you certain? They surrendered just like that?"

"Our vanguard was still five kilometers from the city when the Archbishop of Trier opened the gates," a Second Lieutenant explained with frantic gestures. "As soon as the remaining garrison saw our banners in the distance, they threw the gates wide."

Trier was an archbishopric—a small state ruled by the Church—and its military strength had always been meager. At the earlier demand of Franz II, Trier's most capable units, the Archbishop's Guard and the Swiss Guard, had been dispatched to Luxembourg. Now, barely a thousand soldiers remained in the city.

Furthermore, the French arrival was far too sudden.

Archbishop Clemens was in the middle of his breakfast when he received word that tens of thousands of French troops were descending upon them. Without even a thought of resistance, he ordered an immediate surrender.

Soult and Oudinot had never expected things to go so smoothly. Amidst the cheers of their men, they held a brief consultation and reached a unanimous decision: the entire army would continue their forced march north to seize Koblenz before any other German states could react!

Koblenz was the most vital crossing point on the northern stretch of the Rhine. Occupying it was akin to holding a blade that could be thrust into the heart of Germany at any moment.

Moreover, from Koblenz, it was only a two-day journey to Mainz, another major crossing on the Rhine.

By controlling these two crossings, they would effectively sever the primary routes leading from the German interior to the Rhineland!

Two and a half days later, the French strike force had covered eighty-five kilometers and reached the outskirts of Koblenz.

Even by this time, no German state had sent reinforcements to Trier. The garrison at Koblenz consisted of little more than a thousand men.

One could hardly blame the neighboring states of Mainz or Nassau for failing to help; the French movement had simply been too rapid.

Take Nassau, for instance. They had received the plea for help only yesterday morning. They were just finishing the assembly of their troops now; the earliest they could possibly reach Koblenz would be the day after tomorrow.

Soult first sent a messenger to deliver Archbishop Clemens's letter of surrender to the Koblenz garrison. After waiting several hours without a response, he ordered the artillery to begin a heavy bombardment of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. As the most critical crossing on the Rhine, Koblenz had seen the construction of numerous fortifications over the centuries, and this was the most formidable among them.

However, a fortress lacking sufficient manpower proved ineffective. The French cannons had only fired seven or eight rounds before the white flag was hoisted above the ramparts.

Soult left Oudinot to garrison Koblenz, and by noon the following day, he led his forces further south toward Mainz.

They had already completed their primary objectives, but the situation on the battlefield was simply too advantageous to ignore. With the bulk of the German states' armies concentrated in Luxembourg, the French forces found themselves moving through the Rhineland as if entering an empty house. Soult found that he simply couldn't stop.

A day later, Soult's legion encountered a force from Mainz just north of St. Goar—likely reinforcements heading toward Koblenz.

Soult made short work of the Mainz force, which numbered fewer than three thousand men. He continued his southward push and, the following day, occupied Mainz without spilling a drop of blood, as the city was virtually undefended.

Thus, only eight days after Soult and Oudinot had crossed the Zell River, their legions had swept through nearly half of the Rhineland.

With the two vital river crossings under their control, the regions of the Palatinate and Jülich were now severed from the east bank of the Rhine. They were effectively fish on a chopping block, waiting to be served.

On the same day Soult and Oudinot's forces met, Masséna's main army launched its own full-scale counter-offensive against the Coalition.

Seventy thousand of France's most elite soldiers from the direct command legions struck simultaneously from the east and south.

The Coalition forces, having spent days in a frantic pursuit of the French Crown Prince, were in total disarray. Their formations were a mess; many legions were so scattered that even the Duke of Brunswick had no idea where they were located.

When the French army, having suppressed their aggression for so long, suddenly lunged forward, the fragmented Coalition forces had no way to resist. Within a single day, they were driven back all the way to Wiltz.

The Duke of Brunswick had never anticipated such a total collapse. In a panic, he attempted to organize a defensive line at Wiltz, but it held for less than half a day before the French broke through again.

At his wits' end, he had no choice but to leave Tauentzien behind to command the rearguard while ordering the main body to retreat immediately toward Trier.

Less than ten minutes after his retreat order was issued, a pale-faced messenger came racing in to report. "Marshal! The French have seized control of the entire Trier region and are currently marching toward Mainz!"