Chapter 960: Queen Marie's Gift
Chapter 960: Queen Marie's Gift
Hahnmaier paused for a moment, only confirming they weren't French soldiers when he saw the Ottoman insignia on the hats of the approaching troops through his telescope.
Their uniforms were simply too similar.
He hesitated for a moment, dispatching four squadrons to pin down the Ottoman infantry behind them, while he led the rest of his men to continue attacking the newly appeared breach.
However, just as he was tearing through several Ottoman defensive lines on the western flank with the ease of a hot knife cutting through butter, almost able to spot Mustafa's golden sedan chair, two cavalrymen caught up to him from behind, waving and shouting, "Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel König asks you to withdraw immediately! He's barely holding on!"
Hahnmaier reined in his horse and turned, but the swirling dust obscured his vision.
He frowned. There were only a little over a thousand of those white-clad Ottoman soldiers. Could they have defeated König's four cavalry squadrons?
He quickly ordered his cavalry to turn back. After galloping for over a kilometer, he indeed saw that white infantry line had almost sealed off the previous breach.
Another ten minutes or so, and he would have been encircled by the Ottoman infantry.
He chose his direction and, when the white-clad Ottoman troops were only two or three hundred paces away, finally led his Hussars out of the fray.
However, hundreds of König's men were trapped amidst the formation of tens of thousands of Ottoman infantry.
Mustafa was completely bewildered when he suddenly noticed that the left flank's defense had stabilized. He then saw the white uniforms through his telescope.
'The New Army's Sixth Battalion?'
He was overjoyed and immediately ordered the Topiris New Army to defend the north, while simultaneously directing his main forces to retreat two kilometers south to reorganize their defenses.
Little did he know, after repelling the Austrian surprise attack on the western flank, the Janissary Corps, eager to claim credit, had blocked the New Army from pursuing the enemy.
The New Army, frustrated, had retreated. As a result, they encountered Archduke Charles's surprise attack on their own central army.
Over a thousand soldiers of the Topiris New Army, commanded in French by their officers, quickly turned towards the northern defense line and engaged in a firefight with the approaching Austrian army.
The right flank of the long Austrian infantry line suddenly halted its advance.
In truth, the Ottoman New Army couldn't match them in terms of formation or marksmanship. But most of these Austrians had served on the Italian front and truly harbored a psychological aversion to those white uniforms, causing them to hesitate for a time.
Thus, it wasn't until the Odenburg Grenadier Battalion pushed forward that the Topiris New Army was finally defeated.
But that brief delay allowed Mustafa's main force to disengage and retreat towards the Beli Lom River to the south.
Archduke Charles was anxious to pursue, but his Hussars had just experienced a chaotic engagement and had not yet regrouped.
And the Ottoman infantry before him, though weak in combat, still numbered twenty to thirty thousand men. Even merely driving them off the battlefield would take several hours.
As expected, it wasn't until dusk fell that the last unit of Ottoman soldiers finally surrendered.
Archduke Charles rode past the large groups of prisoners, as his adjutant reported the situation: "We have captured over thirteen thousand Ottomans, with an unknown number killed.
"However, according to the captured officers, more than fifty thousand enemy troops have retreated towards the Beli Lom River."
Archduke Charles frowned, though he wasn't overly concerned. The Ottomans, having suffered such a great defeat today, would surely be demoralized.
And the surrounding area was mostly open plains, ideal for large-scale decisive battles.
As long as they launched another fierce assault tomorrow, they could completely annihilate this Ottoman army in five or six days at most.
He gestured to Argentau: "Please instruct the soldiers to rest well tonight. We will launch our attack at dawn tomorrow."
"Yes, Marshal." Argentau was about to turn away when he suddenly remembered something and hastily added, "Marshal, our ammunition will probably only last for most of another day.
"Especially the cannons; they ran out of shells this afternoon."
Archduke Charles's heart clenched.
The reason he could appear so quickly at Isperih was that he had abandoned most of his logistical train, including ammunition.
According to his original plan, today's surprise attack should have routed the main Ottoman force, after which the Hussars would only need to pursue and finish them off.
However, the sudden appearance of that Ottoman elite unit disrupted Hahnmaier's rhythm, allowing tens of thousands of enemy troops to successfully retreat.
The upcoming decisive frontal battle certainly wouldn't conclude in a single day.
If he waited for the supply convoy to catch up—which would take at least four days—the Ottomans might retreat into the city of Isperih, or even withdraw directly to Targoviste.
Then the war would become protracted.
He had ample confidence in defeating the Ottomans, but he currently had less than a month.
Archduke Charles sighed and told Argentau, "Send men to collect enemy ammunition. Have the soldiers melt down bullets overnight."
In this era, flintlock musket bullets were small lead balls. Soldiers' standard equipment included a clamp-like mold. During lulls in combat, they would melt lead blocks, pour them into the mold to solidify into small spheres the same size as their musket barrels, then polish them, and they were ready for use.
Just then, the murmuring of several soldiers drifted from nearby: "Where did these infidels get M1722s?"
"Damn it, this gun is even newer than mine!"
"Look, those too. They seem to have a lot of M1722s..."
Archduke Charles, surprised, spurred his horse and rode towards those soldiers.
Before long, looking at the small mountain of M1722s piled on the ground, he instructed Argentau, "Immediately ascertain how many of these guns there are."
"Yes, Marshal."
Two hours later.
Argentau rushed into Archduke Charles's tent with several soldiers, exclaiming excitedly, "Marshal, over one-third of these prisoners are using M1722s!
"And even better news, we found dozens of Ottoman supply wagons!
"Though we haven't tallied them precisely yet, there are at least three thousand crates of M1722 ammunition! As well as a large quantity of cannon shells and gunpowder."
He motioned to the soldiers behind him as he spoke.
Immediately, two wooden crates were carried before Archduke Charles and opened.
The Marshal immediately saw the neatly stacked ammunition inside the crates. Even the style of the cartridge pouches was completely identical to those used by Austrian soldiers.
"Thank God!" Archduke Charles exclaimed, immediately making the sign of the cross.
With this ammunition, he could immediately launch an attack against the enemy. Three thousand crates of ammunition would last his forty thousand soldiers for at least two days.
And if the Ottomans were widely equipped with M1722s, he could continuously capture this ammunition in subsequent battles.
Argentau suddenly turned one of the wooden crates around, pointing to a line of text on its back. "Marshal, look here."
An attendant immediately brought a candle closer, and then Archduke Charles saw it: a line of Latin text that read, "Marie Antoinette sincerely wishes you well."
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