The Rise of the European Emperor

Remember [New] in a second! In the Swiss region, after sufficient preparations, His Majesty the Emperor decisively ordered the dispatch of troops. This time, the Habsburg family gathered 32,000 heavy cavalry, 25,000 infantry from Frundsberg, and a newly formed group of epees wearing leather bags and armored steel plates composed of horseless knights. 5,000 people, a total of 62,000 troops, marched towards Bern in mighty force.

Originally, Maximilian I planned to attack Bern in two ways. All the way down from Basel, after arriving at Olten through a mountainous area, it turned southwest and went straight to the north of Bern. The other way starts from Lucerne in the middle of the country and heads towards Berne from the east.

However, after receiving the topographical map provided by the North Sea State for reference, Adolf Muller, a young general under the Emperor's command, suggested to give up the eastern route of attack and mainly take the northern route of Basel.

why? Because the terrain in the north is flatter! It is true that Switzerland is a mountainous country, but it is high in the south and low in the north. The south is the Alps, which are naturally high, while the north, although not very flat, is much flatter than the southern region. At least, from Olten to the southwest, there is a wide valley slanting southwest. When you arrive near Bern, you will encounter undulating mountains.

However, if the more than 60,000 troops gathered by the Habsburg family took the Eastern Front, they would all be on rugged mountain roads, which were extremely narrow. The strength advantage of the large corps cannot be used at all on the narrow mountain road. The so-called cavalry advantage is not an advantage at all. Only in the relatively wide and flat canyon area in the north, there is room for the cavalry to deploy.

After discussing with the generals under his command, the emperor approved Mueller's suggestion. However, in order to distract the attention of the Swiss Resistance Army, the emperor arranged for 1,000 heavy swordsmen wearing leather bags and steel armor, with 5,000 infantry and a total of 7,000 people, to launch a sheep attack from the east in the direction of Lucerne. , confuse the Swiss Resistance Army. Moreover, this team is not responsible for storming the fortress, but only for building momentum. If they encountered a large force of the Swiss Resistance Army, the emperor allowed them to withdraw to the city and defend to the death. The main force of 55,000 people, including a large number of forced conscripts on the spot, is on the northern route.

After the Habsburg family army set off, Adolf Muller got busy. With the cooperation of a large number of heavy swordsmen, Adolf used force to conscript many farmers in the Swiss mountain village near the marching route to help deliver food and supplies. Among them, farmers with stonemason and mason skills became the key targets of recruitment.

During this march, His Majesty the Emperor was extremely cautious. After all, the 55,000 troops were put together by the impoverished Habsburg family. If this opportunity is missed, the Habsburg family may not have the opportunity to gather tens of thousands of troops again. If nothing else, Harburg is too poor to afford to hire so many troops...

And Adolf Muller also shined during the march and became the star of the Habsburg family army.

During the march, Adolf Muller used the nimble mountain people recruited by force as guides to explore the way ahead. Mainly, to detect whether there is an ambush on the nearby hillside. And, as cannon fodder for stepping on the trap, the soldiers will not fall into the Swiss trap.

It worked out really well,

The ambushes arranged by Zig and the traps set up along the way were basically solved by these old mountain people one by one. Don't even think about setting up ambushes on both sides of the mountain road. If you ask, you will be discovered by the mountain people who are exploring the road...

What? You said those mountain people did not cooperate because they were forced to do so? The question is simple, Adolf Muller only picks men with families. If they don't cooperate, the family is in danger...

And when camping every night, the construction battalion under Muller's command is also very good! This time, Harburg's army marched very slowly, only advancing 20 kilometers a day. Then, the construction battalion quickly began to build the fort.

In order to ensure that the camp would not be attacked at night, whenever the army stopped and set up camp, Muller first ordered the villagers to start digging trenches around the camp. At the same time, folks with mason skills were arranged to use clay to burn clay bricks to build the walls around the camp.

What? You don't know what adobe is? This is very simple, it is to knead the soil into the shape of a brick, and then bake it hard with a fire, and an earth brick will be formed...

You say this kind of adobe is not strong? Indeed, this thing is not very strong. If you encounter artillery, any small cannon that can fire two or three pound shells can blast through this kind of earth brick wall.

but……

This time the Habsburg family's army was not facing the French army with many artillery, but the very poor Swiss Resistance Army. Although the French also supported some artillery of the Swiss Resistance Army, because of the small number, they are generally used for the defense of Berne.

Moreover, the mountains in Switzerland are vertical and horizontal, and the transportation of artillery is very inconvenient. The Swiss are not Marin, and they don't know how to put ball bearings on the wheels of the gun carriage. They don't even have a gun carriage with wheels, so it is extremely inconvenient to transport the artillery.

Therefore, Harburg's army did not worry that the Swiss Resistance Army who raided the camp in the middle of the night would carry artillery. In this way, those walls built of earth bricks will only face some mountain people with backward weapons, which is completely sufficient.

Moreover, outside the earthen wall, there are at least two trenches blocking it. The bottom of the trench is full of wooden pickets...

In addition, those adobe bricks, before the fire, were mixed with thatch as "bones", similar to the walls of adobe houses. There is thatch as the "bones", and the strength of the baked earth bricks is not bad. Coupled with the fact that there are trenches blocking the perimeter, there is no fear of the Swiss Resistance Army rushing into the camp. But inside the camp, it was not so fast to build a bunker or something. After all, stone is used in the bunker, and it needs to be strong, not as fast as building a wall with earth bricks. Fortunately, there were ditches and walls blocking it. At first, the army could live in tents.

...

Sure enough, this simple defense measure is very effective. The mountain people of the Swiss Resistance Army under Zieger wanted to attack and harass the camp of the Habsburg family army in the middle of the night. However, facing the two trenches filled with wooden pickets and the earth brick wall, the mountain people were helpless.

They did come up with a way to fill up the trench with dirt bags, but as soon as the dirt bags were thrown into the trench, the night guards on the dirt wall were immediately alarmed. Then, the night attack was over...

Then, for the next few days, the army stopped moving. Every day during the day, the epee fighters and some cavalry escorted the masons and peasants to collect stones in the nearby mountains for the construction of blockhouses. After the bunker has a certain scale, the army will start again...

Before departure, Harburg's army left a thousand defenders to protect the masons in the camp to build the bunker. At the same time, the bunker here has also become a transfer station for military supplies to prevent it from being attacked.

After the army moved forward for 20 kilometers, it was about ten o'clock in the afternoon. Before it was dark, they stopped and began to dig trenches, baked earth bricks, and piled up walls...

Under the command of His Majesty the Emperor, the Habsburg army appeared very patient. They are not in a hurry to pounce on Bern, but are steady and steady, and they are sure to win a group!

Zig personally rode to the front line to observe. On the hillside, looking at the stable group of Habsburg troops, Zig's scalp felt numb—what could happen?

As for bypassing the army and attacking the supply team? Sorry, because of too many troops, the Habsburg family assigned tens of thousands of armored heavy cavalry wearing leather bags and steel plates to escort the supply team. The Swiss Resistance Army only had so few people in total, and they could send out to bypass the harassing troops of the Habsburg family army, at most a few thousand infantry, and did not dare to provoke tens of thousands of heavy cavalry.

In desperation, Zieg had no choice but to order the destruction of roads and bridges along the way to slow down the marching speed of Harburg's army. However, this Harburg army was different from the average European army of this era - it had engineering units!

Under the command of Adolf Müller, the damaged roads and bridges were quickly repaired. Zieg could only watch Harburg's army advance steadily. And the desperate ambush was also discovered by the Swiss mountain people forced by Adolf Muller. Because their family members were held hostage, these mountain people did not dare to hide the truth. Even if there are a small number of mountain people who are willing to sacrifice their families, they can't stop others from not being of one mind with them!

After discovering the ambush on the hillside, Harburg's army stopped immediately, and then raised their cannons to bombard the hillside...

Chigurh was so tormented that he lost his temper at all, so he had to order the troops to retreat. At the same time, all bridges along the way were destroyed and the road leading to Bern was dug.

Chigurh then sent an urgent appeal to the French, imploring them to step up their support. Otherwise, Bern can only face failure. And Switzerland will eventually be successfully annexed by the Habsburg family...