Chapter 1008 Strict Military Discipline
At this time, the French army was worthy of the title of Gallic rooster. Even though they were put to death and knew that they would die if they did not surrender, the remaining French army still rushed to the Prussian position under the leadership of Aiménabel Pélissier.
However, the Prussian barbarians were not to be underestimated. The French-Swiss mountain people, led by William of Shotgun, fired guns and even launched a counterattack.
However, compared with the militia under William of Shotgun, the quality of the French expeditionary force was obviously better. The two sides were shooting at each other from a distance, and the Prussian army could still maintain it with its numerical advantage and high morale.
However, William of Shotgun, who was overwhelmed with blood, launched a counterattack, and the quality gap between the soldiers on both sides was infinitely magnified in close combat.
The private soldiers sent by the local nobles became the biggest breakthrough. Their escape led to the collapse of the entire defense line. The militia of Neuchâtel became headless flies and fought on their own when they saw the friendly army escape.
Fortunately, William of Shotgun himself was not lacking in courage. He pushed his attendant away and led the royal guards to the front.
The Fribourg and Luxembourg armies were not the kind of troops that would not stand still when their allies were in trouble. Seeing the signs of collapse of the Prussian army, both sides immediately attacked the rear of the French army with all their strength.
In the end, Emenabel Pellisier and his expeditionary force still failed to create a miracle. Among the 24,000 expeditionary forces, except for the 1,565 wounded soldiers who returned home early, 17,112 of the remaining 22,435 people were killed, 3,864 were captured, and 1,459 were missing.
The commander-in-chief, deputy commander, and officers above the colonel level were all killed, and none surrendered.
Emenabel Pellisier's body was bought by Prince Shotgun from Count Chambord for 300,000 thalers and sent to the capital Berlin.
King William IV of Prussia smashed his wine glass in anger after learning about it, and then suffered a stroke.
On the outskirts of Selestat, the temporary residence of the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.
In order to avoid some unnecessary things, Franz did not choose to live in Selestat. On the third day after the Battle of Celesta, Franz started the reconstruction plan.
Since the plan had been drawn up long ago, everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. Most of the German coalition forces were recruited temporarily, many of whom had skills.
In the reconstruction work, Franz paid them wages according to their abilities and work efficiency, and even agreed to restore some people on the spot, so people were very enthusiastic about their work.
Even soldiers with no special skills could get considerable military pay if they were responsible for carrying sand, materials, and cleaning up building ruins.
Franz required strict military discipline while giving soldiers high treatment. The gendarmerie and military judges were busy all day long, and soldiers who were flogged had to line up every day, but no one complained.
After all, Franz gave very generous treatment, and it was the soldiers who made the mistake first. As for why these soldiers had to rob and steal when they had money in their hands, and they had to test the law when they knew they would be flogged?
The first is a matter of habit. The army of this era has long been accustomed to burning, killing and looting. Looting is even the main way for the army of most countries to make money at this time.
Military pay can only ensure that they will not starve to death. Only war looting and even corpse stealing can allow them to change their fate.
Especially the lower-level soldiers, they are originally a group of people excluded by society. Once they turn over, they will naturally want to do something they dare not do at ordinary times.
Second, everyone has a fluke mentality. Many soldiers think that the new military law may not be so harsh. Maybe it is just a momentary impulse of Archduke Franz, or a new way to show the kindness of the Habsburg family.
Especially some old soldiers, they think that this young archduke has never seen torture. As long as he sees the bloody scene, he will definitely stop it like those princes and nobles.
So there are really people who take the initiative to commit crimes, wanting to see the quality of Franz. These soldiers in the Austrian army are quite like oriental gangsters asking for a fight, but they obviously underestimate Franz.
Franz was in no mood to deal with these rotten things. He directly chose to let Zouche supervise the execution. After all, people like Bordeaux and Colonel Monta might be cruel to the enemy, but they might not be able to kill their own soldiers.
Those who could kill, such as Heinau and Baron Bruck, had more important things to do.
Letting Zouche supervise the execution can show Franz's attitude on the one hand, and take the blame on the other hand. After all, hating foreigners is much less costly than hating the royal family.
In addition, Zouche can make the execution relatively objective. From an objective perspective, she is relatively difficult to be bribed, and she will have less sympathy for those who are being executed.
However, the reality is that Zouche is completely worthy of the name Franz gave her. Zouche watched every execution with cold eyes like a real executioner, and even suggested to Franz to use beheading.
In fact, Austria does have beheading, but in theory it can only be used for senior nobles and senior generals, but usually the Habsburg family will mercifully choose to pardon the crimes of senior nobles and senior officers who make mistakes.
So at this time, the Austrian army mainly implemented two types of punishment, one was hanging and the other was flogging.
Hanging, as the name suggests, is to hang a person with a noose, and Austrian flogging is actually a very severe punishment.
Unlike the usual long whip or the nine-tailed whip commonly used by the British, the Austrian whip used specifically for execution should actually be called a heavy horse whip.
Its wooden handle is usually a stick about 50 cm long and 3 cm in diameter, and the whip rope is usually more than 4 meters long. It was once used as a weapon on the battlefield in the Middle Ages. Legend has it that a whip can knock down a warhorse with one blow.
Franz is not sure whether he can knock down a warhorse, but a whip can definitely make people's skin and flesh bleed.
Fortunately, most people are only minor offenses that can be whipped a few times, such as drinking and hurting people, or stealing.
However, some people want to try whether Franz dares to kill people. Most of them can't stand a few whips. Once they are whipped, they will start to scream and howl. Usually, after five or six whips, people will stop moving.
Franz's strict military discipline does have the selfish intention of winning over local Germans, but on the other hand, it is also to protect soldiers.
This protection is two-sided. On the one hand, it protects the interests of law-abiding soldiers, because not punishing lawbreakers is equivalent to trampling on the rights and interests of law-abiding soldiers.
On the other hand, it also prevents the occurrence of honey traps and "six sons dilemma".
After all, strictly speaking, Franz and Mayor Blanqui are both outsiders, and there may be a bunch of Huang Silang or moralists.
But Franz is not a young man, his inner age is over 40 years old, and Austria is not the kind of empire in history that is in turmoil and unable to protect itself.
There is no better customer in the world than rich and disciplined soldiers, who have greatly stimulated the recovery of the local economy.
In contrast, the atmosphere of the Orleans army is much worse, and they regard themselves as winners and masters.
If there is no German coalition army for comparison, the residents of Celesta can still tolerate it, after all, they can comfort themselves that all soldiers are like this.