The subsequent plot development came as a welcome surprise to Franz II and Zweig.
Sentries in the city of Astorf noticed that as the cavalry brigade withdrew, the intensity of the French frogs' artillery fire gradually decreased.
On the first day the cavalry brigade departed, Napoleon's French frogs fired over three hundred shells. On the second day, it dropped to just over two hundred. On the third day, they fired more than a hundred in the afternoon and over fifty in the evening.
By the fourth day, the French frogs' artillery tactics changed. They fired continuously from morning until evening, but only about ten shells each time, with only two cannons firing.
Even when Fred Jelinek, the cavalry commander of the Habsburg Allied Forces, tentatively sent out a cavalry detachment to break through, those French frogs' artillerymen only fired a few scattered shots, not the dense barrage of the previous period.
This gave Jelinek greater confidence: "Your Imperial Majesty, just as I analyzed before, their shells are running out. These two days are when their shell reserves are at their lowest."
"Don't hesitate any longer. We should break out immediately. If their shells are replenished, it will not be so easy to break out again."
Franz II and Zweig no longer hesitated and immediately issued the order for a dispersed breakout.
This delighted Napoleon. He was afraid that his artillerymen might flinch and accidentally kill Franz II – if Franz II died, the war might end, or it might not, but the crucial point was that such a foolish opponent was hard to find.
Fortunately, under the sporadic shelling, Franz II, along with Zweig and others, successfully escaped.
After escaping Astorf, Franz II ran while mentally calculating the next steps.
If Gold succeeded in persuading the Ottomans to intervene, then the Habsburg family and the Ottomans' allied forces would first deal with Napoleon, absolutely not giving him a second chance – the last time it was because he admired Napoleon's courage and wanted to recruit him that led to the current situation!
If Gold failed to persuade the Ottomans, but Waltz succeeded in representing the Holy Roman Empire and joining the "little broken pot" (likely a derogatory term for a faction or alliance), then the Habsburg family would have to find a way to intermarry with the Great Ming Emperor, forming twin empires and pushing aside those minor characters like France and England.
If Gold failed to handle the Ottomans, and Waltz also failed to handle the Ming, then the Habsburg family would have to go all out this time, leading their subordinates to fight France and England to the bitter end.
In any case, there was no room for reconciliation between the two sides; it was either you die, or I die.
However, what made Franz II’s head ache was that before he could even figure out where to escape to, French frog pursuers appeared behind them!
Franz II was completely flustered: "Didn't they say that cavalry brigade had already gone to Arlonje? Why did they suddenly appear in this direction?"
Fred Jelinek, the cavalry commander of the Habsburg Allied Forces, was even more bewildered than Franz II: "That shouldn't be. Our Habsburg Allied Forces are not far ahead to meet us. Even if this is their conspiracy, they shouldn't be chasing us at this time?"
Zweig was almost driven mad by these two fools: "Whether it's their conspiracy or not, we are currently being pursued, and our reinforcements are not far ahead. What should we do, I don't think I need to say more, right?"
Jelinek was stunned and foolishly asked: "What should we do?"
Zweig angrily retorted: "Protect His Majesty the Emperor, and run quickly! Rendezvous with our Habsburg reinforcements! Otherwise, do you want to stay here and wait to die!"
Scolded by Zweig, Jelinek finally came to his senses and quickly called over his personal guards, ordering: "Quickly, protect His Majesty the Emperor!"
However, when Franz II and Zweig finally shook off the pursuit of the French cavalry and reached the location of the reinforcements, they found Austrian soldiers lying all over the ground, tens of thousands by the looks of it, with several still groaning in pain.
Franz II was dumbfounded and quickly called out to Zweig, asking: "What is going on here?"
Zweig pondered that he didn't know, and he, damn it, had been running with him, so he also didn't know.
After careful consideration, Zweig simply called Jelinek over again and ordered: "Bring those who are still breathing over and ask them what happened!"
However, when Jelinek brought over the Austrian soldiers who had not yet died, they received news that stunned everyone –
When the bigwigs on the Austrian side received Franz's letter of appeal, they hastily dispatched a reinforcement of about ten thousand men, of which three thousand were cavalry and the remaining seven thousand were infantry.
In order to meet Franz II as early as possible, these three thousand cavalrymen went ahead, while the seven thousand infantry followed at a slower pace.
Upon arriving at the designated location, these three thousand cavalrymen unexpectedly found that there were several Gypsies selling wine there.
That was wine.
Exhausted from the march, these Austrian cavalry lords did not hesitate to kill the Gypsies and happily took their wine.
Of course, if it were only this, it would have been a minor episode where a few Gypsies were unlucky, after all, those Gypsies knew nothing of the legendary magic.
The problem was that in order to meet Franz III as early as possible, the remaining seven thousand infantrymen also hurried along the way and soon arrived at the designated location.
Upon reaching the designated location, these infantrymen saw the cavalry lords drinking and were immediately tempted by the desire. They asked the cavalry lords to share some of the wine for everyone to enjoy together.
The cavalry lords were unwilling.
Want to drink?
Alright, as long as you can wait for a few more Gypsy wine vendors to come, you'll naturally have wine to drink. As for what we have here? My apologies, this is what we got after killing the Gypsies, and we won't share a drop with you!
Seeing that they were refused and mocked by the cavalry lords, these Austrian infantrymen were also unwilling.
Why?
Just because your four legs run faster?
Besides, you were sent ahead to meet the Emperor as early as possible, not to hoard this wine!
As the saying goes, a thousand cups of wine are not too many for a kindred spirit, but a few words are enough to end a conversation.
The Austrian infantry saw that reasoning was useless, so they picked up their flintlock rifles and began to gesture with the Austrian cavalry: "Hand over the wine, or I'll stab your gall!"
But who would have thought that as soon as the infantrymen took out their flintlock rifles, those cavalry lords went berserk – Damn it, I got this wine through my own efforts, why should I share it with you two-legged people?
And you dare to threaten me with a gun?
What I have in my hands is not useless either!
Then, this is the scene before Franz.
And Franz was also stunned.
This wasn't the first time, was it?
Last time, when Tsarist Russia was attacking the Ottoman Empire, Austria had sent troops to help Tsarist Russia, but it also ended up with tens of thousands dead due to internal conflict over a few barrels of wine. By the time the Ottomans arrived, there were only Austrian soldiers' corpses on the ground.
This time...
Franz was furious and shouted: "Arrest them! Bury the dead on the spot, and lock up the living. They will all face a military court!"
Zweig advised: "Your Majesty, think twice! Those French frog cavalry are not far from us. If we bury them on the spot, I'm afraid there won't be enough time!"
Franz was even angrier. Looking at Zweig, he roared: "Then what do you suggest we do! Ignore them? Leave their corpses here for the French frogs to laugh at?"
Zweig gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, then ordered Jelinek: "Pile the corpses together and burn them all!"
So, when Davout led the French cavalry to this place, Davout was also stunned by the scene.
A large number of Austrian soldiers' corpses were piled together, and the raging fire occasionally crackled, while the stench of burnt flesh wafted from afar, making one nauseous.
"How ruthless."
Davout sighed, turned to his orderly and ordered: "Go, we're retreating, no more pursuit!"
The orderly was surprised and asked: "The fire hasn't gone out yet, which means Franz and the others haven't gone far. Wouldn't it be a shame not to pursue them?"
Davout shook his head and said: "We can't pursue any further. The deeper we go, the more Austrian reinforcements will come to meet them, and the situation will become unfavorable for us."
Moreover, the burnt corpses in front of them were all Austrian soldiers. Davout knew, even with his toes, that this was an excellent opportunity –
A large number of Austrian soldiers came to meet Franz II, only to be burned to ashes. What happened in the middle? Was it the degeneration of morality or the distortion of humanity?
Publishing this news in the "French Newspaper" with accompanying illustrations, tsk tsk.
Davout thought so, and so he did.
After returning and meeting Napoleon, Davout directly told Napoleon the news, then Napoleon wrote and recorded it, and Davout personally drew the illustrations, jointly completing the front-page headline news for the next issue of the "French Newspaper."
The "The Times" was also struggling with what news to use as its front-page headline. Upon seeing the front-page news of the "French Newspaper," "The Times" unceremoniously reposted it.
True or false?
Truth or falsehood was not important. What was important was that this news was too sensational and was bound to attract a lot of attention, increasing the sales of "The Times"!
After obtaining the latest issue of the "French Newspaper" and "The Times," Franz II went completely mad. His gaze towards Zweig was filled with hatred: "See, this is the consequence of not burying those scoundrels!"
"It was clearly the three thousand cavalry and seven thousand infantry who fought each other and ended up mutually annihilated, but in the mouths of those French frogs, it all became my fault! As if I killed them, or made them fight!"
After venting his anger for a while, Franz gradually calmed down and said to Zweig: "We also need to start a 'Holy Roman Empire Newspaper.' I want to explain the events of this incident in the newspaper."
Zweig shook his head and advised: "Why get angry? Our Austrian army has not done such things for the first time. I believe that as long as Your Majesty makes a statement, the common people will still be able to understand Your Majesty."
"Moreover, we have already lost the best opportunity to start a newspaper. Even if we start one now, others will not believe what we say, and will only believe what those French frogs and Rose Beefs say."
"The more a lie is repeated, the more it becomes the truth."