War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Under the afternoon sun, a general was standing at the door of the command tent. His body was as lifeless as the dead tree beside him. Even the sun could not warm his body.

The general's military uniform was obviously carefully tailored, and it was kept spotless even on the battlefield.

However, the sad stubble on the general's face seemed a bit out of place. Being unable to attack for a long time had made Bono de Cullen unable to care about the most basic personal appearance.

The few remaining staff officers in the military tent argued endlessly, but they could never come up with a solution.

In the nearby camp, the soldiers were eating a simple dinner without any energy. The most talked about thing was whether they could survive tomorrow.

There is no doubt that the brutality of street fighting caused great mental stress on the soldiers.

Bono de Cullen was also under a lot of pressure, so he didn't want to hear this sound.

Just when he was about to solve the source of the sound, a scout stumbled over.

"General! Your Majesty General! Our reconnaissance balloon has been destroyed!"

"What? How is this possible! Isn't the cable fixed to the ground broken?"

The scout's words obviously did not conform to the common sense of this era, and the experienced Bono de Cullen immediately thought that there might be a problem with the cable.

After all, if the cable is too heavy, the balloon may not fly at all, and to reduce weight, its durability must be reduced.

Cable breaks were a common occurrence in this era, and Bono de Cullen took it for granted that the Scouts were shirking responsibility.

But the scout immediately denied it.

"Your Majesty General, our reconnaissance balloon crashed in front of my eyes. Something destroyed it!"

"Have you conducted low-altitude reconnaissance?"

The shooting down of a hot air balloon was something that had never happened in history, but Bono de Cullen was worthy of being an academic leader, and he immediately put forward a conjecture.

Could it be that the hot air balloon actively lowered its height and then entered the attack range of the rifle?

In fact, this conjecture is also very unreliable, because the hot air balloon will not deflate and fall straight down after being hit by a few bullets, and the chance of being directly ignited by bullets and exploding is even slimmer.

The flight altitude of reconnaissance hot air balloons is usually 300 to 500 meters. In this era, there is almost no threat from the ground at this altitude.

While Bono de Coulen was confused, the Austrian reconnaissance balloon had flown directly above the French army.

The reconnaissance balloon that killed the French was naturally made by Franz. Although he had not personally commanded a large corps in combat, it was definitely right to remove the opponent's sight first.

The weapons used to kill the French reconnaissance balloons were naturally not conventional weapons of this era, but ten specially-made long-barreled rifled cannons.

Whether it is the excessively long barrel or the rifled gun, it is against common sense for soldiers of this era.

However, the Austrian army's acceptance of this weapon is still relatively high, because rifled artillery had already appeared on the scene during the last Alsace-Lorraine crisis and achieved good results.

Nothing is more convincing than a big victory to prove the value of a weapon.

Therefore, the Austrian Empire's rifled guns developed rapidly, but this super-standard rifled gun is still somewhat eye-catching.

Franz was not worried at all about the leakage of secrets, because at this time, no other country in the world had the capabilities of special steel.

Using ordinary steel not only poses a threat if the quality is not up to standard, but the cost is also unacceptable to them.

As for why he had to kill the French reconnaissance balloon, it was because Franz did not want to follow in the footsteps of Sun Shiwan, and he did not want to have any possibility of losing.

At this time, the French army led by Bono de Cullen was said to be 150,000, but in fact it was only more than 60,000. There were also a large number of wounded soldiers, and most of the capable troops were in a state of fatigue.

On the other hand, Franz led the absolute main force of Austria, with three fully-equipped legions of 150,000 people. There were also a large number of auxiliary troops from the state and the Orleans Dynasty, with a total strength of 220,000.

However, as usual, Franz sent a messenger to deliver a letter of surrender.

"The Honorable General Bono de Cullen.

In the name of peace and respect, I sincerely extend my highest respect to you. In a summer that should be full of life, the scene of raging war is sad.

As soldiers, we all understand the cruelty of war and the pain and disaster it can bring.

As a leader, I fully understand your unyielding courage and determination. However, I must tell you here that war will only create more victims and countless families will be broken up.

So I think we should consider a more peaceful solution before the horrific war destroys everything we hold dear.

You and your warriors have proven your courage and belief on the battlefield, but true courage is not how you die, but how you bravely survive.

I will now offer you an opportunity, an opportunity to end this bloodbath.

Please believe me, peace requires more courage and wisdom than war. Your soldiers have paid a huge sacrifice and deserve the right to live.

I assure you that as long as you and your troops lay down their arms and surrender, we (the Austrian Empire) will do our best to ensure the dignity and safety of you and your soldiers, and you can even leave with your flag.

Your brave actions will be recorded in history forever, and history will eventually recognize you as a hero who made difficult decisions to save the common people!

Please think deeply and look forward to your reply.

Commander-in-Chief of the German Allied Forces.

Franz Joseph Habsburg of Austria.

June 28, 1848. "

The Austrian courier read aloud Franz's generous and merciful peace offer.

However, Bono de Cullen had no interest in this vulgar surrender letter. He just politely rejected Franz's proposal.

However, what Bono de Cullen did not expect was that the German Allied Forces from afar actually demanded an immediate war.

Generally speaking, sending a messenger is intentional to delay, and generally speaking, no one chooses to start the battle in the afternoon, because once the war becomes stalemate, as night falls, it will bring many uncertainties to the battlefield.

But this may be a good thing for Bono de Cullen at this time, because he can finally fight a less frustrating battle.

This was his strength, and Bono de Cullen dared to say that no soldier in history could defeat him on the sandbox.

However, only then did he realize that his map was completely dark. He had no idea how many enemy troops there were, or even where they came from.

But what is even more frightening than these is that the organization of his army was completely disrupted at this time.

Bono de Cullen suddenly wanted to shout "Armistice!", but the torrent was already rushing towards Celesta.