Iron Dynasty

Chapter 1175

“What? Prussia has detained the British Prime Minister and Queen Victoria?”

In Vienna, Tang Wenjie asked in surprise.

“That is indeed the case. Our information is not wrong. Frederick II has lost his mind,” Wang Xuan said. Now the Secret Guards have spies in various European countries, and the whereabouts of Murphy and Queen Victoria would not escape the Chinese Empire’s sight.

Tang Wenjie nodded upon hearing this. “This just goes to show that Frederick II’s confidence is beginning to waver.” After pondering for a while, he said, “Britain, Spain, and Portugal have all been defeated. It’s time to put an end to France and Prussia.”

Wang Xuan also nodded in agreement.

…

Lyon.

Ye Qingyun and Lei Ming high-fived each other. After Spain and Portugal announced their defeat, he immediately led his soldiers to attack the south of France. France had stockpiled a large number of troops in the direction of Ye Qingyun’s attack, and had not expected Spain and Portugal to fail so quickly. Faced with the Empire’s attack, the weak southern defense line was easily breached. He and Ye Qingyun then converged here. With the two armies combined, they had a force of 300,000, including 100,000 Chinese soldiers and 200,000 from Austria and Hungary.

With such a large force, Ye Qingyun and Lei Ming were determined to launch a general offensive against France and completely defeat France. “Concentrate all the rocket launchers, howitzers, and mortars and bombard them fiercely.” Looking at the Lyon defense line that France had built, Ye Qingyun gave the order. He then ordered all the tanks to be concentrated. They now had a total of more than 300 tanks. Using these monsters of war, they could easily tear apart the defense line in front of them.

French side.

Henry was looking at the Empire’s position with a solemn expression. After losing the southern front, he could no longer sit still in Paris. Lyon was France’s most solid defense line. If this defense line was destroyed, the heartland of France would be open to the Empire. But when he arrived at the front line, he began to understand the desperation of the French soldiers. The gap in this war was simply too great. The Empire had advanced and excellent weapons, while they were like a group of beggars in comparison.

But even so, he could not surrender, because he knew that once he surrendered, he would face the Empire’s trial. The Empire, having won the war, would never tolerate a traitor continuing to lead France. As he was thinking, a whistling sound suddenly came from the sky. He looked up, and his face immediately turned pale. Before he could react, he was suddenly tackled to the ground by an officer on the front line. He then only heard a dense sound of explosions, like raindrops falling.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

The earth seemed to be shaking, and gunpowder smoke and dust fell into the trenches and onto his body. When the explosions stopped, Henry struggled to break free from the officer’s body that was pressing on him. It was then that he found that the officer was already dead. But before he could close the officer’s eyes, another round of bombardment came, and Henry again hid in the trenches. After this round of bombardment, the Empire’s bombardment continued for another half an hour. When all the explosions stopped, Henry struggled to his feet.

The Empire’s fierce firepower made him feel afraid for the first time. But when he saw the Austrian, Hungarian, and Chinese soldiers approaching their position under the cover of hundreds of tanks, Henry closed his eyes in despair. It was then that he finally realized his arrogance. In fact, he could not have won the French civil war without the Empire’s weapons and military guidance. He had thought that he had learned most of the Empire’s skills, but now the Empire was teaching him a lesson with facts.

“Rumble…”

Hundreds of tanks drove in a straight line, and the coalition army of the three countries, like a tidal wave, surged toward the French position.

“Da da da…”

While the soldiers were charging, the Chinese soldiers quickly took up a favorable position and built machine gun nests. Hundreds of machine guns fired wildly at the French position. Under the Empire’s fierce firepower, the French soldiers suffered heavy casualties, but Henry’s arrival had greatly boosted the French army’s morale. Despite the heavy losses, they still did not choose to retreat. When the soldiers on the front line died, the French reserve soldiers immediately filled in.

On their position, Ye Qingyun and Lei Ming were observing the battlefield. Although a large army of 300,000 was stationed here, it was impossible to deploy all of them in one charge, as the battlefield area was not very large sometimes. So, for this charge, he only sent 30,000 men.

“The French soldiers are indeed better than the Spanish and Portuguese soldiers,” Lei Ming said.

Ye Qingyun’s expression was serious. For him, no war could be underestimated. He said, “Spain and Portugal are, after all, small countries, and most small countries are like weeds on a wall. They will go with the wind from the east if it’s strong, and go with the wind from the west if it’s strong. And because their harm is small, the major powers will generally tolerate this kind of opportunistic behavior. But it’s different with major powers. The wars between major powers are a matter of life and death. Once they lose, they lose everything, and their national fortune is shattered, and they even face the risk of being dismembered. Britain’s fate is proof of this.”

“That is indeed true. It seems that it will take some time to capture Paris. Even if they lose Lyon, they will probably continue to resist,” Lei Ming said. At this time, the Austrian and Hungarian soldiers had already entered the trenches and were fighting the French soldiers in close combat. These soldiers were equipped with grenades provided by the Empire. Entering the trenches, they made full use of the weapons provided by the Empire. Grenades were flying everywhere, and many French soldiers fell before they could even fire their guns. The Chinese soldiers, on the other hand, quickly seized the French trenches. They set up machine guns in the trenches and fired at the charging French reserve soldiers. Under the powerful firepower, the Hungarian and Austrian soldiers quickly occupied the French trench position. They then began to fire at the French soldiers behind the trenches.

Henry had retreated to the rear after the Empire’s attack began. It was clear that numbers could no longer determine the victory of a war. Continuing to defend the Lyon defense line would only increase casualties. This war, with such a huge disparity in strength, made him realize that he could no longer win by fighting head-on. So, after thinking about it, he decided to break the French army into smaller units and defend city by city. At the same time, he wanted to mobilize all the French people to use every possible means to resist the Vienna Convention Organization’s advance toward Paris.

The French army, having received the order, no longer resisted in vain. They all chose to retreat. Ye Qingyun and Lei Ming noticed that the French army was retreating in an orderly manner, which was not how a defeated army should act. A truly defeated army’s retreat would be very chaotic.

Looking at each other, Ye Qingyun and Lei Ming ordered a pursuit. No matter what Henry was up to, he had to take the opportunity to annihilate France’s effective forces, as that was the foundation of France. Without men who could go to the battlefield, France’s decline would be inevitable.

This is a translation of a Chinese online novel. To support the translation, please open the original link: Gravity Tales