Chapter 1599: Chapter 1599

Through the telescope in his hand, Mustafa Köprülü finally discovered that His Majesty the Sultan's money had not been spent in vain... fragments of "Spanish knights," splinters of the timber used to build the fortifications, and he could even faintly make out human bodies being hurled into the sky!

The 12-pounder short guns and 24-pounder mortars had fired for less than forty minutes and had already sent out more than a thousand shells. Mustafa Köprülü had not brought many explosive shells to the Austrian front — only a little over twenty thousand in all — so they had to be used sparingly.

At around 5:50 in the morning, the cannon fire on the lakeside front abruptly ceased. Dozens of officers of the Janissary corps leading the assault walked to the front of the ranks, drew their scimitars, pointed forward, and then shouted: "Allahu Akbar!"

"Allahu Akbar!"

The cheering at once resounded across the battlefield!

The Janissary infantry, who had long since grown somewhat impatient, formed more than thirty squares by battalion and arrayed themselves on open ground half a league from the Austrian positions. Ten of those battalion squares then formed a single line and began to surge forward with a thunderous rumble.

The Austrian positions opposite were still shrouded in gunsmoke, and the officers and men's white uniforms were all covered with soot, turning the white corps into "gray livestock." François Eugène, who had reached the front line before the Ottomans began firing explosive shells, was like the common soldiers, crouching behind the breastwork with his head in his arms, his face and head covered in dirt, even his wig thick with dust. The moment the bombardment stopped, one of his adjutants immediately helped him to his feet.

François Eugène spat out mouthfuls of dirt, rubbed his eyes, and then lay against the breastwork to look across. At first the smoke and fire were still thick and he could see nothing clearly, only hearing the cheering in Turkish coming from the other side. The cheering came in waves, like the tide of the sea. From the sound alone, one could tell that a great many Ottomans had come — surely several thousand at least?

Behind the breastwork, the Austrian infantry also began to dress their ranks under the orders of their officers. The Austrian infantry battalions now no longer had pikemen; instead, one company of infantry was equipped with Jäger rifles, while the other three companies were equipped with smoothbore muskets. At this moment, the infantry equipped with Jäger rifles were all kneeling on one knee behind the breastwork, resting their Jäger muskets, already loaded with wooden-plug rifle cartridges, on top of the sandbags. The smoothbore musketeers, meanwhile, formed three ranks behind the riflemen. Once formed up, they did not stand, but all crouched down together, to avoid being hit by cannon fire.

At this moment, a little north wind rose over the battlefield and blew away a layer of smoke, allowing the Austrians, who had endured more than two hours of bombardment, to see clearly the enemy's formation opposite. Once they saw it, everyone drew a sharp breath.

On the plain directly ahead, the Ottomans stood shoulder to shoulder, forming one square after another. François Eugène counted — at least ten battalion squares, roughly five or six thousand men!

Officers of the Janissary corps wearing exaggerated white headdresses raised their Turkish scimitars and led the soldiers forward, rows of muskets rising and falling as they advanced. The gaps between the squares were very small, and the entire battlefield was almost packed full of soldiers! The morale of the Janissary corps seemed to have soared to the extreme, cheering rising one wave after another, sounding like thunder.

The Ottoman army seemed already to have covered the plain east of the lake, surging forward like ants.

"Count, please withdraw a little — this is about to become the front line!" An Austrian army colonel named Friedrich von Hausmann came up beside François Eugène and asked him to leave the first line.

Eugène was not a prince now, but merely a count, because the title of prince was roughly equal in rank to that of duke — "prince" was actually a Chinese translation; the correct meaning should be "son of a king." And Henry's grand duke was about the same as a prince, son of a king, or duke, so he could not grant François Eugène the title of prince or duke, and therefore made him a count instead.

Count Eugène did not insist on remaining on the first line to steady the troops, but turned around and said to Colonel Hausmann, commander of his Seventh Division: "I leave it to you! Hit them hard!"

"As ordered, Count!" Colonel Hausmann replied, then watched Count Eugène stride away.

Count Eugène's plan was very simple: hold the forward positions with one division and inflict heavy losses on the Ottoman assault. Once the Ottomans' edge was spent, commit another division to counterattack, break them with a frontal charge, and then return to reinforce the center.

Seeing that Count Eugène had gone far off, Colonel Hausmann drew a breath, opened his throat, and shouted: "Let the Ottomans come close before firing! All rifles must not open fire until they are within 100 yards... prioritize shooting their officers!"

Although the effective range of the Jäger rifle was far greater than 100 yards, letting the enemy come a little closer still made them easier to hit.

At this moment, nearly 2,000 Jäger rifles under Hausmann's command were all on the front line, and 1,500 of them were concentrated on the main sector of the Ottoman assault, giving an extremely dense volume of fire. If they fired all at once, it would easily produce a great cloud of smoke that would block the view and reduce shooting accuracy.

In addition, Hausmann still had eighteen 6-pounder guns, which had now also been concentrated on the line about to suffer the Ottoman assault. Two of them had been destroyed by Ottoman explosive shells, leaving sixteen able to fire canister.

The firing of sixteen 6-pounder guns would also produce a great deal of smoke, which would likewise block the view.

So Hausmann could only stake everything on close-range rifle fire... if 1,500 rifles and sixteen 6-pounder guns could inflict heavy casualties at a range of 100 yards, then they could repulse the Ottomans' first wave.

The Ottomans' dense formation advanced steadily; apart from shouting again and again, the Ottoman riflemen at the head of the ranks also kept firing — not so much to kill any Austrians as to lure the Austrian skirmishers into opening fire.

Although wooden-plug cartridges loaded relatively quickly, rifle barrels still grew hot, and firing still produced gunsmoke...

But the riflemen in the Austrian army were mostly veterans, and the rest were hunters with rich shooting experience. So they were not disturbed by the Ottomans' random firing, and remained very composed; the soldiers all lay behind the breastwork, waiting for the enemy to approach. More than 1,500 rifles were propped there, and not a single one fired.

The Ottomans, for their part, displayed extreme bravery, shouting slogans, keeping strict formation, and maintaining a marching pace. The foremost Ottoman riflemen had already reached a distance of 100 yards from the Austrian line when the Austrian skirmish company commanders directing the first line one after another raised their voices and gave the order: "Jäger — fire!"

The echo of the command still lingered as the Austrian positions suddenly flashed with rows of fire, large and small! This was not a volley, but precise independent fire! The officers and men of the Janissary corps advancing in square formation seemed suddenly struck by lightning, shuddering and pitching forward in great swathes! The officers at the head of the ranks were almost all shot down. Screams of agony rose uncontrollably, nearly drowning out the continuous crack of gunfire.

The Austrian skirmishers kept firing and kept reloading, and after skillfully completing the loading they continued to fire; bullets poured out, and in front of the Ottoman ranks men lay every which way, everywhere bodies pitching headfirst to the ground.

But these Ottomans truly had some ferocity about them; despite heavy casualties, they fought on without retreating, and instead lowered their heads and charged.

Yet an even more miserable fate awaited them ahead: between the two armies there suddenly came a thunderous roar!

The sixteen 6-pounder cannon, as though holding their breath, had fired! Sixteen rounds of canister were hurled from the muzzles by the exploding powder, disintegrating in the air and releasing countless projectiles that swept across the Ottoman squares, mowing down the warriors of the Janissary corps in swathes. Where the canister swept through, a gap of mangled flesh appeared in the Janissary squares!