Chapter 2040: Empty City

To cope with the crisis in Berlin, Lieutenant General Württemberg drew six thousand Prussian soldiers from the northern battlefield to reinforce Berlin.

Meanwhile, another Prussian general was fighting at the Elbe River.

His troops suffered a defeat at the Elbe River, and the entire unit was scattered and wiped out.

He had not even had time to reorganize his troops before he received the urgent mission to reinforce Berlin.

The six thousand urgently conscripted defeated soldiers marched toward Berlin in a state of loss and frustration.

On the other side, because of the withdrawal of Frederick II, General Laixi lost his target for attack.

Since the battle to capture Berlin had already begun, the focus of operations would shift.

He also mobilized his troops to march on Berlin, but because he possessed too many cannons and lacked oxen and horses.

This caused their speed to be severely dragged down during the march.

This made General Laixi very annoyed.

He encountered the same predicament as Frederick II, but now it was already enemy territory; for General Laixi, there was no psychological burden to plundering on Prussian soil.

Wherever his troops passed, Prussian towns and villages would be turned into ruins.

Everything that General Laixi could make use of would be taken away by him.

And the slaughter this caused made countless Prussians become ghosts under the iron cavalry.

But this was far from enough; although they had obtained countless horses through looting, the marching speed of the infantry and artillery remained slow.

He utilized every war horse that could be used, turning them into tools for his march.

But even so, with the heavy cannons, plus his massive infantry and artillery, the marching speed remained very slow.

Battle reports had already arrived from the front that Tottle of the Russian Army had already led the cavalry to attack Berlin.

This news made him anxious; General Laixi was a general of Austria.

He absolutely did not want to watch Tsarist Russia, which called itself the Second Roman Empire, crush Berlin.

He could not watch the Russian Tsar ascend the throne to become the king of their Holy Roman Empire.

He could not watch Frederick II admit that Tsarist Russia was the true orthodoxy of Rome, even if it was forced.

The position of orthodoxy of the Holy Roman Empire could only be inherited by their Archduchess of Austria, Teresa!

Anxious and burning with impatience, he finally gritted his teeth and made this decision.

General Laixi temporarily assembled forty-three cavalry squadrons, abandoning all cannons and infantry.

He used them to march rapidly, striving to reach the battlefield in the shortest possible time.

And in later generations, one who brought Prussian military theory to its peak, Clausewitz, recorded this fierce and decisive opponent in his famous work on war, "On War".

"After departing from Schweidnitz, Laixi passed through Lausitz and arrived in Berlin, marching three hundred kilometers in ten days, an average of thirty kilometers per day; for a large force of fifteen thousand men to achieve such a marching speed is also quite unusual."

At this time, Tottle's troops had already entered the city of Berlin a step ahead.

According to his style of intimidation-based warfare, sure enough, the Prussian Nobles within the city.

The group of people who truly held the wealth and power of Berlin.

Were completely bluffed by Tottle; they were extremely worried about their lives and property.

They were terrified that those Cossack troops, famous for looting, would enter the city and take away their property and lives.

Tottle had already had contact with the wealthy Nobles of Berlin.

Under such an intimidating attack, these Berlin Nobles and wealthy men all chose to negotiate with Tottle.

Hoping that Tottle could spare them.

They found Tottle under the guise of hiring the Russian Army to protect "Berlin".

"What I want, you know very well." Tottle pinched his fingers, making a very obvious gesture.

These Nobles and wealthy men naturally understood, only pleading: "Understood, understood, we are willing to scrape together a 'city ransom' of five hundred thousand Silver Coins, please General, raise your hand high and spare us..."

Tottle chuckled and said lightly: "Let us discuss these details." Biquge

Time came to one week later; General Laixi's troops finally arrived at the battlefield, and at the same time, the Prussian reinforcements also arrived at almost the same moment.

At this time, the Austrian troops already maintained a super high advantage, both in terms of troop strength and the morale of the soldiers.

This was the end point of their battle; capturing Berlin would be able to end this long and tormenting war.

General Laixi watched the arrival of dawn, with the weak sunlight spilling onto Berlin.

He looked toward that place; victory seemed to be waiting for them!

Take Berlin and everything would end!

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

The soldiers of the Russian-Austrian Allied Forces, with momentum swallowing the clouds and mist, scrambled to attack Berlin.

And the officer guarding the heart of Prussia, looking at the Russian-Austrian Allied Forces charging over, sighed.

"Let's go, the whole army retreats!"

"Yes!"

The Prussian troops had already retreated overnight, ever since those Nobles and wealthy men negotiated with Tottle.

The Prussian officer had made the decision; they could no longer afford to lose more than ten thousand soldiers now.

With so many soldiers wiped out, they would no longer have any possibility of turning defeat into victory.

They chose to retreat, retreating toward Spandau.

Leaving only a small portion of soldiers to cover the rear.

And at this moment, the expectant Russian-Austrian Allied Forces charged into Berlin at this moment, with almost no obstruction.

General Laixi was momentarily puzzled; although his troops were superior in overall quality to the Puluosi Budui.

It was impossible for the Puluosi Budui garrison to be this vulnerable.

According to his intelligence, the garrison of Berlin had already received reinforcements.

Berlin was their royal capital, and even now, General Laixi believed that the Puluosi Budui would absolutely not abandon their royal capital.

But the facts were laid out before them: Berlin had long since been emptied of people.

Nothing at all had been left for them.

After enduring a long trek of over three hundred kilometers, and with such a prolonged march, General Laixi's troops had received absolutely no supplies.

They had not obtained even a tiny bit of supplies here.

Now, inside the entire city of Berlin, the Puluosi Budui had left them with nothing.

After inspecting the granaries in the city, the troops of General Laixi, who had entered the city later, discovered a terrifying reality.

"Everything is empty, there is nothing!"

"There is nothing left!"

"Not a single grain of food!"

These soldiers all fell into despair, but among the forces occupying Berlin, only the Russian troops of Tottle were faring reasonably well.

When Tottle saw these Austria troops forced to go hungry while rummaging through empty granaries, fighting over a single grain of rice.

He laughed shamelessly; long before the Austria troops had advanced.

Those Noble and wealthy elites of Prussia had already gifted the grain in these granaries to him.

How could these Austria troops possibly obtain even a tiny bit of food?

Thinking of the items worth five hundred thousand Silver Coin lying in his silver vault, Tottle laughed heartlessly.

He very generously distributed over sixty thousand Silver Coin to his own soldiers.

But exactly how much Tottle kept for himself would remain an eternal mystery.