Seven Years' War (Part 2)

Old Hans took a sip of black tea and narrowed his eyes as if he was lost in memories.

"On January 10, 1757, His Majesty the King gave a secret instruction to the cabinet ministers who remained in Berlin: "If I die in battle, all affairs must proceed as usual without any change... If I am unfortunately captured, it is strictly forbidden to have any concerns about my personal life, or to have the slightest respect for any piece of paper I wrote during my captivity." In fact, His Majesty the King did not need to do this at all, because once Prussia lost His Majesty the King, Prussia would lose everything.

His Majesty's only hope was to defeat the enemy troops one by one before they could gather. France had not yet completed its war preparations, and the British army in Hanover might slow down France's actions. The Austrian army had a large amount of weapons and food stored in its arsenals in Bohemia and Moravia. His Majesty was determined to seize these valuable supplies first, defeat the Austrian army decisively, and then return to resist the French army. His Majesty personally led an army from Saxony, and ordered Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick from East Germany and Marshal Schwerin from Silesia to march into Bohemia together, and agreed to meet in the eastern hills overlooking Prague.

The battle went smoothly at first, and the arsenal soon fell into the hands of His Majesty. However, this time the Austrian army did not retreat. They fought under the command of Charles, Prince of Lorraine, and evacuated half of Prague's population to prepare to defend the city in unfavorable circumstances. On May 6, our 64,000-man army and the 61,000-man Austrian army met outside Prague, and an unprecedented melee broke out.

Both sides rushed to fight. The key to victory no longer lay in the number of people or the level of strategy, but depended entirely on the courage of both sides. Under the fire network of the Austrian army, Schwerin's Corps crossed the waist-deep rivers and swamps to attack. They were once beaten by the enemy and lost their fighting spirit and turned around to flee. Fortunately, in order to regroup the army, the 73-year-old Marshal Schwerin took the lead, wrapped his whole body in the military flag, and bravely moved forward to charge the enemy. Unfortunately, he was hit by five bullets and fell to the ground and died.

Our soldiers were inspired by the marshal, so they charged the enemy angrily regardless of life and death, thus turning defeat into victory. The killing on both sides of the Prague Battle was very tragic. Our army lost 400 officers and one of the most outstanding generals, while the remaining 45,000 Austrian troops retreated to Prague Castle to prepare for our encirclement.

But the King found that the siege was difficult and soon received a report that a 40,000-man Austrian reserve army was moving towards Prague. Compared with the Austrian regular army in the city, the King thought it would be easier to defeat this reserve army. So he left part of the army to blockade the castle and personally led 22,000 elite troops to march eastward.

On June 16, 1757, Your Majesty encountered the oncoming Austrian ragtag army in Kolin. The main commander of the Austrian army in the Battle of Kolin was Marshal Leopold Joseph Daun, who seemed to have a stronger command ability than Your Majesty. By the evening, all the Prussian infantry and cavalry charges were repelled, and under the powerful counterattack of the enemy, several generals disobeyed orders, which made the situation even more chaotic. Your Majesty changed his usual calm expression and shouted to the retreating cavalry: "Do you want to live forever?" Due to heavy losses and loss of confidence, our infantry refused to move forward. His Majesty was greatly disappointed. Some generals simply ignored Your Majesty's wishes, abandoned 14,000 wounded and captured officers and soldiers, and retreated to Prague with 18,000 remnants of the army, withdrew the troops besieging the city, and hurriedly retreated to the road back to Saxony.

Three weeks later, on July 2, His Majesty, who had remained silent in the army, learned of his mother's death. He finally collapsed, locked himself in his room, and cried for a day. His Majesty wondered if the attack on Silesia 17 years ago was the worst possible move made under the spell of the goddess of vengeance. His Majesty wrote to his sister, Countess Wilhelmina, telling her of his despair:

"My dear sister, since you have always insisted that you are engaged in a great peace work, I beg you to help me send Mr. Mipola to send 500,000 silver coins to the French king's favorite Madame Pompadour, that is, the skirt Madam mentioned before, to seek peace... Everything depends on you... My dear, not only is your virtue far more perfect than mine, but you are also another me."

This method did not work, so Countess Wilhelmina had to try another method: she wrote to Voltaire, who lived in Switzerland, asking him to use his influence. Voltaire then passed her proposal to Cardinal Townsend, who opposed the Franco-Austrian alliance. Townsend did as she said, but failed. The enemy seemed to have smelled the scent of victory, so how could he give up like this?

At this time, a French army had entered our border. Its general was Prince Soubise, a close confidant of Madame Pompadour, and was on his way to join forces with the Imperial Parliament Army stationed in Erfurt. Another army, commanded by Marshal d'Estrène, attacked the Hanoverian army commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, the son of George II.

On July 26, 45,000 Hanoverian troops were severely defeated by 100,000 French troops.

On September 8, the Duke of Cumberland, who was being pursued and had no way out, signed a humiliating surrender agreement, disbanded his army, and promised not to take any more hostile actions against France. Then, a Swedish army landed in Pomerania, and a 100,000-man Russian army, led by Marshal Apraksin the Younger, invaded East Prussia.

On July 30, the Russians defeated our army at the Battle of Groß-Jägersdorf. The successive defeats, coupled with your own setbacks in Bohemia, almost destroyed your Majesty's hope of defeating the enemy, especially since the enemy was so numerous and so well-equipped with materials and personnel, that after abandoning morality and Christian theology, your Majesty even planned to commit suicide.

On August 24, His Majesty sent a letter to Countess Wilhelmina;

"I see that all people are just puppets of fate. He allows a group of despised creatures to continue to multiply here. He lets robbers wear crowns, but puts philosophers in shackles. He sees our good deeds and evil deeds, the horror of war and plague sweeping the world, but he remains indifferent. Dear sister, my only refuge is the embrace of death."

Countess Wilhelmina wrote back to encourage His Majesty:

"I want to recall what a pitiful situation you put your enemies in before the Battle of Prague. That was a sudden change of fate for both sides... Caesar was once a slave to pirates, and then he finally became the master of the world. A man of great genius like you will still find support even when everything seems to be lost; no matter the result, hope has not abandoned me..."

His Majesty took courage again: "As for me, I must think, live, and die like a king, under the threat of shipwreck and in the midst of a storm."