Marshal Lacy could not persuade the Crown Prince of France, after all, the Prince was not under his command and his status was much higher than his. Left with no choice, he immediately wrote a letter to report the situation to Vienna.
Early the next morning, General Kellerman solemnly led his troops to pass in front of the Prussian positions and courteously saluted their opponents before he set off for Ratibor.
On the Prussian side, the Duke of Brunswick looked through his telescope at the slowly retreating backs of the French Army and couldn't help furrowing his brows, muttering to himself,
"Such a large force of over twenty thousand men, they are clearly heading to Ratibor."
He suddenly put away his telescope and said to General Delrisen beside him,
"We have seriously underestimated the importance of Leao to Austria! Lacy is actually willing to sacrifice the strength of the frontline troops to rescue him."
Prussian Cavalry Commander General Krokow said,
"Your Excellency, we could take this opportunity to concentrate our forces and break through the Austrian lines!"
The Duke of Brunswick was silent for a while before shaking his head,
"The risk of launching a large-scale attack on the frontline is too great. I think that the success rate of killing Leao is clearly higher. We just need to deploy more troops than the Austrians!"
Meanwhile, in the tent of General Morris, Commander of the Saxon Army in Silesia, an official who had come from Dresden to deliver supplies was earnestly offering his advice,
"Do you know that the news throughout Germany is about Leao's capture? They say that Leopold II is going mad with anxiety!"
He had just received money from a merchant two days ago, who supposedly bore a grudge against Leao and was willing to pay a hefty sum to persuade General Morris to kill that Austrian bastard.
Of course, the so-called Saxon merchant was an agent from the French intelligence service.
He who takes the king's coin is the king's man, and besides, this wasn't really a big deal, he was just delivering a message. It was up to General Morris to decide what to do.
"But I heard that Leao is only surrounded, not captured," he said with a smile, "Right now the whole of Europe is watching Leao's situation. If you could take part in capturing him, your name would surely become renowned."
As he was speaking, an officer entered the tent and whispered a few words in Morris's ear.
The latter immediately narrowed his eyes as the officer told him that this very noon, the Duke of Brunswick had sent General Delrisen with nearly 30,000 soldiers to Ratibor.
Morris quickly made up his mind and said to his official friend,
"You are right, I should go to Ratibor."
That afternoon, the Duke of Brunswick could no longer resist the persistent pleading of the Saxon Commander and agreed to send 7,000 Saxon troops to reinforce General Erwin.
On the other side, Bavarian Army Commander General Ernst looked at Bertier and nodded, saying,
"Indeed, as you said, the situation of General Leao is very dangerous."
After the suppression of the Southern Netherlands Rebels, the Duke of Bavaria, Karl Otto Dor, had lost interest in exchanging that territory—the Southern Netherlands was ravaged by war, and with the Walloon Region tangled with French interests, it no longer looked like a place where a Burgundian dynasty could be established.
Therefore, Ottodor had been wanting to withdraw from the Oberon Alliance, or at least he had no desire to continue being involved in the troubles between Prussia and Austria, but he was worried about offending Austria, so he still maintained a battalion of over six thousand men fighting in Silesia.
General Ernst was naturally aware of his king's intentions and now saw Ratibor as a good opportunity.
If he could take part in rescuing Leao, this important Austrian figure, perhaps by asking him for a good word in front of Leopold II, Bavaria might be able to disengage from Silesia.
Early the next morning, he personally led the main force of the Bavarian Army and quietly headed towards Ratibor—in this era of extremely primitive communication, as long as he kept a low profile, leaving the garrison for a week or two would not alarm Marshal Lacy.
At this time, the only ones who were not focusing their attention on Ratibor in the entire surrounding region of Silesia were Joseph and his Guard Corps.
"Your Highness, Breslau is just ahead," Bertier reined in his horse and pointed towards where the river disappeared into the hills, "You see, that is the Bober River."
Joseph did not yet have a deep impression of the geography of Silesia; he took out the map to cross-reference, then nodded and said,
"Let the dragoons expand the scouting range; the Prussians might not take the closest route."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Bertier gave a few instructions to the orderly officer and spurred his horse to catch up with the Crown Prince and the others.
Indeed, they were currently inspecting the battlefield.
The Guard Corps left the front line at Legnica the day before yesterday and in less than two days, they had made a forced march to the join between Oberon and Breslau on the eastern side.
Although this was Prussian territory, almost all of the Prussian Army that could be mobilized had been sent to Ratibor, and surprisingly they had not encountered any enemy on their way.
Of course, Joseph's actions were extremely risky.
This was deep within the heart of Silesia. If Duke of Brunswick were to react in time and immediately dispatch troops to cut off the Guard's retreat to the west, the Guards could be surrounded in less than half a day.
But Joseph knew that the attention of the Prussians was on Ratibor, and they also needed to pay attention to the front line at Legnica; his swift intervention was fraught with danger but not peril.
Most importantly, the mobility of the Guard Corps was very fast, given the efficiency of the current Prussian Army.
Even if a garrison noticed the movements of the Guard Corps, by the time they reported to Duke of Brunswick and he sent troops to intercept, it was likely that the Guard Corps had already "finished their task" and withdrawn.
After carefully examining the situation of the prearranged battlefield, Joseph and the officers from the general staff returned to the camp and revised the specific combat plans repeatedly until twilight, with the Prussian Army still not having arrived.
The Delrisen Corps had left Legnica three days prior, and the Guard Corps, having departed half a day later than they did, had arrived first and had been waiting for them for half a day.
Around 10 a.m. the next morning, the urgent sound of horse hooves from the dragoons stopped outside the staff tent, and a cavalryman dismounted, reporting to the approaching corps:
"Prussian troop movements spotted, 4 kilometers to the northeast. At least twenty thousand men or more."
It was not a lack of reconnaissance force from the Guard Corps, but mainly to avoid detection by the Prussians, they had not spread the dragoons too far out.
In the tent, Joseph and Bertier looked at each other and smiled, "They finally come."
"Indeed, they are really slow in marching."
The battle orders were quickly issued to every company, and the entire Guard Corps mobilized.
Unlike the raid modes of other European Continent armies, the Guard Corps' mounted artillery, covered by the cavalry, crossed ahead of the infantry battalions, charging directly at the Prussian troops.