Chapter 109: A Loss For Luxenberg

A week ago in the city of Joltz, a treacherous incident took place on one of the main streets of the city. 

Generals Tauentzien and Vandamme were doing an inspection of the city's defences, especially in and around the area of the breach in the wall. There was no guarantee that the Fontaine army would remain docile and camp out in Osterbon.

 Rather than being exposed, General Vandamme was insistent on his men setting up proper defences near the breach and even creating trenches along the outside of the breached wall, making it harder for enemy troops to advance through it.

The inspection was held during the morning and finished around noon. Both of the corps commanders were escorted by a hundred or so soldiers as they were returning to the Hirschmann Palace. The main street that ran right through the middle of the city was unusually busy with citizens' death staring at the passing Luxenberg men.

Vandamme and Tauentzien were uneasy, the crowd of people watching them was ten times the number of soldiers that were with them. If the mob pounced on them, they would be utterly swamped and left in a dire situation. 

Although they remained composed, Vandamme continuously held on to the hilt of his sabre while his counterpart, General Tauentzien, had a hand on his pistol. The soldiers in their escort had their muskets at the ready in case of the worst possible scenario.

As the group of men advanced back to the palace, their anxiety grew. The daggers shot at them from the eyes of the citizens had everyone on edge. They were still around 15 minutes away from the palace, they just had to maintain their pace and soon they could reach the sanctuary of the palace confines.

Just when the Luxenberg soldiers thought they were safe, an ambush had befallen them. The side streets connected to the road were blocked off by carts and big barrels. Windows of the nearby buildings had flown open, with musket barrels emerging from them. A few dozen miscreants in the crowd drew out knives from under their clothes.

The Luxenberg soldiers were half a step slow and the couple dozen assailants hidden in the crowd rushed towards them brandishing their knives. Half a dozen of Luxenberg were butchered instantly, receiving stab wounds in abundance.

From the nearby buildings, a volley of musket balls was quickly lodged into half the men mounted on horses. Out of the 12 men on horses, 5 of them died instantly while another 2 had received major wounds. One of the two majorly wounded men was General Tauentzien who had gotten a musket ball lodged into his left eye. 

The blow from receiving his wound had knocked him off his horse, which was probably for the best considering the poor mount was killed shortly after his fall. General Tauentzien laid upon the cobblestone roads of Joltz dazed and in pain, he was too shocked to realise the dire situation he and his men were in. 

General Vandamme seeing the fallen general sprung into action. He dismounted from his horse and helped the injured General Taunetzien mount it. He then ordered the remaining cavalry to help Taunetzien escape the mess they were in and safely return to the palace and get more reinforcements.

In the face of 400 or more assailants, there was General Vandamme and 50 Luxenberg infantrymen. The French General had managed to rally his men and entire a circle type of formation so that they could combat enemies from any direction. 

The goal was not to run away to the Hirschmann Palace but to hold out until reinforcements arrived. If they did try to flee, they were sure to be shot or stabbed from behind. There was no guarantee that they could outrun the mob of angry rebels who sought their deaths.

In the circle formation, General Vandamme called out to his men. "Brothers, these treacherous sons of whores think they can get away unharmed after butchering the men of the Luxenberg. Let us show them what we did to their friends and family as we conquered this city!"

The morale of the outnumbered Luxenberg soldiers was boosted, even in the face of highly unfavourable odds. They stood shoulder to shoulder, loading their rifles and fixing their bayonets. Similar to the mindset of the Joltz defenders, they would fight until the last. No surrender, the only way they leave the battle is if they are victorious or are embraced by the familiar clutches of death.

The ambushers charged in a crazed and bloodthirsty rage, they wielded their knives in one hand while using the other to push the muskets and bayonets out of the way. Some of them were lucky to successfully pull this off, whereas many others found themselves stuck with the tip of a bayonet in their body.

A bestial frenzy ensued one side was fighting for their lives, using everything they could to withstand the wave of oncoming enemies. The other side was hell-bent on murdering the men who had conquered their city.

Sabres, knives, bayonets, fingernails and broken pieces of wood were used as melee weapons in this violent street brawl. While the musketeers in the building struggled to open fire on the mosh pit of men, not able to discern friend from foe, their comrades were in the thick of the action.

Intestines and blood stained the grey cobblestone street as the two sides went at it. For every death of a Luxenberg soldier, at least 3 rebels would join him in the afterlife. If General Vandamme had an additional 25 soldiers, they might have had a chance to survive the contest, however, with a glaring discrepancy of forces, the Luxenberg soldiers began to dwindle.

The fighting had gone on for no more than 20 minutes but during that time the loss of life was not small. 40 out of the 51 remaining Luxenberg men had died while at least 200 rebels laid dead on the cold surface of the street. Although the rebels had suffered a lot more casualties, they still outnumbered the remaining Luxenberg force 10 to 1.

Vandamme looked around the area to see the corpses of his men, butchered by the veracious hound-like rebels, who craved their death. 'Will I end up like them? Will our reinforcement ever arrive?' he thought while taking a pause from the melee, but quickly snapping back into it when he slashed the throat of a charging rebel.

Realising the end was near for him and his men, he impassioned his loyal soldiers for a final time. "Men follow me now into the gates of hell! For King, God and Country!" His booming voice echoed throughout the streets. 11 Luxenberg men charged into the oncoming crowd of rebels with their bayonets and sabres up. 

Valiant was their final charge, yet valour alone would not help them. Within a few minutes, General Vandamme and his men were ruthlessly gutted. Vandamme's corpse imparticular was hacked apart. 

Many of the citizens knew that he was the general in command of the breaching Luxenberg forces. His contributions to the siege of Joltz were second to that of the Congreve Rockets. So when the citizens finally managed to get a hold of his corpse they continuously stabbed his dead body, then proceeded to parade it around the city.

This treacherous act would incur the wrath of King Victor.