In desperation, Sigel not only continued to lobby the princes of the Main Valley, but also collected donations from the wealthy in Frankfurt, but the result was not very ideal, when he learned that the Prussian army had approached Bamberg, the ruthless Sigel had to take out 5,000 gold thalers out of his own pocket, and recruit 3,000 mercenaries from Switzerland.
The Swiss Confederation is also under the Holy Roman Empire, so after getting Sigel's mercenary money, Sweden gathered nearly 3,000 mercenaries as quickly as possible, but because the remuneration given by Sigel was somewhat low and the employer's target was actually a behemoth like the Prussians, some sane old mercenaries did not participate.
Eventually, Sigel was given a Swiss mercenary army of 2,000 veterans and 1,000 recruits.
While Szigel was busy merceiving, the Prussian 17th Division had already marched from Sonneberg to Coburg as originally planned, and the 3rd Division under Coburg had not yet marched to Bamberg due to Scharnhorst's orders.
Although the 18th Division was moving in the direction of Bamberg, according to the scouts, there was no large enemy force in the Bamberg direction, which made Scharnhorst decide to hold his troops for the time being.
The defense level of Coburg is not bad even in Prussia, the city is high and deep, and the equipment is complete, so even if the Prussian army attacks such a fortified city, it will have to pay a considerable price.
In contrast to Coburg is Bamberg, where there is not a single strong prince at all, and not only that.
Under the influence of the River Main, the Bamberg region was a completely plain, and fighting on such a plain would allow the Prussian army to play to its greatest advantage.
This is precisely why the Prussian General Staff did not place the site of the battle in Coburg.
Although Coburg and Bamberg are known as the two keys to the Main, Bamberg was undoubtedly more important to the princes of the Main than Coburg, because there was no danger to defend from Bamberg to the west.
And now, the existence of Coburg is undoubtedly a banner to encourage the princes of the Main, with Coburg, these princes can rest assured and bold to gather heavy troops to Bamberg.
And once Coburg was taken.
It is difficult to guarantee whether the frightened princes will dare to march into Bamberg.
After the establishment of Frankfurt, the emperor stopped for five days, and during these five days, the entire emperor gathered a total of 10,000 troops, while the remaining army was concentrated in the area east of Frankfurt.
As long as the emperor ** goes east, he can join these armies.
On January 17, Sheehan took the oath of departure in Frankfurt.
On 20 January, Sheehan's army approached the area of Bamberg, and by this time the Prussian 18th Division had already arrived in Bamberg.
Upon arrival in Bamberg.
Buschman did not give the order to march.
Instead, an emissary was immediately sent to Coburg, while Buschmann sent an army to subdue the numerous local forces in the Bamberg area, and all those who rebelled against Prussia were destroyed.
Buschman didn't want to have a fight with the emperor, and there were still people in the Bamberg area who were trying to make trouble for him.
Immediately after receiving Buschman's letter, Scharnhorst asked his staff: "Where have they been the last time I contacted the Seventeenth Division?"
"Report to the general, news came from the 17th Division yesterday that they will be able to reach Coburg in two days!"
Listened to the words of the staff officer.
Scharnhorst thought to himself.
According to the most optimistic estimates, it will take six days to get from Coburg to Bamberg.
After all, to get to Bamberg from Coburg, you still need to cross the River Main.
According to Frankfurt's imperial itinerary, they will be able to reach Bamberg in less than three days, but according to the posture of the emperor, they will definitely not take the initiative to attack the 18th Division, and in this way, the original big battle may become a stalemate, which no one wants to see!
"Give me the second plan drawn up by the General Staff!"
In a few moments, a plan appeared in front of Scharnhorst, which was a supplement to the plan for the operation on the Main, and there was a backup plan for Bamberg.
Not just one, in this operation on the Main, the Prussian staff drew up five battle plans.
Scharnhorst took a closer look, and there was a bold military operation in the second plan of the General Staff, which was to go west from Coburg and then go around to the west of the Bamberg area, and then directly east to join the 18th Division in the Bamberg area.
However, the plan had its drawbacks: there were many densely populated towns along the way west from Coburg and then around the back of Bamberg, and if the Prussian army's whereabouts were revealed, the expected battle at Bamberg would be in vain.
For Scharnhorst, the plan was to his taste.
It is safe to go directly from Coburg to Bamberg, but the battle against the emperor will become an orthodox "line up to shoot" type of battle, and as the main force of the operation, the 18th Division is a newly formed division, and the entire division generally has no combat experience, and the orthodox battle will inevitably cause the army to suffer serious battle losses.
"Immediately order the army, except for the Ninth Infantry Regiment and the Artillery Regiment to leave one, the rest of the troops are immediately ready to move, and we will march west tonight!"
As soon as Scharnhorst gave the order, the Prussian army, which had been launching a routine attack on Coburg, immediately withdrew to rest.
During this period, the 3rd Division's water-released attack on Coburg made the whole Coburg doubt the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army.
During the Seven Years' War, the Coburg army also participated in the imperial war against Prussia, but decades later, this generation of Coburg soldiers did not fight the Prussian army at all.
Although the Prussian army had achieved a great reputation, the Coburgers had not tasted the power of the Prussians after all.
The deliberate release of water by the 3rd Division gave rise to the idea that the Prussian army was nothing more than that, and of course the refugees who had fled outside Coburg did not.
Therefore, there were two voices in Coburg, one of which believed that the Prussian prowess were all boasted, and that the Coburg army could rush out and let the Prussian barbarians see the majesty of the Coburg men.
The second voice believes that the main reason why the Prussians attacked so weakly was because they were afraid of casualties, so they wanted to besiege Coburg for a long time and let Coburg surrender without a fight.
The two voices kept arguing in Coburg, but after all, Coburg's army still didn't dare to take a step beyond the thunder pool, after all, even if the third division deliberately released water, Coburg felt the pressure, and except for the upper figures, none of the soldiers at the bottom thought that they wanted to go out of the city to attack the Prussian army.
In the past few days, Prussia has dispatched nearly 1,000 troops every time they attack Coburg, and of course the artillery has not been idle, so the day after Scharnhorst left, the Coburg defenders did not feel anything abnormal.
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Scharnhorst led his army on a three-day march to a small town on the banks of the River Main, which was numerous on both sides of the River, thanks to the prosperity of shipping on the Main.
Although the town looks like a town on both sides of the River Main, according to Prussian military intelligence, it has a small shipyard, which is the target of Scharnhorst.
The Main is not a creek after all, and although the weather is colder now, such a temperature is not enough to freeze the entire surface of the Main, so if you want to cross the Main, you must need boats, and without a large number of boats, it is undoubtedly an empty word to make the 9,000 people under the command of Scharnhorst cross the Main in one day.
It may be that the business of this shipyard is very good, at least when Scharnhorst entered this shipyard, a staff officer reported to him that there are more than 30 ships that can be launched in the entire shipyard, although most of them are only small boats that can carry twenty or thirty people, but there is a transport ship that can carry nearly 100 people, and at first estimate, these ships can transport more than 300 people to the opposite shore at a time.
Hearing this report, Scharnhorst frowned and said: "It's too slow, we can only transport more than 300 people at a time, we have a total of 9,000 people, plus materials and equipment, artillery, war horses, etc., wouldn't it take several days to cross the river all!"
Scharnhorst's words made the staff officer beside him look embarrassed, and at this moment, the commander of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment of the Third Division, Reiskoxing, rushed to Scharnhorst's side and shouted: "Good news, General!"
Looking at the excitement on Lesco's face, Scharnhorst looked at him and frowned, you must know that once as Marshal Ziteng's adjutant, some of the old marshal's character deeply influenced Scharnhorst.
Among them, the requirements of the old Marshal Ziteng for officers are vividly reflected in Scharnhorst, and the qualified officers must not be arrogant or impatient, and maintain elegance and calm demeanor at all times are regarded as dogmas by Scharnhorst.
"Look at your appearance, you forgot what I asked of you!"
Seeing that Scharnhorst was showing signs of anger, Rathko's expression immediately changed.
Although Raisko is older than Scharnhorst, Scharnhorst, who has always been tepid, always has a terrifying temperament.
"Your Excellency General, my people found a fleet of grain ships docked at the docks of the town, and my people reported that there were more than a dozen large ships in that fleet, and I think that fleet can fit a lot of people!"
Hearing Raisko's words, Scharnhorst was ecstatic in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face at all "Take your men and take that town down for me at once, and be sure to leave that fleet for me, if a ship runs away, I'll only ask!"