The next day, at daybreak, little William ran to the window and looked down. The guards below were changing shifts. He knew that things would not be as simple as Rocks said.
At this time, Locke was in a state of panic. Two assassins were shot dead by soldiers in the hall, and more than a dozen nobles were injured or killed in the riot last night. The nobles gathered in Potsdam City Hall also expressed their dissatisfaction with Locke. They claimed that they would impeach Locke to His Majesty after His Majesty returned. However, what made Locke nervous was not their impeachment but the death of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. He didn't know how to report this matter to Frederick.
Locke wrote a letter to Frederick, which read:
My dear Majesty, I must tell you a bad news. Your nephew, the Crown Prince of Prussia, died while attending a ball hosted by his good friend, Mrs. Lichtenau. I have used the power you gave me to block the entire city. Currently, few people know about the death of the Crown Prince, and those who know have been controlled by me. But Potsdam is very uneasy now, and I hope you can come back as soon as possible to calm the situation. Your close subordinate, Locke.
After the Prussian army on the front line met with reinforcements, Frederick did not rush to attack. Instead, he ordered the artillery to bombard Vienna day and night. After a week of continuous bombardment, he decided to launch an attack on Vienna.
The Austrians in Vienna endured a week of Prussian bombardment. Joseph ordered Marshal Lacy several times to send troops to destroy the Prussian artillery positions, but Lacy objected, saying that cavalry could only exert its greatest power against infantry that were not in formation. Attacking the Prussian artillery positions now would undoubtedly be a joke to the lives of the cavalry. Queen Theresa supported Marshal Lacy's idea, and Joseph II had to give up.
Just as Frederick was mobilizing his army to attack Vienna, Locke's letter was delivered to him. Frederick was stunned for an hour after reading the letter. Suddenly he stood up, kicked over the table in front of him and cursed:
"Damn you Austrians, damn you, I'm going to kill you all"
Crown Prince Frederick William II was the son of Prussian Prince August William, who was Frederick's favorite brother. August William died in 1758, and Frederick the Great, in grief, established the crown prince status of Frederick William II, who was only 14 years old at the time. Now that his nephew has also died, Prussia has lost its crown prince again.
Frederick remembered that when August William died, he took a liking to Frederick William II at first sight. This nephew was handsome, polite, and easy-going, so Frederick treated him as his own child.
Although his nephew often hung out with his mistress when he grew up and was more interested in literature and art than military affairs, Frederick believed that he could wipe out Prussia's enemies during his lifetime, and his successor only needed to govern the country steadily.
So even though he had many dissatisfactions with his nephew, he never expressed them. He conferred the title of Prince of Brandenburg on William the Younger only to confirm his successor status in advance, and he never thought of changing the crown prince.
But now, the damn Austrians have changed everything. He had to find a new crown prince for Prussia who could lead Prussia forward. Frederick was confused about himself. He didn't know what would happen to Prussia after his death if there was no suitable heir.
Frederick was already 66 years old, and he didn't know if he could still train a suitable successor for Prussia, so he thought of little William. But little William was only eight years old, and he didn't know if he could shoulder the burden of Prussia.
Frederick thought and walked out of the marching tent. Looking at Vienna in front of him, he sighed:
He then ordered the troops to fill in the trenches and the artillery to fire all their shells.
The Austrians in Vienna clearly felt that the Prussians' firepower was stronger than the previous week. It seemed that the Prussians were about to launch a general offensive. Marshal Lacy also thought so. He ordered all troops to make final preparations for the battle. At the same time, no one was allowed to send troops out without his order.
However, that night Frederick ordered the main force to retreat first, while he would continue to confuse the enemy outside the city with his cavalry.
The next day, the Austrians suddenly discovered that the Prussians outside the city did not seem to have carried out their routine artillery bombardment. Marshal Lacy quickly went up to the top of the city wall and looked through a telescope. He saw a large amount of smoke behind the hill outside the city. He concluded that there was a large Prussian army there, and he ordered the entire army to be on alert.
Suddenly, a small group of cavalry appeared outside the city of Vienna. Marshal Lacy looked and saw Frederick in his sight. The small group of cavalry stopped outside the range of Vienna's artillery, and a knight rode over with a white flag.
"Who is the Austrian commander?" the knight ran to the city gate and shouted to the Austrians on the city wall.
"Yes, your king has ordered you to come here. What's the matter?" Lacy leaned his head and asked the Prussian knight under the city.
"It's Marshal Lacy. His Majesty the King asked the commander of the Austrian army to play chess outside the city." The knight obviously knew Lacy and spoke.
"Thank you for your kindness, His Majesty Frederick, but please forgive me, it is really inconvenient for me to meet with His Majesty Frederick now," Lacy said with a bow.
"That's really a pity. I will explain it to His Majesty. Goodbye, Marshal Lacy." After saying that, the knight turned his horse around and galloped towards Frederick.
After hearing the report, Frederick showed no emotion. He nodded and led the small group of cavalry around Vienna.
Someone suggested to Marshal Lacy that they should send troops to capture Frederick alive, but Lacy decisively rejected the idea. He pointed to the smoke outside the city and said:
Our army has 80,000 soldiers, while Prussia has 100,000 soldiers. Once the battle starts, it will be a big war. We still have the advantage of defending the city, but once we go out of the city and fight the Prussians in the field, wouldn't that let Frederick get what he wants?
The Austrian generals looked at the smoke outside the city, thought about it and agreed with Marshal Lacy's idea. What they didn't know was that the smoke was created by Frederick ordering his cavalry to tie branches to the horses' tails.
At this moment, there were only more than 10,000 Prussian cavalry outside Vienna, and they had to block the outer roads of Vienna. Once the Austrians in the city sent troops, the consequences would be unimaginable.
But Frederick made the right bet. When the Austrians saw Frederick marching around Vienna with his men in a swaggering manner, they would only think that Frederick was considering the weak points in Vienna's defenses instead of suspecting that he was just putting on a show.
After two days, the Austrians in the city felt something was wrong, but they couldn't tell what was wrong. At this time, a shout came from the Prussian army camp. The Austrians thought the Prussians were going to attack, so they carefully hid behind the city walls.
But a whole morning passed and no Prussian showed up. Lacy found this very strange, so he decisively ordered a cavalry to rush to the Prussian camp outside the city to scout the enemy situation.
After a while, the cavalry came back to report that there was no one in the Prussian army camp. The Prussians retreated, and Marshal Lacy was stunned.