His decision was executed almost as soon as it was announced. While on the way, Daun was near him on one side and the Austrian General Lacy on the other. The three armies were so close together that they might easily have been mistaken for one. The light troops had frequent skirmishes, and hardly a day passed without encounters. Thus they fought their way along to Liegnitz. Further advance of the King was now impossible, for Laudon appeared in front of him. He was completely surrounded by the Austrian armies. The enemy’s leaders were jubilant over the prospect of capturing the King and his entire army.
“The net is made in which we will capture the whole Prussian army,” they said, contemptuously. “We have only to cast it.”
The King was informed of their boast and laughingly replied: “That may be so, but I think I can make a hole in that net which they can’t sew up again.”
These were prophetic words.
The King’s army now was so closely hemmed in by the Austrians that a mouse could not have slipped through, and the transportation of subsistence was impossible. Instead of commissary bread, zwiebach was distributed among the soldiers. The King often diverted himself toward evening by walking or riding among the squadrons of the Garde du Corps and talking with the men in a joking way, so as to keep them in good spirits and arouse hope for better times. Upon one such occasion he happened upon an under-officer who had broken his zwiebach and mixed it with a flask of red wine in the camp kettle, hanging over the fire.
“What kind of red soup is that you have there?” asked the King.
“Your Majesty,” was the reply, “that soup cost me seven thalers in cash.”
“Hoho! hoho!” said the King, “what is it?”
“It is red wine and zwiebach. I spent my last ducat[22] that I might have a little comfort once more.”
“Well, if it has cost that much, I would like to know how it tastes.”