18th century total war

Chapter 257 The Scared Italian
"Everyone, the Austrians have retreated into the Turin defense system. The city of Turin has been reinforced over time by the Kingdom of Sardinia, especially the highlands around the city of Turin. Layers of defense points have already been built.

If only the troops of the Kingdom of Sardinia were stationed, the city of Turin would naturally not be our hindrance, but now tens of thousands of Austrian regular troops have entered, and almost all defensive nodes are filled with defenders. Our brave young man must fill in at least two or three divisions!
Don’t forget, as long as the Austrians are here, the young Sardinians in Turin and the surrounding areas will have to fight with us. I believe the Austrians will never mind putting their guns in the backs of the Sardinians and letting them fight to the death. .

The city of Turin is located in a valley, and the surrounding terrain is complicated. We don't have to attack by force, causing us a lot of casualties out of thin air, so my plan is to attract the main force of the Austrians.

The courage of the Sardinians has been frightened by us. As long as we defeat the Austrian main force, the city of Turin will surely collapse on its own.

Therefore, our next strategic goal is to attract the main Austrians from Turin. "

As soon as Karl’s voice fell, a major general at the division commander’s level in the lower position couldn’t wait to shout loudly: “Lieutenant General Karl, my soldiers and I will never fear death. The troops fight to the last man!"

Karl glanced at his subordinates who were planning to act recklessly, and seemed to be used to this rhythm. Every time he held a military meeting, there would always be senior officers shouting the slogan of being loyal to "Master Levi", regardless of the situation during the battle. how much loss.

In their eyes, wars can only be divided into winners and losers, and the casualty data is really just a data, whether it is the enemy's or their own!
Of course, Karl habitually ignored the other party's words.

Indeed, if the French Defense Forces really attack regardless of the cost, Turin can be taken 100%, but is it worth losing tens of thousands of people?
It is true that as the attacker, the loss of one's own side is much lower than that of the enemy and the outcome of victory is a good deal for European countries, but Karl is unwilling to waste everyone's life like this.

"Major General Niza."

Carl raised his eyes and called his name.

"Yes, Lieutenant General Karl please order."

Niza was originally a senior officer from the Standing Legion. After being reorganized into the French Defense Forces, Niza was a native military talent. When Li Wei made his fortune, he was promoted step by step from the local security regiment to the garrison regiment, and then a little bit later. As a senior general of the garrison, he was finally responsible for the formation of the standing army, so Niza was not brainwashed by the barracks, but only administratively enlightened.

In today's French Defense Forces, not all mid-to-high-ranking officers are from military camps. There are very few people who first followed Li Wei to fight the world, were enlightened by the administration, and proved their military temperament, and entered the French National Defense Forces system.

They are small in number, but they are much more rational than the brainwashing officers in the barracks.

The best among them are Niza and Napoleon, who was just discovered by Karl.

Compared with Niza, Napoleon's rank is still relatively low, and he is not even eligible to participate in the military meeting of the high-level First Army, unlike Niza, who is already an old chief of the Li Wei government.

"I have always maintained a full quota of soldiers for your first division. After each battle, I will give priority to recruiting recruits for your first division to maintain full combat effectiveness.

Therefore, your First Division undertakes the most difficult combat tasks every time.

This time is no exception.

There is no doubt about the commanding ability of Austrian Marshal Pauliu. If our army stays in the Kingdom of Sardinia, he will definitely not attack with the main force of the Austrian army.

Therefore, if you want to attract him and his tens of thousands of Austrian main forces, you need a sweet bait.

I believe that for any Austrian, it is impossible to refuse the temptation to wipe out our First Army of the French Defense Forces!

I will take the main force of the First Army to advance eastward in an all-round way, attack the Milan area, and completely expose the rear of the First Army to Baoliu's eyes.

Besides the rear guard of the division I left to guard the back road, it is your first division.

Don't count too much on the rearguard, because the rearguard has already been separated to escort the logistics convoy, and some of them are still in France.

Once Austrian Marshal Paulius takes the main Austrian force south to try to cut off our army's logistics line, you and your first division will be the only barrier.

When Lieutenant General Borcha was still the major general commander of the new second division of the original Black Dragon Army, he commanded a division of troops to defeat the Prussian-Austrian coalition. I believe that you, Niza, can also defeat Borliu's main Austrian force in the field. !

Without a solid city defense fortress, the Austrians are only assigned to our French Defense Forces to carry shoes! "

Karl's tone was full of pride for the French Defense Forces.

The current French Defense Force is actually an expanded version of the Black Dragon Legion. Although the name has changed, the sense of honor will never change.

"Lieutenant General Karl, can't we leave two or three more divisions?

It would be too risky to leave only the first division behind. "

The other teachers interjected.

They don't want to fight the soft-footed shrimp-like Italian Allied Forces, they want to fight against the capable Austrians!

"We once defeated the Prussian-Austrian invasion of Paris with a very small force. Do you think the Austrians still dare to take the initiative to attack our army without an absolute superiority in strength?
Since it is the bait, it is natural to act weak enough. One division is already the limit. Let alone adding one more division, even adding one more regiment, I am worried that Bao Liyou will be too scared to make a move.

As long as Turin does not fall, the Austrians have plenty of ways to get the Kingdom of Sardinia to call on the Sardinians and create guerrillas everywhere to harass our army's logistics lines. At that time, we will only have more and more guards in the rear. This time, Italy The deeper the expedition goes, the weaker our army's offensive force will be.

So this time we have to annihilate the main force of the Austrians in Borliu in the shortest time and at the lowest cost! "

At this time, Nizza took the initiative and said: "Lieutenant General Karl, what if Marshal Pauliu of the Austrians does not dare to face my first division?"

Karl looked stunned, and then a stiff smile spread across his lips, showing that he was in a very happy mood.

"If Paulieu doesn't even dare to attack a division of my First Army, it can only show that the morale of the Austrian army is very low. At that time, after I defeat the Italian Confederate Army and take the Milan area, I will Turn around and besiege the city of Turin.

No matter how strong the defensive fortress of Turin is, if the enemies defending inside are not morale enough, it will not cause us much losses.

It was as easy as us attacking the sloping defense line stationed by tens of thousands of people in the Kingdom of Sardinia. "

After Karl's words fell, there was a burst of ridicule towards the Austrians and Sardinians in the military tent.

After the battle plan was finalized, Karl immediately took the main force of the First Army and continued to drive eastward, approaching the Milan area. After receiving the news, the Italian Allied Forces outside the Milan area were startled three times a day, and every night there would be several Tens of hundreds of deserters left the line of defense!

The best of them are naturally the troops from Venice and Genoa. After they found that the main force of the French was coming towards them, they, including the officers, began to calculate escape routes, and had no intention of fighting the French army at all.

Francophobia began to spread within the Italian Confederation.

It is obvious that the morale of the Italian Confederation Army is not even as good as the original Army of the Kingdom of Sardinia!

Especially after the Army of the Kingdom of Sardinia was completely wiped out by the French Defense Forces who were far smaller than them, the Italian Confederation Army became war-weary to the extreme.

In the eyes of most Italian Confederate soldiers, they were fighting this war for the Austrians. Italy was not a unified country, so why should they fight and bleed for the benefit of the Austrians?

Anyway, the Italian region is not occupied by the French, and the various states in the Italian region are also the younger brothers of the Vienna government!
Originally, there was still the Kingdom of Sardinia that could lead everyone to fight against the enslavement of the Holy Roman Empire. Now the Kingdom of Sardinia has been knocked unconscious by the French, and the Italian region is leaderless. You can't count on the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Although the Kingdom of Two Sicilies is the country with the largest land area in the Italian peninsula and is still ruled by the Bourbon royal family, the Kingdom of Two Sicilies is also the poorest country in Italy!
Most of the firearms of the Naples soldiers and Sicilian soldiers in the Italian Allied Forces this time were purchased from Venetian merchants, and they were even loans!

The Kingdom of Two Sicilies is now a dual kingdom, internally divided into the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, but the crowns belong to the collateral line of the Bourbon royal family, so they are collectively called the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

It's just that the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies has weak military capabilities, an underdeveloped economy, and a population that doesn't match the vast area. The country is full of mountainous jungles that are not easy to develop. In Italy, it is definitely a marginalized backcountry.

Apart from its unwavering hostility to Livy's France, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies seemed to have little concern for the anti-French alliance.

Naturally, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies has little influence in Italy.

In this war between the anti-French alliance and France, the Kingdom of Sardinia has fallen. If the anti-French alliance wins, the Austrian forces can fully invade the Italian region and become the suzerainty of many states in the Italian region.

If the French win...

That's probably what the Italian states don't want to see. God knows what that tyrant dictator Livy would do with the Italian region!
Even if the Italian region is forcibly swallowed up, many Italian states will not be surprised.

Compared with the behavior of the Vienna government, Livy's simplicity and crudeness obviously frightened the Italian monarchs more.

Not to mention that the Parliament of the French Republic has become Livy's answering machine. The fact that Livy can hypnotize has been known to many European monarchs and nobles.

They even regarded Paris as Livy's magic cave. If they did not enter Paris with an army, no one would be willing to be called to Paris to meet Livy.

However, the idea of ​​​​the high-level Italian state is completely different from that of the lower Italian state.

The soldiers of the Italian Confederation Army were all from ordinary families and mercenaries with little spare money. All they wanted was spaghetti and they would not think about such complicated politics.

At this time, there was no nationalist ideology in Italy, and the soldiers of the Italian Confederations fought for money.

It would be fine if they were fighting ordinary enemies, but the people coming from the opposite side had more people than them, more artillery than them, and the morale of the French Defense Force was not as high as that of humans. The soldiers of the Italian Confederate Army were not stupid, so they naturally understood that this was an attack. It's a losing battle, even if they stay in the seemingly safer fortifications!

The army of the Kingdom of Sardinia was also completely wiped out by the French Defense Forces in safe fortifications!
With the example of the Kingdom of Sardinia in front of it, it is not difficult to understand why the morale of the Italian Confederate Army fell into a negative value...

The Kingdom of Sardinia placed on the European continent at this time is naturally just an ordinary country, and it is better than a small country, but in Italy, the Kingdom of Sardinia is recognized as the military leader.

If it weren't for France and Austria, the neighbors of the two powerful countries around the Kingdom of Sardinia, who have been obstructing it, the Kingdom of Sardinia would have launched the unification war of the Italian peninsula long ago.

Now the kingdom of Sardinia, the big brother in Italy, has fallen. It is conceivable how desperate and helpless the officers and soldiers of the Italian Confederations are...

Originally, they thought that at least the Austrians were blocking the front, and the terrain of the city of Turin was also very prominent. In the European Middle Ages, the city of Turin itself was built as a military fortress, but later it gradually developed into an economic, political, and military center.

Therefore, everyone in the Italian Confederate Army felt that Marshal Paoliu was very interesting. Knowing that they could not fight, they arranged for them to be in the rear of the Milan area, far away from the front of the French Defense Forces.

However, the development of the war was beyond the expectations of the Italian Confederation. The crazy French Defense Forces and Livy's loyal henchmen did not fight the Austrians in the Turin area, but ignored the tens of thousands of Austrians in the Turin area. , the main force is heading towards the Milan area!

This is the death of the Italian Allied Forces!
Perhaps this strategy of self-destruction of the rear will allow the Austrians to see the turning point of the war, but regardless of whether the rear of the First Army of the French Defense Forces is cut off by the Austrians, the Italian Confederate Army that is standing in front of the First Army of the French Defense Forces will definitely It's cool...

Thus, the most interesting scene in this anti-French war appeared. When the black dragon battle flag of the main force of the French Defense Forces appeared in the field of vision of the forward positions of the Italian Confederate Army, the generals of the Italian Confederate Confederate Army were very tacit. fled with his own army!
Among them, the army of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies was the last to run away, demonstrating the "upper courage" among the Italians.

Thank you Shangshan Ruoshui for rewarding 200 starting coins.

(End of this chapter)