King's Landing in France

Regardless, it is a good thing that the morale of the troops is high and they can fight.

At this time, Berthier curiously took the letter from An Ning, and after reading it, he was very surprised: "What the hell, it's too risky to attack when the troops are inferior?"

An Ning: "Attacking while the enemy's strength is not in place, this is the correct decision! Berthier, you lack such courage, so you can only be a chief of staff!"

Berthier has no talent as a commander. He is the perfect chief of staff, and it would be worse to direct the battle by himself.

Berthier shrugged: "I have no comment on this. However, you will appreciate Masséna's actions because you are also an adventurous commander. If you show it to Davout, he probably will not agree. After all, this does not conform to military common sense."

Davout took a look at the letter and replied: "I will capture Mundo to stop the attack."

Berthier: "What? This..."

Napoleon laughed.

An Ning also joked: "It seems that our Davout thinks that as long as there are 5000 people, the Kingdom of Sardinia can be forced to submit."

Davout shook his head: "No way. If there are 5000 people, unless we defend the strongholds along the way without dividing troops, it will definitely not be enough.

"At least 3 people are needed."

An Ning raised his eyebrows. Before he could speak, La Salle said, "Did you realize that you are saying that you can defeat 3 people with 5 people, Brother Davout!"

Davout: "Is there any problem with this? Haven't we been fighting with this kind of force difference? Little joke."

After Davout finished speaking, all the officers except Berthier laughed.

An Ning: "Well, Massena played well, and we can't lose to him! The situation we are facing now, if Wurmze and Beaulieu join forces, the situation will become very bad.

"But our advantage is that they haven't joined forces yet. It's winter and there's a lot of snow in the Alps. Even if we go to the Adige Valley, Wumze's troops will have to walk for many days.

"Therefore, we have gained a precious time difference. Using this temporary strength advantage, we should quickly defeat Marshal Beaulieu's troops!"

An Ning pointed to the sand table in front of her and continued.

"Marshal Beaulieu was so dazed by our flank attack that he was particularly afraid that we would continue to flank him, so he evenly distributed the entire army on the Mincio River!

"Look at this formation, what do you think of?"

——Of course it is the snake of Changshan...

Napoleon: "Snake, the word long snake."

An Ning: "That's right! So we have to gather together and make a breakthrough from the center of Marshal Beaulieu! Although it is snowing heavily now that Lasalle's cavalry cannot rush up, we can still use infantry to cut off the enemy, and then send Divide and annihilate the enemy."

Napoleon: "What about the fortress? I went to see that fortress, and it was very difficult."

An Ning: "But you didn't realize that with only 5000 people in that fortress, tens of thousands of people can be trapped inside! Because the fortress is on a peninsula, the isthmus leading to the fortress simply cannot deploy too many troops.

"We defeated Beaulieu, forced his remnants into the fortress, then trapped him with 5000 men, and turned against Wumze's 5 men!"

Chapter 189

In Brescia, Anning deployed the Sequoia Army recruited from the Republic of Milan here.

That night, a Milan teenager, Buzz, was warming himself by the fire with veterans in the army.

From Rome to the north, Italy gets colder as it gets closer to the Alps. When it comes to Brescia, which is almost at the foot of the Alps, it is basically covered with silver in December.

Buzz rubbed his hands together by the fire, trying to make his red palms feel a little better.At this time, the veteran next to him handed him a cup of hot coffee: "Come on, kid, hold this with your hand, it will feel better."

Buzz said thank you, then took the coffee cup and glanced at the black liquid inside.

Just by smelling it, you can tell that this thing is terribly bitter.

Seeing Buzz's expression, the veteran laughed loudly: "Child, when you understand the beauty of coffee, you will grow up."

Buzz said anxiously: "I can drink coffee, I am already an adult!"

"Then have a drink and see." A few soldiers who were also by the fire booed.

Buzz's expression froze.

At this moment, someone made a sound of "噗味", and then murmured in the distance.

The soldiers in Milan turned their heads together and saw a group of troops carrying golden guns wrapped in brass marching into a house on the side of the road.

Some people were dissatisfied and said: "It's great, the French can live in houses, and we can only sleep in tents. It's freezing cold, and it's freezing to death."

The veteran who gave Buzz coffee just now, Wa Ziqiang curled his lips: "Don't say it, I heard that it is the army that General Frost has high hopes for. They have brand new weapons that can be loaded from behind their buttocks!"

"From behind the gun's ass or from behind the man's ass?" someone asked, prompting a burst of laughter.

Wa Ziqiang smiled and said: "Of course it is from the back of the gun. The barrel of that kind of gun has a helix thread called a double thread. It can't be loaded from the front, because a hammer is needed to knock the cleaning rod. go in.

"Let me tell you, that kind of gun is said to be accurate at a distance of 200 meters..."

"What's rice?" Buzz asked suspiciously.

Vaziqiang: "You don't know, this is a unit of length set by some French metric committee, and the French all use this as the basic unit.

"I heard that this is also one of the achievements of the Great Revolution. This thing is quite easy to use. The conversion between the two units is full ten to one, which is very convenient."

As soon as the voice fell, someone beside the fire interjected: "I heard that the French still require all craftsmen in Milan to accept this unit of length, and we will not be allowed to use our own unit in the future. The French also brought a one-meter ruler , buried in the square in front of Milan City Hall.

"At least the Austrians didn't make us change the unit of length we're used to."

Vazqiang snorted: "Don't say it, the Austrians don't even think of us as human beings, and the French at least treat us as human beings."

Buzz: "The French hanged the nobleman, gave our family a house, and gave my father a job. Personally, I am very grateful to the French, so I am here."

Someone beside the fire proposed loudly: "To the damned liberator."

So most of the people raised their glasses and drank it happily.

Buzz clutched a cup of boiling hot coffee, and did not toast with everyone - he really couldn't accept the bitter taste of coffee, he was just trying to be brave.

While the Italians were toasting, another detachment of new-style rifles encased in brass entered the same building.

Someone beside the fire said, "I don't know if that gun is made of gold."

"Don't be silly, it's just wrapped with brass. It seems that the general ordered the production of the gun. The man-hours can't be reduced much, and the production is very laborious, so the general did the opposite and added a process. , wrapping brass on the outside of the barrel, so that the barrel looks golden." Wa Ziqiang said.

Someone beside the fire teased: "Why do you know everything, Vazqiang? Are you having an affair with a Frenchman?"

Wa Ziqiang: "You don't understand, the French are people too. When I was in Milan, there were often French people stationed nearby drinking in the tavern I often went to. I was the only one who knew French. I often helped the proprietress of the tavern. French translation."

Another asked: "How do you know French?"

Vaziqiang smiled: "Because I used to be a student of the seminary, you don't know, although the Pope lives in our Italy, the cardinals in the Pope's Hall all speak French, and the nobles in the whole Europe speak French. of."

Buzz said unexpectedly: "Is that so? Is French so good?"

"Of course," Vaz patted Baz's head, "even the Austrian king who is now at war with us, Emperor Shinra of Habsburg, can speak French fluently. Not only that, but a little further north In Prussia, everyone at the king's court speaks French. Even the Russians in the wild lands to the east, their grand duchesses and generals speak French."

Buzz: "Really? Why are they going to fight France?"

Wa Ziqiang: "How do I know, I just went to the seminary to study for a few years, so I don't know what noble gentlemen think."

At this time, someone in the crowd by the fire made a voice of "Hey, look over there".

Buzz raised his head curiously and looked to the other side, only to see a maid who seemed to be the same age as him carrying a box across the street.

The person who just showed everyone over there said mysteriously: "I heard that this is the maid of your Excellency the General. The General has no orderlies and has always asked his maid to take care of him. It is said that the maid looks as young as Buzz, but in fact It's over 20 years old."

"Really?" Buzz was shocked, "She looks even younger than me, the same age as my sister."

"You don't understand, it is said that the general's maid is from Croatia, and she is a fairy in the story! The general himself is a great magician, so he can use inferior forces to deal with so many enemies!

"The French call the general a magician on the battlefield. They have been with the general for so long, so they must know something!"

Buzz: "I thought this was just a nickname, used to describe a general who is good at managing troops and fighting..."

"You are so naive. Your Excellency General, in the first battle in France, you defeated General Lafayette's 4 troops with [-] troops! It's not magic, how could it be possible?" I kept talking to Buzz The man took a big sip of wine, then shook his head and continued.

At this time, another person spoke: "No, no, I heard that Your Excellency, General, received divine revelation from Jehovah, and he is a saint!"

Someone immediately retorted: "Nonsense, Your Excellency the General is a Frenchman, and he also confiscated the Pope's enclave in Konta and robbed the church's property. I think he should be an apostle of Satan. He led the army this time. To come to Italy is to go to the Holy See! He wants to turn Rome into the capital of Satan on earth!"

Buzz was covering the hot coffee cup with both hands, listening to the adults beside him talking about the legendary general, he couldn't help showing admiration.

He muttered softly: "That's great, I wonder if I can meet that General in person."

Chapter 190 Veteran Beaulieu's Last Battle

On December 1792, 12, Anning launched a battle to cross the Mincio River.

He handed over all the command of the battle to Davout, and he rode a horse to watch the scenery by the river.

A great mass of white smoke from the rumbling of the guns clung to the surface of the Mincio River, echoing the snow-capped banks.

In An Ning's impression, it seems that she learned in high school geography class that northern Italy has a Mediterranean climate, and the Mediterranean climate should be above zero all year round. I don't know if I have misremembered or this era is colder than the future.

Anyway, the banks of the Mincio River are now covered with snow, but the river is not frozen, and it is still flowing.

The French soldiers could only wade across the icy water and board the opposite bank.

Fortunately, the morale of the French army was high, and the mere cold water was not enough to stop them.

On the other side of the river, there was only one regiment of the Austrians. Seeing the vast number of French troops crossing the river, this regiment seemed to be shaking.

An Ning was observing the front line, when La Salle beside him suddenly said, "Look! That reflective one is Davout's head?"

An Ning laughed.

Napoleon: "Don't be embarrassed, Davout still has a lot of hair, making him look like a priest."

In this era, many priests like to shave a kind of priest head, which is a bald head surrounded by a circle of hair like kappa hair.

Generally speaking, in this era, when you see this hairstyle, there are nine out of ten people who are facing a priest.

This is the same as when you saw Tsukiyotou in the Warring States Period in Japan, you knew that most of the people you encountered were samurai.

Napoleon and La Salle had a heated discussion about Davout's head shape, and no one cared about the ongoing battle to cross the river.

There is really no need to care. The first wave of people brought by Davout has two brigades. It is not too easy to form a regiment.

The two brigades Davout brought over, one of which was the brigade that defended the ridge with Lafayette a year ago, was considered to be Davout's direct descendant.Afterwards, An Ning awarded them a flag of "Knight of the Windmill", also known as "Don Quixote's Sigh".

The morale of this brigade, even in the generally high morale of the French army, can be regarded as the top echelon. In Diego before, this brigade rushed all the way screaming, trying to grab as many military flags as possible, but was defeated Lasalle's cavalry took the credit, and the soldiers were all suffocated.

At this moment, it happened to vent their anger on the defensive Austrians.

And behind Davout, there are still many French troops crossing the river with their trouser legs rolled up.

From the perspective of the Austrians, seeing the vast number of blue-clothed troops rushing towards them, the fighting spirit should disappear all of a sudden.

The fact that the Austrians were not defeated immediately shows that they are indeed well-trained and elite troops.

However, they were completely defeated the moment they came into contact with the French army holding the flag of the Windmill Knight.

An Ning watched the scene with satisfaction.

Napoleon scolded: "I thought they would fight with bayonets for a while, but I didn't expect them to run away like that."

Berthier curled his lips: "Colonel Bonaparte, you may have some illusions from fighting side by side with Your Excellency. Your Excellency's troops often engage in resolute hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Your Excellency even draws a knife to join the battle. So You think this is the norm.

"But in fact, based on my military experience, this is not common! Be it the North American War of Independence or the Seven Years' War, the bayonet charge usually decides the winner at the moment of contact between the two sides, or even before the contact.

"Before contact, one side's morale will not be enough to maintain their courage, and then it will lead to a rout, as you are seeing now."

An Ning raised his eyebrows. He vaguely remembered that it was Grand Duke Karl or some famous general who mentioned it in his battlefield memoirs. He said that he had been in the army for so long, and he had only seen one hand-to-hand combat between the two sides. At other times, he basically started charging. Sometimes one side will lose.

An Ning still remembered that in the Soviet version of "War and Peace", Bagration's charge at Austerlitz was depicted as the French army starting to run as soon as the Russian army pulled up.

The Soviet version of War and Peace is very sophisticated and has done a lot of research. The director team should have really studied the wars of that era and tried to fit the facts as much as possible.

An Ning recalled the performance of the Austrian army in Diego. It seemed that the Austrian army in the west of Diego was defeated once Davout and La Salle attacked.

In addition, while the Austrian army was routing, the troops in front of the French army were engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat with the Austrian army.

Just as An Ning was thinking about it, Davu rode his horse across the river and came to An Ning.

"Your Excellency General, I have captured the bridgehead, and the rest will be handed over to Lasalle's cavalry."

La Salle took a big puff of smoke: "Leave it to me, I will definitely cut down all the broken regiments."

An Ning: "No, no! Your task is to immediately launch a flank attack on the scattered Austrian troops on the east bank of the Mincio River! Who told you to chase the scattered enemy?"

LaSalle: "I was just kidding."

"Instead of joking, you might as well think about how to capture Beaulieu alive." An Ning replied.

La Salle suddenly became serious: "Catch Beaulieu alive, I accept this task! Last time you asked me to block the bridge, so I captured him alive!"