King's Landing in France

Anyway, the An Ning army was short of officers, and there were not many lieutenants, all of them were sergeants and sergeants, so Davout and the others wore the uniforms of lieutenants, which was enough to command a large-scale army.

But this is not the case with the 1 people in Savona. The Marquis of Lamballe is a decent major general, and the standard force commanded by a major general is a division, so this rank is also translated as "division-level general" in some places.

But at this time, France does not have a higher rank than a major general, and the ranks above are all honorary ranks, so a major general can also command an army, or even a legion.

Before Anning took over as the commander of the Italian Army, the Marquis of Lamballe served as the commander of the Italian Army as a major general.

In fact, the troops in Savona consisted of exactly one division, and each brigade under the division headquarters was led by a colonel, and the heads of both regiments of a brigade were both lieutenant colonels, and there were majors further down.

That is to say, in the troops of the Marquis of Lamballe, if a major is randomly selected, he can win five or six in Anning's troops by virtue of his military rank.

After all, apart from him as a major general in An Ning's army, Berthier, the chief of staff's colonel, has the highest rank, and everyone else has very low ranks.

It's no wonder that the Marquis of Lamballe looked down on An Ning so much. After all, he brought a group of school officers with him, and behind An Ning was a group of lieutenants except for Berthier.

An Ning scratched her head, thinking to hell, the first problem she encountered in Italy was to deal with the Marquis of Lamballe, right?

I am a major general, and the Marquis is also a major general. Although I have taken the title of commander of the Italian Army now, the Marquis of Lamballe may not obey orders obediently.

Especially now that the Marquis has shown his disdain for An Ning.

So An Ning turned his head and ordered to Davout: "Davout, take your division to the direction of Carcare and monitor the Argento Department."

Dawu saluted: "Understood."

The Marquis of Lamballe shouted: "What! Let a captain command a division? Does he have such ability? I heard that there is a shortage of officers in the country, but I didn't expect it to be so short! But General Frost, my troops have Enough officers to put my men in command..."

An Ning: "I am the commander of the Italian Legion."

The corner of Lamballe's mouth twitched.

An Ning thought to himself, what are you trash nobles compared to Davout? This is Davout, who leads an army of 3 people, toughening the main force of Prussia!

Davout simply ignored the Marquis of Lamballe and left with the order.

An Ning ordered again: "Ms. Oliver, your cavalry is scouting in the direction of Varazze, and contain Vuksevich's troops!"

"As you wish." Ms. Oliver also left.

The Marquis of Lamballe said angrily: "What's the matter? Who are they sent from the country? A group of lieutenants and little devils, and an old nanny, led by a cobbler! Can this fight?"

An Ning: "It's fine to call Ms. Oliver the old nanny, it's not too far from the truth, but isn't it inappropriate to call Dawu the lieutenant kid?"

After all, he is almost Mediterranean.

Marquis of Lamballe: "War is no joke! How can you beat Marshal Beaulieu like this? He is a veteran in his 70s and has a lot of experience!"

An Ning said coldly: "I know, I have never underestimated this old man. So I have to do one thing. Lana!"

Lana took a step forward and responded loudly: "Here!"

Lana still serves as the commander of the teaching team, but the size of the teaching team has been expanded a lot. After all, An Ning is now the commander of a 3-strong army.

In order to train enough non-commissioned officers to support 3 people, the teaching team was expanded to 500 people and became a teaching team.

tomato

Lana is the head of the teaching group.

An Ning: "Let the teaching group surround this building!"

Lana: "It's already surrounded!"

After he finished speaking, he shouted: "Come on!"

Immediately, a group of teaching regiment soldiers rushed into the room.

The voice of the Marquis of Lamballe trembled: "You, you, what do you want to do?"

An Ning: "I heard that your wife, the Marquis of Lamballe, is the best friend of the traitor Queen Mary? I suspect that you have liaison with foreign countries! Arrest me!"

The soldiers roared in unison: "Yes!"

Then two soldiers with big arms and round waists went over to set up the Marquis.

An Ning continued to order: "Arrest all the nobles in the original Italian Legion! The royal party has rebelled, and all the nobles are untrustworthy!

"At the same time, in the original Italian Legion, follow the system of our army and establish a soldiers' committee so that the soldiers can nominate their sergeants!"

Chapter 158

Marshal Beaulieu of Austria did not despise the new Italian army led by General Frost.

Before declaring war, he sent out his spies early, and after declaring war, he even hired many Italians to scout for himself.

Now, the old marshal has basically mastered the number of enemies and the composition of commanders.

Now, the marshal has summoned his own staff and is having a meeting.

The marshal's chief of staff, Condoré, said indifferently to Frost's troops who drove over: "This is a group of mobs, and that Frost officer is all a bunch of melon eggs that haven't even grown their hair yet. He actually let a captain lead a division! A captain!

"In our place, even the head of the regiment is a major or even a lieutenant colonel!"

The other officers of the headquarters, including Brigadier General Bottendorf, commander of the Bottendorf Division who served as the general reserve, all nodded repeatedly.

The marshal shook his head: "He led such an army and defeated Lafayette. I met that Lafayette once. He is an excellent officer and understands what war is all about! He is still in the New World, defeating Cornwallis!"

The officers looked at each other.

At this time, Major General Vuksevich, who rushed back to the meeting temporarily, teased: "Maybe, General Lafayette is just like everyone else. Because the opponent is all low-level officers, he underestimated the opponent and lost."

Condore: "What do you mean?"

"It's literally." Vuksevich still had a mocking tone.

There are also different types of aristocratic officers, and some are recruited purely by their families. There is no shortage of such people in Austria and France. This kind of people generally dislikes the kind of officers who do practical things.

This can be said to be the norm in the European army.

Vuksevich couldn't understand Kondore's extravagance.

Seeing that the officers were about to quarrel, Marshal Beaulieu said: "Okay! Everyone needs to work together. Vuksevich is right. Lafayette was probably dismissed because he underestimated Frost." Defeated.

"We must pay attention to him, treat him, and his subordinates, as perfectly trained and qualified officers and soldiers! Only in this way can we ensure nothing goes wrong!"

Vuksevich nodded: "Of course, I have never underestimated him. After today's confrontation, I think my enemy is still the original Italian army, which is General Lamballe's troops."

"How did you see that?" Condoré asked.

"Of course it depends on the number of school officers. Noble officers are very recognizable when they are dressed like flower roosters on the battlefield."

Condore looked down at his attire: he was wearing an Austrian white general's dress, with a pair of shiny gold epaulettes on his shoulders, and tassels long enough to brush a horse.

This tassel is made by the most famous tailor in Vienna. It is made of solid material and has fine stitches.

Under the tassels, there are gaudy medals and ribbons.

Vuksevich: "Yes, it's like this!"

Condore immediately blew his carefully trimmed beard.

Vuksevich: "And a beard! Only a noble with two orderlies can maintain such a beautiful beard on the battlefield!"

Marshal Beaulieu said: "Okay! I know that the enemy in front of you is the original enemy."

At this moment, a captain entered the headquarters and saluted: "Report! The reconnaissance hussars have returned, and they say they have captured the French officers who came to surrender!"

All the officers in the headquarters immediately stood up, and the old marshal stood up too after a slow step: "What? Come on, bring it in!"

A few moments later, several French officers were brought in.

Vuksevich spoke first: "Where's your tricolor emblem?"

The leading officer spat: "Fuck the three-color emblem, long live the king!"

The remaining French officers also shouted together.

And the Austrian officers were all beaming.

But Beaulieu was still stern, and the old man took a step forward: "Stop shouting! Start from the beginning, what's the matter? Come, give him a glass of water!"

Water was handed up immediately.

The French officer who first shouted Long Live the King took the water, drank it, and then let out a long breath: "That damned Frost! As soon as his army arrived, he immediately said that all the officers were potential traitors. Directly order his guards, what is the teaching regiment, to start arresting officers! As long as they are of noble origin, all have been arrested!

"Can you imagine? As long as they are of noble origin, they will all be arrested!"

Condore was overjoyed: "What? That is to say, in the original Italian Legion, only warrant officers are left as officers, and everyone above warrant officers has been beaten?"

The French system stipulates that only three generations of hereditary nobles can become school officials - this is also because France is the most feudal country in Europe, and a large number of nobles have been accumulated since the time of Louis XIV, otherwise there would be too many school officials up.

People of civilian background can climb up to warrant officer in the French army at most, and it is very rare to be promoted to second lieutenant. Usually, they have made great achievements, or someone in the family married a lady from a down-and-out noble family.

Without such external factors, a civilian who is promoted through ordinary means is at most a warrant officer.

As an Austrian aristocrat, Condore is of course familiar with France. After all, France was a model for all countries to learn from in the feudal era, and the nobles of all countries can basically speak French.

The status of French in Europe in this era is somewhat similar to the status of English in the world after the establishment of Onsa hegemony.

Condore was very excited: "That is to say, the enemy in front of Vuksevich is also in chaos?"

The fugitive French officer nodded: "That's where I came from, and I left my troops. Fortunately, our station is quite far from Savona, otherwise I wouldn't be able to escape at all!"

"That Frost sent a pipe-smoking devil to chase and kill the nobles who escaped from Savona. The detained nobles can still breathe, and the escaped ones are basically hacked to death!"

Condoré turned to Beaulieu: "We must attack immediately! If we start now, after marching through the night, we can attack at dawn!"

At this time, Condore suggested marching through the night, which showed that he was very confident in the training level and organization of the troops.

However, Marshal Beaulieu has rich experience and knows that marching at night will lead to a large number of stragglers, so a special containment team needs to be organized.Even a well-organized army must be regrouped after a night march.And the night battle is bound to be a mess. After entering the night battle, who can win basically depends on which side is more brave and has better luck.

The conventional raid strategy in this era is to march quickly at night, and then after a little reorganization at dawn, take advantage of the most difficult time for the enemy's night guards to attack.

This kind of assault is dangerous to execute. In case of failure, the troops who have run wild all night will be chased by the energetic enemy.

Beaulieu stroked his beard, pondered for a while, and then said: "This opportunity is not lost. Vuksevich, lead your division, set off tonight, and attack Varadze at dawn tomorrow!"

Chapter 159 Varazze Assault

In the early morning of the next day, Varazze, a seaside town ten kilometers away from Savona, was still asleep.

Yesterday Lasalle's cavalry rushed over, tied up all the noble officers in the town, and locked them in the cellar of the big grain merchant in the town.

The command of the entire force fell to the few remaining civilian warrant officers.

Among the group of warrant officers, one is of Italian origin and can speak fluent Italian. At this moment, he is greeting the fishermen who are going to go fishing early in the morning.

The warrant officer had worked as a waiter on a merchant ship, and occasionally worked as a sailor, so he was quite familiar with life in the Mediterranean Sea and could find conversations with fishermen.

"So," the fisherman suddenly asked after chatting for a while, "I heard that you became the brigade commander of the brigade here yesterday?"

The 34-year-old warrant officer nodded: "Yeah, I don't know why, the guy named pipe smoking came over yesterday, saying that the nobles are all traitors and cannot be trusted, so he tied them all up and locked them in the cellar.

"Then the pipe-smoking man was going around shouting: 'Who is Massena, André Massena of Nice!' I said, 'If you limit Nice, it's me.'

"And guess what, the pipe smoker asked me as if confirming something: 'You're Italian, aren't you?'

"I responded to him in Italian, and I became brigade commander. I was a warrant officer and commander a day ago!"

The fisherman smiled, then put down the fishing line he was adjusting, and said to Massena mysteriously: "That new commander has a great reputation! His legend has been passed on more than a year ago! Said that he has a roster, which is given to him by God, and it is full of generals of the world!"

Massena: "Is there such a saying?"

"Yes! The newspapers published in Nice said so! He was able to defeat Lafayette a year ago because he selected a few capable people based on this list!"

Massena raised his eyebrows, and was about to ask for more details, when suddenly there was a loud shout of killing in the distance.

Massena was shocked, and shouted to the fishermen, "Go to sea! Don't go near the shore!" Then he turned and ran towards the headquarters.

That's when the guns rang out, crackling and crackling to the northwest of town.

Massena listened to the sound and felt that the enemy should come down from the mountain road leading to San Martino, so he shouted while running: "The enemy is coming down from San Martino! Everyone go to the northwest! Look." Anyone in white clothes will be stabbed!"

The soldiers who ran out of the house where they were staying in confusion, turned around and ran to the northwest immediately after hearing this.

Masséna grabbed a sergeant by the collar and yelled at him: "Run down the street, shouting 'Run northwest and stab anyone in white'!"

The sergeant nodded, turned and started running down the street, shouting as he went.

At this time, Massena saw La Salle, who also lived in Varazze last night, running out of a private house while pulling up his pants.

Massena: "Captain! Your cavalry, gather your cavalry! The main road of the town is a straight line, which is very suitable for cavalry to charge. If the enemy rushes to the main road, they will rely on you!"

La Salle: "Okay! Leave it to me!"