King's Landing in France

After the enemy flees, there is no way to completely encircle and annihilate the enemy and destroy their organizational system.

At this time, Davout could already see the town of Montenotte in the distance.

Davout cursed: "It seems that the formation's expectation of destroying the enemy cannot be fulfilled, military musicians, beat the charge drum!"

Military musician: "Understood, charge drum!"

Immediately afterwards, eager drums sounded.

The musicians in each battalion heard the commander's change of drumbeat, and immediately changed the drumbeat. Hearing the drumbeat, the non-commissioned officers ordered one after another: "All! Charge!"

Davout's troops rushed, like blue waves along the valley, towards the enemy's troops.

※※※

Major General Argento, the Austrian division commander, frowned: "No, this man has been following us to shoot, and now he suddenly charges, there must be something strange about it."

He turned his head to look at Montenotte behind him, and suddenly gasped: "My God! That's right! Their goal is to capture Montenotte and make our dumplings!

"Blitz!"

Soon a lieutenant colonel ran up to him: "General!"

"Lead the reserve group and countercharge the frontal enemy!"

"Understood, General!" Britz was about to turn around when Argento held him back, "Take care, Lieutenant Colonel."

Britz understood immediately, he nodded: "Thank you General for bestowing on me this honor!"

After speaking, he drew out his sword and hurried away.

Argento continued to order: "Order the whole army, stop alternating cover, the front team becomes the rear team, run forward! Run as fast as you can!"

Immediately, the commander's trumpeter blew the melody of changing the formation. Although the Austrian army was flustered, they completed the formation change well-trained.

At this moment, the sound of shouting and killing came from behind the team, and the reserve team began to charge.

Argento: "Quick, retreat! Back past Montenotte!"

At this moment, horns sounded from the west of the battlefield.

The tricolor flag appears on the mountain road west of Montenotte.

Chapter 163 fierce battle

The town of Montenotte was seen in Lahalpe's binoculars.

The sound of fighting came from the southeast, and it should sound very close.

Lahalp made a decisive decision: "Avantgarde, start attacking the city immediately, don't wait for the cannon!"

The orderly rushed out immediately.

Lahalp continued to urge the troops around him: "Come on! I know you are all tired!"

Lahalpe's troops, by another and more distant road, rounded to Altalay, turned again and ran along the valley to Montenotte.

This road is much longer than the distance that the Davout troops marched yesterday and today.

The soldiers of Lahalp were exhausted, but fortunately, the morale of the soldiers was very high and their fighting spirit was strong.

There was a shout of killing from the direction of the avant-garde, and Lahalp immediately stopped observing the soldiers around him, and turned his binoculars to Montenotte.

He saw the advance guard charging down the valley before being fired upon by the Montenotte defenses.

Montenotte has nothing that could be called a wall, only a low wall.

The remaining enemy troops defended behind the low wall, and the blue-clothed soldiers who charged up shot desperately.

The white smoke from the flintlock guns seemed to form strangely shaped clouds in the valley, which were pushed downwind by the wind blowing along the valley.

After the enemy had fired two volleys of guns, Lahalpe's vanguard rushed in front of the low wall.

Hand-to-hand combat began.

Suddenly, Lahalpe saw a group of enemies galloping towards the southeast of Montenotte, rushing into the city from the other side.

"The frontal enemy has arrived so soon? It's so close!" Lahalp exclaimed, then turned the binoculars to observe the hillside to the east of the valley.

It seems that although there is no way to deploy a regular line infantry formation on this hillside, it can be climbed up with a skirmish formation.

So Lahalpe immediately ordered: "All the battalions of the third brigade, climb up the hill in skirmish formation! Flank the enemy!"

The Laharpu division in the valley immediately changed formation, and the members of the third brigade turned around, formed a loose formation, and began to climb up the mountain all over the mountain.

At this time, the second group of enemy troops rushed into the city of Montnotte under the watchful eye of Lahalpe.

The battle situation in the direction of the low wall became complicated and confusing. The first batch of troops entering the city apparently quickly supported the defensive troops at the low wall.

In Lahalp's telescope, the white and blue clothes were completely mixed together, a mess.

Lahalp: "Second Brigade, keep investing! Don't stop! Our numbers are the advantage!"

At this time, one of Lahalpe's staff officers said: "Master, you should shout 'For Your Excellency General'."

Lahalp hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to adopt the advice of the staff officer. He drew out his long sword and shouted: "For Your Excellency the General!"

The next moment, the troops burst into majestic shouts, responding to Lahalp's call.

By this time the [-]rd Brigade in skirmish formation had finally climbed to the top of the hill and began to fire on the enemy advancing along the road to the southeast on the other side of the hill.

Rahalp said, "Damn, it's a pity that we ran too fast and the cannon couldn't keep up! If we push the cannon up the hill, how much damage can it cause!"

※※※

Davout saw Lahalpe's stragglers appearing on the side ridge and applauded loudly.

In fact, at this time, Davout's troops had artillery, but he couldn't find a good place to deploy the artillery.

Davout: "If Lahalp rushes down from the mountain, at least half of the enemies can be dispersed!"

But Lahalpe's troops just formed a loose formation on the top of the hill, shooting at the enemy on the mountain road on the enemy's side.

Although the distance is a bit far, but because the enemies are all crowded into a forced march, the hit should still be quite good.

Davout was so angry that he immediately called the messenger: "You, go over the mountain, find Laharp, and let him charge!"

The orderly went away.

At this time, Davout had given up his plan to wipe out the enemy completely. If he charged now and attacked from both sides, he could wipe out a large number of enemies.

In this way, the enemy will have a large number of troops that cannot be organized within a few days, and must retreat for a period of time.

But Lanhalp obviously didn't know the situation here. He still wanted to fulfill Frost's intention, shut down the Argento division and beat the dog, and completely devoured it.

Davu also knew that the problem must be in this, he paced back and forth, constantly ravaging his shiny forehead: "Damn it! This Laharp, why don't you climb up to the top of the mountain to observe?"

The current situation can be said to be not very optimistic. Davout's large army was blocked on the road by the desperate Austrian army. Although the number was superior, they could not form a formation at all.

The Austrian army is running towards Montnotte.

What Davout needs most at this time is actually the radio, relying on the radio to inform the situation on the other side of Lahalp, maybe he can seize the opportunity to launch a flank attack and defeat most of Argento's troops.

It's a pity that there is no such convenient thing at this time. The transmission of orders and information depends on the messenger running at full speed.

Even if Davout touched his bald head so that it could be used as a mirror, he couldn't figure out how to do it.

※※※

While Davout and Lahalpe were at Montenotte, Marshal Beaulieu, the Austrian commander, was summarizing the news of the day.

"According to the intelligence of the noble officers who defected, the enemy has quite a large army in front of Argento. The enemy has at least a [-]% strength advantage against him." Marshal Beaulieu pressed a pushpin on the map.

"Besides, Carcare's reconnaissance unit, today's reconnaissance of Altare, is likely to have a considerable force passing through Altare to Montenotte. Argento's division may be flanked by the enemy. "

Condore: "Considering that Carcare's news was many hours ago, I think the Argento Division may have been dumped by the enemy."

Beaulieu: "Argento is very vigilant. My order to him is to retreat to Montenotte if there are more enemies. I just don't know if he will have time to retreat."

Condore: "There must be time, the French army can't march so fast..."

Beaulieu glared at Kong Dolei: "Then do you think Master Argento is in danger?"

Condoré was stunned: "Uh, this..."

Beaulieu heaved a long sigh. In fact, he had wanted to replace the chief of staff a long time ago. Unfortunately, the Condoré family's face was too great to dismiss.

Beaulieu stared at the map for a long time, and then said: "It is better to assume that most of Argento's division was defeated. Argento led the remnants to retreat, and he is likely to organize defense here."

Beaulieu put a pushpin on the name Diego.

Beaulieu: "In this place, there is the Bomida River covering the flanks, and the city is on a high ground. Setting up an formation on the high ground where the city is located can gain a commanding advantage. I remember that the hillside here is very steep. In addition, there is a river , don't worry about the wings. It's a good place to defend."

The old marshal paused, and began to order: "Leave Vuksevich to defend the direction of Varazze, and the other troops will move to Diego immediately. I will go too!"

Chapter 164 General Frost rushed to the front line overnight

After charging himself, Lahalpe finally led his troops into Montenotte.

The rest of the Austrian army was blocked in the valley southeast of Montenotte.

Lahalpe climbed up the bell tower of Montenotte's church - the bell tower is usually the highest point in the city in this era - and only then did he get a clear view of the valley on the other side.

He estimated that more than [-] Austrians were blocked in the valley, and the blue front of the Davout Army had advanced to a position less than [-] meters away from Montenotte.

No anti-theft

In such a small open space, three thousand Austrians were crowded.

These 3000 people were attacked by the enemy, and soon surrendered.

Davout's bald head was seen in Lahalp's telescope, and now that the sun was setting, it was quite easy to spot that bald head.

Lahalp: "I'm going to congratulate Davout. This is a great victory. The number of prisoners is 3000! Including the killing and wounding, at least [-] Austrian troops have been handed over here! This is a great victory."

With that said, he turned and climbed down the bell tower.

Ten minutes later, he met Davout outside Montenotte.

Davout didn't know why he looked very unhappy.

As soon as he met Davout, he asked, "Why don't you just let your flanking skirmishers charge?"

Lahalp was shocked: "Scatterers charge? Are you crazy?"

The formation of skirmishers is too loose. According to general military common sense, skirmish formations attacking standard line infantry is courting death.

After all, there is a gap in the density of troops per unit area.

Therefore, in the military theory of this era, skirmishers are only suitable for harassment, and they are very vulnerable to cavalry charges or line infantry charges.

Davout: "There is still my army on the front! The enemy was in chaos at that time! Even if it is a scattered soldier, the enemy will be scattered when you charge down. In that case, you will not only catch these 3000 people!"

Davout looked back while talking. At this time, his troops were chasing scattered enemies all over the mountains and plains. Many Austrians were very tired after fighting for a day, so they simply chose to give up resistance.

Anyway, European armies in this era seldom slaughtered prisoners of war, and many times prisoners of war collected their weapons and then released them after a period of time.

Prisoners of war in this era are not as active as they were later, and they will escape from prison or something.

The Austrian army is still the royal army, basically without much national awareness, they are all here to help the nobles and princes fight.

Davout watched his troops catch the prisoners, and heaved a long sigh: "Blame me, I exposed my strength too early. I should only bring a brigade or so to guard the hill. I failed General Frost's expectations."

A warrant officer next to Davout said, "Commander, it's not your fault. It's the right thing for you to order a timely change of defense to prevent the troops from getting too tired..."

Davout: "Stop talking, order the troops and prepare torches. Today we will pursue the defeated enemies overnight."

"Yes!"

After the warrant officer left, Davout took out the banknote and quickly wrote a note: "Order! Give this to General Frost!"

※※※

At this time, the Austrian general Argento was on his way back to Diego with [-] remnants.

Because they slipped so fast, their army can no longer see the French chasing troops—after all, the French army just defeated the thousands of people left by Argento's division, and it is not so fast to regroup and pursue .

But Argento always felt that it was not so easy for him to escape.

So he found his confidant, and put the reins of his beloved horse into his confidant's hand: "You, ride my horse, and rush to Diego immediately! Let the guards there immediately build campfires around the city! The more the better! Take out all the torches stored in the city, light them and place them on the ground around the city!"

The confidant immediately understood: "Are you trying to confuse the French army?"

"Yes, I heard that Frost will attack at night. If the enemy who catches up also attacks at night, we will be finished. Let him be afraid of our numbers and dare not act rashly!"