Chapter 780 New "Battle of Marengo"
Historically, it was only after the 1830s that European countries established general staffs, which were fully responsible for logistics supplies, terrain surveying, training, and combat planning.
Even in France, which carried out the reform of the staff system under the leadership of Joseph, Napoleon still suffered from the inefficient bureaucracy of the old army for the time being.
Napoleon reined in the reins and asked his staff to take out the map. He frowned and thought for a long time. He shook his head and sighed: "I remember that the cavalry battalion of the Mulan Army is still in Nice, right?"
The staff officer nodded: "Yes, Commander. The cavalry was too exhausted on the day of the attack on Vence, so we arranged for them to pass through the mountain pass last so that they could rest for a few more days."
"Okay, let them rest for a while and don't come here for the time being."
As Napoleon spoke, he motioned to his attendants to get a pen and paper, then he lay on the saddle and began to write a report to the crown prince tremblingly.
He considered his tone and words, and breathed into his cold right hand. From the corner of his eye, he saw a sharp-eyed middle-aged man standing next to a rock not far away. He was holding a drawing board, looking at him from time to time, and then lowered his head. Paint a few strokes.
Napoleon then waved to the man and said, "Mr. David, how is the progress of your work?"
"Thanks to you, I finally found inspiration just now." The middle-aged man still focused on the picture and said without raising his head, "So, in another week at most, you can see it on my picture scroll. Your heroic appearance.”
This person is the famous classicist painter Jacques-Louis David in history, who painted "The Death of Marat".
It's just that Mara is still alive now, and there is no turmoil in the destiny, which makes him far less popular than in history.
David had planned to take a boat to North Africa in Marseille Port to try his luck a while ago. It happened that the Archduke of Monaco, in order to thank Napoleon for driving away the Austrians, paid him to paint a painting "that can show the majesty of Bouwanaba".
He followed him up to the Alps.
Napoleon smiled and nodded to him, and continued to write his report.
Half an hour later, he finally completed the first draft and handed it to his staff to proofread grammatical errors. Then he jumped off the mule, walked to David, and looked at the drawing board in the artist's hand.
At just one glance, Napoleon's brows furrowed.
In the picture, he was riding a tired mule, his clothes covered in dust, while the guard next to him, whose cheeks were red from the cold, was holding the reins tightly for fear that the animal would slip on the snow.
This is not about taking advantage of the victory to march into Italy. It is obvious that he has just been defeated by the Austrian army and is escaping back to his hometown in embarrassment.
He patted David on the shoulder and sighed helplessly: "Maybe we should have a good chat about your masterpiece..."
……
Southern Netherlands.
Southern suburb of Brussels.
Joseph handed Napoleon's battle plan to Lefebvre: "Colonel Bouwanaba's ideas are always unexpected. Now he turned the original troubles into opportunities and took advantage of them."
The latter quickly scanned the report and said with some hesitation: "Your Highness, Turin, as the capital of Sardinia, may be difficult to break quickly. By then, the Montpellier Army will be fighting alone in the north of Sardinia, and it will easily be defeated by reinforcements sent by Austria. Surrounded.
"Oh, the Austrian army in northeastern Switzerland is not far away."
Joseph smiled: "You did not understand Colonel Buwanaba's intention." He attacked from the Great Saint Bernard Pass and did not have to attack Turin.
"The greatest significance of this army is to influence the deployment of the Austrians.
"After that, he can choose to continue to attack Milan eastward, or go south to form a pincer attack on the Austrian army with General Dimobin.
"As long as the Montpellier Army can successfully pass through Bad Fortress, our army will take great strategic initiative."
Lefebvre pointed to Napoleon's report with confusion and said: "Your Highness, Colonel Bouwanaba only said that Turin could be attacked by surprise, and did not mention Milan or a pincer attack..."
Joseph smiled and nodded: "It is possible that he has not considered these for the time being, but you have to believe that as long as the conditions are right, he will keenly think of all feasible options and choose the best one to execute."
The reason why Joseph dared to say this was entirely because the battle plan Napoleon gave him was very similar to the situation during the battle of Marengo in history.
Similarly, the French army advanced from the south of the Alps to the south of Sardinia, the same Austro-Saharan coalition retreated to northern Italy, and Napoleon decided to launch a surprise force from the Great St. Bernard Pass on the north side.
It can only be said that in a similar battlefield situation, Nahuang still chose the same tactics.
Of course, there are differences from the historical Battle of Marengo. That is, the French navy will now challenge the British in the Mediterranean. The French army in Genoa will be able to obtain supplies from the sea without surrendering as they ran out of ammunition and food.
Lefebvre still said cautiously: "Your Highness, Colonel Bouwanaba's plan may still face two difficulties.
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"First of all, his march route will pass through Geneva at the southern tip of Switzerland, and the Swiss side will raise objections.
"Secondly, the Bad Fortress guarding the mountain pass is extremely difficult to break. The terrain there is dangerous, and only a few hundred soldiers are needed to hold off the Montpellier Army for more than a month. Such a long time is enough for Beaulieu to send reinforcements. ”
"Your concerns are necessary." Joseph confirmed his statement first, but his tone was still relaxed, "But this is not an unsolvable problem.
“There are almost no Swiss garrison defenses in Geneva, and the Swiss Parliament will inevitably pretend not to see our troops passing by.
"They also allowed the Austrian troops to gather around Schwyz, which is fair."
For a small country like Switzerland, facing a fight between two behemoth neighbors, the best strategy is to play the ostrich. As long as they don't fight in their own homes, they don't want to care about it and don't dare to care about it.
Historically, Switzerland has always tolerated the occupation of its western provinces by France. Now the French army is just passing through, and they should know what to do.
"As for Bader Fortress," Joseph deliberately lowered his voice, "I know there is a small road nearby that can be bypassed quietly."
Lefebvre's eyes suddenly widened: "You, how do you know? You have never been there, right?"
Joseph thought that of course he heard it from the documentary about the Battle of Marengo, but he just showed a mysterious smile: "Perhaps it is a revelation from God."
He left Lefebvre, who kept crossing himself piously, turned around, picked up his pen, and signed and approved Napoleon's seemingly extremely risky battle plan.
Since several Charpe signal towers had been built in the southern part of Wallonia this month, it took only two days for Napoleon's report to reach here from Toulon - it took the courier a day and a half to come down from the Alps. It took half a day to get north of Mons to the temporary command post in Joseph.
The Sharpe signal took only an hour.
(End of chapter)