I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 776: Napoleon, the “Model Worker”
Joy suddenly flashed in Jubel's eyes. He didn't expect that the enemy would go around the north side of Vence and deliver it to his mouth.

He had been skeptical about Napoleon's orders for some time, but now he was filled with admiration.

Northwest of Cagnes town.

Victor had just gotten up and had not had time to wash up when he vaguely heard gunshots coming from the town.

The sound was much clearer than before, which meant that the battle was very close to him.

He was greatly shocked. The Austrian army actually went around to the west side of Canes to attack as Lieutenant Colonel Buonaba had said.

Without waiting for the scout to report, he dropped his toothbrush and shouted to the herald's tent:

"Martino, blow the horn and assemble the troops! Quick, our fighter planes are coming!"

The troops on his side had been in a state of combat readiness, and the soldiers all slept with their guns in their arms, so after the assembly call sounded, they had already formed up in just over 20 minutes.

Victor rode out on his horse and waved to the soldiers:
"The Austrians have shown us their backs. Now is a good opportunity to win merit. Let's go!"

In the town of Cagnes, the sudden appearance of an Austrian grenadier battalion from the flank and rear threw the French defenders into panic.

The officer commanding the defense cried out in dismay and hurriedly led the reserve troops to the west to resist the enemy.

But the defense here was too weak. In less than an hour, all the temporary fences built outside the town were breached.

Looking at the hundreds of French soldiers shivering on the main road outside the town, Carretto ordered the grenadier battalion to form a column and launch a general attack with the cooperation of the skirmishers.

As the Austrian army's drums sounded, Carretto and his staff discussed how to cooperate with General Provera to attack the French army on the east side of the town after they entered the town of Cagnes, but suddenly they felt that something was wrong with the drum sound.

He turned his head and couldn't help but frowned slightly. Why did it seem like there were drum sounds coming from the north?

He suddenly got a start and shouted to the staff officer:
"There is an enemy attack!"

In fact, it cannot be blamed on the fact that Sebottendorf and Carretto's scouts were not diligent enough. It was really because Napoleon's arrangements were foolproof.

He had previously ordered Victor and other legions to stay more than ten kilometers away from the battle site, and only after the Austrian army launched the attack did they start to rush to the preset ambush position.

The main thing is that he can accurately judge where the key location for the battle will take place. Otherwise, if you let your troops stay so far away from the battlefield, you will be giving a big gift to the enemy.

The Austrian cavalry had diligently advanced more than six miles to scout, but the news reported to Beaulieu was that there was no sign of any French troops nearby.

Based on this, Beaulieu formulated a battle plan which he thought was extremely sound.

At this time, if someone turned on the God's perspective, they would be able to see that behind the Austrian army that attacked the west side of Cagnes town, two infantry lines hundreds of meters long were deployed, blocking all nearby roads.

The Sebottendorf Corps, which was heading for Toulon Port, was falling headlong into Jubel's arms...

Near Levant, 20 kilometers north of Nice, Napoleon was calculating something at his desk, turning his head from time to time to say to his staff officer:
"The ammunition reserves of the Lyon Legion are far from sufficient...

"The winter clothes of the Montpellier Army are too thin. Can those be called winter clothes? We should ask the Notary Investigation Bureau to check their quartermaster...

"Oh, the ammunition for the Moulin Legion needs to be supplied separately, which is quite a hassle. Perhaps you should go back to Paris and discuss with the General Staff to transfer some copper percussion caps from the directly affiliated legion to them..."

The staff officer nodded continuously and wrote down the information quickly in his notebook. He was already used to the workaholic commander's behavior. The commander even personally checked whether the soldiers' buttons were intact.

Although this can ensure that there are no problems in any detail of the legion - Lieutenant Colonel Buwanaba's management ability is undoubtedly genius-level - it will bring new problems, that is, he personally handles all the affairs of the army, which is very inefficient. After all, a person's energy is limited. Even if he only sleeps 5 hours a day, it is impossible to handle all things in time.

More than half an hour later, Napoleon finally signed all the documents piled on his desk. He rubbed his wrist and said to his attendant:

"Please bring my coffee. The battle information from Vence should be arriving soon. I need to take a break."

Soon, an exquisite oriental-style porcelain cup was placed in front of him, and the rich aroma of coffee filled the entire tent.

The attendant picked up the sugar with a pair of tongs and put it into the cup. Napoleon smiled and nodded beside him:
"More, yes, more."

Only when one-third of the cup was filled with sugar cubes did the lieutenant colonel pick up the brandy bottle next to him with satisfaction, pour the amber liquid into the coffee cup, and then signal to the servant with his eyes.

The latter used a burning wooden stick to ignite the brandy floating on the sugar cubes. Suddenly, red and blue flames danced, emitting an intoxicating aroma. The coffee cup immediately turned into a sparkling work of art.

After the flame died down, Napoleon blew gently, took a sip comfortably, and squinted his eyes in satisfaction.

This was his own way of drinking coffee, and it was his second favorite indulgence on the battlefield, after taking a bath.

Well, from this point, it can be seen that he is not a devout Catholic. In fact, he prefers to believe in cannons.

Just as his coffee cup was about to run dry, Major Augereau walked into the tent, placed a letter on his desk, and said in a negotiating tone:
"Lieutenant Colonel Buwanaba, Baron Defeil has requested reinforcements twice. Perhaps, to be on the safe side, we should send some more troops to Vence."

Napoleon drank the last of his coffee, nodded in enjoyment, and then looked at Augereau: "Please believe that Vence's defense is very solid."

"You know, that's where the enemy's main force on the left wing is..."

"I have fought against the Austrian army many times and am familiar with their combat effectiveness. Oh, that is their Royal German Corps, which is more powerful than the Hungarian Corps led by Sebottendorf.

"They had no faith in a decisive battle, and when they suffered a few casualties, they began to consider retreating.

"I have already told Lieutenant Colonel Defeil that as long as he controls the consumption of soldiers, it won't be a problem for him to hold out for more than ten days."

Augereau took a deep breath and said, "But what about ten days later?"

"Beaulieu must have thought he had a huge advantage in numbers, and he certainly had more troops, so he would never settle for a slow advance.

"If Vence is not captured within a week, he will definitely choose to skip it and attack Toulon.

"Of course, this also stems from his fear that we will mobilize more troops to defend the Toulon fortress."

In fact, Napoleon also deployed a reserve force of 700 people west of Vence. If Defert made a mistake, these troops would fill the gap in Vence.

In addition, if an emergency occurs in Vence, hundreds of Monaco's royal guards will rush to assist, because the Grand Duke of Monaco was placed by him in the town of Biot, not far from Vence.

Therefore, he just calculated the military strength very carefully, but it was by no means an unwarranted risk.

(End of this chapter)