I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 780: New "Battle of Marengo"

Historically, it was not until the 19s that European countries established general staffs, which were fully responsible for logistics, topographic mapping, training, and combat planning.

Even in France, where Joseph led the reform of the staff system, Napoleon was still deeply affected by the inefficient bureaucratic style of the old army.

Napoleon pulled the reins and asked his staff to take out the map. He stared at it and frowned for a long time, then shook his head and sighed: "I remember that the cavalry battalion of the Moulins Corps seems to be still in Nice?"

The staff officer nodded and said, "Yes, Commander. The cavalry consumed too much energy on the day of the attack on Vence, so we arranged for them to pass through the mountain pass last so that they can rest for a few more days."

"Okay, let them rest for a while. They don't need to come here for the time being."

As Napoleon spoke, he motioned to his attendant to bring paper and pen, then he lay down on the saddle and began to write a report to the Crown Prince tremblingly.

He carefully considered his tone and words, blew a few breaths on his cold right hand, and caught a glimpse of a sharp-eyed middle-aged man standing next to a rock not far away. He was holding a drawing board, glancing at him from time to time, and then lowered his head to draw a few strokes.

Napoleon then waved to the man and said, "Mr. David, how is your work going?"

"Thanks to you, I finally found inspiration just now." The middle-aged man was still concentrating on the painting, without raising his head, "So, in a week at most, you will be able to see your heroic figure on my scroll."

This person is none other than the famous classical painter in history, Jacques-Louis David, the one who painted "The Death of Marat".

It's just that Marat is still alive today, and there has been no major upheaval, which means he is far less well-known than he was in history.

Some time ago, David had planned to take a boat from the port of Marseille to North Africa to try his luck. Coincidentally, the Archduke of Monaco, in order to thank Napoleon for driving away the Austrians, paid him to paint a picture "that could show the majestic appearance of Buonaparte".

He then followed him up the Alps.

Napoleon smiled and nodded at him, then continued to write his report.

Half an hour later, he finally finished the first draft and gave it to his staff officer to help him proofread grammatical errors. Then he turned over and jumped off the mule, walked to David's side, and looked at the drawing board in the painter's hand.

At just one glance, Napoleon's brow furrowed.

In the picture, I saw myself riding a tired mule, my clothes were covered with dust, and the guard next to me, whose cheeks were red from the cold, was holding the reins tightly, fearing that the animal would slip on the snow.

This didn't look like they were taking advantage of the victory to march into Italy. It looked like they had just been defeated by the Austrian army and were fleeing back home in a panic.

He patted David on the shoulder and sighed helplessly: "Perhaps, we should have a good chat about your masterpiece..."

……

Southern Netherlands.

Southern suburbs of Brussels.

Joseph handed Napoleon's battle plan to Lefebvre who was standing beside him. "Colonel Buonaba's ideas are always unexpected. This time, he turned the original troubles into opportunities and took advantage of them."

The latter quickly read through the report and said hesitantly: "Your Highness, Turin is the capital of Sardinia, and it may be difficult to capture it quickly. At that time, the Montpellier Corps will fight alone in the north of Sardinia and will easily be surrounded by the reinforcements sent by Austria.

"Oh, the Austrian army in northeastern Switzerland is not far away."

Joseph smiled and said, "You don't understand Colonel Buvanaba's intention." He made a detour from the Great St. Bernard Pass, and he didn't have to attack Turin.

“The greatest significance of this army is to disrupt the Austrian deployment.

“After that, he could choose to continue to attack Milan to the east, or to move south and form a pincer attack on the Austrian army with General Dimopin.

"As long as the Montpellier Corps can successfully pass through Fort Bad, our army will have a great strategic initiative."

Lefebvre pointed at Napoleon's report in confusion and said, "Your Highness, Colonel Buonaba only said that Turin could be attacked by surprise, and did not mention Milan or the pincer attack..."

Joseph smiled and nodded: "It is possible that he has not considered these things 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 implement."

The reason why Joseph dared to say this was because the battle plan Napoleon gave him was very similar to the situation in the Battle of Marengo in history.

Similarly, the French army advanced towards southern Sardinia from the south of the Alps, similarly the Austro-Sardinian coalition retreated to northern Italy, and similarly Napoleon decided to launch a surprise attack from the Great St. Bernard Pass on the north.

It can only be said that under similar battlefield situations, Na Huang still chose the same tactics.

Of course, there are also differences from the historical Battle of Marengo. That is, now the French navy will challenge the British in the Mediterranean, and the French army in Genoa can obtain supplies from the sea, instead of running out of ammunition and food and surrendering as in the past.

Lefebvre still said cautiously: "Your Highness, Colonel Buwanaba's plan may face two difficulties.

“First, his route of advance would pass through Geneva at the southern tip of Switzerland, and the Swiss would raise objections.

"Secondly, the Bad Fortress guarding the mountain pass is extremely difficult to break through. The terrain there is dangerous, and only a few hundred soldiers are needed to hold off the Montpellier Legion for more than a month. Such a long time is enough for Beaulieu to send reinforcements."

"Your concerns are valid." Joseph first affirmed his statement, but his tone was still relaxed, "But this is not an unsolvable problem.

“Geneva has almost no Swiss garrison for defense, and the Swiss Parliament will certainly pretend not to see our troops passing by.

"They also allowed the Austrians to gather around Schwyz, which was fair enough."

For a small country like Switzerland, when faced with a fight between two giant neighbors, the best strategy is to play ostrich. As long as the fight is not in their own home, they don't want to intervene, nor dare to intervene.

Historically, Switzerland has always been patient in the face of French occupation of its western provinces. At present, the French army is just passing through, and they should know what to do.

"As for Fort Bad," Joseph deliberately lowered his voice, "I know there is a small path nearby that we can quietly bypass."

Lefevre's eyes widened immediately. "How did you know that? You haven't been there, have you?"

Joseph thought that of course it was what he saw in the documentary about the Battle of Marengo, but he just smiled mysteriously and said, "Perhaps it was a revelation from God."

He left Lefebvre, who was making the sign of the cross devoutly, turned around, picked up the pen, and signed to approve Napoleon's seemingly extremely risky battle plan.

Since several Chap signal towers had been built in southern Wallonia over the past month, Napoleon's report reached here from Toulon in just two days - it took the messenger a day and a half to come down from the Alps and half a day to reach Joseph's temporary command post north of Mons.

The Sharp signal transmission took only an hour.

(End of this chapter)