I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 790: Maneuvers in the Mediterranean

Dimobin frowned immediately.

Before he entered Genoa, a group of reckless young men burned the grain warehouses, which prevented him from getting any food replenishment from the city.

According to the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he had to hold out in Genoa for two months, and there was no food for more than 20 days.

Over the past month, his troops had suffered heavy casualties under the fierce attack of 5 enemy troops. If there was a shortage of rations again, the soldiers would probably collapse immediately...

The ground shook again, and Juno pushed the door open and said anxiously, "Commander, the enemy has launched a large-scale attack from the north!"

Dimobin grabbed his hat and put it on his head, then he ran towards the northern front with his 60-year-old legs. After running a few steps, he turned back and shouted to his staff officer: "If there is a ship docking at the port, report to me immediately!"

"Yes, General!"

Juno helped Dimobin bring the warhorse and said in frustration, "There are British warships outside the port. It's impossible for our ship to come in..."

Dimobin struggled to mount his warhorse with the help of his attendants, panting, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince promised me that there would be supplies, so the supplies will definitely be delivered.

"What we have to do now is to repel the damn Austrians and defend this place!"

As he spoke, he waved his whip and galloped through the dust up to the high ground ahead that was convenient for observation.

He took the telescope handed to him by the attendant, but subconsciously looked at the port behind him first, silently praying in his heart: "God bless me, let me see the transport ship sooner..."

……

ten days ago.

In the northeastern Mediterranean Sea, near Genoa, in the Ligurian Sea.

In the officer's room of the British Mediterranean Fleet's flagship Victory, Lord Hood was boredly flipping through a yellowed sailing record, occasionally taking a sip of his teacup.

There was a knock on the hatch, and the voice of Major General Collingwood came from outside: "Commander, the 'Old Silver Coin' just returned to report that there was an unusual movement of the French fleet in Toulon Harbor."

Lord Hood's eyes suddenly lit up, he stood up, put on his coat, and said loudly: "Call all captains and senior officers to the conference room."

"Yes, General!"

Twenty minutes later, in the conference room of the Victory, Hood pointed to the waterway between Toulon and Genoa on the map: "Colonel Nelson, I order you to command the frigate fleet and closely monitor this waterway. Don't miss any French ship."

"Yes, General!"

Normally, an officer of Nelson's rank would never be in charge of the frigate formation - usually a lieutenant colonel was enough to command seven or eight frigates - but the core of this raid on the French fleet was to find their whereabouts, and Hood would not allow any mistakes, so he sent Nelson to supervise it personally.

Hood looked at the staff officer beside him and said, "Contact General Hotham's squadron immediately and have him ready for battle at any time.

"He must hold up the main force of the Toulon fleet for at least half a day."

At this time, Hotham was commanding a squadron including 4 third-level ships, 5 fourth-level ships, 5 fifth-level battleships, and 16 frigates to carry out a blockade mission on the waterway outside the port of Genoa.

Although this squadron was far smaller than the French Toulon Fleet, or the Mediterranean Fleet, Lord Hood believed that with Hotham's command ability and the British sailors' skilled ship-handling skills, it would be enough to hold back the French for six or seven hours.

His main fleet was hidden 60 nautical miles southeast of Genoa.

Here, they can get supplies from the port of Tuscany at any time, and can rush to Genoa to join the battle within half a day. As long as the Toulon fleet dares to show up, he will definitely be able to annihilate it this time!

The French might have sensed that going to Genoa was risky, but Hood knew that they had to go to Genoa even if it meant taking the risk.

Because nearly 3 French troops were surrounded there, if they could not obtain logistical supplies from the sea, then the army would have only two outcomes: surrender or starve to death.

It so happened that Hood had just decided to lift the blockade of Toulon and lure the French fleet out of port so that he could destroy them, and then he encountered the siege of Genoa.

The battle in Genoa has been going on for nearly a month, and the French can finally sit still no longer!

Soon, as Hood's order was passed down, all the warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet were ready to go and entered a state of combat readiness.

After more than half a day, a British galley quickly sailed to the side of the "Victory" and the second mate delivered the latest intelligence to the conference room.

"The French fleet is heading southwest?" Lord Hood looked at the frigate's officer with a puzzled look on his face. "Did you see it clearly?"

"Yes, Admiral!" The second mate stood at attention and said, "The 'Longtooth Shark' is still following them. There are a total of 16 main battleships, 20 secondary battleships, and a large number of frigates."

Hood frowned immediately.

With this scale, it is definitely the main force of the Toulon fleet, but they did not go to Genoa.

Major General Collingwood pondered: "General, perhaps the French want to reunite with the Spanish fleet and then go to Genoa together?"

Hood nodded slightly: "This is the only possibility."

He looked at the fleet's real-time position map on the wall and ordered his staff, "Let Colonel Louis's squadron immediately go to the Bay of Valencia to search. If they find any trace of the French, try to disrupt them and report to me immediately."

Louis commanded an escort squadron.

Since French frigates had attacked British merchant ships everywhere before, the size of this escort fleet was not small, equipped with two third-level battleships.

Currently, this squadron is on the west side of the Barbary Sea, only half a day's sail from the Gulf of Valencia.

Hood then looked at the officers in front of him and said loudly: "Order all warships to weigh anchor immediately, we are going to Valencia.

"If the French and Spanish fleets really meet up, we can save ourselves some trouble. We'll destroy them all together this time!"

He had every reason to say this, because even if the French and Spanish fleets were added together, they were only 80% of the size of the British fleet. In addition, Hood also had part of the Dutch fleet.

Twenty minutes later, hundreds of warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet sailed towards the western side of the Mediterranean.

noon the next day.

Just as Hu Dezhi was proudly discussing with several senior officers how to defeat the French and Spanish fleets at the lowest cost, the frigate "Longtooth Shark" brought the latest movements of the Toulon fleet.

In the commander's cabin of the Victory, the captain of the frigate stood straight and said, "General, the French turned south on the east side of the Gulf of Lion and should be very close to the north side of the Barbary Sea."

Hood felt a surge of anger and said in a deep voice: "What do the French want to do? Go on vacation to North Africa?"

Nelson, who had just arrived, read the report of the "Longtooth Shark" - because the Toulon fleet did not go to Genoa, his patrol mission was also cancelled - and said to Lord Hood: "General, no matter what the French plan, as long as we always stay to their north, we can block their route to Genoa."

(End of this chapter)