I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 809 Small Goals

Then, the key point came.

The military supervisor went to the Governor of Genoa, Ebiaso, and asked him to form a secret "internal review committee" with 17 of the most influential people in the parliament.

The French military did not question the committee's actions, but only asked them for a list of traitors.

In the end, 230 of the 69 people arrested were found guilty of treason by the committee. The committee also added seven additional people to the list.

Then, the military court held a trial. The result was that all 76 people were guilty without exception, sentenced to exile or hanging, and all their property was confiscated.

The military supervisor personally led soldiers to confiscate the property of traitors, keeping 40% of it as military expenses, giving 50% to the Genoa Parliament, and the remaining 10% was divided equally among the citizens of Genoa.

However, the confiscations were carried out by the French army, and only the military supervisor knew the exact amount. So in the end, the Dimopini Corps received 70% of the confiscated assets, and the Genoese parliament and citizens received 30%.

Since Genoa had a total population of less than 7, each citizen received more than 30 francs. [Note 1]

The whole of Genoa was in an uproar on the day the money was collected.

Almost everyone was shouting slogans such as "Long live His Majesty the King of France", "Long live General Dimopin", and "France is Genoa's eternal friend".

The Genoese Parliament not only received a huge sum of money, but more importantly, it took the opportunity of "investigating traitors" to eliminate all enemies and political opponents, so it praised France highly.

They were the most powerful men in Genoa - as long as they supported France, the Genoese could not object.

What's more, the citizens are receiving money, which is unprecedentedly consistent with their attitude.

When Napoleon heard his brother say that "when the Dimopini Corps left Genoa, the people of the city lined the streets to see them off, and many people had tears in their eyes", he remembered the scene where he was cursed by everyone in Milan, and he was so ashamed that he wanted to bury his head in the sand.

When Napoleon was reprimanded by Brigadier General Carnot, he was still a little unconvinced, believing that getting money from the occupied areas was the inherent right of the army. But now he felt that His Highness had been very considerate of his face by not letting him call him a "fool".

Joseph was not a Madonna.

The war cost France's treasury and killed French soldiers, so the war dividends that should be reaped must not be reduced in the slightest.

But the method needs to be more sophisticated.

We must not be like Napoleon in history, who got only a few million francs and some works of art from Italy, but caused the entire Apennine Peninsula to hate him.

When France suffered a defeat, all the Italian states immediately turned against it.

So Joseph copied the practices of some Western powers in later generations and compiled a "Standard Operating Procedures for Collecting Materials in Foreign Countries" for reference by military supervisors.

Of course, this specification can only be circulated within the French army and is classified as "top secret".

Before the war, Joseph set a small goal - to earn 1 million francs in dividends after the war in northern Italy, and to make the Italian states grateful to France.

……

Alexandria.

In the hall on the east side of the town hall, the Austrian officers ended their dispute, and Melas finally made the decision to attack in the direction of Parma and strive to occupy Lodi, southeast of Milan.

Melas looked at the officers and said, "If the operation does not go smoothly, the army will continue eastward and enter the fortress of Mantua."

Cervoni immediately shouted: "The French only captured Milan by surprise. This time, as long as our army is more cautious, we will be able to successfully capture Lodi."

The other Austrian officers were not as optimistic as he was. They all kept their heads down and remained silent.

They had fought the French army in Toulon before. Given the current strength of the two sides, they might not be able to win if they fought head-on. After a moment, Brigadier General Argentau stood up and said to Melas, "General, I am willing to take on the task of covering the engineers in building the pontoon bridge."

There are two bridges on the Bormida River, but both are wooden bridges built by nearby villages with limited carrying capacity. If you want to allow tens of thousands of troops to cross the river in a short period of time, you need to build a large number of pontoon bridges.

Melas nodded, but suddenly thought of the French army's elusiveness, and immediately shook his head: "No, judging from the previous battles, the French are very cunning.

“The normal way of advancing would likely lead to an ambush by them.

"If we want to cross the river successfully, we must be more cunning than them."

The officers immediately looked at him in surprise.

Melas narrowed his eyes and said to Argentau, "Take your men to dismantle the two bridges over the Bormida River tomorrow at noon."

The latter was shocked: "Ah? You mean to tear it down?"

Melas smiled. “Tell the engineers to slow down the movement. At the same time, set up cannons on the shore. If any French cavalry approaches, fire to drive them away.

"At dusk, immediately put back the removed parts."

Argentau's eyes suddenly lit up: "Ah! What a brilliant plan! This way the French will definitely think we are going to go through the Tanaro River in the north."

"That's right." Melas nodded and continued, "The day after tomorrow morning, have the engineers build a pontoon bridge over the Bormida River.

"We will concentrate all our forces to defeat the enemy on the east bank of the river as quickly as possible, and then rush to Parma."

……

East of the Bormida River, San Guiliano.

Napoleon raised his hat to greet Joubert, then stepped forward to hug him and said with a smile: "Thank God, you arrived a day and a half earlier than I expected."

"Everyone heard that you occupied Lombardy, and their morale is very high." Jubel also smiled, "Today we marched a full 22 kilometers."

"Thank you for your hard work." Napoleon let him into the tent and asked, "How many garrisons are left in Genoa?"

Jubel said: "1 people, but there are also 5 newly recruited Genoese nationalists. Under the personal command of General Dimopin, they are enough to hold off the Austrians for three or four days."

Genoa had no army before, and its national defense depended entirely on a few hundred Swiss mercenaries.

After this war, at Joseph's suggestion, they began to form their own army.

Well, hire French instructors for training and buy a full set of French equipment.

Jubel asked again: "Commander, where should we deploy next?"

Napoleon shook his head: "It is not clear what the enemy's movements are at this point."

He shouted to Lucien outside the tent, "Is Major Garda not back yet?"

Before he finished speaking, he heard the voice of the Garda outside the tent: "Report to the commander, the rangers found that the Austrian army was destroying the bridge over the Bormida River."

【注1】热那亚在18世纪末一共有12到15万人口，但其中很多都是附近邦国来打工的，并不算热那亚市民。登记在册的市民在1780年时只有5.5万人。

(End of this chapter)