I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 816: Marengo Victory

"Yes, westward." The cavalryman nodded. "Our captain has been keeping an eye on it. There are at least 3 enemy troops. They are already kilometers away from the Bormida River."

Napoleon looked off into the distance in confusion, and said to himself, "What do the Austrians want to do?"

At this moment, his troops had suffered heavy casualties and were exhausted. If the enemy commander had any military knowledge, he would not miss this good opportunity to attack him.

Is it to numb yourself?
Napoleon shook his head. In the current situation, if the Austrian army in the north did not tie him down, he could immediately attack Melas in Capianca in the south.

Is this using their own commander-in-chief as bait?
No, no, there must be some conspiracy here. Don't be fooled by appearances. I need to think about it carefully...

Just as Napoleon was thinking hard about it, a captain ordered the soldiers to put a stretcher in front of him and stood at attention and said, "Commander, this man said he was sent by Amedeo III to deliver a letter."

Napoleon glanced at the man lying on the stretcher. He was about thirty years old, wearing a Sardinian military uniform, and his left leg was wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage. He was obviously injured.

He frowned: "Who is he?"

"He said his name was Eugenio," the captain who brought the man murmured, "and he sneaked up on our camp last night. The soldiers saw that he was a Sardinian and ... they shot him."

Napoleon squatted down beside Eugenio and asked: "The King of Sardinia sent you to see me?"

The latter nodded palely and said weakly: "Your Majesty, we have withdrawn our troops to Turin."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, last week, Your Majesty signed an agreement with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Sardinia will withdraw from the war..."

Napoleon turned his head and glared at the captain beside him, his eyes like a knife: "Why didn't you send him here last night?"

"We...thought he was just a lying spy."

The captain spoke nervously for a long time before Napoleon finally understood. It turned out that Eugenio had been in a coma after being shot last night - there were two other people who came with him and were shot dead on the spot - after he woke up in the middle of the night, the French soldiers were too lazy to pay attention to him and it has been delayed until now.

Napoleon scolded the officer harshly, and immediately ordered the military doctor to treat Eugenio. Then he said to Lucien: "Order the entire army to stay where they are. Send the rangers to carefully scout the enemy's movements."

Forty minutes later, the cavalry returned to report that nearly 40 Sardinian troops had indeed returned to the west bank of the Bormida River.

Napoleon was so overjoyed that he couldn't help but make the sign of the cross on his chest and said silently: "Thank you, Your Highness, the Crown Prince. You are the most powerful reinforcement!"

Although he was confident that he could rely on the soldiers in his hands and his command ability to deal with the Osa coalition and eventually defeat them.

But that would inevitably result in very heavy casualties, and even the Italian front would be unable to fight a major battle in the short term.

And now, the crown prince "eliminated" nearly 20,000 enemy troops in one fell swoop.

The next battle will be very easy.

He had already begun to imagine that he would soon lead the Italian Front and the 3rd Royal Infantry Division to launch an attack on Mantua, the last Austrian stronghold on the Italian peninsula.

Yes, in his opinion, the Melas Legion was no longer worth paying attention to.

Napoleon took a long breath and said to Lucien, "Let the cavalry keep an eye on the Austrians. The other legions will return to Marengo to rest for three days."

Jubel on the side said with some concern: "Commander, what if the Austrian army in the north attacks us? Most of the soldiers have not recovered yet..."

Even if the Sardinians retreated, there were still tens of thousands of soldiers of the Argentau Legion to the north of Marengo. They had not fought much yesterday and were in good condition. If the French army attacked with all their strength, the French might not be able to resist.

Napoleon smiled and said, "Don't worry, the Austrians must be nervously discussing how to resist our attack." After a series of defeats before, they have lost their courage.

“Sardinia’s sudden retreat in particular would deal a serious blow to their morale.

"What I am actually worried about now is that they will abandon Melas and flee back to the fortress of Mantua."

As he had expected, Argentau retreated all the way back to Castelcelliolo, where he set up fortifications.

It was not until noon the next day that the liaison officer sent by Talleyrand arrived at Napoleon's command post and told the latter that France and Sardinia had signed the Turin Agreement.

Yes, because he was worried that the Bormida River line would be blocked by the Austrians, he took a long detour from the Lombardy region in the north, which was a day and a half slower than the Sardinian messenger who took a straight line.

three days later.

Napoleon personally commanded the army, which had recovered its strength and reorganized, and launched an attack on Melas who was hiding in Capianca.

The French soldiers were not at all affected by the thousands of casualties of their comrades in the previous few days. Instead, they sang and boasted excitedly, and their morale seemed extremely high.

"Haha, even though the enemy had more than 5 soldiers, we defeated them in one fell swoop, didn't we?"

"That day I was following Colonel Bonaparte and I stabbed a mounted officer to death..."

“The Austrians are simply unstoppable.”

"Yeah, didn't you see that the Sardinians were scared away?"

"Genoa, Pavia, Milan, where should we go next?"

"It's Mantua's turn!"

In the church of Capianca, Cervoni hurriedly opened the door and said to Melas who was sitting in front of the window: "General, our defense line will soon be unable to hold. I will cover your retreat to Cassine..."

Melas glanced at him and shook his head dejectedly: "It's meaningless. Even if we can retreat to the seaside, what can we do? There is no British fleet there to support us..."

He suddenly roared loudly: "The British are a bunch of rubbish! They said they could provide continuous supplies from the sea, but the French ships entered Genoa! And where are they? Where?!"

He took a breath and spoke louder: "And the cowards in Sardinia! They are all cowards! The French haven't won yet, and they are like rabbits seeing dogs, shrinking back into their holes!"

Chervoni helplessly signaled the guards to carry their commander away.

Melas, however, threw away the soldiers, cursing, and listening to the rumbling of artillery around him, sat back in his chair dejectedly, waving his hand and saying, "Send a negotiating envoy to tell the French that we want a ceasefire..."

1793 9 Month 6 Day.

Austria's Italian Front formally announced its surrender.

Napoleon proudly accepted more than 1 prisoners, as well as a large number of weapons, horses, flags and other trophies.

However, upon hearing the news, the Argentau Legion immediately fled to Mantua, which slightly reduced his victory.

Joseph, who was more than 800 kilometers away, ordered through the Chap Signal Station to accept the surrender conditions proposed by Melas - he released Melas and allowed him to return to Vienna in exchange for a low ransom of 70 francs.

(End of this chapter)