I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 956 Ulcers on the Iberian Peninsula

"Find a solution yourself?" Desai asked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Napoleon picked up the coffee pot on the table and poured him a cup, then said slowly, "Let's assume this.

"Now that both the Ottoman Empire and Prussia have declared war on Austria, Vienna has launched a surprise attack on our garrison in Udine in order to obtain taxes and supplies from Venice.

"What should we do in this situation?"

Desai said without hesitation: "Of course, we should teach them a lesson with cannons!"

Napoleon nodded: "As a result, the enemy troops defending the Klagenfurt Fortress were vulnerable, and our counterattack troops took the fortress.

"Now, there is almost nothing between our army and Vienna. And the main Austrian forces are still fighting in Silesia or Wallachia.

"What decision do you think the General Staff will make?"

Desai's eyes lit up: "Of course, occupy Vienna immediately!"

Napoleon smiled and said, "Yes, we can't let Vienna fall into the hands of the Ottomans."

Desai immediately realized something was wrong: "Wait, your assumption is unlikely to hold true. The Austrians will most likely not initiate a provocation."

"No, they will."

"Why? Unless they're crazy!"

Napoleon did not continue, but raised his coffee cup to him: "You are my best friend. So, can I trust you?"

"Of course. I can take a bullet for you without hesitation."

"Thank you for your sincere friendship!" Napoleon seemed quite touched and nodded vigorously. Then he continued, "In fact, I have made some preparations for this plan. For example, I have reached a consensus with the Intelligence Bureau.

"In more than a month, Director Fouché will send someone..."

He briefly described what had happened, and then looked at Desai: "At this time, we need a trustworthy general to lead the army to break through the Klagenfurt Fortress, rather than restricting the soldiers from crossing the border.

"You are the only person I can trust. So, I hope you can accept this mission."

Desai suddenly became nervous: "Mobilizing troops without permission will result in a court-martial..."

"No, you are just fighting back reasonably. Besides, you will be the biggest contributor to the capture of Vienna. Who would blame you for that little mistake?"

Desai licked his lips and asked again, "Why would the Intelligence Agency take such a risk with us?"

"You always find the key to the problem quickly." Napoleon gave him an admiring look, "Have you heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is planning to set up a new intelligence agency specifically responsible for foreign affairs?

“Director Fouché wanted to use this incident to demonstrate the Intelligence Agency’s control over foreign situations—the Intelligence Agency would appear in our report as an important force in assisting the occupation of Vienna.

"In addition, the military will do its best to support the Intelligence Bureau in return."

Finally, under Napoleon's persuasion, Desaix nodded and said, "In order to prevent France from missing the opportunity to control Central Europe, I am willing to give it a try."

"Very good." Napoleon smiled with satisfaction. "I have submitted a request to the General Staff to transfer you back to Oudinot to replace Colonel Sérurier."

If Joseph heard the conversation between the two at this time, he would not be surprised. After all, Napoleon was used to "going it alone" in history. During the Italian campaign, the Directory repeatedly asked him to stop the attack because of the difficulty in sustaining military expenditures, but Napoleon's continuous victories forced him to desperately draw blood from the country to supply his army. In the end, the Directory fell due to financial collapse.

Although Napoleon had also achieved extremely brilliant achievements at the moment, Massena's victory on the Rhine line was no less impressive than his.

Even Moreau was placed on a par with him because he had once marched to Vienna and had a huge impact. This was a situation that the arrogant Napoleon was unwilling to accept.

The Italian campaign had made him self-willed and determined to surpass all French generals and make everyone look up to him.

But now that the war was over, staying in Paris and attending balls and salons every day would not help him achieve this honor.

As a general, he needed war.

Only continuous wars can make him famous!

Napoleon never thought that in history he would actually lead his army to fight all over Europe, march into Egypt, cross the Syrian desert, and even eat barbecue in faraway Moscow.

However, what finally greeted him was the enemy of the whole world, and he died on the island of St. Helena along with the souls of hundreds of thousands of French soldiers.

It was the wrong path, but he still had to walk it without hesitation...

……

Portugal.

East side of the Porto Fortress Group.

The Marquis of Wellesley looked at the Spanish soldiers pouring toward the bastion through the telescope, and said to the attendant beside him with a relaxed look: "Alexander, please bring me a cup of tea. There shouldn't be anything to do today."

"Yes, General."

Major General Thomas Graham, the second commander of the British Expeditionary Force, said with some concern: "General, do we need to cover the Portuguese flank? I mean, there are obvious loopholes in their tactical arrangements. What if the enemy..."

"Don't worry." Wellesley handed the telescope to the attendant, then took the teacup and said, "The Spanish tactics are equally crude.

"Their commander obviously intends to storm the easternmost bastion and, based on this, continue to expand the victory northwards to avoid our gunboats on the Douro River."

"But the French might notice the gap on the flank," Graham said. "But their troops have not shown up yet."

Wellesley pushed another cup of tea toward his deputy. "Relax, Thomas. Intelligence says they're still in Real.

"And I wasn't just waiting."

"You want it?"

"Perhaps you have noticed that Colonel Hill left camp yesterday morning," Wellesley said. "He is probably close to the Tamega River."

Graham's eyes lit up immediately: "Are you going to encircle Talavera?"

"No, no, that's too risky." Wellesley shook his head. "We only have less than 7 soldiers. And those Portuguese don't have to expect anything from them until they complete the 'mixed formation'."

"Then let's..."

Wellesley took a sip of tea and said, "Hurry up the supply lines. And gather the Portuguese nobles on the Meseta Plateau and organize them into a resistance army.

“If the parliament wants to repel the Franco-Spanish coalition at the lowest cost, it cannot expect the process to be easy.

“You know how bad traffic is in the Iberian Peninsula.

"If we destroy one of the enemy's logistics vehicles here, they will have to prepare three more to make up for the loss."

(End of this chapter)