I Am the Crown Prince in France - Chapter 780

Chapter 776 “Model Worker” Napoleon

Joubert’s eyes suddenly flashed with joy. He didn’t expect that the enemy would go around the north side of Vence and take the initiative to deliver it to his mouth.

He had always been skeptical about Napoleon’s orders during this period of time, but now he was only impressed.

Northwest side of Cagnes Town.

Victor had just gotten up and had not had time to wash up when he vaguely heard gunshots coming from the town.

The sound was much clearer than before, which meant that the location of the battle was very close to him.

He was shocked that the Austrian army had really gone around to the west side of Cagnes to attack as Lieutenant Colonel Buwanaba said.

He didn’t wait for the scout to report, so he threw down his toothbrush and shouted to the messenger’s tent:

“Martino, blow the horn, assemble the troops! Hurry, our fighter plane is coming!”

His troops have been in a state of combat readiness, and the soldiers all slept with their guns in their arms, so after the assembly horn sounded, it took only more than 20 minutes to complete the formation.

Victor rode out and waved to the soldiers:

“The Austrians have exposed their backs to us. Now is a good opportunity to win merit, let’s go!”

In the town of Cagnes, the Austrian grenadiers battalion that suddenly appeared on the side and rear caused the French defenders to panic.

The officer in charge of the defense cried out that it was bad, and hurriedly led the reserve team to the west to defend against the enemy.

But the defense here was too weak. In less than an hour, the temporary fence built outside the town had been completely broken.

Carretto looked at the hundreds of French soldiers shivering beside the main road outside the town, and ordered the grenadiers battalion to form a column and launch a general attack with the cooperation of the skirmishers.

As the drums of the Austrian army sounded, Carretto and the staff discussed how to cooperate with General Provera to attack the French army on the east side of the town after entering Cagnes, but suddenly felt that the drums were a little wrong.

He turned his head and frowned slightly. Why did there seem to be drums in the north?

He suddenly shuddered and shouted to the staff:

“There is an enemy attack!”

In fact, it cannot be blamed that Sebottendorf and Carretto’s scouts were not diligent enough. Napoleon’s arrangements were really flawless.

He had previously asked Victor and others’ corps to stay more than ten kilometers away from the battle site, and only started to rush to the preset ambush position after the Austrian army launched an attack.

The main reason is that he can accurately judge where the key position for the battle will take place. Otherwise, if you let the troops so far away from the battlefield, it would be a gift to the enemy.

The Austrian cavalry has diligently advanced more than 6 miles for scouts, but the news reported to Beaulieu is that there is no sign of any French army nearby.

Beaulieu also formulated a battle plan that he thinks is extremely safe.

At this time, if someone opens the God’s perspective, they can see that the Austrian army that sneaked the west side of Cagnes town has deployed two infantry lines hundreds of meters long behind it, blocking all nearby roads.

The Sebottendorf Corps, which was heading for Toulon Port, was falling into Jubel’s arms…

Near Levant, 20 kilometers north of Nice, Napoleon was calculating something at his desk, and from time to time he turned his head to the staff officer beside him and said:

“The ammunition reserves of the Lyon Corps are far from enough…

“The winter clothes of the Montpellier Army are too thin. Is that what they sent called winter clothes? We should really ask the Notary Investigation Bureau to check their quartermaster…

“Oh, the ammunition of the Moulin Corps needs to be supplied separately, which is a big trouble. Maybe you should go back to Paris and discuss with the General Staff to transfer some copper caps from the direct corps to them…”

The staff officer kept nodding and writing down quickly in the notebook.

He was used to the workaholic commander’s approach. The latter almost personally asked whether the soldiers’ buttons were intact.

Although this can ensure that there are no problems in any details of the legion – Lieutenant Colonel Buwanaba’s management ability is undoubtedly genius-level – it will bring new problems, that is, he personally handles the affairs of the whole army, which is very inefficient. After all, a person’s energy is limited. Even if he only sleeps 5 hours a day, it is impossible to handle everything in time.

More than half an hour later, Napoleon finally signed the documents piled on the table, rubbing his wrist and said to the attendant:

“Please bring my coffee. The battle situation in Vence should be delivered soon. I have to take a rest.”

Soon, an exquisite oriental-style porcelain cup was placed in front of him, and the rich aroma of coffee filled the entire tent.

The attendant picked up the sugar cubes with a clip and put them in the cup. Napoleon smiled and nodded:

“More, yes, more.”

Until one-third of the cup was occupied by sugar cubes, the lieutenant colonel was satisfied to pick up the brandy bottle next to him, poured the amber liquor into the coffee cup, and then signaled to the attendant with his eyes.

The latter used a burning wood stick to light the brandy floating on the sugar cubes. Suddenly, the red and blue flames danced, raising the intoxicating aroma of wine, and the coffee cup immediately became a piece of art with glittering brilliance.

After the flames weakened, Napoleon blew gently, took a sip comfortably, and squinted his eyes with satisfaction.

This was his own way of drinking coffee, and it was also his second favorite enjoyment on the battlefield, only after taking a bath.

In the correct version of Yiyi!

Well, from this point, it can be seen that he is not a devout Catholic. Speaking of which, he prefers to believe in cannons.

Just when his coffee cup was about to run out, Major Augereau walked into the tent, put a letter on his desk, and said in a negotiating tone:

“Lieutenant Colonel Bouwanaba, Baron Defiel has requested reinforcements twice. Perhaps, to be on the safe side, some additional troops should be sent to Vence.”

Napoleon drank the last bit of coffee, nodded with enjoyment, and then looked at Augereau: “Please believe that Vence’s defense is very solid.”

“You know, the enemy’s main left wing is all there…”

“I have fought against the Austrian army many times and am very familiar with their combat effectiveness. Oh, that is still their Royal German Army, which is more powerful than the Hungarian Army led by Sebotendorf.

“They had no belief in a decisive battle, and when they suffered a few casualties, they began to consider retreating.

“I have already told Lieutenant Colonel Defiel that as long as he controls the consumption of soldiers, it will not be a problem to persist for more than ten days.”

Augereau took a deep breath: “But what about ten days later?”

“Beaulieu must have thought he had a huge numerical advantage, and oh, he did have more troops, so he would never settle for a slow advance.

“As long as Vence cannot be captured within a week, he will definitely choose to skip over there and attack the port of Toulon.

“Of course, this also stems from his worry that we will mobilize more troops to defend Toulon Fortress.”

In fact, Napoleon also deployed a reserve army of 700 men west of Vence. If Delfield made a mistake, these troops would fill the gap in Vence.

In addition, if there is an emergency in Vence, hundreds of Monaco’s royal guards will rush to assist in defense, because the Grand Duke of Monaco was placed in the town of Biot, not far from Vence.

Therefore, he only calculated his troops very carefully, but it was by no means an unwarranted risk.