He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 79

(79) Nelson Vows Revenge in the Mediterranean

Even in 1795, as the 19th century approached, winter voyages were something sailors wanted to avoid.

-Swooosh!

Nevertheless, a series of ships sailed the western Mediterranean, off the west coast of Italy, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Their size was easily taller than a three-story building, with masts lowered and anchored on the sea.

Amidst the rough waves, they constantly swayed.

Captains gathered on the central flagship, the [Eugène].

Admiral François de Brueys, the flagship’s captain and commander of this fleet, began to speak.

“Now then, before we enter, let’s review the essence of this operation once more.”

Pierre Martin, commander of the Toulon fleet.

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War.

Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, a man from Corsica like Napoleon, who chose the navy instead of the army.

All of them had participated in the revolution, were captured in Toulon, and then released to join this fleet.

In particular, Martin and Casabianca had been members of the Eugène Cartel.

Martin confidently stated.

“The occupation of Corsica.”

“Before that.”

“It’s a diversionary tactic for the Italian expedition and securing naval supremacy in advance.”

Villeneuve interjected, but Brueys shook his head.

“Before even that, tell me the real meaning behind our actions, captains.”

As everyone looked at each other, one young captain at the end spoke up.

“Revenge, sir.”

Robert Surcouf, a man who returned from engaging in smuggling in the Indian Ocean to find the world turned upside down.

To adapt to the new world, he joined the Boarneh Cartel, following his brother.

There, he risked his life engaging in Italian smuggling.

Now, in his early twenties, he stood here as the captain of a ship of the line.

Surcouf, the roughest of the rough sailors, a former smuggler, shouted.

“I don’t know about the previous situation in the Mediterranean. But I know one thing! What humiliation our French people suffered in Toulon!”

“Ugh, just thinking about it is terrible.”

“Damn it, I wasn’t even a rebel, but I was misunderstood and even captured by the revolutionaries and suffered humiliation!”

At those words, Villeneuve and Casabianca gritted their teeth and shouted.

They even considered leaving for England, suspecting even the revolutionary government.

But they remained here because Brueys had established himself as a reliable backer.

As a key figure in the Boarneh Cartel, the most successful emerging trading company during the revolution.

But the humiliation remained in their memories.

Suddenly, Surcouf swung his fist.

“Isn’t it all because of those British bastards!”

Just as the captains were about to nod, Brueys took out his pocket watch.

-Click!

It was a gift he had received from Eugène not long ago.

A watch made by Samuel Poullie, the best engineer of the Boarneh Cartel, as a side project.

It wasn’t as fancy as Eugène’s royal watch, but it was accurate.

Even in this humid sea, it could measure time.

Brueys checked the time and nodded.

“Yes, it’s time.”

Brueys’ gaze turned back to the captains.

“Everyone is right. The operational goal is the occupation of Corsica, the strategic goal is supporting the Italian expedition, and our goal is revenge.”

Since the revolution began, the navy had only been on the receiving end.

They had failed to properly break through the British fleet’s blockade in the Atlantic.

The most successful operation was the dispatch to Martinique.

Villeneuve, who had successfully carried out that dispatch, was also participating in this offensive.

But that too was an operation succeeded by running away whenever the British fleet appeared.

They had never won by fighting.

Today was completely different.

Because the French fleet was fighting in a favorable situation.

However, Brueys coldly told the excited captains.

“But all of that is only possible if we survive.”

“Sir? Admiral, but we are soldiers, and soldiers must be prepared for death.”

“Even if we die!”

Just as the reckless Corsican man, Casabianca, was about to protest, Brueys roared.

“Remember the cabin boy who saved this fleet!”

This was the name given to the flagship.

Originally, the flagship’s name was Louis.

However, Brueys, who had become the new admiral of the Mediterranean fleet, named the flagship after the boy who had saved him.

Eugène, the French pronunciation of Eugene.

Standing on the deck of the ship of the line that had once been burned and destroyed, Brueys loudly declared.

“A 12-year-old boy risked his life to protect these ships. He also saved us and protected the French Navy.”

“That’s right.”

“Why would he do that? Just out of recklessness? No!”

Brueys shouted intensely at Casabianca and the captains who had agreed.

“Because he had faith that we would protect France’s seas. Therefore, we must protect this fleet. That is our mission!”

This was the French chivalry.

To repay the favor of saving their lives by fulfilling their mission.

So, what was the navy’s mission?

To reclaim France’s seas.

However, there was one condition.

They had to protect this fleet.

Brueys ordered the dispersal.

“Let’s go to Corsica! But remember that the most important thing is to protect the fleet! Captains!”

“Yes, sir!”

“All disembark! Board your respective ships and follow the flagship!”

The captains, who were enthusiastically energized, left on boats towards their ships.

However, there was also a large man on the flagship [Eugène] who was not energized at all.

A man who was originally a cavalry officer, Murat.

“Waaaaah! Cough, I, I want to be on land!”

“What’s wrong with this guy? The admiral gave a moving speech!”

“Save me, please!”

Robert Surcouf, the captain of the Eugène, roughly kicked Murat, who was suffering from seasickness.

“Shut up and haul the anchor, you landlubber!”

It had only been about 10 days since he had boarded the ship.

Murat, already fed up, looked at the sky.

If this was the price of insubordination, he wanted to repent and take it back a hundred times.

“Let me ride a horse! I’ll listen to the kid and the cabin boy! Aaaagh!”

Unfortunately for Murat, the naval battle was just beginning.

Moreover, it was a path where victory could not be guaranteed.

Because the opponent was the strongest in the 18th-century seas, the British Navy.

***

However, victory usually comes easily when the opponent is worse at something than you are good at.

“The French Italian Legion has set out.”

The capital of Corsica is a city called [Ajaccio].

In fact, Corsica itself has a small population and many mountains, so even the capital is the size of a village on the mainland.

Still, it is the most prosperous city on the island.

It was also the base when the Bonaparte family was in Corsica.

Once, it was the city where Joseph was a judge, Napoleon was a garrison commander, and Lucien was a agitator.

Now, the British occupy this place.

The British headquarters that controls Corsica, centered in Ajaccio.

Paoli, who once led the Corsican people in the independence movement, sat pathetically as a kind of advisor.

He was so indifferent that he casually dismissed the report of Royal Navy Reserve Captain, Sidney Smith.

France, once Paoli’s enemy.

He was no longer interested in whether they went to Italy or anywhere else.

Of course, Governor Gilbert Elliot, who was listening to the report, was the opposite.

Governor Elliot anxiously looked at the report and asked Sidney.

“Huh, that’s absurd. Don’t we know the situation of the Italian Army? But they’re going on an expedition? What’s the reason?”

“It’s a mess. But a new commander has arrived.”

“What’s his name?”

There is a reason why Elliot is so anxious now.

This Ajaccio is empty.

Originally, Britain had no territorial base in the Mediterranean other than Gibraltar.

Currently, Spain and the Kingdom of Naples are [allies], so they come and go from the port as if it were their own home, but that could change at any time.

So, the British Mediterranean Fleet has been staying in Ajaccio until now.

But suddenly, a recall order was issued from the home country.

This was due to the government’s decision for the defense of the Netherlands and the capture of Flanders.

So, the entire large-scale fleet has set sail, and only about five frigates remain.

If the Italian Expeditionary Force were to target Corsica, it would be an emergency.

At that time, Sidney frowned at the anxious Elliot and mentioned a familiar name.

“Napoleon Bonaparte.”

The one who reacted at that moment was a completely different person.

A man lying leisurely.

Admiral Horatio Nelson, the British naval attaché to Genoa, who frequented Corsica as if it were his own home.

“Oh, isn’t that the guy who gave you a hard time, Sidney? No, is he a commander now?”

“Shut up, Admiral Nelson. It was unavoidable that Toulon was taken at that time.”

“Oh, really. But!”

Nelson sneered and taunted Sidney.

“If it were me, I would have burned all the ships there. Every single one of them!”

Sidney gritted his teeth, but Nelson’s words were scathing.

The French Mediterranean Fleet.

They failed to burn even one of the large-scale ships, which amounted to 30 ships of the line.

There was even an evaluation from the home navy that it would have been much better to destroy the ships, even if Toulon was given up early.

Because of that, Sidney, who would have returned to the Atlantic Fleet in the original history, was still in the Mediterranean.

He was eager to restore his honor.

Angered, Sidney glared at Nelson and snapped.

“Even so, there are no officers to operate them.”

“What do you mean, Colonel Sidney Smith?”

“It’s simple. Governor Gilbert Elliot. After the revolution, France killed and expelled countless aristocratic officers from the military. Among them, there were countless skilled naval officers.”

Sidney confidently declared, as if to be heard by Nelson.

“Perhaps, even if there are ships of the line, they won’t be able to send them out to sea.”

At those words, Nelson shrugged his shoulders.

In fact, Sidney’s words were not wrong at all.

The revolutionary government purged aristocratic officers, including naval officers.

Most of them either defected, died, or retired and disappeared.

If it hadn’t been for a money-hungry young gambler who had massively recruited naval officers as smugglers.

At that time, Paoli, who had been sitting blankly, trembled and muttered.

“Napoleon? Could it be Napoleone Buonaparte?”

He reacted late because his name had been changed to the French style.

Nelson tilted his head and looked at Paoli.

What was that old man he didn’t like going to say again?

“Do you know him, former President Paoli?”

“I know him. Of course, I do. If it’s the one I know.”

“Then? Well, he seems to be a Corsican.”

At that moment, Paoli shouted.

“That guy is someone who doesn’t know how to give up. We must cut off the bud before it grows! Otherwise, even England will never be safe!”

What if Napoleon had only 1,000 soldiers in Corsica?

Paoli would never have been able to drive Napoleon out.

It would have been impossible for England to occupy Corsica.

However, Nelson bared his teeth and growled when he dared to say that England was not safe.

“Here we go again. That damn delusion.”

“That’s not it, Mr. Nelson!”

“Call me Admiral, old man!”

Nelson glared at Paoli and shouted.

“Do you still think you are the king of this Corsica? Now, this is the territory of our British King. You are a citizen!”

Why did Nelson hate Paoli?

There was an extremely emotional reason.

To Nelson, Paoli was just an old man who sold out his country.

He was just from a small island in the corner of the Mediterranean.

But the high-ranking officials in London treat him as if they are holding him up, calling him a former president or something.

Besides, he was stubborn and didn’t listen to what he was told, so Nelson couldn’t help but get angry.

That’s the case right now.

If that Napoleon was so scary, they should set up defense measures.

However, Paoli strongly opposed the construction of defense facilities and the formation of reserve forces, citing the reason that the residents would resist.

Governor Elliot, who was a bureaucrat type, was unable to do anything between Nelson and Paoli.

Paoli also blushed with a stubborn face and tried to get angry at Nelson.

It was then.

-Bang!

Just as the two stubborn men were about to clash, a captain ran into the headquarters.

It was Nelson’s adjutant, Thomas Hardy.

Captain Hardy shouted with a pale face.

“Something terrible has happened, Governor Elliot! Admiral Nelson is here too! You must come out immediately!”

“What’s going on, Mr. Hardy? You must be polite.”

“Admiral, don’t look for politeness that you don’t even keep. The enemy is attacking now!”

Nelson smiled and asked Hardy.

“Well, that’s good because it’s been boring. How many ships are there?”

Nelson, who had been so bored in Genoa that he was making a mistress, was now back.

It had been a year since he occupied Corsica.

He was starting to think that he should go back to England soon, but a battle was approaching.

Hardy still answered with a pale face.

“There are 30 ships.”

“Really? That’s quite a lot. Are they brigantines? Or, could it be frigates?”

“That’s.”

Hardy swallowed dryly and reported.

“All of them are at least ships of the line. It seems that the entire French Mediterranean Fleet has been dispatched.”

This time, Nelson turned pale.

***

Fierce gunfire echoed off the ship’s side.

-Boom! Boom! Boom!

They also had cannons.

But they couldn’t possibly match the numbers.

Ship of the line, the best battleship that dominated the late 18th century.

It was three stories high, had at least 80 cannons, and had a crew of at least 500 people.

Thirty ships meant that at least 15,000 sailors had come.

Even if the outcome was not determined by cannon fire alone, it was impossible to compete.

In terms of size, numbers, and cannons.

An admiral who was commanding while sailing on the frigate [Victory] shouted.

“Aaaagh! What the hell have I been doing on this island! A naval battle is taking place in Flanders, with the fate of the British Empire at stake! I should have gone there with them!”

It was none other than Nelson, the foul-mouthed naval officer.

Now was the era when the Revolutionary War had begun.

Nelson, who once commanded a private escort fleet, had returned to the navy, but it was a mistake to come to Genoa as a military attaché.

He should have been in the Atlantic Fleet.

Or maybe he should have prevented the Mediterranean Fleet from leaving.

Anyway, now that the French fleet of ships of the line had set sail, Nelson was helpless.

What was the reason?

One was that the British Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Corsica had all left for Gibraltar.

The other was the Toulon problem.

Suddenly, Sidney Smith, who had been defeated in Toulon and came to Corsica, shouted while commanding the shelling from the side.

“This is a difficult battlefield enough, Admiral Nelson!”

“Shut up, Sidney Smith. If you hadn’t foolishly missed the Mediterranean Fleet! We wouldn’t have to fight hard in a place like this!”

“I clearly did my best!”

At that moment, Nelson grabbed Sidney by the collar and shouted.

“That? Is that your best? 30 ships of the line?”

Far away, huge ships were pouring in through the mist.

-Swish!

They only had five frigates.

Compared to the 30 ships of the line, the size of the ships themselves was different, and the number of cannons could not be compared.

It was a situation where hundreds of cannons had to be faced with dozens of cannons.

“We’re doomed if we keep going like this!”

“E, even though the opponent’s ships of the line are overwhelming, if we retreat to land and fight!”

“Are we the army, you idiot!”

Nelson shouted at Sidney, the failure of Toulon, who still hadn’t come to his senses.

“Or should we bring out the Corsican militia and use them as bullet shields! Huh!”

It was then.

-Bang!

A bullet hit the ship.

At that time, a piece of wood from the ship bounced up.

War is an extreme situation where extremely accidental accidents cause fatal injuries.

The bouncing piece of wood grazed his eye.

Right, Nelson’s right eye.

“Aagh, my eye!”

“Oh my god, Admiral Nelson! Is there a medic here!”

“T, the enemy is attacking!”

Nelson screamed in pain as he received first aid while collapsing.

“Damn it, it’s all because of that stupid Hood, Sidney, Gilbert Elliot! No, it’s because of Paoli. Aaaagh!”

Hood was a British admiral who had also failed and been kicked out of Toulon.

Sidney Smith was right next to him as the officer who failed to burn the Toulon Mediterranean Fleet.

Gilbert Elliot was the administrator who had been appointed as the British Governor of Corsica.

None of them expected the French fleet to suddenly attack.

According to intelligence, all the French navy’s officers had either defected or died.

Where did the naval officer who could operate that large fleet suddenly appear from?

It was certain that Sidney, Elliot, or the British government had all failed in their intelligence.

At that moment, Nelson, who had barely received first aid, stood up with a bandage on his right eye.

“Retreat!”

“Admiral, is that okay?”

“Then, should we fight in this state? If those guys formally bombard us, the governor’s office will be blown away! Load Governor Elliot and government officials!”

Captain Thomas Hardy hurriedly began to move the ship.

As he hurriedly entered the port of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, Nelson gritted his teeth.

Entering here now was to escape.

But if he came back, he would come back to conquer.

“I will definitely come back. To this Mediterranean!”

A man who dreamed of revenge against the French Mediterranean Fleet.

It was the moment when the one-eyed admiral, Nelson, swore.