He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 136

(136) Napoleon, the Devil King of Terror, Comes to Vienna

Vienna was seething with terror.

“This is absurd! Losing again and again, and now they’re seizing the capital!”

The most terrified of all was undoubtedly the Holy Roman Emperor.

Because the King of France was dead.

Although it was said he committed suicide, the royal families of Europe did not believe that Louis XVI had truly killed himself.

They were certain the revolutionary government had forced his death.

Therefore, with the French army at their doorstep, Emperor Franz II was gripped by fear.

He was already of a weak disposition, despite his intelligent ministers.

The thought of the revolutionary army storming into Vienna made his whole body tremble uncontrollably.

At that moment, Count Wallis, the chairman of the war committee, steadied Franz II.

“Your Majesty, please compose yourself. Archduke Karl is on his way.”

“Yes. Where has Karl reached? The French rebels are threatening the capital. We must stop them immediately!”

“He will arrive soon. News has come that he is rushing here with his full force from Munich.”

In Vienna’s winter palace, the Hofburg, the high nobles breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, Archduke Karl!”

“Thank goodness. He will defeat those outrageous Frenchmen!”

“We only need to hold out a little longer! Thank goodness, Your Majesty!”

At that moment, Emperor Franz II shouted.

“Full force, you say? But that’s only about 50,000 men, isn’t it? Tell them to bring all the troops from the Rhine. No, organize troops from Hungary! Summon all the border troops guarding against the Turks!”

The high nobles fell silent.

The Emperor valued his brother, Archduke Karl, but also envied him.

As an emperor who could not engage in war, nor had the ability to do so, he had no choice but to rely on Karl, a relative and an outstanding general.

However, the more Karl achieved, the more the Emperor lost his luster.

However, the Emperor’s judgment was not entirely wrong.

The forces Archduke Karl would bring numbered around 50,000.

Of course, the expeditionary force led by Napoleon was of a similar size, but Napoleon had already annihilated equal or larger Austrian forces on several occasions.

It was natural to assume that Napoleon had the advantage with the same number of troops.

Therefore, the Emperor made the decision to summon the border troops to the capital.

But Count Wallis hesitated and bowed his head.

“The troops on the Turkish front are virtually nonexistent, Your Majesty.”

“What? Why are there no troops there? It was only five years ago that we fought a war with the Turks! Wasn’t that why the late Emperor passed away!”

“All the troops deployed in that war were sent to the Rhine and Italy, Your Majesty.”

Five years ago, in 1790, Austria was oddly fighting the Turks.

Even though the French Revolution had started in 1789.

This shows how little the Empire regarded the revolution.

At that time, the Emperor of the Empire was Joseph II, Marie Antoinette’s brother.

Joseph II, along with Russia, attacked the toothless wolf of the East, Turkey.

It was an ambitious plan to reorganize Eastern Europe while France was in chaos.

However, an absurd situation occurred where Austrian troops engaged in friendly fire at night.

This was the Battle of Karansebes.

There were no serious losses, but the morale of the army plummeted, and Turkey gained momentum.

Of course, the era was already the late 18th century.

Nearly 300 years had passed since Turkey’s heyday in the 16th century.

The Turkish army, lagging behind in modernization, could not defeat the Austrian Imperial Army.

Eventually, the war situation shifted to Austria’s advantage.

However, many soldiers died from malaria, the economic recession became severe, and even the late Emperor Joseph II died of illness on the battlefield.

Afterward, the war against France began.

The troops who fought then were the Austrian Imperial Army that fought on the Rhine and Italian fronts.

“The remaining troops have all been annihilated by the French. Those barbaric *bastards* didn’t even leave prisoners properly!”

Field Marshal Michael Johann von Wallis lamented with tears in his eyes.

In fact, the wars of the 18th century were, so to speak, wars of [gentlemen].

There were certain rules in war, and wars were conducted while adhering to these rules.

When victory or defeat was determined, time was given to declare surrender, the surrender was accepted, prisoners were taken, and prisoner exchanges were conducted.

The Austrian Imperial Army generally adhered to these rules and treated the prisoners captured in the Rhine area in a gentlemanly manner.

Of course, the French Revolutionary Army did not treat prisoners like trash either.

Napoleon simply did not give the enemy time to surrender in the North Italian campaign.

It was truly a situation that made the Austrians resentful, but conversely, the enemy’s forces were certainly crushed.

So much so that there were not enough troops to defend the capital, Vienna.

Emperor Franz trembled again and asked.

“Count Wallis, does that mean we have no troops to defend Vienna?”

At that moment, the Imperial State Chancellor, Johann Amadeus von Thugut, exclaimed.

“That is not the case, Your Majesty. Vienna currently has a population of 200,000. Adult males who can become military resources number as many as 80,000! Currently, we are conscripting these men into the militia!”

The Holy Roman Empire in this era did not have a large population.

Especially in eastern Germany and Hungary, which were dominated by Austria.

However, the metropolitan area centered on Vienna was different.

Thanks to the Habsburg family’s efforts to foster it, it was a metropolis with a population of 200,000.

Of course, these were not trained soldiers.

From the perspective of the Imperial Army, which naturally regarded the army as volunteers or mercenaries, they were nothing more than cannon fodder.

The Emperor also let out a hollow laugh.

“Militia, truly troops that will only buy time. How did this Empire, which boasted 300,000 troops just five years ago, come to this situation?”

There was nothing particularly wrong with the Emperor or the Empire.

Rather, they had allied with long-standing enemies such as England and Prussia, led the war situation favorably on the Rhine, and selected capable marshals to deploy to the front lines.

If North Italy had also become a stalemate like the Rhine, it would have been France that withered away.

Currently, under England’s leadership, France’s foreign trade is being hampered.

The materials, wealth, and gunpowder invested into the front lines are enormous.

Therefore, if they had held out a little longer, victory would have belonged to the anti-French alliance.

But the North Italian campaign reversed everything.

The Chancellor, Thugut, who had not yet given up, exclaimed.

“We only need to hold out until Archduke Karl arrives, no, he will arrive soon!”

Emperor Franz frowned and nodded.

Karl was an object of envy, and Napoleon was a terrifying adversary.

No matter how threatened he was by Karl, defeating the external enemy came first.

First, he could not surrender, so he had to close the gates and hold out.

“I am prepared to use the imperial seal. But why isn’t the enemy attacking us in front of us?”

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t they at least be launching a bombardment? Something is strange.”

The Emperor, who tilted his head with a strange feeling for a moment, widened his eyes.

“Could it be that they are also waiting for Karl? That can’t be possible, can it?”

Of course, there was a reason for Napoleon’s army.

The lack of siege guns.

However, there was no one in Vienna who could see through this objective fact.

That was what determined Vienna’s fate.

***

In the late 18th century, Vienna was a city of art.

The Emperor and the high nobles boasted immense wealth and invested this wealth in consumptive art.

Grand mansions built for prestige, honor, and glory were located everywhere.

What echoed from those mansions was magnificent music.

Therefore, music flourished in Vienna, centered around the court musicians.

Even musicians who could not work in the court were able to immerse themselves in musical activities with the support of nobles.

Among them, a young man who hated nobles was now in Vienna.

“Have you heard, Ludwig? They say all the gates are being sealed.”

The young man, who was banging on the piano with disheveled hair, glanced back at his friend.

“I have ears, Johann.”

“Really? Then do you know this too? That Vienna is recruiting militia from men aged 18 to 50?”

“What? I didn’t know that. Do I have to take up a gun too? For the nobles?”

The young man, Ludwig, glared and slammed the piano.

“No way! I’d rather leave Vienna! Are all the doors closed?”

The friend, Johann Andreas Streicher, clicked his tongue.

Because that piano was made by Streicher himself.

He gave it as a gift to his friend without taking any money, but it didn’t seem like he cherished it very much.

Of course, the young man Ludwig was the type of person who would break the most precious treasure in the world if he was furious.

Streicher grabbed Ludwig, who was about to run out.

“Closed, of course. The French army is right in front of us.”

“Right in front? I only see you in front of me.”

“They’re already right in front of Vienna! Fortunately, Archduke Karl seems to be coming too.”

At that moment, a whistle sounded through the crack in the open door.

-Peeep! Peeep! Peeep!

Soldiers were running around busily, shouting.

“Emergency! Emergency! Emergency! Engagement has begun! Militia to your positions!”

It seemed that Ludwig’s turn had not yet come.

Vienna had severe class discrimination, but it was also a city that respected artists.

Perhaps the ‘pianist,’ who had a considerable reputation, was taken out of the conscription order.

Streicher sighed as he watched the militia running down the street.

“Hmph, eventually that monster called Bonaparte will invade Vienna. Archduke Karl is our only hope.”

“Hope, my foot! Isn’t he just the Emperor’s younger brother and a kid? Wait, Bonaparte, you say?”

“Why, have you heard of him, you who only know music?”

Ludwig nodded.

“I’ve heard of him. He’s the hero who drove out the nobles in Italy, the home of opera!”

Of course, Ludwig doesn’t particularly like ‘opera.’

To be exact, he doesn’t like the light, playful Italian-style opera.

However, he thought that opera itself was a tool that combined drama and music to create the kind of music Ludwig wanted.

For example, an opera depicting the hero of the revolution.

The man who would later leave only one opera in his life, Ludwig, was shining his eyes when Streicher opened his mouth wide.

“A hero? Isn’t he an invader who is invading our Holy Roman Empire?”

“What Empire? Where is that? Besides, freedom is everything to an artist. Bonaparte gave that freedom to the people oppressed by the nobles!”

“Hey, don’t talk like that carelessly. You’ll be caught by the military police!”

Just then.

“Oh, are you still here? Beethoven?”

A graceful middle-aged man with gray hair was coming in wearing a top hat.

Somehow, his British-style attire stood out, but the man’s appearance was completely Germanic.

Ludwig frowned as he looked at his old ‘teacher’ calling his last name.

“What’s the matter, Imperial Music Director?”

“When did you start calling me ‘teacher’ so punctually? You’re such an arrogant friend. Anyway, that’s not the problem now. Leave this place immediately. I’m planning to leave too.”

“Yes? What’s the reason?”

The Imperial Music Director, Joseph Haydn, shouted at his arrogant former student, Ludwig van Beethoven.

“The Emperor’s army is losing to the French rebels right now. If this continues, Vienna will fall. You’re arrogant, but you shouldn’t die at the hands of those French soldiers!”

Beethoven’s eyes widened.

The hero of the revolution, Bonaparte, is fighting the Imperial Army.

Furthermore, he is winning.

A historical moment was approaching Beethoven’s nose.

With a feeling he couldn’t bear, Beethoven finally ran out the door.

“I can’t help it, I have to see it myself!”

“Where are you going, Beethoven!”

“I’m going to see history!”

These words were actually said by Goethe at the Battle of Valmy [a significant battle in the French Revolutionary Wars].

-Swoosh, Bang!

Amid the sound of cannons, Beethoven barely climbed up the ramparts.

The battlefield unfolding in front of Vienna was the moment when Beethoven’s vision was completely captivated.

***

No matter how great a future general is, everyone is just a kid at first.

“Deploy the entire army. It’s the enemy!”

Archduke Karl shouted with his eyes wide open.

As if waiting, the French army was waiting right in front of Vienna.

Of course, Karl had expected it to some extent.

That the enemy would carry out a kind of feint to hide the direct attack on Vienna.

However, when they arrived at Pressbaum, right in front of Vienna, the Archduke and the Rhine Corps could not help but be surprised.

They never thought they would actually come through the Alps and arrive in Vienna first.

Adjutant General Kerpen said with an astonished face.

“Look at the enemy. They are not soldiers who have just come down from the mountains.”

“They look like they have been waiting for at least 10 days. They are completely prepared.”

“How could they have come so quickly?”

It was because of the marching speed of Napoleon’s army.

Of course, Karl didn’t know that fact, but he quickly grasped the situation.

The capital, Vienna, is still intact.

The ramparts looked solid, as if they had not been bombarded even once.

Perhaps the French army was aiming for one thing.

To show the Empire the sight of its last hope, Karl, being defeated.

Knowing the intention, Karl frowned and ordered.

“Deploy the line in a transverse formation! Each regiment, take position! Spread the line as wide as possible to concentrate firepower. And the artillery unit is preparing for supporting fire…”

It was then.

-Doo doo doo!

Archduke Karl was once again shocked by the scene unfolding in front.

“Cavalry charge? Are those *fools* crazy?”

At that moment, the French cavalry raised their guns in front.

The man at the head was Lannes, the commander of the Pyrenean Cavalry Regiment.

Lannes twisted his lips and smiled.

“Fire!”

In an instant, the French skirmishers fired the first shot.

-Click, Bang!

It was the moment when the Battle of Pressbaum began with the shot of the breech-loading rifle, the Ferguson rifle [an early type of rifle known for its rapid firing rate].