He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 243

(243) Karl Still Has a Russian Card

In an era of revolution that destroys everything, a general who values orthodoxy more than those from military academies is truly unique.

“Were you perhaps dreaming of attending a military academy, General?”

“No, I only wanted to be a dragoon [a mounted infantryman] from the start. Studying in a stuffy school just wasn’t for me. I didn’t have the money to go anyway.”

“Then why do you pursue orthodoxy so diligently?”

Ozhuro turned to his adjutant, Verdier, and replied in a stern tone.

“Because that’s how you win. Isn’t that obvious? Brigadier General Jean Antoine Verdier?”

The army’s formation as it crossed the mountains remained strict.

Usually, the mountain trek itself would be enough to scatter the soldiers.

Moreover, the unit had to undertake a considerable forced march to meet Napoleon’s demands.

The reason the soldiers didn’t fall apart was simple.

For the past three years, although they had tasted the glory of victory, the conscripts of the Italian Legion had undergone rigorous training.

All the troops under Masséna, Sérurier, Laharpe, and especially Ozhuro, had done so.

The experience of victory, rigorous training, and the command of an excellent general.

All of this combined allowed them to successfully traverse 250 kilometers in 20 days.

Even with the cannons.

Ozhuro looked at the confrontation between the two legions below the mountain and ordered.

“The entire army, advance in columns! Before the enemy can reorganize their ranks, we must strike them directly!”

“Understood! Each brigade, advance in columns! Brigadier General Louis Gabriel Suchet, lead the vanguard!”

“Yes, advance in columns!”

Suchet, the 29-year-old brigadier general who would later become one of the 26 Marshals of the original history, marched his infantry forward.

-Step, step, step!

Columnar advance, a vertical formation, was one of the main strengths of the French Revolutionary Army.

The skill of changing this back into a horizontal line was like an art.

Of course, this was only the case in the days when the firing line infantry, that is, standing fire, dominated the battlefield.

An era when prone firing was unthinkable.

The French army still mainly used line infantry.

Ozhuro shouted again towards the artillery in the rear.

“Do not cease fire! Until our troops approach!”

The cannons under the 20-gun horse artillery unit fired all at once.

-Boom! Boom! Boom!

Marmont, who was directing the shelling from the high ground, watched the cannons fire, sighed, and approached.

“Hmph, I never thought I’d be playing the role of an artilleryman here. Chief of Staff Verdier.”

“Is it useful? Our new artillery unit?”

“They seem to be very well trained. Haha!”

Marmont, who had originally come as a messenger, was now the temporary artillery commander of Ozhuro’s division.

In any case, in Napoleon’s army, artillery battles were either Marmont’s or Duroc’s responsibility.

From Ozhuro’s perspective, he had quickly utilized the most suitable talent.

Watching the fierce shelling batter the Austrian army, Ozhuro shouted.

“Now is the time to avenge ourselves against the Austrian army. Form ranks! Line up!”

The 20,000-strong Ozhuro division advanced in three lines, each regiment stopping in its place.

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

Murat had already destroyed the enemy’s artillery long ago.

Schwarzenberg and Radetzky’s irregular infantry were in a panic.

Now, Karl’s main force was being fired upon.

The line infantry, having descended from the mountains, spread out in a horizontal line all at once.

“All troops, open fire!”

The infantrymen simultaneously raised their muzzle-loading muskets.

-Bang! Click, whoosh, bang! Click, whoosh, bang!

Artillery Commander Marmont, watching the firing speed, exclaimed in admiration.

“The speed is fast!”

“Was it called ‘fulminating powder’? Boarner’s musket seems to be effective.”

“Indeed, if Freischütz returns, he’ll be showing off a bit, won’t he?”

Ozhuro, listening to Marmont and Verdier’s conversation, replied in a stern tone.

“He’s still a boy, but he wouldn’t show off that much, would he? He’s already gained tremendous glory in the Orient, hasn’t he?”

At that moment, Suchet hurriedly rode back and shouted.

“Over there, I can see the main force charging!”

“Cease fire.”

“Halt! All batteries, prepare to move!”

Stopping the cannons to prevent friendly fire, Ozhuro wore a rare smile.

“The time has come to meet the Commander-in-Chief. Has it been three years?”

Watching the spectacle of Napoleon’s 30,000 infantrymen defeating Karl’s 50,000 strong army on the northern bank of the Adige River.

***

Now, the site of the original history’s defeat, Caldiero, will be recorded as one of Napoleon’s achievements.

“Excellent, deserter! This time you came along the proper route! Hahaha!”

Of course, Napoleon, unaware of the original history, is even more pleased to have joined forces with Ozhuro.

In modern terms, Ozhuro, along with Masséna, is Napoleon’s one-two punch.

They are the most outstanding generals, exceeding expectations in carrying out instructions, and always accomplishing what they are ordered to do.

On the other hand, Eugene is an unpredictable [Joker], a suitable variable to use.

In any case, to realize Napoleon’s vision, this [one-two punch] was essential.

However, Ozhuro didn’t seem very pleased.

Even though Karl’s 50,000 strong army had been defeated.

“We missed the enemy’s leadership. Especially Archduke Karl Ludwig.”

“It’s alright. We’ll see him in Vienna anyway.”

“Surely you’re not going to strike directly at Vienna?”

Ozhuro raised his eyes slightly as he asked, and Napoleon shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s a matter to consider later. The Austrian army’s Second Corps is currently crossing the Alps, right?”

Surte’s Vice-Chief, Jacob Elly, bowed his head.

“Yes, according to reports from our spies there, they will soon be heading towards Milan.”

“There’s no need to defend Milan, is there? Let them come.”

“That might be a bit difficult, Your Excellency.”

For a moment, Elly smiled wryly and brought up an unexpected story.

“The Italian Bank branch in Milan currently has 20 million francs in reserves.”

The Italian Bank, the name alone makes it sound like a national bank.

But its true identity is actually a private bank owned by Eugene Bonaparte.

It just happens to hold vast funds enough to move armies.

It seemed like they had used up almost all of their capital in the Egyptian expedition, but that’s not necessarily the case.

France had been fighting battles in various places besides the Orient, and the supplies for these battles went through the Boarner munitions factory operated by the Italian Bank.

As a result, the payments received from the state were still moving through the Italian Bank.

Considering it’s the [Bonaparte] family’s funds, Napoleon exclaimed in exasperation.

“Why is such a huge amount of money piled up in enemy territory! It should have been moved to Paris!”

“Well, it’s all the military funds needed to move the Italian garrison, so that’s probably why.”

“If we lose that, what will happen to our army?”

Chief of Staff Berthier replied coldly.

“We will no longer be able to pay salaries. Of course, our French Revolutionary Army is a conscript army gathered according to the spirit of the revolution, but…”

Although it was a conscript army, Napoleon always made sure to pay salaries.

This was because he could secure the soldiers’ loyalty through this.

Watching the officers’ faces turn pale for a moment, Napoleon clicked his tongue.

It seems that being unpaid is fatal to the officers as well.

“Forget it. It can’t be helped. We’re mobilizing to defend Milan!”

In the end, ordering the march to protect the source of funds, Napoleon tilted his head.

“Ah, on the way back, make sure to pick up all the cannons!”

“Puhahaha! Now that you mention it, we abandoned the cannons. You’re not going to become unemployed, are you, Marmont!”

“General Masséna, please refrain from such terrifying jokes. Haha!”

Napoleon listened to Marmont and Masséna’s jokes, chuckled, and gazed north.

“Anyway, I wonder if Laharpe is holding on well. To that old man from Russia.”

Although he had defeated Karl, half of the Austrian army remained.

Also, there was still a concerning presence.

He had heard that the general who was called invincible in the Eastern battlefield, Suvorov, had arrived.

Suddenly, an eagle watching the soldiers’ corpses from above cried out.

-Screech!

Napoleon hadn’t yet realized it, but the symbol of Russia is also the eagle.

***

The Russian eagle also maneuvers skillfully in the mountains.

-Swish! Swish! Swish!

Watching the bayonets pierce the soldiers, the panicked Swiss soldiers scattered and shouted.

“Run! The Ivans [a common nickname for Russian soldiers] are coming!”

However, it is not only the Swiss soldiers who are scattering.

The men of Laharpe, who were trying to establish the [Helvetian] Republic here, are also doing the same.

The French Revolutionary Army retreated in fear.

“Save me! Those guys aren’t afraid of death! Aaaagh!”

“Why aren’t they retreating? We’re firing at them!”

“Shoot! It’s going to be death anyway if we run! Keuk!”

The battle of line infantry is originally a gunfight.

Standing in three lines as if having a conversation, approaching each other and firing muzzle-loading guns is the rule.

But the troops the French army is facing now do not stop even when shot.

Rather, as if the bullets are avoiding them, they charge recklessly.

Then, when the distance closes, the bayonets pierce the flesh.

-Pfft!

Of course, it’s not like the Russian army is wearing bulletproof vests.

Many ‘Ivans,’ that is, Russian infantrymen, died from the shots fired by the French army.

However, as a result of the soldiers charging without fear of death, the French soldiers panicked.

When the formation was completely broken, Guillaume Marie Anne Brune ran to Laharpe.

“You must flee.”

“Where to? Division Commander Brune. This is my hometown.”

“Get a grip, Laharpe!”

Brune, the deputy commander of the Swiss expeditionary division, hit Laharpe and shouted.

“Isn’t General Bonaparte’s tactic to protect the troops, not the land? What have you learned!”

Brune is a veteran who has spent many years as a direct regimental commander under Masséna.

Fighting repeatedly in the Italian campaign, he clearly saw Napoleon’s tactics.

He hasn’t learned it completely, but he knows roughly.

That the key is to defeat the army, not the territory.

In the end, Laharpe ordered with tears in his eyes.

“Retreat!”

The French army fled all at once from Zurich, the capital of Helvetia, the satellite republic established by France in Switzerland.

The French had been defeated on the Swiss front for the first time in three years.

The Russian army, covered in blood, shouted from behind.

-Ura!

Amidst the shouts of the 80,000 strong army, Suvorov stroked his pointed chin.

“It’s a pity. It seems we didn’t catch the enemy commander.”

“Still, we won in Switzerland. We can enter France as it is!”

“Well, Tolly. There will be something more important than that.”

At that moment, screams erupted from behind Suvorov.

“Aaaagh!”

A soldier covered in blood was wailing.

He was a soldier wearing a Russian army uniform, but none of the generals sympathized with the soldier.

Because he is a spy.

Of course, even if he were a real soldier, there would be no general in Russia who would sympathize with him.

General Alexander Mikhailovich Korsakov, who was interrogating the soldier, nodded.

“Yes, according to the confession of that spy, he went to Italy.”

Suukovsky, the man Eugene had hidden in Russia through Surte.

Instead of dying in the Egyptian expedition, he had infiltrated Russia and suffered a terrible fate.

Suvorov, who was quietly stroking his chin, smiled strangely.

“Then, Karl will lose.”

“Surely not? I heard that Archduke Karl is quite skilled?”

“Tolly, if all the operations I saw in the [newspaper] are true, the young master cannot defeat Napoleon.”

Now the 70-year-old veteran, Suvorov, swept back his white hair and smiled.

“It seems we will have to cross the Alps.”

At long last, the invincible general Suvorov set his sights on the rising general Napoleon.

With the Alps in between.