He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 398

(398) The Young Lion Roars at Jena

Clearly, it was a perfect operation.

“What are you saying? What happened to Scharnhorst?”

Blücher, having just arrived in Naumburg, stormed out of his encampment, shouting.

Even if it wasn’t inside Prussia, it was practically on the border in the territory of Saxony.

The terrain was well-known to the Prussian military, and the location was much closer to Prussia.

They didn’t even have to worry about supplies, making it practically the same as fighting a war from their home base.

In fact, in the original history, it was the core area of the German Empire.

But how could they be ambushed and annihilated?

Chief of Staff Grollman reported, covered in blood.

“Prince Louis Ferdinand has passed away. The entire army has been wiped out, with hardly any survivors.”

“No, Scharnhorst! I’m talking about the Chief of Staff!”

“He’s alive, but he’s suffered terrible injuries.”

Scharnhorst, with one arm missing, approached, supported by soldiers.

“I am sorry, Commander.”

He looked terrible, but he was relatively intact, considering he had faced 100 Unicorn cannons [a type of early howitzer].

After all, most of the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Army had died in the barrage.

Blücher, the commander of the 4th Army, grabbed Scharnhorst and widened his eyes.

“Your operation was supposed to be perfect.”

“I suppose planning it down to the hour was the problem. It happened two hours before you arrived, Commander.”

“What happened? Did an unexpected force appear? If it was that large, we would have known!”

Scharnhorst sighed, his face pale.

“From the beginning, Eugene was aiming for Jena, Commander.”

If he were an ordinary general, he still wouldn’t know what had happened.

But Scharnhorst, being the best Prussian tactician of the time, saw through what had happened.

Of course, the problem was that it was too late now.

On the other hand, Blücher blinked and asked.

“Why there, of all places?”

“Landgrafenberg. The name of the highlands southeast of Jena. Cough! They seized the highlands first, or rather, they set up their artillery there.”

“What are you talking about? How could the artillery move so fast? Artillery is the slowest in the march!”

Scharnhorst replied with his estimation.

“They used a variation of independent artillery operation. It would be impossible without the confidence that they would never be attacked. Cough!”

In other words, the infantry, cavalry, and artillery all advanced separately.

Especially the artillery, which advanced towards Jena alone while the attention was focused on the cavalry and infantry.

Even the mounted artillery would inevitably be slow on its own.

However, Blücher understood it differently.

For the artillery to advance without the escort of infantry or cavalry meant that they were confident that there would be no military attacks within the territory.

“Betrayal? Did the Duke of Saxony stab us in the back?”

“It’s, highly likely.”

“I’ll wipe him out first. I’ll turn Dresden into ashes!”

Of course, Eugene had done it, trusting in the Duke of Saxony’s passive nature and the Silver Mandate [likely referring to a financial agreement or guarantee].

In the end, it was a successful gamble.

However, Scharnhorst, who couldn’t know that far, shook his head, panting.

“Do it later. Right now, it’s urgent to join the 1st and 2nd Armies and defend Berlin.”

Blücher tore at his white hair and jumped up and down.

“What are you saying! The enemy only won with 30,000 men! Our 3rd Army has 40,000, and the 1st and 2nd Armies combined have 120,000!”

“Have you forgotten? The key, cough! of our operation was to defeat the vanguard and isolate Napoleon.”

“Napoleon hasn’t even arrived yet!”

Despite Blücher’s shouting, Scharnhorst calmly replied.

“Who expected the vanguard to arrive so quickly? Would Napoleon be any different? Cough!”

Napoleon first made his name in Europe with the conquest of Italy.

At the time, Napoleon’s tactics were based on mobile warfare, moving twice as fast as the enemy.

Especially with Eugene joining, he had shown it at a much more surprising speed than in the original history.

But now, he was advancing with even more resources and cavalry.

There was a very high possibility that he would push to the west of Berlin in an unexpected situation.

And with the victorious Eugene’s army.

Blücher trembled and gnashed his teeth, shouting like a scream.

“Just because of an army of only 30,000 men, 150,000 Prussian soldiers have to retreat!”

Of course, to be exact, it was 35,000 men.

***

In times of war, the faster you get the news of victory, the greater the opportunity you have.

“Good heavens! Prussia has lost?”

The Duke of Hesse-Kassel, Wilhelm IX, exclaimed in surprise and collapsed into his seat.

In fact, Kassel was a city about 197 kilometers away from Jena, where the war took place.

However, the Duke, knowing that this Third Coalition War would determine the fate of his territory, had separate informants.

It was the Jewish banking family, the Rothschilds.

Salomon, who had brought the information obtained from the informant, shrugged.

“I have brought news, but it is not yet a defeat, Duke of Hesse-Kassel.”

“The best Prussian generals were defeated by a mere 30,000 men, and a 25-year-old at that. What about Napoleon?”

“Hmm, the main force is still intact, though.”

Strictly speaking, the famous Prussian generals had not yet been defeated.

Braunschweig, Hohenlohe, and Blücher.

All of them were veteran Prussian generals who had been in the military since the Seven Years’ War.

However, the news that 50,000 men had been annihilated was so shocking that it caused a great misunderstanding.

In fact, although it was 1806, most of the people living in the era were naturally born in the 18th century.

This meant that the common sense of the previous century was bound to be the common sense of the military.

Also, even after the 20th century, the so-called defeat of an army often meant disintegration or retreat, not annihilation.

Originally, the Prussian forces killed in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in the original history were also about 40,000.

However, this force was less than 20% of the total force, and the French army also suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

The Battle of Jena created by Eugene was different.

The number of casualties was only a few dozen, including the cavalry that clashed in the opening battle and the forces consumed in the raid.

On the other hand, the enemy had been annihilated to the point where it was right to say that they had melted away.

The result of concentrating firepower was revealed in Europe for the first time.

Wilhelm IX, a mercenary duke who knew about the momentum of the war, even if he didn’t know this far, shook his head.

“That’s what people who don’t know war say! This isn’t a battlefield in a vast space like the New World! Soon, when the Emperor’s main force starts to push in, Prussia will be finished!”

If there was only Eugene’s 4th Corps, it wouldn’t be a problem.

However, the French Imperial Army, the main force of 100,000, and the Helvetic Legion of 40,000 were pushing in.

Furthermore, the Batavian Republic army and the Rhine Confederation army from the Flanders region would also participate.

That was the true meaning of the victory at Jena.

Salomon nodded and asked.

“Then, what are you going to do? The Archduke of Bavaria will probably send a congratulatory message. On the other hand, the Archduke of Saxony, who has sent troops, will be in a frenzy.”

The Duke of Hesse-Kassel replied as if it were natural.

“What else? I have to side with the winner.”

“Then, are you going to send a congratulatory message to the Viceroy? I would advise you to think differently.”

“Why?”

Salomon smiled and advised the Duke, who was blinking blankly.

“The real winner is not Viceroy Eugene. It’s Emperor Napoleon. Besides, who is closer to Hesse-Kassel?”

Only then did the Duke realize who the real owner of this war was and shouted to the scribe.

“Write a letter right away. Convey this victory to His Majesty Emperor Napoleon. Also, Hesse-Kassel will be loyal to His Majesty as a member of the Rhine Confederation!”

“I don’t think you’ve joined the alliance yet?”

“The Emperor won’t even remember! We can join the Rhine Confederation from now on!”

Watching the House of Hesse-Kassel move busily, Salomon quietly stepped back.

The Rothschild family would have no choice but to get busy from now on.

Now that they knew who the new winner was, they had to stick to them quickly.

Suddenly, his youngest brother, Jakob, who was accompanying him, asked.

“Brother Salomon, what should we do?”

Salomon lightly stroked the head of the 14-year-old boy, Jakob, and smiled.

“The real winner is the Emperor, but the future winner is the Viceroy. We are financiers, so we must bet on the future.”

To wash away the past when he had one foot in England, he would have to hurry even more.

***

In fact, Eugene was still on the Jena battlefield.

“Did we win? We won! We won!”

Three days, the time Eugene spent in Jena.

The battle itself was decided in one day after returning to Jena from Auerstedt.

However, it took time to pursue the remnants, reorganize the troops, and accept the surrender of Jena.

Eugene clicked his tongue as he watched Junot jumping up and down in front of the Jena City Hall.

“Junot, you don’t have time to be having fun right now.”

“Why? We won a complete victory with hardly any wounded on our side!”

“We have only defeated one of the four armies. Blücher is approaching here now.”

At that time, a cavalry force rushed in from the outskirts of Jena.

-Doo-doo-doo!

Eugene’s army, which was occupying the city hall, immediately went on alert.

Even the new recruits now looked like soldiers.

On the other hand, Eugene, who hadn’t slept properly for three days, was startled.

“What, are they already the enemy?”

“Well, I think it’s Lasalle and Champot. Of course, I have bad eyes, so I’m not sure.”

“Lasalle and Champot are here? Jomini, what’s going on?”

Eugene was startled and looked back at Jomini as he listened to Davout’s report.

“Well, if they came at this point, it’s one of two things. They were backstabbed, or there are no enemies in front of them.”

Jomini replied with a flustered face.

There was a reason for this.

Originally, in this operation planned by Eugene and Jomini, Lasalle’s special detachment was mainly responsible for confusing and scouting the enemy.

They had to hide Marmont’s artillery march, attack the Prussian army divided into four armies, and report the situation to Eugene in real time.

But since they had all returned like this, not only Eugene but also Jomini was embarrassed.

However, Lasalle, who ran to the city hall, had an excited face.

Lasalle looked around, whistled, and shouted.

“Wow, you guys had fun without me!”

“I just shot the cannon. What happened?”

“Ah, don’t worry about the enemy.”

Just as Lasalle was about to brag, Champot calmly reported from the side.

“The 3rd Army of Blücher is currently in full retreat! The 1st and 2nd Armies are also retreating towards Berlin. That’s according to the messenger we captured.”

The messenger, who was covered in blood, was being dragged along tied with ropes.

It was a method used by the so-called ‘Indians’ of the New World.

Eugene was about to say that using this method of escort would be considered barbaric in Europe.

At that moment, Chief Adjutant Hippolyte quickly blocked Eugene’s path and winked.

“Hey, Viceroy. Isn’t this a win?”

Eugene suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him.

He hadn’t paid attention to it because he was taking care of the follow-up to the victory.

This battle was the first victory for the 4th Corps.

The war was still far from over, but the morale of the 4th Corps was important to overcome the battles and crises ahead.

Suddenly, Eugene smiled and raised his arm vigorously.

“Yes. Let’s send the victory to Paris! The 4th Corps has defeated Prussia in Jena! Today is a 10x bonus day!”

At that moment, the shouts of the soldiers of the French 4th Corps shook Jena.