He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 48

(47) Let’s Lure the Enemy with the Nantes Scam

What’s the most important thing in gambling?

Setting the stage.

Cheating, reading the game, betting.

All are important factors in winning at gambling, but none are more important than the stage itself.

The same goes for war.

Creating the stage is the most difficult part.

Even the non-expert Ippolito knows that much.

At the temporary camp in Clisson, in the Eugene Special Company barracks, Ippolito scratched his head.

“By the way, how are we going to lure them to Nantes?”

Currently, the blue-uniformed army, the Revolutionary Army, is advancing again towards Cholet, the stronghold of the Royalists.

The Revolutionary Army headquarters, Nantes, is only 60 kilometers from Cholet.

However, there are numerous forests and obstacles in between.

Therefore, Kléber has moved his troops to Clisson, a town on the Sèvre Nantaise [a river in the Pays de la Loire region of France] riverside, extending south of Nantes.

The military composition is the same as under the previous commander, Rossignol.

Only the main force of the attack has changed.

That alone is enough to keep the Vendée rebels from moving in Cholet.

But because of that, it seems difficult to lure the enemy out.

Eugene, with red eyes from lack of sleep, stared at the map and replied.

“Ippolito, do you know how to set the stage in a ‘scam’?”

“How would I know? Don’t you know that gambling is a game for the rich? It’s hard for poor commoners like me to get involved in that.”

“What are you talking about? Your father is holding out in Paris even in this recession. Anyway, gambling always starts with setting the stage, and so does a scam.”

For a moment, to clear his head, Eugene decided to explain the ‘stage’ to Ippolito.

“So, the first thing to show the other party is ‘bait’.”

In simple terms, it’s ‘lure’ to entice the mark [the intended victim of a con].

A scam is basically created through design.

First, this designed stage is created, and then a ‘mark’ to be the bait is chosen on that stage.

Throwing a sweet bait to the mark is the beginning of the stage.

If the mark is the Royalist faction now, what is the bait?

Eugene pointed to Nantes, an island on the Loire River, north of the map.

“Is Nantes an attractive bait? Are the defenders strong enough to be defeated? Are the spoils of victory enormous?”

Eugene’s eyes gleamed.

“The answer is all ‘Oui’ [French for Yes].”

Oui, that is, Yes in English.

Basically, the Royalists control Vendée like a crescent moon.

The forest area centered on Cholet, and the coastline curved like a moon from there.

There are places like Luçon that the Revolutionary Army has taken, but that’s the general structure.

Even Nantes, the left and right banks of the Loire River leading to the sea, Savenay and Machecoul, are occupied by the Royalists.

This structure became clear when the Royalist rebels occupied La Rochelle.

However, there is no port like ‘Nantes’.

England can send supplies by merchant ship, but a proper warship needs a port like Nantes to dock.

Occupying Nantes is essential for a full-scale declaration of Royalist victory.

That’s why, even in the original history, the Vendée rebels try to invade Nantes whenever they get the chance.

But with Eugene’s strategy, the entire army is now moving back to Cholet.

“Besides, it’s easy for the enemy to come over. Why? Because they’ve already won once.”

“What? Ah! La Rochelle!”

“That’s right. It’s the next stage of the scam. Letting them lose.”

Everyone has some innate caution.

Nevertheless, to design a ‘mark’, it is necessary to let them lose at first.

La Rochelle is just that kind of first bait.

The Royalist rebel leaders must have been encouraged by this bait.

Conversely, the dispersed military strength in Cholet and La Rochelle must be 불안 [uneasy].

If this continues, there is even a risk of being 分散 [scattered] and defeated.

It’s not just the Revolutionary Army that needs a 승부수 [winning move].

Eugene explained this point while dipping bread in his soup.

“Anyway, then there’s only one thing left. Letting the other party know that the gambling table is open. Also, you have to let them know that the other player is bait and can be easily 넘어올 수 [taken over].”

“How?”

“A parachute that suddenly falls is good. Especially if it’s a defeated general who was once captured by the enemy and 좌천된 [demoted]?”

Eugene smiled and looked towards the Mainz Division outside the barracks.

“The loser of Mainz, the commander of the Mainz Division, Kléber.”

In fact, Kléber has some unfair points.

The defeat in Mainz was due to the strategic mistakes of the entire Revolutionary Army, rather than Kléber’s fault.

Eugene’s father, Alexandre’s lack of skill was also a major factor.

But that’s a story from the distant Eastern Front, the Rhine.

In this rural western France, Vendée, no one knows.

It’s as if a defeated general named Kléber suddenly fell from the sky.

Of course, a way to leak this information to the other party is needed.

Eugene has already prepared a route to leak information so far.

“The way to let them know all this is simple. We spread ‘pamphlets’ as we have been doing. Of course, we will report to General Kléber that we are only spreading pamphlets to suspend the oath of allegiance, as we have already said.”

It’s the moment when everything Eugene has done so far is connected into one.

Replacing the commander, producing and distributing rumors, and 기망 [deceptive] maneuvers to give up La Rochelle.

It is a design to lure the Royalist mark into a scam.

With his mouth wide open, Ippolito exclaimed.

“Good heavens, you calculated all this and set up the 판 [game/situation]?”

“I told you. Setting up the 판 [game/situation] is the most important thing in gambling. But there’s another really important thing. You need a Sharper [a skilled cheat or card sharp].”

“The best gambler? Haha, is that our General Bonaparte? Wait, how?”

Sharper, in other words, refers to a ‘master’.

For a normal game, a player like Kléber is enough.

However, the time limit is three months, and there are not many generals in the revolutionary period who can win this gambling-like war.

Napoleon, Hoche, or maybe Moreau, Masséna, or even Jean Lannes?

Eugene was planning to make this gambling table Napoleon’s table.

Ippolito, who was 감탄해 [impressed] and nodding, suddenly widened his eyes.

“Uh, but General Bonaparte is in Marseille. Even if he moves Paris, how do you 맞춰 [match] the time?”

Napoleon is still a general of the Republic.

Moreover, he is only the brigade commander of the Postal Special Regiment that Eugene slightly, fraudulently created, not a regular unit.

Therefore, permission from Paris is required to move.

It will take more than a month for letters to go back and forth from Vendée to Marseille, then to Paris, and back to Marseille.

However, Eugene said with confidence, shining his bloodshot eyes.

“The Postal Special Company has to work. Especially to prevent this operational map from being 탈취되지 [seized], it has to go around the outskirts.”

“It’s going to be tight to 맞춰 [match] the time.”

“It doesn’t matter, a gambler like General Napoleon will move without waiting for a reply from Paris. However.”

There is always a ‘spare’ in gambling design.

This is to prepare for when the prepared hidden card fails.

In war, this card is usually called a reserve force.

Eugene said, taking out a playing card that he always carried like a charm.

“We need a joker card on our side too. Marceau has to 활약해 [play an active role] this time.”

Joker, a fickle card that can turn into anything.

***

So, why is Marceau Eugene’s joker?

-〈The Royalist army is coming. My family is also noble, but I’m so scared. Can I go to Paris? First, I’ll 피할게요 [evacuate] with my family.〉

Eugene Postal Special Company’s deputy commander, Major Marceau, was looking at a letter in his barracks.

“Angélique.”

Angélique de Meslay.

A girl he met when he was very young, and they had feelings for each other.

After going to Paris to study, they didn’t meet often, but they communicated by letter, as he did with his sister.

But the letter came through Marceau’s sister, Émira.

So, this letter didn’t actually come to Marseille.

It’s a letter that Angélique told his sister Émira in Paris that she was in danger.

Until then, it seems that she could send letters to Paris.

Now the situation has changed.

When he came to Vendée with Eugene in a hurry, Vendée was already hell.

Of course, he couldn’t know the news, and even if he looked for it, it was impossible to move alone in Vendée, which had become a battlefield.

Coming with the Special Company is not the wrong choice.

But can he really find Angélique?

At that time.

Suddenly, Eugene’s adjutant, Ippolito Charles, came into the barracks.

“Oh, Marceau. Were you resting? Eugene told me to ask you something.”

“Huh? No. I was looking at the operational map. General Kléber’s operation seems really great. Firepower, pressure, marching. All 정석 그대로 [by the book].”

“Wow, that’s exactly what Eugene said! Did you go to the same school?”

Hiding the letter, Marceau smiled.

“I was originally a soldier. Eugene must be 타고난 [born with it]. Did he open his eyes and was born?”

Marceau was originally a dragoon hopeful.

He was tired of law school and enlisted in the army, met Hoche, and faced the revolution.

He is not from a military academy, but he knows a little about the military.

On the other hand, Eugene sees the situation with a clear vision and makes decisions, even though everything is new to him.

Even in a chaotic battlefield like Vendée.

Marceau thought he couldn’t follow him.

Even now, his heart is 심란하기만 [only troubled] because of his feelings for Angélique.

On the other hand, Ippolito, who is comfortable because he trusts Eugene, smiled and replied.

“I think he’s just 타고난 [born] with gambling skills. What does he 찍으면 [choose] and it’s all right? That’s why I followed him.”

“Haha, how dazzling is certainty in this age of uncertainty? But why did you come to ask me something?”

“Ah, Eugene asked me to finally confirm if this operational map is okay.”

Looking at the operational map that Eugene handed him, Marceau’s eyes lit up.

“Ho, so you’re luring them to Nantes like this. Eugene is really amazing. He hasn’t learned anything.”

The operational map is simple.

The Revolutionary Army concentrates all its forces on Cholet.

It openly empties Nantes to be seen.

Furthermore, the rear area is completely emptied so that the remaining Royalist forces can escape to the rear of Cholet.

From the rebel’s point of view, it’s bait that they can’t help but move, even if they know it.

Why?

If they go as they are, at least Cholet will be occupied.

Giving up La Rochelle and defending Cholet?

That’s losing the future of the rebels.

In this situation, the road to Nantes is completely empty.

Looking at the operational map that empties the rear of Cholet, the eastern region of Vendée, Marceau sighed.

“East. Angélique must be somewhere in this area. I don’t know where she is.”

“What don’t you know?”

“I mean, wouldn’t you know where Angélique 피난을 [refuge] went to?”

Ippolito asked, licking his lips.

“I hope you find her. What did she say in the last letter she sent? Marceau.”

Marceau smiled bitterly and replied.

“It was news that she was 피한다는 [evacuating] because the Royalists were occupying Cholet. Maybe it’s the last mail delivered. Here.”

It’s not even a letter that came directly to Marseille.

The postal service wouldn’t have had the 여력 [capacity] to go that far.

If he had known a little earlier, he would have 달려왔을 [rushed] as soon as he occupied Toulon.

Suddenly, looking at Marceau’s face next to him, Ippolito scratched his head.

“Originally, we came to find Marceau’s lover, but things have gotten so big. Eugene, this guy really.”

“No, it’s the right decision.”

“Why? When are you going to find Angélique when you’re so busy?”

Marceau shook his head firmly at this point.

“Angélique probably 피신했을 [taken refuge] to the east. It’s safer in terms of regional location. It’s better if the battle takes place in the west. Besides, if we can’t stabilize this place, it’s hard to find Angélique anyway.”

That’s also what Marceau is vowing to himself.

Vendée is already a battlefield anyway.

Even if he 열심히 [diligently] looks for Angélique alone, he won’t be able to find her.

Rather, like Eugene, the answer is to end the war itself while searching with the La Rochelle 연대 [regiment].

But even knowing that, his heart is 격랑이 인다 [stormy].

His emotions are 요동쳐 [fluctuating] and it’s hard to 참기 [bear].

Just as he was 막물고 [agonizing] this, Marceau came to his senses at Ippolito’s words.

“So, what do you think of this operational map?”

“Um. Operational map? Well, I’m also a soldier? Besides, Eugene is not the only one who learned from General Bonaparte. Seeing this operational map, I have something in mind.”

“Yes? Did you teach him anything? What is it?”

Taking a deep breath, Marceau recalled Napoleon’s tactics that he had seen.

“Concentration of power, maneuvering to pierce the enemy’s 방심 [carelessness], and finally firepower.”

Toulon is also a kind of ‘debut’ for Napoleon.

He had fought in Corsica before, but Toulon is the first proper war.

As with all first works by the author, the general’s first battle contains everything.

It is the basis of the war that the general will fight in the future.

In Toulon, Napoleon showed three things.

He concentrates the troops without dispersing them, disperses the enemy with a surprise attack, and finally pours firepower.

The order may change, but it is the tactics that Napoleon always 선보였던 [showcased] in the original history later.

Marceau also paid attention to that point.

“That’s how General Bonaparte moves the army. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but that’s the 요체 [gist].”

“Oh, then we can 격파 [defeat] them in that order!”

“As I said, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Only a 민한 [sensitive] person like General Bonaparte can do it well. However.”

Suddenly, Marceau looked at the gun standing on one side of the barracks and said.

“In this case, even if the enemies have a large number and a good 위세 [power], we have to 이용해야겠지 [take advantage] that they are farmers.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The peasant soldiers are very brave when they fight in front. But when they are attacked unexpectedly, they easily 흩어지지 [scatter].”

The rebels are brave, united by faith, and numerous.

Even if Eugene 뿌린다 [spreads] pamphlets, there is a limit to 흔드는 [shaking].

There are parts that can only be broken by 부딪쳐 [colliding] directly.

It’s the enemy’s morale.

By the way, Marceau, who is from Chartres, a rural area in the former territory of the Duke of Orléans, knows something that only he knows.

It’s a point that Eugene, who is from the city, can’t know.

It is the character of the farmer.

They are brave, but lack sustainability, and easily 흩어진다 [scatter] when they are hit by an unexpected blow.

That’s the characteristic of peasant soldiers.

Looking at the gun, Marceau’s eyes gleamed.

“We happen to have a suitable 병종 [military branch]. It’s only possible once, though.”

A man with 심한 [intense] emotions, who does his best in spite of that, and is strong in crisis.

That’s Marceau.

That’s why Eugene saw him as a joker [a wild card], a card that can change at any time.

***

But the joker is just a joker, the strongest card in the deck is still the ace [the highest-ranking card].

“Where, is this the effect of the newly created postal system in Vendée?”

Napoleon smiled, holding a letter from Eugene after a long time.

It’s about 900 kilometers from Vendée to Marseille.

It’s a journey that takes nearly two weeks even with a 강행군 [forced march] that runs 80 kilometers a day on horseback.

Louis Tournay, the man who made a breakthrough that only a medieval herald could have made, reported, panting.

“It’s just because I ran hard. General.”

“Isn’t that the same thing? After all, the letter can only be delivered if the mailman runs well.”

“I almost died 우회 돌파하느라 [bypassing] between the areas occupied by the enemies. But Major Eugene said that the General must see this.”

Suddenly, Tournay 꺼냈다 [took out] a strange piece of paper from his socks, crumpled, not a letter.

“Really? Isn’t it just news? Oh, what is this?”

It smells, but Napoleon is a man who can withstand even the worst smells.

Because he had a poor cadet life.

Napoleon, who received the blueprint wrapped in 기름종이에 [oil paper] without any hesitation, twisted his lips.

“Operational map.”

Next to him, Junot whistled, glancing at it.

“Wow, it looks like you’re carrying out a dangerous operation? This is a lure, right?”

“Yes, Junot. You’re taking my elite troops and 몰아넣는 [driving] them into a crisis of death. Our boy gambler.”

“If you sent the operational map, isn’t it because you’re confident?”

Napoleon shook his head.

“No, I don’t think he’d send the operational map for that reason. Huh?”

There were letters written behind the operational map.

Letters written in a child’s hand, still clumsy in handwriting.

The Banquet of Beaucaire [a pro-republican pamphlet written by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1793].

Seeing those letters, Napoleon widened his eyes.

“The Banquet of Beaucaire. Hmm.”

Suddenly, Napoleon looked at Tournay with sharp eyes and asked.

“Maybe you were worried about this letter being 빼앗길까 [stolen]. Huh, didn’t you think of the operational map? You’re still too young to be thorough.”

“Yes? What do you mean, General?”

“Sergeant Tournay. Did your superior, Boarner, say that there was anything else to tell you?”

Tournay, who was blinking his eyes, licked his lips and said.

“Well, I don’t know. Ah, the scenery of Nantes is wonderful, so he said it would be nice to enjoy a banquet with the General.”

At that moment, Napoleon burst into laughter.

Because he realized Eugene’s intention.

The problem is that this Vendée is not a very good battlefield.

But if the gambler Eugene calls him this far, there must be a reason.

But in fact, Napoleon is a real gambler on the battlefield.

“So you’re inviting me like this. Into the mud.”

“General, what do you mean?”

“Junot, write it down. The Marseille Postal Regiment wants to participate in the Battle of Nantes. The recipient is Auguste Robespierre. The receiving place is Paris.”

Napoleon smiled and ordered Junot.

“Now, our boy 기수 [standard-bearer] sent me an invitation. I guess he wasn’t very confident.”

Of course, in fact, Eugene deliberately made the 판 [game/situation].

A 판 [game/situation] solely to highlight Napoleon.

It is also a 판 [game/situation] to fundamentally save this Vendée.

Even if he doesn’t know that far, Napoleon was convinced after seeing the operational map.

Where, what, who attacks, and who can end this 판 [game/situation].

Napoleon shouted, putting on his coat.

“Where, shall we go end the rebellion? Before the news comes from Paris, we’ll 출진한다 [depart]!”

At this moment, Napoleon’s participation in the Vendée battlefield was decided.

The terminator to end the 판 [game/situation] began to 질주하기 [sprint] 900 kilometers.