He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 496

(496) Eugene Wins the Battle of Copenhagen

The moment of truth had arrived.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

In truth, the main force of Eugene’s fleet was the Swedish fleet.

However, even the Swedish fleet wasn’t very familiar with the North Sea.

This was because Sweden considered the Baltic Sea as its own.

One might think the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are the same, but the North Sea is much rougher than the Baltic Sea, which is closer to an inland sea.

Therefore, even the ship of the line Eugene was on couldn’t properly respond in the Danish waters where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea mixed. [A ship of the line was a type of large warship.]

It was no wonder that the faces of Eugene’s closest aides turned ashen.

The person feeling the greatest responsibility among them was naturally the naval general.

Nikolai Shirkuv urgently reported to Eugene.

“Your Majesty, you must take a fast ship.”

“Leave the ship?”

“This ship isn’t even Your Majesty’s! Moreover, Your Majesty’s survival is the most important thing!”

With a very calm face, Eugene retorted on the swaying ship.

“Then, are you saying that our Fourth Army soldiers on the transport ships behind us should all die?”

The Grande Armée’s Fourth Corps, originally part of the French Imperial Army but currently under the command of the Spanish King.

The army that killed the Tsar in the last Battle of Borodino.

It was also the most unfortunate army to return by sea with Eugene.

However, they were currently being transported on small transport ships behind the fleet of ships of the line.

If Eugene fled here, they would all become prey for the British fleet.

“You shouldn’t have come by sea in the first place!”

“Nikolai, that’s not like a sea man to say.”

“I have never disobeyed Your Majesty’s orders. Not since Your Majesty was just a child!”

Nikolai Shirkuv originally met Eugene as a captain and shipowner.

At that time, Eugene was heading to Martinique to save his mother, Josephine, at a young age.

It was also Nikolai’s first time crossing the Atlantic as a captain.

Afterward, he was in charge of smuggling at the Boarneh Trading Company, rejoined the navy, and accompanied Eugene on his naval journey.

During those years, he had never once disobeyed Eugene’s orders.

“But now is different. You have brought an enemy you cannot defeat to a battlefield you cannot win, to a sea you cannot conquer!”

Nikolai knew well that Eugene had accomplished seemingly impossible things.

Because Nikolai was the one who actually implemented Eugene’s orders at sea.

But now, Eugene was trying to do something that even Nikolai considered impossible.

Suddenly, Ippolito stood next to Eugene with a determined face and said.

“Then, I will wear the King’s clothes.”

“Are you suddenly dreaming of treason?”

“Not that! I’ll die instead! On this ship!”

Ippolito also shouted desperately.

“Anyway, the King must survive to at least avenge us!”

In short, he was telling him to escape from this ship.

Normally, one would be moved by such loyalty, but Eugene was a bit dumbfounded.

Come to think of it, they had both been fighting together for 20 years since the Great Revolution. [Likely referring to the French Revolution.]

Did they not know Eugene that well?

“Ippolito, there are three things wrong with what you said.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not even going to avenge us? How petty. Wait, am I the only one who slept with Hortense? Do you think Hortense is such a chaste woman?”

“Shut up if you don’t want to be buried in the North Sea. First of all, have you ever seen me deliberately jump into a dangerous situation?”

Eugene rebuked him before Hortense’s bedroom secrets were revealed to the world.

Then, Ippolito blinked.

In fact, Eugene had done many seemingly dangerous things.

But all of them, in retrospect, were not dangerous places.

“No, well, you’ve had quite a few adventures so far, but.”

Eugene nodded lightly and continued.

“Secondly, do you think I came here without knowing the British Navy would come?”

“You knew? Then is this perhaps a suicide attack?”

“It means I have countermeasures. Lastly, one more thing.”

From the beginning, Eugene expected the British fleet to come.

He wasn’t sure that Sydney Smith would lead the fleet, but it was still within his expectations.

Anyway, now that Nelson was dead, the best of the British fleet was ultimately Sydney.

But if they knew Eugene was coming to the North Sea, Britain was likely to send Sydney to snipe him.

However, the real reason Eugene was so calm in this place where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea mixed, off the coast of Copenhagen, was different.

“Do you think only Shirkuv, the Danish fleet, and the Swedish fleet are here?”

Shirkuv and Ippolito both blinked.

They couldn’t remember if anyone else was with them.

Suddenly, the sound of waves crashing was heard.

-Swoosh!

Only then did Shirkuv realize that another fleet was with them.

But what would change even if they joined?

Unable to hide his momentary embarrassment, Shirkuv asked.

“Admiral Pyotr Petrovich Ushakov? But, Your Majesty, even if he is the best in the Black Sea.”

Pyotr Ushakov, Russia’s best fleet admiral.

But even the best in Russia mainly operated in the Black Sea.

The waters of the North Sea were naturally unfamiliar to Ushakov as well.

Shirkuv couldn’t understand why Eugene was so calm.

Suddenly, Eugene leaned lightly against the cabin and replied.

“The best has his own ways, Shirkuv. Watch and learn.”

The next moment, an explosion occurred.

-Whoosh, Bang!

The Russian ship of the line exploded, engulfing the British fleet of ships of the line.

***

Before the explosion occurred, this is what happened on the Russian ship of the line, Ekaterina.

“Admiral, why should our Russian fleet work so hard for the French?”

Vice Admiral Dmitry Nikolaevich Senyavin asked.

However, Ushakov stared ahead instead of looking at Senyavin.

Certainly, the British fleet was very skilled at operating ships of the line even in the North Sea.

If it continued like this, the Danish and Swedish allied fleets would be annihilated.

Ushakov opened his mouth, lightly signaling the fleet with hand signals.

“Captain Senyavin, Russia is gone now.”

“Your, Your Excellency.”

“What remains are the Kingdom of Saint Petersburg, the Kingdom of Moscow, the Kingdom of Vladimir, and the Kingdom of Siberia. Oh, was there also a Grand Duchy?”

Ushakov muttered sarcastically.

It was a bit different from the current situation, but it didn’t matter anyway.

What mattered was that Russia had been split into 4 kingdoms and 12 grand duchies.

“In this situation, what do you think we can expect?”

“Isn’t it to assassinate the wicked King Eugene who divided Russia?”

“Not at all.”

Ushakov asserted to the vice admiral, who spoke very rebelliously.

“Rather, it is to become a member of the French Empire.”

Ushakov had been loyal to Russia and had won victories.

But now he was saying that he had to return to France.

Vice Admiral Senyavin couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

“Admiral! Aren’t you a proud Russian?”

“Unlike you, I am just a commoner. If France accepts me, I will gladly fight as a French admiral. But, are you different from me?”

“What do you mean?”

In fact, Senyavin was a member of a prestigious aristocratic family that had produced admirals for generations.

On the other hand, Ushakov was famous as the best admiral of his time, but none of his ancestors could be identified as nobles.

He had been greatly discriminated against in Russia, which was a staunchly hierarchical society.

But the empire had perished.

“Now that the Russian Empire has disappeared, does the old aristocracy have any meaning?”

Of course, Eugene created the Duma. [A Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.]

Also, the nobles rule their respective territories.

But Senyavin also knew what Ushakov was talking about.

The nobles of the Russian Empire, which was a great empire, were different from the nobles of the kingdoms or principalities that had been completely torn apart from Russia.

“We must adapt to the new era. The first step is to throw the British into the sea today.”

“Ha, that will work out well.”

“It will. Watch.”

Ushakov pointed to the results of the orders he had just given to Senyavin, who was sneering again.

“It’s a suicide attack using our old ships of the line as bait.”

Senyavin turned his gaze and widened his eyes.

Whether on land or sea, the characteristics of Russian soldiers are the same.

When an order is given, they must follow it.

Even if it is an order that requires them to risk death.

The soldiers set fire to the gunpowder depot of the ship of the line that had come to the fore and then disengaged.

-Kwaaang! Kwaaang! Kwaaang!

Not just old fire ships, but ships of the line were self-destructing.

How much money and labor had been spent to build those ships?

With a dumbfounded face, Senyavin grabbed Ushakov by the collar.

“You’re really crazy. Those are ships filled with the blood and sweat of the Russian people!”

“So, when you drove those ships, did you drive them thinking about those people? That’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

“Admiral!”

However, Ushakov stared back at Senyavin with cold eyes.

“Wake up. Now, the lord we must serve is the man with the Tsar there, the next Emperor of France!”

It was not yet a legally accurate expression.

However, the attitude of the French Imperial Army towards Eugene had changed since the Russian expedition.

No matter what Napoleon said, the number one contributor to killing the Tsar was Eugene.

Also, the one closest to the next emperor.

Then, Senyavin, who was grinding his teeth, smiled.

“That next emperor is doing crazy things right now.”

Ushakov turned his head and widened his eyes.

“Something, that, what on earth!”

At the head of the Swedish fleet, Eugene’s flagship was rushing forward.

***

Of course, that was where the ships of the line were exploding.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was an era when gunpowder dominated naval battles.

But ships were still made of wood.

Therefore, once a fire started, even a huge ship of the line would burn so miserably.

A man stood on the ship Invincible, soon to be the Invincible, from which the crew had already disembarked, with a pale face.

The man’s name was Sydney Smith.

On the approaching ship was the young man Sydney had been waiting for.

Sydney said with a smile.

“Freischütz, that’s really amazing. To use 10 ships of the line as suicide ships!”

“Originally, waste is the tradition of the French monarchy.”

“Is this how our battle ends? Hahaha!”

The young man, Eugene, looked at Sydney and asked.

“Are you not thinking of changing your nationality to French?”

Instantly, Sydney glared.

“Don’t be ridiculous and shoot! Do you think Ball and Berry are playing around?”

“Then isn’t that advantageous to England?”

“What was important to me was that I beat you! If that’s not possible!”

Sydney shouted the philosophy of life that he had adhered to throughout his life.

Whether it was England, his country, or whatever, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was what Sydney wanted, that itself.

What if you can’t catch the prey you want?

Then, no one should have it.

“No one should win. That’s how it should be, my Freischütz. Hehehe!”

Eugene stared at Sydney.

In fact, it might have been better if it had been like this when he met Nelson.

However, at that time, Eugene was too furious at the death of Admiral Brueys.

Also, either way, he would have had to kill him in the end, just like now.

A pistol was in Freischütz’s hand. [Freischütz is German for “free shooter” or “marksman”, and in this context, it’s likely a reference to a legendary marksman or a term of endearment.]

-Bang!

The shooter fired a magic bullet, knocking the British admiral down.

Into the North Sea.

It was the day Eugene won the Battle of Copenhagen.