He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 500

(500) Eugene Arrives in Leipzig

Though the 19th century marks the beginning of the modern era, battles are still largely decided by engagements.

– Thud, thud, thud!

Even this moment, as cavalry charges across the plains, is ultimately the same.

Because there are no radars, reconnaissance planes, or telegraphs.

The enemy appears from unexpected places, and you fight them head-on. The way the battle unfolds depends on who spots the enemy first.

Therefore, even in a surprise attack, if you counterattack first, it becomes your own surprise attack.

That’s why Napoleon ordered Murat to lead a risky charge.

“Let’s go, west! To where the enemies await!”

Murat shouted loudly.

Immediately, cavalrymen from Gascony followed Murat’s lead and charged.

Hussars [light cavalry known for their flamboyant uniforms and daring charges].

These light cavalrymen, or saber cavalrymen, threw away their rifles, carrying only a pistol and a saber as they rode.

“We only die once, why die twice!”

“Better to die on the battlefield than freeze to death in the frozen lands!”

“Let’s die swinging our swords! Charge!”

In this age of gunpowder, an unlikely barrage from a cold weapon unit ensued.

– Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The British cuirassiers [heavy cavalry equipped with armor], who should have been their opponents, had no time to react.

They charged too quickly and recklessly.

Moreover, the British forces here were not their main force.

The commander of the British heavy cavalry, Colonel Albrecht von Estorff, quickly retreated.

Murat instinctively seized the opportunity.

“Charge! Break the enemy cavalry lines!”

However, someone on the opposite side saw the same opportunity.

“Now is the chance! Radetzky, capture the Emperor!”

King Karl of Hungary, the supreme commander of the Allied forces.

Karl had been suffering from increasingly severe epilepsy, mostly remaining seated.

Even on the battlefield, he couldn’t ride to the front lines, relying mainly on reports from the rear.

But at this moment, Karl stood on his own two feet.

Like in his younger days, when he resisted the flames of the Great Revolution with all his might.

His eyes gleamed with fire, and his once lifeless body was taut.

Karl, who seemed as though he would be rooted in Leipzig forever, began to move.

At the King’s command, Hungarian Field Marshal Radetzky asked,

“Shall we not fire the cannons?”

“That would be if the British weren’t on this battlefield, and if we didn’t need to capture the Emperor! Now, we need prisoners, not corpses!”

“Why, ah, I see!”

Radetzky nodded vigorously.

“Because Eugene Freischütz is not on this battlefield!”

Lord Castlereagh of Britain had provided crucial information.

King Eugene of Spain was far away in the North Sea.

Whether they won or lost, it would be difficult for Eugene’s army to reach Leipzig.

Conversely, even if they killed Napoleon, they would still have to face Eugene.

Eugene Freischütz Bonaparte.

What type of general would he be?

In some ways, King Karl rated Eugene higher than Napoleon.

Of course, Eugene would not be able to accomplish the Russian campaign, the perfect dispersal and annihilation at Austerlitz, or even build an empire.

These were ideas that only Napoleon, born defying the world’s norms, could conceive.

However, even if a genius changes the world, it is ultimately built by ordinary people.

Karl muttered as he strode forward.

“Even if we kill Napoleon, if Eugene is there, the French army will be rebuilt. We might even face a counterattack.”

“That’s right. Jena has already proven it.”

“On the other hand, if we capture Napoleon here, we can divide and destroy France.”

A living Napoleon surpasses any French soldier.

Therefore, the best way is to capture Napoleon alive, rather than kill him, to immobilize the French army.

And now, Napoleon has come out on his own.

“Just a little more, just a little more! The moment to capture Napoleon has finally come!”

The Hungarian cavalry charged out.

– Da-da-da!

Hussars originally came from Hungary.

The origin of light cavalry units is the Hungarian irregular cavalry.

Ten thousand light cavalrymen, focusing solely on speed, charged out.

Truly, they seemed poised to engulf the plains of Leipzig.

Soon, line infantry also rushed out of their positions.

430,000, a massive army that the emperors, kings, and lords of the German lands had never gathered on a single battlefield.

The troops, who had been anxiously waiting behind the cannons, surged forward all at once.

“Advance the lines! Exploit the enemy’s confusion!”

“Soldiers of Prussia, the time for revenge has come!”

“Let’s go! Today, we show that Bavaria still lives!”

Karl rode forward on his white horse, shouting.

“The myth of the Grande Armée [Napoleon’s Grand Army] ends here!”

It was too sudden of a shift in offensive.

But it was only sudden for the French army; for the German Confederation, it was a moment they had been waiting and longing for.

For six days.

As the Grande Armée valiantly attempted to break through their lines, the soldiers of the German lands gritted their teeth and endured.

Only for this moment, for the counterattack.

Now, the entire army was surging towards Napoleon and his Imperial Guard.

The time for encirclement and annihilation had come.

Just then.

– Pooo-ooo!

A loud horn sounded from somewhere.

“What is that horn sound?”

“Do they even use horns in the military band these days? That trend is long gone, isn’t it?”

“Could it be the Frenchmen’s taste? Check the enemy lines!”

Hungarian soldiers, Prussian soldiers, and Rhine Confederation soldiers were all bewildered.

No one used horns as instruments in the military band.

Perhaps the Cossacks of distant Russia, who followed nomadic customs, might.

However, the Allied soldiers couldn’t discuss this with each other.

Hungarian, Southern German, and Northern German were all foreign to each other.

Moreover, although less than during the Holy Roman Empire, mercenaries from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Italy were also major components of the forces.

So, they were about to look at each other to see if the sound came from their own side.

The commander of the Hungarian King’s Royal Guard, Rosenberg, who was running at the forefront, shouted.

“Ah, from the north!”

The Leipzig plain also had a horizon to the north.

– Fluttering.

Beyond that horizon, people with feathers in their hair could be seen.

They called themselves Cossacks [East Slavic Orthodox Christians], but in reality, they were familiar with boarding ships, crossing the Black Sea.

The horses they rode were unfamiliar warhorses from foreign lands.

Among the Cossack cavalry, a young man held a rifle.

– Click.

Karl raised a telescope with gold trim to look ahead, then dropped it.

“No way. How is he here? With an army, too.”

“Your Majesty, we need countermeasures. First, we need to identify which army that is.”

“This can’t be. The British said they had him stuck in the North Sea. Huh?”

Of course, Karl didn’t believe it.

But he also thought he wouldn’t be able to come here.

Moreover, there was an even bigger problem.

“Even if that’s not the case, how did he bring an army! Cavalry, no less!”

Horses can’t board ships.

Of course, it would be possible to forcibly create a transport ship, but it wouldn’t be able to cross the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

How could Cossack cavalry be there?

– Thud, thud, thud!

At that moment, the cavalry began to charge from afar.

– Swoosh, bang!

Along with the sound of gunfire.

***

Here, there is Europe’s best marksman.

– Bang!

The pistol in his hand was made in the Pauli armory and decorated by the jewelry artisan Chaumet, a unique firearm.

Silver letters floated in his vision, indicating the enemy’s location, and bullets were loaded like lightning with each shot.

A hunter who has never missed his target.

The marksman’s enemies call him this.

The Marksman of Magic Bullets, Freischütz [a reference to a German folk legend and opera].

– Click, bang!

As the Hungarian hussars charged again, the marksman felled them with a single shot, and the cavalry quickly swarmed around him.

Behind them, a general with flamboyant decorations charged with wild eyes.

He seemed like an enemy, but his uniform was the same black-blue.

A man who was the commander of the Spanish Royal Guard but wore a French marshal’s uniform, Junot, growled.

“Your Majesty! Don’t rush ahead alone!”

“Junot, are you blind? Can’t you see His Imperial Majesty is at the front?”

“No, that’s something Lannes or Bessières should be worried about! Besides!”

Junot shouted towards the marksman, Eugene.

“Isn’t this situation not entirely unfavorable for His Majesty!”

Only then did Eugene, who was riding his horse, look at Junot with a dumbfounded expression.

Junot must have seen the sight of the Emperor leading the Imperial Guard in a charge.

Moreover, the Hungarian hussar cavalry and line infantry were trying to encircle the Emperor.

But Junot was asserting that this situation was by no means unfavorable for Eugene.

Eugene smiled wryly as he looked at Junot, the man who had been discovered by Napoleon in Toulon.

“You’ve changed a lot, Junot.”

“I am, after all, the Duke of the Spanish Kingdom.”

“I’ll keep what you just said a secret, so shut up and take the guard to protect His Imperial Majesty.”

Junot pouted, then narrowed his brows.

“Then, what about Your Majesty?”

Eugene gestured towards Lasalle and replied.

“The enemy has 400,000, so we must strike the center! Hyah!”

At the same time, artillery fire roared loudly.

– Bang! Bang! Bang!

In fact, it was just a terrifying sound that didn’t hit a single enemy.

The army firing the cannons now was neither the French army, nor the Hungarian army, nor the Rhine Confederation, nor even the Prussian army.

It was the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

The one at the forefront was Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, the brother-in-law of the Danish king, who had built his career fighting against Sweden.

However, it was naturally difficult to change the course of the war with the Danish army alone.

The 4th Corps.

The Grande Armée that crossed the Baltic Sea, arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, re-equipped with Danish equipment and horses, and then made a straight dash to Leipzig.

The victorious army of Jena had arrived.

– Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!

Amidst Lasalle’s Imperial Guard, who were hastily following Eugene, Ippolito suddenly rushed forward.

“Isn’t it the principle of cavalry not to charge against a combination of line infantry and artillery?”

“Are you discussing tactics in front of me, Ippolito?”

“No, I just think His Majesty is too excited!”

As Ippolito shouted, leaning close, Eugene chuckled and raised his pistol.

“That’s usually the case, but it’s different if the lines collapse. Besides!”

Suddenly, artillery fire roared loudly in the direction Eugene pointed his pistol.

– Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of cannons fired by the Danish artillery.

But the Danish artillery had never fought in a large-scale battle before.

They lacked gunpowder and rarely trained.

As a result, not a single shot hit, making it virtually a blank shot.

Nevertheless, the sound of the artillery fire startled the horses, or rather, the cavalry.

The ranks of the line infantry, who had been running steadily, collapsed, and the soldiers fled to find their own way to survive.

In fact, the total number of Danish troops was only 40,000, and even with the 4th Corps, it was only 90,000, so the Allied forces were still much larger.

“In a battlefield where they self-destruct like this, even more so! Turn around!”

Eugene and the Spanish King’s Royal Guard simultaneously swept through the battlefield.

Now, it was time to meet the Emperor.

***

Again, the Emperor faced his stepfather, no, his King.

“Your Majesty, I don’t think I ever suggested that you charge directly.”

In the middle of the Leipzig battlefield, Napoleon looked at Eugene and ran to embrace him.

– Whoosh!

Eugene, who was caught off guard on horseback, was taken aback.

“Y-Your Majesty?”

“Eugene, you’ve come! You are the savior of France!”

“No, that’s just because Your Majesty used reckless tactics.”

In fact, he hadn’t seen the entire battlefield, but in Eugene’s view, Napoleon’s response wasn’t bad.

The only problem was that Napoleon got tired of playing the firepower seesaw game and came out first.

Even if Eugene hadn’t come, Napoleon would likely have been safe, albeit with some damage.

However, Napoleon was a master of so-called crowd propaganda.

“Listen, all troops! Today, my son Eugene has saved France!”

In an instant, Murat, who was on a warhorse soaked in fatigue, shouted in response.

“Viva Napoleon! Viva Eugene! Viva Bonaparte!”

The Imperial Guard simultaneously drew their swords and shouted.

– Viva Bonaparte!

The shout spread to the entire Grande Armée.

Eugene felt his heart pounding without realizing it.

A battlefield of killing and being killed.

But they were truly fighting for glory.

Napoleon suddenly slapped Eugene on the shoulder.

“Now, let’s go and behead the leader of the enemies, King Karl of Hungary!”

It was the moment when the Battle of Leipzig was nearing its end.

Along with the encounter between Eugene and Napoleon.