He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 52

(51) Eugene Ends the War with a Megaphone

No matter how large an army, the moment its morale breaks, it becomes nothing more than a crowd.

-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire that sounded continuous.

Sudden artillery fire from the rear.

The moment an unidentified enemy appeared, the 100,000-strong Royalist army dissolved.

“Fight the enemy! Don’t run away!”

Rochejaquelein shouted, his voice raw with desperation.

However, even Stofflet, the general who had been rushing across the Loire River from afar, was showing clear signs of defeat.

The Royalist army could no longer hold out and was screaming and running away.

Only Rochejaquelein and Lescure, along with their 3,000 direct troops and women, remained at the command post, distraught.

Suddenly, Lescure grabbed Rochejaquelein’s arm.

“It’s all over, Rochejaquelein.”

“Lescure, we can’t retreat like this. Nantes is just around the corner!”

“In this situation, the priority is to preserve our forces. We must retreat!”

At Lescure’s urgent words, Rochejaquelein asked blankly.

“Where to? The rear is ablaze.”

The fire that had erupted at the beginning was already consuming the Machecoul Forest and its surroundings.

-Whoosh!

The retreat route was blocked.

The only way out was to break through the 30,000 Vendée suppression troops in front.

Or they had to cross the Loire River, but there was no one among the remaining soldiers who had the skill to build a pontoon bridge.

Even if there were, there was no chance the enemy would wait until the bridge was built.

Clenching his teeth, Lescure, who was older, shouted.

“First, let’s form a line. Let’s kill as many as we can before we die!”

At Lescure’s cry, the 3,000 Vendée Royalist rebels who remained at the command post fiercely grabbed their weapons.

There were even young soldiers hoarding the last of the gunpowder to load their guns.

A desperate fight, literally prepared to die.

Conversely, there were those who watched Napoleon’s Special Regiment of Bluecoats, or Cielcoats [soldiers known for their blue coats].

“Are those just 1,000 soldiers?”

Kléber said in surprise, watching the forces of Napoleon’s Legion appear through the lines.

It was a battlefield that would be difficult to subdue even with a division.

They had brought the right troops at the right time, unleashed the right attack, and created a dramatic effect.

Watching the approaching Napoleon Regiment, Kléber lamented.

“100,000 have been subdued by 1,000.”

“Commander, our 30,000 suppression troops were already fighting. They just came at the end!”

“Could you have done that, General Lécuyer?”

Kléber clicked his tongue at Deputy Commander Lécuyer, who claimed it was just a ‘last hit’.

Lécuyer couldn’t say anything.

Suddenly, as if reminded of something, Kléber asked Marceau, who had returned to headquarters.

“Marceau, you’re from the Marseille headquarters. Who is that general? What kind of person is he to create such a result?”

Kléber didn’t know it, but this question was one that another of Napoleon’s adjutants had heard before.

It was the question Junot’s father had asked Junot after the recapture of Toulon.

Who is that unheard-of young general, Bonaparte?

What kind of person is he to have achieved such an amazing feat?

With the same admiration that Junot had expressed, Marceau looked at the Bluecoat soldiers and replied.

“General Napoleon Bonaparte, a soldier who will revolutionize the world.”

Suddenly, the Bluecoat soldiers fired at the White Royalist army.

-Bang!

It was a shot that was tearing down the old era.

***

The standard-bearer who had been waiting for Napoleon more than anyone else raced across the battlefield.

-Dudududu!

Until now, Eugene had taken many gambles.

Combining his past and present lives, he had probably done it over a hundred times.

But no gamble, contest, or crisis had ever made Eugene’s heart beat like this.

He came.

Napoleon.

“General!”

Napoleon, who was commanding the Bluecoat soldiers, hurriedly moved the shooters out of the way and greeted Eugene.

“So, I see you again here, young standard-bearer. Oh, is that the pure-hearted Marceau too?”

“How did you get here? My God!”

“Our young standard-bearer called me. With the hint in this letter.”

Looking at Napoleon, who was waving the letter and smiling brightly, Eugene felt his heart swell.

“You really came.”

He understood.

Eugene’s hint, and even that now was an opportunity for Napoleon.

Suddenly, Napoleon looked at Eugene with sparkling eyes and asked.

“I never intend to miss such a crucial moment. So, young standard-bearer. You’ve set the stage, so you must have a plan, right?”

“Yes? What plan?”

“A plan to deal with the enemy.”

It was as if he had left all the thinking to Eugene.

In fact, Napoleon wouldn’t have come without any thoughts.

However, he was curious about Eugene’s thoughts, qualities, and abilities in creating this situation.

Napoleon glanced at the Machecoul Forest, where the Royalist army was, and said.

“In the end, if it goes on like that, we’ll have to suppress them with a melee. Should we just crush their last struggle? The cannons we brought from Bordeaux are now out of gunpowder.”

Of course, Napoleon wouldn’t have come with that in mind.

Napoleon must have had a completely different solution in mind.

He just hadn’t made a decision yet.

Eugene spoke of the solution that Napoleon must have also considered.

“Your decision is needed, General.”

“What is it?”

“Whether to embrace the Royalists or kill them all.”

Napoleon, who had been quietly looking at Eugene, shrugged his shoulders as if embarrassed.

“The Revolutionary Government would want all bandits to be killed. Are you telling me to break that order?”

However, if he had no thoughts at all, Napoleon wouldn’t have come to Vendée.

In the original history, Napoleon even refused the Revolutionary Government’s order to suppress Vendée.

The quagmire was not to Napoleon’s liking.

Conversely, the fact that he came here meant that he had made a decision in his heart.

Eugene ignited the fire towards Napoleon, who was still a 24-year-old youth.

“If you want to create Bonaparte’s believers here, then yes.”

Napoleon turned his gaze to the Machecoul Forest.

Amid the flickering flames, there were 100,000 people screaming and running away.

Of those, only about 10,000 remained to fight.

Furthermore, those in the rebel command in the center were about 3,000 soldiers and several hundred women.

They were clearly defeated soldiers that he didn’t feel like killing.

Looking at the 100,000 fleeing, Napoleon nodded heavily.

“Paris won’t like it. But if we crush them like this, we’ll have to kill all 100,000 of them, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Becoming the slaughterer of Vendée, or incurring the wrath of Paris. This, this.”

Suddenly, Napoleon twisted his lips and flashed his eyes.

“I feel like I’ve been dragged into a gambling game too. Okay, I won’t become a slaughterer today, even if I die tomorrow. I don’t want to bear that criticism. But do you have a plan to make them surrender?”

In this era, those who become soldiers are usually one of two types.

Those who want to protect themselves and only follow orders, or those who want to advance in their careers and seek achievements.

But sometimes there are those who dream of something more.

Those who dream of becoming heroes who will remain in history.

That was the case with the skinny young general Napoleon, who had devoured [Heroic Tales] since he was very young.

Also, Eugene was the one who had met that Napoleon in his previous life through ‘Heroic Tales’.

Eugene nodded greatly and replied.

He had a method in mind.

“Let’s use a simple megaphone.”

“Megaphone? What’s that?”

“It’s a simple tool that amplifies sound. Hippolyte!”

Eugene snapped his fingers and ordered his adjutant.

“Bring that thing you made in Luzon.”

At the sudden order, Hippolyte shouted in dismay.

“No, how am I supposed to know where that is on this battlefield?”

“It’s in the main supply wagon. Where our unit’s mark is.”

“Good heavens, you want me to run all the way there and back now? Does it have to be?”

At that moment, Eugene flashed an unusually cold look in his eyes and urged in a low voice.

“If you don’t want to kill 100,000 people, go get it.”

Hippolyte clicked his tongue as he looked at the fleeing crowd in the flames.

“You really have a weird way of threatening people! I understand, gambler little standard-bearer!”

Eugene had gained another strange nickname.

***

In fact, the megaphone itself was already an item that had come out in the 17th century, even without an electric megaphone.

“Megaphone? What on earth is he going to do with that?”

Fouché tilted his head, watching Hippolyte lead the soldiers and bring back a ‘funnel’ that was covered in scratches.

The famous megaphone in modern history is, of course, the [megaphone], that is, the electric megaphone.

But originally, a megaphone is something that can be used even without electricity.

The principle of collecting and spreading sound is sufficient even with a cone shape.

So the principle itself has been known since ancient Greece.

Also, a proper megaphone was made in the 17th century by Sir Samuel Morland of England.

It was not a commonly used item, but Fouché, who was engrossed in collecting information, knew that much.

He just didn’t know how to use this megaphone.

At that time, Commander Lecointre shouted in surprise when he discovered Fouché and the Bordeaux defense force approaching the headquarters.

“No, who are you!”

“Ah, there’s no need to be alarmed. I’m Joseph Fouché, a dispatched member of Bordeaux.”

“Bordeaux? Good heavens, you’re the ones who brought the cannons!”

Only then did Kléber, Lecointre, and Lécuyer learn the secret of the cannons.

But even so, Napoleon’s idea of bringing the cannons was amazing.

Just as Kléber was shaking his head, Fouché smiled and asked.

“By the way, do you happen to know what that ‘financial prodigy’ is trying to do? Commander?”

Kléber, who blinked, not knowing who he was talking about, turned to Eugene and raised his eyebrows.

“Financial prodigy? I only knew that friend was the standard-bearer of Toulon.”

“He’s one of the most famous people in Paris. He’s also a friend who dared to oppose Robespierre’s will and saved the Queen.”

“Saved the Queen? That boy?”

Fouché parted his thin lips and said with a sneer.

“Didn’t you know? When you know it, the most dangerous element in this army is that boy. Commander.”

Kléber, Lécuyer, and Lecointre were once again shocked.

The knight of the princess who saved the Queen.

The three generals were so engrossed in the war that they didn’t know that rumor.

However, they naturally knew how much Marie Antoinette had been infamous before the revolution.

That Eugene saved the Queen meant, conversely, that he was a person of interest in Paris.

But rather, Fouché, who would be a revolutionary member, said it as a joke.

Just as Kléber was staggering with a dizzying feeling of confusion.

Suddenly, the sound of Eugene shouting with a megaphone was heard.

“Listen, rebels of Vendée!”

At that moment, 100 people shouted together with megaphones.

-Listen! Listen! Listen!

The megaphone has the effect of collecting and spreading sound even without amplifying it with electricity.

But when 100 people shouted with 100 megaphones, sound waves spread out like waves.

The sound reached the command post, breaking through all kinds of noise.

The 100,000 people stopped buzzing, and the revolutionary army, which had been stabbing the enemy with bayonets, also stopped.

In the flames, the gunfire ceased.

“What, what is it?”

“Oh, the sound is loud. It’s like they’re singing together.”

“What on earth is that principle?”

But instead of explaining, Eugene shouted with all his might.

“Here, the one who protected Queen Marie Antoinette! The knight of the princess has come!”

Eugene’s voice was small, but the voices of 100 men were magnificent.

-He has come! He has come! He has come!

One person is small and weak.

But when 100 people gather, the sound can be heard by 100,000 people.

One hundred people cannot defeat 100,000, but at least they can deliver a message to 100,000 people.

Now Eugene was talking to the Royalists using the Queen’s ‘infamy’ or ‘prominence’.

“The knight of the princess promises! Those who lay down their weapons and surrender will surely be spared! But if you don’t surrender by sunset today, you will all die!”

100 people shouted as if singing in unison.

Repeatedly, constantly, until their strength was exhausted.

Eugene stopped, panting.

Hippolyte wiped his sweat and asked.

“Will they surrender?”

That sweat could have become blood.

Conversely, if this sweat could make them shed a little less blood, he would gladly shed it.

Eugene, likewise panting and sweating, replied.

“If Rochejaquelein is sane.”

Already most of the 100,000 people had scattered.

Only the command post, including 3,000, was gathered.

Then Colonel Thureau, who was watching the front with a telescope, shouted.

“Oh, he’s coming out!”

A young man wearing a stained white dress, the white uniform that was the symbol of the Royalists, came out alone and asked.

“Are you the knight of the princess?”

Even without the notification of the White Silver Text, he could tell.

That man was the commander-in-chief and symbol of the Royalists.

Rochejaquelein.

Eugene looked at Rochejaquelein and nodded.

“Yes, I am Eugene de Beauharnais, the Viscount, the knight of Princess Marie Charlotte.”

“I’ve heard of you. Thank you for saving Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Unfortunately, I could not protect the honor of the Crown Prince Louis.”

Suddenly smiling bitterly, Rochejaquelein knelt down.

“I surrender. If possible, I hope it ends with my life alone.”

At that moment, all 3,000 of the Vendée Royalist rebels’ core surrendered.

The entire 100,000 rebels were scattering.

November 23, 1793.

It was the moment the Vendée rebellion ended.

Seven years faster than in the original history.

It was the moment Eugene became the terminator of the Vendée civil war.