Dominate the Country

Napoleon had arrived in Nice, having left Paris on the third day of his wedding.

The long-lost freedom and the burning ambition in his heart made him look so impatient.

Before coming to Nice, he also very carefully implemented Louis Alexander Berthier, the chief of staff of the Italian Legion. A forty-two-year-old Army brigadier general.

In his early life he was a draftsman and served as a staff officer in the American Revolutionary War. He had been promoted only a year earlier to serve as chief of staff to General Klermann, commander of the Italian Army. At his insistence, the French army occupied the Borgetto line, which temporarily stopped the enemy's attack.

Berthier knew the Maritime Alps like the back of his hand. He is very diligent and careful, and he can accompany the general in any search and observation without delaying the handling of daily official duties. When he is not suitable for leading troops alone, he lacks decisiveness and is not suitable for independent command work. But this does not delay that he has all the qualities of an excellent chief of staff. As an engineer, he is good at reading maps, understands all search methods, can judge the characteristics of terrain very sharply, and is good at reporting the most complex military operations in concise language; he is experienced and very resourceful, and knows where to give orders during battles , and can personally supervise the execution of these orders; on the battlefield, he can always issue orders accurately. He is extremely expert in the most complex troop dispatching, allowing the army to operate smoothly.

Berthier was indispensable for the reason why the previous Italian Legion could be maintained under such difficult conditions.

Such a conscientious and responsible chief of staff who lacks decisiveness is undoubtedly the most ideal chief of staff for Napoleon, who is strong and often makes decisions alone.

In the introduction of the Office in Europe, Berthier is a qualified and talented chief of staff. The combination of Napoleon's commanding ability and Berthier's diligence and carefulness is very likely to make them the best partners on the battlefield. .

Therefore, Napoleon, who had great trust in the European Office, raised Berthier's military rank by another level a year later and became an Army Major General.

In addition to Berthier as his partner, Napoleon also selected two adjutants. One was the old army he had recruited before - Captain Marmont, a young artillery officer selected during the Battle of Toulon. The other was of course his loyal friend. and his subordinate Captain Juno. In addition, he took Murat and his younger brother Louis with him.

Napoleon and his party hurried to Nice, the headquarters of the Italian Army, and established their headquarters here. Three days later, Napoleon reviewed his troops, and then he saw an army that was indistinguishable from the military style and appearance described to him by the Office in Europe.

This is really an army of beggars whose material life is extremely poor. On the night before Napoleon's arrival, a battalion collapsed because they had no boots to wear.

Refusal to carry out an order to transfer to another area. The hungry army robbed and stole everywhere, and resistance and desertion occurred from time to time. Not only did it have a very bad impact on Nice, but its own morale was also very low.

The first thing Napoleon had to do was to immediately start rectifying military discipline.

Before the "support" promised by the Chinese has been delivered, he cannot remain indifferent to everything, and he cannot place all his hopes on the Chinese.

According to the Office in Europe, there is a certain possibility that the support will not reach Nice. Because of the Spaniards and the British.

What Napoleon should rely on and believe in is himself!

But it was not easy for Napoleon, who was only 27 years old, to control this army. The officers here only obeyed older or more meritorious officers, and did not pay any attention to the young commander in front of them who was short, slovenly, spoke with an unpleasant Corsican accent, and was not very famous. They often quarreled with Napoleon and even slandered Napoleon's reputation behind his back. Because Napoleon's rise relied on the strong support of Barras, and at the same time, his newly married wife was considered by many to be Barras's mistress, so many people said that Napoleon's newlywed wife is now lying in Barras's bed. On the bed.

Such rumors would greatly damage Napoleon's majesty in the military. But Napoleon did not admit defeat. During a fierce quarrel, he once looked up at the very tall General Charles Augereau and said: "General, you are just a head taller than me, but if you are rude to me, If you do, I will eliminate this difference immediately." Napoleon could not tolerate any ideas that opposed him in his army. Anyone who dared to oppose him, regardless of his position, must move his head. This is the principle he has always adhered to.

Of course, Napoleon also clearly realized that if he wanted to truly enforce military discipline and stop theft, simply shooting some people would not help. He must ensure that his troops had clothes and shoes to wear.

Napoleon could quietly wait for the Chinese to deliver the military supplies he desperately needed, even if he didn't want to. As he has said before, he will not place all his expectations on outsiders, even the Chinese in the European Office, whom he trusts very much.

And to be honest, he prefers to rely on his own ability to get the Italian Legion out of its current embarrassing predicament. He is really unwilling to expose his close ties with the Chinese.

He even wanted to encourage soldiers to use force to obtain from the enemy as soon as possible instead of waiting for the supply from the 'government'.

After the liaison officer of the European Office in Europe finalized the final date, a bold plan was quickly made there to break through the Italian passage and turn the enemy's most fertile area into a battlefield. At the military meeting of the headquarters, he delivered a highly inflammatory mobilization speech. He said: "Generals, and the soldiers under your command, you are short of food and clothing. The Republic owes you a lot, but the country does not yet have the power to guarantee the supply of all the troops. We cannot pin our hopes on Paris; With our own hands, I will lead you into the richest plains of Italy.

When your military boots step on the fertile land and wealthy towns and villages of Piedmont, everything is at your disposal. Generals, facing this prospect, can you not muster up the courage to persevere? Lead your soldiers, loyal guards of the revolutionary government, to change all the predicaments. "

This was probably the first time Napoleon spoke to his men. The commanders of the Italian Legion, whose morale was increasingly low, were not immediately filled with hope and confidence after listening to the speech of the young and fearless leader. The extreme lack of material conditions left them unable to lift their spirits.

…

"Report to the Commander, the Italian Army currently has 41,300 people, currently has 35,600 long guns, 32,500 have been issued, and 3,100 are in stock; there are actually 5,500 short guns, 4,200 have been issued, and 1,300 are in stock; there are actually various 12-pound, A total of 40 9-pound artillery pieces, cavalry cannons and mortars were issued, with no inventory; there was actual gunpowder..."

"... In terms of finance, the division currently has 300 livres and 50,000 livres in coupons. There are no gold or silver coins..."

Napoleon still remembers the situation when Berthier reported to him on the day he arrived in Nice. The entire Italian Army actually had only 500 rockets left, and most of them were light.

All the legions have on their books are damn coupons, and Lifre only has 300, which is not as much as Murat's personal belongings in a super large vase. ——After Napoleon's personal financial situation improved, among the people he won over, Murat was the one who spent the most.

After the Directory withdrew the Maximum Price Action Act, although the notes were still the legal tender of the Republic - the French government went bankrupt in 1790. In order to get rid of its financial difficulties, the new French government confiscated a large amount of church property and Confiscated, and from then on issued bonds in the form of bonds. These bonds have been successful in significantly reducing public debt as they have evolved into a form of fiat currency. However, the French government did not realize this and continued to issue them as bonds on a large scale. Since 1792, most of these banknotes had lost their face value, which directly led to hyperinflation.

Even in the distant city of Nanjing, Chen Ming knew about the existence of this thing. Therefore, it is impossible for the French to repay the loan, but they have not yet neatly transferred the ownership of the five unarmed colonies in India to China.

In the eyes of Emperor Chen, the finger coupons were probably comparable to the gold and silver dollar rolls issued by the Guo Party in mainland China in 1948. Zhu Ming's treasure notes were not as valuable as them. Complete useless garbage.

In 1794, due to the continuous war and blockade in France, domestic living materials were severely lacking. As inflationary pressure continued to increase with rising prices, the value of the index fell to 0.35% of the face value. The actual value of the fifty thousand livres certificate is only 175 livres.

The more than 40,000 troops only had a military expenditure of less than 500 livres, and the Red Army was not as miserable as them.

There are also grain reserves, and there are less than 200,000 French pounds of wheat left in the warehouse at the Legion headquarters. This amount of food can only normally supply the entire legion's more than 40,000 officers and soldiers for four days. Of course, each division also has some military food reserves. But the lack of supplies of the Italian Legion undoubtedly reached the point of abject poverty.

Napoleon is now preparing to march into Italy while waiting for the arrival of the Chinese. He planned to lead his army across the Alps from the famous "natural danger" of the coastal mountains of the Alps. Although the British fleet patrolling the coast continued to bombard them with artillery fire.

But Piedmont is his strategic target. If he doesn't capture it, everything he said in Paris will be nonsense. At this time, there were two armies stationed in Piedmont, one was the Austrian army led by Marshal John Peter Beaulieu, and the other was the Sardinian army led by Colli, with a total of 80,000 people and powerful equipment. cavalry and overwhelming artillery.

Napoleon's army was only half that of the enemy, and there was a serious shortage of artillery and cavalry.

Faced with the huge disparity between the enemy's and our own forces, Napoleon did not feel depressed. He believed with great confidence that rapid mobilization of troops could make up for the lack of numbers; flexibility could make up for the lack of artillery; and choosing appropriate positions could make up for the lack of cavalry.

Based on his familiarity with the terrain of the area, Napoleon quickly made a judgment: a wedge-shaped mountain area near Montenotte was the weak point of the Austrian-Sardinian coalition position. So he planned to concentrate his forces to attack the enemy first from here, cut off the Austrian and Sardinian armies, and thus gain the initiative from the beginning. He planned to divide the troops into three parts: the vanguard of 19,000 people, commanded by Major General Massena, who was crazy about money and women, would defend Montenotte and Dego to block the Austrian army. The main force of 12,000 people, commanded by Major General Augereau, would attack Cheva from the west. The left guard of 10,000 people, commanded by Major General Jean-Mathieu Sérurier, would attack Cheva from the south. The purpose of this deployment was to defeat the Sardinian army in Cheva and its vicinity first, and then deal with the Austrians.

While Napoleon was waiting for the Chinese to help, he had already finalized the next combat strategy with the cooperation of his chief of staff Berthier.

However, neither Napoleon nor Zhu Fu, or the heads of the European Office, expected that just as Zhu Fu led the fleet to Nice, in just a few days, an unexpected incident almost disrupted Napoleon's deployment.

"The Directors of the Directory are a bunch of pigs!"

"They are so stupid that even God will laugh at them."

It turned out that the Paris Directory had sent people to Genoa to borrow money due to a shortage of financial resources, but was rejected by the Genoese. The Directory decided to put pressure on the Genoese to force them to agree to the loan. So the Directory ordered the army defending Savona to advance to Voltri, which is only 10 kilometers away from Genoa.

- Genoa is Italy's traditional commercial center and trading port, almost the second largest port on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille.

This action of the French army shocked the Austrian army. They mistakenly believed that the French were going to march into Genoa, so they hurriedly urged Marshal Beaulieu to lead his troops to quickly go south to reinforce Genoa. Napoleon was very annoyed by this sudden unexpected change, because it not only disrupted his entire plan, but also destroyed Genoa's neutral status, causing the French expeditionary force to lose an important supply port. However, Napoleon soon discovered that Genoa could attract a large number of Austrian troops, thereby distracting the Piedmont enemy's troops and attention, which was beneficial to the implementation of his battle plan.

But before that, he had to wait for the Chinese to arrive.

The Italian Legion couldn't even afford a full set of muskets, let alone cannons and rockets.

Today's world is different from the original time and space plane. Fighting offensive and defensive battles does not necessarily rely entirely on rockets, but it is not possible without them. When crossing the Alps alone, the harassment of British warships must be guaranteed by enough rockets.

Four or five hundred rockets are really not enough.

...

A sail emerged from the blue sea.

This is the lead ship of Zhu Fu's fleet-a thousand-ton clipper ship.

Like a sharp arrow, it flew across the sea.

After eleven days of sailing, Zhu Fu's fleet finally arrived at Nice, the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes, a coastal city in the southeast corner of France, after leaving the Strait of Gibraltar.