Fox of France

After finishing speaking, Napoleon began to encourage everyone again. He told everyone: "Italy is full of greedy and brutal nobles and priests. Ill-gotten wealth; the latter even collects 11 taxes from the whole of Europe, and sells amulets to accumulate astonishing sinful wealth.

Today, these ill-gotten gains are being used against us because they are afraid of the French revolution, because they are afraid that revolutionary France will become a beacon of democracy and freedom throughout Europe! They are afraid that those people whom they have oppressed for hundreds or even thousands of years and trampled like mud by them, after seeing the light of France, after understanding the rights and future that the French people have won for themselves, will be with the French people Stand up and knock these guys over their heads hard - just like we did in France!

My brothers, this wealth originally belonged to the people, especially the wealth of the priests, and it belonged to the whole of Europe, including the people of France! They should have been used for the freedom and liberation of the European people, but now they are used to suppress the freedom of Europe; Live a good life——can such a thing be allowed to continue?

So, we should go into Italy, confiscate this wealth, and use it where it should be. We will confiscate all the assets of the reactionary nobles and priests, distribute some of them to local civilians to win their support, and the other part, such as gold coins, silver coins and various works of art, will be used to support our military operations Various expenses, as well as rewards for heroes. "

Speaking of this, at least the morale of the officers has risen, because the translation of this sentence is: the wealth that can be taken away will be distributed to everyone. When we come to Italy, we come to drink in big bowls, eat meat in large pieces, Big money, when Robin Hood. As for the morale of the soldiers, the officers present all expressed that as long as the significance of this operation is clearly explained to everyone, everyone will definitely support it. After all, if you go to Italy, you will have meat to eat.

Then came the pre-battle training. New, allegedly embezzled firearms were quickly issued to soldiers.

"They are all rifled guns? Are we going to hunt wild boars in the Alps?" Many soldiers asked this question when they first got the guns. However, after the technicians of the "Bonaparte Research Institute" demonstrated to everyone the usage of this new type of gun with a new type of ammunition, everyone's attitude towards this weapon immediately became "really fragrant".

"It's really a good thing. Anything with the 'Bonaparte' trademark is not bad! Look at the 'Bonaparte Little Melon', and this 'Bonaparte Rifle'—compared with this thing , What the government gave us is completely fire sticks! Why didn't they give us this kind of gun before, but sold it to the Americans?"

"Is it because this gun is more expensive than ordinary guns?" Another soldier speculated.

The "technician" who had been waiting for this sentence for a long time replied immediately: "If you say it is expensive, it is indeed a little more expensive. After all, the gun needs to be rifled, and the bullets are also specially made. If the price we export to the Americans is calculated, it is still expensive." If you add more than 100% profit, it will be really expensive. But I heard that the purchase price of the original guns in your hands is not much lower than the price we quoted to the government. You know, for the sale We always keep our prices low for weapons for our army. Why the government won't buy our guns, we don't know. Maybe they don't believe in such novelties."

"Technical personnel" are required not to directly accuse the government, and can only do limited, invisible guidance. As for the meaning behind, the soldiers are not stupid, so they can understand it naturally.

"Tch, why don't you like novelty things? It's because you didn't stuff them with money! If there is no dirty deal in it, I won't believe it!" A soldier said immediately.

"No matter how expensive it is, how many people can be saved by this thing! For a few dollars, such a good thing is not used for us, let us use that kind of fire stick, let me say, some people in the government now It really deserves to be guillotined."

"Buwei, you can't spread such remarks in the barracks, you must correct your words!" Company Commander Stanislas Naber stepped forward and said. However, his attitude was not tough, because what Private August Bouvet said was actually what he thought.

"Okay, company commander." Bu Wei stretched out his hand and scratched the back of his head and said, "You're right, I've corrected what I just said to say that in the current government, there are still some people who don't need to go to the guillotine."

The soldiers burst into laughter, and even Captain Stanislas Naber laughed too.

"Okay, okay, really... If you didn't have this mouth, you would have been the platoon leader long ago..."

After getting the new weapons, Napoleon immediately organized the army to carry out some more targeted training, for example, firing salvos at targets 400 yards away; Category. Napoleon has always been committed to increasing the proportion of skirmishers in the army, which made it relatively smooth for his army to accept this weapon.

After nearly a month of preparation, Napoleon and his army began to turn west and head for Italy.

One month later, in November 1795, Joseph received the first battle report from Napoleon. Did Napoleon lead the army across the Alps in the snow, entered Piedmont, and fought with the Austrians there, And there was a contact war with the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

In order to be able to cross the Alps in the snow, Napoleon dropped almost all the artillery over six pounds. However, the action of crossing the Alps in winter was indeed completely beyond the expectations of the Austrians and Italians.

In the original history, when Napoleon crossed the Alps a few months later, that is, in April 1796, the Kingdom of Austria and Sardinia had prepared an army of 80,000 people to fight against Napoleon's 40,000 army. If it weren't for the problems with the cooperation between the two countries, Napoleon's battle would have been really difficult.

But at this time, no one thought that Napoleon would attack across the Alps in winter, because it almost meant that they could not have reliable supplies.

Therefore, there are very few enemy troops in front of him, because more troops were transferred to Poland, and the Austrians only had 20,000 people in the whole of Italy, and they were not prepared for combat at all, and they were scattered all over Italy. Bringing them together is not something that can be done in a short time.

As for the kingdom of Sardinia, their situation is better. There are about 50,000 troops in their country that can be mobilized immediately. Although these 50,000 people are also distributed all over the country, the Kingdom of Sardinia is only so big. It is faster to concentrate the army than the Austrians. .

However, neither the Austrians nor the Italians felt the need to speed up their reactions. They knew that the logistical supply of the French had to cross the mountains, so they couldn't hold each other at all. Therefore, they feel that their best way to deal with it is to fight steadily, hold on to the most critical points, and then slowly wear down the French.

Marshal Beaulieu, commander of the Austrian army, wrote to King Vittorio Amedeo III of the Kingdom of Sardinia, reporting some of the situation he knew and analyzing the logistical weaknesses of the French army. At last he said to the king thus:

"My lord, I believe that it is impossible for the French army to carry a large amount of cannon and gunpowder, so their ability to attack is quite limited. As long as your country is not in a hurry to fight, firmly hold on to what I mentioned earlier, those Crucially, the French have nothing to worry about. We can wear them down little by little."

For Marshal Beaulieu's view, the commander of the Kingdom of Sardinia, General Corley also expressed support. He told the king: "The mountain roads in winter are very difficult to pass. The French were able to bring people over, which is almost a miraculous success. But in any case, they cannot bring a large number of cannons. And in the future In time, due to the impact of rain and snow, the mountain roads in the Alps will only become more difficult. As long as time drags on, the French may even have difficulty eating. They will collapse without fighting."

However, something unexpected happened to Marshal Beaulieu and General Corley. The French did not attack the heavily defended points of the Sardinian army, but bypassed them and scattered directly into the plains of Piedmont. .

These Frenchmen, just like Alati did back then, wiped out the manors of the nobles scattered in the countryside. All kinds of things in the manor, as long as they are portable, were all snatched by these Frenchmen. Some nobles who did not have time to escape to the city were captured by the French. The French built a so-called "revolutionary court" in his manor, gathered all the humble farmers nearby, and then hung up these great nobles in front of them. Then they burned the title deeds of the nobles in public, and announced that all the land under his name would be distributed to the farmers who were planting these lands without compensation.

In fact, how could something like a land deed be seized so easily? The land deeds of the great nobles may not be placed in the manors in the countryside. Except for a very small part of these so-called "land deeds" that were burned in public, they were basically forged things that were prepared in advance.

Of course Napoleon knew that relying on this alone was not enough to make the Italian peasants with "dumb" written all over their faces support him. But at least these Italian peasants will not oppose him for the time being. The sweep of these manors also freed Napoleon from worrying too much about supplies for the time being.

The Kingdom of Sardinia is not a fool. When Napoleon's army broke into the Piedmont Plain, they had already begun to prepare to fortify the wall and clear the country. And to be honest, their movements are not too slow. Of course, this so-called slowness refers to the general level of this era, but the Napoleon Army they faced is different from most armies of this era. .

Because a large number of Mini rifles are equipped with them, their firepower has actually been strengthened a lot, and it has also enabled them to ensure basic security on a smaller scale. Therefore, the French army can send enough small troops to carry out this task. On the other hand, the forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia have not yet been concentrated, but are still scattered at various points, which makes them have no field forces that can really threaten the French army. As a result, they can only indulge the French in Piedmont. revolution".

The nobles, who had suffered great losses, complained to the king, and they put pressure on him to have the army protect their property. They said that a large amount of food and other belongings are in various manors outside the city. Because of the recent continuous rain and muddy roads, the transfer of these things has become very difficult. If the French are allowed to loot, everyone will die. suffered huge losses.

Once the nobles are united, even the king cannot ignore their voices. So the king sent a letter to the Austrians on the one hand, asking them to act immediately, to gather the army immediately, and to come to support immediately.

But the number of Austrian troops in Italy at this time is not large, and it is impossible to gather all of them. They can gather more than 10,000 people at most, and it will take time. Therefore, while Marshal Beaulieu gathered the army, he wrote to King Amedeo III again, advising him to continue to be patient, wait for a better time, and not rush to fight the French.

But it is clear that the continuous destruction of the French made King Amedeo III feel that he could no longer bear it. Because these French not only swept across the entire countryside, but even began to set up their own "basic revolutionary government" based on the country estates that originally belonged to the nobles. They provided the peasants with weapons (the original old equipment of the 5th Legion) and training so that they could "defend their revolutionary gains", which is what they were given by the French after the French captured these estates A little leftovers that are not easy to carry, and the land that was given to them.

The king felt that he could not tolerate such a thing going on. Because if they can drive the French away now, it may not be too difficult to restore order in Piedmont, but if the French are allowed to stay there for too long, it will be very difficult to restore order there in the future Many, moreover, other parts of the country will also be affected there.

"In the countryside of Piedmont, they have obtained enough food for a long time. In this way, until next spring, they don't have to worry too much about the supply problem. And if they are allowed to stay in Piedmont until next spring , that is obviously unacceptable.” So in the end, King Amedeo III made such a judgment.