I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 199 Napoleon’s Grain Collection Officer

In fact, Andre still seriously underestimated the "recklessness" of these young people.

Among the 30 large carriages brought by more than 1,200 police academy students, 22 are used for artillery services, including towing cannons and transporting ammunition.

As for logistical baggage, almost everything that can be saved is saved!

Each soldier's backpack contained 11 pounds of dry bread, 3 and a half pounds of dry meat, 4 pounds of oats for the horses, and two bags of wine. This is all their food.

As for the Mulan Corps, it was not until near noon that the preparations from the camping state to the marching state were finally completed, and the army began to move slowly.

This was the result of Andre listening to his brother's "intelligence" yesterday and ordering the officer in advance to leave behind all the bulky luggage such as wardrobes and dining tables.

In fact, for the old-style army, their speed is already very fast.

But I am afraid of comparison in everything.

At this time, the police academy student army had walked nearly 10 kilometers away.

At 6 p.m., the Mulan Army began to set up camp and prepare dinner.

An hour later, the police academy students stopped by a creek 16 kilometers away. After setting up a warning, they lit a bonfire and heated up the dry food they had brought with them.

At 8:15 pm, the police academy students gathered around a bonfire, spread blankets on the grass, and fell asleep under the stars.

At dawn the next day, they had a simple breakfast and almost left.

The Mulan Army was still busy packing up tents and loading trucks. From time to time, officers who had not slept well because they did not bring mattresses complained softly.

Andre had already lost sight of his opponent, but judging from the traces on the ground, the police academy students had already passed here.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, the two scouts rode back to the Mulan Corps with dark circles under their eyes. Andre was really curious about how the police academy students solved the food and grass problem, so he sent people to catch up with them overnight to conduct reconnaissance.

"In other words, they brought more than 15 pounds of food with them?" Andre looked at the scout in surprise. "With weapons, ammunition and bedding, wouldn't it be nearly 35 pounds of weight?"

"It seems so, sir."

"They are simply monsters..." Andre smacked his lips, carrying so much luggage and still running so fast!

He immediately thought of another question: "No, even if the soldiers brought dry food, what would their horses eat?"

People usually think that the army's food and grass are mainly food for human consumption, but in fact, the bulk of the logistical baggage is feed for horses.

Military horses consume a lot of physical energy during wartime. At the same time, it is impossible for horses to spend a lot of time eating grass like farmers raise horses. The nutritional content of grass is very low. If horses want to be full, they have to eat for several hours. The army cannot afford to delay at this time.

Moreover, it is difficult to ensure that there is grass to eat anywhere during the march.

Therefore, the army's war horses are mainly fed by logistics transportation of hay plus oats and other concentrated feeds, which consumes much more food than humans eat.

A person can barely support himself by carrying more than a dozen pounds of dry food, but he can't let a horse carry hundreds of pounds of fodder, right?

The two scouts looked at each other and replied: "Sir, they brought some concentrated feed, but they mainly feed the horses at nearby farmers."

"Even the firewood is half obtained from farmers. Oh, and some wine is also added."

Andre suddenly opened his eyes and shouted: "They are cheating!"

He immediately summoned the herald and asked him to catch up with the police cadet and make the strongest protest on his behalf.

Another day later, the messenger returned and brought with him an instructor from the police academy.

After the instructor saw Andre, he explained to him very politely: "Dear Lieutenant Colonel, we all operate in accordance with the standard supply regulations, and we are definitely not cheating."

Andre almost laughed out of anger: "Are you saying that robbing farmers is a standard supply policy?"

"No, I'm afraid you misunderstood." The instructor hurriedly said, "Our grain collectors are all paid, even slightly higher than the market price."

What he did not say was that if there was not a current shortage of food everywhere, the supply regulations required that the soldiers' rations could be collected locally.

Andre waved his hand and said: "You are cheating. If there is a war, your troops will not carry grain carts and rely entirely on buying grain from farmers?"

The instructor nodded seriously: "That's right. But sometimes we also hunt some game as a supplement..."

"That's ridiculous. How can such supplies be reliable? What if there are no farmers nearby?"

"I'm afraid the situation you are talking about does not exist. Looking across Europe, where can you not find a village that can collect food? Besides, the soldiers also carry emergency rations."

"This..." Andre was stunned for a moment.

Yes, even in barren places like Switzerland and southern Hungary, it is not difficult to find villages that can support tens of thousands of troops.

Wouldn't this be able to get rid of a large number of heavy and vulnerable logistics vehicles, making the army lighter and faster? No wonder the people from the police academy set off and marched so fast!

In fact, this is the "local food collection" logistics model that Joseph copied from Nahuang.

Later, the emperor was able to conquer Europe in an invincible manner, and half of the credit was due to this unique logistics mechanism.

As we all know, in wars, especially wars between major powers, one of the most critical factors that determines victory or defeat is logistics. There is even an extreme saying that the battle is all about logistics.

Nahuang creatively abandoned the large number of baggage vehicles that European aristocratic armies were accustomed to, and did not allow officers to carry bulky enjoyment items [Note 1]. Even tents, which were time-consuming to use and troublesome to carry, were thrown away. Food and drink depended on the villages along the way. If the rain and snow were too heavy to rest in the open air, the soldiers could also borrow the houses in the villages.

Just pay the farmer the price for the consumed items. The money spent in this way will even be much less than transporting grain and grass thousands of miles away, and the farmers will receive more compensation.

As for fighting abroad, the military may spend even less.

Of course, this model sounds simple, but its implementation still requires a set of scientific operating models.

For example, grain collection officers must have considerable professional qualities and know where to find grain and how to communicate with farmers.

In the direction of the army's advance, people should be sent in advance to notify the villages they will pass through to prepare food and grass. This requires very scientific calculations of grain and grass consumption.

How to quickly distribute the collected food and grass to the company.

And how villages that have had their grain expropriated can allocate grain through local administration to avoid farmers not having enough to eat.

Regarding these, Joseph only understood the general principles from the documentaries he had watched in his previous life. The specific supply regulations still needed to be continuously improved by the officers through practice.

However, this logistical mechanism also has great limitations. For example, taking the emperor suffered a big loss in the barren and hostile Russia because it relied on on-site supplies [Note 2]. However, as a later generation, Joseph would naturally take the initiative to avoid similar situations.

Andre had no choice but to send away the instructors from the police academy. He summoned his officers and began to wonder whether his army should also adopt this logistics model of on-site supply.

This is also one of the reasons why Joseph asked the Mullan Corps to come and conduct exercises with the police academy students. As a military force he can trust, he also hopes that Andre can learn some advanced concepts from the police academy students to improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

Five days after leaving Tussy, the police cadet corps successfully arrived in Paris, first "occupied" the high ground preset for the exercise, and then conducted detailed topographic mapping of the nearby area.

On Andre's side, he walked for another four days before arriving panting. What he faced was an impregnable defensive position that had been laid out by the "enemy".

However, Andre was a veteran who had been tempered on the battlefield. Faced with an extremely unfavorable situation, he calmly summoned his officers to discuss and deploy tactics against the enemy.

At dawn the next day, the Mulan Corps assembled in front of the police academy students' position and set up a three-tier infantry line.

Berthier, who was watching the battle from a distance, put away his telescope and sighed with regret to Dubois beside him: "The students missed the best opportunity to attack."

The latter nodded: "Yes, the Mulan Army just carried out a forced march yesterday afternoon. It was the most exhausted time. If we launch a strong attack on them at that time, we are likely to win in one fell swoop."

Berthier said: "They are still reluctant to give up the favorable terrain they have obtained. Although these young people are full of energy, they still lack practical experience."

Soon, Andre ordered the infantry on the front to launch a strong attack. At the same time, the three six-pound guns of the Mulan Army roared from the slightly higher mound on the west side, covering the infantry's impact.

However, the police academy students were well prepared and responded immediately with artillery fire. Because the artillery at the police academy was positioned higher and had an eight-pounder gun, it had a longer range and quickly suppressed the artillery on the opposite side.

The distance between the infantrymen on both sides gradually shortened to less than 100 steps. The line formation on the side of the police academy students fired a salvo first - they occupied high ground and the percussion cap guns had a longer range, so there was no problem in firing first.

Soldiers on both sides used projectiles made of pine wood. They would shatter immediately upon impact with gunpowder and would not cause any harm. However, the harsh explosions and the smoke filling the sky still made all the soldiers' adrenaline surge, as if they were there in person. battlefield.

After the Mulan Corps advanced for a while, they also began to fight back. For a time, the gunfire became more intensive, and people kept being judged as "killed in action" and left the battlefield.

What surprised Andre very much was that the shooting skills of the young police academy cadets were no worse than those of his veterans. Even with the blessing of the flash cap gun, the shooting speed was always two beats faster than his.

As the Mulan Army continued to reduce its numbers, the frontline commanding officers finally couldn't hold on any longer and issued an order to retreat.

The flag with a blue background and the emblem of the Crown Prince was immediately raised in the police academy students' position. Then the drummers and flag bearers of each company took three steps forward, and the rapid attack drum beat sounded.

The police academy student infantry immediately moved forward.

The Mulan army that was under attack disintegrated a little faster, and not long after, their second line formation was exposed in front of their opponents.

The police academy students immediately changed their formations, with the first line turning into a column, and the second line taking on the task of frontal shooting.

As several columns of infantry rushed within 20 steps of Mulan's army, the latter could no longer resist and began to flee in disorder.

The drumbeat of the police cadets was also a little faster, and the infantry in the second row also shouted, raised their bayonets and charged towards the enemy.

The last infantry line of the Mulan Army had already begun to retreat, and at this time it had retreated to the flat area below the high ground. Just over ten minutes later, seven companies of police academy students came to them.

Somewhat strangely, the Mulan army did not show any panic at all. Instead, the officers guided the broken troops to disperse to both sides, and the last line of infantry fired fiercely.

At the same time, three artillery pieces appeared on the side of the Mulan Army and began to bombard the approaching police academy students.

Obviously, these artillery pieces were just pretending to be unable to withstand the fire suppression from the opposite side, but they were actually moved here quietly.

Andre smiled and winked at the herald.

The latter immediately ran to the flag bearer and loudly conveyed the order.

A few minutes later, the cavalry squadron of the Mulan Army circled out from behind the mound on the east side of the battlefield and plunged directly behind the infantry line of police academy students who were pursuing the enemy too deeply.

The first two infantry lines of the originally defeated Mulan Army quickly reorganized and surrounded them from both sides.

Only then did the instructors of the police school realize that the other party was luring the enemy deeper. Seeing that the infantry group was about to be surrounded, they immediately sent all reserve forces and cavalry into the battlefield, preparing to use close combat to rescue the infantry.

Once a melee breaks out, it becomes difficult for exercise reviewers to make effective casualty assessments.

In the end, Berthier was worried that something might happen in a hand-to-hand fight and ended the fight after half an hour.

At this time, the Mulan Legion had "lost" more than 200 people. Although the police academy students had fallen into the trap, they had taken advantage of the previous exchange of fire. In addition, they were no less brave than the opponent in hand-to-hand combat. The "casualties" It's actually slightly less.

After a day's rest, the Berthier Corps also arrived to join the drill. The actual combat exercise composed of the three parties is in full swing and will last until the end of the month.

…

In the office of the Industrial Planning Bureau.

Joseph looked at the actual combat drill report sent by Berthier and others, smiled and nodded: "The military quality of these students is still good, but they still need to increase their actual combat experience."

He looked at Friant and said: "For students who perform well in the exercise, they can graduate early and join the Berthier Corps as low-level officers."

"Yes, Your Highness. Lieutenant Colonel Berthier and I also believe that some of them are no worse than noble officers."

While several people were talking, Eman knocked on the door and came in. He bowed to Joseph and said, "Your Highness, the news just came from Marseille said that His Majesty the King of Spain sent you three ships of grain, which docked at the port ten days ago."

[Note 1] In fact, in Napoleon's army, officers' personal belongings were always a nightmare in the supply camp, and they were never completely banned. Even the emperor himself would carry a bathtub into the battlefield. But for other old-style armies, the emperor's officers were already very restrained.

[Note 2] The emperor had estimated the difficulty of supplying in Russia, and had prepared much more logistical equipment than before. However, he still partly hoped to obtain supplies from Russia. However, the actual situation is that the French army was in Russia. The amount of food and grass collected was very limited, which worsened the situation of the French army.