King's Landing in France

Page 148

A while later, An Ning arrived at the headquarters. The staff officers were busy at the map table. When they saw An Ning coming in, they immediately stopped and stood at attention to salute.

An Ning: "Keep busy. Berthier is...here, why is he closer than yesterday?"

The staff officer replied: "This is his position yesterday. Considering the distance from the front line, our situation is delayed by one day."

"Okay, the location from the day before yesterday." An Ning looked at the map.

Just then Julian brought coffee on a tray.

Yes, the stableboy Julian was now working as an orderly.

An Ning picked up the coffee and muttered while sipping, "Isn't Berthier's position a bit too far ahead? How wide is this road?"

An Ning picked up the pointer and pointed to a path south of Verdun Fortress.

"This is a second-class post road." A staff officer reported immediately.

"The second-class post road can probably supply [-] to [-] people. Well, tsk, the location of Berthier..."

At this time, someone entered the door and reported loudly: "Report! Your Excellency, Mr. Paul Ballas is visiting!"

An Ning raised her eyebrows, raised her head and asked, "Why is he here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Barras entered the headquarters: "I have come to say goodbye to you. The National Assembly has decided to send special commissioners to all parts of the country to completely wipe out the remnants of the royalists and Girondins everywhere."

An Ning: "Then I should congratulate you on your promotion?"

"No, it's better to say that I just took the opportunity to leave Paris." Barras shrugged, "Fouche left long ago, and Talleyrand also went to England as a minister. It seems that everyone thinks that Paris is now a fire pit."

An Ning curled her lips helplessly: "I just want to have breakfast, let's have it together."

Just as she was talking, Fanny pushed the cart into the headquarters.

※※※

La Salle personally led a brigade and a half of cavalry-the half brigade was the name of the French army's next establishment in the large establishment, replacing the original regiment.

He went north along the post road and approached Verdun.

After rushing up a hill, La Salle tightened the reins, stopped the horse, and looked into the distance.

"Hey." He murmured, "I just said that this will be taken from the back! Come on, go to the headquarters as quickly as possible. One of the enemy, at least three brigades, are coming from Vernon. Go south!"

Immediately, a cavalryman saluted La Salle, then turned his horse's head and galloped away.

"So what do we do?" asked a lieutenant.

"Still asking?" La Salle drew out his saber, "We have a whole and a half brigade here. Facing the enemy on the march, do you think we can just go back like this? Of course we can't! Follow me, my saber Already hungry and thirsty!"

tomato

As he said that, La Salle rushed down the hill first.

The cavalry behind him immediately followed, and the trumpeter took out his trumpet and blew the attack horn without waiting for Lasalle's order.

※※※

Berthier was deploying today's march plan, and there was a sudden noise outside the headquarters.

Then the door clanged open.

A hussar burst into the room, shouting: "The enemy is coming! Coming south from Verdun!"

Berthier shook his head: "That's impossible, this must be La Salle's plan, trying to trick me into going back to the defense! There's no reason for him to encounter the enemy going south soon after he left!"

The hussar took two steps forward and grabbed Berthier's collar: "If we are surrounded here and return in a big defeat, can you bear the responsibility? This is the army entrusted to you by Your Excellency the General! You This is going to be guillotined!"

Berthier knocked off the hussar's hand and said angrily: "Pay attention to the relationship between superiors and subordinates! Is there any military law here!"

"You'll regret it! I did see at least three brigades of the enemy heading south!"

Berthier stared suspiciously at the hussar's face for a few seconds, and finally changed his mind: "You said three brigades, right? Well, I will order the battle infantry No.60, 67, and 68 The brigade, to guard the road going south from Verdun, is here, Babi Village! This happens to be the intersection of the post road going south and our logistics line. Isn’t La Salle afraid that this place will be cut off by the enemy?

"If the enemy's southward strength exceeds three brigades, then La Salle made a mistake in reconnaissance!"

Chapter 255 Going to the battlefield is like a date with a beautiful girl

Kleiber, the commander of the 68th Battle Infantry Brigade, received the order to attack at six o'clock in the afternoon.

He was stunned when he got the order: "Go to... Babi Village? Now? I don't even know where the hell this village is."

The sergeant who came to deliver the order had a serious face: "Your Excellency the Acting Commander ordered you to attack immediately and march overnight."

Kleber: "Your Excellency the Acting Commander just urged us to rush eastward to chase the enemy's rout. Now we just stopped to rest, and the floor is not warm, and we are asked to turn around again. Are you kidding us? Woolen cloth?"

Sergeant: "As far as I know, no. You'd better go, Mr. Brigadier."

After speaking, the sergeant saluted, turned and left.

Kreber frowned, his face crumpled into a ball.

His adjutant ran over: "Brigadier, dinner is ready."

"Let them eat as soon as possible, and we are going to set off again after eating."

The adjutant was stunned: "Let's go? We just camped and rested."

"Yes, let's go, and it's an urgent order. I'm afraid it's too late to evacuate the tents. Let the guys eat quickly. As for me, I'm going to get some torches. I can't rely on the torches we brought."

As he spoke, Kleiber went straight to the quartermaster's tent.

As soon as I arrived at the tent, I met the brigade commanders of the 66th and 67th brigades.

As soon as Kleiber saw the iconic black face of the commander of the 66th Brigade, he greeted: "Hey, writer, I guess you are also here to get torches for your own troops?"

Dumas: "I'm not a writer."

Mo Luo, the brigade commander of the 67th brigade, joked: "You just accept your fate. There is nothing wrong with being a writer. I heard that the brigade commander who was added recently is also a painter, and his name is Calto."

Ju Dumas: "No, in order to avoid misunderstanding, I will correct it as soon as I hear it, even if it was called first by Your Excellency the General."

Mo Luo shrugged, and then changed the subject: "So you also received the order to turn around and rush to Babi Village overnight?"

"Yes." Ju Dumas nodded, "That place is a fork in the road, there is a small road to Verdun, I guess the coalition forces have divided up and rushed over."

Kleiber: "Okay, so we were sent to defend a key point, but why didn't we leave enough troops to defend it before?"

Mo Luo shrugged: "I don't know, maybe the former Commander-in-Chief felt that it was impossible for the enemy to bypass Verdun and send people south."

"So how many enemy troops will we face?" Kleiber asked a new question.

Ju Dumas thought for a while and said: "If I remember correctly, the road to Verdun should be a second-class post road, which can probably supply 2 people."

Kleiber gasped: "2 people! Our three brigades combined are just over [-], and they are all recruits. The commander is also a lawyer, writer, and architect! This battle cannot be fought!"

"I'm not a writer."

"Okay, you're not. Then Mr. Former Private, according to what you see, how is this mission going?"

"The sheep go to the tiger's mouth." The black man said with a serious face, "unless we can use forced march to seize a favorable position before the enemy. How fast we can run tonight will determine whether this battle will turn into a terrible rout .”

Moreau: "But our troops have just marched for a day, and their physical exhaustion has not recovered."

Ju Dumas curled his lips, and just as he was about to speak, the curtain of the tent was lifted. A colonel from the military supply department came out, saw the three people standing in a row, and asked suspiciously: "What do you want?"

"We need torches." The three said in unison.

Moreau added: "Enough torches for a brigade."

Kleiber: "Three brigades, enough torches for three brigades."

"There are not so many torches, just transporting food, fodder and ammunition is enough for us to work, where is the spare capacity to transport torches?"

Kleiber: "Give us as much as you have, and we will share one point. The acting commander asked us to march back overnight to defend Babi Village. If you delay, you will be responsible for the consequences!"

After Kleber finished speaking, Moreau also took a step forward: "We are going to defend a very important node. If we fail to complete the task, it may lead to the complete defeat of the troops. You don't want to blame Lord Frost later, do you? "

Morrow is worthy of being a lawyer, and he is very familiar with the work of extorting people.

The quartermaster looked pale and shook his head: "Maybe we can get some torches from nearby towns."

Moreau made a fist-clenching motion.

Kleiber urged: "Take us to get it!"

Quartermaster: "Here. Call the soldiers to get it. Let's give the villagers money."

According to the rules set by An Ning, the army must pay the price of the materials borrowed from the local villagers, and if they cannot pay, they must issue an IOU.

In this way, the torch problem was solved.

About 10 minutes later, the No.60 Sixth Battle Infantry Brigade took the lead, lit the torches and began to rush towards the way they came.

Morrow's 67th Infantry Brigade followed closely behind, and finally Kleiber's No. 60 Eighth Line Infantry Brigade.

While following the troops, Kleiber loudly encouraged the soldiers: "I know you are all very tired! But if we don't rush to this place called Babi Village as soon as possible tonight, we may lose the battle.

"Everyone knows that the current situation in the Republic is very dangerous. We can't lose the battle at this time! Think about your wives and sons, think about your old fathers and mothers at home!

"The Republic is a good thing, but don't let those damned Prussians and Austrians destroy it!"

After the words fell, Kleber always felt that the soldiers around him were moving faster.

——It should be effective.

After walking for a while, Kleiber decided to start and let everyone sing a song, using singing to make everyone forget their physical fatigue.

So he called out to the young man who could sing the most in the brigade: "Philip, does Philip hear?"

Someone in the queue at the front responded: "Here I am, Mr. Brigadier!"

"Philip, sing and cheer everyone up!"

"Okay!"

Then a youthful voice sang in captivating tunes: "I remember a small provincial town,

"Lonely, isolated, and depressing.

"Avenues in the city, fairs and churches,

"There is still a hazy mist reverberating.

"I saw—

"Dear familiar figure,

"The blue round cap,

"The blue coat;

"A dark dress, a girlish figure,

"My short-lived romance..."

After the solo part, the marching queue sang together, singing the song of love.

As if they were not going to war, but on their way to a date with a beautiful girl.

Chapter 256

North of Babi Village, an unnamed small village.

The hussars of the French army visited here in the evening and knocked on the door of the church in the town.

The parish priest in the village is usually also the village doctor, probably the only one in this small village who knows how to treat wounds.

The cavalry brought in La Salle, who was wounded in the shoulder, and let the priest treat the wound.

※※※

La Salle yelled: "I'm so stupid! This thing really hurts!"

The hussar, who was pouring liquor on Lasalle's arm, stopped immediately.

La Salle said angrily: "Don't stop! Didn't you hear what your Excellency said? Wash the wound thoroughly!"

Hussar: "I haven't heard of it. In fact, I haven't seen your Excellency a few times. I just joined the Revolutionary Army not long ago."

"Okay now I'm telling you, so keep pouring and never mind what I'm yelling!"

The hussar continued to pour wine on Lasalle's arm, and stopped after thoroughly washing away the blood around the wound.

Then he reluctantly licked the transparent liquid that flowed down the bottle, with an intoxicated expression on his face: "It's really good wine, this kind of strong wine is hard to drink!"