Descending On France 1780
Chapter 131 - 125 Elite Troops

Chapter 131: 125 Elite Troops

After finishing, Anning continued to observe the battlefield with a telescope.

He suddenly noticed that on the very edge of the formation, another troop had completed deployment.

Anning pointed at that troop and asked Cano: "What troop is that?"

"It’s the women soldiers. They’re fewer in number, so it’s normal for them to deploy faster."

Anning: "Not bad, looks like the female soldiers have a high level of organization."

"It might have to do with the fact that the male soldiers take any chance to mock them, saying old ladies can’t fight," Lazar Kano shrugged, "I still think the female soldiers are better suited to be skirmishers since all skirmishers need to do is to be able to shoot, no need to consider hand-to-hand combat, which can greatly reduce the disadvantage women have in physical strength."

Anning: "If the cavalry is just for reconnaissance..."

"Cavalry is not just for reconnaissance; it’s incorrect to consider them only as a reconnaissance troop; they are also an important assault force and need to undertake combat missions."

Anning raised an eyebrow: "I had Davout go watch the ladies’ training, and he said they could be used as an assault force. This is the judgment of a professional cavalryman."

Lazar Kano curled his lip and said nothing more.

Since a professional cavalryman has judged the female cavalry to be useful, he who specializes in clerical work like troop organization had nothing more to say.

However, after a brief silence, he asked again: "Is Davout content with commanding an infantry troop? He’s a cavalryman, and his father was a cavalry officer too!"

"I think he’s quite willing," Anning replied.

Historically, Davout was a talented all-rounder, adept with both cavalry and infantry, unlike Moura who was single-minded about cavalry.

At that moment, an artillery lieutenant rode up to Anning: "The artillery troops have finished deployment; can we start the drill now?"

"Good, fire the cannons, add a bit of battlefield atmosphere," Anning ordered.

The lieutenant saluted and rode off.

Soon the artillery began their volley fire.

The highest commander of the artillery was Anning himself; he ordered the artillery to be concentrated and set up, all placed on the slope of the small hill where he was located.

All one hundred cannons were lined up on the hillside, and the scene during volley fire was quite spectacular.

Lazar Kano: "This way, the shells will whistle past the heads of the infantry who are deploying; I guess quite a few will wet their pants."

Anning’s troops, naturally, had no experience of being shelled by artillery, nor of having shells whistling overhead.

When Anning saw the cannons firing, many turned their heads to look back.

He even saw someone get startled and fall over.

Anning: "I’m very dissatisfied with people falling over just from the sound of cannons; deal with it after the drill ends."

Lazar Kano: "That’s simple, after the drill the officers can check who wet their pants. But don’t be too harsh on them; cannons are a terrifying weapon for those who have never seen them before."

Anning nodded and continued to observe the drill site.

At this time, a southeast wind was blowing, coming from behind Anning, so the smoke from the cannon fire blew toward the infantry troop that was deploying.

Anning was very pleased with this situation; the spread of gunpowder smoke could further test the troops’ organizational strength and training level.

The cannons began their second round of volley fire, spraying shells across the fields in front.

Within the swirling smoke, one could see the infantry’s attack lines gradually taking shape.

Lazar Kano took out his pocket watch and said softly: "From the start of entry to full deployment... not bad. It’s what a well-trained army should look like."

Anning: "It’s much faster than the time I ambushed Conte’s Rebel Army at the apple orchard. Of course, back then, the rebels were being bombarded by our artillery. I only had eight cannons then, but they were quite accurate. If I’d had hundreds like now, they wouldn’t have had time to deploy at all.

"Now let’s see if the attacking columns can keep in formation..."

As he spoke, Anning himself started to laugh.

Cano, puzzled, asked: "What’s so funny?"

"I was reminded of the appalling lines my troops made during the battle at the apple orchard; a mere few hundred meters distance, and the formation was already a mess by the end, like a wave line, and there was even an enormous crest protruding in the middle."

Anning said and burst into laughter; Lazar Kano also laughed along, and after a moment, everyone joined in as if Anning had just cracked a particularly good joke.

After the laughter, Anning turned serious: "Since then, I’ve decided not to engage in standard line infantry attacks. I won that battle through an ambush; our infantry charged only a dozen meters or so before meeting the enemy, basically just a few seconds’ sprint."

At that point, Beethoven, who had hardly spoken, said: "Play to your strengths and avoid weaknesses."

Anning: "Now, let’s see the results of nearly a year of training."

At this time, the commander of the First Infantry Brigade, who was also the deputy commander-in-chief of the entire army, Davout, rode over to Anning and saluted: "Reporting..."

Just then, a new round of cannon fire began.

Davout’s words were completely drowned out by the thunderous sound of the guns.

Davout frowned but did not complain, instead waiting for the volley fire to end before speaking again: "Reporting, the whole army has completed formation."

Anning nodded: "I see it... although not very clearly."

At this time, the white smoke from the bombardment had obscured the entire battlefield; from the hill where Anning was, one could not see the entire formation as some parts were blocked by the thick smoke.

Davout nodded: "The smoke is too thick; after all, it’s a hundred cannons."

Anning: "How about it, with this visibility, do you have confidence in maintaining a uniform attack formation?"

Davout smiled: "My brigade will definitely have no problem."

Anning: "Then let your brigade go first. But let me make it clear, the artillery won’t stop firing, and it’s possible that a shell will land right in your brigade’s formation during the march."

Anning designated the artillery’s firing area directly ahead, and all the cannons had elevated their barrels, so generally, the shells would land between 800 to 1000 meters away.

However, in this era, cannons did not have rifled barrels and the cannonballs did not snugly fit the bore’s inner wall, so when fired, the cannonballs would bounce back and forth inside the bore, making their direction of flight unpredictable upon leaving the barrel.

Just like the flintlock gun, where the shells landed really depended on luck.

The drill Anning had set for them was to maintain formation across a distance of five hundred meters, and theoretically, it was possible to be under artillery fire by the last hundred meters.

So Anning’s words were not meant to scare anyone.

Davout replied confidently: "Rest assured, General, the First Brigade won’t disappoint you."

Anning nodded and ordered: "First Brigade, begin the attack!"

Davout saluted and confidently rode back to his troops.

Anning watched him all the way back to his unit on the far right of the formation, then dismounted and stood at the forefront of the column.

Anning heard Davout’s voice carried through the air: "First Brigade, advance!"

Anning: "He really has a loud voice."

But in those days, especially for low-ranking officers, having a loud voice was a must, otherwise, it would be impossible to issue commands on the battlefield.

That’s why Anning made a special rule for his training squad: to always speak very loudly and spiritedly.

Additionally, Anning introduced a new drill that wasn’t part of his training in Briena: every morning upon waking up, go to the parade ground and shout towards the woods.

This inspiration also came from that movie "Ah Navy", where the Jiangtian Island Naval Academy also had this morning shouting drill on their parade ground.

Eventually, everyone started to believe that Anning liked people with loud voices; not to mention that the soldiers were now always speaking loudly, even the ladies who came to invite Anning to balls would all speak in loud voices.

Yes, like Christina, her voice was hoarse from forcibly shouting.

As for Davout, he probably didn’t do it on purpose; his voice was naturally loud.

Not only that, but the non-commissioned officers of the First Brigade were also all loud-voiced. Their voices echoing orders, echoed like Davout’s roar, resounding across the entire battlefield.

Then the First Brigade began to move forward.

At first, because of the differences in the start timings, the people in the middle were closer to Davout and thus started earlier, the entire column formed into an arc shape.

But soon after this arc was straightened out.

The whole brigade, consisting of two thousand men, formed into four horizontal lines, and from a distance, they looked like four thick parallel lines.

Each horizontal line had three ranks, the standard formation for a line infantry attack.

Anning observed with a telescope for quite a while, and after the lines had moved a hundred meters or so, he nodded in approval: "Well done, Davout is doing great."

Lazar Kano also nodded: "This level of training is even higher than I expected. Davout is indeed a talented military leader."

Anning kept nodding: Isn’t that right, among Napoleon’s Marshals, Davout is said to be the most capable and also the one with the least hair.

At this moment, Anning suddenly noticed Beethoven looking as if he wanted to speak, and asked: "What is it?"

"Er, I’m sorry to interrupt your inspection of the troops, that is, the First Brigade is using a new march I composed; how do you feel about it?"

Only then did Anning realize that the music played by the military band was different from usual, the new composition sounded very lively, containing a fearless spirit.

Anning: "It’s very good."

"Thank you for your compliment," Beethoven replied with a relieved expression, "But every time you comment, it’s always ’very good, excellent,’ you never find any faults..."

Anning thought to himself, damn it, you’re a maestro, where can I find fault in your music.

But outwardly, he said: "My principle is to let professionals handle their specialty. If it were about positioning artillery, I would certainly offer my insights. But music, no, I better not make a fool of myself."

Anning’s translation plugin turned the idiom "make a fool of myself" into Latin.

Just then, the artillery fired another volley.

Cano: "Should we adjust a cannon to target the First Brigade and fire? This way, we can test their morale in the face of artillery fire."

Anning hesitated a moment; frankly, such an exercise would definitely improve the troops’ combat effectiveness, and some casualties would be normal. But after a brief hesitation, he shook his head: "No. France will soon fall into civil unrest; we have plenty of battles ahead, and many will die in the continuous wars. We should not waste their lives needlessly in exercises, even though it would indeed improve the overall standard of the army."

Cano nodded: "Understood."

Beethoven looked very moved: "You truly care for your soldiers like they are your own children!"

Anning initially wanted to say that this was not about caring for soldiers like children, but based on his experience, he knew it would be interpreted as modesty, so he simply remained silent.

At this point, Davout’s troops had reached the attack halt line. An officer at the halt line raised a green flag to indicate they had reached it.

Anning and Lazarcano lifted their telescopes to observe Davout’s formation.

Cano: "Slightly disordered, but still within the range of an elite force."

Anning: "Yes, send word to Davout, tell him I’m very satisfied. Order the Second Brigade, begin the advance!"