Descending On France 1780
Chapter 139 - 132 Lafayette goes on an expedition

Chapter 139: 132 Lafayette goes on an expedition

This morning, Anning received a letter from Paris.

The letter was written by Marat, who urgently stated that the Parliament had declared him a traitor and mentioned that Lafayette had been appointed by the Parliament and would soon set out to suppress the rebellion.

Anning dropped the letter and sighed. Indeed, the Parliament at this time was quite belligerent; if it weren’t for him, they would have declared war on Prussia, Austria, and several lowland countries in a few months.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Anning said softly.

The door opened, and Lazar Kano, Davout, and several other officers poured into the room, staring eagerly at Anning.

Kano: "We heard that there was a letter from Paris, what’s the situation?"

"Just as we expected, prepare for battle," Anning stated in an understated tone.

In reality, he was actually quite uneasy, especially facing a general like Lafayette who had actual combat experience in proper large troop battles.

Anning did not have full confidence in victory, or more precisely, he was now very unsure since he only had a bit more than ten thousand men, a significant disadvantage in terms of troop strength.

But he could not show this; he could only speak as lightly as possible.

The officers exchanged glances; Lazar Kano, as the Chief of Staff, said to everyone: "You heard him, everyone back to your posts!"

Then the officers who had just entered the room left in single file.

Only Lazar Kano remained. He said to Anning, "I think we should deploy the Cavalry to scout towards Paris and monitor Lafayette’s troop movements."

Anning nodded, then shook the bell on the table. A Messenger Soldier immediately entered the door.

"Call Miss Oliver from the Cavalry."

After the Messenger Soldier left, Lazar Kano shook his head: "This is the disadvantage of having women in the army; their officers do not act together with ours, and we have to call someone separately each time an order is given."

Anning: "But have you considered that it’s because we have female soldiers that we now have fifteen thousand men? Five thousand female soldiers, if we were drafting only male soldiers, we wouldn’t have this many."

Kano: "I admit that using female soldiers has given us more troops..."

"It’s just that you don’t want the girls on the battlefield."

"If they perform well in this campaign, I’ll change my view," Kano said.

Anning was about to sharply retort when the leader of the female cavalry, Captain Oliver, entered: "Cavalry Officer Oliver is here."

Anning: "Immediately organize a team of cavalry who are familiar with the roads. You don’t need many, just take the best horses and head towards Paris to monitor Lafayette’s movements. You can stay in inns."

Oliver saluted: "Understood, I will dispatch the troops immediately."

"Mhm, you may go, there’s nothing else," Anning waved his hand.

Oliver saluted and then turned to leave.

Anning turned his gaze to Lazar Kano, unable to help but ask: "Do you think we can win this time?"

"You must never ask such a question in front of the officers," Kano frowned slightly, "You should always appear fully confident."

"I know. So, do you think we can win?"

"It’s hard to say, the enemy has a huge advantage in troop strength. Our training is superior to that of the regular National Guard, but compared to the old Kingdom Army... the advantage is not clear. We also have an advantage in Artillery, with more Cannons and a large number of Cavalry Guns."

Anning nodded, adding inwardly: We also have the genius Artillery Officer Napoleon Bonaparte.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Anning answered the door, and the one who entered was the maid Vanni: "General, several gentlemen from the Conte Parliament seek an audience."

Anning slightly frowned: "What the hell, why are they coming at this time? Let them in."

Vanni bowed, and just as she was about to leave, several gentlemen from the Conte City Parliament, all with big bellies, pushed the door open: "We have entered, General."

Anning: "What brings you here?"

"The news is from Paris," said the new Chairman of the Conte City Parliament, "General, I wonder if you are aware..."

"The National Assembly in Paris considers me a traitor," Anning bluntly replied.

The corpulent gentlemen immediately grinned with joy, but then quickly suppressed their expressions, trying hard to control themselves.

"Then... that’s really terrible, isn’t it? Paris won’t actually send troops to suppress ’us,’ will they?"

Anning: "I’m afraid they will."

"My God!" exclaimed one councilor, "Paris has a hundred thousand National Guard troops!"

"Not that many, according to our intel, there should be around sixty thousand, but not all will be deployed," Lazar Cano explained calmly.

The current Chairman said: "But there should be forty thousand, right? What shall we do, forty thousand troops! ’We’ only have just over ten thousand!"

Anning: "Just say what you want to say."

"I’m just worried..."

"No need to worry." Anning stood up, "I will defeat Lafayette on the plains of Conte, and then go to Paris to vehemently argue the pros and cons with the gentlemen of Paris."

This time Anning spoke with great confidence, as if he truly had a million brave soldiers in his heart.

The gentlemen of the Parliament looked at each other, all with very grim expressions.

"Well, then all we can do is wish the General great victory!" The Chairman squeezed out this statement.

**

On the Paris side, the news of Lafayette’s mobilization had already spread throughout the city.

The night before the troops were deployed, the taverns in Paris were filled with many big-headed soldiers.

The Parisians gathered around these soldiers, curiously inquiring.

"Are you really going to fight Mr. Frost?"

The soldiers replied, "Yes, yes! Otherwise, they wouldn’t be paying us!"

So the bystanders asked again: "You got paid? Was it in silver coins?"

"Not at all!" the soldiers all answered, "It was in vouchers! That’s why we’re hurrying to spend the money before we leave! Who doesn’t know, outside Paris, there are few who accept vouchers, everyone uses silver coins!"

Then another citizen curiously asked: "Why issue vouchers? When General Frost deployed troops in the past, he used to issue silver coins!"

Then the person who said this would be warned by everyone: "Stop talking, General Frost is now a rebel!"

This scene played out in the taverns all over Paris.

Soon, everyone in the city knew that Lafayette, stingy as he was, imitated General Frost’s practice of paying before deploying troops, but only half-heartedly by issuing vouchers.

That night, the people of Paris were busily discussing whether Lafayette or Mr. Frost would win the upcoming war.

Unknown to them, in the Palais des Tuileries, the Queen was also anxiously waiting for Lafayette’s deployment.

The next morning, specifically on the morning of August 5, 1791, Lafayette led forty thousand French Army troops out of Paris.

Louis XVI also attended the troop deployment ceremony, where Lafayette swore to Louis XVI and the gentlemen of the Parliament that he would surely capture the traitor Andy Frost.