Descending On France 1780
Chapter 146 - 139 I have Marshal Davout

Chapter 146: 139 I have Marshal Davout

Davout held a saber in one hand and a flintlock gun in the other, slaughtering the enemy like a War God.

He used the flintlock gun as a spear primarily for defense, while his right-hand saber was for offense, having already taken down seven or eight enemies.

The blood of his foes dyed half of Davout’s vision red, and his bald head had turned half crimson as well.

With every enemy he killed, he bellowed without fail: "Hold steady! Victory will be ours!"

Upon felling the eighth enemy, a soldier shouted: "The enemy is retreating!"

Davout turned his head and saw, indeed, across the field next to his defensive zone, the defeated enemy troops crossing the ridge line and fleeing towards the rear.

"The enemy is in retreat!" Davout roared, "We’ve won!"

The enemies that were still entangled with Davout’s troops only realized that the rest of their units had fled after hearing Davout’s roar, and thus they too turned tail and ran.

In a blink of an eye, all the enemies near the low walls had vanished, and Davout’s troops fired their last round of bullets before erupting into loud cheers.

Davout joined in the cheering but then suddenly let out a sigh.

A soldier immediately asked curiously, "Captain, what’s wrong?"

Davout: "It’s a pity we don’t have cavalry to pursue the enemy! If they continue to retreat like this, they’ll regroup at the bottom of the mountain."

The soldier asked in confusion, "Haven’t we won yet?"

Davout: "Of course not, it’s still early! The enemy has only committed half their force; the next wave of attacks will be even fiercer."

Davout suddenly raised his voice: "Enough cheering! All companies tally your numbers! Officer casualties are to be replaced according to rank! You few, repair the sections of the low wall damaged by the bombardment!"

Though only thigh-high, the low walls were extremely important defensive structures.

Davout turned to look at the few cannons assigned to him and shouted, "Artillery, are there any surviving Artillerymen?"

No one answered.

It seemed that during the recent close-quarters combat, the Artillerymen had perished in the clash with the enemy.

Davout randomly pointed to a few men: "You, come with me, I’ll teach you how to use the cannon! There’s no need for complicated angle calculations, just direct fire with shotgun shells!"

**

Anning mounted his horse and galloped into the smoke formed by gunfire.

He hadn’t gone far when he saw people who had been shot falling to the ground.

There were quite a lot of people on the ground; it seemed that the artillerymen’s volleys had caused significant casualties to the enemy.

After a few more steps, he saw an enemy soldier with a severed leg limping along propped up by a rifle.

Anning drew his saber, intending to cut the man down, but the enemy turned his head to look at Anning with lifeless eyes, causing Anning not to swing the blade in his hand.

The man had already lost the will to fight.

Anning lowered his saber and yelled loudly: "Lie down where you are! Surrender to our army!"

The enemy complied without resistance, lying down on the ground, hands over his head.

Anning ran past this surrendered soldier.

Soon, the mill came into view through the smoke.

The mill had been half destroyed by artillery, and the windmill’s blades had fallen off, with only half the roof of the adjacent barn remaining.

But the Military Flag of Davout’s First Brigade was still waving there.

Someone saw Anning and shouted: "General! It’s the General!"

The soldiers all turned their heads and cheered in unison: "The General is healthy and invincible!"

Anning waved his hand, then he saw Davout approaching and pulled the reins to stop the horse.

Davout came over and grabbed Anning’s horse, excitedly saying, "General, we’ve repelled the enemy’s first wave!"

Seeing what shape Davout was in, Anning knew he had gone through a bloody battle and felt that Davout was indeed a valiant warrior.

It was unfortunate that another valiant warrior, Lana, had gone on a night raid the night before and had not returned yet.

If this is destroyed, even if we win today, Anning won’t sleep soundly tonight.

But now is not the time to think about such things. Anning patted Davout on the shoulder: "You did a good job!"

"It’s your tactics that pushed back the enemies on both flanks! And it hasn’t been that long!"

Davout’s voice was loud, and his words rang clear for everyone to hear.

The soldiers of the first brigade immediately began to shout: "Long live the General in health and victory!"

Anning waved his hand gently: "The battle is not over yet! Continue to prepare for combat!"

Davout also turned his head to his subordinates and shouted: "You all heard, to your positions! The battle is not over yet!"

The soldiers, who had been watching this side, reluctantly returned to their duties.

Anning rode his horse to the highest point of the hillside and took out a telescope to observe the situation below.

The enemy’s artillery fire had not stopped, and occasionally shells whistled by close to Anning.

However, the fierce shooting had just occurred behind the hillside, so there was not much smoke ahead, and it was possible to see the enemy retreating further down the hill, as well as the enemy’s main formation at the bottom of the hill.

In particular, the enemy’s main formation, Lafayette still had twenty thousand men who had not entered battle, resting at the bottom of the hill.

Anning saw officers on horseback bustling below the hill, clearly trying to gather the routed troops.

Anning muttered to himself: "What a pity, the cavalry is holding back the enemy’s cavalry; otherwise, a downhill charge... the battle might be over by now."

Davout: "Yes, the enemy will definitely commit more troops to the attack next, and that will be the real test."

As soon as he finished speaking, a shell landed not too far away, causing clods of earth to splatter as high as a person.

Anning and Davout were unfazed.

At this time, someone rode a horse from the rear in a gallop: "Gentlemen! I have brought the artillery forward again!"

Anning turned his head to look, it was Napoleon.

Davout spoke first: "Well done, Bonaparte, that last volley of shotgun fire almost caused a collapse."

Napoleon: "It was a good choice of terrain, and this mobile artillery unit. In the future, the use of Cavalry Guns will become a key factor in winning battles!"

As his voice fell, the Cavalry Guns deployed on the mountaintop fired again at the enemy below.

Anning: "Do we still have enough shells?"

"Plenty of shells. I have prepared sufficient ammunition at the second position I have chosen. Enough to give the enemy another beating!" Napoleon said with a child-like grin, looking like a child playing happily, "In this battle alone, my artillery has caused hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties!"

Anning suddenly remembered the sight of the lame soldier he had seen on the way looking for Davout.

They were all Revolutionaries, yet they had to harm each other, damn it.

Thinking this, Anning couldn’t help but resent Lafayette, and the gentlemen in Paris.

They must be made to pay a price!

**

Lafayette watched his troops retreating in disbelief.

"I can’t believe it!" he exclaimed angrily, "We doubled the number of troops and yet we were so easily defeated! The assault had barely lasted an hour!"

Bertier appeared very calm: "The enemy must have taken advantage of the hillside, deploying troops on the reverse slope so that our artillery could hardly hit them."

Lafayette: "Let our artillery push the cannons forward!"

Bertier looked troubled: "Our cannons are heavy twelve-pounders, and it’s difficult to push them up there. I suggest we retreat first to a terrain more suited to our warfare, and then seek a decisive battle..."

Lafayette: "No! The enemy holds the high ground. If we start to retreat, and the enemy rushes down the hill in the confusion, we’re done for.

"Even if we manage to retreat successfully! Our forty-thousand men, retreating in front of fifteen thousand, it would destroy the morale! If they come to burn the camp again tonight, by morning we’ll be nothing but ’bare-poled commanders’!!"

Lafayette thought for a moment and gave the order: "Immediately gather the routed troops, form up on both sides of the first division. We’ll attack again!"

Just then, the officer responsible for observing the mountaintop suddenly shouted: "The enemy is retreating from the mountaintop!"

Lafayette hurriedly looked towards the mountaintop and indeed saw the Military Flag that had been flying there beginning to retreat.