Descending On France 1780
Chapter 184 - 177 Mr. Bonaparte felt his destiny

Chapter 184: 177 Mr. Bonaparte felt his destiny

Anning was facing off against the Austrian army across the river when news from Paris arrived.

His jaw almost hit the floor and shattered.

In the original history, the youngest son of the Grand Duke of Orleans played a role that betrayed his father—literally. Some people wanted to set the young fellow up as the new King of France, but the attempt failed, and the young fellow fled abroad. The ruling Jacobins then sent his father to the guillotine.

The Grand Duke of Orleans could be described as one of the many tragic figures of the French Revolution. Being highly revolutionary himself and a noble of high standing, he had opened his estates for the citizens of Paris to enjoy before the revolution, showing his approachable side, and also personally sponsored many Enlightenment thinkers.

He helped publish numerous pamphlets for the citizens, hastening the catalysis of the revolution.

Then, after the convening of the Third Estate, he, as a noble, was among the first to join the discussions of the Third Class and stood with the commoners.

Later, to demonstrate his revolutionary stance, he even changed his last name to "Equality," and yes, in the original history, his last name was "Equality."

Due to this, he also earned the nickname "Mr. Equality."

As Mr. Equality was supporting the revolution while enjoying his life, his own son betrayed him unexpectedly, and the Jacobins, as if forgetting all his prior contributions, decisively sent him to the guillotine.

It could really be described as darkly humorous.

Previously, while watching Christina, Anning had considered saving the Duke. After all, he had received many favors from him and might possibly marry his daughter in the future, making him somewhat of a father-in-law.

He thought about bringing him to his territory from Paris and smoothly taking over assets like the coal mines that the Duke owned.

At that time, coal was mainly used for heating during winter, the coal for industrial use dwarfed that for heating, but the future was an era of industrial revolution. Having coal meant having the capital for the industrial revolution.

Of course, Anning’s main motive was to save people, not to covet the Duke’s coal.

But while Anning’s plans were sounding great, suddenly the Duke’s son became the King of France.

A throne unreachable in another timeline, and he reached it! Being the king’s father, rounded up, he’s practically a royal uncle!

Christina instantly transformed into the king’s sister, practically a princess.

What kind of magical development is this?

The future history was now completely unpredictable, and Anning, as a person from the future who had seen the script, completely lost his advantage.

But Anning didn’t have much energy to lament about this, because another very bad piece of news came from both Paris and Vienna.

The two countries might stop fighting.

For the two nations, it should be good news; the common people wouldn’t have to fight anymore and could recuperate.

But for Anning, this was very bad news.

He came to Italy for the purpose of fundraising in the future, and wealthy Milan was less than a hundred kilometers away. The idea of stopping now meant he might never sleep well again in his life.

Anning knew that from just the little town of Diego, he had managed to gather five carriages of silver coins and precious jewels. Thinking about what Milan had made him drool.

He had to strike Milan before a truce was declared.

Anning gathered his group of advisors to discuss how to quickly cross the Po River, kill Boliue, and then rush into Milan to end the Austrian rule in Northern Italy.

After long discussions, they came up with only one viable plan: a surprise attack on Valenza, disarm the garrison there before Kingdom of Sardinia could react, and then cross the river there, outflanking Boliue from behind.

On May 20th, Anning made up his mind.

Screw the diplomatic problems. Commander Frost didn’t care about those; he just wanted Milan.

Anning scheduled it like this, to prevent the Kingdom of Sardinia from suddenly entering the war and interrupting his supply lines, Anning placed the troops led by Massena, originally the Italian Corps, along the supply line from Nice to Savona, while on the main battlefield, he positioned Laharpu Division to prepare intensively for crossing the Po River.

Davout’s division withdrew all heavy Infantry Guns and, in coordination with Napoleon’s Cavalry Guns, formed a highly mobile flanking force, launching a surprise attack on Valenza, disarming the Sardinian troops before they could react, and then crossing the river at Valenza.

According to the plan, on the morning of the 21st, Davout and Napoleon were to appear on the flank of Marshal Boliue.

Lasalle, who also took a detour to cross the River at Valenza, charged at Marshal Boliue’s only retreat route, the only bridge over the River Adda, the Lodi Bridge.

The key to the entire operation was speed, the faster the better!

The army of Marshal Boliue that Anning faced directly was just over ten thousand men, mainly the Vukosovich Division.

It was said that Marshal Boliue had also drawn some troops from the Mantua Fortress, but these troops had not yet arrived.

Even with Davout’s troops, they could easily defeat Marshal Boliue’s troops.

Not to mention that when Davout arrived, the Laharpu Department would really begin to forcefully cross the Po River.

On the morning of the 20th, Anning ordered the artillery to open fire, at this time Anning’s artillery forces included all the heavy infantry guns from both Laharpu Division and Davout Division, appearing very formidable in firepower.

Anning personally directed the firing, destroying a large number of enemy fortifications throughout the day’s bombardment.

Marshal Boliue’s Austrian army was arrayed in front all day, apparently believing from the density of the artillery fire that all of Anning’s forces were at the front, about to cross the Po River with more than double the troop strength.

Entering the night, Anning observed through a telescope the Austrian army reinforcing their defenses overnight.

Seeing this scene, Anning knew he had secured victory.

The next morning, Davout’s troops appeared on Boliue’s flank.

Anning ordered the artillery to advance to the Po River, and the shelling made it impossible for Boliue to form lines at the flank—once lined up, they would be riddled from head to toe by solid bullets.

The Austrian army was unequivocally crushed, even without waiting for the Laharpu Division to cross the river.

Unfortunately, Anning had sent the cavalry to seize the ferry at Lodi and failed to capture the fleeing Marshal Boliue.

Anning’s headquarters followed as Laharpu Division crossed the river, where the division commander Laharpu had a minor accident.

Before boarding the ferry, he slipped, stepped into a void, and his leg got caught in the gap between the ferry and the dock, striking his groin hard and also pulling his groin.

As a result, this professional soldier recommended by Bertier had to go back to recuperate, and Anning handed his division to Lana for command.

When crossing the river, Anning suddenly remembered, this Laharpu, in real history, was killed by a stray bullet while forcibly crossing at Piacenza.

History was so messed up here, yet he still got severely injured at Piacenza.

Damn, is this self-correction of historical changes?

Could it be that in this timeline, if Anning sent Massena to seize Diego, Massena would still be ambushed while seeking a young widow after capturing Diego, forced to flee in his pajamas at night?

On the evening of the 21st, Anning received a message from Lasalle, who had almost captured the deserted Lodi Bridge without a fight.

In the original timeline, it was here that Napoleon felt his destiny and believed himself to be the chosen one.

Yet in this timeline, the bridge was taken without even a fight.

Anning couldn’t help but ask Napoleon what he felt about today’s campaign.

Napoleon excitedly said, "My feeling is that you are simply a symbol of victory, as long as we follow you, we will never lack victories!"

Anning: ??

Anning: "The plan was yours."

"But I didn’t think it would go so smoothly when I proposed it!"

Anning smirked and decided not to bother with these anymore, changing the subject: "Anyway, Milan is right in front of us! Davout, light the torches! We march through the night, and tomorrow we have breakfast in Milan!"