Descending On France 1780
Chapter 228: The Three Heroes of the 221st Military are now one short

Chapter 228: The Three Heroes of the 221st Military are now one short

Having sorted out Napoleon, Anning inspected Verdun on his way back to Paris City.

Actually, Anning sort of wanted to fend Verdun himself, mainly because he was familiar with the area.

As a military history enthusiast, he had read a lot about the meat grinder that was Verdun. Now that he saw the terrain, all his memories came flooding back.

But Bertier, who accompanied him on the inspection, fought tooth and nail to prevent Anning from taking on the role of Verdun’s defender himself.

In the end, Anning let Bertier recommend a trustworthy officer for the task, and Bertier recommended Bernadotte.

The moment Anning laid eyes on Bernadotte, his own eyes lit up: Good lord, another future Marshal!

However, this fellow had always been at odds with Napoleon in real history and even cuckolded him—the green-hat kind.

Thinking of this, Anning’s expression grew complex when he looked at Bernadotte.

By nature, he disliked men who cuckolded others; it was a minor peculiarity of a pure love warrior.

Nonetheless, Bernadotte’s command skills should be adequate.

After brief contemplation, Anning decided firmly: "All right, since my Chief of Staff has given you his strong endorsement, I will trust you. Verdun is yours! Remember, your task is to hold out until July! By July, we will have sufficient forces to launch a grand counterattack!"

Bernadotte was tall, a good half-head taller than Anning, who was already quite tall himself, with slightly curly black hair and bright black eyes.

After hearing Anning’s words, Bernadotte’s lofty head gave a resounding reply: "It’s not just about holding out until July; I could even last until December! I am very familiar with this fortress and will give those Prussian and Austrian fellows a tough fight! Rest assured!"

Anning raised an eyebrow.

At this moment, Bertier said, "Bernadotte greatly admires you, and he has been preparing to pledge his loyalty to you."

Anning was taken aback; when reading Napoleon’s Life, he felt that Bernadotte had a rebellious streak and was not very impressed by Napoleon’s personal prestige.

Why does he now admire me?

Anning took another hard look at Bernadotte, who grew even tenser under his gaze, standing proudly like a haughty rooster.

Suddenly, Anning remembered—Bernadotte was a staunch Republican! His discord with Napoleon was because Napoleon wanted to proclaim himself Emperor.

In actual history, Bernadotte had sensed Napoleon’s great ambition while in Italy, fearing it would be to the Republic’s detriment, hence his continuous opposition to Napoleon.

But in this history, what was Anning? The founder of the Republic, a hardcore Republican—so it made perfect sense for Bernadotte to admire Anning, right?

Anning stepped forward, took Bernadotte’s arm, and rolled up his sleeve in one swift motion, revealing the tattoo on his arm.

The tattoo, written in Latin, read "Death to tyrants"—the very same as in real history.

Bertier was shocked: "How could you have a tattoo? That’s against regulations!"

Anning raised his hand to stop Bertier from continuing, "It’s fine, expressing one’s aspirations through a tattoo, not bad. Just dock his pay for a month as a token punishment. Let me see, ’Death to tyrants,’ is this tyrant referring to Louis XVI?"

Bernadotte answered, "It refers to all tyrants who lord over the people!"

Good heavens, no wonder he was so at odds with Napoleon later on; after Napoleon became Emperor, he was also seen by many as a tyrant.

This man would later become a Regent King of Swede through elections and participate in several Anti-France Alliances, taking concrete actions against who he saw as a tyrant, Napoleon.

Reading Napoleon’s Life, one unconsciously adopts Napoleon’s perspective and naturally finds Bernadotte an annoying contrarian. But stepping out of Napoleon’s perspective, from that of a pure observer, Bernadotte was someone who carried his convictions through to the end.

Anning studied Bernadotte’s tattoo and took a deep breath.

Will I become a tyrant shunned by Bernadotte?

Will I ascend to the throne of the French Empire one day, thereby alienating Beethoven and Bernadotte?

No, that will not happen.

Anning waved away these thoughts and let go of Bernadotte’s arm: "Very good, I have felt your resolve, and I believe you will hold this fortress. Once the counter-offensive in July is over, I will personally host a grand celebration for you."

Bernadotte straightened up again and saluted Anning: "I will not let you down!"

**

After inspecting the two fortresses, Anning returned to his command headquarters in Versailles outside of Paris City.

The reason for situating the headquarters here was that this place used to be the French King’s palace, which has a large number of houses capable of accommodating a considerable size of the army.

Anning no longer wanted to see the continuous bloodshed within Paris City, hence the move out of it, and also to distance himself from the political machinations happening there.

Here, he could focus solely on preparing the defenses of Paris.

Certainly, Anning had a little personal sentiment as well: he had visited the Versailles Palace a few times before and marveled at its luxury. He wanted to experience what it was like to live in such an opulent palace.

He had to try it at least once.

Another Napoleon in a different universe would also go around living in fine houses everywhere. Even in Spain, he dared to sneak alone into Madrid, full of anti-French elements, just to see the Palace of Spain where his brother Joseph Bonaparte resided.

In any case, Anning’s headquarters was placed in the Versailles Palace, so his fiancée, Christina, who had been relieved from military duties, temporarily took on the role of the lady of the Palace, and Vanni became the temporary Chief Maid of the Palace.

The day after Anning returned to Versailles, Lazar Kano came over from Paris, bringing the latest status of the troops restructuring.

With him was a young cuirassier officer.

Anning looked puzzled at the cuirassier officer who came with Lazar Kano: "Who is this?"

Lazar Kano was somewhat surprised: "You do not recognize him?"

Anning uttered "Oh", realizing this might be one of the famous generals Lazar Kano had found according to the list he provided.

This list was only known to Lazar Kano; Bertier was not aware of it.

Of course, Bernadotte was also oblivious to the list, as Anning had written it from Napoleon’s Life perspective, considering Bernadotte to be a rebellious character.

Anning recalled the list he had provided, and among those who came from the cuirassiers...

Anning: "Could it be you are Noachian Muller?"

Anning remembered that in the game "Holy Maiden Banner," Muller had his own armor, and was a cavalryman, so he surely had to be a cuirassier!

Muller was astounded: "You know me?"

I not only know you, but I also know you will marry Napoleon’s youngest sister and become the King of Naples... But all that belongs to another universe.

Well, I’ve found two of the three outstanding military leaders; only Nei is left.

Moreover, Muller was not like Lasalle, who could at most lead a cavalry regiment, Lasalle couldn’t command a larger force, but Muller had the ability to be a general.

Anning firmly grasped Muller’s hand: "Fantastic! At a time when talent is so greatly needed, your arrival could not be timelier!"

Bertier watched all this with suspicion, and just by looking at his expression, one could tell he had already imagined many tens of thousands of words of plot.