Descending On France 1780
Chapter 233 - 226 Massena’s Great Victory at Koerl

Chapter 233: 226 Massena’s Great Victory at Koerl

Anning was unaware that, just outside his headquarters, a strange little group made up of a black writer (pseudo), an architect, and a lawyer had formed.

He was currently dealing with a headache over the selection of army leaders.

"Seven armies?" Anning was shocked; he had assumed, following modern conventions, that 200,000 men would roughly constitute three armies, but Bertier told him it was to be organized into seven armies.

After all, in this era, an army was smaller, comprising only about twenty to thirty thousand men.

By modern standards, seven armies meant seven corps, and with seven corps, one could conquer the world.

Bertier: "Fifteen percent of division and brigade commanders are former Nobles. Regardless of their loyalty to the Republic, their military skills are solid. The rest are professionals, intellectuals, and other notable civilians recruited from all walks of life, very loyal to the Republic, but with little to no military knowledge.

"We’ve urgently printed some pamphlets for training, but... we can’t expect much from them on the battlefield."

Anning held his forehead.

He had read about the Marshals in ’Napoleon’s Life’; he remembered little about the regular officers, otherwise, he could have picked out those officers from the Napoleon Era who had hurriedly enlisted and later displayed exceptional performance based on his past life’s memory.

After all, with so many civilians becoming brigade and division commanders now, adding a few more would hardly be an issue.

Unfortunately, he did not remember that many.

Anning: "Under these circumstances, it’s clearly unrealistic for us to engage the enemy in conventional frontal combat; after all, they are a regular army."

Bertier nodded: "Yes, it’s completely different from our previous situation. In the past, our troops, although all of them came from ordinary Patriot backgrounds and the officers were various civilians, had undergone rigorous training, which is why they showed the same discipline and order as regular troops.

"Then the revolution gave them high morale, and it was normal that such troops would fight better than Austria’s army.

"But now, what we have is truly a rabble."

Anning: "We can only resort to the tactics of digging in and engaging in protracted battles. The good news is that we have several rivers to serve as defensive barriers.

"We’ll deploy staggered defenses along the river banks, trading space for time and using numerical superiority to overwhelm the enemy. Order the troops to set out immediately."

Bertier: "Reasonable. But before the troops leave, we need to decide on the army leaders. The selection of army leaders must be exceedingly cautious; I prefer to choose from old officers with some military experience, and there are still a few Generals who support the Republic."

Anning smirked, wondering if after the enemy had been driven away, he would still have to wrack his brains to strip these old soldiers of their military power?

The old French Army system required a Noble heritage of four generations to become a high-ranking officer.

Therefore, the Generals of the old French Army were largely from the Nobility, and considering the Republic’s guillotine production line for old Nobles, one couldn’t really count on their loyalty.

After brief contemplation, Anning dismissed the idea: "No, it’s justifiable for lower-ranking officers, after all, the impact of a Lieutenant Colonel is limited. But someone commanding an army must be loyal and reliable. Let’s select from the well-regarded societal figures to be army leaders."

"Your word is final," Bertier immediately expressed his respectful agreement, but then he quickly changed tack, "However, these teachers, painters, and businessmen surely cannot be expected to have excellent command abilities. Is it not... like before, that you should designate some individuals for the army leader roles? Since we’re choosing inexperienced people anyway, why not just..."

Bertier always had some reservations about Anning’s various field promotions, but now he actively suggested that Anning propose some well-known society figures for army leadership, showing how desperate circumstances must be for the Chief of Staff to resort to such measures.

Anning, scratching his head, was in a dilemma; he needed someone with both renown enough to command respect and military talent to win battles...

The ones Anning had promoted exceptionally had all performed remarkably well, which led to persistent rumors in the military that "General Frost was divinely inspired."

Such rumors had their downsides; if someone Anning endorsed failed, the backlash would be immediate.

Thinking it over, Anning shook his head: "No, I don’t know such a person. It would be better for you and Lazar to choose someone reputable for the task."

In other words, don’t make me the scapegoat if there’s a problem.

Anning now had some famous generals at his disposal, just waiting for wars to come so he could elevate their military ranks.

When that time comes, it would be an opportune moment to replace these high-profile socialites if they performed poorly in battle.

Bertier did not know Anning’s calculations. He frowned deeply, not hiding his concerns: "This is madness, to think we actually have to defeat the coalition of two established powers with an army almost entirely comprised of outsiders from top to bottom."

Anning patted his Chief of Staff on the shoulder: "Believe in the great people of a great nation. We are not facing the enemy alone; all of France stands with us."

Bertier corrected: "Two-thirds of France, at least one-third of the regions have already rebelled."

Anning thought to himself that this was nothing—he had encountered much worse situations before—in "Europa Universalis IV."

Rebel armies defending their gates is no joke.

Sometimes when Anning would have rebels bursting forth while being attacked by a foreign nation, he’d slip his army into enemy territory to wander around, waiting for the enemy to wipe out the rebels on their own land before coming back to fight an enervated enemy force.

Thinking back on his gaming experiences, Anning even sported a smile.

Upon seeing his smile, Bertier showed an expression that read, "The general is indeed unfathomable."

Just then, someone came in to report: "Urgent letter from Nice."

Anning: "Give it to me!"

With that, he moved swiftly to the messenger, snatched the freshly produced envelope from his hand, and ripped it open.

The letter was written by Massena; he had led fifteen thousand of the French Army in a proactive attack and defeated over thirty thousand soldiers of the Sardinian Kingdom Army on the plains in front of Mondo, now laying siege to the city of Mondo.

Anning was overjoyed, and as he handed the letter to Bertier, he said: "We must massively propagate Massena’s victory; we’re in dire need of good news to boost morale!

"Tell our soldiers that the Republic’s army is a modern force, armed with the ideals of the Great Revolution, incomparable to those old Kingdom armies!"

Bertier: "Indeed, it should be widely publicized. But, shall we not notify the Parliament?"

"The Parliament has special commissioners in Italy, they will know... Hmm, it’s still better to inform the Parliament. After all, in theory, the Parliament is France’s highest authority; we’re merely military leaders appointed by the Parliament."

No sooner had Anning finished speaking than another messenger arrived.

This time it was a messenger from the Parliament: "Report, the Parliament has just passed a bill to revise military ranks. In order to ensure the smooth flow of the chain of command, Army General and Legion General ranks have been specifically added above the existing highest rank of Division General!"

Anning: "What nonsense, do they really have to change the old Kingdom’s military ranks? It wouldn’t have been a problem if they didn’t modify such formalities, right?"

Meanwhile, Bertier asked the messenger: "Who proposed this amendment? We just gave orders yesterday to disregard the new ranks from the Parliament, and today they come with a revision, quite a quick response, huh?"

Messenger: "It was Bishop Talleyrand."

Anning frowned: "Talleyrand?"

Damn it, this chameleon, he wouldn’t see me as a wall, would he?