Descending On France 1780
Chapter 260 - 253 Confirmed that Frost is not on the front line, the coalition Commander decided to show off

Chapter 260: 253 Confirmed that Frost is not on the front line, the coalition Commander decided to show off

Afterwards, Anning decided to stay in Paris for a longer time.

Anning made a small request to have the daily list of new executions delivered to him so that he could try to save some important people.

For example, on his first day in Paris, Anning had the mathematician Monge removed from the list.

Seeing Monge surprised Anning because he remembered that in the original timeline, Monge lived until after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.

That is, with the current chaotic situation, it’s uncertain who might suddenly be reported and become labeled as a Girondist, and then be sent to the guillotine.

So Anning became even more determined to stay in Paris.

At the very least, he wanted to save as many scientists as possible.

Aside from Lavoisier, who was taken away with his father-in-law, Anning saved Monge and then incorporated everyone from the Standards and Measures Committee into the Ministry of War.

The Standards and Measures Committee was currently involved in the crucial task of setting the metric standards including the metric meter and Celsius, all of which would be established by this committee.

Now that they were incorporated into the Ministry of War, even if someone reported them, it would have to be dealt with by the Ministry of War, not prosecuted by the National Assembly and People’s Court.

In conclusion, Anning changed his previous approach of avoiding Paris’ political vortex as much as possible and tried hard to use his authority to protect important individuals from the already out-of-control chaos.

Anning’s main focus of protection was scientists and artisans, followed by writers, musicians, and painters.

However, he hardly protected doctors, mainly because he felt that the doctors of this era were really useless; in events of issues they would only perform bloodletting.

During these days Anning stayed in Paris, Christina was in a very good mood.

She too was actively helping Anning by gathering information from the social circles.

Through Christina, Anning gained further insights into the chaos in Paris. According to the ladies and madams of the social circles, many people in Paris saw an opportunity to seize desired properties or wealth through collecting and reporting various incriminating materials.

After getting this news, Anning found Robespierre at night and requested the establishment of a mechanism to review the reports, to as much as possible reduce the wrongful cases, and harshly punish those who fabricated reports.

Robespierre agreed in full.

A few days later, a committee responsible for reviewing reports was established, but its effectiveness is still unknown.

Anning could only console himself by saying that at least he had taken action.

After all, with the current situation in Paris, unless the reign of terror could be completely stopped, carefully verifying the authenticity of each report was an impossible task.

While Anning was busy in Paris, new developments occurred on the battlefield.

**

At the coalition’s Command Department, Prussia’s Commander Brunswick and Austria’s Marshal Alvizi received a long-awaited letter.

Brunswick first opened the letter, quickly glanced at its contents, then handed the letter to Alvizi: "Confirmed, Frost is in Paris."

Alvizi took the letter: "Is this information reliable? Let me see, it doesn’t mention him appearing in public."

"But there have been important members of the French Army visiting the Versailles Palace, could they possibly be visiting Frost’s fiancée?"

Alvizi curled his lip: "Hmm, the possibility of Frost being in Paris is high! And according to the situation reports we’ve received from Paris, he might stay there for a while. We should seize this opportunity to strike the French Army field forces located outside Paris."

Duke Brunswick: "Currently, Bertier, who is acting as Commander, participated in the Independence War of the New Continent, and his performance can only be described as unsatisfactory. There are French nobles who have fled to me who are familiar with him; they say as a Chief of Staff he is exceptional, but as a Commander, he falls short."

Alvizi nodded, then took a compass, made some measurements on the map, and marked a small path: "This small path can supply about twenty thousand troops; we can allocate elite forces and launch a fierce strike on Bertier’s forces currently located at the Marne River crossing."

Brunswick: "The French Army lacks Cavalry, only having two brigades led by Lasalle, we can mobilize superior Cavalry. With their mobility advantage, they can temporarily rely on their personal supplies to fight."

Alvizi: "Allocate an army of twenty thousand infantry, add four Cavalry brigades, and launch an offensive against Bertier’s forces! Bertier’s forces are all new recruits, without Frost’s magical transformation, our forces will undoubtedly win a great victory."

Brunswick: "Agreed, let’s depart, while Frost is engaged in political struggles in Paris, let’s give him a demoralizing blow!"

**

Bertier’s headquarters.

After Frost returned to Paris, Bertier commanded the troops to expel the defeated coalition forces, driving the scattered coalition troops close to the area near Alsace.

All the while as the Chief of Staff, he did not want to miss this opportunity to showcase his "abilities".

One day, Lasalle entered Bertier’s headquarters heavily, telling Bertier: "We are now in a very dangerous situation; if the coalition forces at Verdun divert a unit to cut off our connection with Paris, we will be in danger and might have to fight an offensive battle on the open fields.

"Besides my Cavalry, all the infantry forces are new recruits, they simply do not possess the capability to attack. Have you forgotten how Andy instructed us, we need to fortify our positions and fight a protracted battle."

Bertia nodded, "You’re right, I understand discretion."

"What discretion? Look at our current position! If the enemy comes here, and cuts us off here, then we’ll have to fight an offensive battle!" Lasalle marked a few places on the map.

Bertier: "The Verdun Fortress has not fallen, at this time the enemy doesn’t have sufficient logistics to maintain a force capable of annihilating us. No, it won’t happen, the enemy won’t head south without having captured Verdun. That’s against the doctrine of any country!"

Lasalle: "Doctrine! To hell with the doctrine! I think we should start retreating immediately, back to the position where Frost handed the troops over to you!"

Bertier: "I report to Lord Frost daily about the progress, he is aware of our position. If there were any issues, he would have already ordered from Paris."

Lasalle: "Paris is in chaos right now, and you know it, it’s very possible that even Andy... even Lord Frost can’t manage everything!"

"Are you questioning Lord Frost’s competence?" Bertier angrily retorted.

Lasalle also angrily: "It seems to me that you are just passing the buck to him, waving a big flag made of tiger skin! Damn it, why are you in command? If it was Davout, we would have already retreated!"

Bertier: "What did you say! Enough! If you feel it’s so dangerous now, then fulfill your duty as Cavalry, go scout, bring back concrete intelligence to me, then convince me! Not here spouting conjectures!"

"I’ll bring the intelligence! Just you wait!" Lasalle stormed out, slamming the door behind him.