Descending On France 1780
Chapter 272 - 265 scattering beans to turn them into soldiers

Chapter 272: 265 scattering beans to turn them into soldiers

When the news arrived, Anning was leading his troops to the rescue of Babi Village.

Nearly two hundred thousand French Army troops formed an exceedingly long line along the post road, presenting a rather ordinary spectacle.

A Messenger Soldier ran along the marching column and finally located Anning’s command flag, rushing over to deliver the message: "Report to General, the coalition besieging Sedan Fortress has been defeated by us, and we’ve captured Grand Duke Carl of the Austrian army."

Anning immediately took the letter, scrutinized its contents, and clicked his tongue in amazement: "Good gracious, Napoleon caught Grand Duke Carl? Shouldn’t it be Grand Duke Carl giving Napoleon a thrashing?"

Anning remembered Carl’s direct confrontations with Napoleon were always a regrettable matter, as they were all set for a fierce battle when Carl’s brother surrendered, thwarting the fight.

The real scenario of "Your subjects are ready to fight to the death; why surrender first, Your Majesty?"

Later on, Grand Duke Carl continuously defeated renowned French Army generals like Jourdan and Massena, even took command during critical moments after the Austrian defeat at Hornlinde, stopping Moro’s advance.

But he never got the chance to go head to head with Napoleon.

There should have been an opportunity, but after becoming the nation’s savior and achieving great merit that overshadowed the monarch, along with pushing military reforms and establishing a national army similar to the French Army that threatened the imperial power, he was eventually distrusted by his brother and stripped of his military command.

This had always been a source of regret for military history enthusiasts; everyone wanted to see Grand Duke Carl fight against Napoleon with all his might.

Now, in this timeline, Grand Duke Carl ended up as a prisoner at the feet of Napoleon.

Anning shook his head; it felt to him like a much-anticipated play had finally raised its curtains, only to turn out bland and uninspiring.

He was not aware at this moment that Grand Duke Carl’s defeat was simply because Napoleon was somewhat less imposing stature-wise.

Nor did he know that Grand Duke Carl, impressed by the might of the French Army, had started abandoning his outdated military doctrines and embracing new ideas.

In short, Anning was oblivious to the fact that this was merely a catalyst for Grand Duke Carl’s transformation.

At this time, Anning really wanted to vent about Napoleon’s achievements with a trusted confidant, but unfortunately, his old team wasn’t around.

Bertier was serving as an acting commander, Davout was in Italy, and Lasalle, having been wounded, had gone to Paris to recuperate in a hospital.

So Anning could only glance at Moura, who was not yet his confidant, and say: "Look, Napoleon has captured the Austrian prince, Grand Duke Carl."

Moura was surprised to be addressed by Anning and unsure of his status as a confidant; he responded very respectfully: "It is indeed a splendid victory, Your Excellency."

Anning frowned; such a distanced response disappointed him.

Well, one couldn’t expect others to behave like old subordinates from the get-go.

Anning handed the letter to Moura: "Take a look at it."

Moura cautiously took the letter, read it carefully, and then looked up to meet Anning’s eyes.

He seemed to realize that Anning was waiting for his opinion and said: "Regarding the handling of Grand Duke Carl, is it planned to be decided by the Parliament?"

"No," Anning shook his head, "Parliament is mad now; they might even send him to the guillotine. He’s our prisoner of war, naturally our army decides how to deal with him; it has nothing to do with Parliament."

Moura’s expression became subtle when he heard Anning saying "Parliament is mad," as if to say: "Am I supposed to hear this?"

Anning ignored Moura’s expression; he simply wanted to turn all the future famous generals into his good buddies.

"Just like we used to," he said, "sign an agreement not to engage in anti-French military actions for a year, then demand a hefty ransom. The Habsburgs are still very rich; we can extort a large sum as the startup fund for the future."

Moura looked puzzled: "Start up what?"

True, Anning hadn’t shared with him his grand plan to revolutionize the whole of France’s production with steam engines.

Anning: "The Steam Revolution—using steam engines to replace traditional manpower, pushing productivity into a whole new realm."

Moura: "Uh... Ah, that is indeed a grand conception."

He clearly didn’t get it.

Anning suddenly missed Lasalle, this treasure who would definitely spout crazy complaints like, "You’ve already cut away the taxes from Northern Italy, are you still going to persecute that Franz from Austria!"

He hoped that Lasalle would get well soon.

**

Lasalle: "Mrs. Fanny! My wine has run out!"

The landlady appeared with a face full of speechlessness: "You start drinking in broad daylight, and this is already the third bottle!"

"It’s not like it’s costing you money. I am Cavalry, and Cavalry are supposed to drink heavily and eat meat, and make a lot of noise in an uncultured manner while doing so."

Saying this, Lasalle slapped the landlady’s butt.

The landlord shouted angrily: "Take your filthy hands away! If it weren’t for you being the General’s favored one, I would have slapped you by now."

Lasalle burst into laughter as if he took the landlord’s reaction as a joke.

Just then, he heard crying coming from outside.

Just as the landlady brought the wine over, Lasalle asked: "What’s this crying about?"

"It’s human crying," the landlady said irritably.

"I know it’s human crying, I mean, who’s crying and why?"

"The lady across, Mrs. Ranglè, someone reported that her house had Royalist pamphlets, so her husband was taken away. They took him away this morning, and by afternoon, he came back lying down, with a very neatly cut head," said the landlady, making the sign of the cross.

Lasalle’s mood noticeably sank: "Damn."

He glanced at the wine the landlady had just brought and gently pushed the bottle away: "Take it away, this crying makes me lose the mood to drink."

"Should I go ask her to stop crying?"

"No, don’t go, it’s too much to ask someone to stop crying at this time. Let her cry, poor woman," Lasalle said.

**

While Lasalle was beaten down, the Austrian Cavalry Major Jonah had just dispersed the third wave of the French Army.

These French troops were strange; they didn’t form formations and became chaotic upon seeing the Cavalry, and Jonah thought it would be another easy and pleasant victory.

Normally, troops that haven’t formed into a Formation would disperse just from the sight of the charging Cavalry, and then the Cavalry could comfortably chase and Practicing Swordsmanship on the scattered enemies.

But these French troops were different; indeed, they dispersed too, but after escaping to places where the Cavalry couldn’t perform well, they would turn around and start shooting.

To disperse such French troops, you had to charge and chop off a few heads with a Horse Sword; just intimidation wouldn’t work.

As a result, by the end of the morning, Major Jonah’s hands were numb from chopping, and his Horse Sword had even been nicked by someone’s hard head.

Yet, the French troops kept appearing, brigade after brigade.

A simple reconnaissance mission turned into constant dispersal of emerging French troops.

As the Major was cutting down his enemies, he shouted, "Why are there so many French troops! Where are they all coming from?"

The Major’s subordinate answered: "Major, have you read One Thousand and One Nights? In it, there’s a story about seeds that turn into soldiers when scattered. Maybe that Andy Frost has gotten his hands on this treasure!"

Jonah cursed, just as he was about to strike a new head, that’s when he was shot.

He fell from his horse, and as the world spun before his eyes, he wondered in confusion: Was that it? Did I get shot?

Then his head hit the ground, and he passed out.