Descending On France 1780
Chapter 276 - 269 The Fermentation and Spread of Rumors

Chapter 276: 269 The Fermentation and Spread of Rumors

Because he was too surprised, the blacksmith slapped himself.

Then he asked the Senior Sergeant: "Did you really see the Roman Legion?"

The Senior Sergeant said with conviction: "I saw it, all in red, holding large shields that can completely hide a person behind."

The blacksmith looked at the Austrian skeptically, thinking that it was too far-fetched.

So he turned to his subordinates and said: "Someone come and smell if there’s an alcohol odor in his breath."

Senior Sergeant: "I didn’t drink! It’s the absolute truth!"

The blacksmith turned to look at the Captain: "Did you also see the Roman Legion?"

The Captain shook his head like a rattle drum: "I didn’t see it, but Frost really charged at us holding the Eagle Flag!"

The cavalrymen looked at each other, and finally a Lieutenant said: "Perhaps General Frost really carried an Eagle Flag and charged towards the Austrians."

Actually, Frost—Anning was not even at the scene, couldn’t charge at the enemy, and there was no Eagle Flag at all.

But compared to the Roman Legion summoned across time and space, the Eagle Flag seemed more plausible.

Thus, the cavalrymen believed it! They believed that Frost charged with the Eagle Flag personally, and as for the Roman Legion, it was probably just the French Army misidentified in the chaos of defeated troops.

Blacksmith: "I wonder if we fight bravely, could we also get an Eagle Flag?"

"Definitely," his subordinate said, "I heard that units with good performance can be personally awarded by General Frost, probably that’s the Eagle Flag!"

The Roman Eagle Flag is not about painting an eagle on it, but the decoration on the top of the flagpole is a metal eagle.

So one can choose whatever the flag looks like, which doesn’t conflict with having an Eagle Flag, thus this arrangement surprisingly didn’t contradict the previous rumors!

The blacksmith waved his hand grandly: "Alright, collect the prisoners’ guns, put them on the horse, and let’s move out quickly to earn merits!"

The captured Captain asked anxiously: "What about us if you leave?"

"We don’t have time to escort you," the blacksmith pointed southwest, "Just go in this direction straight to the town where we were formed, they will take you in!"

**

At the coalition headquarters, Alvizi was studying the map with Brunswick, the commander of the Prussian forces, when suddenly a Messenger Soldier burst in: "Report! Your Excellency Marshal, Your Excellency Duke, the troops that rushed to Babi Village have turned back!"

Brunswick: "What? Damn it, turning back without orders is punishable by military law!"

Alvizi patted the shoulder of the Prussian commander: "Perhaps there’s a reason, their commander should report to us soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, an Orderly again pushed the door open, allowing Bureski, soon to be General, to enter.

This man of Slavic descent and Hungarian origin was always dressed in a Cavalryman’s attire, totally not fond of the general’s uniform like other generals.

"Why have you returned, Bureski?" Marshal Alvizi deliberately flicked his tongue when saying Bureski’s name, making the pronunciation slightly sound like Russian.

Bureski: "Because Babi Village has already collapsed, there was no need for reinforcements. The fleeing soldiers have run close to the headquarters, calculating by distance, they probably collapsed early this morning."

Alvizi: "How is that possible! Even if the French Army has the advantage in numbers, Major General Ferdinand has twenty thousand men; even if they were twenty thousand sheep, the French Army would need a whole day to capture them!"

"But they collapsed, I asked different fleeing soldiers, some said the attack started early in the morning and they collapsed after an enemy counterattack, others said it was after several hours of fierce fighting, but anyhow, they collapsed in the morning."

Bureski stepped aside and pulled forward the Major who had been hiding behind him, "This is an officer from Ferdinand’s staff, ask him for the details!"

Alvizi took a step forward and scrutinized the officer.

"Humph, so young, I bet you haven’t completed your military courses." Alvizi muttered, then waved to a duty soldier beside him, "Give him a drink to bolster his courage, see how scared he is."

The duty soldier quickly brought the drink, and the young Major drank it all at once, but ended up choking and coughing repeatedly.

After finally stopping his coughs, he looked up at Alvizi: "Marshal, we launched an attack as usual this morning, but then the French Army suddenly charged at us.

"Can you imagine? The French Army surged forward in a dispersed formation, swarming over us and immediately our right wing collapsed.

"I have no idea where the French Army got their courage from, but that’s not the most ludicrous part. What happened next was even more terrifying, our General suddenly went mad."

Alvizi: "Mad? Wait, is that a metaphor, or do you mean it literally?"

"Literally, Your Excellency! General Ferdinand was shouting ’Frost is coming’, ’Frost is coming with the Eagle Flag’, and then he turned and ran!"

Alvizi: "Frost is coming with the Eagle Flag?"

"I didn’t see it. But... you should ask the fleeing soldiers."

Alvizi: "Bring a few fleeing soldiers here for questioning."

Moments later, the fleeing soldiers were brought in.

"Your Excellency," the soldiers were very nervous, clearly not used to being so close to such a high-ranking officer.

Unlike the French Army, the Austrian army was different; noble officers and soldiers were distinct, even a small Lieutenant came from a family lineage of two or three generations of nobility, going to battle with two duty soldiers to serve him, drinking milk and eating eggs every morning.

Even minor Lieutenants weren’t people that ordinary soldiers see every day.

"What happened? How did you fail?" the Marshal asked.

The soldiers looked at each other, then all turned to the eldest among them.

The old soldier said solemnly to the Marshal: "It was the Roman legions!"

Alvizi gasped: "Frost organized a new legion?"

"No, the Roman legions! Wearing red armor, carrying shields."

Alvizi was greatly shocked.

The old soldier vowed confidently: "I saw it with my own eyes!"

"You see," the fleeing Major said, "at first it was just a few people, but now if you ask any of the fleeing soldiers, they all will tell you that the Roman legion came. It must be evil magic, I always thought Frost’s title ’Magician of the Battlefield’ was a metaphor, but he really is a mage!"

Alvizi looked over at Brunswick.

Brunswick: "Perhaps Frost really did charge with the Eagle Flag, and then the fleeing soldiers saw wrong in their panic. To fleeing soldiers, even the rustling grass and trees in the wind can seem like pursuers."

Alvizi: "He really did take up the Eagle Flag, huh? This leatherworker is ambitious; he truly wants to be the Caesar of the new era..."

"Then he needs to change his own country’s flag to red and gold, not the current red, white, and blue," Brunswick said.

Brunswick doesn’t know, Frost’s homeland’s flag is indeed red and gold, matching the most traditional Roman flag’s color scheme.