Descending On France 1780
Chapter 282 - 275 Parliament resolution, strike out at the Rhein River

Chapter 282: 275 Parliament resolution, strike out at the Rhein River

On the afternoon of May 13, 1793, the French Army attacked the main force of the coalition invading France.

The coalition’s main force was nearly overwhelmed, but at the critical moment, the coalition troops originally surrounding Verdun arrived to reinforce, allowing the main force to retreat towards the border line.

Anning originally wanted to pursue them, but Bertier stopped him.

"Our supplies can’t keep up, and the casualties among various units are very serious," Bertier said gravely, "Due to the lack of alcohol to clean wounds, many have to rely on traditional methods of treatment, causing severe depletion in our ranks. Moreover, after so many days of forced marches, the troops are physically exhausted and are only being kept going by high morale, which could collapse at any moment."

Anning pursed his lips; he had thought that this time they could again claim a thorough victory and then capture Marshal Alvizi and Duke Brunswick, bringing them back to parade through the streets of Paris.

But what Bertier said was indeed true; the continuous forced marches and continuous combat had severely overtaxed the troops.

Many had gone over fourteen hours without eating.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Anning sighed: "Order the troops to rest in place and have the rear hurry up with the supplies. Send a detachment of cavalry to the nearby cities to see what the local National Assembly can contribute to support the troops."

Bertier breathed a sigh of relief: "That’s great, I’ll go arrange it now. Luckily, you are a general who’s willing to listen to advice."

Anning: "That’s because I’ve also noticed the troops’ fatigue. Alright then, off you go to attend to that."

After Bertier left, Anning continued to sit at the table, picked up a glass of wine, and while sipping on the grape wine, watched the French Army clean up the battlefield.

Anning: "This grape wine isn’t bad at all."

Vanni: "It’s wine sent from Epernay, a famous wine-producing region. They transport their wines to Paris via the Marne River."

Anning: "I see. Do they have any more wine to send? Share it with the troops. Today we had a great victory; it should be well-celebrated."

Vanni: "Your thought is kind, but with so many troops and such little wine, I fear each person might only get a drop."

Anning: "Don’t worry, just send the cart carrying the barrels of wine to any unit at random, tell them it’s wine awarded by the general, and leave the rest to them. It won’t take long for the entire army to hear that the general has rewarded a certain unit with fine wine; that will be enough."

"I understand, I’ll take care of it."

Vanni turned and walked away, leaving Anning alone at the table on the high ground, savoring his wine, with a young standard-bearer standing by his side.

His flag fluttering in the breeze.

Anning began to summarize lessons learned in his mind.

Attack in column formation may have good effects, but the casualties are also very high, especially when targeted by artillery with solid bullets, suffering more losses than in line formation.

Moreover, column formation is not conducive to maximizing firepower; an attack in column generally means giving up on muskets, with usually only the first and second rows firing and the rest holding their flintlock guns akin to spears.

Indeed, attacking in column formation is just an expedient measure.

The current French Army can’t change formations, nor do they have enough practice in musket loading, hence why column formation could play to their advantage while covering their weaknesses.

But once the French Army’s training level is raised, they should indeed switch to line formation for attacks.

Another thing is volley fire, which Anning has been observing the effectiveness of these days.

At the military academy in Briena, Anning learned that volley fire can create mass casualties among the enemy in a short time, effectively shaking the enemy’s morale, better than independent firing.

But now, Anning felt that something was not quite right, as if the effects of volley fire weren’t that impressive.

Maybe it was because of the high morale of the French Army.

In comparison, independent firing seems to sustain continuous firepower.

The famed Russian General Suvorov was very against volley fire; he always demanded his troops adopt battle shooting—interpreted as trained soldiers taking careful aim before firing independently and at will.

After this series of continued battles, Anning felt there was merit to Suvorov’s view.

Anning thought about incorporating all this into the French Army’s training manual, including the advantages and disadvantages of attacking in column formation, advocating for independent firing while phasing out volley fire, and promoting the active use of skirmishers and so forth.

In his mind, a whole new training manual was gradually taking shape.

When he returned to Paris, he planned to write out this new manual for Lazar Kano to train the troops according to the new system.

He truly is the undisputed father of the new army.

Just as he was contemplating, Moura and Nei came over to Anning’s side.

Anning: "Shouldn’t you continue to pursue the enemy?"

"That’s the thing. In the melee with the coalition cavalry earlier, my regiment lost a significant number of warhorses and we have many wounded, so we temporarily pulled back," Moura replied, glancing at Nei.

Nei: "My regiment ran out of rations yesterday, and today we shared a bit of Moura’s rations. We’re very hungry, nearly to the point of raiding the villages we passed by. It took a lot of effort to keep the cavalry under control."

Anning: "You all are hungry too, damn it, the logistics are completely failing to supply us."

Moura: "I can’t believe we are fighting this war on the soil of France."

Anning: "You know very well what the situation is like now. Be content, Cano is trying very hard to supply us."

The current situation looks like Anning’s two hundred thousand French Army are pretty much at their limit; it might be time to return to the capital and properly recuperate.

Fortunately, the main forces of the coalition have been routed, and it’s unlikely they have the strength to lay siege to the fortresses of Sedan and Verdun anymore.

Anning: "Merge your two cavalry regiments into one and eat well today; set off tomorrow to monitor the movements of the coalition. I need to ensure that Alvizi withdraws from the border."

Moura and Nei saluted together: "We guarantee to complete the mission."

Anning pursed his lips, gazing at the scattered French Army across the vast battlefield.

It seems that the continuous offensive battles should come to an end here.

**

Two days later.

Paris, National Assembly.

A messenger soldier burst into the Parliament Hall and loudly declared: "After five days of fierce battles, General Frost has been victorious in every fight. The coalition troops have retreated to the border, and the sieges of Sedan and Verdun have been lifted. We have won!"

The National Assembly was abuzz with excited murmurs.

Robespierre cleared his throat and stood up to speak, when suddenly a parliament member stood up: "Since we have won and Paris is no longer at risk of being besieged, can we stop the Reign of Terror?"

Robespierre’s brows furrowed deeply: "No, no! Even though Paris is safe, the enemy has not been completely eliminated! We will continue the Reign of Terror until the enemy is completely vanquished! Mr. Bakins, what is your intention by making such a statement at this time? I suspect you are a hidden Royalist!"

No sooner had his words fallen when another parliament member stood up: "I have evidence of Bakins’s private correspondence with the Girondists!"

Bakins exclaimed in shock: "What? Impossible! This is slander!"

The parliament member held up a letter: "This is the letter Bakins wrote to the heads of the Girondists, we can have handwriting experts verify it!"

Robespierre’s face was stern: "Bring in the handwriting expert, he will give you a fair assessment, Mr. Bakins!"

Bakins yelled out in fear: "No!"

This was actually the normal state of affairs in the National Assembly, as the inviolability privilege of the members had been revoked, and parliament members often fabricated various incriminating materials to attack their adversaries.

As for the truth of these incriminating materials, it was no longer a problem if a few gold coins were given to the handwriting experts.

Of course, handing over gold coins was a dangerous act, and Robespierre deeply loathed such practices; if discovered, one would inevitably be heading to the guillotine along with the handwriting experts.

But when the stakes were high enough, there were always those willing to take the risk.

Bakins, of course, understood the trickery behind this, and he slumped into his chair, waiting for the handwriting expert to announce his death sentence.

And at this moment, a new topic was brought up.

Dan Dong stood up: "I think we should let the French Army pursue the victory and quickly strike towards the wealthy Rhein River area!"

"Yes, by occupying the Rhein area, we can resolve our tax revenue problems!" someone immediately agreed.

"To spread the revolution across Europe is our mission!"