Descending On France 1780
Chapter 332 - 325 The organizer of victory

Chapter 332: 325 The organizer of victory

After the banquet ended, a salon exclusively for members of the Anning Faction seamlessly commenced.

Lazar swept his gaze over everyone in the hall and suddenly said, "I was wondering why something seemed missing. After thinking it over, I finally realized—it’s Davout’s bald head! It feels odd to gather without seeing Davout’s bald head!"

As a newcomer to the group, Bernadotte was dismissive of Davout’s military exploits, and he sneered, "Davout has been besieging Mantua Fortress in Italy for nearly a year now. Is he not skilled at siege warfare?"

Anning responded, "He has defeated Austria’s several relief efforts against Mantua, performing exceptionally well. At times, the Austrian relief forces were twice the size of his troops.

"Currently, Mantua Fortress has not yet fallen. Perhaps Davout intends to keep the fortress surrounded, starving those inside while waiting to see if the Austrians will attempt another relief."

Napoleon pondered and nodded, "Indeed, that’s a possibility. Moreover, although the casualty rates under Davout’s command were exceedingly high when he served under you, Andy, he personally dislikes such great sacrifices."

Anning acknowledged, "I know, but when needed to hold the line, he won’t hesitate. That’s why I always place him in the most perilous positions, which results in high casualties."

"Exactly," Napoleon nodded, "But if Davout were commanding on his own, he would likely prefer a strategy that minimizes casualties. I’ve seen the situation at Mantua Fortress; it is indeed very difficult to attack."

Bernadotte felt somewhat embarrassed after being collectively rebutted by the others, "Well..."

Anning stood up, walked over to him, and gently patted Bernadotte’s shoulder, "Davout is someone I can entrust with an entire battlefront. I’ve entrusted all of Italy to him. It will not be too late for you to criticize Davout when I can trust you with an entire front line."

Bernadotte nodded like a pecking chicken, "Yes, yes, I will."

Anning patted Bernadotte’s shoulder firmly again before returning to his seat.

Christina whispered, "You shouldn’t be so harsh; look, you’ve scared Bernadotte."

Anning was surprised, "Scared him?"

"Look at his face! You probably don’t realize how terrifying your expression just was."

Napoleon chimed in, "I must say, I was scared too. I need to strive to become a general whom you, Andy, would go to such lengths to defend."

Anning laughed, "You will be one."

You are Napoleon after all; you will surely be in charge of something significant in the future.

Anning suddenly thought mischievously that in this timeline, perhaps he should send Napoleon to Spain to take charge of the affairs there.

Just then, the small orchestra in the hall was playing, and the violinist drew out a melodious tune, very fitting for the moment.

However, the French Republic has not yet declared war on Spain, and the troubling matters of Spain have not yet become entangled with France.

Anning scanned the entire room, thinking that if anyone in this room upset him in the future, he might just send them to Spain to experience firsthand how troublesome matters there could be.

At this moment, Napoleon brought up another topic, "Speaking of which, which country are we planning to attack first?"

"Parliament wants us to first attack the lowland countries to acquire funds. But honestly, since the lowland countries are also a Republic like us, I think direct attack is inappropriate. We should first achieve victory on the Rhein front, and then use diplomatic tactics to persuade the Netherlands to join our side."

As soon as Anning spoke, the hall fell silent, and everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

Anning: "War is not the only means to achieve our goals, we should use multiple approaches."

"But who can persuade the Netherlands Republic to lean towards us?" Bertier asked, "In the past, France had a huge influence on the Netherlands, but those influences mainly came from the nobles we overthrew."

Anning stroked his chin: "I do have a candidate in mind, but he is not in this room right now."

Everyone looked at each other; at this moment, everyone assumed the discussion was about internal faction affairs, and "not in this room" meant that he was not part of Andy’s faction.

Anning spoke up: "I think Mr. Talleyrand should be able to take on this responsibility; he has done a quite good job in his diplomatic mission in the UK."

Historically, Talleyrand was the Foreign Minister and Steward under Napoleon’s first French Empire, and his capabilities should be beyond doubt.

Anning himself didn’t have much talent for judging people, only able to rely on the historical evaluations from the future to judge a person’s capability.

Hence when it comes to diplomacy, he could only think of Talleyrand.

As soon as Anning mentioned it, Lasalle immediately laughed: "Ah, Talleyrand, he is a good man, he gifted me a cellar full of fine wine! Despite being a priest, he shouldn’t have anything to do with wine."

Anning raised an eyebrow, thinking oh you Talleyrand, you’ve already started corrupting the people around me?

With someone like Talleyrand, who knows what he might do if left to his own devices, it’s better to make use of him.

After all, the man’s talents are genuine; it would be a waste not to use them.

And such a shrewd opportunist is actually quite easy to control.

After Anning made up his mind, he said, "I’m very satisfied with Mr. Talleyrand’s achievements in London, so I plan to recommend him to take charge of the negotiations for the Netherlands Republic. Our offensive on the Rhein front will strongly support Talleyrand’s diplomatic efforts."

Bernadotte then asked, "How many troops can we actually deploy towards the Rhein? The Holy Roman Empire and Prussia together probably have an army of three to five hundred thousand. Although they must keep an eye on Russia and can’t utilize all their forces against us, if our troops number less than 200,000, the entire operation will likely be very difficult."

Napoleon was displeased: "What are you talking about? Andy alone is worth a hundred thousand soldiers, every time he crushes enemies more than twice his number."

Anning raised a hand to stop Napoleon from continuing: "Alright, it’s not like I prefer to fight with fewer against more."

"In a classic military treatise from the East, it says: By the law of military operations, surround them if ten times their strength, attack if five times, divide if twice, battle if equal, flee if fewer, and avoid if unable.

"This is ancient wisdom from the East. Napoleon, remember, having more soldiers is always better. If you can fight with more against fewer, then decisively do so, and don’t talk about knightly honor.

"If we don’t have an overall numerical superiority, we need to create a local superiority and turn it into fighting more with less locally. Understand?"

Napoleon grimaced: "Alright, I was just emphasizing that you’re not afraid of being at a numerical disadvantage."

Anning laughed: "Napoleon, my brother, don’t worry about being at a disadvantage, we have Lazarcano, so we will not lack troops."

Lazar Kano smiled: "You trusting me so much puts a lot of pressure on me. However, I can guarantee that with the abundant harvest this autumn, by next year when we launch our offensive on the Rhein, we should be able to deploy about four hundred thousand troops for two to three months of combat."

Lazar Kano’s words made the generals in the room utter exclamations of astonishment.

Then someone started clapping.

After the applause, Anning stood up and raised his glass: "Let’s toast to the organizer of victory, Lazar Kano!"