Chapter 907: 815: The Great Victory of Marengo

Chapter 907: Chapter 815: The Great Victory of Marengo

“Yes, to the west.” The cavalry nodded, “Our company commander has been keeping watch, there are at least twenty thousand enemy troops, already three kilometers from the Bormida River.”

Napoleon gazed into the distance with suspicion, murmuring to himself, “What are the Austrians trying to do?”

At present his troops are severely wounded and exhausted, if the enemy commander has any military sense, he wouldn’t miss this opportunity to attack him.

Is it to lull me into a sense of security?

Napoleon shook his head, given the current situation, if the Austrian Army to the north doesn’t impose any restraint, he could immediately attack Melas to the south at Cabianga.

Is this baiting with their commander?

No, no, there must be some conspiracy here, I must not be deceived by appearances, I need to think carefully…

Just as Napoleon was puzzling over this, a captain directed soldiers to place a stretcher in front of him, standing to attention, “Sir Commander, this man claims he was sent by Amadeo III with a message.”

Napoleon glanced at the man lying on the stretcher, around thirty, dressed in Sardinian uniform, left leg wrapped in bandages soaked with blood, clearly wounded.

He frowned: “Who is he?”

“He says his name is Ogino,” said the captain who brought the man, “Last night he sneaked into our camp, and the soldiers saw a Sardinian, so they opened fire.”

Napoleon crouched beside Ogino, asking, “Did the King of Sardinia send you to find me?”

The latter, pale-faced, nodded weakly and replied, “Your Majesty, our troops have withdrawn to Turin.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, last week Your Majesty signed an agreement with your Crown Prince. Sardinia is withdrawing from the war…”

Napoleon turned to glare at the captain beside him, his gaze sharp as knives, “Why wasn’t he brought last night?”

“We…thought he was just a lying spy.”

The captain nervously explained for quite a while, and Napoleon finally understood, it turns out that Ogino was shot and fell unconscious—two others who came with him were shot dead on the spot—and when he awoke in the middle of the night, French soldiers ignored him, dragging it to now.

Napoleon harshly scolded the officer, then ordered the military doctor to treat Ogino, and afterward told Lucien, “Order the entire army to stand by. Deploy cavalry scouts to carefully observe enemy movement.”

Forty minutes later, cavalry returned to report that nearly twenty thousand Sardinian troops indeed returned to the west bank of the Bormida River.

Napoleon was filled with great joy, even couldn’t help but cross himself silently, “Thank you, Crown Prince, you are the strongest reinforcements!”

He was confident that with his soldiers, relying on his command ability to maneuver against the Aus Alliance Army and ultimately defeat them.

But that would come at a significant sacrifice, even the Italian Front Army would be unable to wage war on a large scale in the short term.

But now, the Crown Prince has “eliminated” nearly twenty thousand of the enemy’s forces.

The upcoming battle would be much easier.

He began to envision, soon leading the Italian Front Army and the Royal Third Infantry Division to launch an attack on Mantua, the last stronghold of Austria on the Italian Peninsula.

Yes, the Meiras Army is no longer any point of concern in his view.

Napoleon let out a long breath, saying to Lucien, “Keep cavalry keeping close watch on the Austrians. Other corps return to Marengo for a three-day rest.”

Joubert beside him worriedly said, “Sir Commander, what if the Austrian Army to the north launches an attack on us? Most soldiers are still recovering…”

Even if the Sardinians retreat, there are still tens of thousands of soldiers in the Genoa Legion north of Marengo, who were mostly idle yesterday and in good condition. If they launch a full attack, the French Army might not necessarily be able to withstand it.

Napoleon, however, smiled slightly, “Don’t worry, the Austrians are certainly discussing nervously how to resist our attack now.

“After a string of defeats before, they’ve lost their courage.

“Especially with Sardinia’s sudden retreat, this will further severely damage their morale.

“Actually, my concern now is that they might abandon Melas and flee back to the Mantua Fortress.”

Indeed as he expected, Genoa kept retreating to Castelcchio, setting up defenses there.

And by noon the next day, the liaison officer sent by Talleyrand arrived at Napoleon’s command post, informing him of the signing of the ‘Turin Agreement’ between France and Sardinia.

Yes, because he was worried that the line along Bormida River might be blocked by Austrians, he took a detour from the north of the Lombardy Region, and came a day and a half slower than the Sardinian messenger.

Three days later.

Napoleon personally commanded the well-rested and reorganized corps, launching an attack on Melas hiding in Cabianga.

The French Army soldiers were not affected by the loss of thousands of comrades days earlier. Instead, singing and boasting excitedly, their morale appeared extremely high.

“Haha, despite the enemy having over 50,000 men, didn’t we crush them quickly?”

“That day, I was right behind Colonel Bonaparte, went forward and stabbed a cavalry officer to death…”

“Austrians are simply weak.”

“Indeed, didn’t you see the Sardinians got scared and ran away?”

“Genoa, Pavia, Milan, where shall we head next?”

“It’s Mantua’s turn!”

In a house in Cabianga, Chervoni hurriedly pushed open the door, saying to Melas sitting by the window, “General, our line can’t hold much longer, I’ll cover your retreat to Casine…”

Melas glanced at him, merely shook his head in despair, “There’s no need. Even if we retreat to the coast, what can we do there? There’s no British fleet waiting to meet us…”

He suddenly bellowed, “Those worthless British! They claimed to provide supplies from the sea, yet French ships entered Genoa! And where are they? Where are they?!”

Drawing a breath, his voice grew louder, “And those Sardinian cowards! They’re all cowards! The French haven’t triumphed yet, and they tucked their tails like hares before dogs and scurried back to their burrows!”

Chervoni helplessly gestured for guards to escort their commander away.

Melas, however, swore and shoved the soldiers away, listening to the surrounding rumbling of gunfire, slumping back into his chair in defeat, waving: “Send out negotiators, tell the French we want a ceasefire…”

September 6, 1793.

The Italian Front Army of Austria formally announced its surrender.

Napoleon triumphantly received over ten thousand prisoners along with a large cache of weapons, steeds, flags, and other spoils of war.

However, upon hearing this, the Genoa Legion immediately fled to Mantua, causing a slight reduction to his gains.

Far over 800 kilometers away, Joseph ordered through the Sharp Signal Station to accept Melas’s surrender terms—releasing him back to Vienna for a lowly ransom of 700,000 francs.