Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

“Marshal, we’ve spotted enemy troops to the north.”

Before the cavalry could finish his words, Alvinczy noticed the soldiers in the distance becoming agitated.

He frowned immediately and was about to have Davidoivich organize a defense when he heard cannon fire from the northwest direction.

He looked at the reporting cavalryman: “Did you just say to the north?”

“Yes, yes…”

Alvinczy glanced behind him with a grim face, where Victor’s French troops from Trento were arriving.

However, Czweig had reported yesterday that Napoleon’s forces had been defeated, so retreating to Topagenera Mountain seemed safer.

Alvinczy turned to Davidoivich: “Please clear the path to the west immediately.”

He then said to the courier: “Contact General Czweig and have him send men to assist me.”

However, what he hadn’t anticipated was that Victor played merely the role of a “hound”—barking loudly and forcing him, the “rabbit,” out of his burrow.

The real hunter was Napoleon, who had rushed in from Morvino.

On the northern side, Davidoivich’s forces were still forming their ranks when the French infantry appeared just half a kilometer away.

Without the slightest hesitation, several French columns charged forward to the sound of drums.

On the western side, the Royal French Cavalry Artillery Battalion set up their cannons right beside the road.

Fourteen six-pound cannons began to densely bombard the Austrian vanguard.

Davidoivich’s soldiers, who had been badly beaten by this French force just a few days ago, now faced the artillery position laid out blatantly before them. Astonishingly, they showed no intention of destroying it, but fled in droves instead.

Seeing this, the Dragoon Regiment tasked with covering the artillery decided to act as cavalry, brandishing horse sabers and pursuing the fleeing enemy.

Davidoivich personally commanded the rearguard, but with the overwhelming French infantry firepower, he abandoned two defensive lines in less than half an hour.

Looking at the last line of defense, with soldiers pale with fear, he handed over command to a colonel and took the guard to protect Marshal Alvinczy.

When Davidoivich finally saw Alvinczy’s command flag from afar, a large group of routed soldiers suddenly surged from the east.

He grabbed a captain, but before he could ask, he heard the distant thunderous sound of hooves.

He was very familiar with it; it should be more than two thousand cavalry charging in formation.

Even when Alvinczy was surrounded by over a hundred French Hussars, he still couldn’t understand why, despite his cautious adherence to the standard tactics, Napoleon continually succeeded in his surprise attacks.

He suddenly began to fully comprehend Bolieu and Melas…

One hour later.

Napoleon saw Alvinczy being personally “escorted” by Grouchy, with over a dozen high-ranking Austrian officers behind them.

To be honest, Napoleon hadn’t expected this raid to be so effortless. Alvinczy had less than eight thousand soldiers with him, and their morale was exceedingly low, collapsing at the slightest provocation.

He dismounted gracefully and bowed slightly to the Austrian commander: “It’s an honor to meet you here, Marshal.”

Alvinczy straightened his back with some effort, trying not to appear too disheveled: “You are General Bonaparte, I presume? It’s an honor to meet you as well. I must confess, you are the most talented commander I’ve ever encountered in my life.”

“Yes, I quite agree with that sentiment,” Napoleon nodded with a smile and glanced southward, “If I’m not mistaken, you’ve likely dispatched a force to occupy Trento?”

Alvinczy sighed: “Yes. General Weber and his eight thousand soldiers are there.”

“Congratulations, you indeed held it once. But now you’ll have to return it to me.”

If Joseph were here, he’d surely want to tell Alvinczy that famous Eastern saying: ‘Lose land and retain people, and both can be regained; lose people and retain land, and both are lost.’

…

West bank of the Visio River.

Bajahaza greeted Wilmze with a broad smile:

“You truly seem sent by Jesus to save us, General!”

Wilmze stepped forward and embraced him briefly, thinking to himself that the decision to break through was indeed correct.

Bajahaza continued:

“We’ve run into some issues with our right flank, so we need to conclude the battle here quickly and head to Morvino for reinforcement.”

Wilmze nodded: “That’s exactly what I hope. Please brief me on your operational plan.”

As they began discussing how to encircle the Oreluo Army, they remained unaware that their camp had already fallen into chaos.

The soldiers Wilmze brought from the Mantua Fortress entered Bajahaza’s camp, seeking bread and salted meat from their comrades—they were starving in the fortress, almost skin and bones, and broke through the siege hoping to find something to eat. Bajahaza had already provided them with the standard rations, but it was far from enough to fill bellies that had been hungry for months.

The officers under Bajahaza struggled to stop these hungry soldiers because the officers from the fortress had come seeking food as well.

As some soldiers began to snatch food, many others offered money to purchase it.

Half an hour later, the Austrian camp turned into a sprawling marketplace, interspersed with a few makeshift arenas for scuffles.

At that very moment, Ogero launched a surprise attack on Bajahaza.

This wasn’t due to French luck; Ogero’s side had also noticed a mass of Austrians arriving for reinforcement. He and Marmon concluded that if the enemy finished forming ranks, their chances would be utterly doomed.

So they decided to seize the moment when the enemy reinforcements were not yet battle-ready and launched one final assault.

If they still couldn’t breach the Austrian lines, they’d likely have to surrender.

However, none of them expected this desperate assault to yield unexpectedly significant results.

Carl Ludwig immediately detected the French army’s movement and ordered his troops to prepare for battle.

When the bugles sounded, Wilmze’s soldiers were packed into Bajahaza’s camp, with some busy counting money.

The soldiers from Mantua, desperately stuffing food into their mouths, ignored the assembly order altogether.

With no alternative, Carl Ludwig and his guard had to rush back and forth through the Austrian camp multiple times, executing over thirty famished soldiers brought by Wilmze, barely restoring order.

However, by the time his soldiers began forming ranks, the all-or-nothing French force had already broken through the Austrian outer defense line.

Carl Ludwig hurriedly rallied his Moravian Legion in the open area on the camp’s west side, while Wilmze’s soldiers began scattering or surrendering outright, dragging Bajahaza’s men into losing the will to resist.