Chapter 222 The world’s earliest field hospital

Chapter 223 The world’s earliest field hospital

In front of the thin and narrow infantry line, Lefebvre looked at the mountains in the distance and Albanian mercenaries in khaki short robes slowly swarming in like a colony of ants. He nervously wiped the sweat from his palms on the hem of his clothes.

The second company commander on the side whispered: "Lieutenant, there are almost three to four thousand people..."

"I saw it." Lefebvre responded with a stern face. At this moment, he was beginning to regret it. He had indeed gotten behind the enemy in advance, but there were only 220 people on his side.

The distance between the infantry behind them is 1.5 meters, usually this number should be 0.5 to 0.7 meters. There are only two rows at the front and rear. If the enemy launches a strong attack, it will easily overwhelm the line.

"Hold on!" He glanced behind him and shouted to encourage morale. "Hold your guns. The enemy is vulnerable!" In fact, his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Soon, the khaki "ant colony" came to the front of the infantry line.

As Lefebvre yelled "shoot," the guns of the first row of soldiers fired, and fire and smoke spurted out at the same time.

Because the distance was quite far, only seven or eight Albanian mercenaries were shot over by bullets. However, as if stung by a scorpion, the Albanians instantly separated to both sides, as if the slender French army line in front of them was a stone wall.

"shooting!"

When the second row of French soldiers opened fire, the thousands of mercenaries who had originally poured in suddenly turned around and ran away in panic.

Their morale had been completely shattered. They were like frightened birds. They had a stress reaction when they heard the sound of gunfire and did not even raise their heads to see how many enemy troops there were.

Surprise flashed in Lefebvre's eyes, and his voice was a little louder: "Load!"

"..."

"shooting!"

As the Guardsmen continued to fire, the Albanian troops became increasingly chaotic and even suffered a massive stampede. Thousands of people were blocked by these 200 soldiers for nearly 20 minutes. During this period, only some mercenaries escaped from both sides of the infantry line - Lefebvre's manpower was too small, and the line was only wide enough to flatten the area. A quarter of the road is blocked.

Finally, the first team of police cadets appeared behind the Albanian army. The latter quickly changed from fleeing everywhere to dropping his weapons and kneeling down to beg for mercy.

Four hours later.

Officers such as Joseph and Berthier walked through the center of the battlefield just now, watching the soldiers carefully carry away the wounded, or loudly yelling at groups of Albanian mercenary captives passing by.

The battle went more smoothly than Joseph expected - both the Guards Corps and the police academy students showed high morale and excellent combat skills. Of course, a large part of the reason is that the enemy team is disjointed. Otherwise, Berthier would have to wait for the arrival of the Moulins Army and engage in a head-to-head battle with more than 20,000 Algiers troops.

From time to time, soldiers around saw them and stood at attention to salute. Joseph also nodded frequently to the soldiers.

Berthier took a piece of paper from the staff, glanced at it quickly, turned to Joseph and smiled: "Your Highness, the news just came back that we have captured more than 3,000 enemy troops on the west side. It seems that there are still more There were several senior officers.”

"Oh? You actually caught up with me?"

Joseph was a little surprised. After the enemy army was broken up, some fled to the north, while others retreated to the west. Berthier ordered the cavalry to pursue northward, thinking that the enemy on the west side would probably escape.

Berthier said: "Two skirmisher companies quickly inserted into the west side of the enemy's army and cut off their retreat."

The staff officer on the side gave a general introduction to the blocking battle on the west side.

"François Lefebvre?" Joseph thought the name seemed familiar. He suddenly slapped his forehead. Isn't this the Duke of Danzig?

One of the 26 marshals of the Emperor, he participated in the Battle of Fleuries, the Battle of Jena and other major battles. He followed the Emperor on his expedition to Russia and achieved outstanding military exploits.

Joseph immediately remembered that Lefebvre was of civilian origin and had served in the French Guard. It seems that when Berthier took over the French Guards last time, he recruited him under his command.

No wonder he was so fierce, blocking more than 3,000 Albanian mercenaries with two companies. Did you find a treasure by accident?

He looked at Berthier: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant Colonel, how do you plan to reward Lieutenant Lefebvre?"

The latter thought: "He is brave in combat and has good command skills. He has performed very well in previous exercises.

"Your Highness, this time he can receive the Silver Iris Order and be promoted to captain."

According to the military merit system set up by Joseph, from high to low, they are divided into: Golden Iris, Silver Iris, and Bronze Iris. These require specific military exploits to obtain, such as Golden Iris, which will play a huge role in influencing the situation in a certain battle. The Silver Iris will have an important impact on the outcome of the battle. Bronze Iris will also make a significant contribution to this part of the campaign.

This system is far ahead of its time!

In the current European armies, even if there are medals, they will only be awarded to noble men. In the Crown Prince's Guards Corps, even if you are born as a beggar, even if you are a handyman, as long as you contribute to the war, you will receive corresponding military exploits.

At the same time, each level of military merit has specific rewards and benefits. Cash out immediately after meritorious deeds are made, pay when needed, upgrade when needed, and even benefit family members.

Under such a merit system, which soldier can not actively fight? How can morale not be high?

Joseph pondered for a moment and said: "I think Lefebvre can be promoted to major as an exception. The Guards Corps is currently short of talents, and we must give more opportunities to officers with potential."

What he said is also true. Because the Guards Corps initially limited its troops to civilians and small nobles, there was a severe shortage of middle- and high-level officers. In France in this era, only nobles with rich families could afford to attend the majors in military academies that could become senior officers. Without money and background, even if you enter a military academy, you can only learn unpopular subjects such as surveying and mapping, engineering, etc., and your promotion will be extremely slow.

Therefore, in the Guards Corps, many lieutenant officers currently serve as company commanders, because the number of captains is seriously insufficient.

The most important thing is that Joseph is sure that Lefebvre is definitely qualified for the position of major. That was a marshal who the emperor had personally appraised through a series of battles!

Berthier immediately smiled and nodded: "I will obey your instructions, Your Highness."

In the Guards Corps, the Crown Prince's orders have absolute authority and cannot be questioned. Of course, Joseph would never overestimate his capabilities and give blind orders. After all, this was the foundation for his livelihood.

The staff officer on the side laughed and said: "Captain Davout's glory will be obscured now."

Berthier also smiled: "He is still young. Someone who can beat him may be able to inspire him to grow up faster."

The future Marshal Davout had just turned 18 and had graduated from the military academy less than half a year ago. He first performed well in the exercise and was promoted to lieutenant and became an infantry company commander. In today's battle, he bravely took the lead, leading his company to withstand the enemy's intensive shooting, taking the lead in breaking up the enemy's formation with hand-to-hand combat, and was promoted to captain.

Joseph sighed in his heart, these marshals under the Emperor are indeed not vegetarians. If you give them a chance, they will stand out immediately.

In the afternoon, the Guards Corps had roughly cleared the battlefield, and Joseph personally presided over the burial ceremony of the remains of the fallen soldiers. Of course, the specific religious procedures are still operated by the military priests.

In this battle, a total of 89 members of the Guards Corps and police academy students were killed and 70 were seriously injured.

Although this number of casualties is not large, in view of today's one-sided battle situation, it can be lowered.

Of course, this is only their first time participating in actual combat. Joseph believes that as their combat experience continues to enrich, they will do better and better in the future.

Seeing Pao Ze's body being put away with great care, and then His Royal Highness the Crown Prince saluting them one by one, new changes appeared in the hearts of the soldiers of the Guards Corps.

In the past, they were more grateful and dependent on the Crown Prince, but after His Highness went to the battlefield with them and fought side by side, it has now turned into love and reverence.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon the next day, the Guards Corps, which was resting on the spot, finally waited for the belated arrival of the Mulan Corps.

A little half a day later than scheduled.

In the officer's tent, Andre saluted Joseph with a look of remorse on his face: "Your Highness, I'm really sorry, I'm late."

Joseph motioned for him to sit down on the chair and asked, "Did something happen?"

Andre nodded awkwardly: "Your Highness, after leaving Tunisia City, our wine supply did not arrive. A large-scale dysentery broke out the next day."

He glanced outside the military tent: "Actually, less than 2,600 people from the Mulan Army arrived. The rest were left halfway because of their serious illness."

The Mulan Army that came to Tunisia had 3,000 people. In other words, in four or five days, 13% of the troops were reduced due to dysentery!

Joseph frowned slightly. He knew that most of Tunisia's population believed in Islam and did not drink alcohol, so it was difficult to get wine. This also confirmed his doubts about the Tunisians' ability to provide logistical supplies.

Wine is an important military commodity in this era. One of the main reasons is that it kills most harmful bacteria during the fermentation process. It is safest for the army to use this thing to replenish moisture.

After leaving the city of Tunisia, the Mulan Army had no wine and could only find water in the wild. This should be the reason why they had a massive outbreak of dysentery.

Joseph comforted Andre and asked him to settle down the troops first. There might be a battle tomorrow. According to the confessions of the captured Albanian mercenaries, the main force of the Algiers Guards followed them more than ten kilometers behind. Just a day's journey.

After Andre left, Joseph suddenly thought of a question and looked at Berthier: "Has the wine supply to the Guards Corps not been interrupted?"

"No, Your Highness, we, like the Mulan Army, ran out of wine after leaving Tunisia City."

"Oh? Then why didn't dysentery break out in the Guards?"

The staff officer next to him hurriedly replied with admiration: "Your Highness, this is all the work of Dr. Perne. Before, dysentery was quite serious in the army. Later, he strictly required the soldiers to drink hot water, and the situation got better. He even Saved the battle."

Joseph blinked: "Perne?"

Berthier whispered: "That's Dr. Perna's male name."

"is her?"

A moment later, Perna, dressed in a white military uniform and with her long hair tied in a tricorn hat, came to the officers' tent and raised her hat to Joseph and others with standard male movements.

Joseph raised his hat and asked her curiously: "How did you think of letting the Guards drink hot water?"

Perna said seriously: "Your Highness, you taught me this."

"I?"

"You once told my father that illness is caused by bacteria entering the human body. Later in Bordeaux, you told Mr. Vergneau that bacteria will die if left in hot water for half an hour."

The young female doctor took a breath and continued: "There were soldiers in the legion who suffered from dysentery before. I remembered this when I was treating them, so I asked them to heat the water for half an hour before drinking it. Many people gradually recovered. , and those disobedient soldiers even continued to do so for more than a month.

"So I decided that your method was effective, so I asked the soldiers to drink hot water."

When Joseph heard this, he greatly appreciated the female doctor's ability to draw inferences from one instance to another, but at the same time he was a little dumbfounded - just boil the water, you don't need to keep boiling it for half an hour.

But it must be admitted that she made a great contribution this time. If 13% of the soldiers in the Guards also suffer from dysentery, the battle with the Albanian mercenaries will be much harder this time.

At the same time, Joseph also blamed himself a little. He should have popularized these common sense things in the military in advance. Alas, it is so easy for people to be darkened by the light.

He nodded and praised Perna: "You have done a very good job. I think you should even be given a medal."

Perna waved her hands hurriedly: "I just did what a doctor should do. Your Highness, you don't need to reward me like this. In fact, I can treat the soldiers in the legion right now, and I am very happy."

Joseph then remembered that Perna would be scolded by the patients when she was treating patients. Some patients even thought that female doctors would bring them bad luck.

It's not that the soldiers of the Guards Corps didn't notice that she was disguised as a man, but there were only a few military doctors, and there were even fewer who could cure their illnesses, so they all pretended not to know. And just doing this can make her happy.

Joseph suddenly thought of something: "Doctor Perna, I would like to ask you to help establish a field hospital for the Guards Corps."

You know, the vast majority of soldiers in this era did not die on the battlefield, but died of poor medical conditions after being injured.

Although antibiotics have not yet been developed, as long as there is a clean and tidy medical environment and diligent disinfection of medical equipment, the chance of infection among wounded soldiers can be reduced by at least half.

And Perna, who has superb medical skills, is careful and good at learning, is the best person to do this.

At the same time, she can always focus on her beloved medical career without having to worry too much about her gender.

"Field hospital?" Perna had never heard of this new term.

"Yes!" Joseph nodded, "There is also the nursing profession, you can also start it together."