Chapter 814 A surprise from the crown prince
Chapter 815 A Surprise from the Crown Prince
Then, Bessières joined the fight with Napoleon's guards.
He also brought Napoleon's flag.
The soldiers could not find the commander-in-chief on the chaotic battlefield, but they saw the big flag fluttering in the wind at a glance.
Colonel Bonaparte is always by our side!
The recruits all had this thought in their minds, and their morale was immediately boosted. The bayonets they stabbed out were a bit more fierce than before.
Screams came one after another, and more Austrian soldiers, driven by great fear, dropped their weapons and fled.
Chervoni's defense line collapsed quickly like a sandbank in front of a flood.
When Jubel arrived to join the battle, he only saw the backs of the new recruits of the Vengers Regiment and thousands of Austrian soldiers kneeling on the ground to surrender.
Napoleon saw Joubert's flag from afar, and then looked at the enemy troops who had already fled far away, and said to Lucien: "Let Major Joubert immediately launch an attack to the south of Marengo. Melas's command post should be there!"
"Yes, Commander!"
A few kilometers away in Castelcelliolo, Junot had been defeated by the Argentau Corps, which had an absolute advantage in strength, and retreated to San Guiliano with the remaining 300 soldiers.
Sérurier was still dealing with the Colli Corps, but it was obviously the last gasp of the strong, and the soldiers began to flee.
At this time, the Austrian commanders on both wings received the same order from Melas - rush to Marengo Village to reinforce immediately, and Napoleon broke through their central army.
...
Cabianca, 5 kilometers south of Marengo.
Melas finally breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the last ray of sunlight disappear on the horizon.
He did not expect that the French army could defeat Cervoni's troops so quickly with inferior forces. He was almost captured by the French just now.
Fortunately, he was lucky. Augereau's army was exhausted and pursued very slowly.
Although the French recruits who rushed up with a roar were full of momentum, they were already bloody after the previous fight and had no formation at all. Napoleon could not stop them even if he shouted from behind.
As a result, Melas defeated them with only more than 300 guards.
After that, Melas hurriedly retreated to Cabianca.
Then Cervoni also retreated here, and gradually gathered less than 4,000 defeated soldiers.
In the church of Capianca, Melas looked at the messenger of the Argentau Corps who had just arrived and said, "Have you joined the Colli Corps?"
"Yes, General."
"What about the losses?"
"Almost no losses, General. The French are obviously just stalling for time and not engaging in direct combat."
Melas' eyes lit up again.
The Argentau and Colli armies together have more than 25,000 people. If they can contact the troops confronting the French army in the north of San Giuliano, there will be more than 30,000 soldiers.
This is enough to launch a counterattack against the French army.
Napoleon's troops must have been very tired after today's fierce battle, but Argentau and his men did not fight much and were able to fight in excellent condition.
With the advantage of manpower, there may be a chance to turn defeat into victory!
When Melas thought of this, he immediately wrote an order and handed it to the messenger, asking him to return to the Argentau army immediately.
In the letter, he appointed Argentau to command all the Austrian troops north of Marengo and launch an attack on Napoleon before 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, in the village of Marengo, Napoleon was lying on the map with a serious expression, laying out the battle plan to officers such as Jubert.
"We failed to capture Melas, which means there will be a new fierce battle soon."
"But our army is in urgent need of rest."
In today's brutal battle, the French army suffered nearly 5,000 casualties, and many troops were even broken up, making it difficult to continue fighting.
Napoleon seemed very calm:
"But we also gained a huge advantage, which is to cut off the connection between Melas and his army.
"So I plan to launch a feint attack on Melas's headquarters to attract the attention of the Austrians. This task will be completed by Captain Menil and two thousand recruits.
"At the same time, our main force moved eastward, joined the Augereau Corps, and rested in San Guiliano.
"Afterwards, depending on the enemy's movements, we can choose to attack Marengo or..."
No mistake, one sentence, one content, one look!
Just as Napoleon stayed up all night to hold a combat meeting, an inconspicuous carriage quietly stopped in the camp of the Sardinian Corps under Colli.
A man in black got off the car and walked straight to the area of officers' tents accompanied by two Sardinian captains.
Soon, more than a dozen senior Sardinian officers gathered in the tent where the man in black was, but no one reported the matter to General Colli.
The next morning, the first thing Colli did after getting up was to order the Sardinian Corps to assemble and prepare to attack the French.
However, the herald turned back just after leaving for more than ten minutes and said to him: "General, the Corps has been assembled and seems to be heading towards the Bormida River. "
" Bormida River? Damn, what are these guys doing? "Cole frowned, dropped the fried ham he had just taken two bites of, and rode towards the soldiers' camp.
Soon, he saw his troops moving westward from afar.
With a dark face, he asked the herald to call the highest-ranking officers of the Sardinian Corps and shouted angrily: "Are you crazy? Who told you to mobilize the army without authorization?"
Lieutenant General Francois Taon, the most senior officer in the Sardinian Army, bowed to him very politely and said: "General Colly, we have received an order from His Majesty the King that Turin is under serious threat from the French army. We have to return to the capital to strengthen the defense there."
"Turin? God! We are about to launch a counterattack against the French army. You can't leave without authorization." Colly said angrily, "I order you to return to the camp immediately!"
Several Sardinian officers looked at each other. Lieutenant General Taon took out a document from his pocket and held it in front of Colly: "I'm sorry, you are no longer the commander of the Sardinian Corps. This is a transfer order issued by the Minister of War. Now the Corps is under my command."
Coll realized that something was wrong and hurried to find Argentau.
The two discussed for a long time and finally decided to send troops to intercept the Sardinian Corps, forcibly dismiss Taon and others from their military power, and then use Austrian officers to temporarily control the more than 18,000 soldiers.
However, Argentau's troops had previously prepared to launch an attack in the direction of Marengo, and now they suddenly had to turn to the west. It took nearly an hour just to mobilize the troops.
When they arrived at the east bank of the Bormida River, the Sardinians had basically completed the crossing of the river and set up cannons pointing at the bridgehead, as if they would fire if the Austrians dared to catch up.
Napoleon assembled the troops with thick dark circles under his eyes, and according to the plan made yesterday, he was ready to abandon Marengo and move eastward.
However, just as the troops were about to set off, the cavalry responsible for the front-line alert came to report to him: "Commander, the enemy is heading west."
"Well, I know..." Napoleon waved his hand, but suddenly froze, "You mean, west?"
