"What did you say?!"
A week later, inside the main headquarters of the Sardinian Army, Prince Vittorio looked at the royal envoy in front of him with wide eyes:
"The Corsican army has launched a siege on Turin?"
When the royal envoy rushed to the station in a hurry, Prince Vittorio thought that it was just like the last time, that the Corsicans had opened the door to Liguria in order to lure him back to the defense.
Just a little trick.
It was not until the envoy was carefully investigated and interrogated, and it was confirmed that he was indeed from his father's court, that Prince Vittorio was shocked and accepted the news doubtfully:
The main force of the Corsican army is not at Valdolidore at all, and Turin, the capital of the kingdom, has been besieged by the Corsican army from Genoa.
"How is this possible!"
Prince Vittorio quickly read the callback order sent to him by the Ministry of War, but he was unwilling to accept this reality at all:
"How could the main force of the Corsican army be the Genoese army? I have personally investigated and found that there are no less than four regiments of troops stationed in Valdolido Rene."
During this week, Prince Vittorio naturally did not just wait and confront the Corsicans in the garrison.
He continued to send people to collect information about Genoa City, and at the same time increased the reconnaissance of Valdolidore to ensure that any actions of the Corsicans could be reported to him as soon as possible.
Three days ago, Prince Vittorio even personally led the Royal Cavalry Regiment to launch a tentative attack on Valdolidore.
As a result, the Corsican people reacted hugely to this, and directly sent out all four regiments, as if they were going to fight the Sardinian army. Their vanguard force, a well-trained hunting battalion, even fought with the Wang family.
The cavalry regiment had a brief exchange of fire, causing dozens of casualties to the Sardinian army.
Although Prince Vittorio was also looking forward to a decisive battle with the Corsican army, his father's order required him to defend Liguria. In addition, at that time he only led the highly mobile Royal Cavalry Regiment to test the attack, so he could not
He could only retreat to his station in disgrace.
The Corsican army did not pursue it deeply and quickly returned to Valdolidore, and the two sides resumed their confrontation with each other.
After this test, Prince Vittorio became more convinced of his own judgment on the deployment of the main force of the Corsican army.
Not only because he saw with his own eyes the strength of the four regiments of the Corsican Army, but also because of the Corsican Chasseur Battalion that had a firefight with the Royal Cavalry Regiment.
After all, any general knows that the equipment cost and training cost of chasseurs are extremely expensive compared to line infantry.
In the eyes of Prince Vittorio, it was beyond his expectation that the poor Corsica could gather a battalion of chasseurs. Now the Corsicans have deployed this precious chasseur battalion in Valdolidore.
, which further proves that this is where the main force of the Corsican army lies.
Staring at the order in his hand, Prince Vittorio's expression was uncertain, and he couldn't make up his mind for a moment.
It is indeed your duty to accept this transfer order and immediately return to defend Turin. But if this is exactly what the Corsicans want, then Liguria will be opened wide, and the entire southern part of the Po River Plain will undoubtedly
All will fall.
As Carlo Emanuele III ages, Prince Vittorio's succession to the throne gradually becomes a certainty. As the future king, Vittorio no longer obeys his father's advice as he did in the past. He must
You have to have your own considerations.
"It seems there is only one way..."
Prince Vittorio's eyes darkened and he thought in his mind:
"Immediately engage in a decisive battle with Valdolidore's Corsican army, defeat it, and then return to defend Turin."
Although his father's order requires him to guard this place, under the current situation, Prince Vittorio understands that only by taking the initiative can he break the deadlock. No matter what the Corsican's conspiracies are, as long as he wins on the frontal battlefield, everything will be fine.
It's all in vain.
And just when Prince Vittorio made up his mind, he was ready to implement his plan.
An officer rushed into the tent and shouted in panic:
"Your Highness! Your Highness! The Corsicans of Valdolidore have taken action. They have mobilized their entire army and are marching in the direction of Nice!"
Prince Vittorio was stunned for a moment:
"Nice...? Are they going to...?!"
...
As we all know, there were two major territorial disputes between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Sardinia at that time. One was the Principality of Savoy area located outside the Alps, and the other was the Nice area located on the border of Liguria.
Nice, located between Marseille and Genoa, is also a prosperous and wealthy trading city as famous as Marseille.
Because this seaport city is located at the junction of Liguria and Provence, its ownership also changed hands back and forth between France and the Kingdom of Sardinia. In the eighteenth century alone, Nice had changed hands three times between the two countries.
It was not until the end of the War of Austrian Succession twenty-three years ago and the signing of the Treaty of Aachen that the Kingdom of Sardinia once again recaptured Nice from France.
As the most important seaport of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Nice's importance to the kingdom is self-evident. Whether it is for the trade income or naval base here, the Kingdom of Sardinia is absolutely inseparable from this city.
At the same time that Prince Vittorio received the news, the troops led by Andre Davout had already approached this land full of disputes.
During the march, a subordinate officer turned his head and glanced at the sparse team behind him with a worried face, and then looked at Andre Davout:
"Sir, are we really going to attack Nice?"
Andre Davout has always been taciturn. When faced with questions from his subordinates, he just nodded and cherished his words like gold:
"There is almost no garrison in Nice, so it can be taken lightly."
Nowadays, the main force of the Kingdom of Sardinia's army is in the hands of Prince Vittorio. Andre Davout also conducted reconnaissance in advance and determined that Nice was an empty city militarily at this time.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "We also know this, the problem is that we cannot defend Nice from behind."
The officer looked at the team behind him again:
"You can't expect these farmers to really fight like regular troops."
Although these soldiers looked just like ordinary Corsican soldiers, wearing full uniforms and accessories, and carrying brand-new smoothbore flintlock muskets on their shoulders, the officer knew very well that these men were not from Corsi at all.
They were not soldiers of the Wehrmacht, but peasants and townspeople forcibly recruited by André Davout in Valdore.
Not long ago, when Andre Davout took over the command of the 4th Battalion of the 1st Chasseur Regiment, the first thing he did was to blockade the entire town and surrounding villages, and then all
Adult males were conscripted into the army and incorporated into the army under their command.
At the same time, relying on the authorization of Prime Minister Lawrence Bonaparte, André Davout also made a large number of supply requests to the French province of Provence.
Relying on French supply assistance, Andre Davout used the quantity and frequency of supplies to confuse the judgment of the Sardinian army. At the same time, he also easily provided these new recruits with full uniforms and weapons, and paid them
High salary.
Thanks to this, these forcibly recruited recruits did not suffer from low morale or unstable military morale. They actively cooperated with daily training and Davout's orders. Many poor people living in poverty even hoped to serve in the Corsican Army.
Looking forward to it in the long term.
Prince Vittorio of the Sardinian Army was also confused by this group of levies and made the judgment that the main force of the Corsican Army was here.
Vittorio now would never have thought that the truly combat-effective troops under Andre Davout were only the 500-man chasseur battalion given to him by Lawrence.
Of course, although the morale of these new recruits was acceptable, no officer would think that they could really compete with the Sardinian soldiers on the battlefield.
Even though the training time and training cost of line infantry are extremely low, these soldiers were still farmers carrying pitchforks and hoes less than a month ago, and it is impossible to expect them to display any combat effectiveness.
Perhaps their greatest role is to provide bluff cover for the only main chasseur battalion, just like when the Royal Cavalry Regiment of the Sardinian Army launched a probing attack that day.
In the eyes of this officer, rather than calling these people soldiers, it is better to say that they are actors used to confuse the Sardinian army.
"Sir, after we capture Nice, the entire war situation will not change much."
The officer was still trying to persuade Andre Davout to give up the operation. He really didn't think that storming Nice at this time was a good choice:
"It's better to defend Valdolidore. We already have ready-made defenses there."
André Davout glanced at the officer and suddenly asked:
"If you were the commander of the Sardinian Army and learned that our army had occupied Nice, what would you do?"
The officer was stunned for a moment and was about to analyze, but Andre Davout asked and answered himself:
"Nice is the most important port in the Kingdom of Sardinia and the only base of the Kingdom's navy. Its importance is not as important as Turin, but it is far more important than any other town."
"Sir, you mean...?"
"The defense of Turin is impenetrable. The only way for the Corsican army to attack Turin is to wait until it runs out of ammunition and food, but this will take at least three months. In other words, Turin can hold on for at least three months."
It was only when he talked about marching formations and military strategies that Andre Davout spoke more:
"But the siege of Nice is imminent and we cannot hold out for even three days. If I were the Sardinian army coach, I would first recover Nice and then lead the army back to defend Turin. There is plenty of time."
Having said this, Andre Davout's intention is already very obvious.
To be continued...