Two days after the Republic of Genoa surrendered to the Corsican Army, on October 7
It was approaching midnight, thick clouds closed the moon, and night fell on the land of Liguria.
In a remote rural area like Valdolidore, except for a few lights in the center of the town, the rest of the area is completely dark and you can't see your fingers.
Several lightly-armed scouts were seen using the cover of night to reach the edge of the town of Valdolidore. Under their cloaks were the uniforms of the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Sardinia. At this moment, they were looking at the situation in the town with wide eyes.
It has been several days since the Corsican army landed in this coastal town, and Prince Vittorio led the main force of the Sardinian army to a station sixty miles away two days ago.
Following his father's orders, Prince Vittorio began to guard against the impact of the Corsican army after arriving at the station, intending to completely block the Corsicans in Liguria, in order to gain support for the operation to regain Sardinia.
Enough time.
However, to Prince Vittorio's surprise, the Corsican army did not rush to attack Turin. Instead, they stationed themselves in Valdolidore in a tug-of-war manner, while receiving supplies from the sea.
While strengthening the defense of this town.
In his opinion, it was very strange that the Corsican army that came across the sea did not choose to take advantage of Colonel Bartland's victory in a quick battle with the Kingdom of Sardinia after the entire Corsican army was annihilated.
After all, time is on the side of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The longer it takes, the more troops the Kingdom can recruit and assemble, and the gap in strength between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Corsican army will become wider and wider.
For this reason, Prince Vittorio, who was suspicious by nature, frequently sent people to inquire about the authenticity of the Corsican army.
...
"Report, there are four...no, five large ships moored in the port, all flying the Corsican flag."
A scout lay under the cover of the bushes, watching the ships in the port with a long telescope, and reported to the non-commissioned officer next to him:
"There are still many soldiers carrying and unloading goods on the dock. There should be hundreds of them."
The noncommissioned officer took the telescope with a solemn expression, personally observed the situation in the port, and said to himself:
"The five ships, just like yesterday, are all large merchant ships with four decks. It seems that the Corsicans consume a lot of supplies every day."
As an extremely experienced scout, the sergeant could tell at a glance that the five large merchant ships were all carrying supplies for the Corsican army.
During yesterday's reconnaissance, this scout team also witnessed with their own eyes a group of merchant ships coming to Valdolidore to supply the Corsican army.
The same five large merchant ships also unloaded tons of supplies. Even just unloading those heavy wooden boxes took hundreds of soldiers half a day.
Based on the analysis of the quantity and frequency of supplies, the sergeant can almost conclude that there are probably more than five regiments of the Corsican army stationed in Valdolidore at the moment.
"Does that mean the Corsicans have already left in full force? They probably brought the French garrison with them, and with so many troops stationed in Valdolidore standing still, what on earth are they going to do..."
The sergeant thought silently and turned the camera to the center of the town.
The town center was the same as yesterday, with no trace of the townspeople at all. It was unknown whether they were dead or alive, and it was unknown what the barbaric Corsicans had done to the townspeople.
In fact, not only the residents of the town of Valdolidore disappeared without a trace, but several villages around the town were also found to be empty of people after secret investigations by Sardinian army scouts.
Of course, the sergeant is not in the mood to care about the poor people now. His attention is focused on the hundreds of marching tents erected in the corners of the town:
"Four...five...six, there are about 600 military tents. Taking into account the capacity of the houses in the town, the Corsican army here does have more than five regiments."
Based on the number of military tents in the town, the sergeant once again confirmed his conclusion - the main force of the Corsican Army is currently stationed in this seaport town, facing off with the main force of the Sardinian Army sixty miles away.
.
Several scouts once again observed every corner of the town of Valdolidore, but found nothing unusual. They then evacuated the place before the Corsican soldiers became alert and returned to their base sixty miles away.
...
At dawn, inside the main tent of the Sardinian army station
"I just received a report from the front line, Your Highness."
A staff adjutant walked into the tent and reported to Prince Vittorio who was enjoying breakfast:
"The Corsican Army is still not taking any action. The size of their army was determined to be five infantry regiments through front-line assessment. It seems that they have brought the French garrison to Italy."
The breakfast on the table is very rich - smoked sausages, fried eggs, creamed salmon, a cup of fragrant hot coffee and a small bottle of fine brandy from the Poitou manor. In the marching camp, such a breakfast is rare
Extremely, even for a crown prince.
But Prince Vittorio obviously had no appetite. He listened absently, the silver knife and fork aside, and all his energy was focused on another report in his hand.
Including the other officers in the tent, they all had almost the same expression. Everyone looked gloomy and remained silent for a long time, and they did not dare to touch the knives and forks at hand.
It wasn't until the adjutant who reported the report coughed twice in embarrassment that Prince Vittorio came back to his senses and suddenly said:
"You just said that all five regiments of the Corsican Army are deployed in Valdolidore?"
"This is what the report sent back from the front said."
The staff adjutant was stunned for a moment and quickly added:
"They determined this from the supply situation of the Corsican Army and the size of the military camp. At noon yesterday, they even witnessed the Corsican Army in Valdolidore conducting a large-scale drill. The number of soldiers participating in the drill alone exceeded
Three thousand men, those stationed at Valdolidore must be the main force of the Corsican army."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Waste."
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, what did you say?" The staff adjutant was stunned for a moment and did not react for a moment.
"A bunch of trash, how can the main force of the Corsican army still be stationed in Valdolidore!"
Prince Vittorio's expression was extremely angry:
"This is also the report I just received. It is news from Genoa."
Prince Vittorio frowned and looked gloomy. He pointed at the report on the table and said in a deep voice:
"Lawrence Bonaparte personally led his army into Genoa City on October 5 and forced the Republic of Genoa to sign a treaty. The content of the treaty is not yet known, but what is certain is that the Republican Guard in Genoa has been completely wiped out.
"
The Republican Guard was completely wiped out, and the Republic of Genoa was forced to sign a pact under the city walls. Naturally, it was impossible for such a major news not to leak out, especially in Genoa City, which is connected in all directions and where businessmen from all over the world gather.
Therefore, Prince Vittorio quickly got the report in hand.
"What?! How is this possible...!"
The staff adjutant was even more shocked when he heard this, and his mouth never closed:
"But the main force of the Corsican army is clearly stationed in Valdolidore. This is what the frontline soldiers saw with their own eyes."
The sentries deployed by the Sardinian Army around Valdolidore all made a unanimous judgment that at least five infantry regiments of the Corsican Army were deployed here, and this was also recognized as the entire Corsican Army Kingdom.
The troops are strong.
But it is also an indisputable fact that the Republic of Genoa was attacked, especially since the army there was confirmed to be led by Laurence Bonaparte himself.
How could an army appear in two places at the same time?! This conflicting news immediately caused the staff adjutant's brain to shut down for a while, and he was unable to say anything for a long time.
The other officers in the tent also lowered their heads tightly, no one dared to offend the future King at this time.
The anger on Prince Vittorio's face became even stronger. Like his father, when the prince heard about the defeat of Colonel Bartland and Lieutenant General Ethel, he also expressed his displeasure with the corrupt and incompetent officers of the Royal Army.
Feeling increasingly distrustful:
"You idiots, isn't the fact obvious now?! One of the two Corsican armies of Valdore Dore and Genoa must be used to feign attacks to attract our army's attention!"
In fact, the officers present can also understand this truth, but there is only one question before them now, which army is the main force of the Corsican army.
The report of Valdore Dore's scout force must be true, but the report sent from Genoa is equally credible. The two equally true and credible reports indicate that the main force of the Corsican army is in different positions.
This made the officers' decision-making suddenly extremely difficult.
Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was furious, the staff adjutant who had just received the news carefully asked:
"Didn't the report from Genoa mention the size of the Corsican army?"
"There is no certainty in the report. It's all second-hand information from hearsay."
An officer shook his head and said:
"Some say five hundred, some say one thousand, and some even say ten thousand or fifty thousand. We can't send people to Genoa to investigate with great fanfare."
Due to territorial disputes, the relationship between the Republic of Genoa and the Kingdom of Sardinia is already extremely tense. Therefore, the Kingdom of Sardinia does not have a reliable intelligence network in Genoa, and the way they get information is just hearsay.
Everyone in the main tent was silent again. Everyone knew that they would not have time to carefully investigate where the main force of the Corsican army was located, and they had to make a decision immediately.
According to His Majesty the King Carlo Emanuele III's judgment, the Corsican Army's only goal is Turin, so this trick they played must also be to avoid the Sardinian Army led by Prince Vittorio
Main force.
In other words, if the enemy army in Genoa is indeed the main force of the Corsican army, then they are already crossing Liguria and beginning to enter the Po River Valley towards Turin, and Prince Vittorio must
To be continued...