Chapter 156: , Sweep

Marshal Beaulieu dropped the cannon and naturally ran fast. Napoleon estimated the approximate distance between the two sides at this time, as well as the speed of the two sides, and finally came to this conclusion: the enemy's army is far beyond the dust.
Indeed, the French army had just made a fifty-mile rush march on the Po River, and then in order to reach the bridge, another rush march, and then a rush march to chase the Austrians, it is really a bit difficult, even if people are in revolutionary thinking and Grosso With the support of (Venice Silver Coins), you can persist, but the horses cannot withstand such marches and must rest. Once the horses can't keep up, not only the cavalry and the artillery can't keep up, but also many other necessary materials can't keep up.
　　 Napoleon estimated that Marshal Beaulieu would definitely retreat to Milan. And in the case of losing so many cannons, with the strength in his hands, Milan will definitely not be able to keep. Judging from the previous battles, Marshal Beaulieu is not an overwhelming role. He knows that he will have to fight hard if he can't fight. So after he returned to Milan, he would take a break at most and then escape. The only thing worth worrying about is how many florins (a common gold coin in Italy, here refers to all kinds of gold coins) with Marshal Beaulieu when he retreats.
　　Considering the state of his army, after consideration, Napoleon let the soldiers rest on the spot for a day, and only marched towards Milan, the capital of Lombardy, the next day.
In the afternoon of the second day, the French scout cavalry had just approached Milan, and representatives of the citizens of Milan appeared in front of them. They told Augereau, who led the cavalry unit, that the Austrians had already left Milan in the early morning. Milan has no defense, and the citizens of Milan warmly welcome the arrival of General Bonaparte.
　　 After occupying Milan without injury, Napoleon's army stopped again for a rest. Napoleon himself addressed the Milanese in the city council of Milan, saying that he was not an aggressor like the Austrians. He did not come here to squeeze and blackmail the people of Lombard like the Austrians, but to give the Lombards. The people bring freedom and liberation.
　　 This speech greatly relieved the Milanese who were afraid of encountering looting and extortion, but before long, they learned what the French meant by freedom and liberation.
　　 After Napoleon rested for a while, the marina continued to pursue the Austrian army, and pursued the most important fortress of Austria in Italy-Mantua. Marshal Bollie led the remaining more than 10,000 troops, relying on the solid Mantua fortress to support them, waiting for reinforcements. Napoleon will be stationed near the Mantua fortress, ready to play around and fight aid.
　　 At the same time, freedom and liberation were in full swing in the area controlled by Napoleon.
　　 In Milan, some guys supported by the French organized an organization called "Freedom Club". They put forward a slogan that frightened the local landlords and nobles: like Piedmont!
　　 These people declared that Lombardy should adopt the same measures as Piedmont, which is to confiscate all the nobles’ land and distribute them to the peasants free of charge.
　　 Immediately afterwards in the countryside, conflicts began to appear. Some heavily armed mobs attacked the nobles’ manors in the countryside. They burned "the seized land deeds" and announced that the land would be allocated to local farmers. The nobles were horrified. They did not have enough force to protect their wealth at this time, and the French all attributed these things to "contradictions within the Italians" and ignored them.
This kind of indulgence led to two consequences. One was that many nobles began to leave Lombardy and flee to other places, and spread the terror of the "French thugs" everywhere; the other consequence was that some nobles began to secretly interact with France. Human enemies, such as the Austrians and the Papal States, tried to rely on their power to drive away the French and restore "sacred order".
　　In fact, these actions were almost all under Napoleon's expectations. Napoleon prepared to deal with the reinforcements urgently transferred by the Austrians from the Rhine line, while allowing Augereau to return to Milan to suppress the local nobles.
　　 At the same time, with the support of Napoleon’s seizure in Italy, in Joseph’s arsenal, new weapons are working overtime and are being manufactured 24 hours a day. These weapons were loaded on the flying shears, then landed in Genoa, the neutral country of Italy, and were continuously transported to Napoleon's army. When the War of Italy was just launched, only skirmishers in Napoleon’s army were equipped with brand new rifled guns, and now, most of the soldiers have been equipped with the latest rifled guns-in Napoleon’s hands, they have one. An army that is completely ahead of the entire era.
On the night of April 10, 1796, Augereau suddenly led his troops into the home of Count Leonard de Patrice, a well-known local nobleman in Milan, and arrested all the count’s family and found a large number of collaborators from his home. letter.
　　 Immediately afterwards, the French began a large-scale raid in Milan based on the list drawn from Count Patrice. In this operation, only one night on April 10th, more than 100 people were arrested by the French army. Later, some people who sympathized with these nobles called this night "the night of terror."
　　 Then the revolutionary tribunal set up urgently tried the case quickly with a French-style high efficiency. Then, a week later, all the more than 100 nobles were hung on the gallows. And their property was naturally confiscated. All the confiscated wealth was distributed to landless farmers and the poor in the cities. Of course, some people say that the French still took a lot of art and gold and silver coins from these nobles at that time, but they did not register these things.
　　 After being besieged for more than twenty days in the Mantua fortress, Marshal Bollieu finally looked forward to the reinforcements sent by the Austrian emperor to him. An army of forty thousand led by Marshal Wilmze.
　　 Although Marshal Beaulieu repeatedly emphasized the amazing combat effectiveness of the French army and the weapons of the times in his distress letter to the emperor. But these warnings were regarded by the emperor as a bad excuse for his series of failures. This view of the emperor also received general support from other generals who fought with the French in the Rhine region. For example, after seeing Marshal Beaulieu’s warnings that "French troops are elite in riding and fighting in the wild, they must not" and "French forces are dissatisfied and invincible", he almost suggested that Marshal Beaulieu should be sent first. Come back to the military court. The old marshal Wilmze even threatened: "After I relieved this coward, I must use a riding whip to squeeze his in public!"
But even so, the Austrians still showed a certain degree of caution. These 40,000 troops are elite troops, plus the more than 10,000 troops surrounded by the fortress of Mantua, even in the face of Napoleon’s entire army. Ownership advantage. What's more, after occupying a large area of ​​land, Napoleon had to leave many troops as occupying forces in these occupied areas to maintain order. So at this time, he can gather, and the number of troops used in the battle will not exceed 30,000. So in terms of numbers, Austrians have a clear advantage. This battle should still be very sure.
　　In the original history, Napoleon relied on the amazing fast marching ability of the French army and took advantage of the negligent division of troops by the old marshal to defeat the Austrian army. But this time, Napoleon determined that his army had overwhelmed the Austrians in absolute strength, and he didn't need to play these tricks at all. It was enough to destroy the enemy in a head-on battle.
　　 On May 2, the French and Austrian forces under Napoleon fought a great battle in Castirion, not far from the Mantua Fortress. As a result, relying on rifles with a range of three or four times that of the Austrian army and mobile skirmish tactics, Napoleon brought an army of less than 20,000, and it took only half a day to defeat the Austrian reinforcements led by Marshal Wilmze. Marshal Mzee escaped from the battlefield with only his own guard of more than one hundred men~EbookFREE.me~ The other Austrians were either killed in battle, captured, or fled, and the French casualties even Less than two thousand people.
　　 On the morning of May 3rd, Napoleon sent an envoy to send more than fifty Austrian flags captured in the battle of the previous day to the Fortress of Mantua guarded by Marshal Bollieu. Since Marshal Bollieu was below Marshal Bolieu, he was shocked. Early the next morning, Marshal Beaulieu sent an envoy to Napoleon’s barracks to discuss the issue of surrender.
　　 After Napoleon's victory, he was particularly gentle with Marshal Beaulieu. The conditions he gave to Marshal Beaulieu were quite generous. Napoleon allowed the Austrians to keep their personal belongings and even allowed them to leave the fortress with a small amount of weapons for self-defense and return to Austria according to the route prescribed by the French. Of course, in return, the army under Marshal Bollieu must not damage the fortress facilities, artillery, and accumulated materials.
　　 To Napoleon’s leniency, Davu privately raised an objection, thinking that Napoleon’s move was a bit of a letting go.
　　 "After all, this is more than 10,000 trained troops. Letting them go back will increase Austria's strength."
But Napoleon replied indifferently: "They have been frightened by our army, let them go back, they will only blow us like gods, and seriously damage the morale of the Austrians. This is also for us It's not a bad thing."
　　 Napoleon's generous conditions naturally made the Austrian defenders in the Mantua fortress overjoyed. They immediately agreed to Napoleon's terms, surrendered to the French army and handed over the fortress.