Descending On France 1780-Chapter 143 - 136 Popping champagne at halftime? No, we’re popping it even before the game starts!

Anning had a restless sleep tonight.

He kept dreaming that Lana died in a night raid, then came looking for him with head in hand, repeatedly asking, "Did I help at all?"

So, before the sky brightened, Anning got up.

When he went to bed last night, he only took off his outerwear, so now his undershirt and such were all wrinkled.

Anning didn’t care about that, he put on his outerwear, lifted the curtain, and stepped outside.

The first streaks of dawn had already appeared in the East, and the soldiers in the camp were gathered around the campfire, holding cups, unsure if they were drinking coffee or tea.

Seeing Anning come out, they all stood up: "General!"

That posture almost made Anning hallucinate that they were shouting "Loyalty".

Anning: "Keep drinking your tea, it’s not time to assemble yet."

"It’s coffee, Your Excellency," a chubby Sergeant said.

Conte is relatively close to the Southern trading ports and can obtain coffee from the colonies there, and of course there is tea, but it seems that the French, to compete with the British who like to drink tea, refuse to drink tea and prefer coffee instead.

Chubby Sergeant: "Would you like some coffee, Your Excellency?"

Anning waved his hand and then called out, "Where’s the Coachman?"

"Right here!" a quick-witted young lad immediately popped up, "I was just brushing your horse, should I bring it over?"

Anning nodded.

"Coming!" After dropping this phrase, the young lad immediately ran off.

While waiting for the horse to be brought over, Lazar Kano and a group of officers came over.

Anning: "Has Lana come back?"

"Not yet, Your Excellency." Cano replied, "I have already reminded the Cavalry that went out this morning to search for Lana and his men, but there’s no news yet."

Anning: "Alright, let’s head to the hilltop to observe the situation."

Just then, the young lad brought the horse over: "Your horse, Your Excellency!"

Anning took the reins, mounted, and galloped ahead towards the hilltop.

**

Atop the hill, Davout’s troops were already up, with the soldiers checking their weapons.

Upon seeing Anning arrive, the soldiers shouted together: "General!"

Anning’s reputation wasn’t high enough yet, so they didn’t go as far as shouting "Long live the General".

Anning waved to the crowd and then reached Davout’s side: "How’s the situation?"

"The confusion last night must have exhausted the enemy’s central force," Davout put away his telescope, "but the enemy’s camps on both wings weren’t affected much. More than half of the enemy must still be energetic."

Anning: "Not bad, exhausting half of the enemy’s manpower is better than I expected. The remaining question is whether Lana can make it back."

Davout: "You seem to particularly value this Jean Lannes? I don’t understand, he was just a dye-apprentice before joining the army, without any military education."

Anning: "In him, I sense the potential to become an excellent officer; he will be a rare talent."

Davout raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

At this moment, faint military music drifted from the north.

Just then, Anning’s officers also rode up the hill on horses, so everyone took up their telescopes to look down at the enemy camp.

Enemy’s formations emerged from the tents and lined up at the edge of the hedgerows at the bottom of the hill.

Davout: "Looking at the flags, the vanguard is the Second Division and Third Division."

Anning: "Hmm, just by this formation, the troops are well-trained. Davout, can you hold them off?"

Davout smiled: "Don’t worry, we’ve built fortifications overnight. Moreover, the enemy can’t just rush up in a clump; only a few camps close to us will engage in the attack. The rest of the enemy will have to deal with our brother troops.

"We’ll firmly nail ourselves here, waiting for you, Your Excellency, to defeat the enemy’s wings."

Napoleon: "My Cavalry Guns can open fire from the hilltop first to help you inflict damage on the enemy troops, then retreat after the enemy advances."

Anning: "All Cavalry Guns are under your command, you can get them moving now."

Napoleon immediately saluted Anning: "Understood, watch and see."

After speaking, he turned his horse around and whipped its haunches hard, causing the horse to break into a gallop.

Anning: "Order all brigades, no more rest, form up in the designated positions!"

Lazar Kano immediately issued specific instructions to the Messenger Soldiers, and soon nine Messenger Soldiers galloped toward the camps in the rear.

Anning continued to observe the enemy’s movements with his telescope from the hilltop.

The enemy’s Artillery began to emerge, pushing Cannon into position.

Lafayette’s Artillery was all cumbersome Infantry Guns, though numerous; a long line of cannons looked frightening indeed.

Being exposed to so many cannons, even if the morale could withstand, the casualties would be heavy.

Anning immediately understood that choosing the reverse slope was the right decision.

After all, in this era, artillery aiming was terrible; it was impossible to really use cannons for counter-artillery missions. Generally, both sides’ artillery would target the more easily hit line infantry formations to take each other’s "heads."

Anning tapped Davout on the shoulder: "The enemy’s got a lot of cannons. Can you handle it?"

Davout smiled: "We have cover, it shouldn’t be a problem."

Anning gave Davout’s shoulder a hearty pat.

At this moment, Anning heard drum beats coming from behind. These were much more advanced than those coming from the foothills in front.

He turned around, seeing the infantry from the other four brigades leaving the camp to the beat of the drummer and forming lines in front of the camp.

A blue line slowly took shape on the reverse slope.

Napoleon brought up his horse-drawn artillery and began unloading the cannons on the ridge.

Anning shouted to Napoleon: "Bombard them fiercely! Then withdraw on time!"

Napoleon saluted from astride his horse.

Anning turned to Davout: "I really wanted to stay with you under this beech tree, but Cano disagrees."

Lazar Cano immediately said: "Of course, I disagree. I’ve never heard of the Commander personally running to the frontlines."

Anning spread his hands: "So I’ll be watching from behind, just under that tree over there."

Anning pointed to another beech tree in the distance. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Davout: "Under another beech tree, got it. If reinforcements are needed, I’ll have a Messenger Soldier sprint towards that tree."

Anning: "Good luck, Davout."

"And to you, always healthy and victorious, General!"

After saluting, Anning turned his horse and galloped toward the tree he had picked, with officers following behind.

Not far away, on the ridge, Napoleon raised his right hand high and swung it down powerfully: "Fire!"

The newly deployed Cavalry Guns opened fire.

Following that, the Infantry Guns assigned to Davout also roared within the gun emplacements.

The thunderous sound of cannons stirred Anning’s heart with excitement.

It’s started, he thought, fifteen thousand against forty thousand — when I first arrived, I never imagined commanding such a huge battle.

If we don’t win, I’m probably heading to the guillotine.

With that thought, Anning’s breath quickened.

He truly had no confidence; though they had launched a night raid and chosen a good position, the enemy still had such an overpowering troop advantage.

That confident facade was all for show to his subordinates; after all, a Commander must appear confident at any time, as if holding the winning hand, otherwise soldiers would waver.

—Damn it, I only wanted to be a fence-sitter; how did it come to this.

Thinking about this now is meaningless.

Davout, Napoleon, you guys really have to give it your all! Right now, the most reliable cards in Anning’s hand are the talents of these "famous generals."

With such complex thoughts, Anning arrived at the beech tree he had designated as his command post.

Then he discovered that the young maid Vanni had appeared, driving a carriage.

Anning: "What are you doing here?"

Vanni: "I thought you might need these to pass the time."

She brought the carriage to a halt, jumped down, and then took out chairs, an umbrella, as well as champagne and fruit from the carriage.

Anning’s mouth fell open into an O shape.

Vanni: "What, you don’t want it? Then I’ll take it back?"

"No, no, no, leave it. I do want some champagne."

Anning dismounted, came to the table, sat down with a plump, and then took the champagne passed by Vanni.

After taking a big gulp of champagne, Anning felt his breathing became much smoother.

Indeed, alcohol can really fortify courage.

**

At the same time, not far from Anning, within the columns of the Third Infantry Brigade, many people saw the scene of Anning drinking champagne.

The battle-hardened veterans began to speak: "See that? General Frost thinks we’ve got this in the bag! He’s even popping champagne!"

Instantly, the soldiers’ morale soared.