Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 870 - 778 Marching into Italy

The next afternoon.

Bolieu was discussing with his staff the most efficient way to attack the Port of Toulon after securing Wans, when an officer burst into the room without even knocking.

Disregarding the Marshal’s angry glare, the officer shouted in panic, "Marshal, General Dananfield was ambushed on his way to Wans and has almost completely lost his entire force. His whereabouts are currently unknown..."

Bolieu abruptly stood up. "What, what did you say?"

The officer swallowed hard and continued, "Moreover, General Pulovira was ambushed by the French Army while retreating. A soldier who relayed the message said he is preparing to retreat towards Wans and is asking for reinforcements."

To be fair, Napoleon hadn’t actually planned to ambush Pulovira, since he had no idea the Austrian Army had abandoned Cagne Town.

This was all due to "idle" Ogero, who decided to stir up some action for himself and ended up unexpectedly encountering Pulovira’s troops.

However, in Pulovira’s eyes, this absolutely looked as though the French Army had been waiting for him all along, causing his forces to collapse instantly and flee in panic.

Bolieu felt a sudden buzzing in his head.

The reinforcements for Wans were gone, and Pulovira was still running towards Wans—this outcome was already inevitable.

The situation now was utter failure across all battles west of Nice. The Pulovira Corps and the Dananfield Corps had collectively lost at least 15,000 soldiers.

At the same time, his communication line with Wans had already been severed by the French Army.

Which meant that the nearly 10,000 soldiers in Sebotendov’s army likely wouldn’t make it back either...

Bolieu had brought 30,000 Austrian soldiers and 20,000 Sardinian soldiers to fight France, but now more than half had been lost.

Though it seemed like he still had 25,000 troops, the reality was that the stronger Austrian soldiers had suffered the most casualties, leaving the Sardinian Army, incapable of putting up any significant fight.

He hesitated for only half a minute before yelling at his order officer, "Order the entire army to retreat immediately to Cadipona Pass. Instruct Marshal Argento to take charge of the defenses near the pass with the Royal Seventh Infantry Brigade. Assign Sardinian Camulip’s army to defend Nice."

"Yes, Marshal!"

Napoleon received the news that Bolieu’s main force had already retreated from Nice two days after completely encircling Sebotendov’s troops, feeling regretful.

According to his plan, he intended to trap Bolieu in Nice, but hadn’t expected such a decisive retreat from the latter.

It wasn’t entirely his fault, though; Koli had heavily fortified the line from Nice to Cadipona Pass, making it difficult for the French cavalry to conduct close reconnaissance.

Considering the entire Battle of Toulon, this was the only instance where Bolieu’s command showed any notable merit.

Napoleon immediately left Rubeier’s corps to clean up Sebotendov’s remnants while leading his main forces to Cadipona Pass, attempting to intercept Bolieu.

However, by this time, most of the Austrian troops had already retreated back to the Italian Peninsula, and with Argento desperately defending, Napoleon ultimately failed to contain Bolieu’s main force.

When Argento joined the retreat into the Alps, the remaining 1,300 soldiers of Camulip’s army, stationed in Nice, surrendered without hesitation.

Two days later, Sebotendov also ceased resistance and surrendered to the French Army.

Inside Monaco Castle, Napoleon was enthusiastically penning his report to the Crown Prince—during the Battle of Toulon, they had killed 8,000 Austrian troops and captured 15,000.

Among the captives were Generals Dananfield, Sebotendov, and Pulovira, as well as Bolieu’s son-in-law, Major Filippo Del Carretto, and Colonel Camulip, the commander of the Sardinian Novara Corps.

Yes, Napoleon ultimately captured and killed a total of 23,000 enemies. Several thousand Austrian soldiers on the southwestern beaches of Nice managed to escape aboard British transport ships.

Even so, this was still an incredible victory, ensuring that France would no longer face threats in the southeast.

Of course, for Joseph, this merely fulfilled his minimum expectation.

According to his "Right Hook" plan, Napoleon was supposed to cross the Alps and launch an attack on Sardinia, striking directly into Austria’s southwestern region from the Italian Peninsula.

No need for Joseph to urge him; by the time his commendation orders arrived in Toulon, Napoleon had already secured Cadipona Pass, allowing Oreal’s corps to begin advancing through the pass.

July 29, 1793.

Napoleon, adorned with his freshly minted Lieutenant Colonel insignia, spiritedly urged his warhorse forward and took the first step in crossing the Alps.

Yes, after the victory in the Battle of Toulon, he had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Every officer involved in this battle received promotions of varying degrees.

Most importantly, after the easy victory around Nice, the Italian Front Army had complete confidence in Napoleon’s command abilities.

Everyone was filled with hope and determination as they marched toward Italy.

A few days later.

Napoleon tightened his coat, sniffed, and tapped his mule’s flank with his heel as he turned to the logistics staff officer beside him and frowned. "Are you telling me the Montpellier Legion’s winter clothing hasn’t arrived yet?"

"Yes, Commander," the officer said, shivering from the cold. "The gendarmes have already arrested three of the procurement officers responsible for the delay, but as you know, recovering embezzled funds and placing new orders will take some time..."

Due to Europe’s erratic climate in recent years, even in August, the summit of the Alps still retained patches of snow.

Though Mediterranean warm winds limited the snow’s extent, it still posed challenges.

Even Napoleon’s horse struggled with fatigue from the cold, forcing him to ride a mule instead.

Napoleon was visibly frustrated. The Montpellier Legion, numbering over 6,000 men, would be severely affected if they couldn’t cross the Alps on time.

"How much longer will it take?" he asked the officer.

"Montpellier has promised resolution within half a month. But, as you know, their promises aren’t always reliable."

The Montpellier Legion still operated under the old military system, where supplies were privately purchased by high-ranking officers and later reimbursed by the Palace of Versailles.

The General Staff had previously suggested providing direct military provisions, but Montpellier’s military nobility rejected the idea—this was too lucrative an affair. By forging invoices, the reimbursement amounts often exceeded actual expenditures by twice as much, so they weren’t eager to hand it over to the General Staff.

Thus, this current predicament emerged.

In reality, such incidents were ubiquitous in old military systems.

For instance, Prussian and Austrian armies often required several months of preparation before wars, with much of the delay stemming from similar issues.

However, Prussia was already preparing to establish a General Staff, aiming to eradicate such inefficiencies. Historically, Prussia was the pioneer of the General Staff model, which later spread across the European Continent.

At present, though, various European countries were still emulating the French system.