Toulon (8)

Pauline ran wildly through the fog, surrounded by gunfire, artillery fire, and shouts. At first, Pauline was terrified, but soon, after a series of violent explosions, she noticed that the gunfire seemed to have subsided, and after a while, shouts of "Long live the Republic!" rang out all around her.

The fog gradually dissipated. Pauline saw a group of soldiers in blue uniforms cheering not far from her—clearly, they had won the battle.

A bearded veteran noticed Pauline and walked towards her.

"Hey, little guy, what are you doing here?" the soldier asked.

"My brother and I got separated. Our ship encountered a storm at sea and drifted for several days before finally reaching shore here, and then..." Pauline quickly said, "Have you seen my brother?"

"Ah, you're really unlucky to have ended up on the battlefield so carelessly. I don't see your muddle-headed brother; how could he leave his younger brother in a place like this? But I can have our men help you look for him," the old soldier said.

Pauline was just a thirteen-year-old girl at the time, dressed in boys' clothes, with a hat covering her beautiful hair. (To be fair, Napoleon's clothes as a child would have fit her quite well.) As a result, the old soldier mistook her for a little boy whose voice hadn't yet broken.

"Come with me, I'll ask around for you," the old soldier said, leading Pauline to the fortress. He called out to a soldier hanging the tricolor flag on the fortress, "Eugene, have you seen another civilian, about the same age as this child, who ran into the battlefield?"

"What did you say?" Eugene asked. "I can't hear you..."

Perhaps because he wasn't concentrating properly, the tricolor flag slipped from his hand and fell off the fortress.

Everyone's face changed, because failing to hang the tricolor flag was a terrible omen. Generally speaking, the more luck-dependent a profession is, the more superstitious it tends to be. The military, in particular, is a place where all sorts of superstitions are concentrated. When the navy eats fish, after finishing one side, they are never allowed to flip it over to eat the other side, because they consider the action of "flipping" taboo. As for the army, there are also a lot of superstitions surrounding flags. Everyone believes that if the flag falls to the ground, it foretells a setback for the army.

The tricolor flag slowly drifted down in the morning breeze. Everyone ran after the flag, trying to catch it in mid-air so it wouldn't fall to the ground. Even the old soldier abandoned Pauline and ran after the flag.

"Catch it! Catch it!" everyone shouted.

But for some reason, a sea breeze suddenly blew by, and the falling tricolor flag suddenly changed direction and fell towards Pauline. Pauline reached out and caught the tricolor flag that landed in her hand.

"That child, that child caught the flag! That's great!" someone shouted.

"That's wonderful!"

According to superstition, if a flag is blown down by the wind, whoever catches it midway must personally hang it back up; then the bad luck will be over, and good luck will follow.

So the old soldier walked up to Pauline, bent down slightly, and said, "Thank you, young man, you caught the flag. Would you help us raise it again?"

Lucien was terrified by the loss of Pauline. He knew that if Napoleon found out, he would be severely beaten, perhaps even his backside would be split in eight pieces; and back in Paris, Joseph wouldn't forgive him either—or rather, he and Napoleon wouldn't forgive him. Joseph had long considered him unreliable, and it was Napoleon who had his backing...

So Lucien wandered aimlessly across the battlefield like a headless fly. The soldiers cheered, and Lucien kept asking them, "Have you seen my sister? Have you seen my sister?" But no one paid him any attention.

At that moment, the soldiers suddenly cheered again towards the fortress. Lucien looked in that direction and suddenly froze.

"What the hell! What did I just see? That's... that's..."

That was Pauline, standing triumphantly atop the fortress, hoisting a tricolor flag. The soldiers cheered loudly at her, and the exuberant Pauline completely forgot about finding her brother. She even imitated the soldiers below who were waving their hats at her, taking off her own hat and waving it back at them. Then, her long hair fluttered in the morning breeze along with the tricolor flag.

Years later, when the men of the Bonaparte family ascended to the throne, Pauline's story was widely circulated by various people with ulterior motives. The plot changed from Pauline getting lost and stumbling upon the battlefield and accidentally receiving a flag to Pauline stumbling upon the battlefield, where she led the France warriors bravely, holding high the flag she thought was held by a fallen standard-bearer, and finally defeating the Britain (Britain said: It was clearly the Spain!) and recapturing Toulon. Some people even gave Pauline the title of "Joan of Toulon." Of course, Pauline responded to this by saying, "What? There are actually people who think I have any 'Joan of Arc'?"

(In the original timeline, Pauline was known for her wild lifestyle and was famously a "woman of the generation." It is said that when the sculptor Canova was creating her statue, he initially considered depicting her as the goddess of the hunt. However, Pauline said, "Let's make her look like Venus, because the goddess of the hunt is also the goddess of chastity. Does anyone in all of Europe still believe that I have any chastity to speak of?")

However, while the soldiers were cheering for her, they didn't regard her as some kind of "saint"; at most, they saw her as some kind of auspicious omen. Lucien, on the other hand, turned and ran towards the fortress.

Near the fortress, several soldiers stopped him. "Who are you? Why are you running this way? Are you Britain spy?"

"I am General Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, and my sister is inside. I want to see her!" Lucien shouted quickly. He knew that on the battlefield, mere suspicion could lead to death. By shouting this, whether they believed him or not, at least they wouldn't execute him before they found out the truth.

"You're General Bonaparte's brother?" The soldiers clearly didn't believe it, but just as Lucien had thought, they still wanted to verify it first.

"If you lie to us, you'll die a horrible death," one soldier said.

Just then, a troop of cavalry came this way. A soldier ran over, said a few words to an officer, and then the officer rode over on horseback.

"Lucien? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Napoleon! Our ship was blown here by the wind... Pauline is inside the fortress now..."

Then the soldiers witnessed a good show. Their general, whip in hand, chased after his brother, while Lucien ran around Pauline.

"Lucien, a real man doesn't hide behind a woman!" Napoleon said.

"A real man should have his own opinions. How can you just do whatever you say?" Lucien replied, panting.

"Pauline, get out of my way! Let me kill this unreliable bastard!"

"Napoleon, don't attack Lucien, this matter..."

Just then, Augereau came over. "General, the Britain cavalry have appeared!"

Napoleon stopped and glared at Lucien: "I'll deal with you later!"

Then he threw down his riding whip and went over with Augereau.

The Britain only sent a small cavalry unit to scout ahead. This was not unusual; Davout just retreated from the front lines, so how could they possibly mobilize their troops and launch a counterattack so quickly? However, the appearance of the Britain cavalry meant that a new battle was about to break out.

"The Britain can't be unaware of the significance of this fortress. If we lose it, they won't be able to hold Toulon. They'll launch a counterattack immediately. Augereau, find a few men and take Pauline and that fool to safety. There's going to be a battle here," Napoleon said.

Just as Napoleon had predicted, the Britain reacted quickly. They swiftly launched a counter-offensive against Fort Mulgrave, knowing that every second the counter-offensive was delayed would strengthen the French Army defenses and decrease their chances of success.

Therefore, at noon that day, without adequate preparation, they launched a large-scale attack on Fort Mulgrave.

The Britain first bombarded Fort Mulgrave with cannons. Then, the Lobsterbacks, dressed in red uniforms, advanced in neat ranks.

Fort Mulgrave was a modern fortress designed to withstand artillery fire. Its walls were less than two meters high and had a steep slope, making them virtually impervious to artillery bombardment. However, if enemy infantry charged, they could even run up the walls with a short burst of speed.

Napoleon's army had just captured Fort Mulgrave and was not yet fully familiar with its details, nor did they have any usable artillery firing tables. Therefore, while the Britain attack was poorly prepared, Napoleon's defenses were equally ill-prepared.

The Britain went all out, deploying five or six thousand troops in this attack. However, the fortress's defensive advantages were still considerable. Even without firing tables, which reduced the effectiveness of the artillery fire, the France artillery still inflicted significant casualties on the Britain as they advanced. But the Lobsterbacks stubbornly withstood the bombardment and approached the Britain.