Toulon (9)

"The Britain are indeed stronger than the Austria and Prussia," Napoleon said to Augereau, watching the approaching Britain army.

"In open field combat, these guys could inflict considerable casualties on us," Augereau nodded in agreement. "Look at them, after suffering such a blow, if they were Austria, they would have already turned back home to find their mothers."

"The Austria? At Valmy, just one volley killed a few hundred, and the remaining tens of thousands were too scared to move. Look at the Britain, they just charged straight in like that," Napoleon exclaimed in admiration.

"Fortunately, we now have the upper hand," Augereau said sincerely. "General, you told us before that in most cases, defense is a more effective tactic than offense, but war must be won through offense. Therefore, a good general, even in offensive operations, should be able to seize the most crucial moments on the battlefield, capture the most critical positions, and then force the enemy to attack our strong defenses. Turning a strategic offensive into a tactical defensive counterattack. I used to think, how could that be possible? Now, thinking about it, haven't we done just that? Now we are the ones attacking, but because we occupy key positions, the defending enemy is forced to leave their strong fortifications and attack us. General Bonaparte ..."

Augereau gave a thumbs-up in admiration. "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"

Napoleon was naturally pleased. He knew Augereau wasn't one for flattery, and although he hadn't proposed the principle, what difference did brothers make? Besides, Joseph was just a theorist; even if Joseph were in charge, he might not have grasped the key to this battle. Therefore, he was quite satisfied with his own actions, and Augereau's praise only added to his pride. However, he didn't show much emotion on his face, saying instead, "Let's talk about it after we repel this Britain attack!"

The Britain had closed in to within range of the grapeshot, and the cannons on the fortress began firing grapeshot at Britain. The Lobsterbacks were being mowed down row after row. But the lobsters behind them remained in neat formation, advancing at an unchanging pace without firing a single shot.

Unlike those Europe troops who would take a few steps and fire a shot, or those flashy, three-stage volleys, the Britain Army's rule was always the same: no fancy tricks, just advance straight ahead until your gun is practically under the enemy's nose, then unleash a volley, followed by a bayonet charge, wiping out those bastards in one fell swoop. The Britain Army wasn't large, but in terms of combat effectiveness, it was definitely a level above the France.

The Britain left behind many corpses, but they still advanced. An army that is brave enough can always make progress. According to their custom, they would close in to within ten paces, then stop and fire a volley, followed by a bayonet charge.

But this time, the situation changed. The Britain had just stopped when the France threw a large number of what looked like stones at them. However, these stones exploded violently upon landing.

This was the special weapon that Joseph had Napoleon take on a detour— Grenade.

In fact, throwing explosives at the enemy in combat is not a new practice. People have done it before. However, the Grenade they used back then were filled with black powder. To ensure their power, they had to be very large. They were so large that only a strong man could throw them, and even a strong man couldn't throw them very far. If they were made large enough that an ordinary soldier could throw them far, then their power would be almost the same as a large firecracker.

However, Napoleon's soldiers did not fill their Grenade with gunpowder, but with Lavoisier's new concoction— Nitrated Starch.

Nitro starch is much more stable than nitroglycerin, requiring Mercury Fulminate for effective detonation. However, this process has a problem: product consistency is difficult to control. Some Nitrated Starch more powerful than TNT, while others are only half as powerful, resulting in varying yields for each Grenade. Even so, the power of these Grenade far surpasses that of older black powder-filled grenades. Furthermore, Joseph's ruthless practice of pre-fragmenting the Grenade casings amplified their destructive power, exceeding all expectations.

This volley of Grenade knocked down a large line of charging Britain, completely wiping out Britain ranks.

Seeing this, Napoleon immediately issued the order for a counter-charge!

"For France, charge!" The France troops, bayonets drawn, charged toward the Britain.

There was one significant difference between the French Army and Britain armies of that era: the Britain needed formations to fight effectively, while the France didn't need formations at all; the more chaotic, the better.

This counter-charge drove the Britain back. After repelling this Britain counterattack, the British Army quickly withdrew to Toulon. Napoleon judged that the Britain were unlikely to launch another attack on Fort Mulgrave in the short term. Now his target could turn to the ships in Port of Toulon.

Of course, it would take some time to fire on Port of Toulon, as the soldiers needed to turn the cannons on the fortress around and send more cannons to Fort Mulgrave, all of which would take time.

"Anyway, these things can't be prepared before dark, so why don't we just go and beat up Lucien again!" Although he was in a good mood because of the decisive victory he had just won, Napoleon still decided to take on the responsibility of an older brother and seriously educate his younger brother so that he would know why the flowers are so red. Besides, it's raining, so he might as well beat the child since he had nothing better to do.

However, Napoleon was no longer so angry. Anger is like a storm, it comes and goes quickly. In addition, Lucien was very good at running away, and Pauline was causing trouble, so Napoleon failed to fulfill his responsibilities as an older brother.

By the next morning, all the cannons in the fortress were in place, and Napoleon ordered the bombardment of Port of Toulon. The bombardment continued all day until night fell over Port of Toulon, significantly reducing the effectiveness of the France bombardment. During the day's bombardment, more than a dozen ships were damaged to varying degrees, and hundreds of crew members were killed or wounded. Even more distressing was that Toulon had no means of retaliating against the bombardment from Fort Mulgrave.

"Toulon cannot be held." The Spain were the first to make this judgment, and then, after nightfall, Spain abandoned their posts, intending to be the first to board the ships and leave. They were then stopped at the dock by a large contingent of Britain — the Britain were already boarding!—when things seemed hopeless, the Britain were always very adept at retreating.

The Britain and Spain spent two nights and a day, braving the gunfire from Fort Mulgrave, to evacuate Toulon.

In fact, by the next day, most of the Britain had already left. Davout suggested to Napoleon that they take advantage of the situation to attack and retake Toulon. He believed that if they attacked at this time, they would be able to break into Toulon and annihilate all the invaders who had not yet had time to retreat.

However, Napoleon rejected this suggestion. He felt that attacking the enemy's fortified positions when victory was already assured would lead to many unnecessary casualties, which was not worthwhile.

This reason convinced Davout. His only worry was: what if those traitors to their homeland ran away with the invaders?

"The Britain Spain are too busy rescuing themselves to care about these traitors. Don't worry, they won't get away!" Napoleon said.

The last few ships were preparing to leave the dock, but the dock was still crowded with people— the Toulon Royalist Party who had once served the Britain. Now that the Britain and Spain were leaving, they knew that if they stayed in Toulon, they would surely be beheaded. So they came here, hoping that their Britain fathers would have mercy and give them a chance to leave Toulon by ship.

Napoleon could see all of this clearly from Fort Mulgrave, so he ordered, "Beat those guys on the docks! Davout, prepare to enter the city!"

Davout responded and ran off. Napoleon continued to admire the artillery's results through his binoculars.

A shell landed in the crowd on the dock, instantly creating a bloody alley. Many more people screamed and jumped into the water, trying to swim to the Britain ship.

Napoleon saw a Britain officer shout something to the men below, but they continued to swim towards the ship. The officer drew his sword, shouted something again, and then a cloud of smoke rose from the ship's side—the Britain soldiers on board began firing at the Royalist Party swimming towards them.

One by one, the Royalist Party were shot and sank to the ground. Napoleon watched with a broad smile.

At that moment, a man came into Napoleon's view. The man took a breath, dived into the water, dodged the volley of fire, swam to the side of the Britain ship, and then, like a spider, climbed aboard.

"This fellow is quite skilled," Napoleon said. "What a pity..."

At this moment, the man finally climbed to the side of the ship. He stuck his head out and seemed to shout something, perhaps "God save the King," or something else. But it didn't matter, because the next second, several bayonets appeared in his stomach, and then several Britain soldiers threw him into the sea with a forceful throw. This time, he sank and never resurfaced.

"This is the fate of a traitor!" exclaimed Augereau was also watching from the sidelines.