Liberating Italy (1)

After finishing his explanation, Napoleon began to encourage everyone, telling them, "There are greedy and cruel nobles and priests everywhere in Italy. The former have accumulated a great deal of ill-gotten wealth by exploiting their people for hundreds and thousands of years; the latter have amassed an astonishing amount of sinful wealth by collecting tithes from all of Europe and selling absolutism."

Today, they use this ill-gotten wealth against us because they fear the France Revolution, because they fear that a revolutionary France will become the beacon of democracy and freedom for all of Europe! They fear that those people who have been oppressed by them for hundreds, even thousands of years, who have been trampled like mud by them, will, after seeing the light of France, after understanding the rights and future that the France people have won for themselves, rise up like the France people and overthrow those who ride on their heads—just as we did in France!

My brothers, this wealth originally belonged to the people, especially the clergy, and indeed to all of Europe, including the France! It should have been used for the liberation of the Europe people, but now it is being used to suppress Europe freedom; it should have been used to improve the lives of all Europe, but now it is being used to prevent Europe from living well—can this continue?

Therefore, we should march into Italy, confiscate this wealth, and use it where it is needed and worthwhile. We should confiscate all the assets of those reactionary nobles and clergy, distribute a portion to the local populace to win their support, and use the rest—gold and silver coins, and various works of art—to support our military operations and reward heroes."

At this point, at least the officers' morale was boosted, because what they were saying could be translated as: all the wealth they could take away would be distributed among them; they were coming to Italy to drink from large bowls, eat large chunks of meat, and divide the gold like Robin Hoods. As for the soldiers' morale, the officers present unanimously agreed that as long as the significance of this operation was clearly explained to everyone, they would definitely support it; after all, there would be meat to eat in Italy.

Next came pre-battle training. New, supposedly requisitioned, firearms were quickly distributed to the soldiers.

"They're all rifled guns? Are we going to hunt wild boars in the Alps?" Many soldiers had this question when they first received the guns. However, after the technicians at the Bonaparte Institute demonstrated how to use this new type of gun with the new ammunition, everyone's attitude towards the weapon immediately changed to "it's really good!"

"These are truly excellent items! Anything bearing the 'Bonaparte' trademark is bound to be good! Look at the 'Bonaparte's Little Melon,' and this 'Bonaparte Rifle' —compared to this, what the government gives us is utterly worthless! Why didn't they give us these guns before, instead of selling them to the United States?"

"Is it because this gun is more expensive than regular guns?" another soldier speculated.

The "technician," who had been waiting for this question, immediately replied, "To be honest, it is indeed a bit expensive. After all, the guns have rifling, and the bullets are specially made. If we calculate based on the price we sell to the United States, and add a profit margin of over 100%, it really becomes much more expensive. But I've heard that the original purchase price of the guns you have isn't much lower than the price we quoted the government. You know, we always push the price very low for weapons sold to our military. As for why the government refuses to buy our guns, we don't know. Perhaps they don't quite believe in these novelties."

The "technicians" were instructed not to directly criticize the government, but only to provide limited, subtle guidance. As for the underlying meaning, the soldiers weren't fools; they naturally understood.

"Tch, what do you mean they don't like new things? It's just that you guys didn't bribe them! I don't believe there wasn't some dirty deal involved!" one soldier immediately retorted.

"Even if it's expensive, this thing could save so many lives! For a few dollars, they're letting us use such a good thing instead of those firewood sticks. If you ask me, some people in the government really deserve to be beheaded."

"Bouve, you can't spread such remarks in the barracks! You must correct your words!" Company Commander Nice Naber stepped forward and said. However, his attitude was not harsh, because what Private Auguste Bouve said was actually what he himself thought.

"Alright, Company Commander." Buwei scratched the back of his head and said, "You're right. I'm correcting myself now: there are still some people in the current government who don't need to go to the guillotine."

The soldiers burst into laughter, and even Company Commander Nice Naber joined in.

"Alright, alright... If you didn't have that mouth, you'd be a platoon leader by now..."

After acquiring the new weapons, Napoleon immediately organized more targeted training for his army, such as volley fire at targets 400 yards away and skirmishers practicing precision shooting at targets 300 yards away. Napoleon had always been committed to increasing the proportion of skirmishers in his army, which made it relatively easier for his army to accept these weapons.

After nearly a month of preparation, Napoleon led his army westward toward Italy.

A month later, in November 1795, Joseph received the first battle report from Napoleon. Napoleon had led his army across the Alps through snow and entered Piedmont, where he engaged in combat with the Austria and the army of Kingdom of Sardinia.

In order to cross the Alps in the snow, Napoleon abandoned almost all of his cannons weighing more than six pounds. However, the attempt to cross the Alps in winter was indeed completely unexpected by the Austria and Italy.

In the original history, when Napoleon crossed the Alps a few months later, in April 1796, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia had already prepared an army of 80,000 to fight against Napoleon's 40,000 troops. If it weren't for a problem in the coordination between the two countries, Napoleon's battle would have been very difficult.

However, at this time, no one expected that Napoleon would launch an attack across the Alps in winter, because this almost certainly meant that they would not have reliable supplies.

Therefore, he faced very few enemy troops, because he had transferred more troops to Poland. The Austria only numbered about 20,000 in all of Italy, and they were completely unprepared for battle, scattered throughout the Italy. Gathering them together would not be a quick task.

As for the Kingdom of Sardinia, their situation is somewhat better. They can mobilize an army of about 50,000 men immediately. Although these 50,000 men are scattered throughout the country, Kingdom of Sardinia is only so big, so concentrating their army is much faster than the Austria.

However, neither the Austria nor the Italy felt there was any need to speed up their response. They knew that the France logistics required crossing mountains, so they couldn't afford a stalemate. Therefore, they believed their best course of action was to proceed cautiously, hold the most crucial points, and slowly wear down the France.

Austrian Field Marshal Beaulieu, commander of the Austria army, wrote to King Victor Amedeo III of Kingdom of Sardinia, informing him of some of the information he had gathered and analyzing the French Army's logistical weaknesses. He concluded by saying the following to the King:

"Your Majesty, I believe that the France army cannot carry a large number of cannons and gunpowder, so their ability to fortify strongholds is quite limited. As long as your country does not rush into battle and steadily holds the key points I mentioned earlier, the France have nothing to worry about. We can wear them down little by little."

Marshal Beaulieu's assessment was echoed by General Colli, the commander of the Kingdom of Sardinia. He told the King, "The mountain roads are extremely difficult to traverse in winter. The fact that the France managed to cross with their men is almost a miracle. But in any case, they cannot bring a large number of cannons. Moreover, the Alps roads will only become more difficult in the coming period due to rain and snow. If this drags on, the France may even have trouble getting food. They will collapse without a fight."

However, to the surprise of Marshal Beaulieu and General Colli, the France did not attack the heavily fortified points of the Kingdom of Sardinia army, but instead bypassed them and dispersed directly into the plains of Piedmont.

These France, just like Alati had done, swept away the estates of the nobles scattered throughout the countryside. Everything portable was looted. Some France who hadn't managed to escape to the cities were captured. The France built so-called "Revolutionary Tribunal" on their estates, gathering all the lowly farmers from the surrounding area, and publicly hanging the nobles in front of them. Next, they burned the nobles' land deeds in public, declaring that all their land would be distributed free of charge to the farmers cultivating it.

In fact, land deeds are not so easily seized. The land deeds of great nobles are not necessarily kept in their country estates. These so-called "land deeds" that were burned in public, with very few exceptions, were basically forgeries prepared in advance. After all, the country folk had never seen them before and could not see any problems with them.

Napoleon knew, of course, that this alone wouldn't be enough to win over the bewildered Italy peasants. But at least for the time being, these Italy wouldn't oppose him. And the raids on these estates also meant that Napoleon wouldn't have to worry too much about supplies for the time being.

The Kingdom of Sardinia was no fool. When Napoleon's army stormed into the Piedmont plains, they had already begun preparing for a scorched-earth policy. And frankly, their actions weren't too slow—of course, this "not too slow" refers to the general level of the era, but the Napoleon army they faced was quite different from most armies of that time.

The large-scale deployment of Minié Rifle significantly enhanced their firepower, allowing them to maintain basic security on a smaller scale. This enabled the French Army to send large numbers of small units to carry out such missions. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Sardinia forces were not yet concentrated and were scattered across various key locations, preventing them from truly threatening the French Army field forces. Consequently, the France were left to their own devices, allowing the revolution to continue in Piedmont.

The nobles who had suffered great losses complained to the king and pressured him to have the army protect their property. They said that large quantities of grain and other valuables were in various estates outside the city, and that the recent continuous rains and muddy roads made it very difficult to move these items. They argued that if the France were allowed to plunder them, everyone would suffer huge losses.

Once the nobles united, even the king could not ignore their appeal. So the king wrote to the Austria, demanding that they take immediate action, gather their troops, and come to their aid.

However, the Austria army in Italy was already small, and it was impossible for them to gather all of their troops. They could only muster a little over ten thousand men at most, and even that would take time. So Marshal Beaulieu, while gathering his troops, wrote to King Amedeo III again, urging him to be patient and wait for a better opportunity, and not to rush into battle with the France.

However, it was clear that the France's continued destruction made King Amedeo III feel he could no longer tolerate it. These France not only swept through the countryside, but even began to establish their own "grassroots revolutionary governments" based on the France estates that had originally belonged to the nobles. They provided the peasants with weapons (the old equipment of the Fifth Legion) and training so that they could "defend their revolutionary gains"—that is, the meager scraps and land the France had given them after seizing these estates.

The king felt he could not tolerate this continuing. If they could drive the France away now, restoring order in Piedmont would likely not be too difficult. But if the France stayed there for too long, restoring order there would be much more difficult in the future, and other parts of the country would also be affected.

"They have already obtained enough food to last a long time in the countryside of Piedmont. In this way, they will not have to worry too much about supplies until next spring. And it would be unacceptable to let them stay in Piedmont until next spring." So King Amedeo III made this judgment in the end.