Liberating Italy (3)
After swift preparations, the more than one thousand cavalrymen of the Kingdom of Sardinia charged toward the France skirmishers.
However, there are always some signs when cavalry are preparing to attack. On a dry, sunny day, they will raise dust. Of course, with the recent rains and damp ground, this problem has been avoided. But the concentration of large cavalry units requires other armies to make way for them. This sign is difficult to conceal. Therefore, Napoleon had already keenly noticed the call to arms before the Kingdom of Sardinia cavalry even appeared.
"Where are the Sheepdog? Where are the Sheepdog?" Napoleon asked. "Take your cavalry and go assist the skirmishers!"
"Shepherd Dog" was a nickname given to Augereau by Napoleon, and Augereau himself was very proud of this nickname, after all, not everyone has the opportunity to capture more than three hundred Paigeges with a single whip.
"Yes, sir!" Jerome replied happily. He lowered his head to check the four revolvers tucked into his belt and the sword hanging at his waist, then mounted his warhorse and headed towards the cavalry.
Napoleon, on the other hand, remained standing there, one foot on a stone, peering through his binoculars at the other side.
The Sardinia cavalry had completed their preparations by this time. Perhaps because they were unsure of the range of the France skirmishers' rifles, as they had been at the rear of the column, they only knew to follow orders to charge the France skirmishers. However, their messengers had not informed them that the France rifles had a range of over three or four hundred yards. Therefore, after advancing, the cavalry did not immediately disperse, but maintained a relatively tight formation, approaching the France with small steps.
Under normal circumstances, this makes sense. First, maintaining a relatively tight formation helps maintain discipline—since we're still far from the enemy, there's no time to spread out when we get closer—ever since the "Little Melon" (a type of cavalry charge) became widely used, no country's cavalry has ever used a wall-riding charge again.
As for using a short approach, this was because the warhorses used by the Sardinia army were not nuclear-powered Mongolian horses, which could not maintain a constant top speed. They would first trot short distances outside the enemy's firing range, and then gradually increase their speed until they were close enough to reach the enemy's "Little Melon" firing range to reach their maximum speed. This would minimize the casualties caused to the cavalry by the skirmishers' "Little Melon".
Just as skirmisher Daniel finished loading his bullets, he heard Company Commander Amy shout, "Ready, aim at the enemy cavalry..."
Everyone raised their guns, but Company Commander Amy seemed to be showing off his amazing lung capacity, deliberately drawing out his voice for a very long time. A major reason he became a company commander was because Commander Lannes valued his loud voice; even in the noisy battlefield, his shouts could be heard by those around him. Of course, no matter how loud a voice is, it's impossible for all the stragglers to hear it. That's where his enormous lung capacity came in. He could draw out his voice so that the other company commanders could hear him and shout along, thus maintaining as much consistency as possible when giving the final order.
Amy finally finished shouting that aria-like cry of "Cavalry!" He took a deep breath, counted in his head, and then yelled, "Fire!"
The other company commanders also shouted "Fire!" around the same time. More than two thousand skirmishers fired a volley at the Sardinia cavalry, who were still five hundred yards away.
Because the cavalry were large targets and were in a dense formation, this volley of fire, despite its great distance—almost at the limit of the Minié Rifle's range—still achieved very good results. Sardinia cavalrymen fell from their horses one after another, like autumn leaves falling from branches in the cold wind.
"Damn it! How far can their guns even shoot!" General Colli began to consider how to explain the defeat to the king and shift the blame to the incompetent arms manufacturers.
This unexpected blow threw the Sardinia cavalry into disarray. Some of the riders at the front, seeing their comrades fall one after another, tried to pull their horses to a stop, while others kicked their horses' bellies with their spurs to make them run again. Still others, completely bewildered, remained in their previous positions.
So those who wanted to stop collided with those moving at normal speed; those who wanted to charge forward took a few steps, looked back, and saw that no one was following, so they braked suddenly; those who wanted to... simply turned their horses around and ran to the side—in short, the entire cavalry column was in complete chaos.
Count Vivaldi, commander of the cavalry division, struggled to maintain order. He shouted commands, tried to reorganize the troops, and ordered them to launch a full-speed charge... But just then, a second volley of gunfire rang out...
This volley of fire threw the Italy into even greater confusion, but it also made many of the more astute Italy realize. "Crowding together is just attracting bullets; everyone must scatter immediately!"
The cavalry scattered in disarray, and some of the smarter cavalrymen's horses, seemingly frightened, ran off and disappeared in an instant.
Although the Minié Rifle had a much longer range, skirmishers could only fire two volleys under normal circumstances when facing enemy light cavalry. After that, they would have to rely on the "Bonaparte's Little Melon" (a type of rifle) and revolvers and bayonets to fight.
However, since the Italy were willing to let the skirmishers fire several more volleys, everyone naturally couldn't just let them down, could they? So, taking advantage of this opportunity, the skirmishers fired another volley.
Count Vivaldi had finally managed to control a portion of his troops, and he ordered, "Charge!" Thus, a contingent of cavalry, under his command, charged towards the skirmishers at top speed, in a chaotic formation.
During their charge, they were hit by another volley of fire. However, because they had increased their speed, this volley caused them less damage than the previous ones.
Count Vivaldi slowly reduced his horse's speed to allow the other cavalry to overtake him. At the same time, he saw that the France opposite him had fixed their bayonets and taken out Little Melon.
According to the experience taught by the Austria, the France soldiers were out of bullets by this point, so once they got past their initial Little Melon, the rest was just a matter of fighting with sabers and bayonets. Although the France skirmishers were very brave, sabers still had a clear advantage over bayonets.
"They won't form a hollow square; how can one man's bayonet possibly fight against cavalry? Of course, they can't form a hollow square either, because we also have 'Little Melon'," said our Austria friend at the time.
The cavalrymen were close enough to reach the range of the "Little Melon," and a dense swarm of them came hurtling towards Little Melon. In previous exercises, the cavalrymen were very familiar with this situation. They'd duck, press their bodies against their horses' necks, and charge past in the blink of an eye, right? But that was acting—no, it was a drill. Back then, the "Little Melon" wouldn't explode! So some of the cavalrymen in front couldn't resist turning, while those behind couldn't resist slowing down (they wanted to wait for the Little Melon" to explode before charging). Then, quite a few clever ones collided... Immediately afterward, the " Little Melon " exploded, taking down another wave of cavalrymen.
However, Count Vivaldi was not injured. This was not because there was a rule in the world that bullets and shrapnel would evade high-ranking officers, but because he was the smartest of all the charging cavalry. He had slowed down long ago, placing himself far behind the rest of the column. Even when the cavalrymen were close to the range of the enemy's "Little Melon," he deliberately distanced himself from the ranks.
"The rest is just saber against bayonet! We can do it!" Count Vivaldi looked at the cavalry ahead, assessed the losses along the way, and then made this judgment.
However, instead of the bayonet-to-saber hand-to-hand combat he had imagined, a burst of gunfire erupted ahead.
Colonel Jean Lannes dropped his rifle, drew his revolver, and aimed it at an Italy cavalryman charging towards him. "Bang, bang!" He fired two shots, and the Italy fell. He then pointed at another Italy cavalryman, "Bang, bang!" and fired again, and that one too fell. He pointed at yet another Italy cavalryman, "Bang, bang!" and fired again, and that Italy, "Thud..."—out of bullets. He quickly drew his other revolver, and looking again, he saw that the Italy already fallen from his horse...
The revolvers, capable of firing continuously, completely stunned the Italy. At that moment, someone saw the France cavalry charging towards them. A clever man realized what was happening first, turned his horse around, and fled. Then everyone fled in a chaotic frenzy. Of course, the shrewd Count Vivaldi was also running away, and he was the fastest.
Jerome led his cavalry past the stragglers and gave chase, pushing the enemy directly into their lines. Ideally, the Italy cavalry would disrupt their own infantry ranks.
However, Jerome's expectations did not materialize. The Italy were always cautious, and after the cavalry charge, they carefully restored the chevaux-de-frise in front of their lines. So the Italy cavalry could only turn around in front of their own ranks, while Jerome clung to their tails, driving an enemy cavalry division off the battlefield with fewer than two hundred men.
Colonel Jean Lannes, the skirmisher commander, stood on tiptoe, watching the cavalry pursuit. When he saw that the Italy cavalry hadn't broken through their main force, he shouted with joy, "Brothers, I told you long ago! Don't be fooled by the imposing appearance of cavalry; to win this battle, we skirmishers are the ones who matter! Now, advance! Let's crush their privates!"
For skirmishers equipped with Minié Rifle, facing Italy privates was practically bullying. With their greater range, they peeled away layers of the Italy ranks with each volley, like peeling an onion. This situation of being constantly beaten without being able to retaliate quickly shattered the morale of the Italy.
Even worse, the cannons positioned in front of the lines were now under France control. The Italy hadn't bothered to sabotage the cannons when they abandoned them. So the France simply turned them around, and—before they even fired—the Italy completely collapsed. The soldiers ignored their officers' orders and scattered in all directions; the officers initially tried to maintain order by shouting and threatening, but they quickly joined the fleeing ranks, running even faster than the soldiers.
More than 50,000 Italy scattered and fled, making it quite difficult for the France to capture them. Furthermore, the Italy were more familiar with the terrain, so Napoleon didn't take many prisoners after this battle. However, General Colli, who retreated to Turin, also failed to gather many of the fleeing soldiers. About half of the soldiers neither died in battle, nor were they captured, nor did they return to their units; instead, they went directly home.
After acquiring over a hundred cannons, the France army pressed on towards Turin, causing widespread panic Turin the city. France entered Turin, they would behead all the nobles; others recounted stories of the France "robbing the rich to help the poor" elsewhere. Some trembled with fear of France, while others eagerly awaited their arrival so they could divide the spoils.
The nobles of Turin packed up their valuables and fled eastward in carriages. Severe traffic jams occurred on the roads from Turin to Genoa and Milan, where carriages adorned with various coats of arms were stuck. Even the royal family fled to Cagliari on the Sardinia.
At the unanimous request of the nobles, the king announced his withdrawal from the war and sent envoys to negotiate with the France. Facing the Kingdom of Sardinia envoys, Napoleon initially adopted a dismissive attitude, followed by various threats. Finally, under pressure from the French Army, Kingdom of Sardinia was forced to accept the following conditions:
The Kingdom of Sardinia withdrew from the Anti-French Alliance and pledged never again to allow any person or force to use Kingdom of Sardinia territory for any action against France. The Sardinia army was required to surrender the fortresses of Cuneo, Ceva, and Tortona; Alessandria was to be temporarily surrendered until Tortona was handed over to the French Army; the people in the French Army- controlled areas would have full autonomy, the right to establish their own governments, and the right to implement revolutionary policies, which the Kingdom of Sardinia was not to interfere with; French Army would have free passage through Piedmont and the right to cross the Po River at Valenza; all local police in Piedmont must be disbanded; the Sardinia regular army would be stationed in various locations as garrisons, their outposts requiring French Army approval, and the army was not allowed to be equipped with any heavy weapons; unless approved by the French Army, the number of troops stationed at any outpost could not exceed five hundred. Furthermore, the Kingdom of Sardinia was required to pay a large sum of money as war reparations.