Sweeping Through

Marshal Beaulieu abandoned his cannons and ran as fast as he could. Napoleon estimated the approximate distance between the two sides and their respective speeds of movement, and finally concluded that the enemy was advancing at a rapid pace, far ahead of our army.

Indeed, the French Army had just completed a fifty-mile forced march across the Po River, and then another forced march to reach the bridge. To continue this forced march in pursuit of the Austria was proving difficult. Even if the men, fueled by revolutionary ideals and the support of Grosso (Venice silver coins), could persevere, the warhorses could not withstand such a march and needed rest. If the horses could not keep up, not only would the cavalry and artillery fall behind, but many other essential supplies would also be unable to arrive.

Napoleon estimated that Marshal Beaulieu would definitely retreat to Milan. Having lost so many cannons, he certainly wouldn't be able to hold Milan with his remaining forces. Judging from the previous battles, Marshal Beaulieu wasn't the type to stubbornly fight a losing battle. Therefore, after returning to Milan, he would at most rest briefly before continuing his escape. The only concern was how many Florin (common Italy gold coins, here referring to various types of gold coins) Marshal Beaulieu would take with him during his retreat.

Considering the condition of his army, Napoleon, after careful consideration, ordered his soldiers to rest for a day before marching on Milan, the capital of Lombardy, the following day.

The following afternoon, as the French Army scout cavalry approached Milan, representatives of the Milan's citizens appeared before them. They told Augereau, who was leading the cavalry, that the Austria had left Milan early that morning, and that Milan was now undefended. The entire city of Milan was warmly welcoming General Bonaparte's arrival.

After capturing Milan without suffering any casualties, Napoleon's army paused again for a brief rest. Napoleon himself addressed the people of Milan the city council, stating that he was not an aggressor like the Austria, and that he had come not to exploit Lombardy people as Lombardy Austria had done, but to bring them freedom and liberation.

This speech greatly relieved the Milan who were fearing looting and extortion; however, they soon learned what the France meant by freedom and liberation.

After a brief rest, Napoleon led his army to continue the pursuit of the Austrian army, chasing them all the way to Austria, Mantua's most important fortress in Italy. Marshal Beaulieu, with his remaining 10,000 troops, struggled to hold out in the fortified Mantua Fortress, awaiting reinforcements. Napoleon, on the other hand, stationed his troops near the Mantua Fortress, preparing to besiege it and ambush any reinforcements.

Meanwhile, in the areas controlled by Napoleon, the movement for freedom and liberation was also in full swing.

In Milan, some guys supported by the France organized a group called the "Freedom Club," and they came up with a slogan that terrified the local landowners and nobles: Be like Piedmont!

These people claimed that Lombardy should adopt the same measures as Piedmont, namely, confiscating all the land of the nobles and distributing it to the peasants without compensation.

Then, in the countryside, conflict broke out as heavily armed mobs attacked the nobles' country estates. They burned the "seized deeds" and declared that the lands would be distributed to the local peasants. The nobles were terrified, as they did not have the military power to protect their wealth. The France dismissed these events as "internal conflicts among the Italy" and ignored them.

This laissez-faire attitude led to two consequences. First, many nobles began to leave Lombardy and flee to other places, spreading the terror of the "France mob" far and wide. Second, some nobles began to secretly contact the enemies of the France, such as the Austria and the Papal States, attempting to rely on their power to drive out the France and restore the "holy order."

In fact, almost all of these actions were within Napoleon's expectations. While preparing to deal with the Austria reinforcements urgently transferred from the Rhine, Napoleon also sent Augereau back to Milan to suppress the local nobles.

Meanwhile, supported by the spoils of war captured by Napoleon in Italy, new weapons were being manufactured around the clock in Joseph's arsenal. These weapons were loaded onto clipper ships, landed in Italy Genoa, and continuously transported to Napoleon's army. At the outset of the Italy campaign, only skirmishers in Napoleon's army were equipped with the new rifled muskets; now, most soldiers were armed with the latest rifled muskets— Napoleon possessed an army completely ahead of its time.

On the night of April 10, 1796, Augereau suddenly led his troops into the home of Count Leonard de Patri, a prominent local nobleman in Milan, arrested the entire count and his family, and found a large number of letters treasonous with the enemy in his home.

Immediately afterwards, the France began a massive manhunt in Milan based on a list drawn from Count Patri. In this operation alone, on the night of April 10th, more than a hundred people were arrested by the French Army. Later, some who sympathized with these nobles referred to this night as the "Night of Terror."

The hastily established Revolutionary Tribunal swiftly tried the case with France -style efficiency, and a week later, all one hundred-plus nobles were hanged. Their property was confiscated, and this confiscated wealth was distributed to landless peasants and the poor in the cities. Of course, some say that the France also took a large amount of art and gold and silver coins from these nobles, but did not register these items.

After being besieged for more than twenty days at the Mantua Fortress, Marshal Beaulieu finally received reinforcements sent by the Austria Emperor: a 40,000-strong army led by Marshal Wurmser.

Although Marshal Beaulieu repeatedly emphasized the French Army's astonishing fighting power and its advanced weaponry in his plea for help to the Emperor, these warnings were seen by the Emperor as clumsy excuses for his series of defeats. This view was also widely supported by other generals fighting the France in the Rhine Region. For example, Archduke Karl, after reading Marshal Beaulieu's warnings that "the French Army cavalry and infantry are elite, and open field battles are absolutely unacceptable" and "the French Army is invincible if it has fewer than ten thousand men, but more than ten thousand is not enough," was so angry that he almost suggested that Marshal Beaulieu should be brought back to face a military court. The old Marshal Wurmser even boasted. "After I get this coward out of trouble, I'll whip his backside raw in public!"

Even so, the Austria still displayed a degree of caution. Their 40,000 troops were elite forces, and with the additional 10,000 besieged in the Mantua Fortress, they held a numerical advantage even against Napoleon's entire army. Moreover, after conquering vast territories, Napoleon had to leave a significant number of troops as occupation forces to maintain order in these occupied areas. Therefore, the number of troops he could muster for a decisive battle would not exceed 30,000. Thus, the Austria had a clear numerical advantage, and they should be quite confident of victory.

In the original history, Napoleon relied on the French Army's astonishingly rapid marching ability and took advantage of the old marshal's careless division of forces to defeat the Austria army piecemeal. However, this time, Napoleon believed that his army had already overwhelmed the Austria in terms of absolute strength, and there was no need for such tricks; he only needed to destroy the enemy in a head-on battle.

On May 2nd, Napoleon's French Army and Austria armies clashed in a major battle at Castiglione, not far from the Mantua Fortress. Relying on rifles with a range three to four times greater than the Austria army and their mobile skirmish tactics, Napoleon, with fewer than 20,000 troops, defeated Marshal Wurmser's Austria reinforcements in just half a day. Marshal Wurmser escaped the battlefield with only a hundred or so guards; the rest of the Austria were either killed, captured, or scattered. The French Army casualties were even less than two thousand.

On the morning of May 3, Napoleon sent envoys to deliver more than fifty Austria flags, which he had captured in the previous day's battle, to the Mantua Fortress guarded by Marshal Beaulieu. Marshal Beaulieu and Beaulieu men were all terrified. The next morning, Marshal Beaulieu sent envoys to Napoleon's camp to discuss the issue of surrender.

After his victory, Napoleon was remarkably lenient with Marshal Beaulieu, offering him very generous terms. Napoleon allowed the Austria to keep their personal belongings and even permitted them to leave the fortress with a small amount of weapons for self-defense, returning to Austria Beaulieu the route prescribed by the France. In return, Marshal Beaulieu's troops were not allowed to damage the fortress's facilities, cannons, or accumulated supplies.

Davout privately objected to Napoleon's leniency, arguing that Napoleon was essentially letting a tiger return to the mountains.

"After all, this is an army of over ten thousand trained soldiers. Releasing them back will strengthen Austria's power."

But Napoleon replied dismissively, "They've been terrified of our army. Letting them go back will only make them praise us like gods and severely damage the morale of the Austria. That wouldn't be a bad thing for us."

Napoleon's lenient terms naturally delighted the Austria garrison at the Mantua Fortress. They immediately agreed to Napoleon's terms, surrendered to the French Army, and handed over the fortress.