"Marshal, what do we do? The Sardinians in Turin have charged out!"
The adjutant asked anxiously.
"What are our cavalry doing? Why have they retreated?! Tell the infantry they are not allowed to fall back! Wipe out the enemy reinforcements as quickly as possible, then slaughter every traitor in Turin! Whoever stands in my way dies!"
Cavaignac let out a beastlike roar. The reversal of the situation once again filled him with boundless fury—not because of betrayal, but because he feared defeat.
This military operation had not received President Louis Napoleon's personal approval. If it succeeded, he might even launch a military coup and follow in the footsteps of Napoleon I.
After his absurd defeat in the election, Cavaignac's thinking had undergone a considerable shift. The fact that he could lead this military operation was the best proof of it.
Should the operation fail, it would not only spell disaster for Cavaignac—the Republicans of the entire French Second Republic would suffer as well. And the charge of provoking a war was no simple matter of forced retirement.
Even if Louis Napoleon was willing to spare him, would the Austrian Empire spare him? Would the Italians spare him?
Still, making cavalry clash head-on with infantry was hardly a wise move. In Cavaignac's view, sending the cavalry back for a sudden return charge would surely throw the enemy's ranks into disarray with ease.
The Kingdom of Sardinia's troops had never had much morale to begin with. Once chaos broke out, they would easily collapse. That way, defeat could be turned into victory—or at the very least, the cavalry's superior mobility would let them keep the Sardinian army tied up.
Yet it was not so easy for routed cavalry to regroup. Moreover, they had already charged once; their horses' stamina had diminished, and