Marching into Italy

The following afternoon.

Beaulieu was discussing with his staff the most efficient way to attack Toulon after securing Vence when an officer burst in without even knocking.

Ignoring the Marshal's angry glare, the man cried out in panic:

"Marshal, General Dannenfels was ambushed on his way to Vence. His forces have been almost completely wiped out, and he himself is missing..."

Beaulieu shot to his feet. "Y-you said what?"

The officer swallowed and continued:

"Also, General Provera was ambushed by the French Army during his retreat. The soldier who brought back the message said he was preparing to withdraw to Vence and requested support."

To be fair, Napoleon truly had not arranged any troops to ambush Provera. After all, he had not even known that the Austrian Army had abandoned Cagnes Town.

It was all because Augereau had been "too idle" and wanted to find something to do, only to run into Provera's forces by chance.

But in Provera's eyes, the French had clearly been lying in wait for him all along. At the first clash, his army collapsed and fled.

Beaulieu felt his head buzz.

The army sent to reinforce Vence was gone, yet Provera was still running toward Vence. The outcome was already set in stone.

At present, every battle west of Nice had ended in defeat. Between the Provella Legion and the Dannenfels Legion, they had lost at least fifteen thousand men.

Meanwhile, the French Army had severed communications between his own forces and Vence.

That meant the nearly ten thousand soldiers of the Sebottendorf Legion were most likely not coming back either...

He had brought thirty thousand Austrian troops and twenty thousand Sardinian troops into France. More than half had now been lost.

He appeared to still have twenty-five thousand men, but the troops lost earlier