What Could Not Be Won on the Battlefield Could Be Secured in Advance at the Negotiating Table
The officers carefully considered the Crown Prince's strategy and could not help nodding one after another.
One could imagine it: if the Latour Legion launched a forceful assault on Basel, news would reach Luxembourg before the soldiers had even finished crossing the river. Massena would immediately postpone his offensive and divert part of his forces to reinforce Moreau. Once Napoleon confirmed that the enemy had no reinforcements, he could unleash a full-scale assault on Mantua.
Conversely, if Latour split his forces and headed for Italy, Napoleon would shift to a defensive posture upon receiving the news. Massena and Moreau would then launch their attack.
Naturally, there were still many uncertainties on the battlefield, but as the Crown Prince had said, with the help of the Shap Semaphore, the French Army would certainly be able to make the appropriate deployments ahead of the enemy.
After all, whether marching from North Rhine to South Rhine or from South Rhine to Italy, a normal march would take at least half a month.
That meant the French Army would have at least ten extra days to prepare.
The longer the front lines stretched and the more legions were committed, the more apparent this information advantage became!
Davout suddenly noticed a problem and said to Joseph, "Your Highness, if colonel Bonaparte fails to gain the upper hand at Mantua, our entire front line will be thrown onto the back foot..."
Joseph smiled confidently. "I have faith in him. And I have just as much faith in the brave soldiers of France."
What a joke. Napoleon could beat the Austro-Sardinian Army until they pissed their pants with nothing but a bunch of raw recruits. Now that the Royal Third