Chapter 72 022 All the supplies were sold wholesale to those Venetian traders

Chapter 72 022 All the supplies were sold wholesale to those Venetian traders

Chapter 72 022 All the supplies were sold wholesale to those Venetian traders

The Russian troops in Turin are now living a very happy life. It can be said that they have never had such an experience since they left their hometown.

When the Allied Forces arrived, the French army did not surrender completely. More than 5,000 people retreated to the fortress. Suvorov only sent a small number of troops to build positions on the periphery, and let most of the soldiers take turns to rest in the city or the countryside.

The delicious food that could be eaten on the streets of Italy was enough for the peasant Russian soldiers to brag about when they returned home.

Solovyov's current military rank is still captain, but he is actually the battalion commander of the Combined Chasseurs Battalion. He is on guard at the front with his brothers to replace the Guards. They will be on guard here for two days.

The French had no intention of breaking out, and were not even willing to fire a few artillery shells to harass the Russian troops who were too far away. All both sides did was stay in their positions.

Over time, it was actually disadvantageous to the French. The Mantua fortress could not be defended, not because of the poor combat effectiveness of the Austrian army itself, but because the castle was too crowded, and the epidemic caused by deteriorating sanitary conditions and malnutrition caused the Austrian army in the fortress to lose its combat effectiveness.

The French are now also facing this problem. The living environment in the castle is very poor, and they cannot even go to the toilet in peace.

I don't know which guy was so talkative, saying that the toilet pit in this fortress faces the edge of the Russian position and is not very high. If someone comes out from below with a rifle and pokes it into the pit, he will be anally exploded on the spot and his life will be over.

Even this stone toilet with almost all-round protection was no longer safe, which made the French soldiers in the fortress panic.

It is not surprising that this rumor came out, because Italians are often two-faced, especially Turin, which is the capital of Piedmont and an important city and even the capital of the former Kingdom of Sardinia. There are many people who oppose the French.

A spy who sneaked into the fortress used this psychological tactic on the French, making them unable to rest even when going to the toilet.

It can be said that "military warfare is inferior to psychological warfare", and the French inside felt that something was going to happen.

They also had wild ideas, thinking that the Russian army would blow up the toilet at night and then attack from that location using a ladder.

But Solovyov, who was a mysophobe, kept covering his nose after hearing the local guide propose this idea outside the city.

The breeze like grapeshot brought the smell of that place and made him feel choked. He began to miss those girls who took at least two baths every day and dressed themselves up to smell good.

Instead of this interesting method of siege, it would be better to just set up cannons and bombard the city walls with solid bullets!

Now Suvorov's order is to surround but not attack, and to give the Allied soldiers sufficient rest time.

At the same time, they were also waiting for follow-up troops and supplies from the Austrian emperor.

Around 1800, some progress had begun to appear in logistics and supplies. The British were on the verge of developing tinplate, and at the same time, it was not surprising to see glass cans or long-lasting military rations appear on the European continent.

However, Suvorov was very worried about the Austrians' transportation. He even decided to use the military funds allocated to him by Francis II and the Russian soldiers' own salaries to purchase supplies from local areas so that the soldiers could have fresh food.

This is also to ensure the health of the soldiers. Now Russian soldiers can get everything in Italy, but they think the prices are very high.

The locals feel that the price they offer is still reasonable.

Later, the Combined Chasseurs and Combined Grenadiers Battalions, which had replaced the Guards, also noticed this problem when they came down to rest.

Solovyov met Captain Gryazev again, who was fighting in the war and working as a war correspondent.

"What do you think is going on?"

"I think it's the price. Misha, how were the two days you were up there monitoring?"

"The French are hiding inside and won't come out. I want the chasseurs to snipe a few French soldiers to create panic, but there's no chance. They are all hiding behind the firing holes and there's no way to hit them!"

This kind of cowardly defense does make people feel uncomfortable when neither side has started artillery battle.

At the same time, Gryazev was very generous and helped the hunters purchase a batch of sausages, cabbage, and wine.

It was enough to eat this. You should know that Tsar Paul himself, as the head of all the serf owners and capitalists in Russia, ate this and required the empress and two sons to eat this. Only the two daughters-in-law, five daughters, and two young sons were treated better.

In the eyes of Paul, who was well versed in law, and the queen, who was well versed in auditing, the royal budget that could be saved by practicing frugality could be used to save the food expenses of the Guards and also pay pensions to retired Russian veterans.

It is a waste of your talents for you two to be the Tsar and the Queen. You should become lawyers, process works of art, and set up accounting firms.

The formation of a multinational company is just around the corner, but unfortunately Paul's friend Louis XVI, a top engineer and craftsman, has lost his head, and his wife is quite suitable to be pulled out for publicity and public relations.

However, they all scoffed at the supplies transported from the rear.

"Do you know why Alexander Vasilyevich bought supplies locally?"

"Why? You have worked in the headquarters. If it weren't for the fact that your soldiers are carrying new weapons and need to test their performance, would you come and meet me in the marching column?"

"That's a lot of nonsense! There's only one reason. Those Austrian quartermasters have been reselling supplies. Also, the red wine and sausages that should have been distributed to us were sold to who knows who on the road by those Venetian traders. Maybe the things we should get are in the mouths of those Italian prostitutes!"

"what did you say?"

Anyway, it’s not chewing gum. This thing doesn’t exist now. It was issued by Emperor Franz to Russian soldiers.

The Austrian quartermaster's behavior is actually a European feature. Quartermasters of any country can do such things. The Russian army is not so rampant now because the emperor himself is strict. Austria is different. Although there is Archduke Karl who can lead troops and fight, he can't manage so many Austrian military leaders. These old men make a lot of money and even say bad things about Archduke Karl and Archduke John who want to investigate them in front of Franz. Archduke John is so young, but he is also gossiped by these old ministers. He is really bad at fighting, but he is still very efficient in checking accounts.

Emperor Franz was not good at employing people. Of the brothers who were still able to work, Joseph was in charge of logistics, Karl was fighting on the front line, and the other brothers could have been assigned positions. However, he assigned them all to inappropriate positions. Even Karl, who was very suitable for leading troops, had an uncomfortable life in the army.

In addition, he also likes micro-management. As for this matter, only Switzerland, a small and annoying mountainous country that has always made the Habsburg family uncomfortable, can separate the two battlefields. Otherwise, he will have to micro-manage Archduke Karl and Suvorov as well.

By then, we will know what it means to be a rookie emperor who cannot be led by two top commanders.

After delivering these supplies, Gryazev took his grenadiers to the position.

Austrian engineers were also planning how to attack these fortresses. The French garrisons left in these fortresses in Piedmont in northwestern Italy were all hiding inside and refusing to come out. Although their morale was low, they could not be taken down in a short time.

If they waste too much time here, it will give the French time to suppress the anti-French uprising in Genoa on the one hand, and on the other hand, Moreau has repeatedly asked for help and mobilized troops from France, and MacDonald has also come from southern Italy. If these two corps are combined to form a new Italian corps, it will not be a good thing for the coalition forces.

General Krei had not returned from besieging the fortress of Mantua, and the main forces of the Russian and Austrian armies were also dispersed. Only the troops led by Suvorov himself and the guards of Grand Duke Constantine were relatively intact.

Even now, the Guards have only fought one battle, the Battle of Marengo, with minimal losses, and are still a usable force that can be deployed on any battlefield in need.

The location of Turin is not necessary for a large-scale garrison, and it would affect mobility along the coastline.

In the end, Suvorov made up his mind to have the Austrian army stay and surround the fortress, as they were trapped in the mountain and couldn't get out anyway.

After Melas left these troops behind, he also gave some instructions.

The coalition forces still had to take action, and this time Suvorov's marching target was Alexandria.

There are so many places with this name in Eurasia. This is because when Alexander the Great of Macedonia went on an expedition, he established a large number of settlements according to his own name along the way after crossing the strait.

The Crown Prince's name is also this. Perhaps it is because the Queen has read too many Greek stories and has a bit of a heroic complex. The names of her two grandsons and second granddaughter are both very "Jing Luo" and "Jing Xi", respectively.

After they came down, Austrian engineers conducted a survey, which attracted French artillery fire.

However, the artillerymen in the fortress fired more than 150 shells, including grenades and solid bullets, but hit nothing. Some shells were even picked up by Russian soldiers for their own use.

After all, it is a solid bullet that has just been fired. If we take it back, it can be used in cannons of the same level.

The Guards marched behind Rosenberg's column. The scenery the Russian army saw along the way was very beautiful, and the local people were very enthusiastic. Because it was the core area of ​​Piedmont, they didn't like the French to some extent, especially after they levied taxes and grain here, which led to a significant decline in the quality of life of the local people.

Not only in Italy, but even in Corfu, which was liberated by the French, the local Greeks now even welcomed the Turkish fleet that had always been against them to enter the port.

There is no other reason. The Directory's ability to squeeze the marrow out of people's bones is so superb that it is no wonder that it faces so many problems.

Even Solovyov felt that General Bonaparte conquered Italy by means of plundering, and these things were later learned by a group of people who lived a good life on the other side of the sea.

We learned from Prussia and France, and then took the dregs and discarded the essence. That would be a weird thing to do!
In the next few days, the Russian army was still on the march. Many of the soldiers and officers under him did not know what Suvorov was going to do. Was he going to try to attack Moreau directly, or make a strategic maneuver, or go back to a new battlefield from some direction?

He did not issue such orders, but instead kept an eye on the movements of the two French corps.

The coalition forces must strike a part of the French army before they can join forces.

If MacDonald's corps appeared in the Po River basin, then all the Austrian troops along the Po River, except those around the Mantua fortress, would be responsible for containment.

Suvorov didn't know whether he could wait for this opportunity. After all, if Moreau and MacDonald chose a more cautious strategy and met on the south side of the pass under the cover of the mountains, although the operation would take a long time, the coalition forces would have no way to stop it.

But if there was another strategy, MacDonald would appear on the south bank of the Po River and form an east-west attack with Moreau's army.
It sounds a bit familiar. I always feel like a bald guy wants to do this, and McDonald's hair volume doesn't look that good.

After he defeated Mark in the south, he had to withdraw all his troops because the situation in northern Italy worsened.

In this way, the plan of the Royal Army of Naples and the British Army to unite and recapture Naples and establish a republic in southern Italy failed under such circumstances.

While Suvorov was on the march, he encountered artillery fire from the French troops stationed there when passing through Alexandria.

However, the Russian army did not stay here for long. Suvorov gave orders to a group of Austrian troops that followed to cut off the connection between the fortress and the outside world and not to rush into a siege.

The French used these strongholds under their control to begin hindering the advance of the Russian army, but they also underestimated Suvorov's marching speed.

One thing that needs special attention is that, because the old marshal had been fighting the Turks for too long, the French did not do much research on him, and the information they had was all information provided by Dombrovski, a defeated general of Suvorov during the Warsaw Uprising.

Even when Suvorov was living in seclusion in his manor, he was always studying the movements of the French, and he was well aware of all the French strategies and tactics.

The 70-year-old marshal has always joked that he wants to "defeat the French using French methods" on the battlefield, but perhaps it shouldn't be said to be a joke.

He really had this plan, and now he had received intelligence that MacDonald's army had finally entered the battlefield in northern Italy.

(End of this chapter)