An Ning looked at the vast number of enemies at the bottom of the mountain, stroking his chin and thinking about countermeasures.
Suddenly, he asked Davout: "Does your army have alcohol?"
Davout: "My troops are not skirmishers, and there are no female bartenders accompanying them carrying alcohol."
An Ning was speechless, then turned to Napoleon and said: "Does your artillery team carry gunpowder carts?"
Napoleon looked confused: "Take it with you, what's wrong?"
An Ning slapped her thigh: "Get a few carts of gunpowder and put them in the barn and mill!"
Napoleon nodded: "It's easy. I'll just mix out a few carts of gunpowder."
Davout: "Are you going to abandon the mountain?"
An Ning: "Yes, the purpose of defending here is to make the enemy stop and fight us here. Now this purpose has been achieved. Throw gunpowder in the mill and barn, wait for the enemy to come up and light it with lime bombs, BOOM!"
Napoleon: "We have special incendiary bombs, which are faster."
An Ning: "Well said! I'll leave the ignition to you! There is also gunpowder, hurry up and bring it over!"
Napoleon saluted An Ning: "Understood!"
Then he turned his horse and galloped away.
After a while, the carriage carrying gunpowder was driven over. The carriage was hidden in the barn and mill, and the horses were ridden away by the groom.
An Ning: "Davout, retreat! Sing the Ode to Rome when you retreat. You are the victor, so show it!"
Davout saluted: "Leave it to me!"
As he spoke, he turned around and gave orders to the troops.
So the first brigade quickly evacuated its original defensive position and formed a neat four-row column on the road.
The military flag first opened the way to the drumbeat of the military band, and then the large troops followed closely behind.
Davout walked beside the team, like an ordinary non-commissioned officer, and began to say as he walked: "Let's go, children of the motherland! The glorious day has arrived!
"We have raised the flag of resistance in the face of tyranny!
"They raised bloody flags. Listen, in the wilderness of the motherland, the ferocious soldiers are roaring!
"They came to our homes and slaughtered our children!
"Arm up, free citizens!
“Forward, forward!
"Use their dirty blood to irrigate our fields!"
An Ning watched the first brigade, which was singing war hymns, retreat back. Davout would bring them behind the four brigades that were now deployed as the general reserve for the entire battle.
Now, only Napoleon's cavalry and artillery troops were left on the hill. Although the gunners evened out several loads of gunpowder, they were still firing desperately without being affected at all.
Napoleon rode to An Ning's side: "Go down, I will command the cavalry and artillery troops, don't worry."
An Ning glanced at the several infantry artillery pieces abandoned by Davout and his troops, and said, "Deploy a few people to operate these infantry artillery pieces. When the enemy comes up, they will run away on horseback."
"Understood, I'll do it myself."
Napoleon said as he rode away again, and came back a moment later with several gunners on horseback.
They dismounted next to the rifle and began loading.
Napoleon took aim himself and lit the fuse.
The cannon roared.
An Ning listened to the sound of artillery near his ears and used a telescope to observe the impact point. He saw the infantry cannon shell falling into the bushes at the foot of the mountain and breaking a bush.
An Ning observed Lafayette's formation again and found that the officers on horseback were gathering the remaining soldiers with very high efficiency and spreading out on both wings of Lafayette's main force.
An Ning cursed.
He also wanted to have such an efficient and experienced officer team.
It is a pity that the officers in his army are all non-commissioned officers promoted by the common people, and they are not yet able to be so efficient. Once the army is dispersed, there will be no chance to gather it together.
An Ning once again realized how difficult the battle he faced was.
However, he had already repelled one enemy attack, and besides Davout's 1st Brigade, he had suffered almost no losses.
The eight thousand people ambushed on the back slope are basically full.
Defeating 20,000 enemy troops with such a small loss is enough to be called a glorious victory.
It's just that An Ning can't just win this one game, he must win both games, otherwise he will have to spit out everything he just won.
At this time, a trumpet sound came from the bottom of the mountain.
Then the enemy troops at the foot of the mountain began to advance.
**
Lafayette: "Attack with the entire army! No matter what medicine the enemy sells in his gourd, as long as there are enough troops, we can overwhelm the enemy! Move forward!"
Berthier immediately whispered a few words to the trumpeters, and then the trumpeters played the melody of the entire army's advance.
The military band of the First Division immediately began to play music, and the troops of the First Division, which had just been repairing in place, began to advance to the beat of drums.
The defeated troops that had just finished gathering together were a step late on both wings of the First Division before they advanced together.
The cannonballs from the top of the mountain fell around the advancing queue, but the weight of these cannonballs was relatively small, and they could only knock down a few people when they hit the team.
Only the cannons in the center, under the beech tree, were twelve-pounders, and their shells could carry away seven or eight people as they passed through the formation.
However, this is also the maximum damage that a solid bullet can cause at this distance.
Naturally, the battle-hardened troops will not be shaken by this level of casualties.
However, the entire First Division didn't sleep much last night, and now they all want to be exhausted.
For a moment, Lafayette doubted whether he could win with such a tired army.
But he immediately dispelled this doubt: he must win today, and he has more than three times the strength advantage. If he cannot win, his reputation as a hero in the War of Independence will be over.
If this battle is lost, the whole of France will no longer recognize him as a hero, and Andy Frost, the cobbler, will become the most outstanding military strategist in France!
This is absolutely unacceptable!
Lafayette must win today!
**
An Ning was observing the effect of the artillery bombardment on the mountain. Suddenly he noticed something and asked Napoleon, who was manning the artillery himself: "Where are your quicklime bombs? Why didn't I see you use them?"
Napoleon: "The hit rate of those artillery shells is too poor. They often explode in the air and then scatter on the open ground where there is no one at all. I trust live ammunition more than quicklime bombs."
An Ning curled his lips. In this era, artillery's hit rate was already bad. Things like quicklime bombs and explosive bombs had to be ignited before firing, and there was no guarantee of when they would explode, so the hit rate was even worse.
No wonder Napoleon didn't trust these things.
As for the solid ricochet bullet, it can actually hit fairly well against a large group of enemies advancing in horizontal rows.
It wasn't until trigger detonators were used in artillery shells that sparklers and lime bombs had a more satisfactory hit rate.
An Ning remembers that in "Total War Empire", this was already a very advanced artillery technology.
An Ning thought that he should find a way to find scientists and get some artillery technology.
——Wait a minute, I remember that Lavoisier, the father of chemistry, is still alive.
Just as An Ning was thinking about this, Lazar Kano came on horseback: "Your Excellency! Get down quickly! The enemy is attacking again. It's too dangerous here! We need you to stay at the headquarters!"
Just as An Ning was about to answer, an enemy artillery shell hit the artillery fort a few meters away from An Ning, directly hitting the wicker basket filled with stones, causing the wicker basket to break and the stones to fly out, injuring several artillerymen.
.
An Ning also received a shot on the forehead, but he had a special constitution, so the stone made a Duang sound.
But the blood still had to flow, and a stream of blood directly covered half of An Ning's eyes, making half of his field of vision red.
Lazar Cano was shocked: "Are you okay?"
An Ning was very calm: "It's okay, just a little injury."
He wiped the blood on his face and took out his handkerchief to hold the wound.
Napoleon: "You'd better get down quickly. It's too dangerous here. At least retreat away from the threat of enemy artillery."
An Ning: "Don't make a fuss, keep shooting!"
Napoleon did so.
Several artillerymen looked at each other, obviously impressed by An Ning's courage. Even the artilleryman who had just been injured by a stone struggled to get up and continued to operate the artillery.
Lazar Cano: "Get down quickly! You can't play any role here!"
An Ning then kicked the bloody handkerchief back into his pocket and said to Napoleon: "Everything is left to you. Remember, when the enemy climbs up the mountain, use burning points to light the barn and mill!"
Napoleon: "Don't worry! I'll fire the cannon myself!"
An Ning nodded, then raised his hand, gave the horse a whip on the butt, and ran towards his command position on the back slope.