Austrian Marshal Beaulieu did not despise the new Italian Army led by General Frost.
Before declaring war, he sent out his spies early. After declaring war, he hired many Italians to gather intelligence for himself.
Now, the old marshal basically has a grasp of the number of enemies and the composition of their commanders.
Now, the marshal has summoned his staff for a meeting.
Condoré, the chief of staff of the marshal, said very unconcernedly to the approaching Frost troops: "This is just a bunch of rabble. That Frost officers are all a bunch of raw melons and eggs with no hair on them. He actually let a captain command a division! A captain!
"Here, even the regiment leader is a major or even a lieutenant colonel!"
Other officers in the headquarters, including Brigadier General Bottendorf, the commander of the Bottendorf Division, who served as the general reserve force, all nodded.
The marshal shook his head: "He led such a force and defeated Lafayette. I have met that Lafayette once. He is an outstanding officer and understands what war is like! He also defeated Lafayette in the New World. Here’s Cornwallis!”
All the officers looked at each other.
At this time, Major General Vukcevich, who came back for the meeting at short notice, teased: "Maybe General Lafayette is just like you. Because the other party is all low-level officers, he underestimated the other party, so he lost."
Condoré: "What do you mean?"
"That's what it means literally." Vukcevich still had a mocking tone.
There are also different types of aristocratic officers, and some are simply recruited from their families. There is no shortage of such people in Austria and France. These people generally dislike each other with the kind of officers who do practical things.
This can be said to be the norm for European armies.
Vukcevich couldn't stand Condorei's pretensions.
Seeing that the officers were about to quarrel, Marshal Beaulieu spoke: "Okay! Everyone must work together. Vukcevich is right. Lafayette was probably dismissed because he despised Frost. Defeated.
"We must pay attention to him and treat him and his men as perfectly trained and qualified officers and soldiers! Only in this way can we ensure nothing goes wrong!"
Vukcevich nodded: "Of course, I have never underestimated him. After today's confrontation, I believe that my frontal enemy is still the original Italian Army, which is led by General Lamballe."
"How did you tell?" Condoré asked.
"Of course it depends on the number of officers. The aristocratic officers are very easy to identify because they dress like roosters on the battlefield."
Condoré looked down at his clothes: he was wearing an Austrian white general officer's dress, with a pair of shining gold epaulettes on his shoulders, and tassels long enough to brush horses.
This tassel was made by the most famous tailor in Vienna, with solid materials and fine stitching.
Underneath the tassels are gaudy medals and ribbons.
Vukcevic: “Yes, it’s like this!”
Condoret immediately blew his carefully trimmed beard.
Vukcevich: "And the beard! Only a nobleman with two orderlies can maintain such a beautiful beard on the battlefield!"
Marshal Beaulieu spoke: "Okay! I know that the enemy in front of you is the original enemy."
At this moment, a captain entered the headquarters and saluted: "Report! The reconnaissance hussars are back, saying they have captured the French officer who came to surrender!"
All the officers in the headquarters stood up immediately. The old marshal was a step slower and stood up too: "What? Quick, bring them in!"
After a while, several French officers were brought in.
Vukcevich spoke first: "Where is your tricolor emblem?"
The leading officer spat: "Fuck the tricolor emblem, long live the king!"
The remaining French officers also shouted together.
The Austrian officers all looked happy.
But Beaulieu still had a straight face, and the old man took a step forward: "Stop shouting! Let's start from the beginning, what's going on? Someone, give him a glass of water!"
The water will be handed over immediately.
The French officer who first shouted long live the king took the water, drank it all, and then let out a long breath: "That damn Frost! As soon as his army arrived, he immediately said that all officers were potential traitors.
He directly ordered his Guards Corps, called the Teaching Group, to start arresting officers! All those with noble backgrounds were arrested!
"Can you imagine? As long as they were born into noble families, they were all arrested!"
Condore was overjoyed: "What? In other words, in the original Italian Army, only warrant officers are the only remaining officers, and everyone above the warrant officer level has been demoted?"
The French system stipulates that only three generations of hereditary nobles can become school officials - this is also because France is the most feudal country in Europe and has accumulated a large number of nobles since the time of Louis XIV. Otherwise, there would be too many school officials.
Already.
People with civilian backgrounds can climb up to the rank of warrant officer at most in the French army. Promotions to second lieutenant are very rare, usually because they have made great achievements, or someone in the family has married a girl from a down-and-out noble family.
Without such external factors, a civilian who would be promoted through ordinary means would at most be a warrant officer.
As an Austrian aristocrat, Condoré was of course familiar with the French system. After all, France was a model for other countries to learn from during the feudal era, and nobles from all countries basically spoke French.
The status of French in Europe in this era is somewhat similar to the status of English in the world after Angsa's hegemony was established.
Kondore was very excited: "In other words, now the enemies in front of Vukcevich are also in chaos?"
The fleeing French officer nodded: "That's where I came from and abandoned my troops. Fortunately, our station is quite far away from Savona, otherwise I wouldn't be able to escape at all!"
"That Frost sent a pipe-smoking devil to hunt down the nobles who escaped from Savona. The detained nobles could still breathe, but those who escaped were basically hacked to death!"
Condoret turned to Beaulieu: "We should attack immediately! If we set out now, after marching all night, we can attack at dawn!"
At this time, Condoré suggested marching all night, which showed that he was very confident in the training level and organization of the troops.
However, Marshal Beaulieu has rich experience and knows that marching at night will lead to a large number of stragglers, and a special reception team needs to be organized. Even a well-organized army must reorganize after the night march. And a night battle will inevitably become a mess. Who will enter the night battle?
Winning basically depends on which side is braver and has better luck.
The conventional raid tactics in this era were to march quickly at night, then reorganize the team at dawn, and then attack when the enemy's night watchmen were most in distress.
This kind of assault is dangerous to execute. If the victory is not won, the troops who have been running wildly all night will be chased by the energetic enemy troops.
Beaulieu stroked his beard, pondered again and again, and then said: "This opportunity cannot be missed. Vuksevich, lead your division, set off tonight, and attack Varadze at dawn tomorrow!"