Because war is imminent, the streets of Milan are in a state of mourning.
Because the policy implemented by Anning in Milan gave the Italians a very large autonomy, and also promised the Italians that after they had their own armed forces and could defend their own land, the French army would withdraw from the entire territory of Milan.
So most Italians really regard the French army as liberators.
In fact, Napoleon in another history was initially regarded as a liberator by Italian independents, but the republics established by Napoleon were actually French puppet states, which were soon seen through by the Italians.
Therefore, the Italians raised a flag of rebellion as early as Napoleon's attack on Vienna.
But An Ning did not intend to do this at all. He planned to use an advanced form of imperialism: using economic power to gain benefits.
For this reason, what he values is having the right to issue currency. In addition to the right to issue currency, other powers should be given to the Italians if they want them.
Because of this, Italians are now actively joining the army in Milan, preparing to fight with the French against the Austrian invaders.
You know, Italy in this era is not the weak chicken that was pushed back by the Ethiopian black uncle later.
Italy in this era is quite capable of fighting.
Especially when the Italians are wearing red military uniforms.
It happened that Lazar Cano also temporarily came to Milan from the south of France, and An Ning gave Lazar Cano the task of organizing the Milan Republic Army.
Carnot did not refuse. Although he could only stay in Milan for a month at most, and then he would return to the south of France to take charge of rear-line work, he still took over the task of reorganizing the Republic's army without hesitation.
Lazar Cano spent a month organizing an Italian Redwood Army of tens of thousands.
However, similar to the main problem faced by An Ning's French army, the Italians also lacked officers.
Most of the Italian nobility were in collusion with the Habsburg HRE.
After all, HRE was limited by the times and could not establish a governance structure that truly reached the grassroots level. It still had to rely on local elites.
Then, these local wealthy families were regarded as traitors and hung up as street lights during the republican movement launched after An Ning occupied Milan. Those who were not hung up all packed up their belongings and ran to Austria.
In the European armies of this era, officers were generally nobles, and Milan was no exception.
Therefore, the army of the Republic formed by Milan had a lower proportion of officers than the French army.
The French army was already in very bad shape. Each officer had to manage 1.5 to twice as many men as the Austrian army. The situation of the Milan Republic Army was even worse.
The fact that the French army was able to fight so bravely and show such high quality despite such a low officer ratio was purely because of the spirit given by the Great Revolution.
But it is not clear whether the Italians in Milan can perform in the same way, and whether they can rely on their high morale and desire to fight to offset the serious shortage of officers.
As for the precision shooter company that An Ning regarded as a secret weapon, the training process went very smoothly.
The new breech-loading rifle has outstanding performance and can even achieve a considerable hit rate at a distance of two hundred meters.
In terms of rate of fire, the breech loading makes this weapon even faster than those of muskets. The firepower projected by a company of troops is like a regiment.
The key is that this is not just an increase in projection volume.
The frontal width of a regiment's line infantry is much wider than that of a company.
This company has such a terrifying concentrated firepower that it even hopes to disintegrate the attacking enemy directly by relying solely on the density of firepower.
As for the advantages of breech loading in shooting posture, this weapon is particularly suitable for skirmishing tactics.
With traditional muskets, because there must be an action of compacting the bullets with a rod when loading, you must stand up straight when using a musket - at least squatting.
There is no way to load a musket while lying down.
Therefore, the war in this era is a form of "queuing to shoot", where everyone stands in line and shoots each other.
This is not the case with breech-loading guns. This weapon can be fired and reloaded while lying on the ground.
Therefore, this weapon is particularly suitable for scattered skirmishers. Originally, skirmishers rely on loose formations to reduce casualties when shooting against line infantry. If these skirmishers all lie on the ground and do "Voldemort", then
Just think about how difficult it is to be hit.
In short, this improved breech-loading rifle has basically no shortcomings, except for its low output and high cost.
After watching the drill of the special marksman company, An Ning made up his mind to forcefully promote the popularization of this weapon.
In another history of time and space, rifles loaded in the rear chamber gradually became mainstream after the 1830s. By this time, humans had built a large number of railways, invented the telegraph, and made great progress in industrial production levels.
The development of industry has made the production costs and labor hours of breech-loading guns lower and lower, and this weapon has finally become popular on a large scale.
Anning now wants to force the large-scale application of breech-loading guns in advance, and basically can only rely on money.
If you don't want to waste money, you can only rub the entire industrial chain by hand.
An Ning cannot do such a heaven-defying thing.
In comparison, the feasibility of using money is higher.
An Ning planned to form elite marksman companies first, and then disperse these marksman companies to various brigades, specifically responsible for killing enemy officers with precise and fierce firepower in front of their own line of infantry.
The newly formed elite marksman company is a verification of this concept. Whether it should be continued or not will depend on how much role this company can play in the subsequent war.
An Ning is looking forward to this very much.
After all, this is the first advanced technology that a time traveler like me has developed.
If this thing is put into actual combat and the enemy can drink a pot of it, that would be great.
While An Ning was busy inspecting the troops and actively preparing for war, Paul Barras still did not give up completely in persuading An Ning to return to Paris.
However, peace and tranquility were not enough. No matter what Barras said, he shook his head firmly and refused to agree.
As time passed, the declarations of war from Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia were finally sent to Milan - this is not accurate, the declaration of war should naturally be sent to the capital of the enemy country.
But Anning received the declaration of war several days earlier than Paris.
All the declarations of war were sent, as well as the latest information obtained by the spies of the intelligence department and the information from the Austrian commander.
The Austrian army that An Ning needed to face was divided into two parts. One part was the remnants of the original Austrian army stationed at the fortress of Mantua and along the Mincio River.
After these remnants were replenished during this period, the strength of the troops was restored to 15,000. In addition to the 9,000 defenders of the fortress, the total number was 24,000.
The commander of this unit is still Marshal Beaulieu, a veteran in his seventies.
The Austrian legions mobilized from the Rhineland gathered at Trent, an important transportation hub in the Alps.
This force was led by Field Marshal Wumser.
This is also a veteran in his seventies.
According to reconnaissance, Marshal Wumser's army in Trent is preparing to go south through the Adige Valley at any time.
Moreover, Marshal Wumser may also detach a force and head south from the road on the west bank of Lake Garda, a mountain lake in the Alps.
Due to the limitations of terrain and transportation lines, An Ning is currently deploying troops on the west bank of the Mincio River north of the Mantua Fortress. The supply line must pass through Brescia, which is close to the Alps. Once the Austrian army passes southward through the west bank of Lake Garda, it can Directly cut off the retreat route of the Anping troops.
Therefore, An Ning had to divide into considerable troops to defend the mountains on the west bank of Lake Garda.
Despite this, Anning still had a significant advantage in troops on the Mincio River.