Early the next morning, An Ning ordered his troops to go out.
The citizens of Paris received the news of today's expedition early and flocked outside the city to say goodbye.
Looking at this scene, An Ning thought of "The Song of ****" for no reason. It was not the song "We are the sea of flowers in May", but the song "Listen to the battle horn and sound the alarm".
An Ning couldn't help but hum softly.
He saw an old woman crying and holding the hand of a young man. At this time, she sang "Goodbye, mother, don't be sad, don't be sad, wish us a safe journey."
He also saw many young girls kissing their lovers goodbye.
Looking at this scene, An Ning said to Berthier beside him: "Look, Chief of Staff, our army has a heart-to-heart with the people of Paris. The combat effectiveness of such an army is terrifying."
Berthier: "I still trust adequate training, General."
An Ning: "There's nothing we can do about it. The enemy is coming so quickly. The lack of training can be made up for by high morale."
At this time, An Ning suddenly saw a drummer in the marching column looking in his direction.
He recognized it as Beethoven.
Damn it, let Le Sheng play the drums, is there something wrong with that?
Beethoven winked at An Ning and seemed to be in a good mood.
An Ning thought to herself, don't be so arrogant. Be careful if you get hit by a stray bullet on the battlefield. I don't want to lose a Le Saint in vain. I can't bear this responsibility.
So he turned and asked Berthier: "Do you remember which unit Ludwig is from?"
"Of course I remember." Berthier raised his finger and pointed at his head, "I have remembered all the important information."
"That's good." An Ning nodded.
**
At this time, Sedan.
After the soil work progressed to a certain extent, the Prussian-Austrian coalition forces began the siege of the fortress.
They tried to use ladders to climb out of the ditch in front of the fortress wall, but were shot and killed in large numbers by the French troops on the fortress.
Napoleon looked at all this and frowned: "Damn the Prussians, they are planning to let a large number of corpses pile up in the trenches, causing an outbreak of plague."
Napoleon's chief of staff looked suspicious: "Isn't this a waste of troops? How can you sacrifice your own soldiers so easily?"
"This is the general practice of noble lords." When Napoleon said this, he obviously forgot that he was also a "noble lord". "Commoners are just a number to them. No matter how many sacrifices they make, there is no need to feel sad."
As he spoke, he turned the telescope and looked at the other side of the fortress. According to the Austrians who had previously defected to the fortress, Archduke Karl of Austria was in charge of commanding this side.
"On the contrary, the Archduke Karl here has a very organized command and does not waste his troops easily. His command looks like a real nobleman."
The chief of staff couldn't help complaining: "A real nobleman? He is the younger brother of the Austrian Emperor, and his title is higher than that of the Prussian commander."
Napoleon: "I'm talking about real aristocrats, you know? The emphasis is on the word 'real'. The commander of the Prussian army seems to be a mediocre person, just a waste who has been protected by his ancestors. And Archduke Karl, look
It seems to be of real substance.
"So we should focus our main energy on the side facing Archduke Karl."
As soon as he finished speaking, Napoleon saw some large carts filled with soil appearing in the formation of the Austrian army commanded by Archduke Karl.
Napoleon: "A cart? What is he going to do?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Austrian soldiers pushed the cart into the trench along with the soil. One cart after another, and soon a tall mound of soil appeared in the trench.
Napoleon: "Oh my God, he's going to fill the trench with dirt."
Although the Sedan Fortress is well fortified, it is not without its weaknesses.
The relatively narrow trench is one of the weaknesses of Sedan.
If part of the trench was filled in, the Austrian army could attack the fortress wall directly.
The walls of the fortress are not too high, because the walls of modern fortresses are built short and solid to prevent shelling.
Such a wall, coupled with trenches, can be regarded as an unbreakable barrier.
The trenches were filled in, which meant that the walls of the fortress were shorter.
Of course Napoleon knew this very well. He was an artilleryman, and artillerymen had to study military engineering when they were in school.
So he was very familiar with the structure of the fortress.
Napoleon: "The barrage on the left is too thin. What is the gunner doing?"
"Stop the Austrians from pouring silt into the trenches!"
After speaking, Napoleon ran up the city wall, quickly arrived directly opposite the Austrian filling position, personally turned the muzzle of a cannon to aim, and then loudly ordered the soldiers: "Load! Hurry up, you are a pig!"
After the loading was completed, Napoleon grabbed the torch and lit the cannon himself.
There was a roar, and Napoleon didn't look at the impact point at all - the artillery did not need to correct the firing at this time, because it was meaningless, and the impact point was random anyway.
"Reload quickly!" Napoleon shouted again hastily.
Napoleon's actions at this artillery position also affected the surrounding artillery positions. Everyone was working hard to load and continuously threw artillery shells into the Austrian soil work area.
While he was fighting, Napoleon suddenly saw the Austrian flag coming over. A thin Austrian general was riding on a tall maroon horse, observing the French position with a telescope.
Napoleon also handed the torch to the artilleryman next to him and picked up the telescope again to observe the Austrian general.
He saw the general wearing a white military uniform with a Grand Cross of Medal clearly visible from such a distance, and also wearing a red, white, and red ribbon, which represented his royal status.
Napoleon: "He looks very thin. He doesn't look like a strong man who can fight at all."
**
Archduke Karl also saw Napoleon in his telescope.
"The military uniform is very casual, short and energetic. Is this the red man under Frost?" he muttered.
One of the aristocratic officers nearby said: "It is said that he comes from a remote and barren country in Corsica. Although he looks ugly, he is still a noble. I don't know how Frost, who was born as a commoner, got involved with him."
Another person said contemptuously: "Maybe through licking..."
The nobles laughed rudely, completely out of touch with elegance.
Archduke Karl frowned slightly.
The knowledgeable people in the Austrian army particularly hate these useless dandies in the army.
Archduke Karl was also one of them, although he himself was the biggest dandy.
Archduke Karl ignored the ridicule of the people around him and looked at Napoleon carefully.
This year Napoleon was 24 years old and Archduke Karl was 22 years old. Both of them were at an age when the future was more important than the past.