The French troops who had just returned to camp were shouted at by the messengers who were galloping on horseback.
In this situation, ensuring the smooth flow of command actually depends very much on the ability of the chief of staff. A less capable chief of staff will cause chaos in the troops before they can cross the river.
But Berthier was probably the strongest chief of staff in Europe during the entire French Revolution era. He was able to break down the "crossing the river at night" operation into countless subdivided orders in one go, and then let the orderlies carry out the orders.
In addition to the messenger who initially called people out of the tent, Berthier also sent many messengers to deliver specific instructions to each unit.
After receiving the order, the troops began to move towards the river.
The crossing point chosen by Berthier is where the coalition forces are crossing the river today. The coalition forces have used actual actions to prove that the river water in these areas is shallow and they can wade across the river.
Berthier also arranged for a caller to shout at the edge of the river at the top of his voice: "Throw down your backpack and raise your gun and powder bag above your head!"
Firearms and bullets in this era are not waterproof. Even if they are soaked in a river for a period of time, they will become ineffective even if they are exposed to rain.
Therefore, if you want to swim across the river, you have to hold your rifle, ammunition backpack, and gunpowder hoist high together.
The backpack is full of paper packages containing projectiles and propellant. When loading, you only need to tear the paper package open and pour the propellant and projectiles into the barrel.
The horn gourd is mainly used to hold gunpowder to be poured into the tinder tank.
Both of these are things that should never get wet.
So a large number of French troops held rifles, ammunition bags, and horn hoists, and entered the water in a mighty manner.
Because it was dark, the scene still looked a bit breathtaking, as if the zombie army had learned some new tricks.
Especially the fire on the other side turned half of the sky red, making the scene even weirder.
An Ning watched this scene from the river.
He originally wanted to be the first to cross the river, but Berthier tried his best to stop him, thinking that the coach should not be put in danger at this time.
If it was only Berthier who blocked it, An Ning might just ignore it and go across the river to kill him. But Fanny also came back from Paris.
The little maid's words made An Ning give up crossing the river herself.
She said: "My wife asked me to keep an eye on you and not let you take risks."
So An Ning had no choice but to give up and watch his French troops crossing the river from the river bank.
Looking at An Ning, he suddenly remembered something, and asked Berthier: "After crossing the river, won't night blindness cause trouble? When we attacked Lafayette at night a few years ago, I sent the night attack troops a few days in advance.
Eating carrots solved the problem of night blindness."
Berthier replied helplessly: "Night blindness is not about being unable to see at night, it is about being unable to see when there is no light. It is impossible to see such a big fire on the opposite side. I was really afraid of not being able to see, so I picked up some burning ones.
Just use the firewood as a torch."
An Ning: "That's right. I don't have night blindness, so I don't know."
After he traveled through time, except for the first few days when he didn't eat well, he ate well the rest of the time. After all, he was a guest of the Duke of Orleans.
So he never tasted night blindness.
But logically speaking, there is no reason why cobblers of this era did not suffer from night blindness.
Night blindness was a common disease among civilians in this era.
An Ning didn't notice this and said it casually. But Berthier obviously noticed this, but he didn't say anything, but had an unpredictable expression on his face.
I don’t know how many thousands of words of secrets he had in mind.
By this time, the first wave of swimming troops had crossed the river, and shouts of death were heard from the other side of the river.
An Ning: "Can I cross the river?"
"After the engineering troops have set up the pontoon bridge, you can cross over," Berthier replied.
An Ning: "You also asked the engineers to build the pontoon bridge?"
"Of course, we can't let all the troops swim like this, right? Although you can raise your guns and ammunition above your head, there is no guarantee that accidents will happen. And not everyone can swim. The troops I ordered to cross the river are all from the seaside area.
Troops, they are less afraid of water."
An Ning said with a sincere tone: "As expected of my chief of staff, you are so thoughtful."
What he actually wanted to say was "He deserves to be the strongest chief of staff in Europe", but after thinking about it, he still didn't give Berthier such a high hat.
While he was talking, a messenger came and loudly reported: "Your Excellency, the pontoon bridge has been erected!"
An Ning: "Is that that one? I saw it."
As we were talking, there were torches heading towards the middle of the Marne River, which was obviously a pontoon bridge.
An Ning: "Let's go."
After saying that, without waiting for Berthier's reaction, he kicked the horse in the belly and made the horse run quickly, heading straight for the pontoon outlined by the torches in the night.
Berthier followed immediately.
When the engineer officer guarding the pontoon saw An Ning approaching, he shouted loudly: "Long live your Excellency the General!"
An Ning nodded and rode on the pontoon.
The iron pieces on the horseshoe hit the pontoon and made a crisp sound.
Engineers with torches stood at a distance on the pontoon, illuminating the bridge deck.
Every time An Ning passed a soldier, he would shout "Long live the general".
After crossing the river, An Ning observed the Prussian-Austrian military camp at close range: "The fire is really strong. Order the troops to reward twenty gold crowns for anyone who can capture the enemy leader, Prince Schwarzenberg!"
Berthier: "It's probably out of the question. The prince should have already taken advantage of the chaos and escaped."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of French soldiers came over surrounded by a man dressed as an aristocrat.
"Your Majesty General, this nobleman wants to see you!" the escorting soldier shouted loudly, glaring at the man dressed as a nobleman with vigilant eyes as he spoke.
No wonder the soldiers were so vigilant. Nowadays, nobles are basically enemies. Even nobles who were not originally hostile to the revolution have become opponents of the revolution because of the massacre of nobles by the Jacobins in recent months.
The noble immediately shouted: "I am not a noble! This is a disguise prepared to deceive the coalition forces! I am a barber! This wig is sold in my shop!"
When An Ning heard the word barber, she thought of the hard-core ruthless man "John Fatto" that John Khan Jr. had talked about. Yes, he was the ruthless man who staged a fake kidnapping in order to avoid being extradited to the UK.
An Ning suppressed the sudden surge of memories before time travel and asked the barber in front of her: "Did you light this fire?"
"No, it should be said that it was me and my companions who lit it! We are patriots from Epernay!"
An Ning: "You are the real heroes! Without your fire, we may have to spend many days here with the coalition forces!"
The barber was overjoyed: "You actually praised us as real heroes! To be praised by heroes like you, all our actions are worth it! I will go and tell my colleagues about your praise!"
An Ning: "Go ahead and bring good things to everyone for me!"
After the barber left happily, An Ning said to Berthier: "See, this is the cohesion of a nation-state. This is something that the European aristocrats have never seen! They thought they were just talking to the National Assembly in Paris.
They are enemies, but in fact, the whole of France is their enemy!
"They will fall into the vast sea of people's war!"