While enlisting others to join the alliance, Joseph kept Napoleon informed Napoleon of the news while having the factory work overtime to produce weapons for Rubel to supply.

According to the brothers' opinion, the French army, which was equipped with Mini rifles, was no longer something that the Austrians could withstand. Even if the Northern Legion was far inferior to the Italian Legion in terms of salary, their morale was also inferior to that of the Italian Legion. That was by no means something that the Austrians could resist.

However, the change of equipment such as the Northern Army and the formation of combat effectiveness are not a matter of one or two. Joseph, who had done a lot of staff work, could easily judge the extent of the preparation of the Northern Army just by looking at the situation of the order. This can't be faked, even Rubert can't think of hiding it from Joseph.

In this way, when Rubert will have the ability to attack, Napoleon also knows clearly.

Napoleon decided to cross the Alps again and approach Viana to force Austria to surrender after the Joebert attacked, pinning down Austria.

But before that, he still has to do one thing, and that is to blackmail His Majesty the Pope.

If there is anyone in this world who hates revolutionary France the most, Pope Pius VI is definitely at the top. When the new regime in 1791 required the bishops to take an oath of allegiance to the government, Pius VI officially condemned the Law on the Citizens' Organization of the Clergy, blaming the revolutionary authorities. When the anti-French alliance was established in 1793, Pius VI also played a large role in it.

And when Napoleon defeated the armies of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Austria in Italy in succession, the big states on the Italian peninsula trembled, and Khan did not dare to come out, and even went to the door to bribe Napoleon. However, Pope Pius VI of the head iron remained hostile to the French Republic.

Napoleon also sent a note to the Papal States to the same note as he did to the Duchy of Parma and the Republic of Venice. But the Pope would not send someone to explain to a scoundrel like this. Not only did he not bribe Napoleon to buy peace, but he even ordered Napoleon's membership to be expelled and Napoleon excommunicated.

Breaking the door and not breaking the door, to be honest, Napoleon didn't care at all. If you want to break the door and teach, France is now breaking the door and teaching. But this attitude of the Pope, who did not know whether to live or die, made Napoleon very unhappy.

"Pope, why does he dare to jump in front of me? I don't think he wants to go to Avignon to recuperate, right? He didn't look at how many divisions he had in his hands? ”

The pope at this time was still much stronger than the pope later. At that time, the direct territory of the Holy See was not just the Vatican, but also the entire Papal States of Rome. At that time, the Pope's men were by no means only a hundred Swiss guards, but really had a large army.

But this army, compared to Napoleon's army, is really not worth mentioning. As soon as Napoleon gave the order, the army began to concentrate rapidly. The soldiers were indignant and denounced the Pope's sin, cursing him for falling into a pit of fire that Dante had seen with his own eyes; At the same time, they are also discussing with a smile how much loot they can harvest from this expedition. And so their morale rose higher and higher.

"Capture the Pope back to Avignon!"

Such shouts can be heard everywhere in the army. The fighters were in high spirits and vowed to destroy the nest of the reactionaries and plant the banner of revolution on the dome of the Cathedral of the Holy Pump.

After receiving the news that the French army was preparing to move south, the Papal States were in disarray. The clergy ran back and forth with the crucifix in their hands, encouraging people to fight for their country and for their faith. In the end, Pope Pius VI scraped together an army of more than 10,000 Rao to fight against the demons from France.

Pius VI blessed this army and prophesied that with the blessing of the Lord, they would surely destroy the French devil. But His Holiness must have forgotten one thing, and that is that whenever there is a conflict between France and the Holy See, God will stand firmly on the side of France! You see, France is God's filial son; The Holy See, at best, is a doorman for God and their house. Otherwise, why would there be two keys painted on the flag of the Papal States?

Sure enough, the army that the Holy See had managed to organize, after hearing the news that the French army was approaching, immediately staged an uprising, declaring that they had long wanted to side with the revolution. So the French army did not fire a single shot, and went straight to the city of Rome. The Pope had to flee Rome and send someone to submit to Napoleon.

If the pope had submitted to Napoleon earlier, Napoleon's appetite would not have been particularly large, at most two million francs (the Directory had reformed the currency and replaced the riff with francs). ) to solve the problem. But now, since the pope does not eat and drink in the toast, the amount of the penalty wine is naturally different from the toast. After all, the use of the army also costs money. And as long as the army is used, the money obtained must be recorded in the account, and a share must be given to the French government.

So Napoleon came and opened his mouth, and he faced the papal messenger with five fingers outstretched.

"Five million?" The envoy said in astonishment, "Your Excellency, this is too much, isn't it?" ”

"Five million?" Juordang also said in astonishment, "Only five million? We have here a whole army of 100,000 people, and each warrior is an average of fifty francs? We've come all the way from Paris all the way here, and you're going to send us away for fifty francs? You dare to speak! Dream! ”

Of course, there were not 100,000 French troops in the Italian legion, and even if you count the Italian servant army, or even the army that had just "revolted" on the battlefield, there were definitely not so many people.

"What the hell ...... that?"

"If it's less than fifty million, don't open your mouth! We'll take it ourselves! Murat on one side also spoke to help.

"But, where does the Holy See have so much money at once?"

"That's your business!"

"If you don't have money, you can do something valuable!"

"Paintings, sculptures, gold and silver products, and all kinds of holy objects, we can accept them - but don't fool us with fakes!"

The French officers began to talk about how to make up the 50 million francs for the emissaries of the Papal States, and they were a group of good people who were willing to help and spare.

In the end, the Holy See finally made peace with Napoleon with 30 million francs in cash (all equal in gold and silver) and a large number of works of art, and then the French army left the Papal States satisfied.

The soldiers kept sending back to the country what they had received and what they could not use up for the time being. In their hometown, it was immediately rumored that so-and-so followed General Napoleon out for a spin, and there were rumors about the money to buy a house, buy land, and marry a daughter-in-law.

Some of the soldiers, having earned enough money, left the ranks and returned to their homeland, but many more, who had heard the news, were full of thirst for victory, and more accurately for the spoils of war after victory, joined Napoleon's troops. When Napoleon had just crossed the Alps, his army was about 40,000 men, but now there are 50,000 combat troops that can be used for expeditions.

According to the information provided in Joseph's letter, Napoleon judged that the Rubel offensive should be about to begin. He began his own preparations.

In September 1796, in the bleak autumn wind, Napoleon's army left Lombardy and began to launch a surprise attack on Vienna, the capital of Austria.

At the Battle of Castilian, after Napoleon, with 20,000 troops and less than 2,000 casualties, had defeated 40,000 Austrians head-on, Austria transferred his best general, Archduke Karl, from the Rhine front to the direction of Lombardy to prepare for a possible invasion.

Archduke Karl learned all about Napoleon's army from the defeated officers and soldiers, and he was so anxious that he could hardly sleep at night. No one dares to dismiss this information as nonsense anymore. But if this intelligence is true. Archduke Karl found that this meant that the French did not need any more tactics when they were fighting him, and they were almost helpless when they ran into him head-on.

"This is really the French army is less than 10,000, and it is invincible!" Archduke Karl thought so.

Since "the wild wave battle is absolutely impossible", the only choice can only be "Infant City Stick". Fortunately, the march from Lombardy to Vienna also had to cross the Alps. This meant that Napoleon's army could not carry too many, too heavy artillery. In this way, it seems that "holding on to the baby city" is also a good way.

Of course, Archduke Karl couldn't do a way to defend the city with bricks. He knew that it was self-deprecating his ability to fight back. Even if the enemy army bypasses such a city, there will be no big consequences.

Archduke Karl set up some strongholds on the mountain roads, but these strongholds could not stop Napoleon, because the mountains were steep, and the Austrians could not get the artillery to those places, and there were not many supplies in which places, so they could not hold out for long.

In addition, Napoleon had a guide who was familiar with the terrain, and those Italians who benefited from it, and even Austrians who were looking forward to "dividing the land and being really busy", were willing to help Napoleon lead the way. The stragglers of the French army are strong, and they can intersperse with this kind of terrain to make the Austrian army scattered. Therefore, the greater role of these strongholds is to delay the French army and gain more preparation time for the Austrian army behind.

And on the road out of the mountains to Vienna, Austria made every effort to build a series of large fortresses.

According to Archduke Karl's idea, if Napoleon gnawed one fortress after another, then Archduke Karl felt that Napoleon would definitely suffer. But if Napoleon dared to bypass these forts, then the cavalry relying on these forts could constantly harass and even cut off Napoleon's logistical lines.

Relying on the opportunity of Napoleon's fortune in Italy, Austria was able to reluctantly complete this group of forts, although these forts were rushed out and of inferior quality. But with these things, Archduke Karl felt that he finally had the confidence to defeat Napoleon.