Napoleon had already arrived in Nice, and he left Paris on the third day of his wedding.

The long-lost freedom, and the burning ambition in his heart, made his whole person seem so impatient.

Before coming to Nice, he also very carefully implemented the chief of staff of the Italian Legion, Louis Alexandre Bertier. A forty-two-year-old brigadier general.

He was a draftsman in his early years and served as a staff officer in the American Revolutionary War. He had been promoted to the rank of chief of the General Staff of General Clerkman, commander of the Italian legions, only a year earlier. At his insistence, the French occupied the Borgoto line, causing the enemy to temporarily stop the offensive.

Berthier knows the Alps-Maritimes inside out. He was very industrious and careful, and he was able to accompany the Lord in any search and observation without delaying the handling of daily duties. When he is not fit to lead troops alone, he lacks decisiveness and is not suitable for independent command. And this did not delay him, but he had all the qualities of a good chief of staff. An engineer by training, he is good at reading maps, knows all methods of searching, can judge the characteristics of the terrain very sharply, and is good at reporting the most complex military operations in plain language; He was experienced and resourceful, knew where to give orders in battle, and was able to personally supervise the execution of those orders; On the battlefield, he always gives orders with unerring accuracy, and he is extremely adept at the most complex troop movements, allowing the army to function with ease.

The reason why the previous Italian legion was able to survive under such difficult conditions was due to Berthier.

Such a conscientious and responsible chief of staff who lacks decisiveness is undoubtedly the most ideal chief of staff for Napoleon, who was strong and often single-handed.

In the presentation of the European Office, Berthier was a qualified and talented chief of staff, and Napoleon's command ability combined with Bertier's diligence and carefulness made them the best pair on the battlefield.

Therefore, Napoleon, who had great trust in the European Office, promoted Berthier to the rank of major general a year later.

In addition to Bertier's partner, Napoleon had two lieutenants, Captain Marmont, a young artillery officer selected from the Battle of Toulon, his old ministry, and Captain Juno, his loyal friend and subordinate. In addition, he took Murat and his infant brother Louis with him.

Napoleon and his entourage hurried to Nice, the headquarters of the Italian legion, where the headquarters was established. Three days later, Napoleon inspected his troops, and then he saw an army that was identical to the style and appearance described for him by the Office for Europe.

This is really an army of beggars who are extremely poor in material life. On the first night of Napoleon's arrival, a battalion was left without boots to wear

Refusal to carry out an order for a transfer to another region. The hungry army looted and stole everywhere, and rebellions and desertions occurred from time to time, which not only had a very bad effect on the local area, but also demoralized themselves.

Napoleon's first task was to immediately set about putting military discipline in order.

He cannot remain indifferent to everything until the 'support' promised by the Chinese has not arrived, and he cannot pin all his hopes on the Chinese.

According to the European Office, there is a certain chance that the support will not reach Nice. Because of the Spaniards and the British.

What Napoleon should rely on and believe in is himself!

But Napoleon, who was only 27 years old, had no easy task trying to control the army. The officers here obeyed only the older or more meritorious officers, and did not pay any attention to the small, unkempt young commander in front of him who spoke with an unpleasant Corsican accent, and was not very famous. They often quarreled with Napoleon and even slandered Napoleon's reputation behind his back. Because Napoleon's rise relied on the strong support of Barras, and at the same time, his newly married wife was the mistress of Barras in many people's mouths, so many people said that Napoleon's new wife is now lying on Barras's bed.

Such rumors would greatly dampen Napoleon's majesty in the army. But Napoleon did not admit defeat, and in a heated argument he looked up at the tall General Charles Augereau and said: "General, you are a head taller than me, but if you are rude to me, I will immediately eliminate the difference." "Napoleon could not tolerate any thought in his army against him, and whoever dared to oppose him, regardless of his position, had to move his head, and this was the principle he always observed.

Of course, Napoleon also soberly realized that in order to really take military discipline seriously and stop theft, it was useless to shoot some people alone, and it was necessary to make his army have clothes and shoes to wear.

Napoleon could wait quietly for the Chinese to deliver the military supplies he desperately needed, when he did not want to. As I have said before, he will not pin all his expectations on outsiders, even the European Office - the Chinese, whom he trusts very much.

And seriously, he prefers to rely on his ability to get the Italian legion out of the current embarrassing situation, and he really does not want to leak his close ties with the Chinese.

Even he wanted to encourage his soldiers to demand from the enemy by force as soon as possible, rather than waiting for supplies from the 'government'.

After the liaison officer in the European Office finalized the deadline, a bold plan was quickly made to break through the Italian passage and turn the enemy's richest areas into a battlefield. At a military meeting at the headquarters, he delivered a highly incendiary mobilization speech. He said: "Generals, and the soldiers under your command, you lack food and clothing, and the Republic owes you a lot, but the country does not have the strength to guarantee all the military supplies. We must not put our hope in Paris, but in our own hands, and I will lead you into the richest plains of Italy.

When your boots are on the rich lands of Piedmont, the rich towns and villages, everything is at your disposal. Generals, in the face of such a prospect, can you not muster up the courage to persevere? Lead your soldiers, loyal defenders of the revolutionary government, to change all the predicaments. ”

This was supposed to be the first time Napoleon addressed his subordinates. The commanders of the Italian regiments, whose morale was declining, did not immediately feel full of hope and confidence after listening to the speech of the young and fearless leader. The extreme lack of material conditions made it impossible for them to lift any spirits.

……

"Report to the commander that the Italian Legion now has 41,300 men, and at present there are 35,600 spears, 32,500 are issued, and 3,100 are in stock; There are 5,500 short guns, 4,200 are distributed, and 1,300 are in stock; In fact, there were 40 12-pound and 9-pound guns, cavalry guns and mortars of various types, all of which were issued and had no inventory; There is gunpowder......"

“…… In terms of finances, the division still has 300 livres and 50,000 livres of coupons, and there are no gold or silver coins......"

Napoleon still remembers the day he arrived in Nice, when Berthier reported to him. There were only 500 rockets left in the entire Italian legion, and most of them were light.

The Legion had only damn money on its books, and Livre only had 300 of them, which was not as much as the personal possessions of Murat's super-large vase. - After Napoleon's private financial situation improved, Murat was the one who spent the most money among the few people he co-opted.

After the Directory repealed the Act of Maximum Price Conduct, although the currency of the republic was still legal tender, in 1790 the French government went bankrupt, and the new French government, in order to get out of the financial difficulties, confiscated a large amount of church property, confiscated it, and began to issue bonds in the form of bonds. These bonds have been successful in significantly reducing public debt, as they have gradually evolved into a fiat currency in circulation. However, the French government did not realize this and continued to issue it as bonds on a large scale, so that from 1792 onwards, most of these notes had lost their face value, which directly led to hyperinflation.

Even in the distant city of Nanjing, Chen Ming knew the existence of this thing. Therefore, it is impossible for the French to repay the loan, but they have not yet transferred the ownership of the five unarmed colonies of India to China cleanly.

In Emperor Chen's eyes, the finger notes were probably comparable to the gold and silver dollar rolls issued by the Guo Party on the mainland in 1948, and Zhu Ming's treasure notes were not as watery as them. Completely useless garbage.

In 1794, due to the continuous war and blockade in France, the country was severely short of living materials, and the inflationary pressure of rising prices continued to increase, and the value of the index fell to 0.35% of the face value. The actual value of the 50,000 livres is only 175 livres.

More than 40,000 troops had less than 500 livres for military spending, and the Red Army was not as miserable as theirs.

In addition, there were grain reserves, and there were less than 200,000 pounds of wheat left in the warehouse at the corps headquarters. This amount of food can only supply the entire corps's more than 40,000 officers and men with four days' rations, and of course, some of the divisions and regiments also have military rations in reserve. But the scarcity of supplies for the Italian legions had undoubtedly reached the point of abject poverty.

Napoleon was now preparing for the march into Italy while waiting for the arrival of the Chinese. He planned to lead his army across the Alps from the famous 'natural danger' of the Alpine coastal mountains. Despite the constant artillery bombardment of them by the British fleet, which patrolled the coast.

But Piedmont was his strategic goal, and if he didn't take it, all the words he said in Paris would be fart. At this time, there were two armies stationed in Piedmont, one under the command of Field Marshal Johann Peter Bolieu, and the other under the Sardinian army led by Core, with a total of 80,000 men, and equipped with strong cavalry and overwhelming artillery.

Napoleon's army was only half the enemy's, and there was a serious shortage of artillery and cavalry.

Faced with a huge disparity in the forces of the enemy and ours, Napoleon was not discouraged. He was very confident that the rapid mobilization of troops could compensate for the lack of numbers; Flexibility can compensate for the lack of artillery; The choice of appropriate positions could compensate for the lack of cavalry.

Napoleon, with his familiarity with the terrain of the region, quickly made a judgment that a wedge-shaped mountainous area near Montenot was the vulnerable point of the Aussian-Sa coalition positions. Therefore, he planned to concentrate his forces to strike at the enemy from here first, cutting off both the Austrian and Sadish armies, so that he could gain the initiative from the beginning. He planned to divide his forces into three parts: the avant-garde of 19,000 men, commanded by Major General Masséna, who was crazy about money and women, and held Montenot and Dego to hold off the Austrians. The main force of 12,000 men, commanded by Major General Augereo, launched an attack on Cheva from the west. The left-back, with 10,000 men, commanded by Major General Jean-Mathieu Serurier, attacked Cheiva from the south. The purpose of this deployment was to defeat the Sardinian army in and around Cheva before dealing with the Austrians.

While Napoleon was waiting for the Chinese to help, he had already completed the finalization of the next combat strategy with the cooperation of his chief of staff, Bertier.

However, neither Napoleon nor Zhu Gang thought that when Zhu Gang was leading the fleet towards Nice, in just a few days, an unexpected incident almost disrupted Napoleon's deployment.

"The Governors of the Directory are a bunch of pigs!"

"So stupid that God would laugh at them."

It turned out that the Directory of Paris, due to a shortage of financial resources, had sent people to Genoa to borrow money, but the Genoese refused. The Directory decided to put pressure on the Genoese to agree to the loan. The Directory ordered the troops defending Savona to advance on Voltri, only 10 kilometers from Genoa.

- Genoa is the traditional commercial center and trading port of Italy, almost the second largest port along the Mediterranean Sea after Marseille.

This action of the French army shocked the Austrians, who mistook the French for an advance on Genoa, and hurriedly urged Marshal Beaulieux to lead his troops quickly south to reinforce Genoa. Napoleon was annoyed at this sudden and unexpected turn of events, which not only disrupted all his plans, but also undermined Genoa's status as a neutral state, depriving the French expeditionary force of an important supply port. However, Napoleon soon discovered that he could attract a large number of Austrian troops to Genoa, thus distracting the strength and attention of the enemy forces in Piedmont, which in turn favored the implementation of his battle plan.

But before that, he had to wait until the Chinese arrived.

The Italian legions were not even worthy of muskets, let alone artillery and rockets.

The world today is different from the original plane. You don't have to rely on rockets to fight offensive and defensive battles, but you can't do without that. When only one crossed the Alps, the harassment of British warships must be covered by enough rockets.

Four or five hundred rockets are really not enough.

……

A sail emerges from the turquoise sea.

This is the pilot ship of Zhu Li's fleet, a thousand-ton flying shear bow ship.

Leaping like a sharp arrow across the sea.

After eleven days of sailing, the fleet of ships from the Strait of Gibraltar finally arrived in Nice, the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes, a coastal city in the southeastern corner of France.