The Crescent of the Sultan

Looking down at the earth from the sky, you can see that Toulon's terrain is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on one side. There are British warships in the port, and coalition forces are stationed on the surrounding hills. The terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The most critical thing is that the French army is seriously underprepared.

So when Napoleon arrived at the front line in Toulon, he quickly discovered that the situation here was too much to complain about.

The artillery here is useless. There are neither enough artillery nor enough ammunition. There are only a few broken field guns and mortars.

The soldiers did not have the most basic military literacy. They could neither use artillery nor repair it.

What's even more unbelievable is that their boss, General Carlto, also lacked artillery knowledge. Carlto didn't even know the range of the few cannons.

This gave Napoleon a great headache. It was simply unreasonable for the Paris government to rely on these goods to regain Toulon.

Not to mention the preparations before the war, the troops of Lapupo and Kalto only amounted to tens of thousands of people.

Although the coalition forces only numbered 20,000 people and were still complex in composition, they were led by the British, so they still had fighting capacity.

But on the French side, the quality of the troops is really poor. There are experienced veterans, but not many, and there is a lack of officers. This results in a much lower combat effectiveness than the opponent.

Napoleon also knew in his heart that otherwise, neither Robespierre nor Roland would agree to let him suppress the rebellion.

These two people may not have the idea of ​​using the coalition to weaken his strength.

But Napoleon didn't care. He was bound to win the Provence region.

It was too difficult to raise an army in the Lyon area alone, and in order to do a good job, Napoleon had to pay Paris, which made his financial data even more unsightly.

So, taking over Provence is also to relieve financial pressure.

Thanks to the chaos of the French Revolution, the management of many military factories in France was quite chaotic at this time, and Napoleon would naturally not miss this feast.

He sent people to Grenoble and other places to collect a large number of useful ordnance equipment and production equipment, and expanded the ordnance factory in Lyon.

During this expedition, Napoleon brought a lot of artillery from Lyon. After all, not everyone had been in Garibault's Raphael Artillery Regiment. Napoleon did not dare to count on these two in Paris, and Carto's actual situation Let him be thankful that he was prepared.

In addition, Napoleon also requisitioned horses from Nice to Valence and Montpellier, as well as many ships on the Rhone River, and organized the production of wicker baskets in Marseille to solve the problems of artillery mobility and fortification construction.

After completing the pre-war preparations, it was time to discuss the combat plan.

Facts have proved that human beings are always cheap, such as General Rappo.

General Lapope from the Paris government came up with his extremely explosive plan based on the idea that if you are not next to me, you can't control me at all.

"Concentrate an army with sufficient strength. Regardless of the enemy's frontal firepower, launch attacks simultaneously from the two flanks of Toulon Port, east and west, first occupy the peripheral defense lines of the anti-French coalition forces, and seize the Falon Mountains, French Long, Rouge and other forts; then dig trenches and build fortifications near the Toulon fortress, waiting for an opportunity to capture Toulon."

Anyone with a bit of intelligence will understand that this stupid plan of "no matter how powerful the enemy is, we will attack" will not succeed. However, General Rappo is so determined.

Napoleon opposed this plan. In his opinion, the purpose of the battle was not to capture Toulon by force. As long as it could force the British fleet in the port to leave the port, cut off the connection between the British army and the troops on the shore, and deprive the coalition forces on the shore of fire support, the Port of Toulon Sooner or later it can be won.

To realize this plan, one only needs to send a sufficient army to bypass the west side of Toulon, capture Fort Mulgrave (located in the small Gibraltar Highlands on the south side of the Toulon Port anchorage), build an artillery position here, and bombard the British warships in the anchorage. , cutting off the connection between the British fleet and the enemy defenders in Toulon, forcing the British ships to withdraw from the port.

Since Napoleon had more people, and he was next to General Carto, and he was the commander-in-chief appointed by Paris, so although General Carto supported General Rappo's plan in his heart, he still showed it in his mouth and face. All actions are as directed.

As for General Rappo, he had no intention of paying attention to Napoleon at all. A 21-year-old guy who was a junior lieutenant a few years ago. How could he be qualified to be here if he hadn't fawned over Roland by capturing Louis XVI? Give orders.

As for his so-called achievements in the Ottoman Empire, General Rappo snorted every time he heard it.

“It’s true that the Ottoman Empire wasn’t great, but who are the Russians?

As far as the combat power of the Russian army was concerned, Lapupo had never looked at any savages. "

He, Lapopo, couldn't figure out when leading the Ottoman Empire to defeat the Russians could be regarded as a military achievement. This time, it was up to him, Lapopo, to teach this fledgling general what it means to be experienced by the body. Hundreds of battles.

As for what Napoleon was thinking.

There was a reason why he didn't go to Lapopo's side, but to Kalto's side.

First, Carto has more troops, and these troops will be his after reorganization.

Secondly, he has no intention of winning in one battle. He has a plan and a plan.

But what is this? This is the optimal solution strategically, not the optimal solution politically and strategically.

He was too lazy to care what Rappo thought, so he stopped caring about him after some persuasion.

If you don't let this guy lose a game first, how can you highlight the strength of the coalition?

Without highlighting the strength of the coalition forces, how could the men in Paris know how difficult it was for him to defeat the rebellion as a general?

How can he get more funds from this group of people without letting the men in Paris know the hardships he went through with the generals to quell the rebellion?

What's more, if you want to completely regain Kalto and his troops, you must convince the other party.

So, Napoleon finally decided to let General Rappo star in the show, so that the show would be effective.

Incidentally, once Lapupo was defeated, a vacuum appeared for the French army east of Toulon.

At this time, it is the best time to seduce the Austrian-Saharan coalition east of the Alps.

A coalition army in Toulon is nothing. He wants to clean up these scum together with the Osa coalition forces.

The future Provence region will be his private territory, and this cannot be lost.

Therefore, it is necessary to take this opportunity to kill the Northern Italy region together, and loot some by the way, but the intensity must be controlled, as the Sultan said - sustainable fishing.

Napoleon spread out the map and waited for news of success from the Allied forces.