Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

However, when Bernard’s two infantry regiments deployed into formation in front of the Austrian Army, they immediately met with intense fire from the opposing side.

Although Argento’s troops were caught off guard and their formation was disorganized, they numbered over 15,000.

That was more than five times the size of the French Army, and they were the defending side, giving them opportunities to adjust their formation.

Major Bernard bravely went to the forefront of the battle line, raising his sword high to loudly inspire his soldiers.

His two infantry regiments also managed to force the enemy back through several rounds of volleys, but due to their insufficient numbers, the Austrian infantry lines quickly formed a semi-envelopment against them from both sides.

French Army soldiers began to suffer gunfire from the flanks, with a firepower density several times greater than their own.

Within just ten minutes, Bernard’s troops had suffered over a thousand casualties.

The initial momentum of the French Army quickly broke apart, replaced by the fear brought by numerous fallen comrades.

As Bernard was struck in the left arm by gunfire, the front of the French Army began to collapse.

Ogero, who greatly favored offense, had left just under 300 men in reserve, utterly incapable of providing support.

Driven by tens of thousands of Austrian soldiers, Ogero retreated from Marengo Village in disarray.

Meanwhile, on the right, Bonnet’s Light Infantry Battalion’s surprise assault also encountered the Argento Corps head-on.

Facing over 7,000 Austrian soldiers, the French light infantry battalion of less than 1,000 merely made brief contact before choosing to retreat.

Ogero led the retreating soldiers to a place two kilometers east of the village, where they encountered reinforcements from Marmon’s Army, barely stabilizing the situation.

But the Austrian Army, having no retreat route, almost immediately pursued them closely.

In haste, Marmon organized a defensive line relying on a patch of woods to the south, and luckily, because the Austrian artillery had not yet arrived, he managed to repel the first wave of Argento’s attack.

Beside the woods, the smell of gunpowder filled Marmon’s nostrils as he frowned at Ogero and said, “Are you saying we are facing Melas’s main army?”

The latter nodded in embarrassment, “It seems that way, the enemy has at least 30,000 troops.”

Marmon’s face instantly turned grim.

Together, he and Ogero’s forces only numbered less than 6,000 soldiers, without the capability to engage the enemy head-on.

He asked again, “Have you reported to Colonel Bonaparte?”

“Yes, I sent riders to contact him after 10 o’clock.”

Marmon looked behind him, “The main force can only arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. We should retreat to Saint Gilliano and try to hold out until then.”

Ogero, gradually recovering from the chaos, pondered and shook his head, “It seems Melas is planning to move towards Parma and then attack Lodi.

If we only defend Saint Gilliano, they can simply bypass us and continue east from the north side of Castelcchio.

Marmon asked urgently, “Then what should we do?”

Ogero gritted his teeth, “Deploy a defensive line from Saint Gilliano to Castelcchio. Delay Melas for a day!”

Castelcchio is 5 kilometers northwest of Saint Gilliano.

With the 6,000 troops they had, holding such a wide defensive line was extremely difficult.

Marmon glanced at him and sighed, “You’re always so reckless… but it seems we have no other choice now.”

Melas, upon learning that Argento’s corps had quickly crushed the French Army and started pursuit eastwards, fell into deep suspicion.

Napoleon had previously inflicted terrible defeats on the Austrian Army.

The French Army would almost magically appear; every time the Austrians felt victory was within their grasp, a French army would emerge from the most troubling position and tear them apart.

Thus, Argento’s easy victory actually made Melas feel this was yet another French trap.

He hurriedly sent orders to Argento’s corps not to advance recklessly, and only after the main force was fully gathered did he continue to advance steadily towards Saint Gilliano Town.

This gave Ogero and the others a rare breathing moment.

At 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the Austrian Army launched a fierce assault on Saint Gilliano.

Ogero, much more cautious than he had been earlier, set up three layers of defensive lines, resisting step by step.

Marmon’s artillery unit also utilized a high ground position to desperately bombard the Austrian Army.

However, the disparity in troop strength was too great, and the Austrians clearly knew they needed to reach Lodi quickly, otherwise, they risked being entangled by the French main force, so they went all out in their attack.

In less than three hours, Ogero’s first two defensive lines collapsed completely, and Argento’s vanguard light troops could already see the French artillery positions.

Thankfully, today was a cloudy day, and the nightfall came slightly earlier than usual. Just when the French Army was about to be overwhelmed, the sky completely darkened.

Melas had no choice but to withdraw his troops and wait for daylight.

Ogero worked through the night repairing defenses, barely sleeping.

By dawn the next day, the Austrian Army was eager to resume its attack.

After the brutal battle of the previous day, the morale of the French Army was already extremely low; after resisting for less than an hour, signs of a rout began to appear.

On a hill north of Saint Gilliano Village, Ogero looked at the continuously retreating front line and sighed heavily, “It’s all my fault for recklessly attacking yesterday, wasting too much manpower…”

He patted Marmon’s back, “Auguste, you lead the soldiers to retreat towards Pavia, I’ll cover your retreat.”

Marmon was about to refuse when he noticed the gunfire and artillery sounds from the north seemed unusual, immediately furrowing his brow, “What’s happening over there?”

Soon, a cavalry scout came rushing over, pointing to the northwest and shouting to them, “Colonel! It’s our cavalry! Our cavalry camp has come to reinforce us!”

Ogero’s heart skipped a beat as he raised his binoculars to look over there and indeed noticed chaos on the Austrian left flank.

He quickly made a decision and said to Marmon, “We’ll abandon Saint Gilliano Village and concentrate our forces to cooperate with the cavalry in flanking the enemy’s left!”

South of Castelcchio, Major Grouchy led the charge into the Austrian infantry — having occupied Milan, he had been promoted to major and appointed commander of the Montpellier Cavalry Battalion.

Yesterday afternoon, he met a rider sent by Ogero to inform Napoleon, learned that Melas’s army was maneuvering east, and immediately came to reinforce.

His cavalry battalion, along with part of the Mulan Cavalry, totaled about 1,200 men, traveled without stopping, and finally arrived just before Ogero’s side broke down.

The Austrian troops, suddenly assailed by a large cavalry charge, became panicked and confused, as Napoleon’s shadow once again loomed over them.

Many Austrian soldiers started shouting, “We’ve been ambushed by the French again!”

“Be careful, there are French ambush troops nearby!”

Having studied at the military academy in Strasbourg, which is close to Baden, Grouchy knew some German.

When he heard the Austrian shouts, he was struck by a clever idea and began shouting in German, “General Bonaparte’s 50,000 ambush troops have already surrounded you!”

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