Chapter 795: Troop Deployment

Ticino claims to have tens of thousands of troops, but they did not occupy the important St. Gotthard Pass in advance.

It is thought that either the troops are insufficient or the commander is arrogant and stupid. In short, this is likely to be an unequal battle for both sides.

In fact, according to the intelligence from Austria, the total force of Ticino is indeed tens of thousands as they said, but in fact these troops have not been mobilized.

Where did this information come from? Naturally, it came from Ticino. In fact, Franz had already placed thousands of mercenaries and intelligence personnel here. He could not really let Archduke Karl be in danger or die directly in Switzerland.

Of course, in theory, if Archduke Karl died in Switzerland, it would give Austria a good reason to send troops, but the consequence would be a huge negative impact, and it would also add an ignominious touch to the war. Overall, it would not be worth the loss.

In fact, not only Ticino, Franz also placed people in St. Gallen. It is not a problem for Austria to place people in these two regions. After all, Germans and Italians are the two largest ethnic groups in Austria.

As for Charles Duchat's identity, it is also easy to identify. Although Louis Philippe has not written many handwritten letters and few people can recognize his handwriting, Archduke Karl happens to be one of them.

Other paper, pens, ink, letter paper, and seals are also extremely difficult to imitate, so Archduke Karl can conclude that the young man in front of him is the one appointed by Louis Philippe himself.

Archduke Karl's identity is also easy to identify, because the Austrian royal family also has many special things, which usually no one dares to imitate.

And even if you want to imitate it, you can't do it at all. Ordinary people can't get in touch with it. People who can get in touch with it have high status and status, and generally speaking, they won't cause trouble for themselves.

Charles Duchat was still very excited to see Archduke Karl, after all, the latter is a legend of the old times.

"Hello, I am Charles Duchat from Lyon. I am honored to fight alongside you."

Archduke Karl nodded in response, and then he took out a map and handed it to Colonel Charles Duchat.

"There may be nearly 10,000 defenders in Ticino, but according to the latest news, they still haven't occupied the St. Gotthard Pass. So at this time, as long as you act quickly enough, you can seize the common transportation hub of Valais and Ticino.

Then you can wait for the follow-up reinforcements to take Ticino in one fell swoop to open up the road with Lombardy and Sardinia for the Orthodox Alliance."

The two sides had briefly exchanged intelligence before. Charles Duchat was not incompetent. He understood what it meant to recapture Ticino at this time.

But what made Charles Duchat even more emotional was that he was the only one among more than a dozen teams who arrived in Lucerne on time, and the number of people on the Austrian side was obviously much larger than his own.

The so-called Swiss Orthodox Alliance was even worse than he imagined. They were probably not even militia, and the commander was so stupid that he actually chose to fall into the trap.

Fortunately, the valley mouth terrain of Fribourg was also very unfavorable to the attacker. As long as there was no accident, it would be no problem for the Orthodox Alliance's army to defend Fribourg for a few months.

But this war should not be so passive, but it suits Charles Duchat's appetite. Because he came here to make a name for himself, he wanted to become famous like Napoleon in Toulon.

So Charles Duchat made an amazing decision.

"I don't need reinforcements, just let them guard the Saint Gerda Pass, the second wave of the Free Alliance will definitely focus on attacking here."

"Too arrogant! Do you know how many defenders there are in Ticino?"

Heinrich Irabem roared. He was originally a top student at the Theresa Military Academy. In addition, the French boy in front of him actually rejected the kindness of Archduke Karl. In order to show off, he actually used a thousand people to attack a province with ten thousand defenders, which made him even more furious.

Archduke Karl's idea was to allocate 5,000 troops from Walden State, plus 5,000 reinforcements from Valais, to cooperate with Charles Duchat's 1,000 French troops.

Letting a colonel command an army of 10,000 people was already a high regard for Charles Duchat, but the latter seemed not satisfied and was so arrogant that he wanted to use one-tenth of the troops to fight the Swiss.

However, what surprised Heinrich Irabem even more was that Archduke Karl actually agreed. Instead of being angry, he asked with concern.

"What about the supplies?"

"No need. Our French army has always relied on the enemy for food, and I don't have the troops to protect your baggage troops.

But I need the Congreve rockets in your warehouse, as well as enough explosives and ropes."

"Marshal Ulrich, I hope you can meet Colonel Duchat's requirements."

Ulrich Salis nodded and said.

"Please come this way, Colonel Duchat."

"Thank you, Archduke." Charles Duchat took off his hat and saluted again.

"Young man, you look like someone I know. I hope you can come back alive and tell the world about your legend."

Archduke Karl's words immediately excited the young man, and Charles Duchat turned around and bowed deeply again.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, and I wish you more success."

But this sentence also deeply hurt some people. After the French colonel left.

Heinrich Bellaim asked unwillingly.

"Why can he compare with Napoleon?"

Archduke Karl looked at the future general of the Austrian Empire with some helplessness and fell into deep contemplation. His incompetent sons seemed to be doing well too.

"Mr. Heinrich, I now need you to lead the troops of Walden and Valais to guard the St. Geda Pass to prevent the Free Alliance from cutting off our retreat."

"Yes" Heinrich Beaim hesitated

"I will ask Mr. Sigwalt to write a certificate for you, and I will send an officer from the Orthodox Alliance to accompany you."

"Yes" Heinrich Beaim replied with a loud voice, because being able to lead tens of thousands of people in combat is definitely an honor for an officer.

"Mr. Amkhed, I hope you can take your people to carry out a raid between the cantons of Aargau and Zurich. You don't need to fight too much. You only need to target the enemy's granaries and arsenals." .

If you encounter the enemy's main force, please avoid it as soon as possible. You can go to other states for harassment. How to do it specifically, I think you know better than me. "

"No problem, His Excellency the Grand Duke. This is our old profession, just wait for the smoke of the Freedom Alliance to rise!"

Tanner Armhold took off his hat and said respectfully.

"I'm waiting for your good news."

"Thank you for your trust, I won't let you down."

Tanner Armhold bowed respectfully and exited the room.

At this time, Archduke Karl looked at his old guard captain.

"Sigismund, it's our turn now."

"Yes, everything is ready, Your Excellency."