Descending On France 1780-Chapter 181: The Birth of the 174 Cavalry Artillery Song

Anning had just arrived at the flank and hadn’t even clashed with the enemy when the enemy began to retreat en masse.

The main road had been blocked by the Laharpu Division, and with Lasalle’s cavalry slashing people everywhere in the northern valley, most of the Austrian troops chose to flee directly into the hilly region north of Diego.

Now the hills were swarming with fleeing Austrian soldiers.

Anning shouted to the people around him: "The military flag, capture those carrying the military flags!"

Apart from being a beautifully crafted symbol of honor and a trophy of war, the military flag was also an important tool for organizing troops, which were often organized by the military flags.

After all, in this era, the organization of troops and the initiative of soldiers were generally low, especially with the Austrians being a dynastic army, with most soldiers being forced onto the battlefield, their organization would be halved without their military flags.

Therefore, capturing military flags held actual tactical significance in this era.

Hearing Anning’s words, Lana led a squad of infantry and charged towards the enemy’s military flag.

Lana’s troops had just been deployed into battle and were in very good shape, incomparable to the Austrian troops who had been fighting for most of the day.

They soon caught up with a few Austrians carrying the flags, and it only took a few moments to capture them.

Anning saw Lana with a flag tucked under his arm, charging towards another flag still in flight.

Originally, Anning had planned to use Lana in a critical situation at the front line, deploying the teaching regiment and the twilight knights for a melee when absolutely necessary.

But due to Napoleon’s clever maneuvers, the enemy only broke through the first line of defense and there was never a moment when the reserves needed to be committed.

Now Lana could only use his preserved energy to chase after military flags.

One could only say that the subjective initiative of these powerful generals had a far greater impact on the battle than Anning had anticipated.

The same was true for Lasalle on the left flank; Anning never expected that a single charge could completely rout the enemy.

Indeed, with such fierce generals under his command, all Anning needed to do was to draw lines on the ground for formation, and they would win the war themselves.

Anning didn’t need to be an outstanding military strategist; he just needed to gather these fierce generals under his command with his knowledge that surpassed the era, and then he could sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

What a wonderful thing that would be!

Now he should quickly promote Davout, raising him to the rank of Brigadier so he could lead an army. Assigning an army to Davout, along with Lasalle and Napoleon, would create an invincible corps. Let them go to war, and Anning could just slack off!

Thinking about these things, Anning couldn’t help but reveal a subtle smile.

He didn’t know that at that moment, David was sketching him, a sketch that would later give birth to the famous painting "General Frost with a Smile during the Victory at Diego."

Just then, Napoleon rode over from a distance.

"Andy!" he shouted loudly, then realizing it wasn’t proper to call a general by his name in front of so many troops, he corrected himself, "General Frost! Did you see my performance just now?"

Anning turned his head to look at Napoleon and noticed that he indeed came back intact, true to the AT field around him that bullets could not penetrate.

No wonder in actual history, during the battle of Lodi, Napoleon personally carried a flag to rush the bridge, and despite being at a very close range, survived multiple volleys of musket fire and cannon grape shot with no harm, while several groups of people around him died.

Anning: "You madman, I have to replenish your artillery again. Do you think it’s that easy to train artillerymen?"

Napoleon chuckled, "But I have killed so many enemies! Don’t you think this exchange is fantastic?"

"Indeed, indeed. Thanks to you, only one gap was breached on the front line. In this battle, you are the main contributor!"

Napoleon smiled, "Really? Then I won’t be modest! Let me tell you, I have thought of a new toy that could take the mobilization of cavalry guns to the next level. Currently with cavalry guns, we need to dismount them from the horses before firing. I’m thinking of a four-wheeled carriage, with the cannon placed on it, drawn by four horses!"

"While this would be quite restricted on rough terrain, on plains, it would be astonishingly powerful!"

Anning frowned, his expression saying "What on earth is this," Napoleon’s description reminded him of something called a Tower Gun Car, which was a kind of "battle carriage" created by the Red Army during the Soviet civil war—it was essentially a Maxim heavy machine gun mounted on top of a four-wheeled carriage.

The Soviets even created a song to praise the soldiers using this type of carriage, "The Tower Gun Car Song," also known as "Song of the Horse-drawn Machine Gun."

As Napoleon continued speaking, the tune involuntarily started playing in Anning’s head.

The Soviets had their Tower Gun Car, and here you are wanting to create a Tower Cannon Car!

It seems Napoleon is intent on charging down this path of being an expert in close-range shelling.

Napoleon asked, "Why that look? Don’t you think it’s a good idea?"

Anning scratched his head, "Er, it’s not that I dislike the idea, you could give it a try."

He paused for a moment, then said to Napoleon, "By the way, witnessing your valor in combat, I was suddenly struck with inspiration, and a song is just begging to come out."

Then Anning began to sing the modified version of "The Tower Gun Car Song." After all, the tactics used for the Tower Gun Car, which involved driving up to the enemy, turning the vehicle around, and stopping, were the same as the actions taken by the horse-drawn cavalry gun, so it was easy to change the lyrics.

Anning only knew the first part of the song and his singing ability was not great, so he could only manage to hum out the melody.

Upon hearing it, Beethoven’s eyes lit up, "Fantastic, such a light-hearted melody! You’re thinking of music while commanding the battle? Truly worthy of being a great Commander!"

No, no, you’ve got it wrong. I was just stimulated by Napoleon’s idea, and then this melody filled my head.

Napoleon was thrilled, "Is this song especially for me? Wonderful, from now on the horse artillery troops must all learn to sing this song! Hey, Ludwig, get the score ready for me!"

Anning was somewhat surprised because Napoleon directly addressed Beethoven by his name, showing that their relationship was quite good.

Anning knew only about the good relationship between Napoleon and Davout, thanks to the battle on the ridges, but had no idea when Napoleon became close with Beethoven as well.

Beethoven nodded, "I will note down the music as soon as possible."

Anning asked, "Do you need me to sing it again?"

"No, once is enough. I’ve memorized the entire score after one listen!"

Truly the maestro.

Anning teased, "You just can’t stand my singing, can you?"

Beethoven laughed too, as Anning was usually very down-to-earth, so they often interacted with Anning in this straightforward manner.

"Listening to you sing," Beethoven said, "I feel God is still fair, not giving all the gifts to one person."

At that moment, a Messenger Soldier hurried over, "General! Colonel Bertier sent me to inform you that Marshal Boliue’s Military Flag has retreated from the line. We have achieved a complete victory!"

Anning responded, "Understood, go back and tell Bertier, I’ll meet him in Diego City."