King's Landing in France

Chapter 256 Going to the battlefield is like a date with a beautiful girl
Kleber, the brigade commander of the 68th Battle Infantry Brigade, received the order to attack at six o'clock in the afternoon.

He was stunned when he got the order: "Go to... Babi Village? Now? I don't even know where the hell this village is."

The sergeant who came to deliver the order had a serious face: "Your Excellency the Acting Commander ordered you to attack immediately and march overnight."

Kleber: "Your Excellency the Acting Commander just urged us to rush to the east to chase the enemy's rout. Now we have just stopped to rest, and the floor is not warm, and we are asked to turn around again. Are you kidding us? Woolen cloth?"

Sergeant: "As far as I know, no. You'd better go, Mr. Brigadier."

After speaking, the sergeant saluted, turned and left.

Kleber frowned, his face wrinkled into a ball.

His adjutant ran over: "Brigadier, dinner is ready."

"Let them eat as soon as possible, and we are going to set off again after eating."

The adjutant was stunned: "Let's go? We just camped and rested."

"Yes, let's go, and it's an urgent order. I'm afraid it's too late to evacuate the tents. Let the guys eat quickly. As for me, I'm going to get some torches. I can't rely on the torches we brought."

Saying that, Kleber went straight to the quartermaster's tent.

As soon as I arrived at the tent, I met the brigade commanders of the 66th and 67th brigades.

As soon as Kleber saw the iconic black face of the commander of the 66th Brigade, he greeted: "Hey, writer, I guess you are also here to get torches for your own troops?"

Dumas: "I'm not a writer."

Mo Luo, the brigade commander of the 67th brigade, joked: "You just accept your fate. There is nothing wrong with being a writer. I heard that the brigade commander who was added recently is also a painter, and his name is Calto."

Ju Dumas: "No, in order to avoid misunderstanding, I will correct it as soon as I hear it, even if it was called first by Your Excellency the General."

Mo Luo shrugged, and then changed the subject: "So you have also received the order to turn around and rush to Babi Village overnight?"

"Yes." Ju Dumas nodded, "That place is a fork in the road, there is a small road to Verdun, I guess the coalition forces have divided up and rushed over."

Kleber: "Okay, so we were sent to defend a key point, but why didn't we leave enough troops to defend it before?"

Mo Luo shrugged: "I don't know, maybe the former Commander-in-Chief felt that it was impossible for the enemy to bypass Verdun and send people south."

"So how many enemy troops will we face?" Kleber asked a new question.

Ju Dumas thought for a while and said: "If I remember correctly, the road to Verdun should be a second-class post road, which can probably supply 2 people."

Kleber gasped: "2 people! Our three brigades combined are only in the early [-]s, and all of them are recruits. The commander is also a lawyer, writer, and architect! This battle cannot be fought!"

"I'm not a writer."

"Okay, you're not. Then Mr. Former Private, according to what you see, how is this mission going?"

"The sheep go to the tiger's mouth." The black man said with a serious face, "unless we can use forced march to seize a favorable position before the enemy. How fast we can run tonight will determine whether this battle will turn into a terrible rout .”

Moreau: "But our troops have just marched for a day, and their physical exhaustion has not recovered."

Ju Dumas curled his lips, and just as he was about to speak, the curtain of the tent was lifted. A colonel from the military supply department came out, saw the three people standing in a row, and asked suspiciously: "What do you want?"

"We need torches." The three said in unison.

Moreau added: "Enough torches for a brigade."

Kleber: "Three brigades, enough torches for three brigades."

"There are not so many torches, just transporting food, fodder and ammunition is enough for us to work, where is the spare capacity to transport torches?"

Kleber: "Give us as much as you want. We will share one point. The acting commander asked us to march back overnight to defend Babi Village. If you delay, you will be responsible for the consequences!"

After Kleber finished speaking, Morrow also took a step forward: "We are going to defend a very important node. If we fail to complete the task, it may lead to the complete defeat of the army. You don't want to blame Lord Frost later, do you? "

Morrow is worthy of being a lawyer, and he is very familiar with the work of extorting people.

The quartermaster looked pale and shook his head: "Maybe we can get some torches from nearby towns."

Moreau made a fist-clenching motion.

Kleber urged: "Take us to get it!"

Quartermaster: "Here. Call the soldiers to get it. Let's give the villagers money."

According to the rules set by An Ning, the army must pay the price of the materials borrowed from the local villagers, and if they cannot pay, they must issue an IOU.

In this way, the torch problem was solved.

About 10 minutes later, the No.60 Sixth Battle Infantry Brigade took the lead, lit the torches and began to rush towards the way they came.

Morrow's 67th Infantry Brigade followed closely behind, and finally Kleber's No. 60 Eighth Line Infantry Brigade.

While following the troops, Kleber loudly encouraged the soldiers: "I know you are all very tired! But if we don't get to this place called Babi Village as soon as possible tonight, we may lose the battle.

"Everyone knows that the current situation in the Republic is very dangerous. We can't lose the battle at this time! Think about your wives and sons, think about your old fathers and mothers at home!
"The Republic is a good thing, but don't let those damned Prussians and Austrians destroy it!"

After the words fell, Kleber always felt that the soldiers around him were moving faster.

——It should be effective.

After walking for a while, Kleber decided to start and let everyone sing a song, using singing to make everyone forget their physical fatigue.

So he called out to the young man who could sing the most in the brigade: "Philip, does Philip hear?"

Someone in the queue at the front responded: "Here I am, Mr. Brigadier!"

"Philip, sing and cheer everyone up!"

"Okay!"

Then a youthful voice sang in captivating tunes: "I remember a small provincial town,
"Lonely, isolated, and depressing.

"Avenues in the city, fairs and churches,

"There is still a hazy mist reverberating.

"I saw—

"Dear familiar figure,
"The blue round cap,

"The blue coat;

"A dark dress, a girlish figure,

"My short-lived romance..."

After the solo part, the marching queue sang together, singing the song of love.

As if they were not going to war, but on their way to a date with a beautiful girl.

(End of this chapter)