I'm the paper king at Hogwarts

Chapter 174 Eat Some Strawberries
The French were armed with eighty guns, not just the twenty-four twelve-pounders originally planned.But its power was not as intimidating to the enemy as Napoleon expected.

Meowington kept his infantry in ambush behind the crest in his old fashion, and the barrage of French shells mostly sank into the rain-soaked soil of the forward slope and did no harm.

As we all know, artillery in this era basically used solid shells, and their lethality generally relied on ricochets to cause damage, that is, the shells hit the ground and rebounded to cause multiple kills.

Of course, the ground needs to be hard enough for the shell to ricochet, or it will get stuck in the mud.In addition, the angle of incidence must be kept as small as possible, only in this way can it be bounced. In order to ensure the angle of incidence, the guns at that time generally used flat-fire guns, and such guns were also called cannons.

In the weather after the rain like now, it is almost impossible for the shells to cause the kind of killing expectations in Napoleon's mind.

What is the situation now? When the gunfire sounded a second ago, all the units of the British army shrank their necks. After the shells entered the ground, they did not respond. They shrank for a long time before realizing that the artillery of the French army was thunder. The sound is loud and the rain is small.

Are you afraid of a hammer?A big orange cat in charge of the investigation happily poked its head to see what was going on, but was pierced through its ear by a flying stone brought up by the shell.

Under the pain, he screamed in pain, but unfortunately it didn't help, who made him owe it?

There was still some time before Napoleon launched a formal offensive. Under orders, the British soldiers took out the enamel jars tucked in their field backpacks, and the people from the quartermaster department or the bored officers carried the wine bottles and distributed the wine. All were given a swig of gin.

Enamel jars are the only treatment for elite troops like the Guards. Like the Sanhuamao group that Louis met before, they can only take out the big jars for eating to hold wine.

"Here comes the drink, men—drink it if you can," shouted the troop officers as they moved through the ranks.

Walking to the 72nd regiment where the little three-colored cat was, the officer looked at the little three-colored cat who was praying with a string of beads in his hand, and stood in front of him holding a wine bottle and asked, "Jack?"

"No, thank you sir." Jack refused very stiffly.

The officer didn't speak, stretched out his cat's paw to rub his head, and continued to walk aside.

After the officer left, a two-color cat next to him held his big rice bowl and elbowed him: "Drink some gin, Jack, this is a greeting from His Majesty the King."

As he spoke, he added: "When we go to the palace next time, remember to remind me to thank him."

Jack didn't answer, but asked in a trance, "Lawrence, do you think...there will be many of them?"

Lawrence took a sip of the wine, was aroused by the spicy taste and went 'ah', and then he took a moment to answer Jack's question: "I don't have clairvoyance, Jack, how can I know what's going on on the other side of the mountain? How about Go over and ask, and you will say, hey, damn French, how many of you are here? See if they will answer you..."

"In the end, you are also unlucky. You met Napoleon the first time you participated in the war, haha..." Lawrence saw that Jack was silent, and patted his head again: "Forget it, don't think about it, even if there are [-] people on the other side of the mountain , it’s not that you can persuade them to go back just by praying, if prayers are useful, I don’t think we will form any anti-French alliance.”

Jack finally turned his head, looked at his talkative friend and asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid?"

"There's nothing to frighten me, my dear Jack, but standing beside a friend who's talking too much," Lawrence replied somewhat slyly.

As if he was really trying to dispel fear, he picked up his big rice bowl and took a big gulp of wine.

He also folded the little wine that belonged to Jack into his own rice bowl.

"I'd better drink it all, so as not to be snatched away by the French..." Lawrence tried to make up for himself, and drank the rest of the wine in one gulp.

Accompanied by the commander's slogan "72 Regiment, advance!", Jack and Lawrence quickly put away the things in their hands, picked up the rifles from the side, joined the ranks and joined the marching queue.

Next to the temporary command post, Meowlington also got on his horse, looked around, and shouted loudly: "Ulbridge, where is Ulbridge?"

"Here, Your Excellency." A silver tabby came out of the tent in a hurry, he just went to relieve himself.

"Notify your babies, it's time to attack... Drive back the Frenchmen who are pressing up." Meowlington ordered.

The Babes refer to the Scottish Gray Dragoons under Ulbridge's command, which is similar to a joke.

Ulbridge quickly saluted and said yes, pulling up his pants while running.

William Ponsonby, commander of the Union Brigade, was taking snuff with his adjutant when the order was given.

"Try this, the taste is quite strong, meow." Ponsonby took out the exquisite small box containing snuff, watched the adjutant twist out a pile, and couldn't help but blamed distressedly: "Oh, you can waste less, this is The last ones in stock, meow."

After receiving the order to attack, his silver-gray cat paw drew out his saber and carried it on his shoulder. He turned around and shouted, "It's now! Scottish Gray Dragoons, it's time!"

Hearing the officer's order, the trumpeter raised his head and raised his bugle, and began to play beep beep.

The Scottish cavalry who heard the trumpets drew out their sabers in unison and carried them on their shoulders as well.

When the Scottish cavalry attacked, Louis, Chromie and the others were watching the situation on the battlefield in the command post.Since the command post has reinforced protective magic, there is no need to worry about the damage caused by the shells.

From a high-altitude perspective, the cavalry wearing tall bearskin hats advanced in small steps and gradually accelerated. From a distance, it was like a wave of black, red and gray, and the speed was getting faster and faster. The galloping horses Wrapped in thick smoke and dust, they swarmed towards the artillery positions of the vanguard of the French army.

From time to time, shells fell on them, bringing up bursts of smoke, but the Scottish cavalry continued to charge towards the target without fear.

Of course, Napoleon beside the French command post also noticed the cavalry charging. He looked ahead and seemed to be talking to himself.

"The ones on the gray horses look scary meow."

"They are the most noble cavalry in Europe, but have the worst command." Soult beside him said.

"Maybe, maybe." Napoleon repeated twice noncommittally, and then said: "Where are my Polish Lancers? Order them to attack, and let these British guys taste our power!"

The Polish Lancers were ordered, and accompanied by loud bugles, they raised their spears in unison and began to move quickly towards the mixed brigade of Scottish cavalry.

Ulbridge also saw the conspicuous Lancers from a high place. He is almost remorseful now. He really shouldn’t have sent the Gray Cavalry to attack the enemy’s artillery positions so early. It’s okay now, it’s not going to work. Are you in Mizurenami Heights yet?

But he didn't think about it, if he didn't send this wave, what would happen to the artillery positions that had already threatened the Meowlington Army?
"Blow the retreat!" Ulbridge immediately ordered to the trumpeter on the side.

The trumpeter did as he said, but the sound on the battlefield was too noisy, and the Scottish gray cavalry were also jealous, so where could they hear his trumpet?
Meowlington was annoyed by the noise, the bugleman blew so hard that his ears hurt a little.He stretched out his cat's paw and plucked at his ears, and shouted almost scoldingly: "Stop blowing your useless trumpets!"

In fact, it was also a little bit personal. After sending out the Gray Cavalry, he obviously regretted it a bit.

In this way, the coalition forces, which were already at a disadvantage in the number of cavalry, made it even worse.

The trumpet cat put down the bugle in his hand, and looked at Meowington aggrievedly. He didn't understand how he had offended the marshal.

Meowlington also knew that his behavior was inappropriate, and it was not a gentleman's doing. He quickly apologized: "Oh, sorry, I'm just worried that you will hurt yourself like this."

The artillery fire became more and more urgent, and shells continued to land everywhere, bringing up pieces of sludge. The situation on the battlefield was too tense. Everyone was concerned about the situation of the Scottish cavalry and their own safety, so that no one noticed that the shells fell on the ground. The tent next to Meowlington disappeared strangely again.

It may also be that Ye Ziyan's Muggle shielding spell caused no one to pay attention, and Meowlington seemed to have forgotten the existence of Louis and the others.

"Is there any trace of Eternal Dragon?" Louis raised his eyes and glanced at Chromie who was in a daze of boredom.

"No, it seems that they have given up on this side." Chromie shook her head. During this time, she had been searching for the largest area she could scan, but unfortunately found nothing.

"Then we'll just wait here?" Louis was a little annoyed. Not everyone could stay on the battlefield, and the feeling of life disappearing every moment really suppressed the atmosphere to the extreme.

In the entire tent, only two dragons, Chromie and Christasa, could look at ease. As the guardian of time, the former was used to such life-and-death situations, while the latter was because he was heartless.

Louis was fine, and Catherine just turned pale, but Ye Ziyan really couldn't accept this kind of scene, and returned to the original time and space first.

Thinking about it, this should be the reaction of a normal person. After all, everyone is not a bloodthirsty monster. It is a bit outrageous to be as big-hearted as Christaza.

"Fawn." Catherine said in a low voice, her slender hands resting on Louis' shoulders.

Louis patted her slender waist and said nothing. In a blink of an eye, the French army had another move.

Oh, it is a French army cruising on the periphery, not in Waterloo, but patrolling and reconnaissance almost 20 kilometers away.

It was Grouchy that Mikolo mentioned earlier.

There are many theories in history, especially the works of the novelist Zweig. It seems that Grouchy is to blame, but who is right and who is wrong, this pot may not be so clear. Cher, it was Napoleon's order.

Now he is riding a tall horse, holding a basket in his arms, picking strawberries from it to eat.

It looked quite fresh, and he was very happy to eat it.

The dull sound of the cannon came, and Grouchy put the basket on the saddle, looked around and asked aloud, "Where is the cannon? Where is the cannon?"

"It's in the direction of Mont Saint-Jean, sir." Gérard who was beside him replied.

Grouchy was taken aback for a moment, and after thinking for a moment, he responded with a neutral "Oh."

"Your Excellency, there seems to be intense fighting in the direction of Saint-Jean Mountain. Do we want to..." Gerard asked eagerly. From the sound of the guns, he judged that there must be a big move there.

His beloved emperor did not seem to have such an advantage against the coalition forces.

"I know you're in a hurry, but please don't be in a hurry, my general." Grouchy picked up the strawberry basket again and began to show strawberries in his mouth.

Gerard's face turned ugly, and both cat teeth were bared outside: "For God's sake, the sound of the cannon is calling us! Let's march in the direction of the sound of the cannon, we have three points One of the troops, our duty is to..."

Grouchy's face darkened instantly, he tilted his head, and interrupted Gerard's words in a bad tone: "You don't need to teach me what our duties are, general, the instructions I got from the emperor are clear, Just keep my sword chasing after Blücher, meow."

Gérard was really in a hurry, Grouchy's indifferent appearance really made him doubt this person's current status, he poked his neck angrily, and even sprayed his saliva on Grouchy's strawberry: "If you're not going to march to the gunfire, let me go!"

"Split my army? Hmph...Meow Lancey's law will sentence me to hang." Grouchy remained unmoved, still eating strawberries at ease.

"You..." Gérard couldn't utter a word when he was choked, he could only point at Grouchy tremblingly, and then let it go in a daze after a while.

(You'll be Mew Lancey's sinner, Grouchy...)
Gerard, who had difficulty changing the coach's mind, could only look up to the sky and sigh, silently praying for the emperor and Miao Lanxi in his heart.

……

When Grouchy was unmoved, the Duke of Meowington and Napoleon discovered at the same time that in the distance of the main battlefield of Waterloo, a force of about 6000 people was marching towards the battlefield.

"Labe Duvalier!" cried Napoleon.

Duvalier stepped forward, and Napoleon handed him the binoculars, pointing in the direction of the unknown troops he saw: "What is that moving?"

"I saw some troops marching in columns over there, about five or six thousand people..." General Duvalier replied.

"He's right," Soult added behind him.

The effect of telescopes in this era is not particularly ideal, and it is really hard to see anything at a distance.Napoleon couldn't figure out whose army it was, so he could only ask the generals on the side: "Whose army are they? Is it ours or Plumiao's?"

"This..." Generals, you look at me and I look at you. From this distance, you can't see the uniform of that army at all. For a while, everyone didn't know how to answer.

(End of this chapter)