From Corsica to the Fourth Rome.

Chapter 376: Standstill Vittorio
Two days after the Republic of Genoa surrendered to the Corsican army, on October 10

As midnight approached, thick clouds obscured the moon and darkness fell over the land of Liguria.

In remote rural areas like Vadolidore, except for a few lights in the town center, the rest of the area is pitch black, and you can't see your hand in front of you.

Several lightly armed scouts were seen reaching the edge of Vadolidore town under the cover of night. Under their cloaks were the uniforms of the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and they were staring at the situation in the town with wide eyes.

It has been several days since the Corsican army landed in this coastal town. Two days ago, Prince Vittorio led the main force of the Sardinian army to a base sixty miles away.

Following his father's orders, Prince Vittorio began to guard against the attack of the Corsican army after arriving at the garrison, intending to completely block the Corsicans in Liguria, so as to buy enough time for the operation to retake Sardinia.

However, to Prince Vittorio's surprise, the Corsican army did not rush to launch an attack in the direction of Turin. Instead, they stayed in Vadolidore in a tug-of-war situation, receiving supplies from the sea while strengthening the defense of the town.

In his opinion, it was very strange that the Corsican army that crossed the sea did not choose to fight a quick battle with the Kingdom of Sardinia after Colonel Bartram's entire army was annihilated in Corsica.

After all, time is on the side of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The longer it drags on, the more troops the kingdom can recruit and assemble, and the greater the gap in military strength between it and the Corsican army will become.

For this reason, Prince Vittorio, who was suspicious by nature, frequently sent people to inquire about the strength of the Corsican army.

"Report, there are four, no, five large ships anchored in the harbor, all flying the Corsican flag."

A scout was lying in the cover of the bushes, watching the ships in the harbor with a telescope, and reported to the non-commissioned officer next to him:

"There are still quite a few soldiers loading and unloading goods at the dock. There should be hundreds of them."

The sergeant took the telescope with a serious expression, observed the situation in the port himself, and said to himself:
"Five ships, just like yesterday, all large four-deck merchant ships. It seems that the Corsicans consume a lot of supplies every day."

As an extremely experienced scout, the non-commissioned officer could tell at a glance that the five large merchant ships were all carrying supplies for the Corsican army.

During yesterday's reconnaissance, the scout team also witnessed a fleet of merchant ships coming to Vadolidore to resupply the Corsican army.

There were also five large merchant ships, and they also unloaded tons of supplies. It even took hundreds of soldiers half a day just to unload those heavy wooden boxes.

Judging from the quantity and frequency of the supplies, the non-commissioned officer could almost conclude that there were probably more than five Corsican regiments stationed in Vadolidore at this moment.

"Does that mean the Corsicans have already come out in full force? They probably brought the French garrison with them. Why are they stationed in Vadolidorre with so many troops? What on earth are they trying to do?"

The sergeant pondered silently in his mind and turned the camera towards the town center.

The town center was the same as yesterday, with no trace of the townspeople. No one knew whether they were dead or alive, and no one knew what the barbaric Corsicans had done to them.

In fact, not only did the residents of the town of Vadoli Dore disappear without a trace, but even several villages around the town were found to be deserted after secret investigation by Sardinian scouts.

Of course, the sergeant was in no mood to care about the poor people. His attention was focused on the hundreds of marching tents that were built in every corner of the town.

"Four, five, six, there are about six hundred military tents. If you add the capacity of the houses in the town, there are indeed more than five regiments of Corsican troops here."

Based on the number of military tents in the town, the non-commissioned officer once again confirmed his conclusion - the main force of the Corsican army was now stationed in this port town, confronting the main force of the Sardinian army sixty miles away.

Several scouts observed every corner of the town of Vadolidore again, but found nothing unusual. They then evacuated the area before the Corsican soldiers became alert and returned to their base sixty miles away.

At dawn, in the main tent of the Sardinian army

"Just received a report from the front, Your Highness."

A staff adjutant walked into the tent and reported to Prince Vittorio who was enjoying breakfast:
"The Corsican army has not made any moves yet. Their army size has been determined to be five infantry regiments after frontline assessment. It seems that they have brought the French garrison to Italy as well."

The breakfast on the table was very rich - smoked sausages, fried eggs, creamed salmon, a cup of fragrant hot coffee and a small bottle of fine brandy from a Poitou estate. Such a breakfast was extremely rare in the marching camp, even for a crown prince.

But Prince Vittorio obviously had no appetite. He listened absent-mindedly, with his silver knife and fork put aside, and all his attention was focused on another report in his hand.

The other officers in the tent had almost the same expression. All of them looked gloomy and remained silent for a long time, not daring to touch the knife and fork at hand.

It was not until the reporting adjutant coughed twice in embarrassment that Prince Vittorio came back to his senses and suddenly said:

"You just said that all five regiments of the Corsican army are deployed at Vadolidore?"

"That's what the reports from the front say."

The adjutant was slightly stunned, and quickly added:
"They confirmed this from the Corsican army's supply situation and the size of the military camp. Yesterday at noon, they even witnessed the Corsican army in Vadolidore conducting a large-scale exercise. There were more than 3,000 soldiers participating in the exercise alone. The troops stationed in Vadolidore must be the main force of the Corsican army."

"waste."

"Your Highness, what did you say?" The adjutant of staff was stunned and did not react for a moment.

"What a bunch of rubbish! How could the main force of the Corsican army still be stationed in Vadolidore?"

Prince Vittorio's expression was extremely angry:
"This is also the report I just received. It's news from Genoa."

Prince Vittorio frowned, his face gloomy, and pointed at the report on the table and said in a deep voice:

"Lawrence Bonaparte personally led his army into Genoa on October 10 and forced the Republic of Genoa to sign a treaty. The content of the treaty is still unknown, but it is certain that the Genoa Republican Guard has been annihilated."

The Republican Guard was completely destroyed and the Republic of Genoa was forced to sign a humiliating treaty. Naturally, such important news could not help but leak out, especially in the city of Genoa, which is well connected and full of merchants from all over the world.

Therefore, Prince Vittorio soon got the report.

"What?! How is this possible!"

The staff adjutant was extremely shocked after hearing this, and his mouth never closed:

"But the main force of the Corsican army is clearly stationed in Vadolidore. This was witnessed by the soldiers on the front line."

The Sardinian outposts deployed around Vadoli Dore all made a unanimous judgment that the Corsican army had at least five infantry regiments deployed here, and this was also recognized as the entire strength of the Corsican Military Kingdom.

But it is also an indisputable fact that the Republic of Genoa was attacked, especially since it was confirmed that the army there was led by Lawrence Bonaparte himself.

How could an army appear in two places at the same time? ! The contradictory news immediately caused the adjutant's brain to crash, and he was speechless for a long time.

The other officers in the tent also kept their heads down. No one dared to offend the future King at this time.

Prince Vittorio's face was filled with more anger. Like his father, when the prince heard about the defeat of Colonel Bartram and Lieutenant General Ethel, he also became increasingly distrustful of the corrupt and incompetent officers of the Royal Army:
"You bunch of idiots, isn't the fact obvious now?! One of the two Corsican armies from Vadolidore and Genoa must be a feint to attract our army's attention!"

In fact, the officers present could understand this truth, but there was only one question before them: which army was the main force of the Corsican army.

The report from Vadolidore's scout team must be true, but the report from Genoa is equally credible. The two equally true and credible reports indicate that the main force of the Corsican army is in different positions, which makes the officers' decision-making extremely difficult.

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was already furious, the staff adjutant who had just received the news asked carefully:
"The reports from Genoa say nothing about the size of the Corsican army?"

"The report is not definitive either. It's all second-hand information."

An officer shook his head and said:

"Some say five hundred, some say one thousand, and some even say ten thousand or fifty thousand. We can't send people to Genoa to investigate in a big way."

Due to territorial disputes, the relationship between the Republic of Genoa and the Kingdom of Sardinia was extremely tense. Therefore, the Kingdom of Sardinia did not have any reliable intelligence network in Genoa, and the way they got information was just hearsay.

Everyone in the main account fell silent again. Everyone knew that they would not have time to carefully investigate where the main force of the Corsican army was located, and they had to make a decision immediately.

According to the judgment of His Majesty King Carlo Emanuele III, the only goal of the Corsican army was Turin, so the trick they played must have been to avoid the main force of the Sardinian army led by Prince Vittorio.

In other words, if the enemy troops in Genoa were indeed the main force of the Corsican army, they would have crossed Liguria and entered the Po River Valley to march towards Turin, and Prince Vittorio would have to lead his army to intercept them. But if the enemy troops in the direction of Genoa were just a feint, Prince Vittorio would have fallen into the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain, and the main force of the Corsican army stationed in Vadoli Dore could swagger across Liguria and attack Turin directly.

As for the proposal to divide the troops to defend both sides, it was quickly rejected by Prince Vittorio. If the main force of the Corsican army really had a scale of more than five regiments, then the Sardinian army after the division would be likely to fall into a disadvantage when facing the main force of the enemy.

Seeing that everyone was silent, a lieutenant colonel officer suggested with difficulty:
"Your Highness, from a probability perspective, the enemy force in Genoa is more likely to be its main force. Since they were able to completely defeat the Republican Guard in Genoa, it is unlikely to be a feint attack force. The Corsicans must be trying to bypass Genoa and enter the Po River Valley."

As soon as the words fell, someone immediately objected:
"Genoa's army is already weak, and the Corsicans are attacking suddenly, so it is entirely possible to win with fewer troops."

Prince Vittorio listened silently, his face uncertain.

He did think that the enemy forces in the direction of Genoa were more likely to be the main force of the Corsican army, but Prince Vittorio, who was suspicious by nature, felt that something was not right.

If the Corsican army's goal was to advance northward quickly and covertly through Genoa, they should have paid attention to directly engaging the Republican Guard, rather than engaging the Republican Guard head-on and entering the Governor's Palace with great fanfare, and even forcing the Genoese top brass to sign a peace treaty.

Such a blatant posture was telling everyone, including Prince Vittorio, that the Corsican army was passing through Genoa to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Even Lawrence Bonaparte personally led the Corsican army on the Genoese side.

Put yourself in his shoes. If Prince Vittorio, as the commander of the Corsican army, wanted to confuse the Sardinian army, he would definitely take charge of Vadolidore's feint attack force and let his subordinates lead the main force to quickly bypass Genoa and launch an attack.

Prince Vittorio didn't believe that Prime Minister Bonaparte, who had become famous at a young age, would not have thought of this, but Lawrence Bonaparte still showed up in the Governor's Palace in Genoa with a swagger. This abnormal behavior immediately made Prince Vittorio suspicious:
"Could it be that Vadolidore's Corsican army is the main force? Is Lawrence Bonaparte's ostentatious behavior in Genoa just to confuse me? Suspicious, too suspicious."

In fact, such contradictory psychology is also a true reflection of the inner feelings of every officer present.

With such limited information, no one can be sure to make a 100% correct decision.

Just when everyone's decision was deadlocked, a messenger suddenly walked into the tent:

"Your Highness, a messenger has arrived at our camp. He claims to be an envoy from the Royal Palace of Turin, and he has come to deliver a letter from His Majesty the King to you."

"A messenger sent by my father?"

Hearing this, the gloom on Prince Vittorio's face was immediately swept away, and he waved his hand and said:

"Bring him in!"

After a brief security check, a plain-looking royal envoy wearing a sheepskin cloak was brought before the prince.

Prince Vittorio frowned and looked at the dusty envoy in front of him. He felt it was a bit strange. He couldn't remember when the Kingdom of Sardinia was so poor that it had to make the royal envoys wear cheap sheepskin cloaks.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

The envoy simply exchanged a few pleasantries and then said nothing. He only respectfully handed a gold-stamped envelope to Prince Vittorio and then said goodbye:

"Please understand that I am very busy and have to immediately convey His Majesty's will to several towns in the south. I cannot stay in Your Highness's camp for long. Please forgive me."

After saying this, before Prince Vittorio nodded in agreement, the envoy bowed and left the main tent, walking out without looking back.

"Ok?"

Prince Vittorio still held the envelope in his hand, but his eyes were still fixed on the envoy's back. He did not come back to his senses until the envoy completely disappeared from his sight. He frowned and said to himself:
"It's really strange. I just feel that his face is unfamiliar. I have never seen this person in the Royal Palace of Turin. His accent is also a kind of Tuscan and Corsican accent."

Prince Vittorio, who was born in the Purple Room, knew very well that those who could serve as envoys in the Royal Palace of Turin were all, without exception, native nobles from Savoy with pure blood, so how could they have southern accents?

With such doubts, Prince Vittorio tore open the envelope and read it in front of a group of officers.

The letter was very brief:
"My child, is everything okay in the barracks? I have received news that the main force of the Corsicans has marched towards Turin from the direction of Genoa. I hope that after receiving this letter, you will immediately lead your troops eastward and intercept the Corsican army in the Po River Valley."

Finally, there is the signature and seal of King Carlo Emanuele III.

After learning the content of the letter, the faces of the officers in the main account suddenly relaxed a lot. They did not expect that His Majesty the King had already received the news and made a decision directly. This saved these hesitant officers a lot of trouble.

"As expected of your Majesty, you are indeed wise and powerful."

"Well, I don't know how your Majesty determined that Genoa was the enemy's main attack direction, but I'll still obey your orders."

"Finally we can have a fight to the death with those damned Corsicans."

"Your Highness, let's prepare to march immediately. There is no more time to waste."

Seeing that His Majesty the King's order had been issued, the officers were finally no longer as nervous and depressed as before. Now they only needed to follow the order, and all the consequences would be borne by His Majesty the King himself.

However, just as everyone was looking at Prince Vittorio expectantly, waiting for his orders.

Prince Vittorio suddenly sneered, held the gorgeous white letter in front of him, and then tore it into pieces without hesitation.

"Your Highness! What are you doing!?"

The officers were completely stunned.

Even if Prince Vittorio is the undisputed king in the future, he cannot do such a treasonous act as tearing up His Majesty's edict at this moment.

Prince Vittorio just sneered and glanced at the debris on the ground, and said in a deep voice:

"I felt something was wrong when the envoy came in. After seeing the letter with my own eyes, I was even more certain that he was not a royal envoy at all. He must be a spy sent by the Corsicans. The handwriting on this letter is not my father's at all. There is no resemblance at all. Even the seal is an extremely poor forgery. I can see no less than five mistakes at a glance!"

An officer carefully looked down at the piece of paper with the seal on it, and immediately felt that the seal pattern on it was slightly different from the seal of His Majesty the King that he often saw.

"This letter is forged?! Then who was that just now?"

The officers looked at each other and immediately realized the seriousness of the matter.

"Guards! Guards! Bring back that so-called envoy!"

Prince Vittorio called out to his guards, but soon a guard walked into the tent, knelt on one knee and said:
"I am extremely sorry, Your Highness! Just now, that man left your tent and directly left the military camp, riding a fast horse to flee south!"

"Humph, that's fine. There's no need to send anyone after him."

Prince Vittorio grinned grimly, looking at the debris on the ground. He felt that he had won the battle, and couldn't help but burst into laughter:
"Hahahahaha!"

"Why is His Highness laughing?" the adjutant asked carefully.

"I laugh at the schemes of Lawrence Bonaparte, which are no more than this."

Prince Vittorio clenched his fists and said with great joy:

"Stupid Corsicans, if they hadn't played this despicable trick on me, I would have really hesitated, but now, their actions show that the Corsicans are eager for us to leave Vadolidore!"

After hearing this, the officers' expressions immediately changed from shock to ecstasy.

That's right, the Corsicans sent this spy to deliver a message in an attempt to transfer Prince Vittorio's army to the east. Doesn't this prove that the army stationed in Vadolidore is actually the main force of the Corsican army? !
"Give me the order!"

Prince Vittorio was handsome and dignified. He waved his hand and gave the order confidently:

"The entire army continues to hold this place and block the Corsicans in Vadolidore. No matter what rumors there are from the outside world or what actions the enemy takes, our army will remain in place. Anyone who disobeys orders will be punished according to wartime military law!"

"Your Highness is wise!"

The officers couldn't help but express their heartfelt admiration.