3 The Siege of Toulon (1)

(from now on the story will be told from Napoleon's point of view.)

My eyes snapped wide open and with a deep breath, I find myself sitting in a carriage on the way to Toulon.

It feels weird to be back in my uniforms, I touched the place where my medals used to be and felt slightly disappointed at it's missing.

"What's wrong, Bonaparte?" A voice sitting across from me asked and I looked up to see that it was none other than my former marshal, Auguste De Marmont.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just a bit drowsy. Are we arriving at Toulon anytime soon?"

"We're nearly there so you'd better straighten yourself out, friend." Hearing this, I almost flew into a rage and start screaming at Marmont for his lack of respect but then I remembered that at this point, both of us are just lieutenants of the 1st artillery regiment, so we're basically the same rank.

"You don't have to worry about me, friend." I says, with the last word especially hard to say as I was not accustomed to calling my subordinates, or former subordinates as friend.

I took the few minutes left on the journey to gather my wits, yet I couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement and determination run through me. This time God himself had sent me back, and I am determined to do it right. With my knowledge of the future as well as the experience of a future military genius, I will no doubt prevail and once again lead France to glory.

"Looks like we're here now, Bonaparte, let's go see general Carteaux." Marmont says as he open the door of the carriage, revealing the midst of a bustling military camp with soldiers, cannons, and the unmistakable sounds of battle. I Immediately followed him off the carriage.

As soon as I got off the carriage, an officer walks up to us, one look at his face and I instantly recognized who it was, none other than one of my brightest general, at least up until I accidentally shot him in the eye during a hunt at Fontainebleau.

"Good morning, I'm brigadier Masséna, I take it that you're the 2 artillery officers sent here as replacements?"

"Yes we are sir, I'm lieutenant Bonaparte and he's lieutenant Marmont of the 1st artillery regiment."

"Very well, follow me, I'll lead you to the general's tent." Masséna said and began walking at a brisk pace toward a tent some distance away.

" General! our artillery officers are here." He said, announcing our arrival to general Carteaux, who is standing over a map alongside a few officers, some of whom I can recognize, notably Victor and Suchet.

"Which one of you is Dommartin?" Carteaux, with an arrogant tone, said without looking up from the map.

"Dommartin had been wounded on the way to

Toulon, sir, the Convention sent me as his replacement."

"What? I asked for an experienced artillery commander and the Convention sent me 2 fresh graduates? This is outrageous!"

Victor then steps foward and ease the tension "Now now, we should at least give them a chance, I had heard good things about this artillery officer."he said before turning to me "You're Bonaparte, right?"

I nodded "Yes, sir."

"it's not like we have others options now colonel Victor." Carteaux said to Victor before turning to me. "Since you're Dommartin's replacement, then that means you're the senior artillery commander on the field right now."

"I'll need 2 aides-de-camp, sir" I replied

"The one standing next to you will be your first aide-de-camp, I'll arrange for another one to come see you at your tent later, dismissed." I saluted him and make my way out of the tent

"Not the reception that I was expecting" Marmont whispers to my ears once we outside of the tent.

"Don't worry, that bastard will get what coming to him soon enough." I said and continue walking around our encampment to inspect the artillery positions and guns.

After my inspection, I realized that there are a severe lack of cannons, as Carteaux had foolishly thought that if he built a battery in a gully near Ollioules then he would be able to rain hell on the Anglo-Neapolitan ships. So my first task would be to requisition those cannons as well as any unused cannons lying around the battlefield.

Not only that, there aren't even enough gun crews to man the few cannons that are currently here, so that means that I would have to train some of the infantrymen to work on the cannons, as well as find a way to acquire additional powder and shots.

I believe that since I was send back in time, then maybe if I do exactly what I did last time then the situation will also improve, just like last time. So I decided to do just that.

As I was walking around and telling Marmont to write down my order onto his notebook, I saw a familiar figure running toward me. It was Junot, my aide-de-camp in my other "future".

"Sergeant Jean-Andoche Junot, reporting for duty as lieutenant Bonaparte's aide-de-camp, sir." He said to me while saluting.

"Very well sergeant, take out your notebook and write down my orders. I want you to ride to Marseille and arrange the transportation of 100,000 for construction of new batteries. After that, you shall ride to Nice and hand this letter to deputy Antoine Saliceti for me. Understood?"

"Understood, Lieutenant. I'll depart now."

"Good, Godspeed, Sergeant." I said as he salute me before running off once again.

With that out of the way, I turn to Marmont and order him to ride to Ollioules to bring the battery that had already been built there over at the location my new intended battery.

After that, I went to my tent and lie on my bed, closing my eyes for some much needed rest.