Chapter 101: Headhunting and Blame-Shifting

Aurelio rode his horse, the first to leap over the enemy's trenches and breastworks, swiftly slashing down a terrified rebel. More cavalry soon joined, and chaos ensued among the enemy forces as they scattered in disarray.

Aurelio knew he had to seize this moment, launching a continuous assault to prevent the enemy from regrouping. Napoleon's orders were clear: "Keep a watchful eye on the battlefield. If you spot any signs of the enemy attempting to regroup, attack immediately, disperse them before they can reform!"

Aurelio surveyed the area from horseback, peering through the smoke. In the distance, he spotted a general in full uniform, riding away. He shouted, "The one with the tasseled hat up ahead is General Delacroix!"

The riders behind him heard and charged after the general in uniform. They didn't care about the distance and began firing wildly with their muskets.

Delacroix, upon hearing the shouts, looked back and heard phrases like, "The one with the tasseled hat is Delacroix; don't let him escape!" and "We must not let him get away at any cost!" He realized his tasseled hat made him too conspicuous, so he spurred his horse, tearing off his hat and throwing it on the ground.

Aurelio watched closely and was about to shout, "The one without the hat is Delacroix." But he quickly noticed that many riders ahead had lost their hats, and his words would hardly distinguish Delacroix. Fortunately, Delacroix, in a show of bravado, also wore a bright red cape. So Aurelio continued to shout, "The one in the big red cape is Delacroix!"

Delacroix heard this and immediately discarded his cape. Over time, he got rid of his wig, his sword, and more. Finally, he managed to shake off Aurelio's pursuit. However, because Aurelio was constantly on his heels, he never had the chance to regroup his forces. The rebel army collapsed entirely, from General Delacroix down to the stable hands—all scattered in a frenzy.

Many years later, armed forces driven by ideals and beliefs would display an extraordinary trait: even if the units scattered, every soldier would know their objective and willingly continue to fight independently. Dispersed by the enemy's relentless onslaught, they would become guerrilla fighters, carrying on the fight behind the front lines. However, in this era, such armies did not exist. Most armies lost their cohesion and with it, their will to fight when their structure collapsed. In this state, even a child wearing the enemy's uniform and armed with a stick could capture several acres of the enemy's land (as demonstrated by a young warrior from a certain children's group in the East, following the Crossing of the River campaign). The rebel army found itself in this state.

For example, Aurelio, after losing a long-distance horse racing competition to General Delacroix (no surprise, as Delacroix, a nobleman, was an expert in fox hunting), met at least two hundred fleeing rebels alone on his way back to his unit (as he had left his comrades behind). With a whip as his weapon (as he had discarded his weapons while pursuing General Delacroix), he managed to capture all these fleeing rebels.

Bringing these two hundred captives back did not pose much of a challenge for Aurelio. In general, herding a group of people was much easier than herding sheep, not to mention pigs. Had these not been over two hundred people but over two hundred pigs, not even with three heads and six arms could he have managed to escort them all back.

However, Aurelio had chased too far, and bringing back this large number of captives took some time. When he finally returned, it was already evening.

Upon seeing Aurelio return with this multitude of captives, Napoleon was astonished to the point of nearly injuring his jaw with his own heel. He immediately bestowed upon Aurelio the nickname "the Shepherd."

After defeating the rebel army, Napoleon ordered his troops to chase down the enemy as much as possible. However, his own forces had also dispersed. Thus, he had to wait an entire day on the battlefield to regroup his troops. The troops that did return did not achieve the spectacular feat that Aurelio did, capturing over two hundred captives alone, but they brought back approximately three thousand captives in total. Napoleon believed that many more scattered rebels were nearby, although he didn't have the time to pursue and capture them as he had been preoccupied with Aurelio.

Victorious news spreads quickly, and Napoleon believed that other French forces in nearby cities would soon learn of the victory. If they were intelligent, they would realize that the rebel forces currently stationed in Angers must have retreated toward Le Mans. So, Napoleon decided not to waste any more time herding "pigs."

He handed these three thousand captives over to Joseph to handle, and he took his troops to rush to Angers.

Halfway there, Napoleon encountered Dauv, who had been sent to execute a raiding mission earlier. Dauv was returning with a cache of captured horses, accompanied by a group of young, spirited soldiers named Péch, George, and Bonna.

Napoleon didn't hesitate to hand over most of his troops to Dauv's command and mounted a horse with the cavalrymen to head towards Angers.

Napoleon rode day and night, pushing his horse to its limits, eventually reaching Angers. However, Angers had turned into an empty city by then—there were no enemies, no citizens, just ruins and unburied bodies.

On the morning after Napoleon "liberated" Angers, another French cavalry unit appeared in Napoleon's spyglass. Napoleon ordered his men to hoist the tricolor flag prepared on the town hall and, using the astronomical telescope set up on the town hall's third-floor window sill, smugly observed the reactions of his fellow soldiers who had lagged behind.

"General, why are you twisting your neck like that while looking?" a soldier asked.

"Oh, of course, it's because this damn spyglass is inverted!" Napoleon replied, squinting with one eye and twisting his neck.

Although the commander of that unit was indeed surprised and disappointed upon seeing the tricolor flag, he arrived at the town hall and graciously congratulated Napoleon on his remarkable victory.

The day after the victory, around noon, Davout arrived in Angers with the main force. He was accompanied by the Parisian special envoy, Joseph Fouché.

"Fouché, I didn't expect you to arrive so soon," Napoleon said, "They arrived quickly here. Have you dealt with those captives? Did you have them executed?"

Fouché seemed to sense Napoleon's concerns and smiled as he responded, "I believe there is much work to be done in the recently recovered cities here, so I expedited the process there and came here promptly."

Napoleon refrained from asking how he had expedited the process; it was within Fouché's authority.

"I've sent all the peasants among the rebels into the mines, making them labor to atone for their crimes. As for the nobles, these traitors to the country aren't worthy of living in this world. After their trial by the revolutionary court, they all met the guillotine," Fouché said with a cold expression.

Napoleon responded, "This land is now fully under the rule of our Republic. We should set an example so that all the people here know what they'll face if they betray us."

Upon hearing Fouché's words, Napoleon nodded. He then noticed the bag at Fouché's feet.

"What's in the bag?"

Fouché lifted the bag. "This is the head of Delacroix, the leader of the rebels."

Napoleon, who had been gazing at Fouché's bag absentmindedly, suddenly broke into laughter.

"What a sight that Delacroix must have been, fleeing with his head in a sack! Let me see that head!"

Fouché emptied the head onto the ground in front of Napoleon, who laughed even harder upon seeing it.

"How absurdly stiff his expression is! Fouché, you're really excellent at your work!"

Fouché was happy to have Napoleon's praise. "General, we have already purged the city of all rebels. We should clean up the city, restore order, and make sure the people are ready to accept our rule."

In the following days, the people of Angers suffered a great deal under Fouché and Davout's reign of terror, enduring unending executions, forced labor, and other forms of oppression. For the local people, the entry of the French troops didn't seem like a liberation at all.

However, the fact was that their actions managed to extinguish the remaining remnants of rebellion. While this did instill fear and animosity among the local population, it also succeeded in ensuring that they wouldn't resist the French forces again.

By this point, Napoleon had already received a letter from Joseph Bonaparte, who reported the rapid fall of Lyon and the resounding defeat of the rebels. He had expelled all the counter-revolutionary elements there and established a revolutionary administration in Lyon.

At the same time, Joseph Bonaparte mentioned that General Masséna, who had been dispatched to Lyon, had detected the subtle movements of the main rebel forces in the country and was pursuing them.

Napoleon was glad to learn of Joseph's success. However, the question that was weighing most heavily on his mind was how the enemy forces had managed to amass in such a way.

At night, Napoleon was racking his brain, trying to figure out the answer. Then his thoughts wandered toward his meeting with General Delmas in Paris. Had the enemies not been backed by foreign powers and provided with money, materials, and weapons, he couldn't see how such a small number of rebels could have launched such a large-scale rebellion. This scheme had been deeply entrenched and well-prepared long before the rebellion was launched. Now, it seemed that only an intervention from foreign powers could have made all this possible. But how? And which foreign powers had supported the rebels?

Napoleon was suddenly struck with inspiration as the truth dawned on him. He decided to send a message to Joseph immediately.

"Joseph, I believe the rebels were supported by a foreign power. What if there were more foreign powers involved than we initially thought?"

Napoleon had sent a similar message earlier and received a reply from Joseph: "No one has come forward to help the rebels, except for the British."

Joseph's response only deepened Napoleon's suspicions. He didn't believe the British would be so daring as to intervene directly. Instead, Napoleon suspected that the British were using an intermediary to support the rebels, a neutral country or a group of mercenaries. The entire conspiracy was now coming together in his mind.

As Napoleon delved into his thoughts, he heard that Joseph's troops had also encountered the British in Lyon and that a British force had recently landed in Le Havre.

Napoleon was sure he had found a clue. There must be something in Le Havre that the British had prepared for the rebels. Napoleon now believed that to uncover the complete truth, he needed to send a message to General Masséna, who was pursuing the rebels.

"Masséna, the rebels who revolted in the provinces must have been backed by foreign powers. After crushing the rebels in the provinces, try to discover any signs of foreign intervention. See if you can find any relevant documents, secret communications, or any foreign spies. Then, determine which foreign powers were involved. Capture any British agents who may be involved. You have my full authority to take any actions necessary to expose this plot."

Although Napoleon was sure that the British were behind this plot, it was essential to obtain solid evidence. If the British were indeed involved, this would be an excellent opportunity to secure a diplomatic victory. He would use this situation to put pressure on Britain and potentially extract some concessions.

That night, Napoleon couldn't sleep. His thoughts raced as he contemplated this far-reaching conspiracy. Napoleon knew that solving this mystery would have significant implications not only for France but also for the future of Europe. He had to find answers to these questions and uncover the truth behind the rebellion's foreign support. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, and the picture they revealed was both complex and dangerous. Napoleon was determined to navigate this intricate web of intrigue and emerge victorious, whatever the cost.