CHAPTER 499: CHAPTER 493 GO TO WEAKEN

"Inform Paris of the Russian Empire’s withdrawal, and remember, act quickly!"

Marshal Saint Arno’s urging focused Brigadier General Troche’s entire attention on "sending a telegram to Paris," entirely unaware of the trace of pain in Marshal Saint Arno’s expression as he spoke.

"Yes!" Brigadier General Troche quickly responded, then turned and left.

As Brigadier General Troche was about to leave the tent, Marshal Saint Arno’s slightly trembling voice once again reached his ears: "Wait a moment!"

Brigadier General Troche turned around to look at Marshal Saint Arno, his gaze seeming to ask if there was anything else.

"Organize the second and the pile of documents in the drawer, and send them to Paris as well!" Marshal Saint Arno said to Brigadier General Troche, pointing to the desk.

Brigadier General Troche briskly walked to the desk, opened the drawer, and grabbed all the disorganized documents inside before leaving the tent.

Coming out of the tent, Brigadier General Troche looked southward, where a small western-style two-story building was situated halfway up a hill over 200 meters from the camp. That was the telegraph office of France.

Since the French Army stationed in the Varna Region, railroads, telegraphs... all the cutting-edge facilities had appeared in this place seemingly frozen in the Middle Ages. While they provided convenience for France, they also broadened the horizons of the Varna residents. (Although the residents of Varna did not wish to broaden their horizons; they even considered the railroad as the embodiment of evil.)

...

Entering the telegraph office, Brigadier General Troche saw that the room was filled with telegraph machines and wires, and staff walked back and forth inside, making his expression become serious along with the atmosphere.

Led by the staff of the telegraph office, Brigadier General Troche went to the second floor, where he met Major Viktor, who was in charge of telegraph operations.

Seated in the telegraph office, with his legs on the desk, Major Viktor hurriedly put them down upon seeing Brigadier General Troche’s arrival, and approached him respectfully: "Brigadier General Troche, why are you here!"

"The Commander-in-Chief sent me to deliver a telegram. The content of the telegram is as follows: The Russian Imperial Army has now withdrawn to the Danube Duchy, and Paris should take note!" Brigadier General Troche stated with grave tone to Major Viktor.

"The Russian Imperial Army has retreated?!! Does that mean we can leave!" Major Viktor asked Brigadier General Troche excitedly.

"That’s right! The Russian army has indeed retreated!" Brigadier General Troche nodded to Major Viktor and then added, "However, our strategic objectives have not yet been achieved! The withdrawal will take some time!"

Upon hearing that the army would continue to stay in the Varna area, Major Viktor’s face showed a hint of disappointment. Having been in Varna for several months, he really did not want to remain there any longer, as everything there was vastly inferior to France.

Seeing Major Viktor’s disappointed expression, Brigadier General Troche immediately realized that prolonged stay in the Varna Region might easily erode a soldier’s morale. Soldiers far from home with nothing to do often posed a risk of mutiny.

Thinking of this, Brigadier General Troche quickly changed his attitude, sternly reprimanding, "Major Viktor, you are a soldier! Obedience is a soldier’s duty!"

"Yes!" Brigadier General Troche’s reprimand startled Major Viktor. He quickly replied, "I’ll go immediately!"

With that, Major Viktor headed straight to the telegraph room.

"Wait a moment!" Before Major Viktor could leave the office, Brigadier General Troche’s voice came to his ears.

"Sir Troche, do you have any other instructions!" Major Viktor asked Brigadier General Troche again.

"Send these, too, after they’re organized, to Paris!" Brigadier General Troche handed the documents in his hand to Major Viktor.

"Yes!" Receiving the documents, Major Viktor entered the telegraph room to begin sending the telegrams. After a while, a "di-di-di" sound came from the telegraph room.

Brigadier General Troche also turned and left the telegraph office.

When Brigadier General Troche returned to Marshal Saint Arno, Marshal Saint Arno had already returned to normal without Brigadier General Troche’s knowledge.

"How did the telegram go?" asked Marshal Saint Arno, sitting in a rocking chair, to Brigadier General Troche.

"The telegram has been successfully sent out! It shouldn’t take long to reach Paris!" Brigadier General Troche responded and, after hesitating for a moment, continued, "However..."

"However, what?" Marshal Saint Arno asked Brigadier General Troche.

"Marshal, I have a discovery that I don’t know if I should speak of or not!" Brigadier General Troche hesitated as he spoke to Marshal Saint Arno.

"Speak quickly, or hold your peace!" Marshal Saint Arno scolded with a laugh, "After all, you have followed me for many years! What’s there that you can’t say?"

"It’s like this..." Brigadier General Troche recounted in detail to Marshal Saint Arno what he had discovered at the telegraph office.

Marshal Saint Arno’s expression gradually shifted from nonchalant to solemn: "You mean there’s a general sign of weakened morale throughout the French Army?"

"I wouldn’t dare say all of it, but at least a significant portion of the people are like this!" Brigadier General Troche responded to Marshal Saint Arno: "Marshal, think about it! You arrive in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by people who don’t look like you! Wouldn’t you feel a sense of loneliness, wouldn’t you want to go home..."

Marshal Saint Arno nodded subconsciously, then slapped his forehead and muttered to himself, "Damn! How could I forget this!"

Back when Marshal Saint Arno was in Algeria, he felt this way and his raiding troop almost mutinied from excessive fear.

Now, as the Commander-in-Chief of an army, he had forgotten this thing that almost cost him his life.

"What do you think we should do now?" Marshal Saint Arno asked Brigadier General Troche.

"Marshal, I believe the reason soldiers develop this mindset is because they become overly relaxed!" Brigadier General Troche confidently suggested his solution to Marshal Saint Arno: "We just need to get the army moving again!"

"You mean to hold a military exercise?" Marshal Saint Arno immediately understood Brigadier General Troche’s meaning.

"Exactly! A military exercise can not only get the idle army moving again, but also improve the coordination between troops, keeping the army in optimal condition!" Brigadier General Troche replied to Saint.

"Good! Let’s do it this way!" Marshal Saint Arno pointed at Brigadier General Troche to give orders: "You immediately get Acting Commander of the First Division Brigadier General MacMahon, Second Division Commander General Bosskey, and Third Division General Pellissier to come here!"

"Yes!" Brigadier General Troche responded to Marshal Saint Arno and turned to leave.

About 20 minutes later, two commanders and one acting commander appeared in Marshal Saint Arno’s tent.

Amid the curious gazes of the three commanders, Marshal Saint Arno announced that the French Army would hold a military exercise in three days, with all three divisions to participate.

Subsequently, Marshal Saint Arno explained the purpose of the exercise to everyone present and urged them to use the time to reorganize the army to prepare for the exercise.

After inquiring about the location of the exercise and the scale of the deployed troops, the three commanders left Marshal Saint Arno’s camp.

Watching the backs of the three commanders/acting commander as they left, Marshal Saint Arno lowered his voice to ask Brigadier General Troche beside him: "Which one of them do you think will be last?"

Brigadier General Troche pondered for a moment before expressing his true thoughts: "I think it should be Brigadier General MacMahon!"

"Why? The First Division should be one of the stronger units among the three, right?" Marshal Saint Arno countered.

"If Major General Canrobert were commanding the First Division, then the last place would indeed be unpredictable, but MacMahon..." Brigadier General Troche shrugged to Marshal Saint Arno: "Perhaps he does have some talent, but he’s only a brigadier general!"

"Indeed! He’s only a brigadier general!" Marshal Saint Arno repeated once again.

...

The files from the Varna Region quickly reached Marseille Port via telegraph transmission, and then were immediately forwarded from Marseille Port to Paris.

This epoch-making invention allowed a country’s ruler to control the entire movement of an army from thousands of miles away, achieving real-time control of warfare, while also transforming international communication from years and months to days and hours.

If the railroad integrated a scattered market into one unified whole, enhancing the heart’s (central) control over the body (local), then the telegraph completely controlled all the nerves of a country, enabling the effective control of every piece of land, nipping any potential rebellions in the bud.

Having worked until midnight, French Minister of Foreign Affairs De Luy left his ministerial office after receiving the good news from the Varna Region and headed non-stop toward the Tuileries Palace. He knew the Emperor was likely still awake, possibly anxiously awaiting news from the front lines.

Traveling by carriage from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he quickly arrived at the Tuileries Palace.

The Guard Army soldiers guarding the Tuileries Palace gate saw De Luy’s carriage through the gas lamps on either side of the gate and immediately opened the gate to let De Luy in.