Surrounded by arge number of red-d Swiss Guards, the French Army’s battlefieldmand post.


    Joseph silently noted down a series ofmands from Bertier, perhaps before long, he himself would have to give simr orders.


    Seeing the orderly officer hasten away, Joseph picked up his previous battlefield notes,pared them, confirmed the positions of the artillery, and lifted his binocrs to look over.


    Through the lens of the binocrs, there appeared two breastworks about ten meters wide on a small hill a kilometer away. At this moment, five 8-pound cannonsy silently behind them, the gun crews apparently not yet ordered to action.


    ording to the "Grand Battery" tactics brought by Joseph, all of the heavy artillery brought by the Guard Corps were now concentrated at this artillery position.


    At this time, European armiesmonly integrated cannons into infantry battalions for use. The gun carriages were positioned near the infantry emcements. Duringbat, a cannon would be ced every few hundred meters. Although this allowed the infliction of casualties over a wider area, it nheless only served as a support for the infantry.


    Napoleon’s "Grand Battery" tactic, however, was to concentrate all cannons together, under themand of the Corps Commander, to bombard a single target with maximum firepower in order to quickly crush it.


    Better to break one of his fingers than to wound his ten. Once the enemy position subjected to the focused bombardment copsed, it would be the breach through which the French could tear open their lines. The effect was far better than the slow attrition of the enemy’s front.


    About half a minuteter, Joseph finally saw the captain of the artillerypany receive themand, gging the signal gs for ready to fire.


    The target location had already been determined. Each cannon’s gun captain loudly urged the soldiers, and soon one after another, they hadpleted their preparations for firing, standing erect beside the cannon waiting for the order.


    The battery captain turned his head and said something, the gman immediately flying the g signal for free-fire. Several cannons immediately spewed forth raging mes, the barrels recoiling sharply. The artillery position was instantly enshrouded in thick smoke.


    After a few seconds, the thunderous sound of the cannon fire finally reached Joseph’s ears from afar.


    As he adjusted his binocrs, he saw on the opposite side, at a lower position, the Albanian mercenaries’ formation northward seemed like a wheat field trampled by wild buffalo, suddenly ttening a small section, faint bloodstains visible on the ground.


    That was a scene from two or three kilometers away, and a "small section" in a military formation often meant as many as twenty to thirty people.


    Mainly, the mercenaries, who were busy forming ranks, stood too densely, and the Guard’s artillery was fortunate, as their initial ranging shot had hit the target directly, causing significant casualties.


    Bertier, standing by his side, had obviously seen this effect as well and murmured softly, "Nice shooting."


    Less than a minuteter, five cannons roared again.


    This was far from the scene of simultaneous fire from countless cannons often depicted in movies and dramas. The Guard Corps, which contained more than 4,000 men, only brought six cannons, one of which was a four-pounder from the reserve.


    Given the logistical capability for field operations at the time, this was the highest proportion of cannons that could be carried by a unit while ensuring firepower. In fact, the most important factor affecting artillery firepower was the amount of ammunition.


    As long as continuous output from the cannons could be maintained, the damage inflicted by five 8-pound cannons would already be quite terrifying. And even if more cannons were brought, if the ammunition was swiftly exhausted, then the cannons would be nothing more than iron lumps.


    With the carrying capacity for one additional cannon, it would still be better to bring an extra hundred or so rounds of ammunition.


    The 8-pound iron balls whistled through the air and plowed into the Albanian troops, carving out several long gashes of blood.


    The mercenaries still forming ranks nearby immediately fell into chaos—no matter how the officers shouted and cursed, the soldiers either just ran around in all directions or stood frozen in ce with fear. The left wing of the whole Albanian Army was suddenly missing a chunk.


    Suddenly, Joseph heard the sound of bagpipes, organs, and violins that had been ying continuously near his ear fade a little—such was the field of battle in this era. From the start of the fight, music from around the battlefield had never stopped, like being in a grand yet somewhat rudimentary concert.


    Suddenly, the drum sounds became clearer, and the fast-moving columns of infantry came to an abrupt halt in their tracks, spreading out to both sides.


    From eachpany, two officers stepped out to pull a rope twenty to thirty meters long as straight as possible. The soldiers then aligned themselves behind this rope. Instantly, the entire line straightened out.


    A few minutester, a three-rank deep infantry line spanning seven to eight hundred meters appeared in front of the Albanian mercenaries’ position. From Joseph’s perspective, it looked as if a giant had scored a white sh across the pale yellow wastnd.


    At the same time, two infantrypanies appeared on the north side, taking up skirmish formation and closely watching the gap sted open by the artillery in the enemy’s line, beginning to slowly advance.


    The Albanianmander, Semiz, watching through his binocrs the impably dressed white uniforms, tight breeches, and three-cornered hats, was already covered in cold sweat, murmuring incessantly, "The French, how could this be? This is impossible..."


    ording to intelligence he had received, the French Army was still in Tunis City three days ago. This intel had been repeatedly confirmed by Albanian spies and remnants of the Tunisian Guard; there could be no mistake.


    But where had these French soldierse from before him?


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    It couldn’t possibly be that they had marched from Tunis City to Annaba in just three days, could it?!


    In his understanding, that was indeed impossible, but for the Guard, which trained daily in weighted cross-country, it was still far from the limit.