Carteaux's Catastrophe
Napoleon (3) Speaking of the previous story, the teacup I gave to Augustin was a set I’d bought from a home shopping channel for a hefty fifty thousand won. And less than three days after Augustin received it, Napoleon was appointed as the artillery commander at Toulon. “Did he like the teacup that much?” Its effect far exceeded its price. Still, replacing a commander should have taken at least a week, I thought. But there were reasons.
“The previous commander knew nothing about cannons,” Napoleon said.
“Then how did he become artillery commander?”
“His father is a member of the Convention.”
“Ah, I see.” I understood immediately. In the revolutionary army, where connections determined postings, it was hardly surprising that the son of a convention member would hold an important post. Even so, placing someone with no artillery experience in command still struck me as absurd. “This army is even more of a mess than I imagined.”
I had heard the early French revolutionary army was disorganized, but seeing it firsthand was far worse. A convention member wielding personnel power over a single teacup, and a commander who had never touched a cannon… It was a wonder these people had succeeded in a revolution at all. At least it made installing Napoleon as artillery commander easier.
Yet even after his appointment, Napoleon’s expression remained grim.
“Something seems to be troubling you.”
“You notice quickly.”
“It shows on your face.” That was a lie. I only knew trouble would arise shortly after Napoleon’s arrival at Toulon because I already knew the history.
“The commander is… far too ignorant.”
As expected. Calling the commander ignorant might have seemed harsh, but for Napoleon it was the most restrained word he could choose. Fitting for an army of citizens, the commander of the Siege of Toulon knew nothing about military matters. Jean François Carteaux. Known as General Carteaux. His true profession was that of a painter. The revolutionary army had entrusted military authority to a man who understood nothing of tactics.
Napoleon’s frustration was understandable. The man did not even know the range of a cannon and could not hit a stationary hill. “But Napoleon is no ordinary man either.”
After Carteaux’s blunders ruined an operation, Napoleon bypassed the chain of command entirely and reported him directly to the revolutionary leadership. In modern terms, it was like a mere major calling the presidential residence to inform on a general. The result was General Carteaux’s imprisonment. “The problem was that his replacement was also a physician…”
That Napoleon had succeeded in the Siege of Toulon with such men under his command proved he was truly a hero. But having only just arrived, Napoleon did not yet know how disastrous a commander Carteaux truly was. If he had, he would have been writing letters to headquarters instead of complaining to me.
“I probably won’t be able to visit for a while.”
“You’re about to see some action.”
“They’re planning to retake a fortress.”
I maintained regular meetings with Napoleon at the general store. Once the Siege of Toulon began, however, those meetings would inevitably grow farther apart. Still…
“Do you know the name of the fortress they intend to retake?”
“They called it Mulgrave.”
Hmm. At the name, I let out a small murmur. So it’s already been built. Mulgrave. Also known as the “Little Gibraltar.” This ironclad fortress was the key to the Siege of Toulon, and retaking it was considered impossible. It was so formidable that even Napoleon, the master of war, had once been forced to lure its defenders out rather than assault it directly.
But there was an even more serious problem.
“General Carteaux will be leading the attack himself.”
“……”
Even as he spoke, Napoleon did not fully grasp how dire the situation was. Newly arrived, he had yet to understand the full state of the war—or the man called General Carteaux. No one, not even Napoleon, could have imagined a commander who did not know the range of his own cannons.
No wonder everything seemed to be going too smoothly. My head throbbed at the worst possible turn of events. If I let Napoleon go like this, there was a real chance he would suffer a disastrous “debut death.”
“Napoleon.” After some thought, I offered a piece of advice. “Never leave the battery.”
“What do you mean?”
“An artillery officer should not abandon his guns.”
“That much is obvious.” Napoleon gave a light laugh. “The main force is under General Carteaux’s command, so I won’t have any reason to leave the battery.”
He had no idea just how ignorant General Carteaux truly was.
*
The assault on Fort Mulgrave was carried out under General Carteaux’s command. Napoleon’s task was to position his guns on a hill and bombard the fortress. Once the bombardment weakened it, Carteaux’s waiting main force would charge. A simple plan—so simple it should have been difficult to fail. Napoleon thought so, until he saw where Carteaux had ordered the main force to wait.
“You are to wait here.”
“Here?”
“Yes. Establish your battery and bombard the fortress when ordered.”
“……From this distance?”
Napoleon was momentarily speechless. Fort Mulgrave appeared as a tiny dot in the distance—easily six kilometers away. Yet the maximum range of his 24-pound cannons was only two kilometers. The fortress lay three times farther than his guns could reach.
Stunned, Napoleon asked on a faint hope, “Do the cannons of the Toulon army have a different range from other units?”
“They use the same 24-pound cannons.”
Even to Napoleon, that much was obvious. Naturally—the 24-pound cannon was the army’s newest and most powerful model. The position must have been relayed incorrectly. He could only assume a mistake in communication. Surely General Carteaux could not have misjudged the cannon’s range by threefold.
Then Napoleon’s expression hardened as he checked the location of the main force.
“They’re far too close.”
General Carteaux’s main force, supposedly waiting in reserve, had advanced dangerously near the fortress. Yet strangely, despite the proximity, the fortress showed no reaction. The silence was unnerving.
Sensing something wrong, Napoleon moved to head toward the main force himself. At that moment, a voice brushed through his mind.
—Never leave the battery.
It was the voice of the general store’s owner, Choi Seojun. The words he had dismissed as a joke now held his feet in place. It made no sense, yet Napoleon could not ignore them. There was an inexplicable certainty in Choi Seojun’s words that whatever he said would come to pass.
That certainty became reality once more.
—Attack! Attack them!
—Waaaaah!
The royalist coalition, lying in ambush near the fortress, fell upon General Carteaux’s main force. Unable to respond, the main force collapsed in an instant. What followed was a one-sided massacre.
If I had been there… A chill ran down Napoleon’s spine.
—It’s the general!
—Protect General Carteaux!
Napoleon watched as General Carteaux, having lost his main force, fled toward the hill.
*
“How did you know?”
Five days later, those were the first words Napoleon spoke upon visiting the general store.
“Know what?”
“You knew the main force would be attacked.”
“Did I?”
“You mean you didn’t?”
“No. How could I have known?”
I had only just heard from Napoleon that the main force had been ambushed by royalists. Since he’s unharmed, the battery must have been safe after all. All I had known was that General Carteaux had completely misjudged the range of his cannons. Jean François Carteaux. Even in the official histories, he was recorded as the incompetent general who had mistaken cannon range by threefold. That was why I had advised Napoleon never to leave the battery. No matter what operation Carteaux commanded, the battery’s position would always remain in a safe zone.
“General Carteaux was dismissed for the defeat.”
“You’ll have some rest until the new general arrives, then.”
“The next commander has been decided. General Doppet.”
Napoleon’s expression as he spoke was complicated.
“You don’t seem pleased.”
“General Doppet is a physician.”
As Napoleon said, the man appointed to replace Carteaux was indeed a physician. And he was a coward. Having heard the rumors that Napoleon would even have a superior dismissed, Doppet became a mere puppet who followed Napoleon’s orders without question. Yet lacking any combat experience himself, the sight of his own soldiers being torn in half by enemy fire terrified him into resigning his post. Only after two such replacements did Napoleon finally receive a proper opportunity to fight.
“Don’t worry. Everything will work out.”
“When I speak with you, it feels as though you already know the future.”
“Does it?”
“It does.”
Napoleon found Choi Seojun fascinating. Whatever the man said carried an uncanny sense that it would come true. Choi Seojun never seemed flustered, as if he knew everything in advance, and spoke with an inexplicable certainty. It reminded Napoleon of the Magi who had foreseen the birth of Christ. That was why Napoleon continued to visit the general store at regular intervals. Speaking with Choi Seojun always restored a sense of calm to his heart.
“Then I’ll be back.”
“Come whenever you like.”
Napoleon continued to visit the general store regularly after that. Each time, his rank had changed. Captain. Major. Lieutenant Colonel… It was astonishing how quickly a man could rise. Napoleon’s promotions came one after another. Two months later, his rank had become colonel. He’s almost there. I sensed that today would be his final visit. He always came before a battle, like a believer offering prayers before heading to war. And the first operation Napoleon would lead as colonel was the final battle for Toulon Port. In that battle, he would retake the port and emerge as a hero of the revolutionary army.
“In two days, we will attempt an attack on the port.”
The end of his time in the modern era was drawing near.