‘At last, they’re being reasonable.’

As Napoleon and his staff watched, the emissary was suddenly thrust down on to his knees. Light glinted off steel as the man behind him drew his sword and swept it round in a glittering arc. The officer’s head leaped from his shoulders and bounced a short distance from the gate as blood sprayed up from his neck. The swordsman kicked the torso over and then he and his two companions strode back through the gate and it closed behind them. Neither Napoleon nor his officers spoke for a moment. Then the sound of jeering echoed across the ground from the city walls and broke the spell. As Napoleon stared at the distant figures waving their swords and muskets above the ramparts he shook his head with disgust.

‘Animals . . . Barbarians . . . Very well, then they shall be treated as such. Berthier!’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘I want our guns to open fire as soon as possible. I want a good breach in that wall and then, Lannes, when you enter that town, you show its people no mercy. Understand? No mercy.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Lannes nodded. ‘No mercy.’

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Under the covering fire of occasional blasts of grapeshot from the batteries the engineers began to dig their siege trenches, steadily zigzagging towards the walls so as not to provide any chance of enfilading fire when the assault troops moved forward to make their attack. The army went about its work with a grim determination to avenge the butchering of the officer, whose head and body still lay before the gate. When the trenches had been completed the batteries were loaded with iron shot and the bombardment of a length of wall close to the gate began in earnest. As Napoleon had suspected, the masonry was weak and within hours the ramparts had been blown away. Soon the rubble had formed a scalable slope, almost up to the level of the breach. The gunners turned their attention to the wall on either side of the initial gap and proceeded to widen it by stages until ten men could charge through it abreast.

As the guns fell silent, Napoleon went forward along the trench, nodding a greeting to the men lining each side as he passed. General Lannes was crouching with the first wave of troops, waiting for the order to attack. At his side was Eugène Beauharnais.

Napoleon’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at headquarters.’

‘Sir, I volunteered to join the attack,’ Eugène protested.

‘I don’t care.Your place is at headquarters.’

‘Not today. It’s time for me to become a proper soldier.’

‘A staff officer is every bit as important as a field officer.’

‘Really, sir?’ Eugène smiled.‘Did you think that when you led the charge at Arcola?’

Lannes roared with laughter. ‘Ha! He has you there, sir! Go on, give the lad a chance to win his spurs.’