Meanwhile, to the East ...

(Source)

Capitaine Joseph Martin was concerned, the men were grumbling, which wasn't unusual, what was unusual is what they were grumbling about.

As his company marched north towards the town of Wavre, in concert with the other units of Maréchal Emmanuel de Grouchy's wing of the Armée du Nord, they had passed by a disconcerting scene.

There, beside the road in full view of the troops, Maréchal Grouchy was involved in a heated argument with his two infantry corps commanders.

For a few hours now, a massive cannonade could be heard to the west. Everyone in the column knew that it was the Emperor's wing of the army, apparently engaged in action. A major action by the number of guns in action.

"Monsieur le Maréchal, we must march to the sound of the guns!" insisted Général de Division Dominique Vandamme, commanding the III Corps of the Armée du Nord.

Maréchal Grouchy turned to Vandamme and quietly asked, "So, you see fit to take command of this wing, my dear Général? Might I remind you that the Emperor elevated me to the Marshalate, not you. The Emperor gave me the command of this wing. Not you. What part of that are you having trouble understanding?"

Vandamme looked as if he was about to burst, when Général de Division Étienne Gérard, commanding IV Corps, stepped between the two men. "Gentlemen, the Maréchal is correct, he commands here. However, Général Vandamme makes a good point. The Emperor is in action against Wellington and his army, the Prussians are somewhere ahead of us. Perhaps we could send two of Vandamme's divisions to support the Emperor?"

Grouchy sighed, "My orders, gentlemen, are quite clear. We are to pursue the Prussian army and prevent them from marching to Wellington's aid. I have had no intelligence regarding Prussian movements other than that they are falling back to the north, towards Wavre, not Brussels. I intend to obey those orders and so shall you both."

Vandamme began to sputter, Grouchy interrupted him, "If you disagree, my dear Général, perhaps you should return to Paris and I can find someone else to command your corps."

Vandamme controlled himself and turned on his heel, "Very well, Monsieur le Maréchal, but I will not answer to the Emperor for failing to support him." he shouted back over his shoulder as he stormed off.

As Vandamme mounted his horse and trotted off, Gérard made to speak, Grouchy lifted a hand, "Enough, return to your corps, I am expecting our scouts to return soon with information of the whereabouts of Blücher. In the meantime, feel free to dispatch a courier to the Emperor and state your views. I'm sure you will articulate them better than your hotheaded colleague."

"Have we had no word from the Emperor?" Gérard wanted to press the point.

Grouchy gestured impatiently to his chief of staff, who knew immediately what his marshal wanted. He dug into his satchel and produced the message they had received from Soult late last night. Grouchy snatched the form from his chief of staff and pointed to the relevant phrase in the order ...

‘discover the intentions of Blucher and Wellington, if they intend to unite their armies to cover Brussels and Liege and if they intend to give battle.’

"As I have not discovered this, I intend to maintain this march until we come up on the Prussians or we discern that they are moving to the west, to perhaps join Wellington's force. Until such time, we move on Wavre!"

Martin shook his head as he thought back to the angry exchange between their corps commander and the Marshal. Though he didn't know the specifics of the exchange, the men were suspicious. They barely trusted their officers though they were passionate about the Emperor himself. The army had been assembled far too hastily.

Martin looked back over his shoulder as he heard the word "trahison¹" muttered by someone behind him.

"Soldats! If I hear that word again I shall be most upset. You have fought well up until now, do any of you think you know better than the generals? We have our orders, there is no treason here, only in the minds of those who would upset the Emperor's plans by not obeying!"

"But Sir, the Emperor has often said that each soldier carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack!" The man who said this was young, a single campaign under his belt.

"I have inspected your knapsack, Louis, there is no marshal's baton in there, in fact, you're missing your extra shirt and trousers. Would you command in your underclothes?"

The company broke out in laughter at the look on young Barbeau's face. The crisis had passed, for the moment. But the men were impatient for victory, they seemed to see treason behind every little setback.

Martin shook his head then called out to the battalion's musicians, who were marching just behind his company. "Give us Veillons au salut de l'Empire"

That should take their minds off of things, Martin thought to himself.

Awaiting Grouchy's force along the river Dyle, in the town of Wavre and stretching down that river in both directions, was a single Prussian corps, perhaps 20,000 men. The rest of Blücher's army was marching hard on Mont St. Jean. The Emperor had already seen their leading elements.

If only ...

But Grouchy was determined to obey his orders. At all costs.

¹ Treason.