Two weeks later, on March 30th, Napoleon informed the French army's chief comptroller, Susy, that the expeditionary force would be composed of five divisions, which would require two months of food and ammunition. The five divisions would be assembled from the five ports of the Grand Army, namely Marseille, Toulon, Genaya, Ajaccio, and Civitaveccia. General Domartin would command the artillery. The medical team consisted of 18 military doctors, more than 300 nurses, and pharmacists. They were commanded by Dr. Drenet and Dr. Laray. On March 21, Napoleon informed the Mediterranean Military Committee that all preparations for departure must be completed by April 9. However, there were not enough troop-carrying ships in each port, let alone escort ships. Most of the ships were temporarily built or repaired. In addition, Vice Admiral Brues was still on the way, so it was not easy to realize the plan.
There were plenty of expeditionary officers who opposed the expedition and had doubts about it. Therefore, the semi-official newspaper, the Monitor, almost revealed the secret in an article published on April 1. The article said that a social and military expedition was taking place, and its destination was Egypt. Through Egypt, they would force their way into the British colony of India and attack the British there. At the same time, most of Napoleon's officers and even senior government officials were still in the dark. In order to make up for this loophole and further confuse the British, on April 4, the Promonition published a government announcement saying: General Napoleon was to depart for Brest in ten days to assume the command of the English front.
The naval fleet and the escort team were obviously unable to set off on April 9th as ordered. Bruise's fleet, which had been on a mission at sea for more than a year, had left the island, but had not arrived yet. In addition, most of the warships needed to be repaired and replenished after months of sailing. Nevertheless, Bruyes was warmly welcomed when his battered fleet of six French warships, five Venice warships, and nine three-masted frigates (six of which were French) finally anchored at Toulon on April 2.
However, the welcome Bruise and his fleet received was short-lived. Bruise, who had been away from home for more than a year, received orders from Napoleon and the Military Council as soon as he landed. After the fleet under his command had been resupplied and loaded, they had to set sail for an unknown destination without delay. To add insult to injury, the committee informed Bruise that due to the lack of funds in the navy, it was unable to pay the nine-month salary that he owed the fleet!
The vice-admiral ignored the decision of the people in Paris and insisted that the fleet needed time to repair itself. Furthermore, the fleet would be supplemented by soldiers who were forcibly recruited from the coastal areas. This, of course, meant that a large number of untrained sailors would be involved in the expedition, despite the order to limit the enlistment of foreigners as much as possible. In addition, Bruise also made an unusual decision: Eliminate incompetent and disobedient naval officers, including the captains of five warships. Also, Bruise refused to accept the three-month rest period and insisted that he could only go out to sea after six months of rest. Training thousands of forcibly enlisted marines was a troublesome matter. The fleet's discipline had to be maintained. Bruise argued that the existing regulations for the punishment of officers and sailors who disobeyed military discipline were too lenient. The military court jury system that was born in the revolution should be abolished and the captain should be given greater power, including the right to execute the weak in war. As for the sailors who escaped, they had to be executed on the spot. Those who shake the morale of the army should be severely punished. We are facing a powerful and well-trained enemy with three times the number of ships, he concluded to the naval leaders in Paris in very unpleasant terms. The battle we intend to fight is decisive for us. Either our navy is disgraced, or we become the most powerful naval force in Europe. Ultimately, the victory or defeat of the entire expedition depended on overwhelming the opponent's sea control.
Apart from the chaotic formation of the naval fleet, there were also some very strange delays. For example, the commander-in-chief of Napoleon had to bring along French, Greek, and Arabic typography templates. The expeditionary force also included a large number of scholars, including astronomy, mathematicians, naturalists, geologists, pharmacists, architects, various Eastern language translator, road and bridge engineers, and even a hot air balloon expert and an outstanding artist.
Tens of thousands of troops soon gathered in the Marseille and Toulon regions. Most of them had come by boat from the Rhine River. When the army's chief accountant was looking for the first batch of millions of Francs in salary payment from Paris, the financially penniless Napoleon ordered the Swiss occupation army to forcibly withdraw 3 million Francs from the Swiss treasury and escort them to Leon by ship. Indeed, in addition to the most basic military supplies, such as shoes and socks, rifles (10,000 of the 12,000 rifles that had just been replenished were broken), cannons, explosives, and transport ships, the biggest factor that affected, restricted, and delayed the preparation of the army and navy was the lack of funds (although both Napoleon and Talleyrand had guaranteed that there was no shortage of funds). The Marseille military port alone cost 5,837,377 Francs. At the same time, Monge, who had just come from Civitaveccia to supervise the preparations for war, was shocked to find that the mobilization of troops had almost stagnated. He asked Napoleon to immediately allocate 2.5 million Francs. It was the same in Corsica, where the local military supplies department refused to cooperate unless the funds owed in the past were immediately paid. The situation of the French fleet was not much better. They still owed 1.8 million for the last nine months. Bruise had to beg Napoleon for funds. Despite this, Brues still supported Napoleon 100%. He not only praised him, but also promised to do his best to win the expedition and be loyal to the government of the Republic.
Despite the authorization to spend millions of Francs to purchase large quantities of arms and weapons, to gather troops on the Mediterranean coast on a large scale, to repair and build ships, and to forcibly commandeer more than 200 civilian ships; However, it was not until April 12, 1798, that the Governor officially issued an order. In the Palace of the Luxurg, the Governor-General named the army the Eastern Army and appointed a citizen, Napoleon, the current commander of the English Front Army, as the commander of the Eastern Army. At the same time, he issued an order to confirm that the army led by Napoleon would attack Egypt and occupy the country. At the same time, he was ordered to expel the British from the lands they occupied in the East or elsewhere…and to destroy their commercial bases in the Red Sea. He had to cut off the Suez Canal and do everything necessary to ensure the interests of the French Republic in the Red Sea, while maintaining good relations with the Turkish Sultan...
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