 Although boredom quickly set in among the troops, Napoleon paid many visits to conduct lavish parades to maintain their morale.The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon would later call "La Grande Armée" ("The Great Army").At the start, the French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven corps, which were large field units, each containing about 36 to 40 cannon each and capable of independent action until other corps could arrive.