In 1796 he fought at Lonato where he was briefly captured, Rovereto where he was in the forefront of the action, Bassano, Cerea where he led the advance guard, and early in the Arcole campaign where he was wounded.

[1] He joined the army of the First French Republic and rose in rank to become the chef de brigade of the 21st Line Infantry Demi-Brigade on 21 December 1793.

[4] An order of battle for 4 April 1796 listed Pijon as a brigadier in Amédée Emmanuel François Laharpe's division in the Montenotte Campaign.

[6] On 24 March, Pijon led a task force made up of the 51st and 75th Line that occupied Voltri on the outskirts of Genoa.

[11] On 29 July, the brigades of Pijon and Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire were attacked by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser's Austrians at Rivoli Veronese.

[12] Still hoping to block Wurmser's advance, Masséna deployed Pijon and Claude Perrin Victor at Piovezzano near Pastrengo the next day.

[13] The morning of 3 August marked the start of the very complex Battle of Lonato between the French and Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich's corps.

Pijon was captured and his brigade was driven out of Lonato del Garda when Joseph Ocskay von Ocsko's Austrian column suddenly assaulted the town in the early hours.

Ott managed to retake the place and the French had to wait until Victor's brigade arrived before they attacked again at 2:00 PM.

The bulk of Wurmser's column also arrived and the day ended in a French defeat with the loss of 736 prisoners and seven guns.

At Pastrengo on the north, the French were successful, at Verona in the center neither side had the advantage, while at Legnago on the south, the Austrians were victorious.

[24] At the Battle of Magnano on 5 April 1799, Pijon commanded 1,900 men of the 56th Line and 253 troopers of the 18th Cavalry Regiment in Victor's division.

According to army commander Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer's plan, the divisions of Victor and Paul Grenier were to advance at dawn on the right flank.

However, the Austrian army commander Pál Kray launched a powerful counterattack which broke Victor's division and forced Grenier to retreat.