I have been trying to find some correspondance I saw recently instructing the corps commanders to strip the country bare quite early on in 1813 but I cannot remember where I saw it.
I did find in Lecestre a letter from Napoleon to Berthier, Dresden 19.6.13, ordering the duc de Padoue to impose military rule on Leipzig, to sequester stores etc. and

"Let them know that I am displeased with the city, that I would not wish them to force me to make an example of great severity, that at the slightest revolt I will have it burned"

Which gives an indication that the Saxon civilians were discontented and that Napoleon was treating Saxony as a conquered country.

Susan