I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1042: Bleeding on Two Fronts
Yes, the Persian army didn't even try to pull or harass the enemy, but directly used heavy cavalry to brutally penetrate the enemy.

The Turkic rangers on both sides immediately rushed into the gap in the defense line, wielding their sabers to expand the results of the battle.

The Georgian musketeers, numbering more than 4 men, held out for less than half an hour before being crushed by this death-defying charge.

The Georgians screamed and ran towards the city of Tbilisi. From time to time, a few Persian cavalrymen caught up with them and slashed their bodies with their sabers.

The several kilometers of land from the Kertchanis Hills to Tbilisi have turned into a dark red blood belt.

The Persian infantry soon rushed to the city, and hundreds of Armenian artillery began to bombard the city walls.

Agha Mohammed seemed a little numb to the victory.

He asked the eunuch to bring the map and began to think about how to attack Kartli next.

There should not be many defenders in Kartli. After occupying it, the old capital of Georgia, Odishi, will be within easy reach.

He looked at the officer beside him and said, "Bozorg, I want to take all the cities in Georgia by October. After that, you will be responsible for setting up defenses in the Caucasus Mountains. The Russians will definitely take action."

Before he finished speaking, he heard intensive gunfire coming from the north.

He frowned immediately.

Our army has already begun to attack the city, so there should be no need to use muskets. Could it be that there are still Georgians resisting?

Agha Mohammed suddenly had a bad premonition. He grabbed the telescope and looked in the direction of the gunshots. His heart tightened instantly.

Gray uniforms, black double-headed eagle flag - it was clearly a Russian army!
And it is located right in the narrowest part of the Kertchanis Hills.

How can this be?

A hint of panic flashed across Agha Mohammed's eyes. His army was advancing rapidly. Even if the Georgians asked Russia for help as soon as they were attacked, the latter would not have enough time to gather its troops...

Several blood-soaked rangers came galloping over and shouted to him, "Shah, more than 5 Russian troops are attacking us from both sides of the hill!"

Agha Mohammed did not bother to think about where the Russians came from. He turned to the officer and shouted, "Bozorg, lead the Holy War Knights to stop those Russians!"

"Yes, Great Shah!"

When Bozorg and the Knights of the Crusade had finished assembling their troops, another ranger came to report that the musketeers near the Kertchanis Hills had been defeated by the Russians.

Bozorg's heart suddenly tightened.

This meant that the vanguard army and the main force under the city of Tbilisi were cut off.

The vanguard army may have tens of thousands of soldiers.

He immediately drew his sword and led his troops toward the hills.

The Holy War Knights were the most elite troops in the Persian army. They had never met an opponent in the previous series of battles. At this time, they waved their sabers arrogantly and charged at the still somewhat messy Russian infantry lines.

Immediately, neat drumbeats were heard in the Russian positions, and a large number of soldiers began to move together and form a tight formation.

The soldiers in the front row pointed their bayonets diagonally upwards, while those in the back row raised their guns and aimed.

As the two sides got closer and closer, dense gunfire rang out, blood spurted out from the ranks of the Crusade Knights, and cavalrymen and their horses fell to the ground in the dust.

However, the elite Persian cavalry still rushed to the Russian army, but they were shocked to find that the enemy infantry did not panic and dodge as they expected, but pointed their hedgehog-like bayonets directly at them. The horses stopped in a hurry, and the cavalry turned the reins and separated to both sides.

But the Russians never stopped firing, and the sophisticated Charleville flintlock rifles continued to harvest the lives of the Persian cavalry.

When Bozorg reunited the Knights of the Crusade, he found that there were only about 1600 people left.

The previous charge resulted in the loss of nearly 400 elite cavalrymen.

This is also the reason why European armies rarely use cavalry to launch direct frontal attacks. If they fail to penetrate the enemy's territory, there will be very heavy casualties.

However, the Persian army, whose military theory was still relatively backward, was still accustomed to the reckless use of heavy cavalry.

Bozorg looked at the Belgian city of Ribeye in the distance, gritted his teeth and ordered his troops to assemble and charge the Russian infantry line again.

If he doesn't rescue his own vanguard troops, he will most likely be executed when he returns.

But the result did not change. After leaving behind corpses all over the ground, the fearless Persian heavy cavalry was once again forced to bypass the Russian defense line.

On the hill to the east, the Russian commander in charge of the ambush, Gudvich, looked at the Persian cavalry, who were already showing signs of decline, through the telescope and said to the messenger, "Let the Third Cavalry Regiment annihilate those heavy cavalry."

"Yes, General!"

Then, according to the reconnaissance results reported by the Hussars, Goodwich quickly mobilized Russian troops to encircle the Persian troops outside the city of Tbilisi.

He is not very famous in the Russian army, but he actually has extensive battlefield experience and a steady command style, and is considered a good general.

It's just that he did not participate in this war in history - originally Catherine II wanted him to command the war in Transcaucasus, but Zubov used the power of pillow talk to push his brother Valerian Zubov to the position of commander-in-chief.

This Valerian has no ability in fighting, but he likes to use the method of "conquering people with virtue".

After the war with Persia, whenever he won a battle, he would generously release the captives and send people to "recruit" Agha Muhammad.

The latter took advantage of this opportunity to reorganize the army and look for opportunities to launch a counterattack.

So although the Russian army won battle after battle, after fighting for almost a year, it was still struggling with the Persians in Georgia.

It was not until the death of Catherine II that Paul I withdrew his troops from Transcaucasia.

The Persians, who had lost their opponents, quickly occupied the entire territory of Georgia. It was not until eight years later, when Paul I died in a coup, that Alexander I sent troops to Transcaucasia again.

Joseph would naturally not let history repeat itself. Although he could not change Zubov's influence on the Tsar, he used diplomatic lobbying to allow Gudvich to go to Georgia as the second commander.

With this veteran in charge and the sophisticated weapons provided by France, Russia had a good chance of reaching the vicinity of Tehran before Catherine II passed away.

When Britain felt the chill coming from the "chrysanthemum" of its Indian colonies, it was bound to intervene.

At that time, Britain will be caught in a situation of bleeding on two fronts, Portugal and Central Asia.

This time the Russians performed very well. After receiving Joseph's intelligence, they immediately assembled 20,000 troops and set up an ambush near Tbilisi.

Compared with history, Russia hurriedly sent troops after receiving the call for help from Erkel II, which was more than half a year earlier.

(End of this chapter)