I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1187 The True Successor of Catherine II

Goodvich was overjoyed.

Tabriz was the forward base for the Persian army's attack on Tbilisi. If something went wrong here, Mirza's army would inevitably be thrown into chaos.

Just as Goodvich was about to discuss the timing of the troop deployment with the envoy of the Hillfolk, he suddenly frowned and asked, "Do you have an inside agent in Tabriz?"

The messenger immediately shook his head: "No, General."

“I remember that Sylvan’s elite troops were all taken away by Mirza, and Askar only has two thousand men, so I’m afraid it will be difficult for him to break through Tabriz.”

The messenger straightened his back and proclaimed loudly, "Every mortal of Hill is a warrior!"

“A pointless attack will do no good.” Goodvich waved his hand to interrupt him. “The logistical supplies transported from Tabriz to Tbilisi all pass through Shaki.”

The envoy nodded.

Shaki is a city northwest of Shirvan, guarding the only route to Georgia—the Shirvan Plain.

Goodvich hesitated for a moment, then instructed, “Go back and tell Askar to find a way to intercept the next convoy of logistics vehicles coming from Tabriz at Shaki, and then burn them.”

"I guarantee that after defeating the Persians, Shirvan will gain permanent autonomy."

"Yes, General. The mortal Hill will do everything in his power to assist you!"

The Russian army then launched a leisurely offensive against Tbilisi. More than half a month later, Gudvich noticed something amiss with the Persian defenses and immediately ordered a fierce surprise attack.

The sudden "fire" in Shaki destroyed more than three months' worth of food and ammunition, and the morale of the Persian army plummeted to rock bottom.

Under repeated attacks from Russian cavalry and artillery, the Persian positions north of Tbilisi were completely wiped out after only five days.

With supplies cut off, Mirza ultimately chose to evacuate this most important city in the South Caucasus.

Goodvich immediately led his army in pursuit, and 20 days later, they finally encountered the Persian's hastily set-up defenses at Ardabil, northeast of Tabriz.

The vanguard cavalry commander, Tsityanov, stopped and returned to report to Gudvich: "General, the Persians are defending themselves in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and they number more than 13,000."

Goodvich frowned. In order to catch up with Mirza, he had already left his infantry far behind, and now he only had 6 cavalry at his disposal. But if he waited for the infantry to arrive, the Persians would likely complete the reinforcement of Tabriz's defensive lines.

He had his staff bring him a map—he had his engineers thoroughly survey the terrain along the route during the last invasion of Persia—and soon noticed Aslanduz, not far from Ardabil. There was a narrow canyon there.

He pointed at the map with his riding crop, then turned to his advisor and ordered, "Collect the tar from the nearby villages, empty the wine barrels, and set up here..."

The South Caucasus region has many shallow oil fields where you can find oil with just a little digging—and the villagers here have been using this oil for heating and lighting for hundreds of years.

The following day at noon, Tsityanov led more than 4 Cossack cavalry in a charge against the Persians who occupied the high ground.

However, their attack was quickly slowed down by the wooden palisades that the Persians had placed everywhere, and the few cavalrymen who managed to cross the palisades were met with a hail of musket fire from the hillside.

The Russian troops were thrown into chaos and, ignoring their commander's orders, turned and fled.

Mirza saw the Russian corpses strewn across the ground through his binoculars and immediately realized this was a good opportunity to counterattack—yes, he was personally directing the rearguard action—so he decisively ordered a pursuit.

The Persian cavalrymen chased after the Cossack cavalrymen, hacking and slashing with abandon, completely unaware that they had entered the narrow Aslanduz Gorge. Half an hour later, the sound of war drums suddenly came from both sides of the gorge, and then a large number of Russian soldiers threw barrels filled with tar and burning torches down the mountain.

The fire quickly filled the entire canyon. The Persian cavalry were thrown into chaos, fleeing for their lives, screaming and trampling each other.

As the fire gradually died down, Goodvich personally led more than 3 cavalrymen to the end of the canyon and charged toward the Persians who had been lucky enough to survive the fire and trampling.

In just six hours, 13,000 Persian cavalrymen were annihilated. Mirza was relatively lucky; he was a step too late when entering the canyon and, with the desperate cover of his guards, managed to escape across the inferno.

Afterwards, the Persians suffered a crushing defeat, and Gudvich pursued them all the way to the walls of Zanja, where they were forced to halt their advance due to logistical difficulties.

This was the farthest place Zubov had reached during his last expedition to Persia.

……

St. Petersburg.

The Winter Palace.

Several fat, big-eared nobles bowed to the young Tsar with fawning smiles and said, "Your Majesty, you have pardoned Marshal Suvorov, General Orlov, and countless other generals. The people of St. Petersburg are all singing your praises of your benevolence."

"Then why don't you let Count Zubof and General Bennigson also bask in the light of your tolerance?"

Yes, immediately after Alexander I came to power, he exiled all the dozen or so people who had participated in the previous coup. The only one loyal to the old Tsar, Count Arakcheyev, was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as the Inspector General of the Royal Guard's Artillery and the Tsar's military advisor.

Alexander was well aware that those ambitious individuals were more harmful than helpful to his rule of the empire, and that denouncing them would demonstrate his disapproval of the coup—yes, even though all of Europe knew that the old Tsar had been killed by him, the official version was that Palen, Zubov, and others had launched the coup.

Arakcheyev, however, was a loyal and capable officer who deserved to be given important responsibilities.

He waved his hand impatiently at the nobles who were pleading for them, saying, "Very well, they shall be allowed to stay in Perm, each with five more servants. That is my mercy."

Perm, located west of the Ural Mountains, offered much better conditions than the originally designated exile site in Siberia.

The nobles still wanted to try, but then the newly appointed Minister of War, General Sergei Vyazmitinov, strode in excitedly and announced before even entering the room: "Your Majesty, the Gudvich Legion has recaptured Tbilisi and defeated the main Persian army at Ardabil!"

Because Russia had not yet built a large number of Shapu signal towers, information transmission was slow, and the Russian army had actually reached Zanzhan by then.

"Excellent!" Alexander I jumped to his feet, his face beaming with undisguised joy.

With the great victory in the Caucasus, his position as Tsar was secure.

He immediately said to the court officials beside him, "Make preparations immediately for a three-day victory celebration in St. Petersburg!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After Alexander I inquired in detail about the situation at the front, he suddenly remembered something and gestured to his attendant, "Go and tell Count Vorontsov to cancel the appointment with Lord Hawkesburg tomorrow."

He knew exactly what the British wanted to do, but now that he had leverage, he could let the British cool off for a while and make them more anxious.

(End of this chapter)