Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 464 041 Napoleon's Ney Bait and Grande Legion Fishhook
The Russian army's front-line forces are still seriously insufficient. Although the main force of the Guards has now joined the front battlefield, the nine divisions on the front line have suffered heavy losses.

The fall of Danzig was only a matter of time. The Russian army itself was poorly organized, and the reinforcements it received were far less than those from the French.

This is not surprising. After all, the Russian army often recruited serfs from landlords. Some lords would not be willing to spend money unless the battle reached their doorstep.

Therefore, the quality of the new recruits sent here is indeed worrying, and it might even be better not to recruit them.

Solovyov now has to take care of the soldiers of the Selenge Regiment. After all, he has become the regiment commander and actually has the management power of the regiment. If he is the only one appointed by the regiment commander, he will also be the actual commander.

If you are in an environment that the German is familiar with, then you will be the honorary leader of the Selenge Regiment, and your collar badge can have the logo of the regiment.

"Well, Staschenko, are these new recruits acceptable?"

"Not really. The most important thing is that not only is there no one who can read, but the recruiters will probably just grab people randomly on the street."

"Well, just forget what I said. But we need to train hard. The emperor came here for inspection two days ago. The brothers were very energetic, but energy is useless on the battlefield. Military training is still the most useful."

"We thought we were going to set out to fight the French in the next two days. My great-grandfather was a veteran who participated in the siege of Danzig."

"Your great-grandfather?"

"Yes, he also captured two French officers and stole their belongings."

Stasenko is indeed what a person with this surname can accomplish, as long as there is no fortune-telling Tsyganova.

"So your family is a repeat offender, Stachenko. How many have you committed during your tenure as quartermaster?"

"What you said, how dare I do more? I know that only your family knows this, so I dare not do more."

"Ah, don't be like some quartermasters who blatantly resell supplies. Especially the woolen fabrics for soldiers' uniforms, the market is tight recently."

After hearing what he said, Stazenko realized that the scale of conscription was increasing and that all soldiers needed uniforms, especially officer uniforms.

However, because he was a habitual petty thief and also ran the black market in the regiment, that was the case. Solovyov, the former regiment commander and current general of the regiment, could only turn a blind eye.

Even if you have the power to change fate, you can't change everyone. At this time, you just have to take advantage of the situation and get off the hook.

Speaking of donkeys, Solovyov's donkey skin business has always been good, which is the most unexpected thing. At least the ladies all want to replenish themselves.

Life in the rear was still as tight as before, and there were never-ending balls, salons and various social activities.

As for those nobles who actively advocated war, if Solovyov knew that the Queen Mother was so eager to confront France that many people agreed with her views, and that the Grand Duchess Catherine even jumped out to exert influence on her brother, he didn't know how to comment.

The less related a person is to the military, the more warlike he seems to be, which will inevitably change Alexander's attitude.

This can actually be seen from the cheers of the army.

But if a real fight were to break out, Solovyov would actually be very worried.

Because of the French conscription system, they were able to establish reinforcements in Poland, far away from their homeland, and at the same time added a large number of troops from vassal states to the army.

This army now consisted not only of French, but also of Germans, Dutch, Spanish, Italians and even a small number of Mamluks.

The family that had this problem was probably Napoleon's next father-in-law, which also had many ethnic groups.

After Napoleon knew that he could have children with his mistress, he was also planning for the issue of having a son. Therefore, he would actively contact European countries, and after peace, Russia would probably be his first choice, because he liked Alexander very much.

But this statement sounds a bit arrogant. If he wanted to arrange a marriage, he would first consider Alexander's unmarried sisters Catherine and Anna. Austria was just a spare tire, and it took a lot of trouble.

Catherine was the one with the best health among the sisters, and she could even ride a horse and hunt with a carbine. Such a fierce girl became even more lawless because of the pampering of Queen Mother Maria. The Queen once commented that it would be better if Maria was a boy, but she also asked Paul to arrange music and dance education for her, and finally tamed Maria.

But this wild girl, Ekaterina, has been spoiled by her grandmother, parents, two brothers and three sisters since she was a child, so naturally she was brought up differently.

She even wrote to her cousin-in-law Prince Bagration, asking him to teach the French, especially the Corsican devil, a lesson.

But the French are not so easy to deal with. There are relatively few people like Bagration who can take on the challenge head-on, or like Langgeron and Solovyov who can fight with wits and courage, or like Kutuzov, an old fox.

Also, if the Tsar himself were to micro-manipulate the situation again, it would be really heartbreaking. Fortunately, Alexander is now more self-aware.

Since there is no Tsar in the army, the work of the staff is relatively smooth. They do not have to follow the orders of their superiors, but only need to make decisions based on the final results of the headquarters.

Therefore, Langeron also sought the opinion of Grand Duke Constantine, summoned all the generals in charge of the command, and held a meeting in a monastery.

Solovyov didn't need to say anything today. He had already expressed his opinion before. Either avoid a major battle with Napoleon or find a way to mobilize the enemy.

He was somewhat unsure about attacking the Sixth Army's base and fighting the Sixth Army. After all, Ney was very suitable to command an army, and from the marshal to the soldiers, the army was very resilient, as he had experienced in previous battles.

If he had to pick one to pinch, he would prefer to fight the First Army.

There is no other reason. The Third Army is too strong, the Fourth Army has too many soldiers, and the Seventh Army is difficult to position. Only the commander Bernadotte lowers the overall score of the First Army.

But there was a huge problem with his idea. Although the First Army was on the flank and relatively isolated, it was not like the Sixth Army, whose garrison was independent of the other armies. Moreover, if the French army wanted to assemble, they had to cross the river first.

Moreover, in order to attack the First Army, the entire corps' deployment would have to be changed, which would easily be detected by the French.

Therefore, he did not speak, but just watched Langeron and Bagration perform. Especially the vanguard troops of the attack, the final deployment must change their positions, no matter which direction they go, they must take corresponding actions. ". That's it, we can discuss it freely. This offensive campaign will still be inevitable in the summer. Some of our follow-up troops have not arrived yet, but if we don't take the initiative, the French will take the initiative to launch an attack. It is better to fight first at this time and eliminate part of the French army with superior forces, so as not to be passive in the subsequent battles."

Everyone saw the target of the attack, which was the Sixth Army's prominent position. If they were to attack, it would be the most appropriate location no matter how they looked at it.

However, from a military perspective, Ney's role there was similar to that of Bagration here, except that Solovyov knew that although he was known as a "fox", his senior brother was a real "big liar" who could have fooled Murat in Shenglaben.

Ney only played a greater role in desperate situations, and even escaped death several times. This kind of person is very resilient in leading troops. People like Solovyov who like to figure out the enemy's position will not fight him.

However, all the generals advocated attacking Ney, considering the terrain and deployment of troops.

"Everyone can see the current situation. Ney is indeed the closest to us, and the terrain of this area is also very suitable for us to deploy troops. If we deploy the main force from the north, Gorchakov can lead his troops to flank the French army from the east coast, forming a two-pronged attack on the French army. However, Ney is placed in such a prominent position that the French will quickly concentrate their forces from several directions. Although the enemy's troops on both wings are far away..."

When Langgeron said this, Osterman-Tolstoy, who was sitting next to Solovyov, said to him: "Misha, why do I feel that what Count Langgeron said today is your usual phrase?"

"His original proposal was to wait for Napoleon to come and avoid fighting. This is the easiest option. My own idea is not considered for now because of the distance problem."

"Are you going to send our army to attack Bernadotte, the farthest away? I know your little tricks. You always like to find the most unlikely point, and you are always trying to figure out your opponent's tactics."

"So, you have read my notebook?"

"Yes, but this spiritual approach is not appropriate now. We must act according to the basic laws of war. But if you catch the French, I am afraid that Bonaparte will always find an opportunity to catch them back."

"I'm glad you think so. After hearing what the Earl said and the subsequent opinions, I also think that this plan should be completed properly. At least..."

After hearing what Osterman-Tolstoy said, Solovyov understood.

Since the French army can move quickly along the roads and its mobility has always maintained a certain advantage, there may naturally be some problems on the battlefield, and a situation where the army has to move quickly in several directions.

Such a plan is not something that the Croatian old Deng in the Austrian army can prepare. It requires a solid theoretical foundation, as well as hard work and not just slacking off.

Therefore, he was also considering whether this tactic of lifting the edge of the table could be successful.

Because the Prussian garrison in Danzig was in a critical situation and it was unknown when it would surrender, the tactic of slipping around was not necessarily unfeasible.

However, the biggest disadvantage of East Prussia and Poland is probably that, like Belarus, there are too many swamps and lakes, which limit the mobility of the army, especially in June.

However, this was not a big problem for Solovyov. After all, he always had maps in his mind, and he often made corrections himself based on published military maps.

To plan the marching route, we naturally have to consider issues in several directions.

Napoleon had thought very clearly about this deployment.

As for whether he can convince you, given his previous consecutive victories, even if he is the least experienced general, he is still convincing.

Archduke Karl would have shed tears of envy if he had known how persuasive his pen pal was to his colleagues.

You know, Austria's institutional problems are much more serious than Russia's. Although there are people who are trying to sabotage it internally, there is no one trying to seize power.

Although everyone likes to flatter the Tsar, you also need to have the ability to do so.

Just based on the fact that Solovyov defeated the Polish army at Ostrolenka this time, the number of military flags captured was outrageous.

In particular, he searched the bodies of the Poles and took out all the hidden military flags from them. This was the largest number of military flags seized by the Russian army since the Italian expedition.

Although the most powerful unit on the battlefield was the St. Petersburg Dragoon Regiment, the victory of the 3rd Division also boosted confidence within the Russian army.

But if the plan they proposed were to follow Napoleon's trap, problems would arise sooner or later.

However, in terms of intelligence, it was no longer like the winter when the Cossacks and Hussars were sent out to use the forests and frozen swamps as cover to attack the French army in an elusive manner.

The French had obviously stepped up their defenses, and there were patrols along the main transportation routes and between the legionary bases. In addition, many Poles had organized themselves, making the situation quite unfavorable.

Intelligence gathering was unfavorable, but the general deployment of the French army was still possible to figure out because the two armies were facing each other.

To strike Bernadotte, the farthest, only meant that his deployment was farthest from the Russian army, but at the same time he was also the second most isolated among the French troops.

It is actually worth taking some risks and fighting this enemy.

But for now, my generals, they are still discussing launching an attack on Ney's army.

After thinking about it, he decided to speak, but when he opened his mouth, one could still tell that he was influenced by his master.

"Gentlemen, have you ever thought that this is a fisherman named Bonaparte who has put a bait on the hook called the 'Grand Army' to lure us in? This bait is Ney's Sixth Army. He can be relatively isolated from the other French troops, but this deployment is also very convenient for the French army to move."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"My idea is to go back to the original route, but we can also mobilize and attract the enemy. It's the same old method as in winter. We want to attack Bernadotte, but we don't necessarily have to destroy him. We always need to mobilize the French army. When playing chess, we always have to grab a good start. Your pawns should be placed in front, and the castle and the horse are also forces that need to be valued, and finally the queen."

Then he turned his conversation back to chess.

(End of this chapter)