Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

"How long is the enemy's camp?"

Arkady also had this problem. If we look at the range he sees now, there is still 15 versts, which is exactly from the rear of the team near Lom to the front of the battlefield.

There was such a long line along the Danube. Even if he had seen it more often in social occasions, he would have known that it would not work.

So he sent an adjutant to find Solovyov late at night. Anyway, this adjutant used to be the head of the Guards who was on guard in the Winter Palace. He was at least a chief battalion commander. What he was best at was staying motionless and staying up all night like a night owl.

As for him now, he wasn't very close to Madame Recamier in Odessa, but he actually had quite good physical strength.

In Odessa, the lady often brought Clara to him to see.

Since he was full of energy, he did not delay what he was supposed to do. At night, he sat on a mat and read materials by the campfire and oil lamp.

"Your Excellency, Prince Suvorov has sent another adjutant."

After the adjutant on duty spoke to him, Solovyov saw a familiar figure coming in.

"Why is it you, Fyodor?"

"Why, you don't welcome me here?"

It was Count Fyodor Tolstoy, the holder of the record for consecutive victories in duels in St. Petersburg, an old subordinate of Solovyov, but also a troublemaker.

It can be said that with Dolokhov, apart from the fact that they have the same face, they have the same name and the same father, and they are half brothers, so they cause a lot of trouble.

"According to your temper, you should be out there taking risks, or fooling around with your gypsy woman. You're always out of touch in places like that, and you're actually going to serve in the battlefield?"

"It was boring in Finland. Poor Dolgorukov. He had to clash with Tuchkov. Both of them risked their lives to attack the fortress. One died and the other was seriously injured. He only recovered recently."

"I know you. You either have conflicts with your boss or you have bad luck with your boss who you have a good relationship with."

"You are an exception, Mishka, but you became a general by your own ability, and Dolokhov was right in most of the things he saw. There is only one thing, that you were an honest man at that time, but you were not honest at all later. You really like to pick on young ladies, but I have my own woman, and others envy me."

"Don't talk about that. What does Arkasha want you to do?"

If Solovyov were to talk to Tolstoy, the conversation would inevitably stray into vulgarity.

"The prince thinks that if the Turks deploy along the river like this, our main force will be under greater pressure if a battle breaks out tomorrow. Here is the letter."

Fyodor Tolstoy was more suitable to serve in a detachment, leading a small number of cavalry and hunters to launch surprise attacks on the enemy, but he was not capable of leading a large army.

Being a guerrilla or carrying out special missions are the most suitable places for this kind of adventurer.

As for being an adjutant, it was purely because of his ability to mobilize and he applied through his friends to be an adjutant here.

Solovyov wanted to ask him to take a detachment out to act alone. Once they reached the Greek-controlled area, such a bold and adventurous person might be able to establish good relations with the Greeks just by talking.

It's a pity that the bastard Dolokhov went to the Caucasus to fight the Persians. If he had these two funny guys in his hands, he could have messed up Macedonia.

"It's clear from the letter. All Arkasha lacks is experience. He should become a strong general in the future."

Although he said so, he was indeed a little worried.

But when he looked at Fyodor, he somewhat wanted to keep him by his side after this battle. When he went south in the future, he would go to Greece under the banner of the Dolgorukov family, and he would definitely be able to accomplish something.

But this is just a hypothesis. There is still a lot to do in the battle against the Turks.

The deployment could no longer be changed. Originally, he wanted to close the door and beat the dog, encircling the enemy on three sides. Now, with Arkady's tail sticking out, he could only consider sabotaging the city of Lom. At least he knew that on the east bank of the river in the city, there were some explosives left behind by the retreating Russian army.

At this time, if we could cause some damage to the bridge, it would have unexpected results and even reduce the pressure on the entire army.

He looked at Fyodor, which made him feel a little scared. He remembered the story of Solovyov, who was then the chief battalion commander, following Tsar Paul to check on him every day.

But this did not last long, and Solovyov finally chose to speak: "Do you understand Turkish, or any local language?"

"Turkish language? Mishka, you know me."

When Solovyov saw the boy like this, he was so angry that he laughed.

"Of course I know you. Although you are nice to that gypsy woman, you are also proud of yourself outside. You are lucky that you don't get the Spanish disease! Although there are always rumors that..."

"Okay, don't talk about this anymore. I heard that Turkish women are very beautiful and they are also very natural."

"Then wait a moment. I'll go get an 'expert'."

When Mihlima was still growing, Solovyov would usually let her sleep a little longer, but she didn't want to sleep on the bed. As a servant, she always lay on the Persian carpet in the big tent, curled up like a kitten.

Well, if it was Adela, maybe if her brother let her sleep on the bed, she would also make a set of her own.
"Wake up, girl."

Mihrima was woken up by him and was even a little drowsy.

"Master, what's the matter? Do you want a midnight snack? I'll make it for you right away."

She was rubbing her eyes and yawning, which looked very cute, especially with such long hair. She would always let her hair down when she slept.

"You're not going to have a midnight snack, you're talking to me. Just like that, you can speak Turkish, right?"

"Master, if there is anything else, let's talk about it tomorrow morning. I have to go to bed."

This girl obviously had no idea about the battlefield, and I had never taught her about this. I brought her out because she volunteered to be a maid. After all, she was still a child, and in the warlord's harem she was just a maid responsible for pouring wine.

"An officer said he can speak Turkish. You should test him carefully, otherwise you will be in trouble when you are on a mission."

"Oh, that's what I'm talking about. I need to find some shoes." But she didn't wear a coat. She just wore her inner robe as a nightgown and came out wearing Turkish slippers.

Fyodor looked and saw Solovyov leading out a little girl with disheveled hair and wearing a nightgown, and he was a little confused.

"Mishka, don't joke with me."

"I'm not kidding, Fyodor. This child is a treasure I got from a Serbian warlord. It's true that she's a maid beside me, but she's also a Turk. Her father was a Bey or something in Belgrade, who was beheaded by Stojkovic. She's here with me."

"I won't say anything else, this little kitty will be a great beauty in the future."

But when he heard this, Solovyov's face fell again. Fyodor, this guy, was more obsessed with women than himself. He tried to remain restrained in formal occasions, but Fyodor sometimes didn't keep his mouth shut and it was inevitable that he would have disputes with others.

For example, later on, before he made friends with Pushkin, he almost defeated the poet in a duel because the other party taunted him.

If Davydov had not been kind-hearted and had not mediated between his comrades and pen pals, allowing Fyodor, a ruffian who liked to make friends with intellectuals, to settle down, many of Pushkin's works would probably not have had the chance to appear and would not have become so famous.

“Don’t.”

Before Solovyov finished speaking, Mihrima spoke up: "This gentleman is really boring. The master asked me to test you, but you only thought about..."

It seems that this girl treats me very obediently, but when she meets strangers or "dangerous elements", she will start to use sharp tongue mode.

This girl's mouth was filled with honey anyway, and Solovyov could also read people's expressions, so he covered her mouth.

Unlike her usual well-behaved self, she even wanted to wave her little fists to express her protest.

"Okay, Fyodor, let's get down to business. Anyway, I don't speak Turkish, so you two can talk it out. Mihlima, this is not a good thing to do. Count Fyodor was my old subordinate when I was in the Guards. At that time, I was the battalion commander and he was a second lieutenant. He also served as my deputy in duels. Although he is like this, he is not a bad person."

Solovyov persuaded the girl and she calmed down.

"Look, this kid is still a little grumpy after getting up. Now let's get down to business."

Mihlima knew Fyodor's identity. Although he looked like a bad guy and unreliable, he was also a friend and old subordinate of the master. So she changed her words and said, "Since you are the master's friend, I have to ask you too."

Then the two of them started an encrypted conversation in Turkish. Except for a few people who were sleeping tonight and had a vague understanding of Turkish, there were probably few people around here.

Since he couldn't understand, Solovyov continued to look at the map. He also had to make some adjustments to the formation after the battle started during the day.

We can't let the Grenadiers really learn from the Greeks at Thermopylae. It's June now, and the weather is hot, but more importantly, summer is the longest. However, at this latitude in Bulgaria, although the sun rises early, it's not like in Russia, where there are often daylight nights.

After a while, Mihlima said to Solovyov while holding her hair: "Master, I have already asked this bad count."

"How about it?"

"If you want him to do something bad, that's perfect. He's much worse than Stojkovic. He's still asking me if I'm a pure girl and seems to want to date me."

Solovyov was also "angry" at this moment. Someone actually wanted to transplant the cabbages for him in front of him, and it was his old subordinate.

Then he glared at Fyodor. After all, he didn't have much beard, so he would have shaved it even if he had one.

"Ah, you know my bad habits. Seeing such a beautiful girl, it's inevitable..."

"Fedenka, don't learn from that bastard Anatole. He loves to cheat little girls. He even wanted to cheat old Prince Nicholas' daughter Maria. If he hadn't been caught flirting with the old prince's French governess, the Kuragins would have been able to cheat her out of another dowry, but that girl wouldn't have been happy."

"Okay, okay. Mishka, I know what you mean. Anyway, can you let me go on this mission?"

"Even if you don't speak Turkish, a bastard like you is still a good candidate for this job. I've already written the letter. You go back to Alkasha to select the men. When the fighting gets intense during the day, just lead the team to change their outfits. It would be best if they had British advisers. When you speak English, you have a bit of an Appleby accent."

"Do I look English?"

“Perhaps”

"It's better to change to the appearance of the Turks, but I heard that."

"You don't need to apalling, Fyodor. Some Turks really don't like women. You should be careful."

"I think you need to be more careful. I heard a strange story from the Hussars about a mysterious maid at the coronation. She was very beautiful and heroic, but unfortunately she only appeared at that ceremony. He also emphasized that she looked a bit like Julia. But think about it, although your sister was a wild girl, she was still very young at that time. Is she you?"

This guy is really looking for trouble.

But Solovyov didn't intend to tell him, he just asked him to go back.

That night, he did not go out for reconnaissance. After all, this was not a typical battle, and both sides did not deploy their troops in an upright manner.

As an army commander, Solovyov had a lot to consider, but at this moment he had the leisure to lean aside and touch his hand, and found an extra cup of coffee.

"Girl, the coffee you made is too bitter. I drink tea without sugar, but you shouldn't drink coffee without sugar either."

"That would be refreshing. Master, if you're done with this battle, you should take a few days' rest."

"In Russia, there are many people like me who stay up late. If a big war breaks out, you may not get enough rest for several days and nights. Today's battle is not the biggest one."

"There are a lot of people down the mountain."

"Yes, there are many. You know, Lima, five years ago when we were in Austria, the coalition army had 100,000 people, more than the French, and the fighting power was not weak, but they were easily defeated in just one day. In contrast, when we were in Italy, we once fought a battle for four days. Although the most intense battles were only in the middle two days, the number of people was not so large. If you think I am so tired, there may be even busier days in the future."

"If possible."

"What can I do? When we get to the Aegean Sea, I'll probably have a chance to have a good rest."

At this time, the sunrise is about to be seen. (End of this chapter)