Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The Russian army acted very quickly, and Musa Pasha is now taking the blame here. For the Ottoman Empire, anyone who goes to Thrace to face these two "plague gods" Kamensky the Younger and Solovyov will be defeated.

But if you want to fight, you still need to go ahead with it.

In Solovyov's mind, although he had time to communicate with Russian veterans over the years, his ability to command operations was after all a result of free-range training. When Suvorov was around, he only kept him by his side as an adjutant and guard, and he learned more through self-study. He might even have learned more from his meetings and correspondence with the Duke of Brunswick and Archduke Karl.

Then, he couldn't remember what he needed to pay attention to when fighting the Turks.

When the real fighting started, they found that when fighting against the Turks, there might be less to do on the battlefield. As long as the commander was not too bad and the Russian infantry was above the passing line, they could defeat the Turks repeatedly.

It should be noted that in defensive battles, we are always facing enemies with numerical superiority but low combat effectiveness, and in strategic maneuvers, we must always ensure our local advantages.

Solovyov recalled what Suvorov did in Italy, and he actually had a rough idea of ​​it.

However, in the Russian army, he was probably one of the few generals who liked to deploy false troops to attract the enemy's attention.

Kutuzov was in Bucharest at the time, drinking coffee at the same table with Langeron.

"Count Kutuzov, in your opinion, who is the more talented general, Nikolai Kamensky or Soloviev?"

"If I were to say, Nikolai has determination, while Misha has strategy. They both have their own strengths. But they both have a problem, which is a lack of patience."

"When Michel was my chief of staff, I could sense that he liked to take the initiative and was somewhat impatient on the battlefield. But after the Battle of Eylau, his personality became much more restrained, and he performed very well in Sweden."

"It seems that both of them lack patience, but Misha is better at this. After all, his impatience always makes him want to take the initiative, while Nikolai's is because of his quick temper. It's okay to lack patience for a purpose, but if you can't control your temper, it may be a bad thing."

"You seem more optimistic about Michelle?"

"It can be said that this child can stand on his own now and will have a bright future."

After all, he was the only one who “came up” through his father-in-law’s family, so it always depended on one’s ability.

Although the Macedonian Legion on the front line has this name, its entire army is in Thrace.

Now that the war was going on, Solovyov was indeed in a hurry to travel, so he came up with this strategy.

He took the initiative to attack Musa Pasha's main force because he was eager to fight, but according to convention, he had to stay in hiding and line up on the west side of the river, waiting for the Turks to come.

This was calculated precisely. He had been paying close attention to the movements of the Turkish army for a long time and had a good grasp of the marching speed of both sides. He could still wait for the enemy to tire themselves out here.

It seems that dealing with the Turks is easy, even though they still have less than 40,000 people. However, the number of opponents this time should not be as large as in Lom.

While he was thinking this, he had already stopped on the frontier heights to watch the Turkish army's marching formation.

Although there are only a few of them, there are really a lot of people.

"That's good. We don't have such a narrow plot to restrict them. We can let them do whatever they want."

"What are you going to do?"

"If they want us to attack, we will arrive first this time, but we will send our right wing cavalry out to flank the Turkish cavalry first. It seems that they don't have many heavy cavalry this time."

Although Clausewitz would do as he was told, he was also somewhat worried.

"Isn't it a little early to send out the cavalry now?"

"To fight back, our cavalry must go around to the flanks and outflank the enemy as before."

As for the Turks, they are not so skilled in countering cavalry and prefer to use cavalry to counterattack.

However, their attack made Kunev, who was in charge of commanding the cavalry, feel that his intelligence was somewhat insulted.

The Russian hussars and dragoons did not engage the Turkish cavalry on the spot, but chose to retreat.

If the Turks gave pursuit, that would be what Solovyov would like to see.

He always liked to copy the classic battle examples of famous European generals, so he always kept some infantry in his hands and pulled them out like a whip, instead of keeping the reserve troops behind for sightseeing like Napoleon did.

The advantage of this style of play is that it is always cruel to weak opponents.

The cavalry can be spread out to kill the enemy cavalry, and then they can naturally be used to assist the cavalry in combat.

If the cavalry retreats, they can set up an ambush, which will give the enemy a hard time.

However, Solovyov did not expect that when Kunev went out this time, the Turkish army dared to charge directly with light cavalry.

"The Turks have a very short memory. When you try to lure the enemy, they will fall for it nine times out of ten."

Kunev was a good commander of light cavalry. The combat effectiveness of many cavalry regiments among the Russian dragoons was still relatively poor. For example, there were relatively few regiments with qualified combat effectiveness like the Kazan Dragoon Regiment. The combat effectiveness of the cuirassiers who could be relied upon among the heavy cavalry was also very limited.

Therefore, when Solovyov used cavalry commanders, he liked to find light cavalry commanders that he was more familiar with, as their actions were always more flexible, especially the hussars.

The heavy cavalry and the Cossacks would easily get carried away after fighting too much.

Kunev also discovered this when he retreated. He tried his best to lead the hussars back, which was also a way to lure the enemy deeper.

However, the Turks were chasing so relentlessly that some of the cavalrymen, who were equipped with carbines and pistols, had to use shooting to disrupt the Turkish pursuit.

In this way, they finally created a safe distance and brought the Turkish cavalry to the front of the ambush sent by Solovyov.

The two combined grenadier battalions had been waiting here for a long time. After most of Kunev's cavalry withdrew from the battlefield, they immediately opened fire on the pursuing Turkish cavalry.

One time, they were beaten to the ground. Although this was a daily occurrence, the Russians were still very excited from top to bottom. "Well done, but now is not the time to counterattack."

Kunev had no intention of launching a counterattack. He led the hussars on the flanks to allow the horses to get enough rest. At the same time, he put himself in a position with advantageous terrain so that he could charge forward at any time.

Then, he saw on the high ground that the Turkish army had reinforcements following.

"Damn it, Stavrovitch, send a messenger to the commander. There may be more enemies than we expect."

The commander of the Belarusian Hussar Regiment also sent an adjutant to find Solovyov. In the initial cavalry confrontation, the Russian army gained a small advantage.

But he didn't even have time to be happy before he found out that there were Turkish troops following up.

"That's good. We have a lot of guests coming to the banquet. Although we can still accommodate them, it seems that we can't eat them all in one bite."

Solovyov looked at the people around him. If they were to form a battle formation, the Turkish army would be large in number. Although there were some rivers blocking the way here, the terrain was relatively flat.

For our side, the terrain is conducive to exerting firepower. For the enemy, they are numerous, but it is impossible to estimate their exact number.

However, fighting on the plains, it would be impossible for Solovyov to annihilate the enemy completely like Lom did.

Moreover, he did not want to adjust the deployment before the battle, as the enemy seemed to be pouring into the battlefield in an endless stream.

There were many towns near the place he chose, and since the farmland was in a relatively flat area, it would be unlikely to cut off the Turkish army. However, if he made good use of the terrain in front of his formation, he could still give his opponent a hard time.

Musa Pasha was very happy that he had received reinforcements. These were fresh troops sent by Sultan Mahmud and were drawn from Ahmed Pasha.

It is true that the Turkish army lost some cavalry, but this time the Sultan's reinforcements were all cavalry, and they were relatively flexible light cavalry.

As for the Turkish army, they also need light cavalry. The previous Sipahi cavalry, which was very powerful, suffered heavy losses. Although the vacancies can be replenished, they still need to recruit soldiers from the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire.

If a war breaks out, light cavalry is easier to replenish, and the more of this kind of cannon fodder among the cavalry, the better.

As for what Kunev saw from his side, there was also billowing smoke and dust.

However, if the Turkish army wants to attack, they will have to cross the river twice, and there are many pebbles on the riverbed here, which is more friendly to artillery.

The Turks attacked from their right flank, attempting to hit the relatively weaker Trubetskoy Division.

However, they did not gain any advantage on the battlefield and were driven back by continuous shooting from the Russian army. The first attack was not successful and instead turned into a shootout.

"It looks like the Turks are pretty aggressive. With these reinforcements, they're going to attack. Mick, what are you going to do?"

When Clausewitz asked him, Solovyov did not answer. He just used a telescope to look at the smoke coming from Prince Trubetskoy's side. Due to the frequent shooting from both sides and the Turks' inferior black gunpowder, the smoke made it difficult for him to see the battlefield situation over there.

"Damn it, if only we had more people."

"That's impossible. You can't get that many reinforcements. The main force is still on the other side of the Danube."

"The Serbian cavalry has also been sent out. These are all we have now."

"If Trubetskoy wants reinforcements, let him hold out for a while. I will send two regiments from the grenadiers over."

He was thankful that when the Danube Front was formed, the Grenadier Division consisted of six regiments, so that he could always split the troops more easily.

The area Christian was responsible for was the front of the battlefield. The six regiments of the Grenadier Division were adjacent to the Uvarov Division. Further south was Arkady's 9th Division. On the far right of the Russian army, to the south was Kunev's cavalry unit.

The Turkish army's formation is relatively solid, which means that the current artillery's range is generally insufficient. If the artillery fire can be extended, the Turkish army's current formation can inflict a very serious round of casualties.

But the artillery did not have this condition, so Solovyov could only let his artillery fire at the Turkish troops in depth from the first line to the second line, but the more useless soldiers in the back could not be hit.

This caused considerable casualties to the Turks. It was obvious that the enemy had only accepted the modern weapons of this era, but the organization and training methods of the army remained the same.

The Turkish army, which was mainly composed of trash soldiers, had relied on its large numbers since before the Siege of Vienna, and it was still the same now. For the Russian army, the intensity of the battle was just greater, but it did not threaten their core positions. In other words, many bodies of Turkish soldiers were left in front of them, and they also suffered some casualties on their own side.

But too many Turks will more or less affect the judgment of the Russian front-line commanders.

The Turkish army's attack lasted the entire morning, and it seemed that the pressure was quite high.

But they were never able to cross the river, and were divided into two pieces of land by some artificial lakes and ponds. The Turkish troops who dared to cross the river would be repeatedly killed and wounded by Russian artillery fire, which made Musa Pasha give up the idea of ​​crossing the river immediately.

For both sides, the Turks performed better in this battle. Although they suffered heavy losses and also lost a lot of cavalry, the Russian army had no chance to counterattack because there were more Turks.

The plans of both sides failed. Solovyov had planned to end the battle in one day, but after a morning, the number of enemies increased, and his own side only used artillery fire to consume the garbage soldiers in front, and it was impossible to continue the pursuit after the battle.

On the Turkish side, Musa Pasha also saw that the Russian army was very powerful. Although more and more troops were arriving, it was impossible for him to enter Philippopolis directly.

The accuracy of his own artillery was relatively poor, and the artillery he brought this time was not like the artillery trained by European officers drawn from Ahmed Pasha. At least it was average.

In this way, the Russian army does not have to worry too much about being killed by enemy artillery fire, and their positions are relatively stable.

If Musa Pasha wanted to outflank the Russian army, he had to see if he could open the Russian right wing from his own left wing. The cavalry and infantry on the other side were obviously very strong, and the attacking cavalry lost one-third of their strength.

Because the Russian army's formation was always stuck in the terrain, it was very difficult for the Turks to attack, and they often couldn't use their strength.

This time it was even considered a good thing, after all, the Russian army did not find an extremely narrow front that would prevent them from deploying their troops.

However, the Turks' own commanders were so poor that all possible changes were meaningless, and the best outcome would probably be for both sides to stop fighting and withdraw. (End of this chapter)