Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The arrival of Le Goube's division at Lindenau, on Napoleon's retreat route, and Giulé's attack there were both things that neither side had anticipated in their deployment.

Napoleon did not initially notice that Schwarzenberg, this wimp, actually had a plan to cut off his retreat and sever his entire transportation line. He wanted Lecour to rush to his aid from the Rhine in order to add another force to himself.

However, what is more outrageous is that when the front-line troops suffered heavy losses, it was Le Gub's soldiers, who were reorganized from Jura and almost all of them were young people selected from the National Guard and Volunteer Army from all over the country. They seemed to be dressed in a variety of clothes, but they were in neat formation and had high morale.

When Jiulai led his column here with orders, although he noticed the French, he could not help but underestimate the enemy when he saw the soldiers whose blue clothes were not evenly matched.

The offensive he decided to launch against Lindenau was as much a part of Schwarzenberg's plan as the operations on the front line.

Of course, Blücher did not come here, but went straight to cause trouble for Ney, which was also Alexander's micro-manipulation.

If Blücher's corps was moved to the river bank with great effort and time to join up with Giuseppe's column, perhaps a French army or a complete French division like Le Courbeau would be able to stop them from the temporary position on the river bank near Lindenau.

Such a large number of Allied forces will be blocked here, which will be even worse than in Dresden.

Therefore, he changed his plan.

But the Austrians were still very keen on this route, as it was an effective diversionary offensive when they launched an attack together with the Russian army from the south.

These troops are just right now. Although they are not decisive for the outcome of the battle, they can tie up a lot of people.

The Austrians attacked this side in neat formation as they had done in the past.

Unlike other Austrian generals, perhaps because he is Hungarian, Gyula is more positive on the spiritual level and takes more proactive actions.

The Austrian artillery bombarded the outer positions of the village of Lindenau, and the effect was very obvious. After all, several conspicuous French military facilities were hit by artillery shells many times.

But before the battle began, when Le Gub arrived here, he also found some trenches left in front and the gentle slope here, which did not seem so friendly to artillery. The soft soil would swallow up those shells with insufficient kinetic energy.

So he decided to shorten his own front and hide behind his position before the Austrians began to act.

The Austrian infantry obviously did not move that quickly.

And Gyulai himself was acting with the Hungarian Hussars, who had already started running on the flanks, but now they were just trying to drive away these new recruits from France.

But Le Gub gave orders to the regimental commanders and battalion commanders on the flanks to hold their positions at the rear and to only fight back with firepower when faced with the provocation of the Austrian cavalry and not to be affected by their actions.

If the Austrian army did not launch an attack, Le Gourbe would probably just let these cavalrymen stare at each other here.

After the operation began, these Hungarian hussars would probably also greet the infantrymen's relatives.

With just these infantrymen, they are still advancing slowly.

"These Austrians, after all these years, still can't change their bad habits."

Seeing the actions of the Austrian army, even though Le Gourbe had been under house arrest for eight years and had been away from the battlefield for more than ten years, he was still able to keenly judge that the opponent's infantry, cavalry and artillery were now simply fighting each other.

At this moment, he also hoped that his opponent would do the same, but the infantry was too far away, so he could only use solid bullets and grenades.

But considering that grenades are always damp and only some of them can explode after being fired, Le Gub ordered the artillery to shoot with solid bullets and wait until the enemy came into the range of grapeshot before switching.

Then, these infantrymen began to be beaten at a long distance. Although the French artillery's hit rate was not high, as long as these shells hit the crowd, even a 6-pound shell, its lethality was quite terrifying.

The French artillery were deployed in pre-set positions on the gentle slope. They were already prepared when they arrived here the night before.

After all, the emperor himself mobilized Legubu to ensure his retreat.

Now, the Austrian infantry was still advancing and had reached the range of the grapeshot.

At this distance, it was almost within the firing range of the French infantry.

First, some scattered soldiers in the front fired at the Austrian army columns. The densely populated and large Austrian infantry battalion always had many people hit and fell down at this time.

Later, more reinforcements were sent to the army. At least the morale of the Austrian army had not been shaken to the point where the war could not be fought at all.

They were still moving forward according to orders. After reaching the location, they first put down their backpacks and then lined up and moved forward.

If it were a young and impulsive general, he might have been ready to attack when the Austrians put down their backpacks.

However, Le Gubu personally rode his horse and stood behind the artillery.

"Sir, are we going to fight now?"

"All of you must wait for orders. All you can do now is to switch to grapeshot and get the Austrians closer."

The artillerymen had no choice. Although this general had left the army for a long time, he was very prestigious among the officers and soldiers from the Jura National Guard. As early as 1793, he led a battalion of the Jura National Guard to join the battle sequence of the Rhine Army.

When Le Gubu comes to command the troops, he can always play a role.

When the Austrians regrouped and continued to move forward, and some French skirmishers were about to retreat after firing at the Austrians, Lecourbe gave the order to fire.

Just some skirmish shooting, probably nothing serious.

The Austrian infantry's rigid fighting style caused some huge trouble.

They hadn't even started the first round of shooting when a large number of people were knocked down by the first round of grapeshot that Le Gub had carefully prepared.

There were also many novices among these artillerymen. After they fired solid bullets last time, they had to wait a long time for this round of shotgun shells. Some gunners even had time to adjust their gun positions.

They also didn't expect that they were scolded by their superiors at the training ground, and many of the solid bullets they had fired flew to the rear of the Austrian army formation.

This round of shooting can cause considerable damage to the enemy.

There is no other connection. After all, the French artillery has used this method to suppress the royalist troublemakers on the streets.

"Well done, boys!"

Le Gubu also wanted to encourage them, and soon the courage of these young people was aroused. They even loaded the grapeshot and came even faster.

Amid the exchange of fire and artillery fire, the Austrian infantry began to retreat without ever having to engage in any close combat.

This is indeed a bit inappropriate. But today's attack obviously surprised the emperor himself.

Normally, after he arrived at the battlefield, the coalition forces did not dare to hope to launch an active and aggressive attack.

Even in Dresden, after Napoleon crossed the river and joined the battlefield, the Allied forces began to retreat.

This is probably the first time in all these years that we have taken the initiative to cause trouble despite our military advantage.

However, Napoleon did not know how smoothly the battle was going on Le Courbe's side.

Bertrand got into trouble at Allenburg, the only way to the main battlefield, but he was still confronting Solovyov who emerged from the woods this morning.

As for Napoleon's front, he now saw the Russian troops commanded by Wittgenstein, and they were coming again.

It is hard to imagine that just a few days ago, this Russian general was defeated by Murat.

It was unimaginable that Murat could win given his ability to lead a team alone.

But Wittgenstein has now assembled all his troops, and the failure in that preliminary battle is actually nothing.

Moreover, he had a good relationship with Prince Eugene of Württemberg, who was in his battle sequence, which helped him to restore some confidence.

But his judgment of the French army was somewhat problematic.

Because the coalition forces had too many people and came from a variety of armies organized by four countries, there were always some difficulties in coordination.

"Your Highness, the General wants you to launch an attack on Wachau."

Eugene was not in a hurry to attack Wachau. When he formed his battle line, he considered testing the French artillery fire.

However, Wittgenstein's judgment was that the French troops in Wachau were small and that Prince Eugene and the Prussian troops supporting the flanks would have to capture the place.

After many battles, the infantry divisions in the coalition forces are generally understaffed.

The prince thought that he could have 10,000 men on the battlefield at the beginning, but after the two battles of Dresden and Kulm, he had suffered heavy losses.

Sometimes an infantry battalion can only mobilize 240 to 300 people, and many infantry regiments are not even fully staffed, and the infantry are even reduced to one large battalion or two small battalions.

He is lucky to have 6500 men now, but he must attack now.

But Wittgenstein once again proved with his strength that his judgment is always biased and he may even be responsible.

Marshal Victor had already deployed the French troops in their positions. Although he was impatient and not as patient as Le Courbe, he ordered the artillery and infantry to open fire as soon as the Allied forces were exposed to the range of artillery fire.

That's it, and the generals on the coalition side have already felt the pressure.

The French army was well prepared for today's battle, although Napoleon had to face all the main forces of the Allied forces he could find on the nearby battlefields.

Seeing this situation, after the first attack was repelled, Wittgenstein was reminded of the British Congriff rocket. He knew that he also had such rocket soldiers, and the equipment was even pulled on a carriage, so he could quickly go into battle.

Solovyov was reluctant to use this thing before, probably because of the unstable performance of early rockets. If it turned into a Brownian motion bomb, who would be the unlucky one.

Therefore, he only used those well-tuned experimental troops, and even then only used them a few times in Sweden and Türkiye.

Now to be honest, the Russian army hasn't used its own products for some time.

The British also saw the equipment of their Russian counterparts. The principles of both sides are basically the same, except that the Russian missiles are larger and the power seems to be guaranteed. They even have dedicated horizontal launch racks, and the grade may be even higher.

Then they saw the Russian rockets whizzing and hitting around the French positions.

But according to the famous "smoke, no harm" rule, this probably only looks better than the British guy.

Wittgenstein asked Eugen to continue leading his troops into battle. He now knew that in order to control Wachau, he could gain the initiative on his side.

However, the French's tenacious defense still made it difficult for the coalition forces to advance.

They paid a heavy price when they attacked the village.

Then they were driven out by the French with bayonets.

The two sides fought several times, and after paying a high price, the coalition forces still failed to capture this place.

On the first day of the battle, it seemed that the situation was still favorable for Napoleon, and even some reinforcements were rushing to Leipzig on the road to strengthen his troops.

The entanglement between Solovyov and Bertrand on the road was obviously lonely, and neither of them achieved their goal.

But whichever side wins now will probably join the main battlefield, control the main road northeast of Leipzig, cross the Part River and enter the town of Tauchach.

However, they are all outside the battlefield, and now the focus of the two armies on the main battlefield is Wachau.

The coalition forces soon launched a third attack, without even any artillery preparation, and directly launched the attack with bayonets pointed.

On this battlefield, the Prussian army quickly deployed two brigades under von Kleist's command, and cavalry also joined the battlefield.

But now they can only ensure that they can gain a foothold at the edge of the woods, and the core part of the village is still under Victor's control.

If this continues, it will be very disadvantageous for the coalition forces.

The attacking side will inevitably pay a price when launching an attack from an open area against an opponent with a preset position.

Alexander was also a little impatient after receiving the report.

However, as a monarch, he was only responsible for micro-management at the strategic level. Radetzky knew best how stupid Schwarzenberg's plan was. Therefore, when the Tsar proposed that the Russian-Prussian army and the Austrian army fight separately across a river to fight against the French army, he did not express any objection.

He even persuaded Schwarzenberg that, given the current situation, the Russian-Prussian coalition led by Wittgenstein should attack Wachau, and then gradually transfer reserve troops to it, so that the French could be contained in several directions.

What's more, MacDonald and Lauriston had been hit hard by the Silesian Corps before and suffered heavy losses. If the Austrian army could make any progress in its deployment on this front, it would probably be able to trap Napoleon here.

But this is just a hypothesis, and the trouble is still to come. (End of this chapter)