Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Napoleon was indeed considering retreat when surveying the route, but before that, he also needed time to prepare, and he would always have to fight to solve the problem.

So he sent out engineers to survey the road conditions and also withdrew his troops.

The fighting in the north was very fierce, but the Poles were the most active.

Dombrovski failed to win the command of the Polish army against the nephew of the last king. Now Prince Poniatowski is also a marshal. In order to boost the morale of these soldiers fighting with the French army, he really deserves such recognition.

But the situation was always very bad, and Napoleon could no longer laugh, although he still maintained his usual confidence.

Even if the coalition forces cannot achieve a decisive victory in the next battle, or fail to suppress the French army, there will probably be no chance in the future.

This was the situation. Even if Napoleon only had one infantry battalion, he could still boost the morale of these soldiers.

Although he has various minor ailments, these have nothing to do with being a soldier.

After all, politics always occupied his energy.

At the same time, the coalition forces were shrinking tighter and tighter on the periphery. As the number of troops increased, one could even see that the coalition forces' positions were densely packed with people.

Now for Drouot, although this kind of target is very suitable for his artillery to attack, it is not without problems. That is, there are too many enemies. Even if he can concentrate a larger artillery group, it may be difficult to deal with them.

As for the Allied forces, since they had achieved some success in the first day's battle, at least Napoleon's cavalry charge, which was like a raging wave hitting the coast, was put to an end, which was also a great encouragement to the Allied soldiers.

In the past, when they were in frontal battles, even the Russian veterans always had the same problem when recalling Borodino. Apart from the Raevsky Battery, they probably only managed to hold some positions in Eylau during the war against the French attack.

Napoleon's offensive was so fierce, but in the end the coalition forces worked together to hold their positions. This is a victory worth celebrating.

But in order to achieve this victory, we have indeed traveled a long way.

After Langgeron's troops arrived, Solovyov gave him a large area of ​​​​the position. After all, he was now leading a legion.

But after he came, he didn't feel like talking nonsense at all.

"What's the matter with you?"

"You made it in time. I sent out the Swedes, but when they arrived at Allenburg, you were already setting up camp."

"But we have always been here, you know 2000 years ago"

"What story are you going to tell?"

The person that Langgeron, the troll, is most afraid of is Solovyov.

Russian generals generally don't read much, but this guy is the opposite. He has read so many books and has some insights.

"You should know that there are great generals in both the West and the East, right?"

"There are Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, so what? Are there any figures in the East? I think there must be, otherwise you wouldn't say so. It should be before the Three Kingdoms story you translated, right?"

"Yes, Xiang Yu, the King of Western Chu"

As for what Xiang Yu had done, Solovyov had told Langgeron about it before, but apparently the man was so focused on complaining that he didn't remember this point of knowledge.

Of course, there are huge differences. Western historians, if they know something about military affairs, will always have something to add.

Dongfang was fine when the historians wrote about it, but it should be changed to.
Even the war situations described in later history books were probably not as good as those in the first four histories and the earlier Zuo Zhuan.

Sometimes, writers pay more attention to results when writing. Although European historians write a lot of subjective and even mythological stories, there are some good points in their works.

The best person to write a history book is one who has military experience. At the highest level, he should be a general, and at the lowest level, he should be a Roman military tribune. Generals and monarchs who write memoirs can always describe things more clearly.

Here, Solovyov is using analogy when speaking to Langgeron.

When Hannibal was in Italy, he was invincible. Except for Fabius who always delayed his actions, no one here could cause him any trouble.

However, Scipio Africanus destroyed the Barca family's rear base in Iberia, and finally used troops on Carthage's homeland.

This also led to Hannibal's inability to sit still in Italy, and he was forced to choose to return to his homeland. He was eventually defeated by the Romans in Zama near the border between Algeria and Tunisia today.

As for Xiang Yu, he was on the front line, with 30,000 men against hundreds of thousands of men, and beat Liu Bang so hard that he threw his children away and finally made him doubt his life.

However, Han Xin defeated Xiang Yu's allies and the reinforcements he sent all the way from the north, and the strategy changed. As a result, everyone would only discuss the final result, that Xiang Yu was trapped at Gaixia.

Solovyov stated all this to Langgeron, who also nodded after listening.

"Then our strategy is probably similar to this situation. And this time, we probably have a 2 to 1 advantage in military strength."

"That's it, and we're suffering heavy losses. We still have to grit our teeth and get through this. Even though Darius III trapped Alexander the Great to death and Pompey almost cut off Caesar's supply, we still didn't win in the end. It was either because of lack of ability, lack of patience, or political factors. I remember Alexander Vasilyevich commented on Napoleon when he was still alive."

"Ah, I know that. Bonaparte was not then a usurper; he is now the emperor."

"But he did not usurp the throne from the monarch. Instead, he launched a coup against the Republic, and finally launched a vote, and even falsified it when it was clear that he would win."

When Soloviev criticized Napoleon, he was very blunt.

It's just that he said it very straightforwardly, and he didn't have the time to embellish his words. Then, he continued calmly: "But his current rule is only relying on this army. In addition, the level of other forces in France is too poor, which is why he can sit in Paris safely and have the support of the army and the people."

"But you also said that you rely on this army."

"Because he can win continuously, the people will support him. The bankers in Paris will benefit from plundering the defeated, but they got nothing in Russia and even lost hundreds of thousands of troops. In this way, the offensive and defensive situation has changed. The confidence he brought to the army in the previous victories will eventually be lost due to the failures on the battlefields and our current actions."

As they said this, French cavalry and Allied cavalry were still fighting in the north, but the eastern front was relatively quiet.

"How did it end? Michelle, you always have some good ideas."

This guy Lang Jielong seems to be in a good mood today.

"In the end, as long as we defeat his army, we probably don't need to reach France. They will have problems internally. You are from France, so you should know more about this situation than us."

"Yes, it's been a long time since I last went back to Paris. It's been twenty-two years since I came to Russia."

"Ah, it's been a long time."

"But we will always go to Paris as victors. Since you also mentioned the French, I think as long as we go to Paris, those people of the third estate will eventually abandon Bonaparte. I know the French too well. One day they will realize the problem and invite back a suitable monarch."

"In any case, it's not Louis XVIII, nor is it the Count of Artois. You know that the Count of Artois is reactionary, stupid and cowardly, and because of these, he doesn't know how to adapt. If it were Louis XVIII, he wouldn't stay in that position for long. When I was in Petersburg, I could see that his health was very poor. If he did something perverse, I think the Parisians would not be able to stand him. At this time."

Solovyov did not reveal to Langgeron the famous face-changing skills of French newspapers, but if he gave Langgeron a hint, he would always understand. After all, he was a Frenchman who came to St. Petersburg when he was less than 30 years old and joined the Restoration Army of Prince Condé.

And he actually said it directly, which was better than Solovyov saying it himself. He was a local, and Langgeron came from a foreign country to serve. The latter's restrictions in this regard were usually more relaxed.

"If Bonaparte is not sent too far away, or if a former republican soldier appears, he only needs to launch a coup d'état and settle things in Paris to end the rule of a monarch."

"That's right. History always repeats itself. But the British have never been very friendly to the Irish. Even the monarch and the Protector have always wanted to reduce the Irish's resistance. The most direct way is to reduce the number of Irish people."

Solovyov is always preparing for the next competition, and he considers more about serving the overall interests of Russia at present.

Of course, this also involves rebuilding the international order, but as a lieutenant general, he is only capable of giving private advice to his friends.

Count Nesselrode had to be pulled back from the damned Metternich, and Nesselrode was Alexander's mouthpiece in diplomacy and also had some ability to make suggestions.

As long as he can think independently and is not too influenced by Metternich, it will be a victory.

Solovyov always thought that Russia should not intervene in European affairs, or at least should not be too deeply involved. Prussia was still a reliable ally because of the presence of King FW and the future marriage between the two countries.

But Austria was not like that, and France would have faced the same problem if its monarch was not Catherine's child.

Solovyov always believed that the biggest trouble was Britain.

Now that Britain had more troops tied up in North America, Wellington, who was close to Madrid, could only use more friendly forces from Portugal and Spain, and the British had very few reinforcements. And because of Spain's financial bankruptcy and the antipathy of the Spanish people along the way towards the British, the British army could only provide supplies to the front through a series of ports.

But the British had a powerful navy and a huge advantage in maritime trade, and they were also able to do their thing on the European continent.

The situation was delicate. Solovyov knew that he would face huge troubles if he entered Europe.

But to deploy forces into the Caucasus and some places beyond the reach of the British is another matter.

Russia's future strength will still be able to threaten India, and the series of struggles with India in the Middle East fall into the category of "big game".

Solovyov also knew that Russia could actually gain a lot on this battlefield, and aggressively gaining benefits in Europe might still be a very troublesome thing.

But it is not easy for him to put forward his own views now. He is a soldier, not a diplomat, and this position is not suitable for providing any diplomatic insights.

But an open conspiracy always works well. The reactionary stance of the British will make them oppose a republican or Bonapartist ruler in Paris.

When encountering Russia in the future, European countries also had this attitude after 1917, and even retained the monarchy to a certain extent. This was the result of a compromise with bourgeois characteristics.

But if those fools of the Bourbon dynasty cause any trouble, there will soon be something fun to watch.

At this time, the monarchs had not yet thought about the island of Elba, but they were not like the British, who were so whimsical as to want to completely overthrow Bonaparte's rule.

Within Prussia, perhaps only generals like Gneisenau would hold such an idea.

Although Alexander wanted to defeat Napoleon, he had no determination because of family ties.

In this era, Austria is the one that prefers to add spice to the treaty.

Solovyov had witnessed Emperor Franz's miraculous micro-management before. They were actually worried that Russia, which had come from afar, would exert influence in northern Italy. It was obvious that they had not read the Spring and Autumn Annals.

They hoped not to weaken France too much, but they were afraid that Napoleon would make a comeback. In short, they were very conflicted.

There may be ulterior motives within the allies, but the situation has changed on the coalition side.

The French army was not composed entirely of French people, or Poles fighting for national restoration, but also soldiers from other countries.

Perhaps because the people of Italy and Naples have gained a lot from agriculture and handicrafts, and because of the great lack of virtue of the Austrians in Italy, they are still willing to follow the French to the end.

But the German princes are now suffering, and some of them are ready to change their allegiance. (End of this chapter)