Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

However, as the Russian army was now entering the towns along the way, Napoleon's army was also approaching.

Before this, he had made arrangements in Paris.

Although it was somewhat unexpected that Russia and France were still at war at this time, Catherine was granted the power of regent.

In addition, because Spain did not react to Napoleon's removal of his brother Joseph from the title of King of Spain and returning the pig imprisoned in France to the throne in Madrid, he also asked the French army to be on high alert in the northeastern region of Spain, awaiting a possible attack from Wellington.

"The Spanish are now actually under the command of the British, and they will not respond to your actions, Your Majesty."

"Caulaincourt, I knew this would happen. We must first defeat Blücher and let the coalition know our strengths and weaknesses. Also, are the National Guards already in formation?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The National Guard of Paris was formed during the French Revolution, and these soldiers were only responsible for defending the local area.

Now Napoleon also had to make a gesture and entrust his wife and children to them, and then go to the battlefield.

Napoleon has always been very confident in fighting, and he is very confident that he can defeat Blücher. This time the strategy is obviously different.

"Catherine, I will now hand over the power of regent to you. If anything unexpected happens, although I always have to say this, I still need to make arrangements. If it is you, it should be convenient to negotiate with your brother."

"Your Majesty, I still hope that you can return safely. If negotiations are possible, I still hope that you can conclude peace as soon as possible."

"It doesn't matter. And... I don't know if it will happen."

"You have been quite passionate lately, Your Majesty."

Catherine also let it go and even brought it up in front of Caulaincourt and several marshals and generals of the Guards.

"I think there will be another child, and you don't have to worry about Paris."

"Yes, I will arrange for my brother to help you. Catherine, there is always something to be said, and you have to take good care of the children. By the way, Paulina is here with her children too, and the family always has to stay together and stay united."

"Then you should take Demid with you. The kid is very smart and has some talent."

"No, it's probably not his turn to fight this year. He would get tired even if he rode a horse for a while. Let him train his physique. When he's older, I'll take him to the battle."

Napoleon once said to his nephew that if he had an older son, he would follow him to the battlefield.

But when it really came to this, it seemed that only Eugene was with him.

Perhaps he felt that Demid was in poor health, and that Leclerc only left behind this one son, and there were other factors.

He then gave a speech to the National Guard, and amid thunderous cheers of "Long live the Emperor", the emperor and his entourage left Paris.

However, this is probably his last chance to reunite with his family in Paris, and it is hard to say where he will be in the future.

As for the march, Napoleon began to deploy troops after reaching the banks of the Marne River, and he was also paying attention to the actions of Blücher's Silesian Corps.

"Your Majesty, how are we going to deal with these damn Germans? When we were in Saxony before, they always avoided fighting with us."

"Ney, this is nothing. Now they have a goal, which is to occupy Paris. We only need to meet them when they advance towards Paris and then defeat them, and that will be the goal achieved."

Napoleon spoke with considerable confidence, tapping the map with his cane.

"But will the coalition forces do this?"

The marshals are no longer the same as they were in the past. Although they are still loyal to the emperor, they are not like the old soldiers and junior officers.

After all, they all had families and jobs. On the contrary, the marshals who received less bonuses worked harder. Even Poniatowski, who did not enjoy the glory of being a French marshal for a few days, lost his life.

"They will, if we follow this guiding theory. The coalition forces marching towards Paris will surely become paralyzed and careless after a series of victories. We want to make the enemy paralyzed and careless, just like on the eve of Austerlitz. But this time, we are not trying to confuse the Tsar, but the generals who command the army."

The marshals present that day included Berthier, Ney and Mortier. After seeing the translated pamphlet of Napoleon, although they did not express any opinions, they also looked puzzled.

When did you ever refer to the battle analysis co-authored by your nephew and Archduke Karl?

But Napoleon found it interesting and even told it again in conjunction with his own battle examples.

Even this guideline is probably not a problem.

The French army is currently very small in number, and Napoleon has extremely limited mobile forces, and can only take the initiative to attack in one direction.

The target to be attacked was Blücher.

His troops were led by York and Sacken, but they also divided their forces. Blücher's troops followed behind, the Russian brigade was in the middle, and Solovyov's 9 men followed at the end. Even when Blücher entered Nancy, except for the th Division and the accompanying Hussars who were relatively close, the rest of the troops were still left behind.

Solovyov sent Petya to deliver the letter and bring back a copy of the deployment.

Gneisenau couldn't persuade the old man Blücher, so he had to do as the marshal wanted, but he still showed Solovyov the current deployment situation.

After seeing this, Solovyov actually drew out the sword that Paul had given him and chopped it directly on the table.

Although the table did not provoke him.
"Sir, why are you so angry?"

Petya thought that he was late in delivering the letter, which caused his superior to get angry.

"How can they deploy their troops in a long column like this on a highway? It's over. This deployment looks like a snake, with attacks on the head and tail responding to each other. But now it seems that the army is too dispersed. If Napoleon concentrates his forces and defeats them one by one, the 100,000 troops in front will be finished in a few days!"

Solovyov's anxiety was not without reason. Although he helped the Allied forces kill 15,000 more people on the Katzbach line, in the final Battle of Leipzig, because Lecour was defending the village of Lindenau on the opposite bank and organizing the retreat of the rear guard, the French army was able to recruit more troops.

If Napoleon transferred some veterans from other battlefields, his strength in fighting on the French mainland would actually be enhanced.

You must know that the veterans mobilized back from Spain are the elite of the French army. Many of the French troops on the Saxony battlefield are mainly recruits.

"Count, what can we do about it?"

Nicholas cannot address others in private in formal occasions, after all, he is also a Grand Duke. "What can we do now? We can only think of ways to concentrate our forces first, and then support the scattered friendly forces. In addition, when we see Napoleon's main force, we must not fight easily, but find a suitable battlefield to fight the enemy. This battlefield, Karl, listen to me, we must find a battlefield on a reverse slope, we must try to weaken the French artillery advantage as much as possible, and we must guard against a major defeat. Our army's retreat route must be guaranteed, and we must also try our best to support friendly forces. We must always choose a few suitable terrains and then take action."

His reaction was quite quick, and although this could be considered Kutuzov's method, he alone had completed the work of the General Staff and the Commander-in-Chief.

Clausewitz, on the other hand, has now become a radio transmitter.

Of course, a headquarters like theirs with two chiefs of staff working together is still very efficient.

As for Blücher, it was probably too late to help. I had tried to persuade him before the war, but he was ordered to be left far behind.

This is the kind of thing that armies that often lose battles should prepare for.

However, if you are with the Prussians of this era, you have to get used to this kind of thing happening frequently.

And you must remain highly alert, as the enemy may approach you soon.

Even when Solovyov was arranging these things, Blücher had not yet realized the danger was coming.

Napoleon returned to France. Although the French people's desire to resist was not as he expected, intelligence was always easier to obtain than when fighting in Germany.

The French army is now active near the Marne River, also looking for opportunities.

The scouts sent by Napoleon quickly discovered the movements of the Allied forces.

Napoleon wanted to attack Blücher first, but there was no emotional factor involved. It was mainly because it was easier to take action in this direction.

This guy Schwarzenberg has always been afraid of his enemies. No matter whether the opponents are French or Russian, he always keeps a distance from them.

Tormasov rarely fought with him. Usually, it was the Saxon army led by Reigner who was engaged in the entanglement.

What's more, that would prolong the battle line. While attacking the Allied Forces, Napoleon actually realized that Paris might become the Allied Forces' primary target.

In addition to the main army, the anti-French coalition also had nearly 10,000 British troops preparing to land in Belgium, as well as the reorganized Dutch army and the Northern Army.

In terms of military strength, we do have an absolute advantage, and it can be said that the advantage is mine.

However, when seeing the battlefield layout, Solovyov couldn't help but say that there was a bald guy whose level was probably not even as good as that during the Napoleonic Wars. He couldn't even make his troops move quickly. He could only stay at a certain point, or maneuver back and forth between certain places, or have a main force battle or something.

But as some people have pointed out, there are always people making mistakes here.

Due to the anti-French alliance, this war to march into the French mainland was turned into an encirclement and suppression campaign.

If the French had not surrendered easily after taking Paris, it would have been difficult to solve the problem even if we had not come a few more times.

But among all parties, probably only Solovyov knew what would happen because he had seen it before.

Napoleon relied entirely on his personal military talent, especially his ability to seize opportunities and dispatch troops, to gain local advantages.

"Your Majesty, what should we do now?"

"Since Blücher's troops are so scattered, we can't be polite. He is arranged like a snake, so we should attack the vital points first."

As for this vital point, it is either Blücher's main force at the "head of the snake" or a strike on the command center on the way.

It’s just that this location was such a coincidence for Napoleon, as it was the place where he came to France from his hometown in Corsica to attend military school.

Napoleon arrived in Brienne at the age of 10 and began to study and live here.

It can be said that he is very familiar with every tree and blade of grass nearby, as long as he has walked through it.

When I was a kid, I studied with my classmates in this area, and I knew the terrain like the back of my hand during marches and exercises.

Not to mention those marshals and generals who were of aristocratic origin, many of them came from here.

However, some of the locals who were familiar to me were not there.

Napoleon decided to divide his troops into three groups and march towards Brienne. He also sent an adjutant to pass on information, asking Grouchy's cavalry to take the castle area by surprise.

This would threaten the coalition's flanks, but at the same time we also had to be prepared for a bigger attack. After the cavalry occupied the traffic lines, they would attack the coalition from the flank, preferably annihilating a part of it.

Now for Napoleon, the gap in military strength was too great and he could not ignore this huge gap.

Modern warfare is no longer like the days of Alexander the Great, where a sudden attack on the enemy's commander could defeat the enemy, nor is it like the Romans, who always built fortresses, advanced step by step, and finally strangled the enemy.
What he had to do now was to defeat the enemies quickly, the more he could kill, the better.

However, there are always unexpected things. Although Blücher ignored Gneisenau's advice and Solovyov's warnings, this old guy must have been extremely lucky.

Many times in the past, they were forced to flee all over the mountains and plains by Napoleon, but they were always able to regroup their troops.

This time, before the battle began, the Cossacks acting with the Silesian Corps captured Colonel Bernard, a staff officer sent by Napoleon to give instructions to Marshal Mortier.

Blücher, who knew Napoleon's plan, tried to remain calm, but he was also panicked.

If this plan had not been intercepted by his own men, he would probably have been waiting for Napoleon to kick his ass.

In this situation, he ordered the Russian cavalry led by Count Palen to march towards the Castle of Brienne and block the French vanguard before the French army completed its operation.

Then, consider gathering his troops.
This reaction was actually quite quick and very positive.

He even bypassed the command structure between the Allied corps and asked the Russian cavalry from Schwarzenberg to come over.

However, he left part of the Russian army in Mainz, and both the vanguard and the rear guard were far away from the battlefield.

This posture of getting beaten, but with a fist stretched out, is really confusing. (End of this chapter)