Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

After receiving the order, Grouchy did not dare to neglect it.

He was not a cavalryman before, this was considered a career change, but he performed very well as a cavalry commander.

Napoleon gave instructions to Mortier, and Berthier was also worried about problems, so he sent out a group of adjutants to always ensure that the message was conveyed.

However, the disappearance of Colonel Bernard, which actually meant that he was captured by the Russian army, now made Berthier aware of the problem.

"Your Majesty, our plan may have been leaked."

"Leaked? That doesn't matter. We are not fighting according to orders. If Blücher or Schwarzenberg wanted to fight us in the castle of Brienne, it would be a big mistake. Many people used to go to school there, including me. Although I have been away from here for 30 years, everything here is still so familiar and kind."

But Napoleon also had something to say. In the past, when he was here, he suffered a lot because of corporal punishment from teachers and ridicule from classmates.

Setting up a formation in this place could add some footnotes to one's own honor.

Fortunately, some people were far away at this time and could not get here. If they knew, they would probably think that Napoleon was going to blow up the school.

"Your Majesty, if this is the case, do we need to consider some encryption measures in the future?"

"It's not necessary now. If necessary, we can use numbers to compile codes. But this requires a high level of staff officers. They need to master mathematics and use numbers to represent a series of letters. They can't let the code book fall into the hands of the enemy."

Obviously, Napoleon already knew that encrypted communication was useful, but what he mentioned here was not a signal machine, but more like a combination of numbers to form letters, but it was only suitable for short commands, and
Even if we bring optical communications using visible light to the battlefield, there will probably be problems with signal transmission.

However, Napoleon was not in the mood to quote it now. After all, sometimes it was not possible to convey information accurately.

But he also included this kind of communication as an alternative condition.

Even though the Old Guards did not use breech-loading rifles, several Leaping Barracks within the Young Guards had also begun to replace their weapons with some new weapons, but in limited quantities.

Perhaps Napoleon learned his lesson only after being beaten several times by the Russian army.

However, he didn't know that the British were not so supportive of the new weapons, and even opposed it, so the project had been shelved because of the difficult problem of Solovyov's rifle's airtightness and the British Parliament's habit of shouting in the market.

Wellington, meanwhile, was writing to his brother in Spain, complaining about the procrastination of Parliament.

If he could afford to offend the parliament masters who would question him at any time, he would probably have gone to Luoyang with a knife and explained the pros and cons.

At this time, the coalition leader, Count Palen, led his cavalry and entered Brienne first.

When Grouchy arrived here, he found that he was actually "late".

But he was still very calm at this time. He looked at his watch and found that he had arrived at the designated location an hour ahead of schedule. The cavalry's marching speed was still relatively fast. He even had time to bring the cavalry cannon with him.

Seeing the Russian cavalry in green clothes ahead, Grouchy did not hesitate and directly ordered the cavalry artillery company to set up their positions and fire artillery shells at the Russian army.

When the Russian army saw the French firing, they also ordered their cavalry to disperse their formation and prepare to fight.

Strangely enough, after Blücher sent York out, the troops around him were all Russian troops, including General Olsufiev's troops, General Sacken's troops, General Palen's cavalry troops, General Lanskoy's cavalry detachment, and Cossacks serving as scouts on the periphery.

Even if he wanted to find some reinforcements, it was not easy at this time. The troops that came were either from Württemberg and Bavaria, or from Austria.

Well, Blücher was not satisfied with the quality of the reinforcements, but it was better than nothing, and there were still so many Russian troops at hand.

However, when his orders were passed down, although they were conveyed in German so that the generals could understand them, not all officers were able to grasp the situation.

As Suvorov said when he was still alive, orders should be short and understandable to both officers and soldiers.

Now in the coalition forces, orders always have to be translated, but if there are any deviations, they will always be held accountable.

Gneisenau now made new deployments according to Blücher's instructions, asking all these Russian troops to move closer.

However, by the time Olsufiev approached Brienne, Grouchy's cavalry had already launched an attack.

Many of the troops led by Palen were hussars, and after seeing this situation, they quickly retreated.

After all, it is inevitable to suffer losses when facing Grouchy's dragoons and cavalry artillery.

But the Cossacks almost made a big move today. After hearing about the fighting on the front line, Napoleon decided to go and observe the situation.

However, he did not bring many followers with him on this trip, and encountered Cossack cavalry on the road.

Although it was not uncommon to be attacked by the enemy on French soil, it was indeed a bit outrageous that the emperor himself was attacked by wandering Russian cavalry between three marching troops.

However, when these lancers rushed towards Napoleon, they were attacked by the cavalry guards around him, and were also directly shot with pistols at close range.

So after seeing the fierce firepower of these guys, the Cossacks did not put up a head-on fight and turned away after losing several cavalrymen.

"Your Majesty, you are frightened."

"It doesn't matter. Compared to being targeted by those Cossacks in Russia, it's nothing."

You know, with these Cossacks rushing over, Napoleon probably didn't need to tilt his neck back to swallow the poison - and it's hard to say whether the effect of the poison has worn off.

He praised the cavalry officer who had shot and killed the two Cossacks, and then continued on his way.

The French army moved very quickly. After seeing Grouchy's actions, Palen ordered his troops to retreat to the vicinity of the castle and continue to fight with Grouchy's cavalry.

The French cavalry that followed encountered Sherbatov's troops again. The Russian army also brought two regiments of chasseurs.

Grouchy quickly gathered his cavalry and attacked any Russian troops who dared to confront the French cavalry outside Brienne.

Palen felt that the situation was not good. The French had more cavalry than them. However, if they abandoned the chasseurs behind the cavalry, they would probably be attacked by the French heavy cavalry in turn. Such a loss was not worth it.

So he also waited for reinforcements and used artillery to fire back at the approaching French.

Napoleon, who had seen the Château de Brienne, was now also mobilizing his troops.

Ney's troops were approaching, two infantry divisions had been deployed, and Grouchy's previous fierce attack had also opened a gap.

Paalen had to abandon the castle, which deprived Napoleon of an opportunity to personally command the bombardment of his alma mater.

Moreover, he has been itching to show off his skills recently and wants to personally command the artillery to join the battle.

But the situation did not allow him to do so, and Blücher soon mobilized the Russian army to counterattack. However, these cavalry units concentrated together, with a total of 60 squadrons, but they were unable to do anything to the French army.

After all, Napoleon had more troops at his disposal, and when he launched a counterattack, he quickly repelled the Russian army, which lacked infantry support.

The battle situation remained at a stalemate, and Napoleon kept his troops outside Brienne and made no preparations to enter there.

He still has to fight the next battle, no matter whether it is to destroy the enemy or to test the enemy, he has to take action.

At this time, he didn't have the leisure to stay in his alma mater.

However, for some unknown reason, Blücher suddenly decided to go to Brienne for an inspection after nightfall.

He also led the entire headquarters staff
The French did not take further action, which made the Allied forces relax their vigilance to some extent.

It is hard to say whether this battle was a victory or a defeat. It could only be considered an encounter battle, and it ended with both sides losing thousands of people in the daytime fighting.

But the losses on the coalition side were probably even greater.

Although some Cossacks rushed to Napoleon, they were also repelled by his subordinates.

But when Blücher entered the city this time, he was very arrogant, but it was at night, so probably nothing would happen.

However, a French infantry regiment nearby was ready to take the initiative to do something after seeing an old man leading a group of people into Brienne.

Although neither Napoleon nor even their army commanders and division commanders issued orders, there was no strict order not to enter Brienne, and one road was indeed not blocked by the Russian army.

This is not a problem of the cordon, but the fact that the actions of these French troops happened to be in the blind spot of the Russian reconnaissance, and were also covered by the fences and bushes common in northern France.

Even Marshal Victor, who commanded this group of troops, was not quite clear about the situation. He just saw the Treadmill soldiers marching into Egypt.

Blücher and Gneisenau entered Brienne, unaware of the danger.

But in the light of their followers' torches, they could see the faint reflections of some ornaments on the infantrymen's hats in the distance.

Gneisenau then sent some of his Russian cavalry followers to ask for the password, but they were met with a burst of rapid fire.

The young captain in the lead was unlucky enough to be hit and fall off his horse, and then became a prisoner of the French.

Seeing this situation, Blücher did not dare to stay here for too long, but called on his followers to retreat hurriedly on horseback.

During the retreat, the French infantry were obviously very quick and they even blocked Blücher's retreat route. Although this old man was not mentally normal, he was even more skilled in riding a horse than he was in riding his wife.

Even the prancing horse flew over the Frenchman's head.
Gneisenau's riding skills were obviously not so superb, and he only managed to escape after the desperate fight of the Russian guards.

This wouldn't be the first time that this had happened to Blücher and his team.

That unfortunate captain did have some background. If he could marry a rich old girl, he could also give birth to a great writer.

Blücher was still in shock. After riding back to the headquarters, he was also examining the surrounding situation.

"How did the French get into town?"

"Marshal, I think we should not have such rash inspections in the future. But I am also responsible. I did not understand the French deployment before, and the front line was not sufficiently guarded. If I had stably controlled Brienne instead of just blocking the French outside."

"Well, Gneisenau, this is not your responsibility."

Although Blücher heard the dissatisfaction of his chief of staff, he magnanimously took the blame himself.

"At least we are all here now, and the French haven't done anything to us. If a war breaks out in the future, the French will probably lose, which is always a good sign."

Although the result may be correct, the process may not be the same as he said.

Napoleon came to trouble Blücher again in the next two days, but the reinforcements sent by Schwarzenberg arrived. Apparently, Napoleon did not find any opportunity due to the lack of manpower and the fact that the Austrian army was more cautious and had more concentrated troops.

This also "proved" Blücher's theory and boosted his arrogance.

Perhaps he thought that Napoleon's luck had run out and that victory was a foregone conclusion this time.

It even returned to the state of the past few days, which can be said to be a relapse of old habits.

Gneisenau was indeed troubled when he saw this situation.

If that coward Schwarzenberg were replaced, maybe things would be better.

He didn't know that in the eyes of the chief of staff of the Bohemian Corps, the situation might be better if his boss was replaced by the old reckless man Blücher.

Each of them has a boss who is difficult to control, so it can be said that they share the same suffering.

And Napoleon was going to give them a big blow next, and even adjusted the commanders of some important transportation routes.

Now he was looking for an opportunity to defeat Blücher's army one by one, then drive them in one direction and finally destroy them.

This snake always appears on the road in northeastern France at the most critical moment.

Solovyov was still lagging behind at this time. Although he approached Nancy, he did not move forward.

He also received new orders. Although it was not appropriate for the Tsar to perform micro-management at this time, Alexander also told him not to rush forward but to try to get closer to the main force first.

But Solovyov's command was not on Schwarzenberg's side, so he was still able to move freely.

It is better to fall behind and enjoy the scenery than to be hit hard by your opponent in the front.

What's more, after entering France, Solovyov was a little slacking off because Blücher didn't listen to him.

Even for the support work, he is now more cautious in maintaining contact with friendly forces, trying not to get himself into trouble.

At this moment, when we are close to final victory, there is one very important thing that we must always keep in mind.

Existence is everything, and everything is for existence. (End of this chapter)