Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 337 Schmidt obviously regarded the French as pigs

"Rana, what did you get?"

"It is dog meat, your majesty."

Although Napoleon had no dietary restrictions, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable when it came to eating dog.

"I don't mind eating dog meat. This place is not far from Saxony, so it's not surprising to see people eating it."

"Well, let the chef make a pot of soup. That's fine."

As for a French marshal who ran around the small town where the headquarters of the large army was located and got some vegetables and dog meat, it can indeed prove the efficiency of the French troops who were leading the way in front. They had looted most of the edible things.

Although I don't want to say that the French army's discipline was poor, that was the situation in Europe at that time. The banknotes used to requisition materials were not strong enough, and the exchange of paper money for the same value of precious metals would be at a discount.

While this pile of mess was being cooked, Lana also discovered that Napoleon was different today. He was holding the booklet seized from Mark and reading it intently.

"Your Majesty, you have been reading this book for the whole afternoon."

But he was watching it on a horse, and he had basically done everything that could be done on a horse, except making love with a woman, even sleeping.

I just don’t know if the same is true for the strange sight of people and horses sleeping together.

"Rana, this book is very interesting. It seems that the coalition forces are studying our combat methods and are also combining them with the ancient military theories of the Chinese."

"But it was published only a few months ago, that is..."

"When the British gathered Russia and Austria to oppose us, this book was just completed. It can be said that there are still some people in Russia and Austria who are very thoughtful. It can even be said that Suvorov is not what I thought in the past. In addition to military tactics, he also seems to have corresponding strategies and is even training the next generation of military talents for Russia."

"We should also cultivate talents, Your Majesty."

"That's why we established the Saint-Cyr Military Academy based on the previous military academies, so that our officers can learn advanced theoretical knowledge. This book reviews many battles in the past 15 years, but it's still a little immature, but the foundation is good. A Russian military attaché in Paris claimed to have captured Scherer alive. I believe this statement. The ambush battles described in this book are indeed something that only eyewitnesses can do."

Napoleon could not help but feel some contempt when he mentioned Scheerer, a man who almost lost all the results of his first expedition to Italy.

But he was just interested and would not pay too much attention to a rising young officer.

"Your Majesty, Rustam has prepared the soup and put it here."

After Rustam brought the soup, Napoleon called Lannes over.

"At times like this, we have to eat soup first. In November, the weather here will be worse, but it will still be much better than when we crossed the Alps."

"Your Majesty, what should we do next?"

"Of course, we should pursue Kutuzov's troops and destroy them before they can join the main Russian army."

"However, we chased them for several days and only caught some Austrians."

"The Russians will eventually show up. I don't think they will just run away. They will come back to bite us."

"Would Kutuzov have done the same thing?"

"The rear guard of the Russian army is Bagration's column. In Switzerland, he fought and retreated to block Massena's pursuit. As for their negotiation, there is nothing to discuss here. This is just the cunning old man trying to delay time."

"So why don't we take advantage of the Russians' claims of negotiating and do something about it?"

"Rana, what are you going to do?"

Of course, Lanner wanted to fool the Austrians along the way so that they would let down their guard.

In addition to the field troops, the Austrian army also had some garrison troops near the bridges and main roads along the way, responsible for destroying facilities along the way.

However, this is what will happen in the next few days.

What Napoleon was still considering was to catch up with the Russian army, and preferably destroy a part of it.

Therefore, Lannes quickly left Napoleon's residence and returned to the army he commanded.

After the Battle of Ulm, the Allied forces had been retreating according to the method agreed upon by Kutuzov and Schmidt, which was to provide alternating cover, preserve strength as much as possible, and only launch a rearguard battle when necessary.

In the previous few days of fighting, the Russian army rarely encountered the French, and the French pursuit troops often encountered the Austrians. Davout's Third Army was attracted to Mariazell by the Austrian army.

Murat's cavalry corps and Lannes' Fifth Army did encounter the Russian army several times, but there was no contact in the first few days.

Schmidt was already considering how to deal with the French army at this time, but the Allied forces on the retreat did not have any good opportunities so they retreated for several days.

"Sir, at this time, I think we should continue to retreat."

"If the French pursue us too closely, we will have no choice but to continue to fight them, and..."

Kutuzov and Schmidt both knew that Mark's defeat would lead to more than 100,000 French troops launching a large-scale pursuit of the 50,000-strong Allied force, and if they were not careful, the troops might suffer heavy losses.

"If the French get too close, we'll have to fight."

After Schmidt finished speaking, he looked at the Russian generals standing beside him. Many of them were still very young, and they were still eager to try even in such a difficult situation.

"Prince Bagration, you have been at the rear of the entire marching column. This task is still very difficult."

"Yes, General Schmidt, but the current situation requires us to engage the French in close combat when they catch up with us."

It was still far away from the village of Shenglaben, and a skirmish was bound to be unavoidable before that battle.

As for Solovyov's words, he was thinking that if the Guards Chasseurs were brought here, it might be of some use, but a small regiment of less than a thousand people joining the battle would not change anything. At most, it would make the French suffer more.

He still doesn't have enough soldiers, and they should have just entered Austria, but they don't need to apply for visas.

After Bagration returned to the army, Solovyov raised this issue with Schmidt.

"This seems to be a good place to strike the enemy."

His finger was pointing at Dürenstein on the Danube River. The terrain here happened to be a river valley, which was a good place to use his skills.

"But the French have to fall into this trap too. You can't expect them to be fooled."

"Okay, General, but it will be difficult if the French catch up with us." At this time, Napoleon formed the Eighth Army in addition to the existing seven armies, the Guards and the Cavalry Army, and appointed Mortier to command this army to join the battle.

But the Allied forces didn't know much yet, and the French army was still pressing forward.

The Russian army was caught up by the French again near Amstetten.

Bagration had not fought the French before, and he still wanted to keep his distance.

But the French were still in hot pursuit, and at this time they tried to get closer and launch an attack.

In this situation, Bagration felt that he could no longer be pursued passively like this. If he could not turn around and fight, he would obviously be defeated by the opponent in the pursuit.

So he summoned the captains of his regiments and prepared to launch a counterattack.

"Brothers, it seems that we can't let these French friends continue to chase us. We must give them a blow now to let them know that we are not easy to mess with."

As for the orders he issued, they also required the line infantry and chasseurs to line up and deploy cannons on the road. This was also obvious, using cannons to surprise the French cavalry.

And the French cavalry was here, and they had a world-class guy below the neck leading the team, who personally launched the charge.

If Solovyov were here, he would probably have to use the "preparation for that man". After all, it is indeed difficult to find a cavalry commander like Murat who is dressed in exaggerated clothes, conspicuous and arrogant.

Unless you want to compare your luck with him. This guy is definitely very conspicuous, but he is rarely hit.

But the French cavalry only broke through two Austrian cavalry regiments, and then the Russian artillery gave a "friendly greeting".

This was enough to deal with them. When the Russian artillery saw that the "cocktail" was effective, they also cheered.

Murat's attack was repelled in this way, with heavy losses, after the Austrian cavalry was defeated.

Lannes, who followed up, sent out Oudinot's grenadier division after learning that Murat's cavalry had suffered a setback.

These grenadiers were carefully selected. They were arranged in a horizontal column and pushed forward, with artillery support from the Grenadier Division.

Seeing this situation, Bagration also knew that the other party was serious.

At this time, a round-based system was achieved. After Murat was frustrated, he called for Oudinot's grenadiers.

Bagration's old friend who came to him at this time was Miloradovich, whose troops were nearby. The two columns were to join forces and launch a counterattack against Oudinot's division.

The exchange of fire between the two sides continued to escalate, but the Austrian army was always the unlucky one.

Some Austrian border guards became the main targets of the French army, but they were lucky today. Miloradovich brought four infantry regiments to provide effective support.

This was the only way to prevent them from being completely wiped out. At this time, the coalition forces were still able to barely withdraw from the battlefield under the cover of night.

Winters are getting longer now, which is always more friendly to the party who wants to escape.

At this time, General Schmidt led several officers along the Danube River in order to find a suitable ambush battlefield.

"If the French want to pursue us, or if they want to launch any action, they will get into trouble here."

"It's just that on this battlefield, it's just about enough to deal with a division of enemies, and it's difficult for us to deploy."

"But this is enough, Colonel. After our rear guard arrives here, we can take advantage of the favorable terrain on one side and suppress the enemy from this angle with artillery from the heights of the valley."

Speaking of this tactic, Solovyov remembered that the French used this tactic at the Gotthard Pass.

The methods learned from the enemy are still useful. At least this time we can give back to the French.

"but."

Solovyov wanted to explain the problem, but Schmidt was still observing the situation below through a telescope and started chatting with several Austrian officers who were familiar with the terrain.

"General, the current environment here is just right for those Frenchmen to encounter considerable trouble when they pursue along the river bank. The only way to escape is for reinforcements to arrive here."

"That's what I'm worried about, General Schmidt. We can hold back one division of the enemy here, but if another French division comes from behind, it will inevitably lead to a series of melees."

"Yeah, it looks like we need to think of something."

While Schmidt was thinking about this, Solovyov's mind was racing. He thought that the Bagration column and part of the Austrian army could cut off the French retreat here, while Miloradovich or von Kimmel's Austrian army would block the French reinforcements that might sneak into the valley from the front. That would be about it.

But there is also a prerequisite, that is, the coalition forces should not suffer too much losses during the retreat, and the French army should not pursue too closely.

Only in this situation is it possible to win, and it can also be used to boost morale.

But Solovyov didn't know that his tactics had now been almost completely analyzed by Napoleon.

It was only because there was only one copy of the booklet given to Marc and Napoleon only mentioned a small part of it to Lannes that his trick would not be exposed.

Of course, the French troops that are coming here may not necessarily be Lannes' troops. The large French force must now advance towards Vienna while pursuing the retreating Allied forces and try to destroy them on the way.

However, in several encounters, the fighting between the two sides was very short. After a while of exchange of fire, the Russian army always fled under the cover of night, or fought and retreated when the French army was short of manpower, so that the French army chased for several days but failed to catch this slippery loach.

It was Mark who put himself in a "dead zone" like Ulm, hiding himself in his turtle shell and taking a beating. Not to mention the French, generals from every country would like such an opponent who hides himself and doesn't know how to take a beating.

Under such circumstances, the efficiency of the French pursuit was greatly reduced, and Murat claimed after returning that he encountered superior enemy forces in Amstetten and therefore failed to pursue successfully.

Bagration said the same thing when he returned.

In fact, the strength of the two sides was similar. During the brief exchange of fire, because the French cavalry and the Russian infantry fought fiercely, both sides made misjudgments.

In this situation of mixed success and failure, and with the French army still heading towards Vienna, Lannes and Murat were about to go to the Austrian capital.

As for the fact that the two of them fooled the Austrian army at the bridgehead, allowing Oudinot's Grenadier Division to sneak onto the bridge and finally remove the explosives, it does sound very legendary.

But there were also French troops in pursuit, and they were falling into the pocket set by Schmidt.

Solovyov himself wanted to complain that Schmidt treated the French as if he was catching pigs with a pocket.

(End of this chapter)