Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 345 Being an emperor on this earth is a bit petty
Before presenting the entire battle plan, Solovyov probably had a judgment that Alexander was indeed not satisfied with these conservative plans.

He even thought that the coalition forces should take the initiative to launch an attack and deal a heavy blow to the French.

Even without a God's perspective, one can see that the current battle situation is very delicate, and the coalition forces are not sure of defeating the French army with equal forces.

A more effective approach was actually the kite-flying tactic of 1813. Instead of confronting Napoleon himself and his capable generals who were able to lead troops independently, the strategy was to attack the scattered French troops, weaken the enemy bit by bit, and not pursue victory in a battle, but to dilute the French like a sponge.

Kutuzov would fully agree with this approach, after all, he liked this cunning way of fighting that weakened the enemy.

And there are many places from Vienna to the road across the Carpathians where this approach to weakening the enemy can be adopted.

But Alexander kept frowning as he looked at the battle plan.

"How can you still have such thoughts after defeating the French? You captured a French marshal and several generals, destroyed a French division, severely damaged another, but you are even more cowardly."

"Not out of cowardice, Your Majesty."

Solovyov was able to foresee Alexander's dissatisfaction. This character trait can be said to be a common characteristic of the descendants of Peter the Great of the Romanov family. Before they have suffered, they always have unrealistic fantasies about their abilities and hope to have a glorious victory.

In this case, you need to talk to him about the interests involved.

"Your Majesty, when a major battle is needed, we can indeed fight, but we must ensure that our forces have an advantage. The current width of the battlefield is more suitable for a tentative battle. After Archduke Karl's 85000 men gather together and the Prussians are determined to join the battle, we can defeat the enemy."

"Very good then. Since you are willing to join the battle, after resting for a while, Colonel, return to the Guards and continue to participate in this battle as the regiment commander."

Alexander was somewhat dissatisfied. After all, this guy was his confidant, but he never spoke from his own perspective and always stood on Kutuzov's side.

He even thought that if Suvorov were still alive, he would definitely agree with his idea of ​​taking the initiative to attack and fight the enemy.

However, Suvorov had to consider a lot of things in his strategic maneuvers. If he were alive today, he would be over 75 years old and might not have the energy.

As for Solovyov, he felt that returning to the Guards Chasseurs was at least his job, which was better than being shot on the battlefield.

Although the Guards Jager Regiment is only a small two-battalion regiment, which cannot be any smaller, the firepower intensity of this regiment is indeed still strong.

At this time, he could only say: "Well, Your Majesty, since you insist, I think I should return to the Guards Chasseurs, which also need officers who are more familiar with new tactics."

Moreover, after he returned, he could also convey orders to the Guards who were lagging far behind, and adjust the action plan so that the 12000 Guards and 40 cannons could reach the battlefield faster.

The distance that Grand Duke Constantine is lagging behind is indeed quite far now, but he will always arrive at the battlefield at the right time.

Going to Grand Duke Constantine was actually more friendly to Solovyov.

Obviously, the large number of people had already given Alexander's generals and adjutants confidence, and the victory over the French army also made them feel that they could do it too.

Kutuzov was highly respected in that circle in St. Petersburg, but he was old and was always the target of Russian jokes, so his victory now made these young officers feel that he was capable.

But no one thought about how accidental this battle was. It was entirely because the French were unable to fill their gaps, which led to the opportunity for battle.

If he really wanted to defeat Napoleon in a battle, Melas almost did it last time because he waited for Desaix, and then he failed.

At this time, a conservative style of play is more suitable for the current Russian army.

Solovyov needed a night's rest as he prepared to return to the Guards.

As for Napoleon, what is his current attitude?
The answer was that he did not have absolute confidence in winning. Even when Talleyrand proposed to prepare for negotiations, he was obviously not fully prepared.

But in this situation, he also began to issue orders for his troops to mobilize.

He was still confident in mobilizing the army. If the Austrians and Russians did not intend to negotiate, then they would continue to fight.

In terms of strategic planning, he had already thought about it. He would first deal with the Russian-Austrian coalition forces in the north. The two sides had been confronting each other in this direction.

During these few days, he did think about confusing his opponents, taking advantage of the eagerness of some people in the coalition forces to fight, and then launching actions in the appropriate place.

At this time, the envoy sent from Russia also reported something.

"Your Majesty, the Russian Emperor has sent a messenger to announce that they are releasing Marshal Mortier and several generals who have been captured, and that they are also bringing a personal letter from the Emperor."

"What do you think is going on, Caulaincourt?"

Napoleon asked this, but Caulaincourt looked puzzled: "Maybe it's for negotiation, and this time it should be a friendly attitude."

"No, Caulaincourt, you still can't think of it at this time? Well, you are stupid enough, but I don't mind. After signing this document, I can say that Alexander believes that he will achieve the final victory, and this will also show a kind of mercy from Russia."

Maybe Caulaincourt was pretending to be stupid, as he now looked as if he had suddenly realized something.

"Your Majesty, it may be so. His Majesty the Emperor of Russia may indeed take such an attitude. Emperor Paul was like this in the past. He was even unwilling to sign any death penalty order."

"This led to the opposition of the Russian court to fear him, but not to the extent that he could intimidate them. My late friend should have been more brutal and sent those who opposed him to the guillotine instead of showing hypocritical mercy."

Napoleon's attitude was very strange. When he passed by Wurttemberg, he met the Wurttemberg King's family and was impressed by Alexandra's beauty and the group of children she led. As for her four younger sisters, two of them were married and had children. The two younger ones were still unmarried and might be suitable as marriage partners.

But he didn't think about this now. It seemed better to marry a friendly small European country.
Earlier in Vienna, Mr. Talleyrand recommended a marriage to him with the Austrian princess, but he also scoffed at it, thinking it was ridiculous.

However, if he succeeded in either of these two routes, he would feel that it was "really good". Then, he talked a lot with Caulaincourt. As for the general manager Diroque, he was not here.

As for why, Oudinot, who was always easily hit by bullets, was hit by Russian shrapnel again in battle and was sent to the hospital for treatment. They had to send someone to take over his grenadier division.

As for the return of Mortier, Napoleon did not blame him too much. After all, he sent someone to deliver a letter, allowing Dupont's division to escape.

"Your Majesty, I am very sorry, but we are in Dürenstein."

"It doesn't matter, Mortier. You encountered a superior Russian force in Dürenstein, and I have read Dupont's report. There is no way to deal with it. The terrain there is too special. Besides, one side will always win on the battlefield, and we have to be the one that wins in the end."

Motier knew that the bad luck he and Gazan had experienced was over, and even the Emperor had gained more confidence.

"As for you returning from the young and vigorous Tsar, you must have brought his letters. I want to see what his attitude is now."

"He seems to be confident of his military superiority, Your Majesty."

"Yes, Your Majesty. But there are still many people in the Russian army who are cautious, especially those in Kutuzov's headquarters."

"Ah, old Kutuzov will definitely remain highly vigilant. We must take advantage of their internal disagreements and Alexander's attitude..."

Although Napoleon himself often made minor mistakes in spelling, he was an excellent reader.

Of course, Alexander's letter was written very beautifully, and it was written by him personally.

"Then the Russian Tsar, who thinks victory is in his hands, asks us to return to France, saying that he can still mediate and ask us to keep the French border and gain Russia's long-term friendship. This is just empty talk, they are still a long way from victory."

After saying this, Napoleon's mouth curled up, and he already had an idea.

When Motier and Gazan saw this, they knew that His Majesty the Emperor must have come up with some good idea.

Instead of sending a letter like the Tsar's, it showed his arrogance and underestimation of the enemy.

"Since he is so proud, we can adopt an attitude of 'showing weakness'. We can defeat them now, but we also have to show that we cannot defeat them."

After hearing what Napoleon said, some of Mortier's brains were spinning. His Majesty the Emperor always took the initiative to attack in the past, so why did he change his tactics this time?
In fact, it was after Alexander's handwritten letter arrived that he changed his mind.

"His Majesty."

When Berthier saw Napoleon like this, he knew that he was ready to adjust his course of action and take into account several selected battlefields. Finally, based on the maneuver directions of the French and Allied forces, he would launch a decisive battle on a suitable battlefield.

"No, Berthier, there is no need to rush yet. Alexander will gather the troops he has and may even think that we don't have many troops. The orders conveyed now are as follows. Davout will lead the Third Army from Vienna and march quickly along the way. We must reach the Brno line on December 12. The First, Fourth and Fifth Armies will move along the Goldbach River and control the high ground along the way. Send out cavalry to pay attention to the movements of the coalition forces in the Olmutz Road area. The cavalry and the guards will then maneuver."

Berthier also acted very quickly, and called several officers in charge of messaging, asking them to convey orders to various armies, especially Davout's 3rd Army, which was about to arrive quickly from Vienna.

"Your Majesty, the order has been completed. Do you want to repeat it?"

"No need, you have written it all here. We need to make another deployment and put Brno behind us before the coalition forces. This way, we can attract Alexander to fight and avenge Dyrenstein's arrow."

Speaking of which, in that extremely special terrain, the Russian army annihilated nearly 10,000 French troops, which was a considerable success. Napoleon had more or less remembered Kutuzov because of this failure.

"As for that, Gazan, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, from what I saw at Kutuzov's headquarters, well, this is not a violation of the agreement, is it?"

"The Austrians asked Archduke Liechtenstein to return to lead the cavalry. This is already a direct confrontation. And you, Gazan, as one of the messengers, should say a few words, right?"

Both sides "cannot participate in hostile military actions", which is also time-limited, and the rules are that they cannot appear openly on the battlefield.

In terms of intelligence, both sides know more or less, and you will definitely do the same.

"Okay, Your Majesty. This coalition plan was formulated by General Schmidt of Austria, but he was killed in the battle. Subsequent battles were commanded by a young Russian colonel named Solovyov."

"Ah, I know this person. He used to be a military attaché at the Russian Embassy in Paris. He is an officer who likes to study our army and has written books about it."

"Your Majesty, since you know this person, he also brought a letter, but it was to Her Majesty the Queen. Although I didn't want to believe it, he said that his stepmother was Her Majesty's cousin, the kind of relationship that was not too close. I even suspected it was a deception tactic, but there was nothing wrong with what he said, so I brought back his handwritten letter and showed it to us. It was just greetings to my aunt, uncle, and cousins ​​in France."

"Ah, interesting, just this matter"

After all, Josephine is in Paris, and Napoleon has a lot of things to worry about right now. If someone comes to claim to be his relative, he really needs to put it aside.

He would display his actor's self-cultivation when Alexander's side sent out the messenger again.

Anyway, the Corsican actor and the St. Petersburg actor are competing with each other in acting skills to see who will be fooled first. But if it comes to war, Napoleon is still better and he has already taken the lead.

As for the letter to Solovyov and Aunt Josephine, Napoleon would send someone to deliver it to Paris, and would also tell the Queen herself that the French army would win the next battle.

But Solovyov was already in Napoleon's book. As for where did he come from and why he was so good at fighting, was he a relative who ran to the other side?

It doesn't matter, it's just that the tactics used by the coalition forces in Dyrenstein are more clever, which will attract his attention, and also let the coalition forces see what true professionalism is.

(End of this chapter)