Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 383 025 Huge Serbia Drink More Water

After the Russian army set out from Odessa, it quickly entered Wallachia and marched towards Bucharest.

What is strange is that at this time, the Ottoman Empire, whose army was obviously closer to Bucharest, did not send a single soldier over.

This made Miloradovich, who had already entered Wallachia, feel a little strange. He was ready to fight a good fight with the Ottoman army.

It was not until the vanguard of the Lancers he sent arrived in Bucharest that they saw the following scene: the bureaucrats sent by the Ottoman Empire were expelled by the locals in Bucharest.

When the messenger came back, Miloradović knew what to do. He must capture Bucharest. The Ottoman army was either not assembled or was slacking off on the road. This was a golden opportunity.

Considering that Miloradovich's ancestors ran away from the Balkan stage to join the Russian army, their generations have been good at rebelling against the Ottoman Empire and their ability to oppose the Sultan, Pasha, and Bey is stronger than that of Afanasiy, who only uses his brain, while Miloradovich's family is really willing to take action.

He was also very lucky. He took control of Bucharest without losing a single person and was warmly welcomed by the locals.

And when he arrived here, the mayor and elders of Bucharest came out to greet him.

"Sir, please allow us to pay you our highest respects as the new protector of Bucharest and hope that you will accept the keys of this city."

"Thank you for your hospitality, but why is this happening?"

The mayor looked up and saw that Miloradovich did indeed still have some Serbian features, unlike his cousins ​​who spoke French in Russia and had become Russian aristocrats.

"Excuse me, General, are you a descendant of Miloradovic from Herzegovina?"

"Exactly."

Miloradovich was puzzled as to how he knew his family origins in Bucharest.

Although there is a problem, that is, during the time of Tsar Alexei, the ancestors of Miloradovich's family seemed to have been unable to survive in the Balkans, so they went to Russia and were settled on the Ukrainian steppes.

His great-grandfather Mikhail Ilyich Miloradovich served Peter the Great, but was later imprisoned and tortured for getting into trouble. Fortunately, he survived and was released by Catherine I.

"That's good. Do you know what happened in Serbia?"

The elder continued to ask, and Miloradovich was rather confused, because after all, he had just taken office as the Governor of Kiev, and it was true that his family was in Poltava.

But he really didn't know much about the situation in the Balkans.

"You better tell me about Serbia, sir."

"Ok."

But he also wants accordion accompaniment, I don’t know what’s going on.

If someone else came here, they might feel that the Balkans are a rather strange place, or even that the style of painting suddenly shifted to 200 years later.

All of Serbia was attacked, from Bihać to Petrović.

Karageorge will lead all Serbs and tell them that we are fearless.

The Ottoman Janissaries are awakening, do not touch our country.

Karageorge will lead us Serbs and show them that we are fearless.

Wolves are coming from Krajina, beware of Janissaries and Turks.

Karageorge will lead all Serbs and tell them that we are fearless.

In the Serbian resistance, we fought for freedom and honor.

Karageorge will lead the Serbs and tell them we have nothing to fear.

"What's going on?"

When Miloradovic was confused, the Serbian who came over gave an explanation: "Sir, your ancestors were also Serbian counts and nobles from Herzegovina. You should know what Serbia is like."

Miloradovich began to try hard to recall the deeds of his great-grandfather. Apart from being whipped in prison, he had previously served in Zaporizhia and before that was active in Montenegro, leading the locals to resist the Ottoman Empire.

Speaking of which, Karageorge's ancestors actually came from Montenegro.

But what Miloradovic thought of was that the resistance around Belgrade in Serbia was not very fierce. Many of the tall and strong men were obedient citizens.

However, the mountain people of Montenegro were extremely fierce in combat, and together with neighboring Albania, they kept the Ottoman Empire at bay for a long time.

And another point is that the difference between Montenegro and Albania is that there are still many people in Albania who follow the Ottoman Empire. Even if Montenegro finds a fake Peter III, it will still go against the Ottoman Empire.

The situation in Serbia was different. Afterwards, the mayor of Bucharest found a Serbian to explain to Miloradovic.

"General, after the Turkish Janissaries arrived in Belgrade, they killed the local Haji Mustafa Pasha and began to impose heavy taxes everywhere. We couldn't stand it and submitted a petition to the Sultan in Constantinople, but the domineering Janissaries slapped our representatives in the face."

"and then?"

"Then His Majesty the Sultan allowed us to fight the Janissaries, but these damned Circassian horse bandits killed many of our top leaders. Then it was George Petrovich who led us to expel the Janissaries."

Miloradovich was not stupid, but this kind of "rebellion under imperial order" was strange enough, as he had never heard of it before.

But in the Ottoman Empire, this happened, and Selim III condoned this behavior.

But from now on, it’s no longer up to him.

"So what happened next? What did the Janissaries do?" "Although we drove them away, Sultan Selim did not allow us to choose whether to govern ourselves or be a vassal. Instead, he wanted to launch a 'jihad' against Belgrade."

"I do know about this matter. What is the Sultan going to do now?"

"General, they want to destroy the Serbs around Belgrade, so we also need the support of the Russian army. This is not just a statement as in the past. We need concrete support. Sultan Selim is not trustworthy. We still recognize that we are his subjects and are willing to accept his protection, but now he does this."

Speaking of which, Sultan, the Turkish devil! .
If you look deeper, it is the famous reply of the Zaporizhia Cossacks.

After hearing about the battle situation, Miloradovich also had his own ideas, but he had to appease the envoys of the Serbian rebels first.

"I hope your leader, George Petrovich Karageorge, will have some patience. This matter is of great importance and needs to be reported to our Emperor."

Whether it can be passed is also a question.

But the messenger was also very happy to see that Miloradovich had agreed to report to him.

"Thank you General for your support!"

"It's too early to talk about thanking you now. How many of you are here?"

"General, there are four other people besides me. We crossed the Danube first and came to Bucharest. We were going to Odessa."

"Thank you for your hard work. It is not easy to go out and ask for help and risk crossing the Turkish blockade. Therefore, before you send someone back, one of you needs to go to Odessa to meet the Governor there, Duke Richelieu. Take this letter with you. After knowing your purpose, General John von Michelson who is there will send someone to escort you to Petersburg to meet His Majesty Alexander there."

Miloradovich did not make any diplomatic decisions on his own. Firstly, he did not have the arbitrary power granted by Alexander. Secondly, General Michelson was the commander-in-chief of this expedition.

But, he could still do something.

Although these Serbs came in small numbers, considering that Wallachia and Serbia were so close, the old weapons and some old-fashioned artillery in the Ottoman Empire's arsenal could be used to support the Serbs when arming the local Wallachians.

Anyway, these things can be regarded as lost. After all, corruption and ghost employment are characteristics of the Ottoman Empire.

Miloradovich's secret throwing away of more than a dozen cannons was not without solutions.

The Wallachians had always been oppressed by the Ottoman Empire, and they also knew that if they resisted the Sultan's rule, if they could not attract the Russians and Austrians, they would often face brutal revenge and beheadings.

Therefore, when the Grand Duke of Wallachia fled to Russia, he also told the ministers who remained in Bucharest that they could go to help the Serbian rebels.

By the way, although the Ypsilantis ruled Wallachia, they were Greek in terms of ethnic composition, and were relatively noble Phanariotes in the Ottoman Empire, and were Greek nobles among the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire.

The only problem was that they still maintained their original Greek Orthodox beliefs, and Constantine Ypsilantis himself had the idea of ​​unifying the Greeks and some Slavs in the southern Balkan Peninsula to establish an independent country.

Therefore, it is not surprising that they did something secretly to trap Sultan Selim.

So, with Miloradovich's tacit approval, the temporary army of the Principality of Wallachia quietly abandoned 12 heavy artillery pieces on the other side of the Danube and greeted Karageorge.

After receiving the news from Wallachia, Karageorge sent people to secretly transport the heavy artillery back.

Now it was a good thing. The Janissaries in the city had no problem holding on, and they also had 300 artillery pieces of various types. It was just that they were outnumbered, and the Serbians' small artillery pieces were not suitable for opening the city walls. At most they could be used as suppressive firepower.

But now the Serbs have obtained heavy artillery, although its accuracy is not very good. Given the poor accuracy of the Ottoman artillery and the poor shooting skills of the Serbian artillery, they cannot pose any threat to the walls of Belgrade.

But the Serbs suddenly had access to a large number of Ottoman army heavy artillery, which meant they had the ability to attack.

If we can't capture Belgrade, we can still make a big move in Užice and Visegrad. Although this area has long been controlled by the rebels, there are still a few strongholds still under the control of the Ottoman army.

Now, Karageorge finally gets his chance.

As the siege of Belgrade was likely to be fruitless, he now asked part of the rebel army to attack Užice and Sabak with artillery.

The current situation is not as favorable to the Ottoman Empire as it was in 1805.

A year ago, the Russians' main focus was on the anti-French alliance, and they wanted to unite with Britain and Austria to oppose France. Although Czartoryski declared support for Serbia as Foreign Minister, such a statement was more like any support other than help.

It is true that what the Poles say is often hard to believe.

However, this guarantee has always been a thorn in the Ottoman Empire's side. You have to know that the grandmother of the "little tsar" is under such pressure that even the Ottoman sultans have to go to see their grandmother.

Now, the Russian army entered Bucharest, and the Principality of Wallachia sent artillery to support the Serbs, which made the situation slightly favorable to Serbia.

Even a few weeks after Miloradovich secretly "sent" the cannon to Karageorge, although Shabak was still in the hands of the Ottoman defenders, Užice had been captured by the rebels.

Now the situation is good. In the deep mountains and forests of Montenegro, those mountain villagers who have always been against the Ottoman Empire are now carrying their weapons out to support their Serbian brothers in the war against the Ottoman Empire.

However, in another place, Sarajevo, Bosnia, the Serbs have always called them "Turks" directly. They still support the Ottoman Empire. Although there are only more than 20,000 residents left in the city and the number of organized militias is limited, they still send troops to support Belgrade.

But the Ottoman Empire's taxes were becoming increasingly heavy, and it was unclear whether they could still withstand such rule.

As for other issues, these are not visible now.

As for the envoy sent by Karageorge, he will soon arrive in St. Petersburg.

Just before Miloradovich suggested that the Serbs who came to Bucharest for help go to St. Petersburg, Karageorge sent a second team of envoys to Bucharest, this time very formally.

The one who arrived in Bucharest was Atanasije Rajic, a capable general under Karageorge. Although he was over 50 years old, he looked like a macho man.

And Miloradovich also had to entertain Rajic well and understand the situation of various forces within the Ottoman Empire.

(End of this chapter)