Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 471 048 There is no Friedland

At Helsberg Langeron called his bluff and withdrew safely from this position.

Lana had suffered in the winter, and the Russian artillery fire was indeed heavier than usual, so he did not pursue rashly.

He didn't know that the operating procedures of the Russian artillery had changed, but if he caught up with them, he would be bombarded by a barrage of shotgun shells.

During the Battle of Austerlitz, several Russian artillery companies, knowing that they could not take their cannons with them, followed the French example and desperately used artillery fire to intercept the pursuing French army, which had a good effect.

During the Third Coalition War, Solovyov also implemented similar regulations in the Guards. Although he was the commander of the Guards Chasseurs at the time, the regulations could be changed, and the Guards' artillery did cooperate with the infantry to achieve great results and cause heavy casualties to the French army.

However, it was always Bernadotte who got beaten. The program never changed, and whenever he was unlucky, he was indeed more targeted.

Moreover, there is one thing that may have greatly changed the trajectory of his life, which is that he did not capture the Swedish prisoners.

As for the commander of the First Army, given that the army was in a very bad state at the time, only the Dupont Division was relatively intact, the Villart Division suffered heavy losses, and the other division and cavalry suffered a devastating blow. Napoleon asked Victor to take over the First Army at this time, in fact, to reorganize the troops.

"According to the report of the First Army Headquarters, our army lost 8000 men in Spandau and Dabstein. The Russian army's losses are unknown, but it is estimated to be 4000."

"What the hell, Berthier, we have already guessed the Russians' little trick, but we didn't expect them to choose the longest road at this time. But this is also beneficial to us. The main force of the Russians has now entered the swamp, and their exits are all on this traffic line. We can give them a head start."

"Your Majesty, if they join forces with the Russians in Helsberg, it will be difficult to deal with them."

"If they are concentrated in one place, we can fight them better."

His Majesty the Emperor was indeed very confident, and he had predicted the prediction of the Russian command. Even when an army was defeated at the beginning of the war, the Russian army set fire to the roads in the swamp, making it impossible for Davout to pursue from here, and he had to choose to return by the original route to join the main force of the army.

That's it. The French army still has the initiative. After being attacked for a round, they now have a considerable advantage.

Except for the main force of the Russian army led by Bagration, who had not yet emerged from the forest and was still on the wooden plank road in the swamp, the other troops were relatively tired after several consecutive battles of varying sizes.

Dokhturov even lost more than a thousand people in the battle with Soult. In fact, the Russian army's containment only managed to contain the main force of the French army for a short period of time. The purpose of containing the French army for a long time and mobilizing the French army was not achieved.

It can be said that it was Solovyov's strategy that was predicted by Napoleon in the fog. Even when the First Army in the north was defeated, he did not change his original plan.

In fact, if the roads had not been destroyed, preventing Davout from pursuing the Russian troops who had entered the swamp, the French army would probably have blocked the Russian army from both sides and trapped the main force inside.

In order to win, the Russian army took risks. Although they successfully escaped, they also lost the initiative under Napoleon's iron fist.

As long as the French emperor was on the battlefield, he always symbolized power. Unless he got out of control or the difference in power between the two sides was too great, he was always a formidable opponent, even difficult to defeat for his opponents.

You don't have twice as many troops as him, and there will always be some uncertainty when you go against the French army led by the emperor.

With such concerns, although Langgeron made good arrangements after dividing the troops, Napoleon's speed was too fast. In order to ensure the attack on the left wing of the French army, he sent both Bagration and Solovyov. In this way, his staff was faced with the situation that had happened before.

Fortunately, according to the tradition of the Russian army, the adjutant is responsible for proactively exploring the battlefield situation, and the absence of a general staff does not mean that he can't do his job. Langgeron has been in Russia for more than ten years, and not only is he too lazy to complain about this system, he has already adapted to it, and therefore is still able to maintain the operation of the legion.

It was not until the Russian army retreated to the vicinity of Eylau that he finally reunited with Bagration.

"Count, it seems that we have only completed part of our plan. Most of the plan has been destroyed by this Bonaparte."

Solovyov was forced into a corner when "Bonaparte" emerged from the innermost circle.

"Why, you're not willing to accept it?"

"We are unwilling to accept this. We defeated the First Army. If it weren't for the support of Friant's Division, we would have been able to annihilate the enemy. By then, Napoleon would have had to pay attention to the huge threat we posed to his flanks. He would not have been able to chase us to Eylau with all his strength. Of course, we might not have come back so quickly."

"Your idea is good, but which direction should we go next?"

"His Highness the Grand Duke has sent people to survey the roads. The staff officers of the Guards believe that we should retreat towards the Neman River. However, we still need to find a suitable ferry crossing, and we cannot circumvent the Aare River on the way."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Misha actually wanted to bring us to Königsberg, which was completely contrary to his original plan."

Bagration said this, somewhat teasing his junior fellow apprentice.

"It can't be helped. If the French advance towards the Aare River, they have two options. One is to go around from the east, which is more reasonable, but the flank will be exposed to us. If they advance from the west, this route is very short, but there are dense rivers in the middle. The important thing is that the enemy's direction of action is aimed at the actions we can take when crossing the Aare River. If our army encounters the French army after crossing the river, the situation will not be so optimistic. In particular, our army is prone to being attacked by the enemy halfway across the river during the action. This is the situation whether on the west bank or the east bank. Therefore, we will not act on the Aare River line, but will take a detour and take a marginal route to retreat to Memel."

"You don't want to fight anymore?"

"There is nothing we can do, Count. The longer the war lasts, the more impatient those in Petersburg will become. If we can retreat to Memel, we may be able to secure favorable conditions."

"Favorable conditions?"

"But these are all political issues. I think the emperor will inevitably make such a decision after seeing the situation on the battlefield. If we are defeated at the Aare River, there will be nothing to bargain with. If our army can successfully retreat and confront the French army at the Neman River, we will still have some capital to bargain with the French at the vegetable market."

He first actively sought war, and now he is escaping. This kind of chameleon behavior can be often seen in Russia.

Langgeron also knew that this guy always flexibly wavered on various issues, but he always chose a favorable direction. If he advanced northward, even if he was trapped in the city of Königsberg, with the current strength of the Russian army, he could still fight.

In addition to the existing troops, the Russian army also has several divisions being transferred from inland areas to the border. If the troops are gathered together, it is still a considerable force and can fight. Moreover, if they go downstream along the Aare River, they can still build several pontoon bridges near Königsberg for the main force of the Russian army to retreat from the Pregolya River and then find a ferry to the Neman River.

"It's hard to explain why I just ran away."

"His Highness the Grand Duke also believes that the war should not continue like this."

Grand Duke Constantine's words carried some weight as heir to the Russian throne, being the title "Tsar" but actually the vice emperor.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has been fighting for Prussia and Austria, joined the anti-French alliance three times in a row, and was dug into a big hole once. There are still many voices in the army that believe that they should not fight again.

If a decent way to make peace cannot be found, then the only option is to fight the enemy on the battlefield. For the current Russian army, it does not seem so easy to fight face to face.

Therefore, the new plan was to cross the river continuously until they retreated to the north of the Neman River, burn all the bridges along the way, and the war would be almost over.

Even for Langeron and others, they did not need to consider what the Prussians thought.
To be honest, the people who have the most influence in the headquarters don't like Prussia very much, or it has nothing to do with them.

The only one who had some connection was probably Solovyov, who was looking for a wife for his student, Grand Duke Nicholas, and he had his eyes on the frail but very lovely Princess Charlotte.

But this problem could be solved from other aspects. Before the peace talks were initiated, Prussia probably had no chance to get the royal family members back to Berlin. Even according to Napoleon's idea, it was even a question whether Prussia could exist.

If Prussia were to perish, Russia's words might carry more weight if it helped Prussia to restore its country in the future.

Speaking of which, Solovyov's biggest shortcoming now was what Suvorov did not discover when he first came into contact with him.

This is the guy. Although his fighting skills have improved a lot, he always acts like a bargaining profiteer.

Sometimes, one's origin can really determine a person's personality traits. Even if this person is just a skin changer, it is inevitable that he or she will be calculating and petty.

But the Field Marshal was buried in the monastery, and he had no chance to correct Solovyov's shortcomings.

If he realized it himself, he might make a breakthrough.

If Napoleon is the current T0, Archduke Karl and Wellesley are T1 (the latter has not yet demonstrated his ability), Solovyov's ability should not have surpassed his senior brother Bagration who is stuck between T1 and T2. In addition, he has no experience of leading an army independently, so he is still far behind in this aspect. He is only a very strong T1 at the division level, and his legion is not even up to the standard of T2.5.

Therefore, he always considered things one-sidedly. Running away could indeed preserve his strength, but it was too inconsiderate of the feelings of his Prussian allies.

In other words, both Lestock and Scharnhorst took the overall situation into consideration and knew that the Russian army's retreat meant that, whether it was a war or peace, the initiative had not yet been completely handed over to the French, so they did not cause trouble.

If the current commander-in-chief of the Prussian army was Blücher, he would send an elephant to greet Solovyov.

But the advantage of this kind of unscrupulous businessman's mentality is probably that he always makes the Russian army retreat relatively intact to the vicinity of the Neman River.

June 6th was the 14th anniversary of the Battle of Marengo. Napoleon, who was a bit superstitious about anniversaries, still managed to track down the movements of the Russian army and wanted to pursue them to the crossing of the Aare River and then advance to the Neman River.

He even had a chicken for breakfast. He was in a very good state of mind and his soldiers were in high spirits. They were ready for a great fight.

However, at the Aare River ferry, apart from the pontoon bridge built there, no items related to the Russian army were seen, let alone personnel.

"Your Majesty, it appears that the Russian army has retreated."

"Berthier, they are wasting our feelings. We wanted to teach them a lesson on this day, but these Russian bears run faster than rabbits."

"Your Majesty, perhaps it's because the man who always claims to be your nephew is Suvorov's disciple. Suvorov once said that his command style is like a 'galloping hare', which is against the Prussians' style."

"Ah, if it were during the peace talks, I would like to meet this young man. I only saw him in the Tuileries Palace, but I didn't expect that he had such a relationship with Josephine."

"Maybe he didn't know at the time, otherwise he would have contacted you a long time ago."

"Caulaincourt, you know the Russians quite well. I think I can let you go to Petersburg often to deal with the Tsar."

"That requires peace, your majesty."

"If the Tsar loses his patience, we may be able to have peace. Now the soldiers have been away from home for too long, they should rest for a while. We should have peace on the European continent, but the Russians must ask for peace."

Napoleon had a good idea, and the opportunity for a battle was lost. The Russian army either ran to Königsberg and hid in the city, or retreated to the north bank of the Neman River.

Although the French were enthusiastic about fighting Prussia, they were not ready to advance deep into Russian territory, even if it was just a battle in Lithuania.

Moreover, Napoleon predicted Alexander's movements. After learning that a French army was defeated in the Battle of Spandau, St. Petersburg was initially cheered.

The subsequent news was not so optimistic. The Russian army had been retreating.

Many Russian nobles who had previously actively advocated war were now dumbfounded. According to Russia's traditional chameleon skill, they now performed in front of the Tsar, saying that they were pacifists.

What is all this about?

(End of this chapter)