Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 544 056 Solovyov is a smart and wise Russian Baturu (Part )
In the city of Uppsala, the Swedes now saw the Russian army and were also on high alert.

They were also aware of their own situation. Baron Amfeltnan's troops were well prepared, but they were caught off guard by the Russian army and suffered heavy losses, especially the loss of all their cannons.

When defending a city, a large number of cavalry may not be of any practical use. What worries the defenders even more is that the city currently guarded by the Swedish army is still quite lacking in defensive facilities.

Previously, Sweden's battle directions were generally the Baltic coast, Finland, Denmark and Norway, but one problem must also be taken into consideration, that is, the direction north of Stockholm has rarely been affected by the war.

Now the Russian army's bold surprise attack not only captured the whole of Finland, but also attacked from both sides in winter, threatening Stockholm and Uppsala, the northern gate.

In this situation, King Gustav IV of Sweden was not very smart and had a stubborn personality. If it were someone else, they would have chosen to run away long ago.

His stay in Stockholm at this time had an unexpected effect. That was that the faction that had been plotting against him and wanted to support his uncle, Duke of Nanmanland, was actually insufficient in strength because the Guards were trapped in a part of Uppsala by the Russian army.

These troops who had come from southern Sweden were now under the command of von Essen, defending around Stockholm, but they did not go north to support Uppsala.

This is probably the result of the Russian army's strategy of attacking in multiple areas and advancing on two fronts.

But Uppsala was now in problem. Although no pigs were sent there for defense, Amfeldt could only hide in the city. With his limited troops and lack of field artillery, he was doomed to be beaten.

Then, the scene he saw outside the city might be even more terrifying.

The scene was a number of cavalrymen dressed as Tatars marching around the city, which looked like an armed demonstration.

His great-grandfather probably had never seen this kind of operation. Only in the era when the Zaporizhia Cossacks wrote back to the Ottoman Sultan could one barely see some shadow of it.

Probably the Cossacks and Tatars, who always rode horses and danced in front of the battle, showing their personal strength and contempt for death.

It would be great if someone who can't keep his cool came out to fight.

But no one is so stupid now. When Amfelt saw these people picking up bows and arrows, he knew that they might launch a round of shooting at the city.

This is not the era of armored cavalry. Not only can the clothes we wear not block bullets, but bows and arrows are also useless. Therefore, many people choose to find a place to hide.

However, this round of archery was obviously not intended to kill anyone. Although some unlucky Swedish soldiers were shot and fell to the ground, they would find out later that they were not hurt anywhere.

Well, this is not surprising, as this round of arrows was not intended to kill the enemy.

But Solovyov's method was somewhat strange. What he wrote here was a letter of persuasion for surrender.

"Sir, these Russians found some Tatars from somewhere, and after firing a round of arrows, this is what was written on it."

After seeing this, Amfelt was furious. Solovyov's article began by telling them, "You have reached the end of your rope."

In the end, it also means that if you want to fight, just come on, the Russian army will fight you to the end.

And also put forward a naked threat, that is, the officers and soldiers of the Russian Finnish Division are strictly disciplined, I can control them, but the Tatars and Kalmyks who came to reinforce them would not care about this.

Although they listen to me now, it is inevitable what will happen after the city is captured.

"This is an ultimatum. What did His Majesty the King say?"

Uppsala was not surrounded, because Solovyov hated to spread his troops evenly like pepper, and now he did not have an absolute advantage in terms of strength.

What he wanted to do was mainly to surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements, or wait for the reinforcements from Stockholm to arrive and then fight outside the city of Uppsala.

After all, this is still the worst case scenario. If we can spread panic and make the Swedes in the city feel shaken, so that they will give up voluntarily, or after negotiations, they will no longer be enemies of the Russian army and can maintain their position for at least half a year, this will be a victory.

However, Armfelt was stubborn and did not make any response.

"Your Excellency, it would be better to shoot down a silent bird like this with an arrow."

These Tatars don't care about this. They came here really want to fight.

"Right now, we only have more than 20,000 people. Although we have more people than the enemies in the city, we still need to prepare for the siege. Even if it is a city like this that lacks outer defenses, if you want to attack it, you have to endure the enemy shooting out from the windows of the houses. In short, if we really want to fight, we have to wait until all preparations are completed."

"If this happens, even if we're hunting rabbits, they'll probably run away."

"Don't worry. You should have noticed that the Swedes have a thousand-man force stationed in a small fortress outside the city. We can attack here to intimidate the Swedes in the city."

"I didn't expect that when I came to your place, I still had to build a fortress."

"It can't be helped. If you were with Prince Bagration, you would have to face the city of Stockholm. In the time it took you to cross the sea, they would have already started building fortifications."

"I have no choice but to let you know that the warriors we recruited are all Bater from the grasslands. We will build this fortress here for you to see."

"Don't worry, I brought artillery with me, and it's not like there aren't new weapons for you."

Solovyov then took out the Molotov cocktails and grenades.

"Menglikebatel, you have to watch carefully. This kind of grenade is very suitable for cavalry to throw. After pulling the ring, it will explode in one to two breaths."

Solovyov found that he had pulled the ring, and the other party was not nervous.

"You have to throw it out quickly!"

Although his words were emphatic, his expression remained unchanged, and the same was true for the two Tatar leaders.

Actually, they are qualified.

Solovyov threw the grenade and it soon exploded on the shooting range.

"It's not powerful enough yet, but it's safe enough. Cavalry can use this thing in addition to archery and muskets. In addition, there are Molotov cocktails, which can set fire to houses with enemies inside and drive them out."

"Speaking of which, I once heard a Cossack who had been to Italy tell me about this. He saw a strange company of infantrymen, who were in loose formation, setting houses on fire with flaming cans and driving all the Poles out of their houses."

"That was me. I was a company commander at the time, serving as an adjutant to the Grand Marshal."

"You are a general now, and you have this method." "I believe you can do the job well. Besides, when the great Genghis Khan conquered Muhammad Sultan of Khwarezm, he used bombs from Khitan. It's just that mine is simpler and more reliable."

"Well, I'll let the bravest Bartel use this thing to teach these Swedes in the city a lesson."

The two Tatar leaders felt that the general had too good a relationship with the Kalmyks, even though they were complete pagans.

They themselves, on the other hand, did not consider themselves, and their beliefs were actually quite different.

Solovyov was willing to win over Monlik because, in comparison, although these Kalmyks often revolted because of oppression by the government, they also fought hard.

What's more, he thought that the Kalmyks who returned were half of the Torghut tribe who returned to the east, and the remaining half still had to be properly utilized.

At the same time, he does consider more things than the average person.

At this time, if the Kalmyk cavalry could perform well, he would naturally be willing to report them as merit or something.

Although Menglik appears to be the simple and honest person typical of the Oirat Mongols, he actually has his own agenda.

Solovyov was a relatively capable young general. He had a close relationship with Bagration. And from the way he spoke, we could tell that although he did not hold a high position, he could still have a say in front of the Tsar.

If the Kalmyks performed well in this expedition, there might be some chance to improve the embarrassing living conditions of the nomadic tribes. Moreover, the other side is indeed closer to their side, and their relationship with the Tatars does not seem to be that close.

As for the batterers who handed over all the new weapons to their subordinates, they naturally wanted to fight a good battle.

However, Solovyov could not just give benefits to his family. The Tatars in Astrakhan also had to participate in the siege, and the Crimean Cavalry Regiment was keeping an eye on the city of Uppsala to see if there were any reinforcements coming.

As for the siege of this small fortress, Solovyov also used 12-pound cannons, but the cannons were captured from the Swedes.

If a real fight breaks out, this small number of Swedish defenders will indeed be vulnerable.

After being bombarded by artillery and harassed by grenades, the fort was then set on fire. Within just a few hours, the small number of defenders in the fort announced their surrender.

It even went too smoothly, and Solovyov realized that after upgrading the weapons of these Mongols, the nomadic people were still very useful cavalry and warriors before the advent of machine guns.

Even if machine guns appeared, they would not withdraw from the battlefield immediately. After all, the grasslands in Eastern Europe were so vast that there would be no time to dig trenches.

In fact, if they fought as guerrilla squadrons on the European battlefield, their efficiency would be no less than that of the Cossacks and Hussars. If they were deployed to the Caucasus and other places, they would have some other uses.

In addition, this also includes Tatars and Kazakhs.

After the victory, these Swedish soldiers were tied up with a rope and paraded outside the city by the Kalmyks as a warning to others.

"Damn you, these Tatars!"

"Your Excellency, it can be seen that the other commander is indeed a civilized man as he claims to be. At least he did not let the Tatars massacre the surrendering soldiers in the fortress. Moreover, this is a demonstration, urging us to surrender."

"It seems that we can only hope for reinforcements from Stockholm."

"I hope so, but there is one good thing, sir."

Armfeldt listened to what the adjutant said and nodded for him to continue.

"That's because the Russians don't have enough troops. This way we have freedom of movement and can join forces with reinforcements. In this kind of siege, we still have some advantages."

"Well, it seems that now we have no choice but to continue writing to His Majesty and ask him to send reinforcements."

However, even if Gustav IV sent reinforcements, the situation would not be optimistic.

Bennigsen replaced Norlin as the commander-in-chief of the Finnish garrison. Perhaps the biggest advantage of him was that he was not as cowardly as Norlin, who would negotiate with the Swedes after gaining a little benefit.

After all, he still bore the label of a regicide, and it was only after he won the war against Persia that he was recommended by Gudovich to lead the troops.

Therefore, his attitude towards this war was to make as many contributions as possible so as to change his embarrassing situation in the court.

To this end, he even said that the Russian army should continue to occupy the whole of Sweden, which would be the time to decide the outcome of the war.

Gustav IV sent people to negotiate, but naturally he would be rejected, and the Russian army's current strength is still increasing.

Under attack from both sides, Gustav IV did not listen to von Essen's advice, but insisted on sending reinforcements to Uppsala. At this time, he had no intention of asking the British army to come to Stockholm to help, but only let Sir Moore continue to stay at the naval base.

If the reinforcements sent to Uppsala were added to the nearly 10,000 troops already there, the strength would exceed that of Solovyov's side.

Speaking of which, there is indeed a slight advantage at this time.

Amfelt's problem this time was that the king had finally given him reinforcements and asked him to "hold on firmly." However, because of his previous failure, he was eager to wash away the humiliation, otherwise it would be difficult for him to survive in the royal party in the future.

There is really no need for this kind of change in mentality.

But he did it anyway, and was even preparing to leave the city to fight.

It seemed that Solovyov was also a little confused.

"What is this for?"

"Count, you are not only wise, but also a Battler. You should know our enemy. This is a decisive battle with you."

"Yes, we attacked such a small fortress before, but it didn't frighten them. We should cut off their heads with sabers and water the land with their blood."

Seeing these Tatar cavalry leaders speaking like this, even the Finnish Division was not ambiguous, especially the cavalry officers.

"Don't be anxious. Wait until Armfeldt sends an envoy again, and then we will make the final decision."

(End of this chapter)