Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The place called Philippopolis was already a town when the Greeks were still in their hometown. The King of Kings of Persia once made it surrender, and it has also belonged to many Hellenistic countries and barbarians. After the Greeks, it was also a "tourist attraction" for Goths and Bulgarians to check in.

Solovyov came from Ukraine, which was the route of the Gothic invasion.

It is the Turks who are now enjoying the fear that these Christian countries felt when they attacked from Asia in the past.

"This place looks pretty good. The Romans left ruins everywhere. When we were in Italy, we saw some theaters from the Nero period."

Whenever Solovyov went to a place, he liked to visit tourist attractions, and it was convenient to go to these places on horseback.

There is a large arena site in Philippopolis, which is still well preserved, but it has not been excavated yet and a lot of it is still buried under the earth.

Among the local residents, those who were afraid of the Russian army had already fled. After all, the battle on the Danube River sounded too scary. It is true that so many people died, but this is also the charm of journalism. It is really hard to figure out how many people died.

"Mishka, you're not in a hurry now that you're here."

"We arrived early. We have to take in the soldiers who have fallen behind, and we have to use this place as a strategic center. And here..."

He said he came out to check in, but in fact he also wanted to use the vantage point to see the terrain of Philippopolis.

The area is densely covered with water networks, and there are swamps and some irrigation facilities here.

However, many of the Turks' irrigation facilities were damaged.

"There are high mountains to the south, but we don't have to worry about this. We have the mountains at our backs, and this side is not suitable for any large force to maneuver."

"But there are plains on three sides, and we have to know the Turks' movements in advance. If they come this time, we still have to fight for the initiative. Mick, this is what you said."

Clausewitz emphasized the results of the pre-war meeting, but it was mainly Solovyov's own decision, which always had to be relied upon.

Because he sent out troops first and occupied an important stronghold. Philippopolis is a battleground on the plains, and the Turks will definitely press forward.

"Yes, but how is the Hussars' reconnaissance going?"

The last time the Belarusian Hussar Regiment was caught off guard by the Turkish army, a battalion commander was beheaded by the Turkish light cavalry. He still has some concerns about the outpost battle.

"The Turks are still far away from here. The number of troops they brought this time is not as large as in Lom, and they are scattered in several directions."

Clausewitz pointed to the plains to the north and east and continued, "The Turkish troops in the north have already passed the mountain pass. This enemy force is roughly equivalent to one of our divisions and has reached the Ivan-Vazov area."

Of course, he then raised his own questions.

"How come the place we are in still has a Greek name, but the north has become a Bulgarian name?"

"Haha, who let the Bulgarians establish a regime here twice?"

To put it nicely, it's caused by ethnic migration. What if it's not so nice?
The Slavs at that time were probably still considered barbarians, but now they are civilized people, but they are still regarded as barbarians by people in Western Europe.

Regardless of the place name issue, the Turkish troops in the north were relatively isolated, and having crossed the mountain pass, they seemed to be the easiest to defeat.

Therefore, when Uvarov heard about this group of people, he also became excited.

"Misha, I think we should attack this lone enemy troop first."

"But it's too far away, and what are they doing after they pass the mountain?"

Clausewitz then continued: "They set up camp there, but they had no intention of continuing the movement. Our cavalry discovered that the more threatening threat was from the Turkish army in the east, but they were divided into three groups, one on the south bank of the Maritsa River, and the other two on the Chilpan River and Brezovo on the north bank of the Maritsa River. They were all marching towards us."

"There are a lot of swamps, rivers, and forests along the way, right?"

"Yes, they divide their troops into four groups like this, and it seems that they want to attack from all sides. But the Turks in Ivan-Vazovo always look like bait."

"Is it a bait?"

"We need to send the Cossacks to capture a few officers. Perhaps we can learn more about the situation by capturing a few officers and messengers."

"That's the solution, but the Turkish cavalry is hard to deal with."

The Russian army was able to defeat the Turkish army repeatedly because of its infantry. The two cavalry forces were often evenly matched, and the Turkish army even had a greater advantage.

In this war, many cavalry regiments in the Russian army were newly formed, and they had suffered a lot in the wars of the previous few years.

Therefore, Solovyov strongly requested to mobilize some old cavalry regiments to join the Danube Front. His Macedonian Corps was one of them. Although it was a combination of old and new structures, there were also several dragoon and hussar regiments that had participated in the battles in Poland and Sweden, which could at least deal with the Turkish army.

Pre-war reconnaissance was actually very troublesome, so Solovyov called Fyodor again.

"Fedenka, I have something for you to do. Do you dare to do it?"

"Is there anything I dare not do?"

"This time, we are not going to destroy the arsenal to create chaos for the enemy. We need to find out the movements of the Turkish troops in several directions. We need to defeat them one by one before they get close. Intelligence is crucial."

"It's not the first time I've done this before, and it's more to my liking to lead a detachment. You don't have to give me too many people. I'll lead a detachment of dozens of people and act separately. When the enemy is not on guard, I'll capture a few people."

"I don't need to tell you much. How many times have you done this before?"

After Fyodor was sent out, some other people were assigned tasks in several directions.

During the remaining time, Solovyov was also picking up the soldiers who had strayed away, and in addition he was on guard against the appearance of any Turkish scouts nearby.

Of course, we have to go out for reconnaissance, and we also have to pay attention to the enemy's movements. During counter-reconnaissance, we may be able to capture some Turkish officers with important missions.

He thought so, and his opponent also cooperated. The Serbian volunteer cavalry that was added encountered a group of Turkish light cavalry while patrolling. They not only repelled the enemy, but also captured several prisoners.

However, there was not much intelligence, except that the two Turkish troops coming from the north bank of the Maritsa River were obviously the main force, and Musa Pasha was among them.

"That's right, the Turks seem to be paying attention to our movements, too. What should we do?"

"How about we lure them over here?"

Solovyov watched the situation, and Arkady then suggested luring the enemy.

However, it was not possible to lure the enemy deep into our territory. The four Turkish armies were relatively scattered. If we attacked the enemy coming over the mountain pass, the other two Turkish armies might not be able to return in time if they were too close to Philippopolis.

If we fight, we have to target the enemies on both sides of the Maritsa River. It's still the old method, but if we take action, we have to target the area south of Maritsa.

Solovyov did not want to use his main force to cross the river to fight the Turkish army in the south, so he looked at Dobnyak who was leading the Serbian cavalry.

"Peter, I have a task for you, can you do it?"

"Sir, just give us your orders. All the equipment we have now is given by you. No matter where we fight, we Serbian cavalrymen are the sharp swords in your hands."

"Well, you lead your cavalry to attack the Turkish army in the south. Try to make it as loud as possible, so that it appears that our main force will attack the enemy along this route and will not return to Philippopolis' camp in a short time, so as to lure the remaining enemies into the trap."

"Then you must give me some cavalry artillery. If I had artillery, I think the Turks wouldn't be able to tell it apart."

"Okay, I'll allocate some cavalry guns and half-Pute unicorn guns for you. You have to act more realistically. Do you want infantry?"

"Infantry is unnecessary. We Serbs are good at moving in the mountains. We can also act as infantry even if we dismount, just like the dragoons in the past."

"Okay, then you have to pretend to be more realistic. I will also arrange the ammunition trucks for you. The Turks will definitely communicate through the roads in the swamps. We just want to let the enemy know that our 'main force' has moved."

After assigning the task to Dobnyak, Solovyov also transferred an infantry regiment and two combined grenadier battalions from Prince Trubetskoy's division to support the actions of the Serbian volunteer cavalry behind Dobnyak.

Moreover, this guy is very bad. The uniforms prepared for the Serbian cavalry look very similar to those of the Kazan Dragoon Regiment, which can be considered a deception.

Among them, some Serbian cavalry wore a variety of uniforms after joining the Russian army's combat sequence, and some of them were even old uniforms of the Russian cavalry.

It would be best if we could confuse the enemy's cognition.

As for the main force of the Russian army, Solovyov actually wanted to "leave Philippopolis empty" in order to intercept or ambush the main force of the Turkish army halfway, in order to achieve the goal of defeating them one by one.

If it is placed in the context of the Sicilian Defense, it is probably a radical approach that was popular in the 20s, called the "Yugoslav Offense", which is a more intense approach.

He doesn't care what the Turks think, he just puts himself first.

If these Turkish troops that have been detected were allowed to join forces, it would not be so easy for the Russian army to fight them.

After crossing the Danube, the Macedonian Army had been extending its transportation lines, turning back east to Philippopolis, preparing to use fighting to force the Turkish army to give up the idea of ​​retaking Sofia to the west, so that the Macedonian Army would not be able to pose any threat when it moved south.

Therefore, a quick victory was needed, and Solovyov's arrangements were indeed more radical. It was a different situation from when he was in Lom, when he even had time to consider luring the enemy deep into his territory and slowly trapping them to death.

At the same time, Musa Pasha had indeed divided his troops to come from several directions. Except for the Turkish troops in the north, they could also respond to each other. The distance between them on the plains was not far. If they gathered on the banks of the Maritsa River, the subsequent Turkish troops would increase their forces and be able to stick to the Russian army.

It does look good, but the current situation is always subject to change.

In his tent, he soon received news that the scouts he sent out were discovered by the Russian army. Soon, the Turkish troops on the northern mountain pass were attacked by the Russian army, and the situation of the Turkish troops south of the Maritsa River was not optimistic.

Musa Pasha did not expect that the Russian army in the south was bluffing. In the hot summer, the smoke and dust covered the sky, and even made the Turks think that the Tatar cavalry came this time.

As for the subsequent artillery fire, some of it was from the Unicorn guns that exploded between the Turkish positions.

They have the Unicorn cannon. No matter how powerful it is, whether it is one putt or half a putt, it is definitely the main force of the Russian army.

The Turks judged the Russian movements more or less by their firepower.

However, no one expected that the Russian army would cheat and place some Unicorn cannons among the cavalry cannons to bluff.

Seeing this situation, Musa Pasha also believed that the Russian army was carrying out a major operation in the south, and that his side was relatively safe at the moment, except that the scouts in the front were discovered by the Russian army.

So his idea was to have the main force of the Turkish army join forces first and then advance towards Philippopolis.

If the troops were combined, the group would indeed become larger, making it more difficult to deal with.

The Russian cavalry was also conducting reconnaissance nearby, and they also noticed that the two Turkish troops were approaching, and it seemed that they were heading for Philippopolis.

But they also did not notice that Musa Pasha's four armies were actually detected by the Russian army, and some Turkish troops were still lagging behind and did not get close to Musa Pasha's army in the front.

Solovyov's idea was to intercept the main force of the Turkish army, try to kill the enemy first, and then cross the Maritsa River to destroy the attracted enemy forces.

In this case, the three lines of enemies are almost done.

But there is still a problem. He doesn't know how many Turkish troops are following up.

But at this time, if the Russian army wants to seize the initiative, it must first use its quality advantage to deal a heavy blow to the Turkish army.

At this time, there was a problem for both sides. The swamps, forests and a large number of irrigation facilities had a divisive effect on the military forces of both sides.

Not only the Turkish army had to divide and attack in a coordinated manner, but the Russian army also had to divide and attack in a coordinated manner. If they were not careful, they might end up like Solovyov's deceased old friend Viroser, where the Austrian army was divided by the natural terrain in the forest and then defeated one by one. After the main force was dispersed, there was nothing left for them to do.

At this time, it is still a test of the troop deployment of the commanders of both sides. If the Turkish army is crowded together, it can still cause a lot of trouble. (End of this chapter)