Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

After Kunev set out, there was indeed a lot of commotion.

The infantry regiment under his command marched very arrogantly on the road to Larissa. Not only did they march in a mighty manner, but they also raised up dust, which made the momentum look very huge.

No matter how many Russian troops came, the Greeks finally got the royal army after the disappointment they had twenty years ago.

Most of these Russian soldiers did not understand Greek, and were somewhat embarrassed when faced with the enthusiastic fellow countrymen.

But this was enough. Solovyov in the north remained motionless, pretending that his number was limited but the majority of the troops were resting.

With this contrast, it seems that the Russian troops on Kunev's side are indeed more like the main force. The Russian troops west of Alexandria have not made any moves and seem to have done nothing except stockpiling supplies here.

Showing people such a large "warehouse" is indeed a test for the greedy Bayi masters. At this time, they probably forget how Nasreddin Afanti, the god of war in the Western Regions, played tricks on these Bayi masters.

After all, the real person of that wise man is in Türkiye, and he lived hundreds of years ago.

These people have limited memory, but unlimited greed and desire.

All the tricks played by Solovyov might not be as attractive as the grain he stored there. Moreover, due to the special national conditions of the Ottoman Empire, these people seemed to be also interested in gold.

Since gold is involved, they will definitely take action.

Solovyov had used this method once before in Poland. Among the abandoned baggage and luggage were silver rubles, and the Poles were happily fooled.

This time, it seems that the main force is those who went to Larissa in the south, and the battle formation is also very large, claiming to have 30,000 people.

Putting aside the situation of the Turkish scouts, Lord Bayi in Larissa was already in a panic, because he did not have many soldiers and horses, and many of them were withdrawn to deal with the rebellious Greek militia nearby. In particular, the Greek militia operating near some important throats frequently harassed the Ottoman troops and officials passing by. The most unlucky ones were the convoys transporting taxes and food, which were the priority targets.

Therefore, a large number of punitive teams were sent to the countryside, and they accumulated into a large number within a month. I don’t know how these Greeks, who used to like to be straightforward, have learned to be so cunning now.

Often, when the punitive team entered the village, before they could destroy every living thing in the village, the place was almost empty, and they had no choice but to set it on fire and then leave.

On the way back, they often encountered sporadic attacks. Greece, the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula, has always been full of mountains and hills. It is convenient to build cellars and secret passages to hide if you do not settle near those historical sites. Therefore, the Turkish expeditionary force had no way to deal with them.

Often, nothing is gained, and the next thing to do is to passively accept the beating.

After a month, there were nearly 10,000 defenders in Larissa, but they were scattered to the surrounding villages and towns. Even after all the Greek efforts, there were less than 3,000 troops left in the city.

For the local Bay, this is difficult.

It seemed that a large group of Russian troops had also arrived. He sought support from Lamia, but there were also a large number of guerrillas active near Lamia, a key throat, and the defense there was also in a tight situation.

If we go further south, Lamia has always been blocked by the forces coming from southern Greece, and the fighting on the Peloponnese Peninsula is more intense. The guerrillas even dare to drive out the bandits in the town. Sparta is just a small village, and the nearby "big city" Megalopolis is very lively. This place is also the throat of Sparta. It has been more than two thousand years since Thebes dominated the world. It was built for the city of Sparta. As a result, it once became a battleground for military strategists on the peninsula in the Greek world.

This means that it is very difficult for the Turkish army to withdraw troops from Greece, and it is too late for them to send a punitive force from the local area!

The Turkish troops in Thessaloniki had to take action even if they didn't consider the fact that there was a large Russian camp clearly visible outside.

The Ottoman Empire's navy was in the Black Sea at this time. After the Black Sea Fleet began to operate, it frequently attacked some targets on the southern coast of the Black Sea, causing serious impact on Türkiye's shipping in the Black Sea.

For this reason, the Ottoman Empire's navy had to operate more in the Black Sea, and it was still somewhat difficult to transport troops to the south.

What is funny now is that, for the Turks, what they have better control over are actually those islands that have always resisted fiercely, because these places do not have the conditions like their Greek compatriots on land to contact the Russian army, and their methods of operation are also different.

Even on a peninsula, the guerrillas' actions can be flexible and mobile. If it is a large island like Crete, it is not so bad, but it is difficult to do anything on a smaller island like Kos.

Therefore, the Turkish army will inevitably take action.

Solovyov's ambush was hidden behind the forest. He also knew the old problem of the Turkish army: large troops were in chaos when marching on the road.

He knew that there was a lot of commotion over there in Kunev. Odysseus Andrus even recruited a group of Greek auxiliary soldiers outside the city of Larissa to fight with the Russian army, to serve as guides and messengers, especially to communicate with the local people.

As a result, fighting broke out all around Larissa, and even neutral villages would not provide any material support to the Turkish army. Therefore, within a week, considering that the sea distance here is relatively close, there will definitely be some movements between the various Turkish strongholds.

The guidelines he left for Demetrius more than a month ago should be very useful now. The European part of the Greek world is at war, and the Sultan must be anxious.

You have to know that in the core areas of the Ottoman Empire, there are still a large number of Greeks and Armenians in many places. If they make some trouble, the Sultan will not be able to sleep well in his palace.

Therefore, no matter how many Russian troops enter Greece, Mahmoud must now order the garrison in Thessaloniki to take action.

If you can't get through the sea, then take action on land.

But the Bey here also knew his own level. Solovyov had already become the second generation "Bulgarian Butcher". No one in the Turkish army was willing to touch this "devil", as if fighting with him would mean falling into the horror of hell.

Since they could not touch his main force, it was still possible for these Turkish troops to destroy his logistics base, sabotage his camp, and harass some small-scale garrisons.

Therefore, they also took the initiative to attack Solovyov's "camp" northeast of Vergina.

This tactic seems very clever. Even if you fail, you can still deal with the Sultan. If you succeed in secretly sucking the money, you can also use it to seek credit from His Majesty the Sultan.

However, Solovyov had studied these Bai masters too thoroughly. Since you want to sneak in, I will wait and set a trap for you to watch. He stood in the woods again to observe the situation. The Turkish army chose a good time to come out. They gathered their forces outside in the morning and launched an attack in the afternoon. If there were Russian troops nearby, they could also retreat quietly under the cover of night when the sun set.

It's a good idea, but as soon as they show up, they are destined to be beaten.

"We need cavalry action. Today the Turks have many infantrymen. This is their time to show their prowess."

He took advantage of the cover of the hill to let the signalman send out optical signals. The reflective communication was quickly received by the hidden cavalry, and the Turkish army was still unaware of it.

They were not unaware of this method of communication. The Ottoman Empire also had an embassy in Paris and knew about those communication towers. However, the Russian army's portable signals relied on reflections for communication. There was not even a signal, so even if they could be understood, they didn't know how the coding was.

Even if they saw it, the Turkish army would probably be defeated.

After the cavalry received the signal, the dragoons, who had been feeling frustrated on the Danube battlefield, took the lead in action.

It would be fine if they were bullied by the Turkish Sipahi cavalry on a daily basis, but if they were no longer able to defeat the Turkish infantry, these dragoon regiments would probably be disbanded.

Solovyov also wanted to give them a chance. Most of the dragoon regiments he had performed mediocrely. If he had not brought the Kazan Dragoon Regiment, he would not have many capable heavy cavalry available.

After the cavalry attacked, he looked at Euler again. The artillery chief deployed the artillery positions very cleverly. Facing the Turkish army with relatively poor artillery quality, he deployed the artillery in places suitable for exerting firepower because there was no need to worry about enemy counterattacks and there were infantry cover on both sides.

Soon after the cavalry started moving, it was the turn of the artillery to open fire.

Although the Russian army, in order to make the performance in Larissa look realistic, took a Pood of Unicorns there to scare people, allowing Kunev to perform well, and the Greek guerrillas also came to help, it seemed that the Russian army's firepower was weakened.

But with these 12-pound guns and half-Putter Unicorns, the Russian army fought very smoothly. With the firepower advantage, the Turkish troops close to the "main camp" had already suffered a blow before the cavalry launched the attack.

"Very good. Our artillery and cavalry work together as smoothly as a clock. Now it's time for the cavalry to launch an attack."

Command is not always in time. The Russian cavalry launched an attack after the Turkish army was hit by artillery fire. These Turkish infantry always played a dragging role when they were with the cavalry. Many defeats of the Turkish cavalry were due to the fact that the infantry was too weak.

Today, in the absence of cavalry, the Turkish troops were also not very strong and were attacked everywhere.

After the artillery bombardment, the cavalry launched an attack, and finally the infantry cleaned up the battlefield. There is nothing much to say about the whole operation. The rest of the time is spent watching these Turkish troops being chased and killed by the Russian cavalry in their rout.

Alexandria is not far from Vergina. The Russian offensive was very fierce, and the Turkish army did not rely on it and retreated directly to Thessaloniki.

"They shouldn't come out to harass us for a while, but which direction should we attack next?"

He turned around and looked at Clausewitz who had been beside him. He was still conveying orders and it took a while before he responded to his commander-in-chief's question.

"If we can capture Larissa, we must then control Lamia, which is located on the main road. Mick, have you paid attention to the history of the War of the Successors?"

"Why then?"

"Lamia has always been a battleground for military strategists. When Alexander the Great died in Babylon, Athens launched a rebellion against Macedonia, which once trapped and killed the imperial regent Antipater in Lamia."

"so what?"

"We set out from Larissa. The terrain in Thessaly is relatively flat. We can quickly control Lamia by heading south. This way, we can block the road and send a small number of troops to guard the important roads together with the Greek militia, thus shortening the battle line."

"The premise is that the enemy dare not come up, and the enemy behind us dare not move. If I were still in Sofia, I might still do this, but here, if the enemy in Thessaloniki is not eliminated, it will be difficult for us to continue south to Athens."

"Are you going to use Thessaloniki to make a fuss again?"

Clausewitz knew that Solovyov was a good fighter, but he always had a flaw, which was that he sought safety. After taking risks, he would usually deploy his troops more steadily so that he would not make mistakes easily.

Although this is an advantage in normal times, acting alone, isolated from the main Russian forces and friendly forces, requires boldness and decisiveness in action, and playing it safe is not a good thing.

In fact, both of them have their reasons. Solovyov would also hold military meetings when the situation was relatively stable.

I need to get everyone's opinion on whether to go to Thessaloniki or go directly to Lamia from Larissa.

"Let's have a meeting, Karl. Kunev should have some results soon. Once the situation in Larissa becomes clear, we can decide on the next steps."

"Well, that's fine. But we have to wait until Uvarov's follow-up troops arrive and all the regiment leaders sit down for a meeting. Maybe we can gain something."

Solovyov also nodded. He had nothing to worry about. The Turkish army was frightened by him.

If he could take action, the Greeks would be a great help, and even some governors of the Ottoman Empire, such as Ali Pasha, would be able to switch sides if the price was right.

Thinking of Ali Pasha, he actually wanted to contact the Albanian ruler to see which side he leaned towards.

If he was prepared to rely on Russia's power, then establishing an independent province of the Ottoman Empire in Albania would also weaken Sultan Mahmud's power.

You know, the loyalty of the Albanian region has always been lower than that of Bosnia. This is different from the fact that Albanians are often loyal subjects of the empire.

Of course, there will also be people like Muhammad Ali Pasha. (End of this chapter)