Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Military meetings have been held more than once, and everyone is used to it. If the Macedonian Legion is not divided, there will be four infantry division commanders and one cavalry commander. If there are two or three regiments in a brigade, there will be more generals.

"Everyone is sitting here, so I'll start. Since we crossed the Danube, we have won many battles in the past few months. We went from Vidin to Sofia, and from Skopje to Greece. Now we have two directions in front of us. Should we go straight to Lamia from Larissa, or go back and take Thessaloniki first?"

He wanted to raise the question, but the people under his command could also see the current situation of the Russian army.

There are many brave generals, but few brave generals with clever minds, and it will be like this in the future.

At times like this, it is actually quite difficult to have a discussion, after all, their attitudes are very tough, but few people can say good things.

Napoleon drove away many generals who were able to think independently, and gradually the French generals lost their initiative.

There are quite a few people in front of me who are proactive and positive, but when they speak, their logic may be unclear.

Arkady, sitting on the side, could also feel Solovyov's impatience. Among his father's students, only this one had a good temper. He used to be very calm, but today it was written on his face.

"Mishka, do you want to stop this lawsuit?"

"Even in a country court, there wouldn't be such a row."

"Or, like a market, like those Jewish profiteers."

"That's not very kind of you to me."

After all, Arkady was the master's son, and Solovyov only mentioned it briefly.

Since Arkady spent more time at court, the two men don’t seem to have had much interaction, only in Italy and the Balkans.

However, Arkady's mention of "profiteers" and Jews, although the former has always been unfriendly to the Solovyov family, who came from a family of smugglers, is not without inspiration.

"As for Jews, they are not the same in every place. The Jews in Thessaloniki were first driven out by the Spanish royal family and came here."

Solovyov knew the origins of these people. In order to control the important port city of Thessaloniki and to avoid the Greeks and Orthodox Christians having an advantage, the Ottoman Empire introduced a large number of Jews.

Then, when kimchi came, in three years, there were only a few thousand Jews left out of the hundreds of thousands. The origin of the Jews in this place is not quite the same as that of the squids, but what about the Jews?
"It looks like we can actually do something in Thessaloniki, but at this price."

"Mishka, haven't you always wanted to go to Lamia?"

"I was thinking of doing it in order. After we arrived in Greece during this war, we didn't see the Turks asking for negotiations. It seems that we didn't hurt them enough."

"You are the commander, so naturally you make the final decision. We are just giving you advice."

"But that's not the case. I'm a little tired of Arkasha. After arriving in Greece, they also started. It seems that it's the problem of the water and soil here that is likely to cause some controversy."

His joke was not funny at all, even less funny than Arkady's ridicule of the "swindlers".

But that's how Greece is. Classical Athens probably spent more time on bullshit and fewer people doing serious work. In the process, they also exiled a few philosophers and generals. Tiles might have been more useful.

Voting with soybeans is not just the wisdom of the old revolutionary base. The Greeks also practiced ostracism.

"Then you have to put an end to this meaningless debate. I think these brigade commanders and regiment commanders don't have the opportunity normally, but today they have found a place to vent their emotions and show off their abilities."

What Clausewitz said to Solovyov at this time was very clear. After all, this kind of childish bickering really cannot solve the problem.

Moreover, the group leaders do not have the right to vote, they are just sticking to their own opinions.

Solovyov knew that it would take at least a hundred years to set up a committee, and then the soldiers' committee might not be reliable, so democratic centralism was better.

"Okay, everyone has stated their opinions. I am also thinking about a question at this moment, which is which side we should go to. There are enemies on both sides. The enemies in Thessaloniki were just defeated by us, but their losses are not very large. If we want to besiege them, we must mobilize the entire army. At this time, we need to go all out."

Then he unfolded the map and pointed to the towns in Macedonia.

"But Thessaloniki is really useful. It used to be a port that was still usable a few decades ago. It was considered a good port that had been in operation since the Roman Empire. However, due to siltation in the river and the lack of dredging of the river locally, it was gradually abandoned. I used to worry that there would be transport materials coming in from the sea, and our Black Sea Fleet could not enter the Mediterranean from the strait. But the current abandoned state of this port has given us some opportunities."

"You are such a bad person. You just like to make people hungry."

Although Uvarov was joking when he said this, he still knew how miserable the Turkish troops in Skopje were. Now they were trapped in the city and refused to surrender, probably because they were afraid that the Serbs outside the city would chop off their heads. After all, many of them had killed Serbian rebel prisoners in Nis.

This time, it will probably be a siege on a larger scale, and it will be close to the sea, which will make the other side more embarrassed, and the siege will be a more desperate one.

“But in this case, the pressure is still very high.”

"Mick, what are you going to do?"

"Yes, if we blockade the port, we will also have to build a fort to blockade the sea."

"But we have to climb over the mountains first. When the city was chosen, it took into account the defense from several directions. It is also the capital of Cassander's Macedonian kingdom. You have to blockade the sea, station troops on the mountain, and occupy the capes on both sides. Without the cooperation of the naval fleet, it will be very difficult to blockade it."

Fortunately, Solovyov probably also knew that due to the siltation of the river, Thessaloniki's sea transportation was now half-abandoned, which was a self-inflicted mistake made by the Turks. It was actually a godsend opportunity.

It will probably take until the Turks are driven out during the Balkan War for this place to return to its past prosperity. In the meantime, as mentioned above, the Germans did a strong job of degreasing it, and there are no more blackheads.
Considering what Greece is like in modern times, it was probably just a flash in the pan, and it later became a "lazy" country again.

This gives him an opportunity, but it is unlikely that he will be able to use his impression of modern Thessaloniki against the current Turkish army.

As for Larissa, we still have to wait for Kunev's news to see how big a fuss he can make. "Yakov, it would be even better if he could take Larissa. It would be a victory in Thessaly after all."

"Ok?"

"When Philip One-Eyed named his daughter, it meant victory over Thessaly."

"How dare you say your Greek is bad?"

"I just know some allusions. This is just a matter of learning, although it is also a skill."

After Solovyov said this pun, he also made up his mind. This time the main force of the Turkish army would come from the east, turning Greece upside down, and the Greeks would have to solve the problem themselves.

If he took Thessaloniki, he would have a stranglehold on the country.

No matter how he looked at the terrain of Thessaloniki, all he thought of was Jinzhou.

Jinzhou is actually the opposite. If you go east, it is "inland" for the Turks, but Greece and the Balkans look like the northeast, but the northeast is a bit narrow.

For this purpose, he mobilized the troops forward and also asked the grenadiers to prepare to attack the mountain. The terrain here is high, and the top of the mountain with an altitude of more than 400 meters can overlook the entire Thessaloniki. Whatever the people inside do is broadcast live.

Moreover, the mountains here can be used as forward command posts and artillery observation posts, and artillery is still very useful during sieges.

Although his artillery was probably of the later type, it was only about 3 to 4 versts from the high ground, which was indeed too clear.

After the operation began, Solovyov also emphasized the need to act quickly, to occupy several key checkpoints, and to drive the Turkish troops as far into the city as possible or to further towns. They must not be allowed to interfere with the Russian army's siege preparations outside Thessaloniki.

This terrain has an even greater advantage, which is that except for the sea, it is a natural "prison". The rugged terrain also restricts the activities of the defenders. The port that was originally convenient to use has been abandoned, and it is also difficult to transport supplies from the sea.

If we are not careful, we will probably be intercepted by the Russian army.

It was in such a place that Solovyov found his own Mantua Fortress. If the Turks came this time, they would probably be surrounded and attacked by him.

The only problem is that the Macedonian Legion itself is on the flank, and their personnel really need the Serbian Volunteer Army and the Greek Militia to support the number. Otherwise, with less than 40,000 troops, they cannot be mobilized and have no way to confront the Turkish army head-on, and even if they do fight, it will be more difficult.

Previously in Lom, Solovyov used a risky tactic by taking advantage of the terrain. Although he won a great victory in the end, he was still frightened. He didn't want to do such risky things often.

Fighting a war is always like walking on a tightrope, which is not good. If you keep walking on a tightrope, one day you will fall over, like the narrow-minded King of Prussia.

But in terms of skills, some tricks are always needed.

When the Turkish defenders in Thessaloniki woke up one morning, they found that the Russian army was already advancing to the top of the highest mountain nearby and was climbing there.

Murad Bey, the local garrison, was also shocked by this situation.

There are many people with this name, but they all fell for it. One was caught off guard by the French, and this one was taken advantage of by his cheap nephew.

The Russians had made night attacks before, but never like this. If we calculate from this distance, the Russian army had already reached the foot of the mountain the night before. Whether they came from the other side of the mountain or right under our noses, the movement was very fast.

But the Turkish army was frightened in the battle a few days ago. They fell into a trap and were defeated. Now, like the Swedes, they are afraid when the green-eyed pretty boy is mentioned.

Although this title is a bit ridiculous, Solovyov is still quite satisfied with it. After all, he really defeated 100,000 Turkish troops. If he could get another 100,000, he might be able to defeat them.

If the Turkish troops in Thessaloniki could be mobilized, even Kamensky the Younger would face fewer enemies in a frontal attack, and might even be able to break through Ahmed Pasha's tortoise formation.

I chose a pleasing approach and attacked the enemy by surprise twice, once breaking through the Danube defense line, and once crossing the mountains into Macedonia. Now is the time to show my strength.

As for when he brought his headquarters up the mountain to observe the situation inside the city of Thessaloniki, the Turks were actually hiding inside the city.

What we can see through the telescope is that the Turkish troops in the city are hurriedly building obstacles and constructing artillery positions. There are also cannons on the city walls.

"It seems that they can only put some 6-pound cannons on this wall. What a good wall it is. It looks like the style of the Eastern Roman Empire. It would be a pity if it was completely blown up."

"You are such a jerk. You can't care about these things when you are at war."

"What a good city. This place is great. If the silt in the port is dredged and the river is diverted, it will be a very good port city and conducive to the development of local trade. It's a pity that the Turks are in charge of this place. It's a waste of resources for them to occupy such a good place. God."

Christian and Clausewitz accompanied him to the top of the mountain. I don't know why this guy had so many emotions.

"Mick, what deployment should we make next?"

"There is a fort on the southern cape, and it looks like we really need grenadiers to control it. Christian, send the Moscow and Kiev regiments over there, detour from the main road, and bring artillery with them. Don't rush to lay siege, but identify the enemy's weaknesses and then seize this fort."

"Should we send some troops as a reserve?"

"If you take out another regiment, the Grenadier Division will only have half its strength. But for safety's sake, put the Little Russian Regiment in the back so that we can monitor the enemy in the south. If we attack the city, we can keep an eye on the Galerius Gate."

"This is not the time to feel sorry for the troops. I sent half of the grenadiers out to cut off the enemy's transportation lines and control the artillery. Since you think this is the key to attacking the city and cutting off the enemy's supply, you must be ruthless, just like you commanded the troops before."

Solovyov didn't care about what his brother-in-law said. If he wasn't far away from the main force, he wouldn't have chosen a more conservative approach. He would have rushed to the traffic fortress. If he had 100,000 men, he would have really rushed to Constantinople. (End of this chapter)