Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Bagration and his entourage escaped safely, but the prince himself was still puzzled by Solovyov's behavior.

"Why did you take these serfs away?"

"If they are willing to join the army, they can naturally increase our strength. Those who have not received military training can be placed in the logistics team and can also serve as reinforcements in the future. Those with some experience can naturally be added directly to the army. You have been in the army all your life and have rarely dealt with farmers. My family always has to deal with such things. If someone spreads rumors and causes chaos, then when the French come, some farmers may hand over the landlords to the French."

In fact, Solovyov wanted to cite the example of Tian Wuyu's replacement of Qi by the Tian family, and the later incident of Feng Xuan burning Mengchangjun's bonds. But think about it, there is also a problem, that is, Bagration certainly did not understand, and it might be quite a lot of work to explain it.

To put it simply, he has defused the bomb, and afterward the landlords appear to have suffered losses, but the crisis has been resolved for the time being.

If they asked the army for people, even if the Tsar stood on the side of the landlords, he would probably teach them a lesson.

"It's better this way, don't cause any trouble."

Bagration could understand it. In fact, Paul had realized the power of the peasants before, but his time in power was too short and he had no plans for the next step, so everything ended.

Alexander was willing to play the role of Messiah above his subjects of all classes, but he could not be so cruel, so he probably did a good job in checks and balances.

The army continued to march in this way and got closer to Smolensk. The hussars in front were looking for the movements of Barclay's Russian troops to see if they had arrived in this direction from Vitebsk.

But there was no news for several days, which really made people feel hot and uneasy in such a hot summer.

What they didn't know was that the thrilling battle Barclay was experiencing was comparable to the dangerous battle with the French at Saltynovka when they approached Mogilev.

However, this battle happened by accident. A team of French cavalry mistakenly entered the Russian marching column while marching, resulting in an exchange of fire between the two sides.

The Cossack patrol route just missed the French vanguard, and ended up letting the enemy pass on the banks of the Dvina River.

When Murat's cavalry unit in front of the Grand Army learned of the exchange of fire with the Russian army, the exaggerated marshal and the King of Naples sent out two cavalry divisions in pursuit. The two sides arrived near Ostrovno and continued to exchange fire.

The 4th Army commanded by Ostermann-Tolstoy fought with the French Army for a day, and both sides won and lost alternately, but neither side could defeat the opponent.

In this situation, Barclay realized that the whereabouts of his main force had been exposed, so he asked Konovnitsyn to cover the retreat of the 4th Army. At the same time, he also changed the marching route and continued eastward from near Vitebsk.

At this time Murat joined the battle, and Napoleon was also worried that the cavalry in the front would suffer losses, so he let Eugene lead the French 4th Army in pursuit. However, the combat effectiveness of his Croatian Temporary 1st Regiment and Italian Army did not seem stable, and they were hit hard by the tenacious Russian army in this battle.

After seeing this situation, Napoleon personally approached the battlefield and took over the command of the troops.

The morale of the French army was greatly boosted. Due to the lack of coordination between Nikolai Tuchkov and Konovnitsyn, the Russian army, which was in disarray, was quickly repelled by the French.

Napoleon's presence on the battlefield always played a significant role.

Regarding this, Yermolov, after taking over Lavrov's duties, was quite helpless about their performance.

The Russian army continued to retreat, this time led mainly by Count Palen the Younger, with only a small number of infantry as the rear guard of the entire army.

Barclay then decided to continue retreating from the vicinity of Vitebsk and lead the army directly to Smolensk.

If we restore history, Clausewitz was probably serving as a staff officer in Tuchkov's 3rd Army at that time.

However, since he and Solovyov had worked together for several years since Sweden, he naturally went to the 8th Army and was not here.

After three days of outpost fighting, both sides had lost thousands of men and needed some rest.

Initially, Napoleon planned to stop in Vitebsk so that his troops could get sufficient rest, and the logistical support relying on Belarus and Lithuania behind Vitebsk would somewhat reduce the difficulty.

You know, the French army here can still requisition a lot of food. If they reach Smolensk, the guerrillas there are much stronger than those near Vitebsk and Minsk.

Even in Mogilev, the local bishop and some civil servants openly surrendered to the French army, and even the "Maintenance Society" may have come out.

Barclay, Bagration and a group of Russian generals did not know that Napoleon suddenly changed his attitude in Vitebsk and seemed to be stopping.

But Barclay and Bagration continued to fight, and it seemed that the negotiations were doomed to fail.

The morale of the Russian army was not high. In previous battles, the Russian army had voluntarily withdrawn from the battlefield. Many veterans complained about Barclay's arrangements.

The situation in the 2nd Army was slightly better. After all, the army commander and the two corps commanders were all outstanding generals in the past decade or so, and they were indeed almost surrounded by the French army.

If Solovyov had not sent Vorontsov to shake off Jerome, and if Bagration had not let Laevsky fire a shot and then a feint to leave near Mogilev, they might still be trapped on the right bank of the Dnieper River, with no one to turn to for help.

In that case, the French plan might succeed, and only Barclay's 8 men would be left to fight against the French army, which would not be a good idea.

Barclays' practices have always attracted a lot of opposition, and it is common for people to talk about it behind the scenes.

They also had to burn some of their baggage on the way so that they could travel light.

There were many people opposing him behind the scenes, and there was information that the 2nd Army had completely escaped the pursuit of the French Army and had already arrived near Smolensk.

Some restless generals even wanted to write letters to those in the court. After all, there was the State Council in the court, and they could replace a general through them.

Barclay might be a good war minister, and he was qualified as the commander of the 1st Army in their eyes, but Alexander did not give him the title of commander-in-chief directly, but only let him act as an agent, so it was inevitable that his subordinates would not accept it. Especially some generals who actively advocated war, they might even hope that Bagration would lead the 2nd Army to come over and become their commander-in-chief.

After all, Bagration's battle record is convincing, and his fighting style is very tenacious.

Although they were also retreating, the 2nd Army's actions were not awkward. Even when they were being pursued, while the 7th Army was carrying the burden on the flank, Solovyov still had time to burn the pontoon bridge, evacuate the people, and complete his plan of recruiting soldiers and organizing militia in southern Smolensk and part of Bryansk.

Even after the 7th Army suffered heavy losses and received a lot of reinforcements, it was inevitable that the 1st Army would have some thoughts.

If these army commanders really colluded with each other behind the scenes, Barclay would not even be able to be the commander of the 1st Army Group.

However, they did not do so. They probably just wrote letters to the Tsar himself to complain, which was also a common way for civil and military officials to compete for favor.

It was at this time that Bagration's army, Bagration's army, approached Smolensk, and he called Polozkin and Raevsky to discuss the matter.

This matter is too big. Although Bagration may have some opinions about Barclay, for the sake of the overall situation, he will probably just leave the 2nd Army instead of confronting Barclay.

"I asked you to come here because we still need to join up with the 1st Army. What should we do?"

Polozkin and Laevsky said nothing. They looked at Saint Prix and Solovyov beside them. These two guys were related to the Guards Chasseurs and were relatively favored among the adjutants and generals. But they did not ask them, but came to discuss with us.

They did not understand Bagration's idea, but the Georgian prince continued: "At this time, the interests of the country and the army are the first priority. It is definitely inappropriate to change the generals in the middle of the battle."

At this time, his personal conflict with Barclays was not so serious, and the overall strategic plan was Barclays's, so he should be able to execute it better.

The positions of Minister of War and Commander of the Main Army Group should be held by the same person. This is also the integration of military and politics, and there is nothing wrong with it in terms of the overall situation.

But now there are many people complaining in the Russian army, especially the 1st Army almost collapsed on the second day in Ostrovno, which led to the Tuchkov brothers (one army commander and the other brigade commander) and Konovnitsyn (division commander) who was caught in the middle expressing their dissatisfaction with each other. As for Barclay's command later, there were obviously some problems.

This caused Bagowut, Nikolay Tuchkov, Osterman-Tolstoy and Dokhturov to be somewhat dissatisfied with him. Lavrov and Yermolov, who did not express their opinions, were originally members of his staff. Wittgenstein, who had always supported him, was now joining Essen near Riga to fight against MacDonald and Oudinot.

Fortunately, Grand Duke Constantine left the Guards again in the past few days and accompanied Alexander in Moscow.

If he got involved, the Russian military headquarters might become even more chaotic.

At this time, Solovyov agreed with Bagration's opinion. If they wanted to change the generals at the last minute and continue to implement the strategy, perhaps only Kutuzov could solve the problem. Barclay himself had ability but lacked prestige and was too cautious; Bagration himself advocated a battle with the French army. Their ideas were different. With the example of Austerlitz, he could not make such a change in order to obey the overall situation.

But he didn't want to say it anymore. Since Bagration himself had said it, at least the attitude within the 2nd Army was consistent.

They are all soldiers who have some sense of the overall situation or obey orders. Solovyov has his own ideas, but he also knows that he cannot follow his own ideas at this time.

If he had retreated to that depth, I'm afraid the Russian generals would have blown up the temple and even gave up Smolensk and Vyazma. It would have been truly shocking.

Therefore, he decided to work at this time.

The time for him to show his abilities will probably have to wait until the counterattack phase or when a tough battle is needed.

As for these messy things, it is really difficult for him to get involved. It is different from the court struggles.

If it was a palace struggle, it might be a different story.

Moreover, they now have no idea what arrangements these people in the court, under the manipulation of Arakcheev, will make for the selection of the commander-in-chief.

In this strange atmosphere, the two armies were about to merge.

Actually, apart from Bagration and his brother-in-law, the people Solovyov was more familiar with were on the 1st Army side.

In particular, when the 2nd Grenadier Division was marching as an outpost, it happened to encounter the 1st Grenadier Division retreating to Smolensk.

The equipment of these two divisions looks similar, and they are also the most elite troops of the Russian Army besides the Guards. It was because the arsenal in Tula was so exhausted that sparks flew while they were fixing the screws that they had two main divisions with the same configuration as the Guards.

Count Stroganov also saw the flag of the 8th Army and rode over on his own initiative to look for people.

After all, he was also Solovyov's former benefactor. In terms of status, this count was the Tsar's true confidant.

But Solovyov was not here, so he only saw Christian.

In fact, these people with connections in the Russian army fight harder, otherwise they will bring shame to the relatives who recommended them.

This side is Christian, and on Barclay's side is Eugen of Württemberg. Moreover, the Württemberg family has people serving on both sides, and maybe you can meet your brothers and cousins ​​on the battlefield.

This is also true for Solovyov, except that he and Eugene have no blood relationship, and this cousin status was established only after they recognized each other's character and ability.

The wars in the later period of the Napoleonic Wars really regressed from the form of war at the beginning of the French Revolution to the model of dynastic war. It may be that Napoleon took the initiative to invade Spain and Russia in recent years, which finally changed the form of war.

It seems that it should be a reactionary feudal dynasty, but it is linked to things like national independence. It sounds different from what is written in the book.
In short, now that the two armies have joined forces, the situation may change again.

The determination of both sides keeps changing, who knows what will happen next. (End of this chapter)