Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

After the two Russian armies joined forces, the low morale of the 1st Army was restored, and the situation of the 2nd Army was much better. After all, they did not suffer a big loss, and even turned around and took the initiative to attack the French army.

These generals were also familiar with each other. Many of them had served as colleagues in the past few years, so it was natural for them to fight side by side.

After seeing the two sides merge, Solovyov naturally knew that some changes were bound to take place.

After the two armies joined forces, the original plan to engage the French at the Drissa camp was obviously impossible to accomplish because of the shoddy construction of the fortifications in the area and the speed of the French advance.

Plans are not as fast as changes. The Russian army is in Smolensk at this time, and something is bound to happen.

Based on Solovyov's familiarity with Napoleon, his determination might change now that the main force of the Russian army had appeared in Smolensk.

If history were restored at this time, the French army would probably choose to launch an attack.

He knew that Napoleon had suffered serious casualties due to the march for more than a month, but he did not know that since the march from the Neman River to Vitebsk, Napoleon had planned to stay at his current location, and the losses in the summer made him unwilling to fight a decisive battle.

Then, the main force of the Russian army now joined together, and Napoleon seemed to see another opportunity. He decided to continue fighting, to defeat the Russian army in Smolensk, and finally achieve a decisive victory.

Solovyov's contingency plan was based on the French army's main goal of destroying the Russian army's manpower and finally defeating the Russian army in the main battle.

He didn't know that during this period Napoleon had some other ideas during the few days he stayed in Vitebsk to rest.

Moreover, the Russian army itself had suffered heavy losses during the march, and it would take some time to gather the soldiers who had fallen behind.

When they arrived in Smolensk, some pro-war generals were dissatisfied with Barclay, the acting commander-in-chief. Although he was also the Minister of War, one thing could not be ignored, that is, the Minister of War was in charge of military construction, and above him was Arakcheev, a State Councilor who was in charge of military affairs.

Therefore, Barclay does not have the authority of a top civil engineer.

At the same time, he was not the Chief of the General Staff, but the Acting Commander-in-Chief, so naturally he was not in the position of a laughing general.

If we make an analogy, it might be more like Laping who often takes the blame.

Barclay's position was very awkward. If Alexander had directly appointed him as commander-in-chief, these problems might have been suppressed. The problem was that he was acting in an acting capacity.

In Smolensk, after the two armies merged, a military meeting was inevitably held.

At this time, Solovyov met Andrei who was at Nikolai Tuchkov's place.

"Andre, you look pretty good."

"But at this point in time, I don't know why Barclays would continue to retreat when they are already at our doorstep."

What Andrei said had a double meaning. This time the French invaded Russia, and apart from that, his family's territory was mainly in Smolensk. His father, sister, wife and children were all in the estate in Bald Hills.

"But what can we do? We need to fight a good battle, but if we attack proactively we will fall into the enemy's trap."

"That's no wonder. You know Napoleon better than we do, although I have also met him."

But he is not like Solovyov, who can be considered a relative of Napoleon in many aspects.

Moreover, he had studied it thoroughly, and he could tell what Napoleon was going to do, and even without taking into account Solovyov’s miraculous experience, he could tell what the French emperor was going to do.

"But that was the Sun of Austerlitz, the peak of his military career. If the Emperor had not been in a hurry to start the war, and had waited until Archduke Karl and our follow-up troops arrived before starting the battle, the situation might have been different."

"But that was in the past. You can't guarantee what will happen. And you said it was a different situation."

"Yes, but it might not be appropriate to initiate an attack right now."

Andrei was very surprised by Solovyov's behavior. He had achieved brilliant victories through bold actions in the previous few years of war, but now he became so cautious when fighting against the French.

"During your previous battles, you defeated a Turkish army of 300,000 men, right?"

"That was just a fight with the Turks. It's different with Napoleon. We have to defeat him not only by our own efforts but also by the mistakes of our opponent. Napoleon has proved that he can be defeated at Essling-Aspern. In addition, in Spain, or in Egypt, of course, there are also victories in Poland and East Prussia, or preventing him from achieving his goals."

Solovyov had a lot of concerns, and Andrei could see that.

After all, he is also the army commander. If something unexpected happens in the future, he may be promoted to a higher position.

At least if Bagration were to choose a successor for himself, he would probably choose Solovyov, who had a closer relationship with him and had more clever ideas, rather than Raevsky, who was very brave in battle.

It is not ruled out that other people may be sent to take over this position. After all, personnel arrangements always depend on the final decision of the commander-in-chief.

"You are still too cautious, but we must use any means to win on the battlefield."

What Andrei and Solovyov said was much milder than what he and Pierre said.

Solovyov prefers to talk about the means used, and ideals and goals are not mentioned at this time. However, people like Andrei and Pierre are different.

“But the current situation”

Solovyov wanted to say something to Andrei, but then he saw Barclay coming with the headquarters of the 1st Army. This meeting was definitely inevitable.

"Andrei, I'll talk to you some other day, if there's still a chance after the battle in Smolensk."

He said this because he was worried about Andrei's future fate, especially in Borodino.

Besides him, there was Pierre's matter. Both of these families were closely related to him, as well as Count Rostov's family.

It seems that these people are scattered in several places, and they seem to have their own lives, but they are connected for various reasons. I am based in Petersburg, and my noble relationship is still in Ryazan. Although I am in the "capital", my household registration is still a gentry, so I may actually have a closer relationship with them.

He didn't want Andrei and Bagration to get into trouble in Borodino, but in such a brutal battle, he was under Bagration's command. If a fierce battle broke out around the Raevsky Battery or somewhere else, he would not be able to guarantee his own safety, so how could he take care of others?

With strange thoughts in mind, he entered the place where the meeting was held today.

"We are here today to discuss the next course of action. I also know that some people have been discussing our course of action recently, saying that retreating and shifting positions is a way of avoiding fighting Bonaparte. But everyone should also know that this kind of situation is always like when Hannibal swept across Italy, when Fabius also used such tactics. After a long period of delaying tactics, Hannibal was unable to take action, and finally Scipio Africanus won in Spain and Zama."

After hearing this, Solovyov felt that what Barclay said was not wrong, but this was also something that people with a lot of reading could understand.

Look at these Russian generals. There are actually a few of them who are typical of those who have little education.
You have to tell them about "Fabius", and they may have to take a while to react, and they may have to use delaying tactics.

Moreover, Solovyov saw some people whispering to each other. As expected, during meetings, there were always people who would say "weird talk" and other such remarks.

"Mick, I'm worried some people won't understand."

Clausewitz joined in the commotion here, but he was Solovyov's chief of staff and had the right to attend the meeting, so it didn't matter if he said something to his superior.

"Let's just watch. There's something wrong with the atmosphere today. I feel like..."

"Are you worried that they will change their previous strategy and take the initiative to attack?"

"Yes, something bad will happen. At least we can preserve our strength now."

At the same time, taking advantage of the fact that the people still had support, he mobilized the nobles, commoners and serfs to support logistics, and there was still room for a fight.

Like the old duke, he should now be elected as the commander-in-chief of the local militia. After all, he has some experience.

In Tambov, Admiral Ushakov, who had retired to his hometown, came out of his secluded monastery and was elected commander-in-chief of the Tambov provincial militia by local nobles.

However, some generals who actively advocated war probably did not think about this. Having already run here, it would be pointless to continue running.

Although Bagration was clearly in favor of war, he took the overall situation into consideration at this time and stated that the actual command would be under the control of Barclay, the acting commander-in-chief.

In fact, the 2nd Army commanded by Bagration had relatively independent command authority.

"But Mikhail Bogdanovich, if we continue to run like this, it will have an impact on the morale of the army. If we do nothing and just continue to abandon Smolensk, it will be equivalent to abandoning the gates of Moscow and letting the enemy into the courtyard. Do you want to let the French artillery get stuck in the swamps near Vyazma?"

At this time, Solovyov never expected that the first person to jump out would be Dokhturov, who usually didn't speak much.

Rajevsky, sitting next to him, even agreed.

When Solovyov saw the situation of others, he immediately felt something was wrong. According to previous communications, perhaps only he and Osterman-Tolstoy still advocated continuing the transfer at this time.

Then, even Lavrov, who was sent to take over the command of the Guards, spoke up: "Although I agree with the commander-in-chief's opinion, the enemy has occupied Vitebsk. All our original plans are now invalid. We can only have another set of plans for the next strategy."

His words were relatively tactful, and even Bagration actually agreed with Dokhturov's opinion.

Barclays is now quite isolated and does not seem to be able to gain much support.

Seven infantry commanders at the army commander level, several cavalry commanders, and his own staff members now seem to be in the minority, advocating either to continue the transfer according to the original strategy or to hold on to Smolensk.

Solovyov decided to interrupt at this time and he chose to stand up.

In fact, he has always been faster than anyone else in combat, whether attacking or retreating, he can run faster than even the British reporters.

Even the war faction wanted to hear his opinion. After all, he had previously cooperated with Kamensky the Younger to defeat hundreds of thousands of Turkish troops, which could be said to be the most glorious victory in all the Russo-Turkish wars.

Unfortunately, young Kamensky died of illness in Odessa shortly after his return, so his words might have carried more weight at that time.

However, the war faction was somewhat disappointed, as only the people in the 2nd Army Group knew his consistent stance after the war broke out.

"Now, let's talk about it. We might as well rely on Smolensk to fight. But if we take the initiative to attack, do we understand the enemy's situation? If the enemy's military strength is significantly superior to ours, we may still have to conserve our strength. Choosing to take action in Smolensk does not necessarily mean attacking."

What he said caused a lot of discussion among the generals, and Barclay looked at him differently.

At least at this time, Solovyov was the most capable among the army commanders. If he said this, it would be a huge support for himself.

However, this is a minority after all. If we have to fight a defensive war, some people may not accept it.

"Mishka, don't worry. Let's take a look at the current position of the French. At least our intelligence is accurate."

Barclay felt that something was wrong, and he could only use intelligence support to change some people's attitudes at the military meeting.

After Bagration arrived in Smolensk, he would definitely advocate fighting when the two armies joined together. However, considering the overall situation, he would definitely not lose face here. He would not take any action overtly or privately.

After all, there are only a few people like Bennigsen who gossip behind people's backs, make small moves and plot conspiracies.

At this time, Yermolov got a huge map and spread it directly on the ground.

They chose to hold the meeting in a monastery, so naturally they had this condition.

"This is the approximate position of the enemy at present. Napoleon should still be in Vitebsk, and he must have the Guards around him. According to the intelligence provided by the 2nd Army, Davout should be in Lasasnia, the Polish Army is in Mogilev, and the Westphalian Army is in Orsha. As for the enemy in front of us, Murat's cavalry army should have reached Rudnia. The other armies should be on the flanks, and only the position of Eugene Beauharnais's vanguard is relatively clear."

The intelligence is like this, and the main forces of Davout, Ney and Eugene are still on the way. (End of this chapter)