Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Now that everything has been relaxed, things seem to be getting better.

The commander himself said this, and everyone knows that in the coming battle, everyone will not care about life and death.

Russian soldiers are not afraid of death, especially in this environment.

Everyone must be prepared to give up some of their own things. Solovyov knew that when he arrived in Moscow, he should start burning his own house.

Apart from these, perhaps the fact that he spoke about his own affairs with the veterans so shamelessly before the war showed that he had let go and didn't care about life or death.

But I always have some concerns about my wife, children, brothers and sisters, and relatives here.

It’s like Stirlitz has been in Germany for a long time, and he can’t help but have some feelings, and his heart may have become that of a German.

If he wasn't closer to the soldiers now, he might have taken on the appearance of those upper-class aristocrats.

But he still had some ambition to succeed, so he didn't live a life of extravagance, but returned to join the army.

If it were someone else like him, with a lot of wealth in his early thirties, he would probably choose to live on his own estate.

Fighting a war is impossible. They might be better at playing tricks and schemes. And if the protagonist is changed, they might still use those despicable means.

Solovyov knew in his heart that he was in the most dangerous place. If you look clearly on the map, the deployment of the 8th Army is on the Bagration Salient, next to which is the Raevsky Battery, which is the most dangerous place in the entire war.

If we are not careful, all the blood will be shed on this battlefield, no matter whether it is Russian, French, or somewhere else.

Now the main force of the Russian army has arrived at the outskirts of Shevardino and started to build fortifications here. In addition to here, there are a large number of Russian troops redeployed along the Kolocha River.

On the right wing of Barclay's 1st Army, at the position in Borodino village, was stationed the Guards Chasseur Regiment, where Solovyov had served as the regiment's commander. He had also transformed this unit before and after the battle, helping it to develop a new style and combat style.

When the village was fortified, the Davydov estate, from its residence to the house where he was born, was demolished.

Another one, but he was also determined to fight. Denisov's family was destroyed, and now it was his turn. Naturally, he also wanted to take revenge. He also proposed to his old superior Prince Bagration to form a large-scale guerrilla force, and got his consent.

At the beginning of the war, Lieutenant General Kunev, who had cooperated well with him in the Swedish and Balkan battlefields, was killed in a battle to cover Wittgenstein's flank.

From that time on, all Solovyov heard were unfortunate things. Perhaps his wife gave birth to a child and both mother and child were safe, which was the rare good news he could hear recently.

He was initially worried that the death of his father-in-law Vasily Vasilyevich would cause a great mental blow to Katya. After all, apart from the relationship between his father-in-law and his mother-in-law, the family had very strong feelings among the other relatives.

"Hopefully this year of misfortune will end when we drive Napoleon out."

At this time, he wished he could find a gypsy to tell his fortune. No matter what method he used, things had not been good in the past year.

It seemed that his old benefactors had problems one after another. Count Bobulinski fell ill in his estate in Tula, and his father-in-law's brother-in-law, General Grushetsky, his father's old superior, was also old.

On second thought, there probably won't be any result before the war is over. If the fighting continues, there may not be a result until Paris.

In addition, he also conducted careful observations along the Kolocha River, and even personally led a surveying team to visit several major fortresses the next day.

Among the Russian generals, the one who was probably more proactive than him in this regard was Bennigsen. This German from Hanover looked at the situation on several fronts and made a series of adjustments.

When Solovyov saw him, he felt that someone was going to micromanage him.

Although there is nothing wrong with these micro-managements, for example, the fortress built in Shevardino needs to strengthen its defense and protect the flanks.

Solovyov felt that although this place might require the sacrifice of some troops, like Kutuzov, he was worried that the entire artillery position would be exposed to the Russian covering fire, which might have a major impact on the battlefield situation.

However, the safety of the core positions must always be ensured, and it would be best if they can be completed as soon as possible in the next few days.

He asked Euler, who was in charge of artillery in the Guards, to estimate the construction period. The Shevardino fortress could probably be completed on time, but there were several other places where construction progress needed to be accelerated.

Miloradovich brought with him 16,000 militiamen, some of whom were sent to strengthen the personnel of each regiment, and some were sent to carry out construction work.

Many of the civilians who have not left here have now taken the initiative to build trenches.

It's just that it's not like the critical period of 1941, when all the women in the city were mobilized to dig trenches.

However, among the Russian women nowadays, except for some pampered ladies, most of them are still capable of working.

In addition to these, there are probably some noble ladies willing to donate useful materials from their own property to help.

Pierre and his cousin are arranging something in Mozhaysk and may come to the front one day to take a look.

If all the rich were as kind as him, he would have financed the repair of three roads leading to Moscow, built the Moscow-Ryazan and Moscow-Vladimir carriage railways, bought a division's worth of equipment in Izhevsk, armed an infantry regiment, and organized a large number of militias, including cavalry and infantry, to serve as reinforcements for the regiments. In addition, he freed many serfs and took the initiative to donate money. He also actively participated in delivering news from the front.

Well, Russia has class contradictions, so they probably have to be put aside.

Unfortunately, not everyone is like this. Although in Moscow, some noble ladies spontaneously said that speaking French would be fined one silver coin, and speaking more could donate more to buy medicine for the brothers on the front line.

Perhaps the most patriotic member of the Kurakin family was Anatoly, a playboy and bastard whom Solovyov despised. After all, he had fought hard during the war, in the cavalry and in the reserve of the Guards.

Many people still look the same as before, which is very sad.

When it comes to the stage of fighting abroad, there will probably be some other changes.

It’s just that these are things we may have to think about in the future.

What we need to worry about now is the defensive fortifications that are being set up.

Yermolov and Saint Prix had mentioned von Thor's unreliability in choosing battlefields when they met him. This time, a new staff was appointed to select the battlefield. It would be good if they could deploy along the Kolocha River.

If the French had come sooner, it might have been a different story.

Napoleon saw that it was a sunny day in Vyazma, so his gambler mentality took effect and he decided to continue the offensive and advance in the direction of Moscow, preferably to destroy the main force of the Russian army.

But this wish is not easy to achieve. In the battles over the years, the French always have to face the strong fortifications built by the enemy, and these artillery positions do not seem easy to capture.

But if the French change their direction, their left wing will appear to be weaker.

The French would probably win, but only on this battlefield; whether it would help the overall war situation was another matter.

He did not know at this moment that Napoleon was marching towards Borodino.

Even though the French army encountered mud along the way, they still advanced forward.

Murat's cavalry and Davout's 1st Army were at the front of the entire marching column, followed by Ney's 3rd Army, Eugene's 4th Army and the Polish 5th Army.

According to the information he had received at this time, the morale of the Russian army was greatly affected, but this information was not true, so he decided to continue moving forward.

However, since he sent out the cavalry as an outpost, he had to consider Murat's destructive power.

Although this man is brave, he also seems to be good at commanding cavalry.

But he happens to be a world-class tough guy below the neck, and if he really has to fight, he won't use his brain, which can be very troublesome if he becomes reckless.

On the Russian side, Platov's actions had caused dissatisfaction, mainly because his rearguard battle was as bad as ever. Therefore, Kutuzov also considered whether Miloradovich should take over the rearguard operations in the future.

His situation was much better, and he had a closer relationship with the Cossacks. When his ancestors came to Russia from Bosnia and Herzegovina, they had some interactions with the Zaporizhia Cossacks, and his home was also on the plains of Ukraine.

Communication here is always easy. Platov would perform much better if he were commanding cavalry in a battle, or leading troops to harass the enemy and perform reconnaissance missions.

But before Kutuzov made a final decision, he had already received the latest news from the front.

Platov's Cossack cavalry engaged the French vanguard.

The dragoons led by Grouchy encountered Cossack cavalry on the banks of the Kolocha River. Grouchy was a relatively cautious man, having switched careers from infantry, and rarely showed signs of getting excited.

While he was reporting to Murat, he also reminded Nansuti, who was preparing to cross the river, to be careful in the battle.

After all, the cavalry they brought were considered the main force of the French cavalry and would be of great use in subsequent battles.

Nansuti also has the same idea, but Murat.
He was as stupid as ever. When he saw the Russian cavalry, he ordered Grouchy to charge at them.

Because he had been waiting on the bank of the Kolocha River for a while, he received the order very quickly.

Considering Murat's situation, Grouchy had no choice but to cross the river first.

The exchange of fire was not unexpected, as the cavalry generals on the front lines on both sides were actually quite cautious.

Even when Platov saw the French cavalry in action, he had already withdrawn his Cossacks and the Tatar cavalry in front, avoiding direct contact with the French cavalry and disengaging from the battle.

However, no one expected that Murat, this reckless man, would actually attack directly. After giving the order, the French dragoons were very active. They crossed the Kolocha River to launch a pursuit.

At the same time, Neverovsky and Konovnitsyn were working overtime to build the fortress in Shevardino. According to von Toll's estimation and the re-surveying by Euler who came to help from the Guards, the artillery position in Shevardino could deploy firepower in three directions and station part of the 8th Army here to cover the positions that were being built behind.

Kutuzov's meaning was very clear. These troops were to be here to cover the construction of the real main fortifications in the rear, and they could also be regarded as the first line of defense deployed in front of the main force.

Even when he first received Platov's report, he was still relatively optimistic and believed that the French army would wait for the main force to arrive on the other side and would not rush over so rashly.

If part of the French army crosses the river first and engages the Russian army, it is hard to predict what will happen next. Things may go beyond the expectations of both sides and continue to develop in an unreliable direction.

However, the first blow of this battle was once again borne by the 8th Army, which was a common thing for the generals of the 2nd Army.

In the previous battles between them and the French army, there was no clear winner.

This time, it seems like they are going to see who is better.

Napoleon was also surprised when he received Murat's action report.

However, considering that such an action might disrupt the Russian army's pre-deployment, he ordered Davout's 1st Army and the Poles to march quickly, reach the bank of the Kolocha River, and prepare to cross the river.

Thus, at first, for Konovnitsyn, it might just be some French heavy cavalry crossing the river in reckless pursuit.

No one could have imagined that there would be so many infantrymen following behind.

Even though the 1st Army under Davout lost more than troops due to various casualties, the size of the force was still quite astonishing. The strength of his army alone was roughly equivalent to the level of the three Russian armies except the Barclay Army.

In this case, it seems that we have no choice but to fight.

Mrs. Soloviev was at the rear of the position, and she was actually a little worried. Although Shevardino could block the front of the two main fortresses, it was isolated and out of the range of the main Russian artillery.

If the French crossed the river, it would put tremendous pressure on the troops at the front.

Now, the situation looks delicate again. There will definitely be a battle in Shevardino, and Borodino is also unavoidable. (End of this chapter)