Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Likhachev's division took action and also attracted Napoleon's attention.

Now the focus of the entire battlefield has shifted from the salient redoubt position to the polygonal redoubt position. The Russian army is still resisting stubbornly here, and even the losses it inflicts on the French army are gradually increasing.

Now, as the battle for the Salge position progressed, the French were able to use crossfire against Raevsky's position.

Many of the cannons that were originally used to bombard the salient redoubts have also been moved closer to the polygonal redoubts, and now this place has become another meat grinder.

In earlier battles of the Napoleonic Wars, even at Austerlitz and Eylau, where the Russians were directly involved, the French had never paid such a high price on a single position.

Now, just by looking at the soldiers who fell on the battlefield and following the direction they fell, it is easy to find the area where the fighting is most intense.

After losing two commanders in succession, the combat effectiveness of the 2nd Cavalry Army has been greatly reduced. Originally, they would have to pay a higher price, and they might have to wait until here at the Polyhedron.

However, there was no chance to restore history. Seeing this situation, General Nansouty led the remaining cavalry troops and joined the fierce attack on the polygonal fort.

The paragraph at the beginning of Likhachev's speech, "Moscow is behind us", was indeed inspiring. However, with the troops at the front suffering such heavy losses and the enemy having an absolute advantage in numbers, he was naturally faced with a tough battle.

There was no longer much skill involved on the battlefield of Borodino; it was all about piling up troops, and the victorious side was the one that simply piled up soldiers.

Under such circumstances, fierce hand-to-hand combat broke out again on the position of the multi-faceted fort, just like the previous salient fort.

Even the short-sighted Ostermann-Tolstoy led the 4th Army under his command to join the hand-to-hand combat, and was wounded by bullets shortly after the battle began. However, he did not withdraw from the battle, and was still commanding his troops to attack the positions on the flank captured by the French.

As for Likhachev in the front, the blow he now had to endure was similar to the firepower attack that the Russian army suffered in the Salient Redoubt in the morning.

What was even worse for him was the blows he had to endure on the multi-faceted redoubt position. The intensity of the blows was obviously high, starting from the time he launched a counterattack and once repelled the French army.

Napoleon now also hoped to win the battle quickly, so he brought more artillery in an attempt to capture the polygonal redoubt in one go.

The victory at the Redoubt was obviously delayed by the stubborn resistance of the Russian army, and even in Napoleon's view it was not enough to be the condition for final victory.

Although he did not gamble on a large scale on the entire battlefield, there was always a position suitable for betting in the end.

So he deployed all the troops he could mobilize here, and even the Young Guards were placed behind the multi-faceted fort position.

After a tenacious resistance, Likhachev was ultimately outnumbered.

But his luck was really bad and he was captured by French soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.

After the Russian troops under his command were finally driven out of their positions, they were able to retreat to the rear battlefield in a somewhat orderly manner with the support of the Guards and the 26th Division.

Napoleon could not say that he was satisfied with the results of the battle at this time, but the capture of the Russian general was always good news.

The losses on both sides today were extremely shocking. Even the casualty ratio of generals was not necessarily lower than that of soldiers. Many officers on both sides fought on the front lines and even directly joined in the hand-to-hand combat.

"Your Majesty, we have captured General Likhachev, the commander of the 24th Russian Infantry Division. It is not easy for our soldiers to capture him in the position of the polygonal fort."

"Very good. The soldier who captured this general should be awarded a medal."

Then Napoleon stood before General Likhachev.

"You fought well, and even drove our infantry off the redoubt once. But where is your sword?"

"Your Majesty, I have to protest that your soldiers did not take my medals and personal belongings, but they took my sword."

Napoleon admired these generals who fought hard and were captured. It was not easy to capture a Russian general. It often took fierce fighting to capture one, and the general might be seriously injured.

It is very rare for someone like Likhachev to be captured after a fierce battle without seeming to be seriously injured, but just out of bad luck.

"You can find the general's sword."

This was the emperor's order, but the French officers were unable to retrieve it. After all, a fierce battle was still going on at the front. After the loss of the polygonal redoubt, the Russian Semenovsky Regiment launched a counterattack together with the four infantry regiments of the 4th Army.

The battle was not over yet, but the French officers found a sword of exactly the same shape among the captured Russian swords.

When Likhachev saw this, he also frowned.

"Your Majesty, this is not my sword, but I still want to protest to you."

"But now that it's like this, you need to take a good rest."

Napoleon signaled his subordinates to take Likhachev away. At that time, captured officers could still be treated more or less kindly. Previously, Pavel Tuchkov was sent to Paris.

For example, Colonel Sokovinen, who was missing under Solovyov's command, had his leg blown off when he led the cuirassiers to launch a counterattack. He was unexpectedly dug out from the pile of dead bodies by French soldiers and taken to the rear hospital for treatment as a high-level prisoner of war.

On the other side, the unfortunate General Bonami was also drinking tea in Kutuzov's headquarters.

As for the next battle, the French still need to withstand the Russian army's final counterattack on the polygonal fort. Controlling this place does not mean victory.

Napoleon remembered Marengo. If Desaix had not arrived in time, General Melas, who opened the champagne at halftime, might have really won the victory.

Now he also knew that if the Russians still had the strength to organize a counterattack, the battle might not be over yet.

Therefore, he was not in a hurry to send the Guards into battle.

The Russian artillery fire was so fierce, but it was not even fully organized. After the death of Major General Kutaisov, the Russian artillery had hundreds of cannons lying idle for a long time and were not organized to join the battle.

By the afternoon, when some of these cannons joined the battle, their fierce firepower did deal a heavy blow to the French army that was attacking various positions.

Napoleon's general principle of deploying the Guards was either in critical moments or in battle, and finally when the Guards were needed to fight at critical moments - but such moments were always accompanied by opportunities for a decisive victory ahead.

The French emperor seemed more cautious that day. He saw the fierce resistance of the Russian army and realized that if he could not drive the Russian army to the river before the end of the day, he would not achieve the decisive victory he wanted.

If possible, you can even wait another day and launch a decisive attack the next day.

He felt that he still had plenty of time, and with the Russian army's fierce resistance, the battle would definitely be delayed.

But this was also a kind of overconfidence. He didn't know that Kutuzov's ideas were really different from those of other veterans.

Kutuzov was still on the high ground. After eating a chicken, he told the general who came to seek reinforcements that the French had suffered a heavy blow and the Russian army would launch a counterattack, but this was just a means to boost morale.

He already knew that the captured French general was only a brigade commander, but in order to boost morale he could also use journalistic means to say that his brothers had captured French Marshal Murat.

Now, he also said this in order to keep the Russian soldiers' morale high and enable them to continue fighting.

The only decision he had to make was how the battle would be conducted in the end. He would not interfere with what Barclay and Bagration were going to do.

After seeing that Solovyov actually organized his troops to hold out until the afternoon, and finally abandoned the Salient, he did not even send Dokhturov or Prince Alexander of Württemberg to take over the command of the 2nd Army.

Moreover, after the Russian army retreated to the Semenovskoye Gorge, Solovyov used some reserve officers and guards officers to re-improve the command structure of the grenadiers.

Soldiers always have to have a commander above them. What worried him was that the officers of the 2nd Grenadier Division seemed like consumables. The new commander of the 1st Brigade, Mokhnagin, was shot in the abdomen again and had to be carried down by the soldiers.

If he could not afford the loss, Solovyov would probably ignore the colonel's idea and have him carried to the hospital.

But there is also good news. Although the losses of the grenadiers were heavy, the organization of the battalions under the six regiments was basically intact, and the losses of the field artillery brigade were not large.

The 27th Division's artillery suffered even greater losses. Almost all of its cannons were lost on the battlefield, and the 27th Division's infantry losses were also extremely heavy. After a continuous war of attrition from Smolensk to Borodino, the division now has less than half of its original strength available.

In other words, the losses of Neverovsky's division today have exceeded those in the previous rearguard battle. In fact, because a lot of additional militiamen have been added, the troops in the front have also lost their combat effectiveness.

"Damn it, if we keep fighting like this..."

Solovyov is now confused about the situation on Rayevsky's side. According to the left wing that he is actually responsible for, the number of officers lost in the organizational structure is already outrageous. Not only is he almost a lone commander in the 8th Army, but the same situation is also true in the 2nd Army.

Previously, they had been fighting on their last breath at the salient redoubt position. Now that they had retreated to the village of Semenovskoye, the geographical advantage could temporarily stop the French pursuit. However, it was unpredictable what would happen in the end on the flanks and other positions.

Based on his understanding of Kutuzov, he was probably going to retreat at this moment, but the fighting during the day was still going on fiercely. By night, when the battlefield calmed down, this battle would probably be over.

And now that he was here, he actually saw Pierre.

"You have seen the situation on the battlefield, but it is really not good now. Perhaps you should return to Moscow, Pierre. This is the advice of a friend. You are not like us soldiers. Since you have taken an oath, you must fight to the end."

"So, what happens next?"

"I don't know either. The enemy will fail in the end, but I don't know how. Pierre, if you go to Moscow and see my mother-in-law and Sonya, please take them away from Moscow if they haven't left yet."

As a friend, Solovyov was also worried that this big man would go to stop Napoleon himself, or even take some stupid action like assassinating him.

That's why he said this, but it was just advice and could not change the other person's mind.

"I will find your family and get them out of Moscow. But... to be honest, judging by Ekaterina Feodorovna's behavior, they are probably in Petersburg or somewhere else now."

"That would be even better. If there is still a war going on, and the outcome is decided in Borodino, or really in Mozhaysk, then you will need to do something. If there is not enough time, let them go to Ryazan. This is my request as a friend."

After saying this, Solovyov looked at Pierre carefully and touched his head.

"Where is your hat?"

"Ah, I think I lost it to the French on the battery. I met a French officer and grabbed him by the throat, and then a shell exploded near us, and I ran away, and I think he ran away too."

"Pierre, it was a heroic fight after all, and it was lucky for the Frenchman that you didn't break his neck."

He still had a lot to say, but he was also a little worried, so he stopped here.

The fighting on the battlefield is far from over. Now as the night falls earlier, the fighting will end earlier than before. If it were July or August, at the latitudes of Moscow and Borodino, the fighting would probably continue until dusk before a result could be reached.

While both sides were fighting, they were also planning their next move.

Solovyov's idea was actually to wait for an opportunity to fight again, but his idea was to go to Mozhaysk before, where he would get some reinforcements, plus the militia that followed along the way, and even the Russian army would be able to add more troops to the battle.

Napoleon's losses could not be replenished so quickly, and his soldiers had to be conscripted and drafted from France and its vassal states.

The Russian army's reinforcements should also become usable soldiers after several battles.

The balance of power is quietly changing. (End of this chapter)